The Commited MAY 2020 | Page 79

TED ATAKENT BAHÇEŞEHİR COLLEGE / 8-A

Designer Babies : Great ?

Selenay PAZARBAŞI

Is it the dream of parents , having a perfect child by using genetic alteration ? Is that every parents ’ wish ? Before we can start to discuss this topic , we should know what a designer baby is . A baby whose genetic makeup is selected or altered to include a particular gene or to remove a gene associated with a disease is called a designer baby .
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Ten years ago , it was a miracle to be able to choose what your child will look like . This method was discovered by a Chinese scientist named He Jiankol . He created the first genetically – modified baby in the world by using Crispy ( a gen adding technology ). There were twin babies who carried risks of being HIV positive , so the Chinese scientist , He Jiankol , altered the associated gene to make the twin babies resistant against HIV . With this intervention he made a great step to change the genetic health of the embryos to prevent the transmission of generelated diseases . This intervention will be highly developed , so we will have the opportunity to improve our child ’ s appearance and personality . This means having the chance to choose your favourite properties . For example , you can decide on your child ’ s eye colour , hair colour , gender , or if she / he will be generous / honest / clumsy , etc . But is this really desirable or is it ethical ? Would you like to order your child from a catalogue ? Do we have the right to intervene into an unborn child ’ s personality ? On the one hand , it doesn ’ t seem very ethical . We should consider that children might not like their appearance or their personalities . They may blame their parents for choosing their properties they don ’ t like and subsequently this may lead to an unhappy life . In addition , if we change the appearance and personality , we might damage their individuality . Furthermore , genes often have more than one use . It ’ s possible that while we change a property , we can accidently change another one .
In my opinion , it should be legal if this method will be used for health . Gene technology gives a possibility to the babies who will probably be born with a genetic-disease such as down syndrome , Alzheimer ’ s etc . to have a healthy life . But this technology won ’ t be limited with health . You will also be able to edit your child as you desire . Even if it sounds wonderful , it neither seems ethical nor human . So , I argue that designing your dream child should be illegal . To sum up , like your child the way he / she is .
https :// en . wikipedia . org › wiki › Designer _ baby