DESIGNER BABIES

Designer babies are a weighty matter which is often discussed in today’s world. The first designed babies, named Lulu and Nana, were born in China. They have immunity to HIV. As there is an uncertainty about the long-term consequences of this process, this situation has naturally created a lot of controversy among people. Moreover, whether creating a baby is ethical or not can worry us. As one can see, there are a lof of thorny issues as far as the complex background of this matter is concerned. While some people argue that we can now eradicate some incurable diseases like AIDS through modifying genes, some others, including me, are against this due to a variety of reasons.

First of all, there are a multitude of interesting points regarding the historal development of gene modification/ the modification of genes . With the discovery of DNA, the staple molecule controlling the vital activities of cells, the first genetically modified animal was born in 1974. Thanks to this operation, some significant research on drugs could be conducted. The first patent was given to an engineer who had created a microbe absorbing oil. And the first modified food, the flavor saver tomato, went on sale. The tomato had important genes impeding the activity of rotting enzymes. This provided a much longer shelf life. In the 1990’s, there was also a serious attempt in human engineering. A baby who had an infertile mother was created. Genetic information was transferred  from three humans to the baby. S/he was the first human having three genetic parents. Today, we have super muscled pigs, featherless chickens and so on. In addition, we created the florescend zebrafish priced at $10.

All things mentioned above are impressive. Gene editing, however, was extremely expensive, complicated and took a long time to do until recently. This has changed with a revolutionary new technology. Its name is CRISPR, which stands for "clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats". Instead of years, it takes a few weeks to conduct experiments thanks to CRISPR. It is really tough to explain CRISPR’s importance regarding designer babies, ending diseases, eternal youth and so on. It has a great potential which can change humanity forever.

CRISPR is a genom technology which enables scientists to change some faulty genes with correct ones. As  mentioned above, it is possible to creat children immune to some diseases such as AIDS. You can also give them some qualities like extraordinary intelligence or blue eyes via this method. Two-thirds of the 150.000 people who die today will die of age-related causes. We know from nature that there are animals immune to aging like the lobster and the planarian. Maybe we can even borrow a few genes for ourselves. We can also create modified populations and solve many problems. Engineered humans will be able to overcome a number of health problems like obesity.

 On the other hand, CRISPR technology has numerous drawbacks. Firstly, the complex interplay of genes isnt’t known, and therefore, wrong edits on DNA may trigger unwanted changes. In other words, when we want to make people healtier via genetic modification, we could make them sicker because this technology is so new and powerful. It is also possible that governments may force citizens to use CRISPR for their children because you can create a healtier generation and thereby reduce health costs. Let’s look at China’s one-child policy. It is thought that the policy prevented the birth of 400 million infants. Furthermore, eugenics, a kind of practice aiming to improve the genetic quality of a human population excluding ethical values, can also be revived.

There may also be a number of sociological problems. The process of designing a baby will be incredibly expensive, at least in the beginning. This means that firstly, the rich will be able to use CRISPR technology, and therefore, inequalities in society will increase dramatically. They will have smarter, stronger, more beautiful children. It is also possible that you will be evaluated according to your genetic endowement such as intelligence and predisposition to some diseases when you apply to a company for a job. Because of this, natural people will be inferior and have no opportunity or chance in societies. As one can see, gene discrimination may emerge in the future. There are already numerous people suffering de facto discrimination. Most of them are regarded as inferior owing to their religion, gender or race. We don’t choosewhere we live or our family before we are  born. For example, only if you were born in a poor family would you be destitute. If you are handsome or beautiful, you will always be far superior to others in today’s world even though you didn’t decide to be like that.

To sum up, it seems that the debate over designer babies is likely to continue for a long time. Some people will support their argument while others reject it for many reasons. However, it is my contention that CRISPR could cause a sociological disaster across the globe. As there are already many thorny problems needing/ which need  to be resolved in the world, we, primarily, should consider the possible downside of designer babies before creating them.

CEM KOCA