Gene modification is the use of modern biotechnology techniques to change the genes of an organism. This is done by PGD, or Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis, in which doctors screen embryos before implanting them. Genes, which are made from DNA, are responsible for determining an organism's physical appearances, also known as phenotypes. Humans are often turning to gene modification which is also known as making "designer babies". Gene modification allows people, mainly couples, to be picky and choose specifically what genes they want for their child. Although gene modification might be ones first choice, it may not be the first choice for others. There are many positive and negative aspects of creating designer babies.
One of the advantages is that gene modification allows people to design a baby specifically by their preferred standards. For example, if a mom wants her baby to have blue eyes instead of green eyes, or blonde hair instead of black hair, than she would easily be able to make that change. Another way gene modification be an advantage is because by looking at the genes, it is possible to determine if the baby will be born with any mutations or hereditary diseases. If this is caught at an earlier stage, then this would be prevented and the new life could live longer, and the family would be happy. It also gives the mother an advantage to choose traits that she considers good. If someone is going to have a baby it is most likely that they want their child to look the best, so therefore by picking preferable traits for the child she is giving birth to, she can stop worrying about how her baby will look like when it grows up.
The negative side to gene modification on the other hand is that it isn’t natural. If you change a baby's physical appearance, then you are changing the physical appearance for the whole generation. The looks that are well known for in the family may not pass on. For example, if a family is known for having pretty brown eyes, and you "customize" your baby to having blue eyes, their kids will have blue eyes which would change up the family generation of having brown eyes. Genetic modification can also be a moral issue to some couples because in one's religion, questions could arise stating whether or not man has the right to manipulate and change the ways of God and nature itself. It could be believed that man cannot decide how a kid can look, and deciding so would be a violation to one's own morals. Another con is that if you already know how your baby is going to look, then it may not be much of a surprise. If genes are constantly crossing each other than it is possible that a whole new type of problem could arise, like a weird mutation, with an unknown solution. Even though you can prevent diseases, if couples are picking the most "popular" traits like blonde hair and blue eyes than most of the generation will end up looking alike. There wouldn't be anything that would distinguish ones phenotype from anothers. Also, if only the rich are able to customize their babies, than the poor may feel like they aren't beautiful enough and may develop low self-esteem. This could lead to a class system between the designer babies and the normal babies. Overall, gene modification has many advantages that could be very useful in human life, like preventing diseases, but you never know where it can lead you to. With gene modification, a whole generation might not have the certain flaws found in each person that makes a person beautiful and different from one another.
-By Kharishma Patel, Deepthy Varghese, Jeswina John, and Miranda Juergens
8th period, Medical Microbiology, Rickard
No comments:
Post a Comment