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Genetic Engineering: Saving Lives or Creating Designer Babies? - Prof. Hadley (Scott) M. S, Study notes of Creative writing

Ithaca College Creative writing

Prof. Hadley (Scott) M. Smith

The ethical dilemmas and implications of genetic engineering, focusing on the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (pgd) to screen embryos for genetic disorders. The benefits of this technology include reducing the risk of passing on inherited diseases and maximizing the chance of a healthy pregnancy. However, the document also raises concerns about the cost, accessibility, and potential misuse of genetic engineering for selecting desirable traits. Real-world examples of pgd and its benefits, as well as the ongoing research to determine the feasibility of gene editing.

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2010/2011

Uploaded on 05/11/2011

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Sentence structure

Imagine a world with cities half filled with perfect, flawless people and the other half a severe

growing population of disease and poverty.

It almost seems like that is our world today, now times the perfection by ten.

As we speak, genetic engineering is being developed at a swift pace to try and make history.

But will this history destroy our already crumbling world we live in even more severely?

The time is coming where history will be either written that the future generations were saved to

be genuine humans or that the future generations have been able to be altered to whomever’s

liking for their person own sake and not for the child’s.

Genetic engineering is simply the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism

by manipulating its genetic material.

To understand the full spectrum of what this processes future may bring one needs to understand

both the benefits and ramifications.

The first dilemma that needs to be tackled is: is this entire idea of genetic engineering solely an

idea?

Or are these methods really possible.

And in fact there have been recorded 2000 cases. “The preimplantation genetic diagnosis

team has been involved in more than 2000 cases of PGD (mostly for chromosome abnormalities)

up to August 2003.”

Doctors have treated woman and men who have recessive genes of disease with hormones before

taking their eggs and sperm.

After successfully analyzing the blastomere (which is the combined egg and sperm after three

days) and removing one cell they can successfully tell if that embryo will have the disease or not.

If it doesn’t it is placed in side of the woman’s womb via in vitro and the pregnancy continues.

It is called “Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is an alternative to prenatal diagnosis for

people at risk of passing on an inherited disease to their children.

The main benefit of PGD is that it maximizes the chance that a couple will have an unaffected

pregnancy, greatly reducing the possibility that they will have to contemplate pregnancy

termination.” (http://www.reprogenetics.com/pgd_monogenic.html)

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Sentence structure Imagine a world with cities half filled with perfect, flawless people and the other half a severe growing population of disease and poverty. It almost seems like that is our world today, now times the perfection by ten. As we speak, genetic engineering is being developed at a swift pace to try and make history. But will this history destroy our already crumbling world we live in even more severely? The time is coming where history will be either written that the future generations were saved to be genuine humans or that the future generations have been able to be altered to whomever’s liking for their person own sake and not for the child’s. Genetic engineering is simply the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material. To understand the full spectrum of what this processes future may bring one needs to understand both the benefits and ramifications. The first dilemma that needs to be tackled is: is this entire idea of genetic engineering solely an idea? Or are these methods really possible. And in fact there have been recorded 2000 cases. “The preimplantation genetic diagnosis team has been involved in more than 2000 cases of PGD (mostly for chromosome abnormalities) up to August 2003.” Doctors have treated woman and men who have recessive genes of disease with hormones before taking their eggs and sperm. After successfully analyzing the blastomere (which is the combined egg and sperm after three days) and removing one cell they can successfully tell if that embryo will have the disease or not. If it doesn’t it is placed in side of the woman’s womb via in vitro and the pregnancy continues. It is called “Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is an alternative to prenatal diagnosis for people at risk of passing on an inherited disease to their children. The main benefit of PGD is that it maximizes the chance that a couple will have an unaffected pregnancy, greatly reducing the possibility that they will have to contemplate pregnancy termination.” (http://www.reprogenetics.com/pgd_monogenic.html)

This process is not for any or every type of disease. “At this time, IRMS offers PGD primarily for three specific single gene disorders – cystic fibrosis, Tay Sachs disease and myotonic dystrophy. It is important to note that some of our protocols are experimental and are supervised by the Internal Review Board of Reprogenetics.” The ability to accurately pick out different genes however, is still not possible, just a theory or idea that is floating through minds of doctors to politicians. There is research that is going on constantly to try and determine how it is possible to do such actions. They are basing it off the preimplantation genetic diagnosis process. In 1953 James Watson discovered the three-dimensional double helix structure of DNA. Since then oil-eating microorganisms, Genentech's Humulin (a form of human insulin produced by bacteria), genetically engineered plants and crops and food have been created. (http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/gmos_india/history.html). In only 58 years a lot has been researched, discovered and created. Science moves at a swift pace, people are driven to discover and create, especially those things never found or made before. The benefits of genetic engineering are plentiful, from the unlimited possibilities to the basic effects of saving lives. From saving one child’s life from a existence of pain, abnormality and hardship to creating a child specifically to how you always dreamed your child would be. If there are smart enough doctors in the world with the god given talents to perform such procedures then “we are morally obligated to use genetic (and other) technologies to produce the best children possible” stated Julian Savulescu. (Sparrow) John Harris and Julian Savulescu are both writers who have independently advanced the argument for human enhancement with especial fervor in their recent works. “Harris argues that a proper concern for the welfare of future human beings implies that we are morally obligated to pursue enhancements.”(Sparrow) Does it make sense to tell these doctors that their abilities and procedures should not be preformed, and to throw away all their research they have devoted their life to away?

$16,000 for on procedure is a lot of money, granted your child will be chromosome disease free. This cost is only the cost for the procedure of preventing the child from having certain diseases. The cost for choosing different traits and attributes for the child to be will obviously cost more for each task done, and the thought of what that rate would be is unimaginable. The pre-implantation genetic diagnosis at its current price is really only available to the wealthier spectrum of our society. However, if a couple in the middle-low spectrum of the wealth scale in America were to work hard and save, the cost for this procedure is achievable. For the poor of America, it is unreasonable to think that this procedure could be paid for. With this being said, and that the cost for picking different traits and elements will be out of the question for anyone who is not in the upper class of the wealth spectrum and society. -social/wealth gap -cost -hyper parenting P4. Now picture the world with both positive and negative effects of genetic engineering, how does it make you feel about the future, unsettling? -comparative analysis. comclusion Although some may see the world and the future through a different lens what the future hold scares me. I can understand how amazing the future could be if only the benefits existed, but when taking consideration of the negative effects the image of the future is frightening. It is surely not a world that I want to be part of. My hope is that by the time this procedure is truly functional and accessible to the public that I will be long gone. And if I am around, my hope is that the government will take control of this fast evolving processes to protect society.