Mar 08 2009
Designer babies. You thought it was just sci-fi?
Um. Yikes. Story from the Wall Street Journal about how far we can go in genetically engineering our children. It ranges from prenatally treating for diseases to preventing mental retardation to having taller or blond children.
I’ve never seen Gattaca, but I’m familiar with the premise. A man is born naturally in a time when every person is genetically engineered for superiority and he’s treated as refuse.
I doubt I’m the only person that has ethical qualms about playing God. Please tell me that this won’t really happen.
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As someone who went through fertility treatments, I feel like we’ve really taken a beating in the media since the whole octo-mom scandal. This certainly doesn’t help. Being able to “pick and choose” your kids makes it look like we walk in to a clinic, slap money on the counter, look through a catalog and walk away pregnant. Not the case! I am happy with the daughters I have, even if I couldn’t choose their hair color, height, etc. My stance has always been that the majority of people who opt to undergo fertility treatment vs. adoption have put a lot of thought and energy into this… but I’m certainly not going to be able to win that argument if people are able to “order” their babies.
thanks for your input and perspective, quadmama.
I see nothing wrong with people using fertility treatments or preventing diseases and retardation, but it seems creepy to be able to order things like hair color.