Research Legality of the Idea of Baby Designer

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Designer Babies
Introduction
Technological advancement has led to various interventions in different scientific fields that ranges from machines to human health. The latest technological advancement has reached child conception and ability to determine the gender, appearance, intelligence, disease and personality of the baby that is yet to be given birth to. The latest technology that is currently being used is known as designer baby. According to Gessen, a designer baby is a term that is being used to describe a situation where genetic makeup of a baby has been artificially or scientifically been selected through an engineered process that is mixed with an In Vitro fertilization so as to make sure that there is presence or absence of specific characteristics or genes in the baby (3). There have different views that have been criticizing or challenging the legality, ethics and evolution of baby designer.
This paper explores whether the idea of baby designer is legal and ethical as well as the evolution of the term baby designer.
Legality of the Idea of Baby Designer
The issue about designer baby first came to the limelight when a clinic that is based in Los Angeles suggested that parents can be allowed to choose genetic modification of their children which include choosing the gender, color, hair and eye color of their babies. Different people are having different opinions about the idea of baby designer technology, with some people are supporting it while others are also against. For those who are in the support of this scientific idea, they are of the opinion that parents have got absolute right to choose how their babies should look like. It does not matter whether parents want their child to have a green, black or brown so long as they can afford, since technology is there to do just that. Iredale, et al is of the opinion that people should stop living in the past, and start embracing new technologies that have been discovered to make life easier for them (67). Whether it is believable or unbelievable, there are some parents that really care about the gender and appearance of their kids and this one of the reasons why baby designer was discovered. As it stands now, there is no any single law in the United States that illegalizes the use of technology for determining traits of a baby before given birth to. However, currently in U.S, regulation of genetic testing and research is done by these three bodies: Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It is important to note that the mentioned bodies are not directly regulating the use of baby designer technology for genetic modification of babies. Nevertheless, there are high chances that these laws will be enacted sooner than anyone had anticipated. According to Suter , it is advisable to illegalize the use of CRISPR-Cas9 or any other available device for genetic engineering to change or modify the baby’s germline while in the womb (897). However, before such laws are regulated it will be upon scientists to regulate themselves on when and how to apply this technology. In addition to that it is important to note that a country like Australia has got a law that illegalizes the use of baby designer technology to determine the gender or traits of their babies before given births. In Australia, parents are only allowed to use this technology to for the purposes of screening embryo for genetic diseases and not for choosing the gender of their unborn babies. Due to the law that regulates or illegalizes the use of Baby Designer technologies for determining the gender and/ or the color of their children, most parents from Australia are now thronging various clinics in U.S to get these services. There are other pundits who are against the idea of baby designer are of the idea that this could be very dangerous to the parents. The issue of baby designer is an ongoing debate about the issue of using baby designer technology in the United States, with some people are supporting it while others, mostly Christians are against this idea. Regardless of different opinions that have been given by different people in the country, it is upon an individual to decide what is good for their children. According to Christians, they view this act as ungodly and against the biblical teaching that God created human beings in his own image and likeness and trying to modify God’s creation to fit other people’s desire is not acceptable to them (Stankovic, 234).
Ethical Argument about Designer Baby Technology
Before dissecting into ethical issues about the use of devices like CRISPR for modification of human genetics, it is advisable to first correct misunderstandings about what can be done and what cannot be done. As it stands right now, there is only one possibility of sending one or more genes to just correct single traits like gender or hair color. However, genetics of complex characteristics like intelligence, singing ability, or being a sports person will still be treated as a rudimentary, becau...