TED ATAKENT COLLEGE / 10-E
Unethical Edit
Mukaddes Selin HINÇ
Birth is a miracle for many people . Parents expect some criticisms from their babies . Do they want their baby to be healthy , smart or pretty ? The technologies at hand today don ’ t enable most of these things but we have a new technology which can provide us to have the children of our dream : CRISPR .
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CRISPR is a new developed technology for arranging genes of babies to fix some health issues that may even be fatal . This is a miracle but “ editing ” the babies is not ethical . Is this life a game for us to make our baby got prettier to match our expectations ? If we bring a soul into life , we shouldn ’ t be concerned about its appearance . We should only focus on its health .
Each country has a genetically inherited general appearance , i . e . Asians ’ eyes are slanted but when I want you to imagine someone pretty , the answers are nearly the same : Blue eyes , an upturned nose , and blonde hair . But why ? Why do we evaluate these properties as gorgeous ? When I say dark hair and dark skin why don ’ t we think they are the prettiest ? If we give our dreams to CRISPR or another technology , we will have the same race with nearly the same properties .
We can ’ t expect all humans to be the same . If we allow a technology like the designing of babies , how can we be sure that everybody will try to make the prettiest baby ? There is also a chance to create the most “ ugly ” baby . If this implementation comes true , think about that baby ’ s life . We can make a life fade out from the beginning .
The concept of editing babies is not ethical . We can ’ t expect all people to have the same kind of positive qualities . Amanda Hocking has a wonderful quote from her book , “ Being liked for the way you looked is worse than not being liked at all .”