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Abbie Levin

English 102
Professor Newport
May 8, 2017

Genetic Modification of Unborn Babies

All the time people imagine what their kids might look like, or why the kid ended up

looking like they did. Or even thinking about what they wish they could change about their kid,

for medical reasons or even to be better at sports. All of those thoughts are on peoples minds all

the time, but not talked about often enough. Especially with the scientific rise of genetic

modification on unborn babies. Genetic modification of unborn babies is a topic that is becoming

very popular. It is the ability to go into the genes of an unborn baby and alter characteristics of

the fetus. This can help prevent genetic diseases, but it can also help you to design your baby.

This brings up the idea of the Frankenstein Effect. That is the situation where although we have

the technology to do something, should we do it? Some people say

that we should be using the ability to genetically modify genes to

design our own babies, but I believe that we should be using it to

help prevent and remove diseases from the world that currently do

not have any other fix, because this will help to save the lives of

many children and help us to create better lives for children who

would have been born with these genetic diseases.


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Creating a Master Race

Designer Baby means that the childs genetic build was carefully and specifically selected

resulting in the ability to pick and choose genes. This would allow parents to go in and

specifically select what their children will look like. Designer baby is the idea that a woman with

brown eyes and brown hair has a child with brown eyes and brown hair. Now, since she wants

her baby to fit her personal definition of perfect, she could go and get her childs genes altered

to result in her child coming out with blue eyes and blonde

hair which was highly unlikely without genetic modification.

The term designer baby fits this idea perfectly, since people

would literally go and pick the exact traits they want. The idea

of designer baby slowly creeps over into the idea of a master

race and Hitler ideas, which is why most people do not accept

2 the idea of designer babies.

A lot of people say that designer babies are not at all similar to Hitlers ideas. They argue

that we should be designing our own babies. Bill Muehlenberg comments about this, While

most people today shy away from any similar ideals or goals, the new biomedical technologies,

coupled with secularist hubris and the desire to play God have resulted in newer, but equally

sinister calls for a superior race (Muehlenberg). He is explaining how the ideals of Hitler do

coincide with what is going on behind the idea of designer babies. These calls to create a

superior race take over the ideas that everyone can be different. This results in a powerful lean

towards similar ideas to Hitler. That is why people need to understand that we should not use this

technology to design our babies.


I believe that we should not use our technology to modify the childs genes in the

designer baby sense. I believe that we should only be using this technology to save the childrens

lives, not to give them blue eyes. By picking and choosing what genes you want your child to

have, you are taking away from the natural way of life. When believing in the idea of designer

babies, you are fully being influenced by societys idea of the perfect person. Society has a huge

impact on what people think of themselves. Nora Turriago of Huffington Post states, The

celebrity serves as both an object of worship and of disgust, simultaneously representing what

we strive to be and yet what we dislike most about ourselves and, by extension,

society. (Turriago). She is describing how humans are completely controlled by what is shown

in society. People would want their children to look like whatever they have been seeing on TV

or on social media. The traits people would be picking would all be the same, all based off of one

common view in society. People should want to display their differences and what makes

everyone special. If everyone looked the same, no one would ever

look different. The master race would be exactly the same, always

striving to stay with what they see in society. You should want to

see yourself and your partner in your child everyday and tell the

story of who you are personally, not what you see in an


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advertisement.

Another reason we should not be able to use eugenics to design our babies is because it

would result in a master race. A master race is the idea that one race will have better abilities in

life and slowly over time take over due to natural selection. This is the idea Hitler was working

towards, except he did not wait over time, he mass killed people to create the natural selection. If
we allowed people to pay and change their childs genes for aesthetic reasons, the rich would be

able to design their children, while the poor would not be able to. This group of children that are

genetically modified would, over time, take over and produce more and more children, all

starting to look the same, while the poor would die off, not having the perfect traits to fit in with

society. The idea of a master race is still prominent in society. This magazine from England

states, The only way of cutting off the constant stream of idiots and imbeciles and feeble-

minded persons who help to fill our prisons and workhouses, reformatories, and asylums is to

prevent those who are known to be mentally defective from producing offspring (Heyes). This

is a powerful statement that was shared with people all over. They are promoting the idea of a

master race. Although it is a less severe way, it still shows the strength of people who want a

master race. The use of genetic modification to design babies, ultimately creating a master race,

is a terrifying idea. That is why I believe that the ability to genetically modify an unborn childs

genes should only be used to save lives, not for parents to design what they want their child to

look like.

Some people believe that we should use this technology to pick and choose the genes

they want their child to have. People argue this due to a wide array of reasons. One reason people

give is the idea that if you are raped, you don't want the child to look like your rapist. A lot of

people relate that opinion to situation of abortion when someone is raped. Many people say that

the victim should not have to have a child that reminds them of that awful time. I believe that the

child deserves to know who the father is, and have a connection to them. Even if they are not the

best father, that is a part of them and they will recover from the tragedy, with a child that looks

like they are supposed to and tells the story of overcoming.


Another reason people believe that we should be genetically modifying children to the

genes of the parents choosing is because of athletic and academic reasons. This is similar to the

reasons behind why some parents put their children into school a year later than they are

supposed to. They want their child to be better than the other kids. They do this in academic

competition and athletic competition. By being a year

older, the kids will be a little smarter, bigger, and more

mature than the other kids. Parents of kids describe it

as, The thinking in kindergarten is that this delay will

allow the child to grow physically, cognitively, and


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emotionally, making their eventual kindergarten experience more successful (Gonzalez).

Parents are using the age they put their child in school to control the childs ability, similar to

controlling their genes. Some people think that if they could control their childrens genes, they

could just give them genes to help them academically and athletically. They can give them the

best for what they want their child to have, to make them competitive with everyone. This is a

terrible idea. It would create a whole new level of competition and create a master race of super

powered kids. We should not be using this technology to create designer babies.

The Ability to Play God

Another reason we should not be designer our babies is due to the many aspects of

religious issues. Many people believe that the idea of designing aspects about our babies will

result in parents playing the role of God. Religion plays a huge role in cultures everywhere. In

many regions, people are created to be who they are by a god. This technology goes against a lot
of beliefs of people. By encouraging this technology, we are going against a large amount of

people. One statement made about this is, DNA has come to function in effect as an inviolable

sacred, a special province of the divine, that should be off limits to human tampering (Peters).

This explains how the idea of our DNA is something created by God and should not be altered in

any way. Genetic modification to design our babies goes completely against that.

People argue that if we are not allowed to play God by picking and choosing our traits,

we should not be using this technology to prevent genetic diseases. They argue that even by

saving lives, you are going against Gods already perfect creation. The reason they are wrong is

because the goal of most religions is to serve your people. This is why people go on mission trips

and are encourage to help everyone, you are supposed to put others lives first. By saving these

peoples lives through this technology, people would be able to live longer and serve their god to

their fullest ability.

Prevention of Genetic Diseases

Although we should not be using this technology to design our babies, we should be

using it for medical reasons. I believe that one of the best reasons to support genetic modification

is because it can cure genetic diseases before the baby is even born. This will allow parents to

prevent the child from having serious problems and overall

enhancing the childs future life. Five of the most common

and worst diseases that can be fixed by genetic modification

are HIV, genetic blindness, Familia Hypercholesterolemia,

Sickle-Cell Anemia, and Hemophilia. These diseases kill


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and severely worsen peoples quality of life. The number of people who have these diseases is

way too high. Genetic modification technology is able to fix all of these plus many more. So

many people may have a wide range of diseases, but with this technology, they all can be

prevented. I believe that the use of this technology will allow us to save so many lives, and will

allow so many children to live their lives to the fullest.

Many people are worried that the risk of using this for medical reasons is too high. They

are worried that people will die and it will cause more problems than it will fix. These people are

insanely wrong. Lauren F Friedman wrote a strong article about how this technology can help

save lives where she states, the potential to use these same technologies to cure intractable

diseases is huge (Friedman). She knows that even through all of the risks, even the slimmest

chance to save so many lives and cure these diseases, it will all be worth it. We have to work

through the fear to see so many lives all the time.

The use of this technology to save lives is very similar to Frankenstein. Genetic

modification would be used to prevent diseases to ultimately save lives. In Frankenstein, they use

the technology to bring someone back to life and create lives. They are also similar through the

idea that in both, there is the strong issue of even though we have this technology, should we be

using it. Genetic modification and eugenics are powerful science topics and are highly

controversial. There were many mixed opinions of Frankensteins ideas in the book. The idea

about not knowing whether to use the technology we have or not is a very important idea in

genetic modification and Frankenstein.

Some people believe that we should not be using this technology to save lives. They

believe that this ability is like the ability to design their children. They believe that saving lives
would lead to a master race. They think that only some people would be able to afford it. This

would result in only the upper class being able to remove the bad genes. Over a period of time

this would lead to a master race forming due to natural selection thats only semi-natural at that

point. What these people have not researched is how scientists and doctors are trying to make

this medical advancement available to everyone, so they can permanently remove genetic

diseases. Doctors and scientists are primarily leaning towards having this completely available to

everyone in order to help eliminate problems and save so many lives in the long run.

People also think that we should not be taking out

the bad genes. They believe that people in the world are

only learning from and having a better life by having people

with genetic diseases in our world. Matt Slick the President

and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research

Ministry states the common opinion of, If we open our


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hearts and our minds and leave our judgmental attitudes

behind, we can see the good that can come out of our relationships with them (Slick). This

shows how they believe that the person in their life, only made their life better. The people who

think that, do not think about what the people would want who have the genetic disease. The

people are against it, are against giving everyone and equal chance at a long and healthy life. No

one should have to live life in pain. Everyone should have an equal chance at a happy life. This

can only be done through genetic modification. The technology for it is there, but people are still

dying from genetic diseases all of the time.


No Longer Passing Down Bad Genes

The next reason this technology should be used is because it will slowly and completely

knock out all genetic diseases. When doctors genetically modify an unborn child, those edited

genes will be passed on to their children. The good genes will slowly continue to be passed on

until everything has been fixed. This is a basic explanation of how this is done by NHS is, Each

cell in the body contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. One chromosome from each pair is inherited

from your mother and one is inherited from your father (NHS). This is a very basic start to how

it works, the characteristics about people do not just appear out of thin air. Everything about who

you are comes from your mother or your father. Everyone gets one from each parent which goes

into who you are. So when a parent has something bad, there is always a chance it will get

passed down to the child, and then to their child, and so on. As awful as that is, genetic

modification is the fix. When the child has the genetic diseases fixed, that person will not have

the problem available to be passed on to the next kid. This technology takes out this issues and

will save so many lives.

Some people say that we should not be wasting our time and money on genetic diseases

and we should be putting our money and focus on other problems. A lot of people say that

spending money on wiping out genetic problems, is not of the highest importance. There are

many people that say money should be put on the much more important things like cures for

cancer. In a way, they are contradicting theirselves. One thing this technology can do, is

eliminate the genes that make people have a higher likeliness of getting cancer. So by putting this

technology to use, we are saving so many lives while scientist can still be looking for a cure for

other problems. We should be putting this technology to use for medical problems.
Some people also argue that the alterations made to the genes would not be passed down

to the next child. Although this is partly correct, almost all of the alterations will get passed

down. They are very few that do not, due to other reasons. All altered genes will be passed down

successfully to the next children, but may still receive a bad gene through the other parent. There

is no way to ensure the removal of these bad genes without everyone doing it, then slowly these

genetic diseases will go away. It will take a large amount of time, but the diseases will go away

after a while.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we need to implement this technology to genetically modify into our lives

in medical ways, but not to design babies. I believe that we should be focusing on saving lives

rather than arguing whether or not saving lives is a good thing. Everyone should be encouraging

the advancement of genetic modification and discouraging the idea of designer babies. As long

as it has support, doctors and scientists can continue working on it so we will be able to save so

many lives. Stephen Hawking once said this in an interview, With genetic engineering, we will

be able to increase the complexity of our DNA, and improve the human race. But it will be a

slow process, because one will have to wait about 18 years to see the effect of changes to the

genetic code. By saving this he is showing his support for genetic modification. Even though

there is a wait, it is highly worth it.

Genetic modification is a fairly new science that should be used to prevent diseases but

not be used to design our babies. We should be using it for medical reasons because it has the

ability to save so many lives, make so many lives better, and it will slowly remove genetic
diseases from the Earth over time. We should not be using it for designer babies since it will

create a master race and it will be like we are playing god. Genetic modification is more life

changing than the idea of Dr. Frankenstein bringing someone back from the dead, and genetic

modification is a technology should be implemented into our daily lives.


Works Cited

Friedman, Lauren F. "5 Terrible Illnesses That Genetic Engineering Could Eliminate Forever."

Business Insider. Business Insider, 05 June 2015. Web. 08 May 2017.

http://www.businessinsider.com/genetic-engineering-an-hiv-cure-and-other-diseases

Gonzalez, Jennifer. "Kindergarten Redshirting: How Kids Feel About It Later in Life." Cult of

Pedagogy. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2017.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/academic-redshirting/

Heyes, J.D. "Genetic Engineering Technology Now Spearheading the Return of Eugenics and the

Push for a 'master' Superior Race of Men." NaturalNews. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2017.

http://www.naturalnews.com/

053819_genetic_engineering_eugenics_superior_master_race.html

Muehlenberg, Bill. "Let's Create a Master Race Again." CultureWatch. N.p., 02 July 2012.

Web. 08 May 2017.

https://billmuehlenberg.com/2011/02/13/lets-create-a-master-race--again/

NHS "Genetics - Genetic Inheritance." NHS Choices. NHS, n.d. Web. 08 May 2017.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Genetics/Pages/Facts.aspx

Peters, Ted, Dr. "Are We Asking Our Scientists to Play God?" Genetics Topic: Are We Asking

Our Scientists to Play God? N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2017.

http://www.counterbalance.org/genetics/play-body.html

Slick, Matt. "Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry." CARM. N.p., 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 08

May 2017.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Genetics/Pages/Facts.aspx
Turriago, Nora. "The Dangerous American Obsession: Why Are We So Fascinated With Fame?"

The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Dec. 2015. Web. 08 May 2017.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-turriago/the-dangerous-american-ob_b_8721632.html
Photographs

1) https://designerbabiesethics.wordpress.com

2) https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/03/23/expect-era-genetically-modified-designer-

babies/

3) https://www.infowars.com/genetically-modified-babies-already-born-how-will-they-alter-

human-species/

4) http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21661651-new-technique-manipulating-genes-holds-

great-promisebut-rules-are-needed-govern-its

5) http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/designer-baby-fears-after-

genetic-7288242

6) http://aj-travel.co.uk/blog/aj-travel-helping-the-disabled-be-more-active/

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