• Question: what are your views on "designer babies"?

    Asked by cateliin3 to David, Rebecca, Simon, Verity, Wei on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Verity Nye

      Verity Nye answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Personally I don’t see the need or desire for them. I think that there are some lines we just shouldn’t cross; once we do it’s hard to go back.

    • Photo: Rebecca Handley

      Rebecca Handley answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I think they are a good idea. There was a recent case where a woman didn’t want her child to be born with a piece of DNA that makes it easy for her child to get cancer, infact every woman in her direct family had died of cancer. So they selectively used one of her eggs to make sure the baby didnt have that piece of DNA. I can see how people could get carried away, I think it should only be used in the medical sense, not for things like gender or appearance!

    • Photo: Wei Xun

      Wei Xun answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      I think we need think vey careful about this. While I don’t disagree with screening of embryos for serious genetic diseases, If we start to pick and choose the genetic makeup of our children then there’s no way of knowing what the consequences may be.

      Our genes have evolved with the changing environment and make us who we are today. Although there are certain genes that will make us more susceptible to one type of disease or another, it’s never certain. Just because the baby doesn’t have that gene/variant it doesn’t mean he/she definitely won’t get it later in life. In my opinion genetics has been given too much importance in shaping how we are. Yes it determines many things but the environment is usually just as important, if not more so.

      And about the point of drawing a line what should be allowed, once the technology is out there and becomes relatively cheap, it will be very difficult to control how it will be used. Ultrasound scans have been avaiable since the 80’s in China,after the one-child-policy was enforced. Many parents have used ultrasound scans to find out the sex of their babies and aborted girls. As a result, the young men in China outnumber women by the order of 20 million, and they can’t find wives!

    • Photo: David Armstrong

      David Armstrong answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      That’s a difficult question – I agree that screening for diseases is a good idea, but it then becomes difficult to stop people using it for other reasons. I’m not sure if I am for it or against it.

    • Photo: Simon Trent

      Simon Trent answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Im for the technology, used in the right way (prevent children born into this world with genetic diseases), but there is the obvious danger it gets out of control in the future. Overall: Im for it.

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