Designer Babies: Unethical? or the New Standard?

Back in the 80’s a controversial argument arose; saying that computers soon will take over everything,
where we are all connected in a system called web, and that individuals will own a digital device even
powerful than computers. Having this absurd idea, people back then were terrified that the term
computer phobia was created. Decades past and this presumption became our reality; this science
fiction of technology taking over everything nowadays became our new standard of living. The same
concept goes on a controversial idea about Designer Babies. Currently, researches and experiments
about this is banned due to its unethicalness, - causing science to wonder - but, will the door about this
be forever closed? Or could this be our New Standard Babies in the future?

Genetic Engineering is a concept of editing genes to change a characteristic in a living organism. In 2012
a precise method of genetic engineering with sheer accuracy was developed called the Crispr-Cas9, -
modeled from a bacteria antivirus system (Crispr-Cas9) against bacteriophages - it became beneficial
especially in therapies and medications. Designer Babies are human babies genetically engineered by
scientists to achieve a specific desired trait, – desired mostly of the parents/guardians – they are
engineered mainly to avoid inborn and hereditary diseases like autism, HIV, disorders, and many more, -
usually from their parents genes - this serves as an opportunity for the child to have a longer-shelf of
living his/her life. But the fact that this idea - DNA Engineering - would take another step, engineering
not only a child’s health but also its traits physically and mentally made the government ban gene
editing. Patently, the government’s decision is based on the law which is rooted in moralities where
together with religion, are the primordial hurdles of the opportunities of having genetically modified
people as the new human standard in the society; it is considered unethical, inappropriate, and
unrighteous to humanity. Nowadays, the method preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is more
feasible in producing designer babies, where there is a huge selection of human sperm and egg that will
be fertilized and developed as an offspring. The PGD method allows the scientist to choose a gamete of
both the male and female parent that doesn’t contain any disease or disorder, but its limitation varies to
the amount of selection the parents can provide.

Like the computers back in the 80’s Designer Babies still have a long way to go to be fully developed, it is
ideal and most likely to be the new standard of humans of the future whereas diseases and even aging
can be stopped. It is unethical, yes, but this only set barriers and limitations to the opportunities of
improving what we are today. No one can ever remove the fact that change is constant. Humans are
about to change, will ethics too?