babies
defect
deformed babies
designer babies
gene
genetic defect
genetic engineering
handicap
playing god
Changing the genes of babies to handicap them!! This is outright horrible!
By cacophonix
@cacophonix (238)
India
January 22, 2007 9:31am CST
Till now I used to believe that genetic intervention can be used only to remove any defects and improve certain attributes of a person or plant.
We all know about genetically engineered seeds. The produce from these seeds is very high - a beneficial trait.
We also know that genetic screening can help find out genetic diseases in the foetus which may result in miscarriage or babies born with severe defects, so that the pregnancy can be terminated early on without much danger to the mother.
We have also heard about the possibility of changing the gene structures of embryos to remove certain genetic diseases from them - so that a healthy baby is born.
There is also a possibility of making genetic changes in hair color, eye color etc in the unborn embryo - even though this type of intervention is debatable for its ethics, atleast it does no harm!
But this news article says that some parents with disablities like deafness or dwarfism want to modify the genes of their babies to make them like their parents!! They want their babies to be born with the same disabilities as themselves! And the worst part is a few clinics have actually complied with such requests!!!
This sounds like right out of a sci-fi movie! A scientific experiment gone all wrong! Who the hell are we to thrust a defect on poor unborn babies! Imagine crippling them even before they are born.... poor creatures can't even have any say in it!!
Now this is taking 'playing God' to an entirely diferent and unacceptable level!!
2 people like this
4 responses
@pinkeagle (202)
• United States
22 Jan 07
I had not heard of this, but now that you mention it, I can believe it.
I would support a law to make this illegal. It should be against the law to delibrately make a newborn have a handicap.
Whether these parents want to admit it or not, some of these children surely would grow up to hate and possibly even kill their parents who did this to them.
2 people like this
@cacophonix (238)
• India
22 Jan 07
i am sorry! i should have added the link to the news!
here it is....
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/parenting/01/18/designerd.disability.ap/index.html
1 person likes this
@sunshinecup (7871)
•
22 Jan 07
It's CNN first of all, I have learned to watch the "news" coming from them. Here is an example of why...
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"Three percent, or four clinics surveyed, said they have provided the costly, complicated procedure to help families create children with a disability."
"While it's technologically possible, whether any deaf or dwarf babies have been born as a result of PGD is uncertain. "
"PGD pioneer Dr. Mark Hughes, who runs a Detroit laboratory that does the screening for many fertility programs nationwide, said he hadn't heard of the technology being used to select an abnormal embryo until the survey.
"It's total nonsense," Hughes said. "It couldn't possibly be 3 percent of the clinics" doing PGD for this purpose "because we work with them all."
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We go from it's being done, to we aren't sure, to it's impossible.
Then there is the lack of any actual Doctor stating they have performed this. All CNN has done as taken a survery, took a piece out and made a claim. 3% could have simply answered the friggin question wrong, I think it's a 2% to 4% allowed for errors. I wouldn't go nuts over this, until the acutual survey is published.
@cacophonix (238)
• India
24 Jan 07
true! we should indeed allow for errors, as far as facts are concerned.
what bothers me more is the concept rather than the facts!! where there is an idea, there is a possibility of its execution also!
the very idea that there might be people who would like to have their children with disabilities similar to their own AND there is a way to make it occur.... whew!! gives me the shivers!
1 person likes this
@armywifey (882)
• United States
22 Jan 07
That is just wrong. I can understand to a point that parents would like their children to be like them. But it is wrong to make a perfectly healthy baby something they are not supposed to be. We are made the way we are for a reason. I don't even believe that they should be messing with genes to change hair color and eye color.
1 person likes this
@chrmdarcher (276)
• Philippines
20 Feb 07
Whoa! This is the first time I actually heard of people actually wanting their babies to have disabilities like them. Why on earth would they want their children to also grow up disabled when, in the first place, they should know how hard it is to be a disabled person. They must be insane! hehe! Practically speaking, it is harder for disabled people to get jobs because they have certain limitations (no offense to them). So why would they want their kids to suffer too just so they could look like them. They should know better. And you can't just call someone as a real part of your family just because they have traits like you. They should just be contented and thankful for being able to bear children and accept them just the way they are.
