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Shanice Tyson
Professor Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
March 31st, 2015

Maybe Theyre Born With It, Maybe It Was Made In a Lab

Imagine knowing that you carried a gene for a debilitating illness. But doctors or
specialist could go inside you or your spouses egg and remove that defective gene. Thus
enabling you to have a baby who, whatever other problems they might encounter throughout
their lifetime, would not have to worry about the illness the defective gene would cause. Would
you undergo the procedure? If you and your partner could not conceive because of biological and
anatomical inaccuracies and this was your only option. Would you undergo the procedure? If you
have suffered multiple miscarriages and this technique would guarantee a healthy embryo.
Would you undergo the procedure?
I remember being in my tenth grade Medical Sciences I class and having to watch the
movie, Gattaca. The movie itself was good and opened my eyes to the world of eugenic, the
manipulation of genes for a more desired outcome. The main character in the movie Vincent,
played by Ethan Hawke was conceived naturally, in a world where that was unnatural, without
the aid of genetic selection, and immediately after birth, his genetics indicate a high probability
of several disorders and an estimated life span of a little more than 30 years. His parents,
regretting their decision not to genetically alter Vincents DNA, alter their second childs, Anton,

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DNA, making him the stronger of the two, genetically. Vincent grows up wanting to become an
astronaut, but because of genetics he is not suited for this job. He gets a chance to fulfill his
dream by posing as a valid, a name used by those who were conceived in a lab, by using
genetic hair, skin, blood and urine samples from a donor, who has an impeccable genetic
makeup, Jerome Eugene Morrow. To keep his identity hidden, Vincent must meticulously groom
and scrub down daily to remove his own genetic material, and pass daily DNA scanning and
frequent urine tests using Jerome's samples. I remember this movie vividly because it sparked
my interest in the field of biomedicine but more specifically designer babies. Since that time I
have had questions but did not have time to research answers. Now I have time but more
questions.
Genetic Engineering
In a peer-reviewed article published by UNC Chapel Hills The Pit, Michael Catalano
asks the question: The Prospect of Designer Babies: Is it Inevitable? Michael with the help of
experts in the field of gives a very descriptive definition as to what genetic engineering is and
what designer babies are. He writes, Genetic engineering is the deliberate modification of an
organism through the alteration of its genetic code. By removing sections of an organisms DNA
and replacing them with new segments, geneticists can artificially select for certain traits
(Simmons). A designer baby is defined as a baby whose genetic make-up has been selected in
order to eradicate a particular defect, or to ensure that a particular gene is present, and the
coinage of this term by the Oxford English Dictionary demonstrates the importance of the
developing issue (Designer Baby, OED). And now, the process of in-vitro fertilization
provides access to the genetic material within (Andrews 99).

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Genetic engineering goes back for centuries but genetically altering humans is pretty new
in comparison. On a basic level, the genetic engineering revolution has challenged the very
notion of what it is to be a human being. There is now no operational definition as to who or
what is human. Up until the upsurge of genetic engineering techniques in the
late twentieth century, it was not possible to blend the genes of one species with those of another.
When pigs mated, they produced baby pigs and when humans reproduced other human beings
were born. Species lines have now become blurred. It is now possible to transplant pig genes into
a sick person to produce a protein that was deficient in the ailing human. This technology
promises to save lives and diminish suffering. This is one example of how genetic engineering is
helping those that need help.
How Does it Work?
Rob Stein, a correspondent and senior editor on NPR's science desk, does a wonderful
job breaking down the actual process of DNA transplants or in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
Underneath is a small piece of the interview Mr. Stein gives, with Audie Cornish as the host:
ROB STEIN, BY LINE: You know, every single one of our cells have
structures inside of them known as mitochondria. And these are like the batteries
inside your cellphone. They provide all the energy that cells need to function. And
each of these mitochondria have their own set of genes. And if there are defects in
these genes they can cause diseases known as mitochondrial diseases. And these
can be pretty terrible diseases. Babies can die within the first few days or weeks
of being born. And if they survive they can go on to have terrible complications
that leave them disabled or they end up dying prematurely, and these diseases can
occur generation after generation in certain families.
CORNISH: Now, this procedure is aimed at preventing those conditions. Explain
exactly how it works.
STEIN: Yeah, so mitochondria are only passed down from women to their babies
through their eggs. So the idea is to fix the defective DNA in these eggs in the
women in these families. And here's what they do - they take healthy

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mitochondrial DNA from eggs donated by women without these diseases and they
use that to replace the defective DNA in the eggs of women in these families. And
the idea is that the resulting embryo would have the regular DNA of the woman
trying to have the healthy baby, the regular DNA from her male partner and the
healthy DNA from the woman who
donated her egg.

Below is a picture detailing the procedure:

Who Does This Procedure Impact?

Women who have had miscarriages,
same-sex couples, and those who are
financially secure are the most impacted by this procedure. Having a designer baby could
possibly be a relief to parents who have unhealthy embryos seriously affected by a deadly
disease. They would, potentially, not need to be troubled by the heavy price of having to pay for
the endless treatments that their child would have to undergo should they not decide to choose
the designer baby and have a regular pregnancy. For same-sex couples, having a child that could
have both parents DNA is a very influential method to persuade couples into having a designer
baby.
Finally, those that are secure in the area of their personal finances should even consider
this procedure. It is a long and very expensive process that should not be taken lightly.

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Breaking the Bank
Babies are really cute but they are in no way cheap. In fact a newly released estimates
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, claims that to raise a child, born in 2013, from birth to
the age of 18 costs about $245,000.00. This figure is based on the cost of housing, food,
transportation, clothing, health care, education, and child care. This enormous total excludes the
amount of money spent on higher education. Now, imagine having to pay to create a baby that
otherwise is free to create.
Having a money is a huge factor in being able to go on with this procedure. Jean M.
Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, wrote an article on The Daily
Beast painting a picture as to how costly the IVF procedure to create designer babies is. She uses
fake names for real situation. To illustrate how the new technology allows people to control
their reproduction in unprecedented ways, consider a 30-year-old woman (well call her Sophia)
from an upper-class family. Sophia pays the $20,000 or more necessary to extract and freeze a
large number of her eggs. Over two retrievals, fertility doctors obtain 30 of Sophias eggs and
freeze them using the current flash-freeze technique called vitrification, which boasts a nearly
100 percent survival rate.
Ten years later, Sophia and her husband decide to start a family. They thaw some of her
eggs, which are fertilized with her husbands sperm in the IVF lab. After five days, screening
reveals which embryos are free of chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome and
single-gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis, as well as the embryos gender. The doctor transfers
a single, normal embryo to Sophias uterusjust one, because transferring one screened embryo
leads to pregnancy rates just as high as two unscreened embryos, and without any risk of twins.
If she gets pregnant, Sophias risk of miscarriage is 10 percent or less, giving her one less thing

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to worry about. This procedure will require another $10,000 to $15,000. Through reproductive
technology, she had two children after 40 with little worry of miscarriage, twins, or chromosomal
or genetic disease, and chose the gender of her children. The downside? That outcome cost
around $50,000, about what the average U.S. family makes in a year.
Ethics of Eugenics
The United Kingdom is one of the first countries to approve the creation of babies from
three people legally. Of course there has been praise but there has also been some disapproval on
the new law. Health minister Lord Howe told BBC that there was an opportunity to offer "real
hope" to families. He goes on to say, Families can see that the technology is there to help them
and are keen to take it up, they have noted the conclusions of the expert panel. It would be cruel
and perverse in my opinion, to deny them that opportunity for any longer than absolutely
necessary.
On the other side of the debate, The Catholic and Anglican Churches in England said the
idea was not safe or ethical, not least because it involved the destruction of embryos. Other
groups, including Human Genetics Alert, say the move would open the door to further genetic
modification of children in the future - so-called designer babies, genetically modified for
beauty, intelligence or to be free of disease.
In America, Thomas H. Murray, a bioethicist at the Hastings Center, also voices his
concern. He believes that, if we let parents think they are actually choosing and controlling
[their child's outcome], then we set up all that dynamic of potentially tyrannical expectations
over what the child will do or be.
What is your view on this topic?

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Work Cited
"Designer Babies." Designer Babies. 11 June 2009. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://designerbabiesjtcc.blogspot.com/2009/06/designer-babies-who-will-get-affected_11.html>.
"Gattaca." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 30 Mar. 2015
"Genetics and the Definition of "Human"" Genetics and the Definition of "Human" Science
Clarified. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Simmons, Danielle. "Genetic Inequality: Human Genetic Engineering." Nature.com. Nature
Publishing Group, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Velez, Mandy. "The Ethics Of 'Designer Babies'" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com,
17 Mar. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.