The colloquial term "designer baby", which was coined by Maleka Merchant in 1971,^{[citation needed]} has been used in popular scientific and bioethics literature to specify a child whose hereditary makeup (genotype) would be, using various reproductive and genetic technologies, purposefully selected ("designed") to be the optimal recombination of their parents' genetic material. The term is usually used pejoratively to signal opposition to such use of human biotechnologies.^[1] Bioethics are the ethics of biological science and medicine. ... The genotype is the specific genetic genome of an individual, in the form of DNA. It is basically ones DNA including the influence of environmental variation, it codes for the phenotype of that individual. ... Reprogenetics is a term referring to the merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like preimplantation genetic diagnosis become more available and more powerful. ...

Ethics

A common objection to "designer baby" technology is based on the ethics of human experimentation. Modern bioethical codes such as the Declaration of Helsinki condemn experiments on humans that are unnecessary, dangerous, or without the subjects’ consent. A report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) voices these concerns in the context of inheritable genetic modification, concluding that this technology "cannot presently be carried out safely and responsibly on human beings" and that "pressing moral concerns" have not yet been addressed.^[2] Human experimentation involves medical experiments performed on human beings. ... The Declaration of Helsinki, developed by the World Medical Association, is a set of ethical principles for the medical community regarding human experimentation. ... The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an organization that promotes cooperation between scientists, defends scientific freedom, encourages scientific responsibility and supports scientific education for the betterment of all humanity. ...

Most opponents of this technology refer to its possible social implications, distinguishing between genetic modifications used to treat persons with disabilities or diseases and those used to enhance healthy persons. They are particularly wary of this technology’s ability to lead to a new eugenics where individuals are "bred" or designed to suit social preferences such as above average height, certain hair color, increased intelligence, or greater memory. While the prospect of future generations of overall better people is not necessarily negative within itself, concern rather arises from the possibility that such groups of people might become prejudiced against one another due to a feeling of lost common humanity with non-enhanced or differently-enhanced groups. Within journalistic coverage of the issue, as well as within the analysis of bioconservative critics (those against), the issue of safety takes a secondary role to that of humanity, because it is thought that the ethical issue of safety can eventually be resolved by science and so should not be focused on due to its fallibility. The so-called Humanity Argument asserts that genetically engineering "designer babies" would compel us to think of each other as products or devices rather than people, and the spectre has often been raised (for instance by CGS) of young parents-to-be who might one day send away for a catalogue, compose a list of desirable features and order a custom infant produced to specification. Human enhancement describes any attempt, whether temporary or permanent, to overcome the current limitations of human cognitive and physical abilities, whether through natural or artificial means. ... Liberal eugenics or new eugenics is the protoscientific study and non-coercive use of reproductive and genetic technologies to improve human beings, specifically in regard to biological characteristics and capacities. ... Techno-progressivism, technoprogressivism, or tech-progressivism (a portmanteau word combining technology-focused and progressivism), is a stance of active support for technological development and social progress. ... The Center for Genetics and Society is a nonprofit information and public affairs organization in Oakland, California, that provides analysis and educational materials, and organizes conferences and workshops, on the new human genetic and reproductive technologies. ...

Despite the pejorative nature of the term "designer baby", a growing minority of social theorists consider the notion of a designer baby, once the technology is shown to be safe, to be a responsible and justifiable application of parental procreative liberty. The usage of genetic engineering (amongst other techniques) on one's children is said to be defensible as procreative beneficence, the moral obligation by parents to try and give their children the healthiest, happiest lives possible. Some futurists claim that it would put the human species on a path to participant evolution.^[3][4] Reproductive rights (also Procreative liberty) refers to human rights in areas of sexual reproduction, including the rights to reproduce (such as opposition to forced sterilization) as well as rights not to reproduce (such as support for access to birth control and abortion), the right to privacy, medical coverage, right to... Procreative beneficence is a term refering to the moral obligation of parents to have the healthiest children. ... Participant evolution is a process of deliberately redesigning the human body and brain using technological means, with the goal of removing biological limitations. ...

References

Gregory Stock is a scientist and writer with doctorate in biophysics from John Hopkins University. ... James Hughes Ph. ... Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future is a 2004 book by James Hughes about the bioethical issues of creating a society with only some transhuman or modified people while others are left behind unimproved mentally or physically due to economical differences. ...

External links

• Bonsor, Kevin. Howstuffworks: How Designer Children Will Work
• Center for the Study of Technology and Society. Special Focus on Designer Babies