Choosing The Traits Of Your Child

By Author: Henry Ford
Total Articles: 189
Comment this article

In the recent past, there has been great advancement in science and technology. Science is changing not only the way we do things but also the way we live. Advance in science and technology has been rooted for correction of a number of anomalies that the world is facing today, especially in regard to disease and reproduction. One of the interest areas in science has been genetic engineering. Advanced understanding of working of DNA materials has provided the base for correction of most disease conditions that have for long been stumbling block to a healthy life. However, the continued advancement in DNA technology, and its application in science and medical field, has come with many ethical challenges. There is a struggle between ensuring sustained use of DNA technology in medical and science field and dealing with the ethical issues that are arising as a result. For example, pre-implantation genetic diagnoses (PGD) has for long being used for medical purpose but progress of DNA technology behind PGD now pose a great threat to its continued use. Recent efforts have been geared towards using the technology not only for elimination ...
... of medical conditions that could alter individuals in later life but also for selection of sex and traits of the unborn child. In essence, this implies that the technology could soon be used to produce designer babies, if parents are given the right to select the traits of their children through this technique. This poses a great challenge because those who can afford will have advantage of selecting the sex and traits of their children, which means there will be more discrimination in the society. Although PGD and other DNA based technology have important medical use, their application outside the medical field poses a great ethical challenge.
Before exploring ethical challenges facing the use of PGD technique in reproduction, it is important to understand this technique first. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a procedure that has long been used for medical purposes. It is used to avert life-threatening diseases in children. The procedure mainly involves testing a three day old embryo for particular genetic diseases and consequently correcting it. The embryo is tested in the laboratory and only those that are free of the disease are implanted in the mother’s womb. This technique has been used since 1990s and it has allowed thousands of parents to avoid passing deadly disorders to their children (Naik). Therefore, from the onset, this technique has been developed to detect genetic based disease in embryos.
In the recent past, advance in DNA technology in reference of PGD has made it possible to carry out other procedures. PGD has started to be used to target less serious medical conditions and human characteristics. There are many clinics that are using this technique to assist parents determine the gender of their children. Determining the gender of the child is not a medical condition which means the technique is being used outside its original intention. In addition, PGD has moved to a highly controversial stage where it is being used to select the physical traits of the child only for cosmetic reasons. In the recent past, human cosmetology has been used for enhancing human appearance although it has been based on medical procedures like facial surgery and use of drugs but its entanglement with DNA technology poses more threats and raises more ethical issues than ever. Apart from the fact that PGD is losing its earlier intention of detecting disease condition in embryos, it also raises many ethical issues that may eventually limit its use.
One ethical issue that pertains to the use of PGD is when the technique is used to select an embryo that bears the same disease or disability condition that affect both parents. For example, it both parents are suffering from deafness, the technique can be used to select and embryo that also suffers from the same condition to make communication easier at home. Recent survey shows that 3% of the PGD clinics have already provided such types of services which are referred to as negative enhancement, although there is no clinic that has public admitted to provide such services (Naik). This is a big challenge to the use of the technology because the unborn child has the right to live a good life, free of any disease condition but if the technique will be used to produce children with such disease conditions, then it will have completely lost its usefulness. The child will suffer for the rest of his or her life because of a decision made by the parents.
Recent statistics shows that PGD has gained increased support from the public for the purpose of detecting disease conditions. A survey that was carried in U.S in 1999 showed that majority of the respondents support prenatal genetic tests like PGD. However, there were few people who supported the use of PGD for non-medical purposes. Only 10% of the respondents supported the use of prenatal genetic tests for testing athletic ability while only 10% supported the use for improved height (Naik). In addition, only 13% of the respondents preferred use of the technique for superiority intelligence.
One of the ethical issues that will come with increased use of PGD for selection of superior traits in children is that it will lead to introduction of a new source of discrimination in the society. Parents will only choose to have embryos likely to bear superior traits like tallness. This means that the society will start being biased towards individuals with inferior traits like shortness. Human traits results from interaction of genetic make up and the environment. Knowledge behind the effective working of the complex DNA make up is still under development. Desired traits like athleticism and intelligence are not influenced by genetic make up alone but by other environmental factors. This means that it would be a bit difficult to enhance such traits because environment factors cannot be controlled in the laboratory. This means that the society may end up having people who bear some traits thereby leading to loss of biodiversity and destabilization of human species. In addition, the current technology in detection of human traits does not encompass all races. Scientists have not been able to unravel the DNA codification beyond the colored skin people. This means that if the technique is to be used in selection of traits like skin color, it will be beneficial to some segments of the society alone and others will not benefit. Efforts to use other techniques to produce designer babies have already been met with a lot of opposition from religious leaders. With most people in the world confessing to a kind of religious belief, there is a high value of life and the belief that God controls the creation. In addition, there is a very good reason why nature has naturally selected to have people with different genetic traits variation and trying to change these traits would amount to going against our own religious beliefs and the nature as well. PGD should stick to the initial role it was meant for and avoid deviating to other ethically and morally controversial uses.
The author is associated with

The author is senior writer at https://www.allacademicanswers.com