What is designing your babies?
According to SA Caesar, (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167488916301781), when you design your babies, you are effectively editing or removing genes. Designing your babies would be an effective cure for cancer, although there would need to be a massive change of the way they do it, for it to be perfect. In reality, it is banned in almost all parts of this planet, if not all, but there are individual groups working on trying to research it. Most consumers have little to no idea why it is banned, let alone what it is, but it is still being pushed to be legalized to allow for more research on it in an effort to perfect it. There is also cons to this, though, as with everything, as it could possibly make the rich richer, and the poor poorer. There is currently few information on this, and there are various blanks to be filled in to allow people to better understand what it is. How, you ask, can you design your babies? A procedure has to be done on the baby whilst it is still in its fetus stage, before the baby's born, next use a tool called the CRISPR (The clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeat ), Cas9, as stated by SA Ceasar. Down below, is an explanation to what CRISPR Cas9 is.
What is CRISPR Cas 9?
The CRISPR Cas9 tool is the tool that is required to perform the procedure of editing or removing genes. "CRISPR-Cas9 is a unique technology that enables geneticists and medical researchers to edit parts of the genome? by removing, adding or altering sections of the DNA? sequence". (http://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-crispr-cas9). The main uses of CRISPR Cas 9, not limited to, are preventing diseases, ending gene-spread diseases, changing eye color, hair, and race (Fordham, Brigham A. "Disabilitiy and Designer Babies." Disabilitiy and Designer Babies. N.p., n.d. Web), and even make someone smarter. There is a multitude of effective uses of the CRISPR Cas9 tool. There is also very limited research on how it works, though we know it works, and we know somewhat of how to utilize it. We refers to the scientists who invented it, used it, researched it, and tested it. The bad part about using CRISPR Cas9, is that it is very expense to use, or have it used on your descendant. There could be a separation of the different groups of people, such as the 1% of the high class, middle class, and low class. Predicatively, what would happen, is all high class citizens would be able afford it, and most of them would also do it if they believe in the positive effects of it. Not all the middle class citizens would be able to afford it, then even a smaller amount of them would actually have it done to their child, and it would be a large chink of the money they have. Lastly, middle class citizens would just not be able to afford the procedure. Another downside to it, is that people will begin to rely on CRISPR Cas9 to give their children what they need, instead of relying on real world skills, such as entrepreneurship or business skills, and would spend less time learning those skills. So, essentially, CRISPR Cas9 would teach people to rely on that to be successful. All in all, it would be a good tool to use, but would have to be regulated to prevent misuse or abuse of it, to ensure that people don't give their children superior attributes. (https://www.technocracy.news/index.php/2015/12/09/scientists-warn-on-misuse-of-crispr-gene-editing-technology/) mentions that scientists warn of the risk of misuse of CRISPR Cas9, as previously mentioned.
A little bit about the uses of CRSIPRThe research on the CRISPR Cas9 tool has been halted here in America. It could also be considered unethical due to the ability to edit and remove hereditary genes (http://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-panel-experts-calls-ban-editing-human-dna-avoid-unethical-tampering-hereditary-traits) mentions that the ban was called by UNESCO panel on CRISPR Cas9, and eventually, the government banned it. The government bans a lot of things, so it isn't much a surprise they banned it, but they also banned the research. It is also a very costly procedure, and can be very damaging to society if the tools to make the babies superior get released and people figure out how to abuse it. There also happens to be a good side to it, though. Cancer is a very damaging disease, especially certain types of cancer. With CRISPR Cas9, however, if cancer ran in a family, the birth parents could pay a premium to get their child's genes removed or replaced, to essentially prevent cancer. If cancer ran in a family, there is a high chance of offspring acquiring the disturbing disease. whether or not this tool is abused, it has its pros, and it has its cons. CRISPR Cas9 should be judged based on the positive effects of it as well. There is no way, currently, to tell if CRISPR Cas9 would be a good idea to use, but if there was more research on it, it could prove negative, and that it doesn't always work. It also happens to be high stake, as it is a very expensive procedure to under-go, so it could also make or break a child or his/her genes. In the citations section, there will be sources and other important articles to read, and it will be addressed.
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By:
Drew Dallas
Jaison Macias
Alex Oelerich
Stephane Welch