Are we taking it too far?

          What would you say if someone told you, that you could design your very own baby. If they told you that you could choose everything from its hair to its eye color. It sounds crazy right? Well believe it or not designer babies are now a reality, but it has yet to be determined whether they are good or bad.

What are designer babies?
          The term designer baby refers to a baby whose genetic make-up has been selected through Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis in order to eradicate a particular defect, or to ensure that a particular gene is present. PGD, is a huge breakthrough in the scientific world, and I respect the use of science in saving lives, but personally I think this might be taking it a bit to far.

          With this new technology, its possible to handpick the genes of your future baby in order to reduce they're chance of genetic illnesses( down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, etc..). As ideal as this sounds, I do believe that everything happens for a reason, and since this is a new technology we still don't know its long term effects. For all we know, this could cause even greater damage throughout the babies life. We are just people, some might say that using PGD is like playing God, and it is not our responsibility to design our babies.

          Another reason why I don't necessarily agree with the idea of designer babies is there cost. It costs a minimum of around $18 000, to design a baby, and because of this high cost, if PGD progresses, then it will cause an even greater barrier in society between the rich and the poor. Not only will the rich have nice clothes and nice cars, they will also have perfect genes, and not only that but PGD will eliminate the diversity in our world. If everyone can guarantee that they're kids have the "perfect" genes, than sooner or later everyone will look the same.
          This new technology enables you to screen for diseases, such as down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, and many more. As much as you want your kids to be happy and healthy, ask any parent of a child with down syndrome , and im sure they would not have aborted their child if they had known that they were going to be sick. Personally I think that every life is worth living, whether you have a physical or mental disability or you are 100% healthy.

          In conclusion, I respect that PGD is a big breakthrough in the world of science, but personally I think that people are taking it too far. It should not be in our hands to design our own babies. Marilyn Monroe once said that, "Imperfection is beauty". If everyone was "perfect " than nobody would really be beautiful because we would all be the same. The only time I would agree with designing your baby's genes would be if both parents had a genetic disease that they wanted t prevent. But even then, I still believe that everything happens for a reason, so I don't agree with changing what's meant to be. It's is a great discovery but there are still more important things that need to be uncovered.

Sources
 Pros and Cons of designer Babies
Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations 
What is a designer baby? 
Designer Babies: A right to choose? 

Blogs I commented on
http://melissasbioblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/designer-babies-are-we-taking-science.html 
http://vungaro.blogspot.com/2011/01/designer-babies.html