Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

But we are talking of people having babies to only save their current child..the child required will have to have a certain tissue type and thus they can't trust to luck and hope the resultant child WILL have the required matching tissue..That's not what this article is stating.It is about actually selecting ONLY those embryos that have the correct tissue type..and any that don't have the necessary matching tissue type? What happens to them?

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

I thought we had been over this before, It is gods way, stop playing with our genes!!

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

But we do that all the time, even if you never eat a GM product, almost nothing that you consume is strictly natural.
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I personally don't find even genuine "designer" babies to be a bad thing. We're not talking about something like eugenics where we are killing off people already born, we're just ensuring that those that are born are improved. I'm perfectly happy for humans to be engineered to me more intelligent, stronger, capable of surviving in adverse environments, etc.

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

I am sorry but if that is what god chooses for your child then so be it, I have a son who has an emotional disorder, but it does not mean I will play god with him, it is a crime against humanity. What did they do years ago when there wasnt things such as gene research? They got on with it, so I am sorry we have to as well.

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

You know better than that.

Didn't Hitler have a similar idea?

What happened to loving a child no matter how it turns out?

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

What he said!

I would have written all this but Xaccers beat me to it.

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

No-one is playing with our genes.

This is about pre-implantation tissue-typing of IVF embryos, to select ones which can be a donor for the parents' existing child.

No messing with genes. No eugenics. Just parents who want to help save their kid's life.

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

No, because I`m making it quite clear that I`m not proposing that we wipe out those that we deem imperfect by mass slaughter. I see there being a vast gulf between the actions of Hitler and merely ensuring that future generations are improved, no detrimental action is being taken against the current generations.

As for your second point, this isn't a case of making a children more loveable, engineering humans to survive in adverse environments certainly doesn't fit into my idea of factors that define loveability, for want of a better word. It is an issue of taking evolution into our own hands and guiding the development of the human race as a whole.

Evolution is, at a base level, survival of the fittest. That can be through strength, intelligence, suitability for the environment, other factors. This is merely a case of applying intelligence to improve fitness.

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

Oh dear, it seems that now the red herring of eugenics is being dragged across this topic.

We're talking about processes that *already* exist, that of producing IVF babies and of organ/ tissue/ cell donation from relatives.

Does anyone have any objection to these?

IVF involves some fertilzed eggs not being used already, all that is happening is that a particular one is being chosen as the best possible match for donation to a sibling instead of the process being random.

This is *not* the same as wanting to produce a blonde, blue eyed "Aryan Master Race", it is nothing like that.

If the chosen embryo comes to term and then turns out not to be a perfect match or the transplant or whatever doesn't work properly, do you really think the parents are going to love that baby any less?

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

That's on the assumption of one agreeing with evolution.

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

all true :)

the only moral issue is the one of discarding the 'rejects', which is the same one that has existed since IVF treatments were introduced.

personally I have a problem with IVF - but I have a healthy son and presumably could have had more children, I concede I might feel entirely different, were that not so...

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

What if you don't believe in a god?
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You currently enjoy the benefit of many drugs and other products (some of them not essential) that are the result of playing with your god. This assumes that you still believe that your god created animals too.

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

I take it your son hasn't had any vaccines, never been given antibiotics, wouldn't be given treatment if they had cancer etc?

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

Oh gods, *DON'T* start that one again! :rolleyes:

Re: Designer babies Lords give thumbs up
 

I just want there to be more discussion about this before such issues become the accepted thing.Once we push open certain doors it is difficult to close and bolt them again.

I'm not concerned about playing God I'm concerned about not thinking every part of the issue ALL the way through..I also would want to approach it in a more pragmatic manner and to try and keep the emotive angle to a minimum although I understand that genetic disease in young children IS an emotive issue.However I feel that the discussion should be along the lines of what is best for the proposed resultant children who are people too eventually.

What will it be like if we go further along this road to cloned individuals?What sort of society will we be forming?What certain legalities will there be for cloned people?This is what needs discussing.Of course we could do the usual and just accept it a bit at a time but then the laws will never really catch up.

Let's just think the consequences through a little more thoroughly than we are at the moment..please. :tu: