Designer Babies: The Ethical Issues Regarding Interference with Natural Conception

Adolph Hitler (one of the most notoriously evil men of the 20th century) and his Nazi party set out to design the perfect human race- the Aryan race. To do this they would eliminate all undesirable people. The first of these "undesirables were the Jews (they believed them to be the lowest class of people in existence), followed by all people who were diseased or disabled, and later the Nazis would also include many other races and classes of people. Both Hitler and the Nazis believed that they could achieve their goal through the use of mass sterilization, horrific experimentation, and genocide.

When we look back at this time in history, we do so with horror. One man's desire to create the perfect race led to the death of millions of people. Yet, when it comes to the concept of designer babies have we really come that far? Or have we just made the thought of genetic engineering more palatable because we do our experimentation on cells and embryos instead of live human beings?

Today both genetic and reproductive sciences have come a long way since Hitler ruled Germany. We can now identify many genetic disorders (like Downs Syndrome and TaySachs disease) as well as physical traits such as gender before a child is even born. Using tests like amniocentesis and CVS (Chorionic Villi Sampling), doctors can detect birth defects in the unborn child and then parents can decide to abort the fetus. Is this ethical when no test is perfect? It is possible to receive a positive result when no disease is present. So how many potential human beings have been destroyed needlessly?

We've also developed embryonic stem cell research in the hopes of curing diseases like Parkinson's. A scientist will take donor eggs and sperm and create life (whether it is an actual human at this point is subject to debate) in a Petri dish and then extract stem cells from this life form. The ethical question raised is, should we?

Reproductive science has advanced as well. We can use artificial or in vitro insemination to impregnate a woman. These procedures give us the option to choose what gender our babies will be and what physical traits that they will have. We have even gone beyond these methods in our reproductive research. We have developed a way to create new life. We have actually cloned animals of a lower species. It is feasible that soon we will be able to do the same with human beings. What moral questions do this raise?

The question remains should we use these advances in science to create designer babies? Should we be allowed to selectively procreate? What happens if say a culture, like China, who value boy babies above girl babies, and who have already limited the number of babies that a couple can produce, decide to design just boy babies? What will be the future of their race?

Another thought, what if we use our research to eliminate all genetically transmitted diseases such as hemophilia and Huntington's disease? Doesn't this sound ideal? We all would like to believe that no person should have to suffer; that all disease could be eliminated. But, is it a solution? Or, will solving the problem of genetically transmitted disease actually create greater problems? How would it affect world population? What impact would this have on the earth's ecological balance? The population, as it exists today, has already stretched to the limits our available resources.

What happens if an evil man like Hitler were to use this research to create a super human race or a weapon of mass destruction that could annihilate the "undesirable"?

So just how far have we come from the days of Hitler? Will designer babies be a positive development for the future of mankind (total elimination of genetic disorders) or an ethical hornet's nest (possibly leading to the destruction of life as we know it) that should be left alone? You decide.

Resources Used in the Creation of this Article:

Wiikipedia, "Designer Baby" Wikipedia Url
(http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designer_baby)

Shaoni Bhattachar, "Five Designer Babies Created for Stem Cells", Newsscientist Url
(http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4965)

Gladys Pollack, "Designer Baby", Readers Digest Url
http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2001/09/designer_babies.html