Children are precious beings that parent's are suppose to love and cherish. When new parent's look at their child they point out all of the features on the child. Commenting on where the child got what feature from what parent. Now imagine the child doesn't look anything like the parents at all. The first thing people think of is adoption. Yet the child is not adopted, simply had many genetic modifications. In the story, “Perfect Stranger” by Amy Casil, this the exact situation that the main character, Gary, finds himself with his son, Denny. In a world where genetic therapy, modifications, is a normal thing, Denny goes through many changes in his life. Gary likes the thought of gene therapy at the beginning of the story, then slowly changes his mind from favoring gene therapy, to being against it, then finally to accepting gene therapy. …show more content…
The first time Denny had therapy done was when he was still in his mother's womb. Carolyn and Gary were told that their son had a heart problem, but that they shouldn't worry because it could be fixed with gene therapy. The other option was to have an abortion. Casil explains, “. . .(doctors) determined that Denny had HLHS,(hypoplastic left heart syndrome),it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to try gene therapy” (315). Gene therapy had become so common to the point that nobody in society batted an eyelash when doctors would go ahead and alter someone's genes. In this scenario gene therapy actually helped to save Denny's life even before he was born. So in a way Gary and Carolyn, as the loving parents they are, went ahead and did anything to help save their child. In their minds, they made the right choice by having this done. Gene therapy opened a new door to anyone who had this type of disease because instead of killing hundred's of newborns they were able to save
Lewis details children with each disease, but one child’s story stands out. Corey Haas, born September 2000, was the first human recipient of a LCA2 gene therapy trial which revolutionized the field of gene therapy. For the first time in its field, the gene therapy was a complete success with no side effects; four days after receiving an injection of the corrected RPE65 gene, Haas was able to see light as more than just shadows. Haas and the doctors that administrated his therapy, Dr. Jean Bennett and Dr. Al Maguire, now speak at gene therapy conventions and give hope for the future to both scientists and those affected by genetic
Green briefly touches on gene therapy that aims to cure diseases in an individual. He also considers the fact that this is therapy is particularly risky and dangerous, he holds strong with his idea that, “if the disease is serious enough […] it is usually worth trying.” (pg. 56). Green then moves onto the second ‘square’ of this chapter-germline gene therapy. Green goes much more deeply into this section, mostly because this subject often
In 1917, a law was passed creating the Oregon State Board of Eugenics. Eugenics is the concept of promoting people with sought after physical and mental traits to reproduce in order to enhance society. The board was allowed to sterilize inmates and patients in prisons and mental institutions, and if they could not reproduce, the thought was it would improve society. However, in 1983 the law was abolished. Sterilizing people does not stop the following generation from having physical or mental abnormalities nor does it prevent crime, using genetics to predict the mental state of future generations is not logical, and the sterilizations were unfair and inhumane.
Mostly all couple is programmed in this manner. When they have no option they love the adopted child and they love their own neglecting the adopted child without caring for the child’s psyche when they are blessed with a child. Kurt Vonnegut compares them to a machine which has neither love nor emotions. Human mind has some criteria to find such rules and regulation for others and their own. Sacred Miracle cave is polluted and it resembles resemble like Moby Dick, The Great White Whale.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, eugenics is: “a science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary qualities of a race or breed”. ("Definition of Eugenics by Merriam-Webster") The most common example of this concept would be the Holocaust, which was the extermination of Jewish people and others deemed “unfit” for society in World War Ⅱ. But little do many know, the Nazi’s were not the only people practicing eugenics in the early 1900’s, eugenics was being practiced in the United States long before the Holocaust. The American Eugenics Society aimed to educate American people on the science of Eugenics.
Having a parent who was adopted, and not being able to open their file leaves their children feeling empty. I grew up not knowing the other half of me and not knowing what cultures I could be a part of. Children who have a parent or parents that went through closed adoption process feel confused with their roots, lack medical history of potential diseases, and feel a loss of ethnic identity. My father went through a closed adoption when he was a baby. His adopted parents adopted him, for the thought of receiving money only to receive nothing.
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 next thing we talked about was a genetic disease. Genetic disease is a disease that doesn't have a cure and is passed down through generations. Finally we learned about designer babies. Designer babies are when parent get to pick so of there kids traits. For example this is where a parent can pick blue eyes and brown hair for there child.
If we were able to make our children smarter, better looking, or more athletic, should we? Amy Sterling Casil had that exact scenario in mind when she wrote her short story, Perfect Stranger in 2006. Written in the first-person narrative that takes place in the distant future, Casil weaves a terrifying story of genetic alteration to “fix” our children’s flaws. What harm can it cause if gene therapy is performed as an elective procedure rather than medical necessity? Gary and Carolyn, expecting parents, find out their little boy will need gene therapy while still in the womb if they hope to spare him from a fatal heart condition.
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.
This therapy changes the outcome of a child who would have likely had to live the rest of their life with a life-threatening disability. Genome editing is the road that humans can take towards the interest of preventing and treating diseases. It’s being explored in research in single gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, and sickle cell disease. It’s also likely that with further research, treatment and prevention of more complex diseases such as cancer, heart disease, mental illnesses, and HIV can be treated (“What Are Genome Editing and CRISPR-Cas9”). Helping babies live longer and fuller lives is for the greater good of our society, it will reduce suffering overall which is the goal of
“I suppose the genetic scientist are still hard at work trying to work out the kinks out. Hair like Fiona’s must drive them crazy.” (Lowrey 95). Reading The Giver has made me notice that the story’s conflicts are similar than the conflicts in our own world. One of The Giver’s many conflicts is the community making children the same as everyone else by messing with their genetics.
That is my point Mr. Samuels. There’s a difference between using gene therapy for the treatment of existing medical conditions, and using our growing, but far from perfect, knowledge of genes to declare that we absolutely know who has a right and who hasn’t to live at all.” To me, what this quote is saying is, just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Even if we could see if a baby is not going to be healthy or “perfect” when it is born, do we have the right to deny it life? This is an extremely hard ethical decision to make.
In 1932, Aldous Huxley imagined and wrote about a world where designer baby technology is prevalent in his science-fiction novel, Brave New World. The technology would not come until many years later, but his ideas still hold up today. In the book, there were different classes depending on how genetically modified one was, including Alpha or Beta (“The Public Should Oppose Designer Baby Technology”). Outside of science fiction, though, is real science where an actual baby can be genetically modified before even being born. A designed baby is one that is purposefully shaped to be one way or another through processes including In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), where an egg is fertilized and genetically altered, and preimplantation genetic diagnosis
Imagine a child living in foster care waiting for months, maybe even years, for a couple to come and adopt them and make them a part of their family. Then, finally after a long time of heartbreak and loneliness, a family does come. These two people have everything that any parent should in order to adopt such as: money, a stable job, no criminal record, plans for the future, domestic peace, and all the love a parent could give a child. Yet, at the end of this day, they are turned down and the child is at a loss of the opportunity of having a good, loving family. Why?