Bittersweet Babies.

Christmas memories, priceless.

The smile on a child's face when they learn how to ride a bike, priceless.
An amazing time with your friends, priceless.
The miracle of having a child, priceless.
For everything else, there's mastercard.
like,
Having a designer baby, $18 000.


Source: http://www.goldprodukt.de/wearables/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/designer-babies.jpg
In our lives, we are capable of so many opportunities and experiences to benefit our world and change society. However, the affect media has on our modern society is inevitable. People- men and women are pressured to look a certain way; women are constantly self-conscious, and sometimes do anything to be thin, and men are urged to be very muscled, and toned. As a result of this, men and women put their healths at risk to alter their appearances to match the media's. Through reproduction technologies, people can now design their babies by selecting and deselecting different traits and genes for them. The thought of perfection varies in one's eyes. If society accepts designer babies, will the thought of perfection change? People are already being judged on how they look, which causes us the desire to change our appearances constantly, from makeup to plastic surgery.... but now, our parents can choose for us, before we are born? Designer Babies... for the better, or for the worse?

First and foremost, before we discuss them,
What is a designer baby?
A designer baby is; a baby whose genetic makeup has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in-vitro fertilization to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics.
or
the term being used by the media to describe the future of modifying or selecting our children's genes for desirable characteristics (medical and cosmetic).


Source: http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/10/23-End/birth.jpg

Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis, or P.G.D. is when one or both of the parents has a known genetic abnormality and testing occurs to see if the embryo has it too. The testing done is Pre-implantation genetic screening. Or, P.G.S. These technologies are used to produce normal children. The idea of reproduction technology began with I.F.V., in-vitro fertilization which enables infertile parents to reproduce. Both P.G.S. and I.F.V. are used to solve reproduction problems. However,in the future, P.G.S. may be used for other purposes, not relating to disorders or infertility, but for cosmetic purposes. With the technology of P.G.S., parents will be able to choose what genetics and characteristics they want their children to have, like sex,eye colour, skin colour, hair colour, height, etc. The use of this technology could benefit the world, because in addition to its cosmetic purposes, PGD can be used to control obesity levels, serious diseases; like down syndrome, and possible heredity disorders. Thus, the name, "designer babies."

There are social and ethical implications of designer babies. Designer babies cost at least $18 000 each, which means that only wealthier people will be able to afford them. Putting a price on a baby? That's unethical. What has the world come to? Reproducing should not be like a buffet table, where you can pick and choose whatever you like. Plus, if parents do this, their children won't resemble them or have any of their traits. The whole idea of, "Son, you have my eyes." will be erased.
An extreme violation of ethics is being able to select the sex of your child! In certain parts of the world, especially Asia, males are believed as the superior sex. If designing babies becomes available to all, many parents will have male children, causing an unbalanced population--no women, no children.
In a society where fashion trends are followed,if the colour of skin, eye colour and hair colour of a baby can be changed, our world could begin to lack diversity if a trend for a certain hair colour, eye colour, etc. evolves.
So we've covered that the cosmetic purposes of designer babies are unethical and useless.
On the other hand, its medical purposes, can come to great use.

Imagine you're a 29 year old woman, who falls in love and marries an amazing man; he's funny, smart and your best friend. Both of you definitely want children, but are afraid to because your husband has muscular dystrophy. Neither of you want to adopt, what are you going to do? If you could design a normal child, that was biologically yours, would you? The amazing aspect of designing a baby is you can screen the embryos for hereditary disorders, like Huntington's chorea, Cystic Fibrosis, and Muscular Dystrophy and select healthy ones.

I asked myself this question and decided that I probably would have a designer baby- if there were no risks, rather than have my child suffer with a disorder. However, some of these technologies are not perfected yet. Germline therapy enables the replacement of faulty DNA in eggs, sperm, and fertilized embryos for healthy ones. This technology is revolutionary. However, since it has only been tested on animals, it is not guaranteed that it will work well with human DNA, without side effects.

In my mind, designer babies are bittersweet, they cure infertility and birth disorders, but at the same time they can be used to segregate, manipulate and they defy ethics. As I was reading through numerous studies and articles about designer babies, I came across many comments from the general public. In many that I read, people encouraged the cosmetic purposes of designer babies, saying that there was no harm in doing so. However, the depletion of females and emphasis on certain colours of hair, eyes, or another human feature, is harmful to our society. Yet, the ability to design a baby can act as a miracle to those whom are infertile.

Are things getting out of hand with our research into genetic processes?

I think there is no reason for more research into altering cosmetic genes, because it's unethical, negatively affects society, and could have side effects. The world would turn upside down if designer babies were born for cosmetic purposes. Diversity could be lost, because with designer babies, the wonder and possibilities of how one's child will look will be erased, and people wouldn't look unique! What if we were all blond, straight haired, green eyed, had fully attached ears, six-feet, had twenty-eight inched waists, and perfect visioned? Would this create a new definition of beautiful? Beauty is defined by one's perception of something. If designer babies created a new wave of beautiful, that would destroy the self-esteems of the millions of people would couldn't afford it. However, I definitely believe more research and funding should be given to designing a baby for medical reasons because it can prevent children from receiving hereditary diseases.

Designer babies for cosmetic purposes are not worth lowering the self-esteems of the millions of people who will not be able to afford them. If the world is going to allow designer babies into our societies, medical reasons should be the only purpose for it, because it can benefit society and humankind.

Designer babies are bittersweet, at least that's what I believe. What's your verdict?

Sources Consulted
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/designerdebate/
http://www.bionetonline.org/English/content/db_cont1.htm
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-designer-babies.html
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/designer-babies.html
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/273415-overview
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/in_vitro_fertilization/article_em.htm

Its time for a change. Earth, here humanity comes!

Families are fleeing for safety, fighting against their own species, humanity for their own lives, battling nature against its tsunami's, earthquakes and tornadoes. People scurrying around in despair trying to find safety and shelter, unaware that it's too late, the damage man-kind has caused is irreversible. The world could end during our lifetime,immeasurable, but could because of the human race. Our harm to our wondrous Earth could lead in the extinction of it.

"The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies."
-Al Gore

The Earth is an amazing planet, filled with all sorts of life- animals, plants, and of course, humans! The world enables us to explore, learn, laugh, experience, love and most importantly, live. Without the Earth, we as humans would not be here- to live, we need approximately 17,280 breaths of air a day. Humans live off of the Earth's flora and fauna, but are we giving back to the wondrous world that provides us life?

Currently, environmental issues are circling around the globe, those that are effecting the biodiversity of our ecosystems. Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms on the earth. According to the scientists of the Ecological Society of America, an ecosystem is any geographic area, including the living organisms that live there and the nonliving parts of the physical environment. Have humans been positively or negatively affecting the biodiversity of ecosystems?

As the Iroquois believed, humans are stewards of the Earth. A steward is one appointed to supervise the provision and distribution of food and drink in an institution. According to many scientists, we are the most invasive, powerful and intelligent species to roam the Earth. As a result of this, it is our duty to protect the world and all that lives on it- plants, animals, insects, and other organisms. However, from our daily behavior, we've caused the Earth catastrophe.

Unfortunately, we have been negatively affecting our ecosystems and its biodiversity. Since 2003, 11000 organisms are now said to face extinction! The dodo bird, dinosaurs, the Tasmanian wolf, the Irish deer, the saber tooth tiger,the quagga and hundreds more species are extinct, could humans be the next?

Quagga:half zebra, half horse. Extincted since 1883.
Irish Deer: the largest deer to ever live. Extincted about 7700 years ago.
Dodo bird: a flightless bird. Extincted since the late 17th century.

The issue of humans' intervention of the Earth's ecosystems from urban civilization has negatively affected the Earth. The pollution humankind has caused is irreversible. From our car emissions to factories. Although unbelievable, 60% of air pollution caused by American families is from the goods and services they buy. Due to the fact that harmful pollutants such as fossil fuels are burned to create them. Not only does it harm our health but the Earth's health. The Earth's ozone layer, atmosphere and ecosystems are crumbling from acid rain, smog, bio magnification, carbon dioxide and green house gas emissions. In association to the Earth, we are negatively effected by our actions too, causing us hundreds of illnesses including cancers, respiratory diseases, skin irritations, hearing loss, birth defects, and death.
I believe that humans are not acting the way God and the aboriginals wanted us too. From our selfish behaviour,: cutting down trees- they provide us oxygen to live; intoxicating our lakes and bodies of water- they provide us water to drink; hunting innocent animals for recreation- our lives depend on them;and so many more reckless activites we humans participate in. Just today, I saw landscapers and construction workers destroying land, once used for agriculture to create a retail space,which is far less beneficial to us than agriculture. As the most powerful and intelligent species,we humans have the potential to become stewards to the Earth, but as for now, we are not living up to it.

"I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?" - Robert Redford

In our lives, we often regret decisions we make. For instance, "I should've read that book," or "I should've gone to work today." As the Earth's environment crumbles, we'll think, " We should've done something about it." It's time for us humans to look outside the box, to look outside of our society, and to do something to fix our environment. An act as simple as using reusable containers, closing the lights when you leave a room, buying less-packaged goods, recycling and reusing, and definitely spreading the movement to "go green," will benificially affect the world.
Unfortunately, most humans don't look at the bigger picture of the world. We often get caught up in our modern society and the lifestyle its embedded into each and every one of us. As a result of this, we are not taking care of our Earth and it's organisms to the best of our capability. It is crucial that we act and change our ways, like animals adapt to their different environments because humans are not stewards of the world. However, we most definitely can be.

"We generate our own environment. We get exactly what we deserve. How can we resent a life we've created ourselves? Who's to blame, who's to credit but us? Who can change it, anytime we wish, but us?" -Richard Bach

The world is in our hands.

Works Cited

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/52144423.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_breathes_does_a_person_take_each_day
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/Whatisbiodiversity.html
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/MAB/whatisbio.cfm#whatisbio
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6057270_ITM
http://www.cleanerandgreener.org/programs/schools/pollution.htm