Current Event for Week of 1/22/07
Idea of 'designer' babies with defective genes stirs ethics questions
Advances in genetics has made the option of embryo screening a reality for parents. Many people have questioned the ethics behind parents choosing characteristics such as sex, eye color, and hair color. Is this playing God?
The debate has become even more heated now that parents with disabilities are using embryo screening to create families with characteristics similiar to their own.
Read the article here.
Do parents have the right to determine whether or not their children will have disabilities? Is society at fault for viewing these characteristics as "abnormal?" Is this playing God? Click "comment" to type your opinion.
Advances in genetics has made the option of embryo screening a reality for parents. Many people have questioned the ethics behind parents choosing characteristics such as sex, eye color, and hair color. Is this playing God?
The debate has become even more heated now that parents with disabilities are using embryo screening to create families with characteristics similiar to their own.
Read the article here.
Do parents have the right to determine whether or not their children will have disabilities? Is society at fault for viewing these characteristics as "abnormal?" Is this playing God? Click "comment" to type your opinion.
posted by cldaily at 8:42 AM
30 Comments:
First off I would like to start out by saying that I am totally against embryo screening for the purpose of making differently looking or differently abilitated children. I am a supporter of enbryonic and stem cell research but this one crosses the line. Who are we to decide what our children look like or function like. God made all of us who we are and that is special. I think that messing with appereance and making babies with disabilities is very wrong. Parents who want deaf or dwarf babies say they just want babies that are similar to them. I think this is just selfishness from the parents because even though they would get a baby that looked or functiond like they did he or she would still be outcasted by the rest of society. Just because the parents of a child have to deal with being a dwarf or being deaf doesen't mean they should punish there innocent children with the same handicap. Kids don't live with their parents their whole lives; sooner or later they will enter mainstream society and they will already be a step behind because their parents had to be selfish and make them like they are. It's not fair and it's wrong.
One last note I would like to make is that I am in favor of embryo screening if it is to catch embryos that are infected or will be cause for a highly defective baby. This is copmletely different than altering a "normal" baby to make it disabled.
ok... i think it is wrong that people are taking the kids and changing how they will function or how they will look just because that parent wants him/her to look how they did. its not right at all. i can't believe that just because you are a dwarf, and your child actually has the chance of not being a dwarf, that you would make sure that he/she is a dwarf because you are. wouldnt you want your child to be healthy and not have any disorders? wouldnt you want your child to stay free from dealing with society and everyone make fun of them because they are a dwarf or whatever the disorder is? but thats just me. why would anyone want their child to go through what they go through? it dont make sense. also, i think it would be ok as long as it were like two "normal" people were told they were going to have a disordered child and they could fix the baby and make it so that the baby would be healthy... that is fine.
i also agree that the whole thing is "playing God". God made us who we are and we shouldnt change that or mess that up. we are all who we are for a reason. If God wants us to be a dwarf, then we are gonna be a dwarf. He has a reason behind it all.
I am only in favor of embryo screening if it is for a good purpose. It is wrong for a parent to give a healthy child a disability just for the fact that they have it themselves. It's completely selfish. I do believe, though, that if it is needed to save the baby from a disability at birth or later on in life that it is acceptable. Parents should want their children to be normal and not treated weird by other people. Also, I believe that using the screening just to make the babies ideal for the parents (i.e. a handsome boy or beautiful girl) is wrong because then everyone would be perfect and we are a society of imperfections. Personally, I do not believe that it is playing God by doing this. That's like saying that medicine is just playing God because you were "meant" to get sick.
I agree that embryonic and adult stem cells should be used though because even though you my have to kill a not-yet-formed baby for the ESC you still are saving an already formed human being. Either way someone dies or is hurt and I believe we should preserve what we have rather than what could but might never be. I am just irritated at the lack of knowledge of some people about stem cells because they have no room to talk if they don't really know what stem cells are all about.
First i want to start by saying that having two gentic defects myself i am all for embryo screening and stem cell research but for the purposes of making children with genetic disorders i'm against. I wouldn't change what i've gone though in my life but i dont wish it on anyone else. I think that if they can fix a gentic disorder before a child is born that they should but no one should wish a disorder on their child and in a sense that is what these people are doing. I had to have IV gene therapy for many years to fix my disorder and now i'm ok but every year i have to have my blood taken and tested to make sure that my immune system is stable and that my body is holding up on its own! So if i had to choose between a healthy child and one with my immune deficency i would definatlly choose the healthy one. My view might posssibly change if i was deaf or a dwarf but i highly doubt it.
Lastly i think that it is really selfish of the parents to want to make a child suffer through everything they have. So what your child may be taller than you i know that a lot of normal kids are taller than their parents too.
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Im an agaisnt embryo screening. But i can see both sides of the case. Anymore, toddlers to teenagers get made fun of for things they can help. if you go into a grade school and look around, kids aremaking fun of eachother left and right: for their weight, how they run, who their parents are, how much money they have, if they are blind, if they are def, if they are too smart, or too dumb. Kids are vishish. if a parent does have a genetic dissorder im sure they got picked on a bit while they were growing up, and that kind of being picked on will create mental and emotional damage. Im sure they would remember that. so why would they want to put their own children in the same position. I can see if your a dwarf how its easier to raise a dwarf then an average size teen.. No matter what way you see it, both sides has it pros and cons, and they make you who you are.. but i think you should just let your personal "creator", whoever or however you believe we are created, and just let the future hold itself and stop trying to make yourself happy in 40 years and just think of today.
I don't think it's right that parents should choose for their children to have a disability, just because they are disabled. I mean I support the embroy and stem cell research, for advancement towards a cure of cancer and other life threatening diseases, but we shouldn't get to decide what our children look like or don't look like for that matter. God made us the way we are for a reason, why should we start playing God to make ourselves happier? I always thought parents wanted their children to be as healthy as possible.
This article really made me think of all the possible experiements/ research scientists can do with embryos. While I think it's great that embryo screening is available, I'd have to say I am personally against it in the situation that the article is talking about. I too believe that if the parents asks the doctor to make their baby like them, a deaf or a dwarf baby, it is already taking away the babys' rights. Also, deaf or dwarfism will be something the baby will have to cope with the rest of their life and their parents made that decision for them. I don't think the parents should have a right to influence their baby's life in such a huge way before they are even born. On the other hand, embryo screening to find wether the baby is missing or has more than the normal amount of chromesomes I am O.K. with. To alter a perfectly healthy baby seems absurd to me.
There's a lot to say about this issue, so I'll start with stating that I think the whole practice of messing with genes to change a human life is wrong... unless it is done to cure a genetic disease or to save a life.
Choosing sex, eye color, and hair color are already crossing the line. If we allow this to happen, it will be like a parent can pick and choose every aspect of the new child. Height, intelligence and athletic ability are not very far-fetched things to change when you are messing with genetics. The next thing you'll know is that everyone is a "perfect child."
I think the issue gets much worse and complex when a parent does not want to choose eye color, ect, but choosing to give that child a disability. This will hold the child back for their whole lives. Yes, I realize that parents want children like them, but is it really necessary for the child to suffer because of the selfishness of the parents? Making those life-long genetic decisions for a child is messing with nature, and yes, it is playing God in a sense.
Society today places those who are deaf or suffer from dwarfism in the category of abnormality. I beleive this is wrong in principle, but its a stretch to beleive we could change these perspectives. Although these groups of people may be abnormal, that doesn't mean they aren't accepted by society. Many contribute more to society than "normal" people.
this whole situation has good sides and bad sides. the good side is the fact that with embryo screening parents can tell if their children will have a disorder that could possibly mean death soon after birth or in the near future. the screening could prevent these disorders from happening. the bad side is that parents could abuse the ability to 'order' their children by giving them disabilities. just because the parents have a disability doesn't mean that the child should have it too. if i were a child i wouldn't want to be deaf...it wouldn't be fair to me if my parents were to give me their problem just because they want to have something in common. a disabled life is a hard life, and it shouldn't be passed on to a child. im more against the idea than for it.
That's a tough subject, I suppose. I believe that embryonic screening for the purpose of altaring what the child will ultimately look like is unethical, especially when looking down the avenue of religious and moral principles. What good is the miracle of birth if you've ultimately selected your child out of a catalog? I do not think that it is fair to choose whether or not your child will have mental disabilities: i think for pretty obvious reasons. Is it fair to those who have had mentally disabled children to get to have a choice in the condition in which your child is born? To me, that would be a slap in the face. How materialistic has our society become that a parent even has the opportunity to choose such intricate pieces of a newborn human's life? I dunno.
The idea of embryo screening seems completely insane. I think it is so wrong to give a child a disability, when you have no idea of the things they could acomplish in life, and how great that would be. It could also be a waste of money, because the parent could have the procedure done when the child may have already had the disability. If a family wants to care for a child with a disability they should just adopt them instead of ruining a perfectly normal childs experiense. I think that the parents should stop being so selfish and think about how they are effecting their child.
If embryo screening could be used to help children who have disabilities such as deafness it seems logical to help the child out but i think parents should let their children be born the way they are supposed to be and not try to change them.
i think it is a good idea because the embryo scanning will be able to look at the baby and see if there are any compications and would be able to tell if the kid has a disability. that would help a great deal, in the fact of parents dealing with the situation. they would be able to know ahead of time before the baby is born to cope with it. than just having it thrown on you at the time of birth. i feel it would be a very goood thing
No parent i believe has the right to make thier baby have a disability at all. It just not natural and it is really wrong on so many levels! Why would parents want to make thier kids have a disability and put them throuh the same pain that you went through it is absolutly stupid.
This whole thing is abnormal and stupid and i think that it is totally wrong and wierd.
I think if parents had the chance to change thier babies it is playing god but it is also once again wrong god makes you and your children the way he makes you for a reason. Dont change his doings!
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- I dont believe the parents have the right to determine if their child has a certain disability or how their child will look. The child already has a chance of having the deformality if one or both of it's parents does. I think embryo screening is eliminating the chance of all kids being unique in their own way because the parents are basically picking what they are going to be like. Everyone lives their life their own way but i think that if the parents chose whats going to happen then that is basically having the parent determining what the kid's life will be like.
- I also think this is an act of "playing God" because this is going too far with what exactly you are going to get. I also believe another thing about having kids is that you don't necessarily know what they are going to be like until they are born/raised. I think if someone wants to know exactly what they are going to get then they should go pick out a new dog or pet in general. God determines what your child will and won't have, this should be out of the picture for parents to chose. Parents should be happy for the kid they recieve rather than only being happy for what they exactly want. All kids are made unique and different for the exact reason of "being yourself".
I think that this is completely wrong. You should not be able to pick and choose what you want ina child. That's liek going through a drive and ordering a combo meal , becasue you're going to pick exactly what color eyes and hair, the sex of the baby, and what other possible disabilities or diseases that a baby could posses. Parents are supposed to be happy with the child no matter the sex, color, or anything else. More than likely these parents will love the baby no matter what, but it's still a bad idea. Another thing is that doing embryo screening could cause disfunctions in the process.
I understand that these parents want to have a child that's a dwarf like them, but thats no reason to jeporadize having a baby at all. they could lose ever having a baby if something goes wrong in this process. They should love the child no matter if it's 3'3" or 6'3".
O.K. im here again because last night i was doing some thinking about the article. I have changed my decision of it being O.K. sometimes.
I am totally against the embryo screening because who are we to say what our child does or does not look like? NO ONE! God created us all the way he did for a specific reason. Why would anyone want to mess uo what he has created? I don't know.
It is completely selfish of parents to say "i want my baby to have a disorder because i have that disorder". I don't agree with that at all. Why would that parent want his/her child to go through everything he/she went through as a kid and/or an adult. I just don't understand. It's not possibly logical.
The fact that they parents have the oppertunity to change the way their baby acts and/or looks or doesn't act and/or looks, is not right. Why would any parent want to take away the amazing moment of when the baby pops out, after 9 months of pain, the doctor anouncing "it's a girl!" or "It's a boy!" it's truly an emotional moment for a parent. If you already know what the child is going to look like, and what sex it will be, and if its healthy or not... it's not as intense as if you didnt know.
Well, thats all i have to say for now.
I think that embryo screening is for a good cause because it would cut down on the defects children would have when they are born.Also i do not think the parents should be giving the children defects just because they want their child looking like them that is not how things should be done. But i do not think the parents should be chosing the childs eye color ans sex. that should be left up to nature and how things are done.
I don't think parents have the right to choose whether their children have disabilities. I'm in favor of scientific research when it is actually trying to find a cure or something, but not for the genetic makeup and looks for the child. I think the embryo screening is good for the reason of missing or extra chromosomes because that might lead to birth problems. But I don't think the screening is appropriate to make the child look like you want. It's the same reason why insurance companies won't pay for cosmetic surgeries - they aren't necessary. Plus, I don't know why a parent would purposely want to make their child have a disorder. Our society doesn't make it easier for people who are dwarfs or deaf. I couldn't imagine a parent wanting their child to be deaf just so he/she came be like them. Learning sign language to speak when majority of our society doesn't know, and then trying to do something as easy as ordering food through a drive thru, for example, is impossible.
I think this screening is playing God. Parents shouldn't care what their kids look like or if they look like them or not. Obviously they will inherit traits from both mother and father, so why not just leave it up to fate to determine whether the child is deaf or a dwarf or even a "normal" child.
I think that embryo screening is not the way to go. What is the point of having a child "made" if it doesn't come directly from you and your spouse. I believe the statment that hilary08 made about God being the creater and us being special is true and i strongly agree with that.
I don't understand why you would want to do this in the first place because it is not your right to decide weather your kid should be deaf, blind, and dumb. the only one/thing that has the right is God/nature. why would you want you kid to never be able to speak or see. this is a terrible thing and should be illegal.
Well I can strongly say that I do not agree with embryo screening or research. What makes a difference if a baby does have a defect? Is the mother and/or father going to love the baby any more or any less?? If that is the case then, maybe those parents shouldn't even have children!!! And secondly, I do believe that creating your baby to have certain characteristics is selfish! Each baby and person in the world is unique because they are especially created by thier parents...without the choice of what they look like!!! Lastly if everyone does turn to the embryo screening to create the baby of thier dreams,(and everyone will look the same because of the "normal" standard idol of society) then i will take a small stand and not do anything that has to do with embryo fixing!!! My child, when i have it
(way in the future), will be uniquely its own person!!!
Parents should not be able to control whether or not their child is going to be exactly like them and have the same disabilities. This to unethical to the baby that will be born, not that be disabled is bad or you cna't make the best of it, but if your not supposed to come out like that then what right to doctors have in changing that. Yes i think that it is playing God, a baby gets everything from the genes of their parents. Society does think of this as "abnormal," but who isn't to say that the people we claim as abnormal aren't the normal ones and we are the ones who are abnormal. Everyone is how they are for a reason and no one is normal or abnormal.
I'm against embryo screening due to changing people on how they look or the disabilities people have. God chooses on how you look and waht disablility you have. I think it is wrong for parents to change there children so they can all look them same. Its just plain sulfish and wrong.
On a quick side note, I think it is funny that the article says, "Blogs are abuzz with the news." Here we are posting about this on a blog. I just thought that was funny.
I am not a fan of modifying embryos, whether we give children disabilities or prevent them. I don't think it is right for any human to be forced to go through a disability because his or her parents chose for that to happen. I also don't think that it is right for embryos to be altered so that they are made better in the eyes of the parents. When we alter embryos, it is almost like we are trying to create the Aryan Race. We can't all be perfect, get used to it. Also, I can see this practice opening a new can of worms in the legal system. What happens if a life is lost due to this procedure? How does this practice interact with current abortion laws? I envision lawyers having a field day with this one.
I do think it's disgusting that parents would create a perfect designer baby, let alone create one with defects. I do believe it is like playing God and should not be legal. What if the child with the created defects later have more complications in life. I think other children in America and around the world need to be adopted, especially those who have difficulty find homes because of their disabilities. I think a "normal" healthy, child raised by dwarfs for example, might be able to teach others not to judge them, to teach people to accept them and show them that just because someone has a disability doesn't make them any less of a person.
I think that if we have the technology to do somehting such as embryo screening and parents are willing to pay for it, then it should be their choice as to wether or not they get a "designer baby." I think that the parents should be all-powerful and that they know what is best for themselves and their children.
As far as intentionally having a baby with a birth defect like dwarfism, I think that it is a little bit unfair to the unborn child becuase they may not have wanted to be born as a dwarf and it might make them bitter towards their parents for making them be born with a disability when they could have been born as a "normal" sized person.
The more times i read this article i don't know what to think. I understand where people are comming from when they say they shouldn't do this to their childern. But in the same sense i understand why there parents want to do it. I just think we need to the leave it up to God on how people turn out!
I think that this is a hard subject because no one wants their own children to have disabilities. As much as i think embryo screening would be a good thing for helping children not be disabled, I'd have to say i'm against it. I believe that you are who God makes you to be. If you have a disability that is the way it's supopsed to be. You learn to deal with it and people learn from you. I think embryo screening is wrong for that reason alone.
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