Saturday, October 2, 2010

Designer Babies


Thanks to our knowledge in genetics and medical technology’s always improving, doctors are now able to screen the in-vitro patients, soon to be children for genetic defects and diseases. The women can now choose specific traits for their children such as blood type, athleticism and capability to fight of diseases. This is all possible because of our understanding and ability to do genetic mapping. The main screening process used is preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), and this detects genetic and natural diseases just by looking at a few of the embryo’s cells. These trouble spots in the DNA sequence are then suppressed or interrupted or fixed to stop any genetical defects or diseased occurring

There are many positives about this and also some negatives. It is positive because of all the diseases that will be stopped before they can start in the children prolonging their lives and making them healthier. The more negative side to this science is that people are screening and choosing specific phenotypes and traits and making “designer babies”. This has caused a lot of ethical problems with this developing research.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Designer-Babies---Playing-With-Genetics&id=3501268