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Genetic Engineering Designer Babies

Genetic Engineering Designer Babies. Hailee Schanke, Alison Van Heuklon, Katie Juran. Designing a baby. Most believe a couple sits down with a doctor to decide eye color, sex, nose shape, height, weight, talents, interests, hair color, and personality traits. This is NOT true.

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Genetic Engineering Designer Babies

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  1. Genetic EngineeringDesigner Babies Hailee Schanke, Alison Van Heuklon, Katie Juran

  2. Designing a baby • Most believe a couple sits down with a doctor to decide eye color, sex, nose shape, height, weight, talents, interests, hair color, and personality traits. • This is NOT true.

  3. “Selected Baby” • Most think “Selected baby” is a better term than “designer baby” • Doctor will select an embryo that: • Is for a specific sex • Is screened for potential genetic diseases • A match for an existing sibling who has a genetic disorder • All other traits are pure predictions

  4. What is Genetic Engineering? • Organisms are given new combinations of genes (therefore new traits) in order to have a desired state or condition • Usually used for genetic disease screening • Not as commonly used to decide the sex of the child

  5. Methods used to Ensure Sex of the Baby

  6. Sperm Sorting • Take the father’s sperm and separate them into male and female chromosome carriers • Artificially inseminate the mother with the correct sperm

  7. Prenatal Diagnosis • Give an ultrasound or an amniocentesis (removal of amnio fluid from around the fetus) to the mother • This will determine sex • If the sex is undesired, terminate the pregnancy

  8. Traditional Methods • Take a needle and thread and hold it over your wrist • If the needle swings back and forth, it’s a girl • If the needle swings in a circle, it’s a boy • Not a lot of scientific evidence to support traditional methods

  9. Pre-Implantation Diagnosis • Remove an unfertilized egg from the women • Fertilize in a Petri-dish, and bring to zygote stage • Examine for sex and genetic diseases (more commonly used for genetic disease testing) • Test is called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis or Selection

  10. Strange Things done with Genetic Engineering • Created a chicken with four legs and no wings • Made “big-breasted” chickens that couldn’t even walk just for their breast meat • Created a goat with spider genes which produced silk in its milk • Inserted human genes into a sheep so they produce a substance in their milk which has treated lung cancer in humans

  11. Ethical Considerations • Which conditions should be tested for? • Should gender selection be used for non-medical reasons? • Should other “social traits” be selected for or against? • Should these procedures be offered to patients who have a serious illness? • Should it be offered to women above a certain age?

  12. Should these procedures be refused because of psychosocial criteria? • How much latitude should patients be allowed? • What training does the doctor need before doing these procedures? • Do physicians have a duty to inform? • Should insurance companies cover this process? If so, how much? • What should children resulting from these procedures be told?

  13. Social Implications • One of the biggest social implications about designing babies is the concern for the societies this might lead to. • Will picking the desired traits diminish the variability in the gene pool?

  14. Political Issues • The U.S. is a 3 billion dollar fertility industry but they don’t have many rules or regulations • Of 30 industrialized countries (1/5 of the world’s population), 77% have banned embryo screening for non-medical purposes (2009)

  15. Pros Cons • Reduce chances of serious diseases • Treating family member’s diseases • Could potentially decrease abortion rates • Enhances positive traits such as longevity • Introduce desired traits • Eliminates grief and economic struggles • Blurs the lines between social/economical classes • Only disease-free embryos are implanted • Used for cosmetic reasons • The price for each baby is $18,000 • Takes away the link between sex and reproduction • Loss of diversity in the human race (ideal human race) • Increases abortion rate • Traits decided by parents eliminates the child’s choice • There are no guarantees regarding how the child comes out

  16. What do you think?

  17. Resources • Klitzman R, Appelbaum P, Chung W, Sauer M. Anticipating issues related to increasing preimplantation genetic diagnosis use: a research agenda. Reproductive Biomedicine Online [serial online]. July 2, 2008;17(1):33-42. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed November 3, 2011. • http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html • Http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=regulate-designer-babies • http://www.humansfuture.org/genetic_engineering_designer_babies.php.htm • http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=2494194001&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1319648452&clientId=44087 • http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/deliver-designer-babies-strong-laws-dr-jeff-steinbergs-article-1.369242 • http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html • http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-genetic-engineering.html • http://web.mit.edu/murj/www/v12/v12-Features/v12-f4.pdf

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