Is it really possible to give birth not only to babies of a certain gender, but also with certain facial features?
Designer kids – that’s what they’re called now. Scientists have made a loud statement: it turns out that now they are able to “program” the unborn child in such a way that he has a certain set of qualities. Including external ones. Now biologists can create children with blond hair and blue eyes, or, conversely, dark-haired, green-eyed. To do this, you just need to slightly correct the information carried by the DNA of the sperm or egg.
Scientists did not set themselves such a goal – to invent a method to conceive children of a certain appearance. They were looking for how to change the DNA of embryos in order to exclude mutations that cause various dangerous diseases, as well as hereditary diseases. So the discovery of the ability to ask the future person a certain set of qualities became a side effect in their work.
The discovery caused a mixed reaction from the scientific community. Of course, the main question is whether it will be ethical. But the ethics committee concluded that tampering with DNA alone would not be morally unacceptable. The decision, however, is not yet final. But the preconditions are already in place. First, the intervention must be in the best interests of the child. That is, to exclude the possibility of diseases, pathologies and developmental abnormalities. The second condition is that the intervention should not contribute to stratification in society. They mean that rich people can pay to manipulate bioengineers to end up with a dream child, incredibly smart and inhumanly beautiful, but this will definitely be unethical.
By the way, there is another reason why society objects to DNA manipulation. Like, if children with Down syndrome disappear, if people stop getting cancer, then won’t this play a cruel joke on humanity, depriving it of the ability to sympathy? But this reason, to be honest, seems very far-fetched. What’s wrong with forgetting about fatal diseases?
But the question with appearance remains open. Moreover, the intellect can be programmed at the stage of conception as well. And this will definitely work as a factor in the stratification of society. By the way, research related to gene editing is banned in at least 40 countries. So the UK may well become one of the healthiest countries in the world, if research is allowed there.
Interview
Would you like to pass on the corrected genes to the child?
No. A child is a gift from above, everything should be regulated only by nature.
Knowing that the baby will be born healthy – what’s wrong with that?
Only when it comes to health. I wish my child was like me, and not like a picture from a magazine.
Sure. To give birth to a healthy and beautiful baby is the dream of every mother.