Download Introduction to How Designer Children Work

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2. Show evidence of close reading. Mark up the text with questions and or/comments.
3. Write a (1) page reflection on your own sheet of paper. Consider the following for your reflection:
a. What did you think about the idea of using science and genetics in this way?
b. What are the pros?
c. What are the cons?
d. What are the possible consequences?
e. What part of the article did you find intriguing? Disturbing?
How Designer Children Work
by Kevin Bonsor and Julia Layton
Introduction to How Designer Children Work
Given the choice, would you rather have been born with a different eye color, hair color or skin
tone? Maybe you would have chosen to be taller, thinner or more muscular. Of course, you didn't
have these options. The physical and personal traits a person winds up with are just one big roll
of the dice, with only the biological parents' genes to draw from. However, within advances in
genetics research, people may soon preselect their children's physical and personality traits like
they pick out options on a new car.
Scientists have only begun to unravel the secrets hidden within the human genome -- the genetic
blueprint for a human being. The mapping of the genome was finished in 2003, and scientists are
continuing on the quest to discover what each gene does and how it functions. At this point in
2010, it's possible to manipulate the genes of embryos. In February 2009, a fertility clinic in Los
Angeles tried to offer selection of hair and eye color but retracted the offering in the face of
public backlash.
But the implications of human genetic manipulation go further than choosing green eyes. In
England, deaf activists protested a 2007 bill that allowed for genetic selection only against
certain diseases and disabilities, and prohibit selection for them, claiming deaf parents should
have the right to select a deaf child if hearing parents have the right to select a hearing child
[source: TimesOnline].
That same bill let parents select embryos that would make suitable "savior siblings" -- children
conceived with the initial purpose of acting as donors for a sick brother or sister. Some people
argue that embryos selected for their tissue types are a kind of designer children, just like
embryos selected for tallness or blond hair.
Designing our babies is a reality that governments, ethicists and religious organizations are just
now starting to address in full force. In this article, we'll learn about the progress and goals of
human-genome research, how we're already weeding out genetic diseases and about the future of
"selecting" human offspring.
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The basis of all potential genetic manipulation in human beings is the human genome, the Holy
Grail of genetics research. In 2003, scientists finished it -- at least to the degree that current
technology allows.
Mapping the Human Genome
If you think of the human body as big, complicated, encrypted code, then the scientists mapping
the human genome are attempting to break that code. Once the code is broken, it will reveal
many secrets of how the human body works, and it could lead to greater disease prevention. In
June 2000, scientists from the Human Genome Project and from Celera Genomics both
announced that they had assembled a working draft sequence of the human genome, a major
step in cracking the code.
What researchers are trying to do is construct a detailed genetic map of the human genome and
determine the entire nucleotide sequence of human deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). A nucleotide
is the basic unit of nucleic acid, which is found in the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the human
body. According to the Human Genome Project, there are between 26,000 and 40,000 genes in
the human body. Each of these genes is composed of a unique sequence of pairs, each with four
bases, called base pairs.
In a DNA molecule, which is shaped like a twisted ladder, the bases are the chemicals that
interlock to form the rungs of the ladder. The sides of the ladder are made of sugar and
phosphate molecules. The human body has about 3 billion base pairs, but only about 4 percent of
those pairs constitute DNA that affects gene function. We don't have any idea about the purpose
of the other 96 percent of base pairs, consequently termed junk-DNA.
The finished sequence was completed, with 99.99-percent accuracy, in 2003. Discovering the
secrets of the sequence is still in its infancy.
Better understanding the human genome will tell us a lot about how life works. It could lead to
preventing or curing diseases, because genetics is what getting sick is all about -- our genes are
trying to fight off the genes of a virus or bacteria. The next step will be to determine how this
battle is played out. Today, researchers know the positions of some genes that control our
medical traits. Other genes have been located but their functions are unknown, and still others
remain entirely elusive. The point of genome research is to locate the genes and determine just
how the four bases are sequenced, and then to learn what the genes actually do…
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Genetic Prescreening
When doctors first performed in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 1978, it gave many otherwise
infertile couples a way to have a child of their own. IVF works by removing the eggs from the
woman's uterus, fertilizing them in a laboratory and then, a few days later, transferring the
fertilized egg, called a zygote, back into the uterus. IVF has also led to a procedure that allows
parents to weed out genetically defective embryos. This procedure is called preimplantation
genetic diagnosis (PGD).
PGD is often used during IVF to test an embryo for genetic disorders before inserting it into the
woman's uterus. Once the egg is fertilized, a cell from each embryo is taken and examined under
a microscope for signs of genetic disorders. Many couples use this procedure if there are any
inherited disorders in their genes to decrease the possibility that the disorder will passed to their
child. Currently, PGD can be used to detect many disorders, including cystic fibrosis, Down
syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease and hemophilia A.
Some genetic disorders are specific to one gender or another, such as hemophilia, which usually
affects boys. Doctors may examine the cells to determine the gender of the embryo. In a case
where a family has a history of hemophilia, only female embryos are selected for placement in
the uterus. This practice is at the center of a larger debate about whether parents should be able
to choose embryos purely on the basis of gender. Some people worry that it could lead to an
imbalance between genders in the general population, especially in societies that favor boys over
girls, such as China.
While PGD enables us to pick out embryos that don't have genetic disorders, and even chose the
gender we want, it is only the beginning of what genetic engineering can do. Parents could some
day custom-order babies with certain traits.
Hair- and eye-color selection is already a (highly controversial) possibility.
Choosing from the Genetic Menu
The idea of manipulating the genes of humans should not surprise us. Scientists have been
altering animal genes for years. Goats and cows have been manipulated so that they produce
more milk or more proteins in their milk. Mice have been injected with genes that may cause
Alzheimer's disease in an effort to find a cure. Jellyfish genes have been injected into the
monkey genome.
One of the more interesting transgenic animals was created by injecting a spider gene into a
goat's genome. Spider silk is very strong and, if produced in enough quantity, could create a very
powerful type of body armor. And while spiders don't make enough silk to produce this super
body armor, scientists discovered that spider silk is a protein similar to goat milk. When the
spider gene is inserted into a goat, the goat produces a protein that is identical to that found in
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spider silk. This protein is extracted from the goat's milk to produce silk fibers, called BioSteel,
which is used to make bulletproof vests.
Altering the genetic properties of living animals is a reality, and some of these animals have
genetic makeups similar to that of humans. It's only a small leap from here to producing humans
who can jump higher, see farther, hear better (or not at all) or run faster. Before these super
humans can be created, though, we have to learn more about the human genetic code.
One method that could soon be used to change human genetics is called germline gene therapy.
It involves adding a step to preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Germinal cells are our
reproductive cells, and this approach means manipulating genes of the sperm, egg or early
embryo. Beyond just screening embryos, germline therapy actually adds new genes to the cells.
It's possible that almost any trait could be added to an embryo to create a tailor-made child.
Germline therapy is already being performed on animals. Genetic changes to germinal cells may
not show up in the animal that results from the embryo, but may instead show up in later
generations.
The long-term implications of germline therapy could be the elimination of disease and disability
by simply "fixing" genetic problems as they arise. They could also be a bit darker -- a "Gattaca"esque scenario in which only genetically perfect beings can advance in society. Or a nation
develops super-human bullet-proof speedster soldiers and conquers the rest of the world for slave
labor.
Either way, we can look forward to intense debate in the coming years over the acceptable
applications of genetics discoveries. Will designing children to look, act and think a certain way
become a commonplace approach to propagation?
Human genes are found in the rungs of a DNA double helix. DNA makes up the 23 pairs of
chromosomes in the human body.
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*Photo courtesy DOE Joint Genome Institute
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