Designer Babies Are Closer Than We Think

All new parents want is a healthy baby. Girl or boy? Healthy please. So, it is only natural for people to wish to know about their child’s health as soon as possible, but lately, testing and questioning has been turning into something a bit, dare I say, creepy. Designer babies are the latest trend in the obsessive parent world.

“Pre-Natal Genetic Diagnosis” is technology capable of selecting a genetically normal embryo created through in vitro fertilization. Once mixed, researchers and doctors can find its abnormalities within two or three days. Before it is even inside the woman. Wow.

With this new technology, couples can now find out the “problems” with their unborn child months before they could before. The diagnosis is completed before the woman even becomes pregnant, so it can be terminated even before the process starts.

The concern is that parents will use this technology to select for the traits they want, like a certain hair colour, or musical aptitude. This isn’t possible now, “but it’s a little closer than most people think,” said Dr. Roger Pierson, director of the Reproductive Biology Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan.

“You design what you want… We desperately need a national think-tank on how we’re going to accept or reject or implement the changes that are coming.”

I guess I could understand if a couple is desperately trying, but keeps miscarrying or having difficulty, a process such as this would be helpful. But is it morally corrupt? Are doctors playing God?

Maybe, but we should have known it was coming. We can make choices for just about everything in our lives nowadays. I guess this is the next step. Scary? Yes. But it could be good for the future generations. Or ruin it. Who knows.

Contact the author here: crazycolleen@morningquickie.com