Disease prevention
At what cost do we prevent defects and diseases?
Improvisation in technology for the benefit of the human race is always welcome since, given a choice, no mother would want her unborn child to begin their lives with unnecessary life challenges. But, like every coin has two sides, there is every possibility of abuse in the name of technology advancement wherein parents decide the intelligence and physical features of their children. This could lead to bigger imbalances in gender equality in certain nations where boys are still considered a boon over girl children.
We are already heading into an era where beauty and complexion enhancing soaps and creams are one of the fastest selling products, not to forget how plastic surgery and Botox is selling like hot cakes. Just imagine a world where designer babies, where the parents decide the child’s facial features matches that of a Hollywood star or nose of the best looking Bollywood hunk. How can one take pride in inheriting the genes of the parents or maternal/paternal grandparents? In the whole craze of technology, our individuality will perish and we will be compared to just another cloned “Dolly”, the cloned sheep.
We have to decide what our individuality is worth and whether could we stop this technology from being used for aesthetic purposes.
From Ms Sandhya Shetty
A sales and marketing manager based in Dubai.
Designer babies
It’s a slope against Nature
We try to think about the controversial ethical questions raised by the technology of personalising a baby, we cannot argue over the fact that all the related technology of this new century is good or bad. We should be cautious to encourage more robust and informed conversations around these technologies because science has developed faster than our cultural conversations.
Ethically speaking, the issue of designing a baby according to the whims and wishes of the parent using the bio-medical help is putting our society on edge. Even though it does seem appropriate to skip a certain disease or medical condition, it is completely mind-boggling as to how carelessly these measures could open up tracks that could finally end us with our designed little ones. Be it people promoting it for ‘family balancing’ or for individualizing the babies, they tug along complicated ethical issues.
We are continuously improvising in the world of genetic engineering, the eager public who supports such a cause wouldn’t think twice or be ashamed about not only asking for a specific gender or positive characteristic, but also specify everything from blue eyes to perfect toes. So if this were to get legalised, it will open up another topic of – where should we draw the line in this practice?
This entire situation violates the consent of the embryo itself. Every parent is usually given authority over their child, which is an enormous amount of power. But meddling with the responsibility or the power to genetically discriminate an embryo for a non-health related irreversible change should be banned. On a parallel level, the soul power holder when it comes to a child’s genetic identity is the individual itself. So, at the end of the day, it is our choice to believe in our ethics and opinions on whether we are happy to slide down the slope of genetically modified humans or not.
From Ms Samah Riyas
Psychology student based in Dubai.
Researching infertility
Value our natural selves above innovation
Anything hindering the natural process of life will lead to disaster like how nuclear technology began. Let it be only used for trying to prevent dysfunctional births and to give fertility for childless couples. I strongly believe that God can never be belittled or challenged, come what may!
Already the world faces discrimination with regards to wealth, colour, nationality, religion, gender and what not. Once human genes modification takes steps forward, in due course the world will face much more crime and war.
There is no guarantee against any possible implications that may occur in the future generations, be it in genetically modified animals or humans.
If this modification is allowed, later there will be a demand of designer babies and then branded babies. What will happen to the great feeling of love? Can that, too, be infused into the genes?
Already human beings are in a fast paced world where we have enough gadgets to get things done within no time. We are pushed into lethargic attitudes with every new invention, leading to new health hazards. For every disease there is a mutation, which challenges us further. Still, we are in the process of finding cure for various ailments as day by day we fall trap to our own modified lifestyles.
Instead of the modification of embryos, let the human race be guided to be healthy by the way of good living lifestyles. Let this be educated and enforced. Let the research on embryos be made only to prevent infertility and to avoid birth defects.
Child conception is the only issue still considered to be natural and a godsend. Let us keep up the value of the human race above the value of so-called innovation.
From Ms Krishnakumari Venkat
A homemaker based in Dubai.
Research into genetically modifying human embryos is:
Good for eliminating diseases 26%
Taking us closer to ‘designer babies’ 11%
Allowing more research into infertility 37%
Unethical 26%
