The Ethical Dilemma Of Designer Babies - 1305 Words

Should parent be allowed to genetically engineer their children? : The ethical dilemma of designer babies. Background The idea of designer babies has been present in science fiction literature and films for decades. From Huxley’s novel Brave New World, in which babies are grown in vats and there is no such thing as family, to the 1997 film Gattaca, in which children who are genetically engineered are considered superior and a person’s value is based entirely on their DNA (Molina, 2016). An idea that once seemed like mere science fiction is now, ever closer to becoming a reality thanks to advances in genetics, and the development of a gene editing technology called Crispr-Cas9, in 2012, which uses natural enzymes to target and snip genes†¦show more content†¦The shareholders in this case would be the companies and the scientists offering these services to potential parents. Deontological Perspective Deontological ethics are based on moral obligations, duties and rights. Rules are to guide decision making in deontological ethics. Deontological ethics have a more individualistic focus, as individuals are supposed to be treated with respect and dignity (Sexty, 2011, 7). From a deontological perspective designer babies would be unethical because the idea goes against respect for and the dignity of an individual. The child’s value is no longer based on personality or character, but instead is based on whether their DNA represents the traits most desired in the society in which they live. From deontological ethicist Immanuel Kant’s reasoning this is unethical as â€Å"Each individual is valued, not on what they can do, but on that fact that they are persons. Treating them as means to an end does not give them the individual freedom they deserve. Treating them as an end in itself looks at what would be best for that person† (Nelson, 2009). Therefore because according to Kantian ethics, the unborn are considered persons (Manninen, 2008), they deserve to be treated as such, with respect to their individual desires. As the unborn cannot make their desires known, from a deontological perspective it would be unethical to interfere with the child’s natural development. Additionally in countries, whereShow MoreRelatedThe New Method Of The Creation Of Savior1645 Words   |  7 Pagescharacteristics of their babies. This is the creation of fully-fledged ‘designer babies’. As in the words of Josephine Quintavalle , â€Å"the new technique is a dangerous first step towards allowing parents to use embryo testing to choose other characteristics of the baby, such as eye color and sex†. For this reason, the creation of savior sibling is ethically impermissible since if one supports savior sibling, it is impossible to not support the permissibility of designer babies. 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