Friday, June 4, 2010
All designer everythinnnn' @ 4:58 PM
Designer bags, designer boots, all designer everything! Designer babies, designer - wait, what? Designer babies? What's a designer baby? A baby made by Dolce & Gobanna, Gucci, Coach, or Prada? Well, no - but it might as well be considering what a designer baby is defined as.
A designer baby, using scientific language, is a term referring to a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with inVitro fertilization (IVF) to ensure the presence or absence of specific genes or characteristics. But, basically it's a baby that had parents that chose what genes they wanted their baby to have. This is done through a process called Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis, or PGD for short. What exactly is IVF and PGD, though? IVF is the procedure in which eggs and sperm are collected and put together to achieve fertilization outside the body. PGD is the procedure in which the embryo produced through IVF is screened for genetic/chromosomal disorders before it is transferred into the mother.
Weird, right? When I think of it, it's kind of like parents picking out the right ingredients for soup made just the way they like it. But no, really - why would I compare a small, living bundle of joy to a boiling pot of soup? Today's technology is so intensely innovative that we have the ability to do this, and it's great that our technology's so up-to-date, but why?
Creating a designer baby has it's pros and cons. The pros being that you get what you favour for your baby with good, or just practical, intentions and that you rid your baby's chances of getting any diseases or cancer through heredity. I think that that's the only pro that actually comes from a designer baby. Well, that - and the fact that you get a baby exactly the way you want it. The cons, on the other hand, are pretty much everything other than that one/two pro(s); but the one that applies the most is the cost. To create a designer baby, it costs well over an estimated US$19,000. So, think about it - is it really worth it?
While I was doing my research, I found a story about a couple using this entire process for their child - his name was Charlie. Charlie suffered from a rare blood disorder called Diamond Blackfan Anaemia. Though it was a curable disorder, his life was in danger, which resulted in his parents creating another child through IVF and PGD - not because they knew that Charlie was going to die and wanted to avoid it from happening again, but for specific stem cells that Charlie needed to live. I found it really sad how desperate Charlie's parents were to get him to live. I understand that they wanted him to live, and I'm not complaining because they wanted him to or for their intentions, but in all honesty, everything happens for a reason and whatever happens is God's plan for you. Why mess that up for $19,000, when everything will turn out fine in the end for free?
In conclusion, creating a baby the old fashioned way is just moral, in my opinion. It is most definitely cheaper, and it leaves the element of surprise for when you/your wife gives birth - and in addition, saves you from disappointment if the baby doesn't turn out the way you wanted it to. I think that parents would appreciate their baby more if it was a surprise anyway. No life should be created for parts (purposely), and life should just live on the way it's supposed to. God's plan is God's plan, and I don't think that IVF or PGD were part of it. Be fruitful and multiply - the right way.
SOURCES:
http://www1.odn.ne.jp/~cam39380/epage/epage317.htm
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm
http://www.reproductivegenetics.com/pgd.html
http://malathy.newsvine.com/_news/2006/05/16/198093-designer-babies-cost-us19000
http://www.mindmagazine.com/story/designbaby.htm
BLOGS I COMMENTED ON:
Tracy Yusuf
Joanne Loreto
A designer baby, using scientific language, is a term referring to a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with inVitro fertilization (IVF) to ensure the presence or absence of specific genes or characteristics. But, basically it's a baby that had parents that chose what genes they wanted their baby to have. This is done through a process called Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis, or PGD for short. What exactly is IVF and PGD, though? IVF is the procedure in which eggs and sperm are collected and put together to achieve fertilization outside the body. PGD is the procedure in which the embryo produced through IVF is screened for genetic/chromosomal disorders before it is transferred into the mother.
Weird, right? When I think of it, it's kind of like parents picking out the right ingredients for soup made just the way they like it. But no, really - why would I compare a small, living bundle of joy to a boiling pot of soup? Today's technology is so intensely innovative that we have the ability to do this, and it's great that our technology's so up-to-date, but why?
Creating a designer baby has it's pros and cons. The pros being that you get what you favour for your baby with good, or just practical, intentions and that you rid your baby's chances of getting any diseases or cancer through heredity. I think that that's the only pro that actually comes from a designer baby. Well, that - and the fact that you get a baby exactly the way you want it. The cons, on the other hand, are pretty much everything other than that one/two pro(s); but the one that applies the most is the cost. To create a designer baby, it costs well over an estimated US$19,000. So, think about it - is it really worth it?
While I was doing my research, I found a story about a couple using this entire process for their child - his name was Charlie. Charlie suffered from a rare blood disorder called Diamond Blackfan Anaemia. Though it was a curable disorder, his life was in danger, which resulted in his parents creating another child through IVF and PGD - not because they knew that Charlie was going to die and wanted to avoid it from happening again, but for specific stem cells that Charlie needed to live. I found it really sad how desperate Charlie's parents were to get him to live. I understand that they wanted him to live, and I'm not complaining because they wanted him to or for their intentions, but in all honesty, everything happens for a reason and whatever happens is God's plan for you. Why mess that up for $19,000, when everything will turn out fine in the end for free?
In conclusion, creating a baby the old fashioned way is just moral, in my opinion. It is most definitely cheaper, and it leaves the element of surprise for when you/your wife gives birth - and in addition, saves you from disappointment if the baby doesn't turn out the way you wanted it to. I think that parents would appreciate their baby more if it was a surprise anyway. No life should be created for parts (purposely), and life should just live on the way it's supposed to. God's plan is God's plan, and I don't think that IVF or PGD were part of it. Be fruitful and multiply - the right way.
SOURCES:
http://www1.odn.ne.jp/~cam39380/epage/epage317.htm
http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm
http://www.reproductivegenetics.com/pgd.html
http://malathy.newsvine.com/_news/2006/05/16/198093-designer-babies-cost-us19000
http://www.mindmagazine.com/story/designbaby.htm
BLOGS I COMMENTED ON:
Tracy Yusuf
Joanne Loreto
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