Pd.+7+DESIGNER+BABIES

=**Human Genetic Engineering **=

An overview
What is human genetic engineering? A brief overview of what human genetic engineering is, where it comes from and where it is heading in today's society.

The Basic Argument

 * ====**For Human Genetic Engineering **==== || ====**Against Human Genetic Engineering **==== ||
 * ====It can save lives. ==== || ====It's unnatural. ==== ||
 * ====Hereditary diseases can be eliminated. ==== || ====It's making humans more powerful than God. ==== ||
 * ====Gene therapy becomes more likely. ==== || ====Children born of HGE are like "tools" for parents. ==== ||
 * ====Children in need of a perfect organ match are ensured a quality donor. ==== || ====Takes the spice out of life. ==== ||
 * ==== ==== || ====Frankenstein babies. ==== ||

=Links: =

The benefits of human genetic engineering include a wide variety of gene therapies as well as improving pharmaceuticals. The thought is also that one day we won't have to cure diseases with gene therapy once th ey are already present, but rather design babies before they are implanted into the womb to be resistant to getting these diseases.

Blog: In his Human Biology Blog, Doctor and author Michael Johnson talks of a 19-year-old French boy who was successfully treated for beta-thalassemia with gene therapy. The advances in human genetic engineering and knowledge of our genomes saved his life.

Modern families have miraculous stories as to why a "designer baby" would be the best option for their family. Jack and Lisa Nash decided to have a "designer baby" to prevent passing on a disorder of Fanconi's anemia, which could later develop into leukemia. This is their story and the media's controversy of the Nash's genetically engineered child.

This passage shows the view of the Christian Medical & Dental Association on genetic enhancement. They believe limits must be establish in order to prevent genetic superiority from production, and that eugenics should only be utilized to prevent genetic defects.

The case against designer babies is a very strong one. A big problem is the idea that a genetic aristocracy can be formed. A perfect society, much like Hitler imagined for his race, might be able to be formed in the nearest few decades.

The Modern Use of test tube babies is currently the idea of surrogate mothers. This site explains what a surrogate mother is and how a surrogate mother can be a positive idea for families that are infertile.

Articles
The Human Genome Project was created to attempt to decode the thousands of genomes that make up human DNA in an effort to further human genetic engineering so that the horrendous diseases that plague our population can become obsolete. This LA Times article outlines how and why the project started and what it was supposed to accomplish, other than mapping out our thousands of genomes, over the 15 years that it was in commission.

Married couples can now choose the gender of their child. If a mother desperately wants a baby girl all she has to do it travel to a doctor to have her egg and her husbands sperm combined in a petri dish, and pay a simple little fee of $18,480. This article outlines the story as well as criticizes the morality of advancements in technology.

People fear that a world in which there are designer babies will create a horrific world much like the one imagined by Aldous Huxley. The techniques for creating designer babies are hotly debated as people question the ethics.

A world without cancer and without disease can be achieved, but at what cost? Looks might able to be decided, but personalities and health problems for the mother have become very evident in designer baby research.

**Just for fun! **
A detailed historical analysis describes how genetic enhancement affected the world of Star Trek in the present and in the future, and the negative effects that genetic engineering holds for us.

Here is a fun game that allows you to create your own baby! You can choose what it is going to look like and even if you want it to be a boy or a girl! Then it asks if you think that designing your own baby is moral or not.

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=Discussion Questions:= Is human genetic engineering a moral practice? Think of HGE as steroids: Is human genetic engineering going to create Frankenstein children, or children who will be better equipped to run our country one day? Would you love your child more if he or she were the "perfect" child, or one created at random odds? Will human genetic engineering be a positive thing or will it eliminate natural selection and make our already increasingly populated world too over-populated?
 * Will it one day give people who are genetically engineering too much of an advantage over people who are naturally born, to the point of a good life not being possible when you are born naturally?