The future
is closer than you think. Modifying humans genetically has been debated by
scientists all over the world and it's a very hot ethical issue. Working on genes either to create a superior kind
of people or simply to choose one visual trait over the other still raises a
lot of questions.
In the 90's
about 30 healthy babies were born with a genetic material from three people and
they will pass on their "mutation" to the next generations. These
children were born to women who had problems conceiving. Extra genes from a
female donor had been inserted into their eggs before they were fertilized to help
the mothers to conceive. Nowadays in some countries there already is a way to
choose the gender of a child (called preimplantation genetic diagnosis) which involves implanting only male or
female embryos. But of course some people have a problem with not using all
the embryos created. So there is
a new technique that is also getting more popular which uses
"sperm-sifting" to separate y and double x chromosomes. Very soon we might even be able to control the
genetic code of our children. As usual it comes with both pros and cons.
Let' s
start with an advantage. First of all and most importantly we could be able to remove
a possibility of any future or genetic diseases. Some parents are carriers of
sex-specific diseases (for example color blindness or haemophilia) and many
families have predispositions towards certain conditions that are more likely
to appear in one gender. Maybe someday we will be able to get rid of every
faulty gene that would cause a serious illness in future life. Instead of
fighting diseases we would enhance ourselves.
In some
cultures it's still very important to have a child of a particular gender,
which unfortunately leads to selective abortions. On the one hand we could
prevent those so people wouldn't abort or leave so many unwanted children (girls
in India or China). On the other hand it could cause even greater gender
imbalance than now.
People
should have freedom of choice. If their decision isn't harmful to others, why
shouldn't they be able to decide what their family will look like. When a
family have a large number of boys or girls, why should they be deprived of the
opportunity to have a child of a different gender if the technology exists? On
the flipside some people say that one of the core principals of parenthood is
unconditional love for children even when they are not exactly what parents
expected. A child shouldn't be a product that you can choose in a store but
every parent wants what's best for their kid in life- for it to be healthy,
intelligent, or even good looking. I can imagine people rejecting their own
children when they don't get exactly what they wanted.
If we go a
step further and we would be able to change children's look, level of
intelligence, future predispositions, where would you draw a line? If we allow
parents to choose gender, some will want to choose the eye or hair color. It
would also encourage people to make their kids "perfect" and only
create the ones that fit into modern beauty standards. The movie
"Gattaca" (if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it) shows a future
society that is divided into genetically perfect people and those who are born naturally
and are faulty because of their diseases and genetic predispositions. If only
rich people could afford genetic tests or gender selection technologies, people
could really become divided into classes based on their genetic code. Imagine
an employer who would much rather hire someone much less likely to get sick
thanks to better genetics.
QUESTIONS
So what do
you think?
What do you
think about in vitro? Do you think everybody should be able to use it or should
it be restricted only to the people who are reproductively challenged?
Do you
think people should be able to choose their child's gender?
Do you
think that in the future people will be able to make such decisions?
Would you
like to choose your child's gender or what it would look like?
Comments
Choosing gender would only make sense if it was regulated, to make it balanced.
about it, as a process similar to going to pet store and choosing a puppy you
like the most. It does't sound like a parenthood at all.
Like you wrote, it could be a beginning to "Gattaca" scenario. Children would
come to the world with a great future planned for themselves, while others (like
main character) could achieve something only by hiding real identity.
In Vitro is fine, this technique helped people around the world have kids. This is one of the best modern medicine treatments ever invented.
I really like this movie :) I really "liked" the idea of DNA checking office where girls went to see if a guy would be a genetically good parent and what diseases he could pass on to their future children.
I personally think that the in vitro method is great and that people should be able to use it to become parents but what would you say to people who oppose this technique and are enraged that not all the embryos are being used?
In vitro for me is great. many people have problem to have children, why to obstruct them in lives?
I will never choose my children's gender
Why do you think so many people are opposed to in vitro?
Also, im not fun of swapping genders, most people are born with things they doesn't like, when i was teenager there was plenty of things i dislike about me, but i found strength to live with this complexes until it was part of me and i was fine with it. I'm not even begin with how crazy are trip-genders or just multi-genders. Future indeed comes with many scary and tough choices for humanity.
On the other hand, i believe that in vitro isn't as bad as people say. It's still better than unwanted pregnancy (the rate of people who chooses to keep family for the sake of a child is still low). But there is still many orphans that people should look and adopted if they can. But there is other problems like current americanisation of our lifestyle, where family are no longer nr 1, instead it is work, work, work, work, work.
Yet again this is really though topic to discuss, personally i want to have a child in a future and prefer it to grow naturally, and that would be my best interest as a parent to keep it healthy and safe, even if my child will have some crazy decision at it youth, i wouldn't hesitate to deny him.
I don't think that people who change gender as an consenting adults are harming anyone. It influences them and it's only their decision to make. You can only go through a sex change as an adult and after years of taking hormones and living as your chosen sex (For about 2 years in USA, and only than you get to change your documents and have an operation). Living in the "wrong body" cannot be compared to complexes of teenagers.That's true that most people feel bad about one or another part of their body but only a few percent would go through a painful operation to change that (In the age of plastic surgery it's not that hard or that expensive to get a surgery) because most of us grow to get used to or even like our flaws. I still feel that it's totally different with gender it's not only physical but also psychological. I just can imagine how I would feel in a different body (sex wise) and how terrible it would be, so I pity every person who had the misfortune of being born in the wrong body and I hope that they will be able to get the operation they want, if they want one.
So the question for you is. Seeing that you are planning on to have a family in the future :) Is there a number of kids that you would like to have and is there a gender that you would prefer? :)
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/05/02/nutley-mom-in-court-on-charges-she-put-6-year-old-daughter-in-tanning-bed/
But I agree with your concerns. That's why I wrote so much about Gattaca scenarios and about modifying looks because I believe it could come to that and people might not be ready to make such decisions.
People should not be allowed to choose their child's gender and it should be prohibited in the future.
Would you love your kind more if it would be the dream one? I believe it could lead to similar situations where people are forced to, for example, play piano, because their parents want them to do it.
If it would come to choosing kids looks or certain traits there would have to be some kind of strict regulation because people just aren't ready to make this kind of decisions. And I'm not sure they should choose for a child that doesn't have a say in the matter, that's one of the reasons I'm strongly against circumcision. Adults can do what they like (to themselves) but kids can't consent to this and their life path/looks shouldn't be chosen by somebody else. But as I said earlier I don't mind people wanting to have a girl or a boy and making that kind of choice.
I personally know a couple with five kids, all of them boys and I know that the last time they really wanted a girl and of course they love all their kids but I understand why they would also like to have a girl.
It's a great science fiction topic. Now I want to watch this Gattaca movie :D
As for the idea of choosing the child's gender - the world does not end on US or Poland where it is just a flight of fancy. The first thing that comes to my mind is India where child gender control would be some good alternative for sex-selective abortions (massive number).
I haven't seen seksmisja in ages ;)
Gender control in India (or China for that matter) would be a good alternative for sex-selective abortions but from what I've read there already is a massive inequality in gender (914 girls for every 1000 boys).
I'm kidding, I'm just, to young for being dad. It's interesting topic, I have never thought about that people can choose their child gender. At some point it sound radiculus, because, only God, or whatever You believe, should choose gender of creature, but on the other hand.... Generally women, are those with maternal instinct, and women convince their parteners to have kids. So in some compleatly hipotetic situation there will be only ladies on the earth because all girls wants to have daughter !
Anyways, we'll see what the future brings. I'm rather optimistic :)