Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Chapter 5: Are Designer Babies Just a Fad?


The idea of Designer Babies is more prominent now than ever. Personally, I find this field extremely interesting and so I did some research from the perspective of a parent that would be in interested in such technology. Just searching the term “Designer Babies” on the internet, the first link that comes up is a link to “The Fertility Institutes”. When you click on the link, the first thing that pops up on the screen is a representative live chat where they can instantly reply to any questions you have. It appears as though the first factor someone that is having a Designer Baby would be interested in is gender, not the possibility of removing a genetic disease.
Screenshot of the web page http://www.fertility-docs.com

Honestly, I found this sign alarming. The term Designer Babies has been sensationalized, the idea of gender selection specifically. On the front page of the website, the institute shares a link to an article about how Kanye West and Kim Kardashian have already taken part in gender selection for their second child who is on the way. There is also a link to a video of a “Good Morning America” clip where Dr. Steinberg, the found of The Fertility Institutes has a segment on the show called “Family Balancing”. The institute has also been recognized on the networks ABC, NBC, CNN, Fox, and Reuters as among the worldwide leaders in gender selection.

Interestingly enough, there is little to no mention of the cost of the technology and nearly no mention of the mutational risks that could happen due to the manual moving of the sex chromosomes by scientists. From my perspective it is disturbing that looking at just this one website page people would be willing to be a part of this technology so blindly and by looking at one simple pamphlet.

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2 comments:

  1. This is really surprising me, I never thought that some people would want to have "Designer baby" only because of the idea of gender selection. This kind of idea "gender selection" might be use to refuse the idea of and "gene therapy."
    Now i can understand why some people might against gene therapy.

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  2. These informations surprised me. I never know that the Designer Babies technology has already proved and people can have a designed babies.
    my question is who are controlling this kind of businesses? is it the government?
    if yes, that means the government allowed it?!

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