Alexis Wolf
Professor Julia Gousseva
October 29th 2017
Critical Reading 112
Are designer babies the future? Just think about it, designing the traits of your future child to look specifically however you want. The article “The Life Editor” by Michael Page discusses the idea of scientifically modifying genes and the possibilities the methods of gene editing can hold. Page describes the new innovation called CRISPR gene editing. CRISPR makes it easy to “turn off” a specific gene at a time to see what it does, and it can introduce mutations to treat cancer or find out if people are predisposed to things such as obesity and diabetes. Michael Page uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos and pathos to elucidate the pros and cons of genetically
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Page uses this to his advantage to describe the negative side of gene altering. Page states “Such irresponsible behavior might be disastrous for the health of children but for now it poses no large issues.” Page also mentions the idea of “designer babies”, this brings forth issues relating to the holocaust. The Holocaust was based on the idea of a perfect race, with the technology of the CRISPR gene, who knows what could happen and what this could lead to. Page discusses the idea of “gene drives", which CRISPR makes both easier to create and much more powerful. Normally a gene variant in an organism has a 50 percent chance of being inherited by an offspring. A gene drive can insert a copy of itself into the DNA inherited from the other parent which then guarantees it will get passed to all of the organism's offspring, meaning it can spread very quickly through an entire population. In theory gene drives could be deliberately unleashed to wipe out unwanted species such as disease-carrying mosquitoes which is a plus but with the possibilities of careless mistakes there is the potential to also spread uncontrollably in the wild as a result of lab accidents. Morally the question of gene editing and if it is right to do so has been called into question, even a proposed ban has been introduced to stop the usage on human …show more content…
Page does a superior job appealing to both sides of his audience, those who are for gene editing and those who are against. Page describes equally both the pros and cons of the CRISPR gene. On one hand potentially humans could be healthier overall in the future but is it morally right? One may argue that the CRISPR technology would be used to prevent the inheritance of genetic diseases, yet this is already being done without gene editing. Page writes “It is concluded that not only should we leave the door open to germline gene editing, but there is much to be gained from research, including understanding embryonic development and finding out why some women miscarry.” Which is a good point, the world is continuously evolving and so is the technology we hold. We should never stop learning because we will never fully learn everything there is to
In the third chapter of Ronald M. Green’s Babies by Design Green suggest the idea of categorizing the different degrees of human gene modification into the style of Punnett squares. Additionally, this chapter mainly focuses on the boundaries and of genetic engineering from Somatic modification treatment to germline enhancement. Green breaks this chapter up, in essentially four sections. He acknowledges the benefits of all four types of genetic modification and while some are less controversial than others, he presents a more in-depth argument for ones that are hotly debated, like germline gene therapy.
Aside from the authority that results from being published in a peer-reviewed journal, Gert writes in a rather serious and academic tone to prevent the reader from taking his words too lightly. By calling attention to the fact that “we do not know that there are no risks,” Gert’s argument transcends all limitations and fosters a creeping feeling of uncertainty and fear. In some aspects, opting to argue the general possibility of negative side effects of genetic engineering rather than naming specific possibilities enhances his argument as the
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) Today i’m here to talk to you about crispr “what's crispr” you might ask you also might ask “why does it have no E its triggering my ocd” and my answer is well too bad because i say that word about fifty times in this essay so what does crisper stand for it stands for Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and is super annoying to type so i’m not going to do that any more but I AM going to tell you about how crispr should be banned i mean anywhere just BANNED Crispr is a form of genome mutation first found in small ecoli bacterium if the cell was attacked and somehow managed to survive crispr would grab some of the virus and fuse it with its DNA and RNA. This is essentially a mug shot of the virus and if it ever attacks again the cell calls the proteins and tells them to terminate anything
Through bio-technology parents choose the genes of their children and attempt to replace the creators design. D’Souza quotes leading techno-utopian Lee Silver who states, “The human mind is much more than the genes that brought it into existence” (D’Souza, 2010, para. 17). In changing the child’s genetics, bio-technology changes the child’s entire future existence. The parents determine the traits the child will exhibit and their capabilities. However, the human mind is vast and expands beyond the limitations of the genes which brought it into being.
In "Building Baby from the Genes Up" by Ronald M. Green, Green expresses his view that genetically modifying humans is not necessarily a good thing for human, but that it’s not such a bad thing or inevitable. Green claims that genetic modification is beneficial to society and would help improve living. Green exclaims that genetic modification is an inevitable future and that the quality of the human population will improve. Green proposes the idea that genetic modification will improve the quality of the human population by using it with health related issues such as obesity and dyslexia and that no children will have to suffer anymore because of those problems. Knowing about our gene will give us more freedom according to Green.
The issue of modification through gene manipulation becomes increasingly complex when considering how this technology can be used as a means to unethical and harmful uses. In the article, Babies with Genes From 3 people could be Ethical, Panel Says, Rob Stein exposes various concerns about three gene donors in an embryo, including how a scientist, “Could introduce some new disease into the human gene pool or that scientists could try to do this for other reasons-nonmedical reasons, like create designer babies where parents pick the traits of their children.” Stein goes on to explain how the gene replacement procedure would take place, which continues to usher in a plethora of concerns as whether to allow Crispr technology be tested on a embryo.
The Rise of Human Genetic Modification? There are many controversial issues throughout time that have risen and led countries to disagree to with one another worldwide. Eugenics and genetic engineering on humans is a topic that many believe crosses a major ethical boundary. Many scientists and ethicists believe that gene editing on human genes is unethical at certain degrees and it should not be done until the proper precautions have been overlooked and restrictions are made.
Fukuyama brings up topics that can be split into two categories: risks and benefits of genetic engineering along with the affordability of genetic engineering. Considering scientists aren’t entirely sure how genes work, they bring about several ills they wouldn’t be aware of, whether they be immediate ills or ills that show up much later (Fukuyama, 678). Genetic Engineering could have horrific effects on a population which could lead to the abandoning of genetic modification, just like in the way that hydroelectricity is no longer used as much because of the potential of dam breaks or environmental effects (Fukuyama, 680). There is also a possibility that only the rich will have access to this technology, so the state would possibly have to intervene to fix this inequality (Fukuyama, 680). Fukuyama concludes his writing by posing the fact that no matter what happens with genetic engineering, genetic engineering will change the course of human history on several levels, and on levels greater than that of any human biotechnology (Fukuyama, 681).
He goes on to say that, when a child is genetically engineered, parents can make/design their children to be attractive, smart and healthy. They can also have photogenic memories, enhanced lung capacity and an increased life span of 200 years. The author made much use of ethos in his writing, and he wrote to inform the audience that has a background on science about the advancing/developing process of gene mutation. Hayes states that many other scientists, biochemists,
The researchers then combine the broken gene with a healthy gene. This new healthy gene is now modified and free from the mutation it had before. Although many individuals’ ethics and morals stand in the way of gene editing, this technology affects society in many different
This procedure’s purpose is to switch out genes for more preferred ones, especially to improve the health of the child. Genetic engineering could permit selection of desired physical and pleasurable traits for non-medical reasons, which has created concern in some people. The process of switching out the genes of a fetus to install genes that are more preferred has brought up debate about whether or not parents should be able to alter their babies genes to make them more appealing to the parents interests. There are many different ways of looking at this procedure and in contrast to other scientific procedures it can be for greater good or for unnecessary enhancement that could potentially create problems in society. Designer babies aren’t morally correct or incorrect, but are in between depending on what it is being used for.
Editing of the human genome in the past has been only a sight seen in dystopia works such as Brave New World. Now, genetic enhancement is a prevalent today and people are beginning to realize the issues that can arise from creating these designer babies. Gene editing can be helpful to eradicate life changing disabilities. Yet, the term disability does not correctly label these differently abled people, as the idea of what is considered disabled has changed overtime. To fully understand the consequences and implications of genetic selection and enhancement of human embryos, society must mature and declare lines of what is and is not ethically moral.
Mutation in children is not uncommon and it has caused many children to be robbed of the chances that healthy children are born with. A parent blessed with the gift of a healthy child wouldn’t be able to understand the relief genetic engineering would be able to bring to parents of children born with haemophilia, cystic fibrosis, or muscular dystrophy. Not only would choosing the best traits in an organism be good for humans, but for animals and plants. As previously mentioned, plants would benefit in the sense that they will be able to get immunity to pests and their own types of diseases. Animals would be able to make their prime state by modifying their DNA.
Therefore, if two parents are carriers of a certain gene that will disable their child, they can modify that gene to make a child that will not have that disability. As well as some parents will have designer babies to save another child they already have with a certain disease. In this method, parents will choose their child’s blood type and such in order for them to match that other diseased child and potentially give them their blood, marrow, and even organs. Genetically modifying a child’s chance of disease ensures that a child may live a life without potential disease and disability that they may have been more prone to had their parents’ not used this method. This also ensures a healthy life for a child that had a greater potential of having a medical condition due to their parents being carriers of that particular gene.
The procedure putting another extra clone gene to the mom’s womb and growing is not easy and sometimes it can cause moms and the child 's death. Because we want a clone baby doesn’t mean we want to kill the moms so it is irrelevant and hazardous. Peoples want to believe that we shouldn 't be afraid of cloning babies or having engineered baby, but however people connected to their religion and didn’t want to mess with their god(religion) so because of that most of the people didn’t want to accept this technology. As seen in the (Caplan’s) article, scientists are using CRISPR CAS9 to make a new engineered baby. This tool helps to edit genes in animals and insects and now it also works on human to modify their genes and to enter the new gene to make clone babies.the intriguing instance of genetic modification was that there is a lot of controversies and agreements in human cloning.