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Human Genetic
Enly R. Cyril
Palm Beach State College

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Human Genetic
In 2004 the term designer baby made the transition from sci-fi movies and weblogs into
the Oxford English Dictionary, where it is defined as 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. But in order for the following
information to be considered all the way, have they thought about the long term consequences?
Have they thought about the side effects? Imagine what the world would be like if only perfect
babies were in its surrounding. Ever since the early 2000s, a lot of studies have informed people
happen to find genetic engineering to be immoral but who can blame them? Perfecting a baby
comes with a lot of positive and negative consequences and scientists have yet to know what the
processes really come with.

What if you had the power to choose the traits your baby would have? Would you use it?
(Pray 2008). Now the questioned is being stated in such way, which parents would not want their
kids to be as perfect as they could get them to be? But come to deeply think about designing a
baby, a lot come with making such decision which nobody knows the real effect accompanying
the decision. Also known as embryo screening, PGD allows couples at risk of transmitting a
genetic disease to ensure their future children are unaffected by the disease without going
through the process of prenatal diagnosis (i.e., testing of fetal tissue for the presence of disease
genes) and being forced to make the difficult decision regarding pregnancy termination (Pray
2008) . According to Pray in her article, PGD was created to seek out for developing diseases
from a single cell embryo and then the clear one would be used for the process. As Pray stated in
her article, two British couples relied on PGD to figure out their risks of getting breast cancer, in

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such case, PGD is the perfect method to go through for the sort of process. No parents would
want their children to grow up knowing they are carrying a terminal disease such as cancer.
Even though some scientists argue the day where humans will be able to perfect their baby might
not come, no one can predict anything because of how advanced the technology is getting every
year. As far as the question goes, any parents would want to perform the process because every
parents would want is said to be called the best for their children and they would always want
their children to be the best at what they. Also, the world cannot carry all perfectionists.

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References
Pray, L. (2008) Embryo screening and the ethics of human genetic engineering. Nature
Education 1(1):207 Retrieved from
https://palmbeachstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-2635304-dt-content-rid21474923_1/courses/ENC1102_20163_213464/Embryo%20Screening%20and%20the
%20Ethics%20of%20Human%20Genetic%20Engineering%20_%20Learn%20Science
%281%29.pdf
Saey, T. H. (2015). Editing human germline cells debated. Science News, 187(11), 16-17.
Simmons, D. (2008) Genetic inequality: Human genetic engineering. Nature Education 1(1):173.
Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/genetic-inequality-humangenetic-engineering-768
Soanes, C., and A. Stevenson (eds). 2005. Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press. http://www.oed.com (accessed Mar. 30, 2006)