Blog 25

Educated opinions need to be taken into major consideration with technological advancements. A survey was conducted to view the opinions of young people on the topic of “Designer Babies.” This topic should not be looked at as the idea of changing the sex and traits of your unborn child. The Human Genetics Commission debates that this terminology can refer to a multitude of uses for this technology, such as changing the sex to avoid X-linked diseases and preimplantation genetic diagnosis to find embryos that don’t contain disorders.  Rachel Iredale, a senior lecturer at the School of Care Sciences, conducted this credible survey by separating it into three main uses of the technology: (1) to prevent possible inherited diseases, (2) to save a medically ill child’s life, and (3) to predetermine the child’s sex (as a non-medical use). This process of the experiment goes into depth with this controversial issue, rather than simply asking the participants if “Designer Babies” are a good or a bad idea. Throughout the survey process, the young participants became more educated about the subject through video clips, newspaper articles, and a series of speakers.

There were multiple results with this experiment. With “designer baby” technology, the majority of the jury ended up approving the capability of parents to “prevent inherited conditions from being passed on and to prevent serious suffering” (Iredale 211) and to save an existing child of it’s serious medical conditions. On the other hand, the majority of the jury were of opposition to predetermining the sex of the baby. After all of the education was embedded into the process, the results should be looked upon as credible sources of information with the technology.