DESIGNER+BABIES+1

=**Designer Babies:** = I want a girl with blue eyes, red hair, pale skin, IQ of 164, 5ft 7in, 134lbs and have a beautiful singing voice.
 * If you could make your perfect baby would you?
 * Is this ethical?
 * Would we all be Alpha+'s? Would Epsilons exist?
 * Would this be the perfect world?



**Links:**

 * Find out [|the basics] first: the original use for genetic screening; the ways this technology can possibly be manipulated; opinions from experts in the field concerning moral ethics.
 * If you could [|choose your baby's] sex would you? Check out this article and video. The ethical issues come because now that society has become more advanced with medicine choosing your child's sex has become more than that. Now some parents have chosen their child's sex because of health concerns. If you could prevent your child from getting a disease would you? What happens when physical attributes come into play?
 * In places like [|China or India] selecting the sex of your baby is something that is a bit more accepted due to the overwhelming need for a male heir to carry on the family name. Before this process, Chinese families would abort fetuses if they found out they were female and try again for a male. Is one process more ethical than the other?




Articles:

 * [|California Fertility Doctor's offer a trait selection stirs ethical questions.] A fertility doctor in California has start to do the inevitable; allow people to buy designer babies just like they buy designer clothes.
 * Daily New York newspaper, am New York, wrote this article[|, Urbanite: Designer babies?], in response to the recent reveal of a doctor in California who plans to allow people to design their babies. This is the article spoken about in the Today show video regarding designer babies.
 * According to [|Dr. Keith Blauer], a Genetics and IVF Institute medical director, the IVF institute made 90% success for girls and about 70 to 75% success for boys. As of 2002, more than 300 babies have been born using this technique. The cost of this process is cost about $2,500. However, it can be more expensive if parents want more techniques.
 * Check out this [|article and video] (from March 4th Today show episode). They discuss the recent news about the doctor in California.
 * This [|article] discusses the moral and ethical limit of designer babies. It explains a bit about what a designer baby is. Although this may not be a major issue right at this moment, it will undoubtedly be a big issue in the near future.
 * The California doctor [|withdrew] the controversial bid to create designer babies in the near future.

PDF Articles:

 * [[file:25923899.pdf]]
 * How do designer babies naturally appeal to society's competitive nature? Section C on page 934 of this article provides examples of steps parents naturally take to improve their children’s lives without a second thought. Then it compares those innocent precautions to the mindset of designer babies. How would designer babies impact the evolution of societal norms?
 * [[file:Designer Babies and the Pro-Choice Movement.pdf]]
 * This scholarly article goes into depth on the issues and controversy's regarding IVF and choosing your babies sex. New technologies always start off controversial. For example often literature from the past was not accepted in society. The Grimm's Brothers wrote nasty books for children such as "Hansel and Gretal" and these stories, like other, were extremely controversial when they first were released. Now they are accepted. This article tries to explain if this will be the fate of designer babies.

Videos:
media type="file" key="Manipulating_Genes_to_Affect_Human_Traits.asf"media type="file" key="Gattica.m4v"media type="file" key="Babies.wmv"



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<span style="color: rgb(92, 116, 209);">**Discussion Question** :

<span style="color: rgb(92, 116, 209);">

 * What effect will human genetic modification have on society?<span style="color: rgb(92, 116, 209);">
 * Will changing the genetics of your child affect the natural evolution of humans?
 * Is this process a form of gender discrimination?<span style="color: rgb(92, 116, 209);">
 * Will the gender ratios be skewed?
 * What will happen to natural selection?
 * Is this taking survival of the fittest to a perverted level?
 * Will a society based on perfection be a utopia or distopia?
 * Will it come to a point where naturally conceived babies are at a disadvantage? Can naturally conceived babies compete with designer babies in the real world?
 * Once again, all good can be used to further the means of evil. Will this form of eugenics be used to perpetuate evil by becoming a sterilization and segregation program?

<span style="color: rgb(92, 116, 209);">Photo Gallery:
‘Organisms //are not// machines, but they can to a certain extent //become// machines – congeal into machines.’ - Arthur Koestler; //The Ghost in the Machine//