1

DESIGNER BABIES

Prateek Chaudhuri

2

Praxis Business School

“DESIGNER BABIES”

A report

Submitted to

Dr. Prithwis Mukherjee

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the course

Business Information Studies

On 07/11/2010

By

Prateek Chaudhuri

3

Contents:

Sl No Topics Page No

1 Abstract 4

2 Introduction 5

3 Mythological wonders 6

4 Who are they? What is the motive? 7

5 The science and technologies involved 7

6 A outlook on the research and advancement till date 14

7 The economic perspective 15

8 Ethical questions :The biggest challenge 17

9 The way round 19

10 Summary and conclusion 20

11 Reference 21

4

Abstract

Designer babies: this term basically implies to a baby who has undergone genetic manipulation with

cutting edge genetic engineering techniques coupled with assistive reproductive techniques like in-

vitro fertilization. The major objective behind the birth of this idea was to create babies free from any

sort of genetic defects and abnormalities. In this article I will try to discuss about the technologies and

the concepts involved in this field. Apart from this I will also discuss about the economic perspect ive,

marketability of the idea and the various issues of ethical concern associated with this idea and a

possible

5

Introduction

Do you love dreaming? Do you feel a bit of inferiority complex by seeing a taller person than

you and brood within yourself “i wish i would have been taller like him/her" or i t might be something on

the lines of this that evokes this same jealousy and inferiority complex when you get to see a person

of a fair complexion than yours. But unfortunately this wish never comes true (off course fairness

creams do promise making wonders in just 6 weeks) but the inherent dream or that wish still remains

the same and there is nothing much you can do about it apart from cursing your parents which seems

chap and is not at all a good idea. Perhaps you might have always felt like this “given a chance wish

to be taller, stronger or fairer.

Now let us consider a more critical case scenario of a blind person, or to be more precise, of

a “born-blind “ person who longs hard to see the world in colour, the way a normal human being

should cherish it. Many a times we have seen that parents try to express their unrealised wishes and

desire through their children or may be want their children to be like their role models like “I wish my

child would have been as intelligent as Einstein “.

But these are only a fragments of possibilities that cutting edge technology like genetic

engineering has to offer, or rather just a glimpse of what can come up in the near future where one

can preselect their children’s physical, personality and other genetic traits like picking up a new laptop

from a vast array of offered models or like customizing it with your own sweet will. Apart from this,

perhaps the most important reason and craving for this issue was the reduction in chance that a child

will be born with some genetic disorders or to completely nullify genetic disease and disorders like

haemophilia etc. This was perhaps the major goal of creating genetically engineered embryos

Somehow this “need” got suppressed with a plethora of “wants” like fairer, taller etc and this

in turn lead to the comparison of this noble exercise with other customised items like designer

clothing, pens laptops etc which got to attract a negative publicity towards this ge nuine cause which

got masked under a whole lot of wished and perhaps got the adjective of “having the upper hand over

god “ and giving birth to a sea of moral , ethical and religious questions. That is the foundation line for

the term or the “concept” of designer babies. Which seemed to be a fantasy or living in the utopian

world has slowly started taking shape and you may not have to wait for long when you can have your

child “Kate Winslate”, sharper than “Einstein” or an ace guitarist like “Steve Vai”.

The concept of gene therapy or genetic engineering evolved much before the mystery of the

human genome was unfolded. Not going into the scientific definition of what a “genome “is, we might

describe it in simpler terms as the “genetic blueprint for any organism, in this case it is for the Human

beings. The understanding of the human genome coupled with advanced genetically modified

reproductive technologies like In-vitro fertilization(IVF), Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) ,

germ line gene therapy and body cell gene therapy and r -DNA technology all confer to the process of

creation of a genetically modified embryo-the precursor of a “designer baby”. More on these

technicalities later as I will try to give my dear readers a view of what we have achieved till date and

what possibilities are in store for us.

.

6

Mythological wonders

Perhaps most of us have read the two greatest epics of all times, Ramayana and

Mahabharata.While to some it might look like a cheap stunt to create publicity or to forcefully attract

the readers to read this topic, I beg to differ with this opinion because a logical mind might perhaps

suggest otherwise. SO let’s rewind a bit to our past, may be when we were kids and personally i was

a big fan of both the epics and hence it might also be a reason why i am going to site two examples

from the epic Mahabharata. Off course one might argue that mythology holds no value in the modern

world of technology but let us see if it t all makes any sense.

Rewind<< may be sometime around 4000-5000 BC (being a mythology i can’t provide my

readers with exact date). Now we all know about the Pandavas and the Kouravas in Mahabharata,the

5 pandavas and a 100 Kouravas. Whenever we talk about Mahabharata perhaps only the war of

Kurukshetra flashes in our mind, but for this time let us go back to the birth of Pandavas and

kouravas.Gandhari was the mother of the 100 Kouravas( to be more precise its 101,because the

kouravas had a sister named Dusshala).How on earth can one give birth to a 100 sons and a

daughter? This question always used to nail my mind ,but as a child I only had a abridged (or rather

highly abridged ) version of this book so couldn’t do much with it but as i grew older (or more mature) i

got the hold of a far more elaborated Mahabharata and then only i got to know the fact that Gandhari

gave birth to a “Lump of flesh” which was divided into 100 equal parts and were kept in 100 “

enchanted ghee-filled earthen pots in a special room”. As a kid it was enough for me to believe that

this was the “authentic” technique through which they were born and not from their mother’s womb,

one at a time.

But perhaps a deeper insight will reveal something very interesting. Can we infer that the

mentioned “lump of flesh” was an embryo, that “ghee-filled pots” as special culture media for in-vit ro

fertilization and can we call those special rooms and enchantments as laboratory of a very high

standard and the whole process as a highly advanced technique for maturation of embryo and may

be going a bit uphill and naming it as a highly sophisticated IVF(in vitro fertilization) technique . I am

not saying that it has to be like this only but are we getting an essence of something. I leave this to my

dear readers to figure it out.

Now let us consider one more possibility from the same epic. This time it will be from the

Pandavas( Am i trying to play a balancing act? ).Of the 5 pandavas Yudhisthir, Bhima and arjun were

born of Kunti and Nakul and Sahadeva were born of Madri. Now t he name Pandavas came from their

father Pandu.Till this its a rosy picture but the shocker comes from the fact that pandu was impotent

and it was said that the all 5 pandavas were born by blessings(Vardaan) of gods like “Dharma”(The

god of truth and wisdom ), “pawan”(the god of air) etc

And it was for this reason Yudhistira was called as “Dharmaputra” , Bhima as “Pawanputra”

and so on.As a kid it invoked no questions in my ever curious mind but then again there is the same

story. Pandu being impotent are they born from Sperm donation by these gods.Also it might be noted

that each one of them were masters in a particular trade like Yudhisthira used to be a practitioner of

truth like “Dharma” and Bhima had immense power like “Pawan -deva”.

Can this be again called a genetic engineering effort of a very high and extremely developed

scale where by genetic engineering was done to achieve two goals at a single go like giving birth to

the Pandavas with “sperm donation” from a donor (in here it’s the respective gods) a nd also to

achieve desired traits in the embryos . Is it making sense?

7

Of course there is still ample room for argument about the “t ruthfulness” of these epics and

these concepts but still there is ample room for discussions too .May be this was practices in the then

“India” or may be those people were intelligent enough to at least conceptualize these things.

Whatever it might be now let us fast forward back to our present and if possible we will sail to our

future too

Who are they? What is the motive?

Till now I am repeatedly using the term designer babies though in the first page i have given a

minor hint that the real intention of the concept was to deal with a far nobler and a serious cause than

merely designing a baby with desired physical traits. Some scientists like to blame the journalists by

calling this term a "Media assigned phrase" which mislead the public into believing that babies are

custom 'designable' and thereby raising the light of hope far beyond the requirement levels and

numerous eyebrows too. This method is basically an amalgamation of several different reproductive

techniques which can in turn promise some expected control to parents over what their offspring will

be like having a particular trait or free from any genetic disease and not like the "ideal in the truest

sense of term" or some sort of "super-human". In a bit lay-man's term, they are basically embryos who

have undergone genetic make-up by artificially selected genetic engineering. These babies are

devoid of any genetic defect.(which was the major intended purpose).They are almost perfect but not

totally "perfect" as I mentioned earlier.As i had mentioned earlier that this technique involves various

other technologies like gene therapy, IVF, Cytoplasmic transfer etc. It may be noted that there is not

one single process but a collection of processes and techniques which results in the output so one

cannot provide with any particular flow diagram or flow chart of the whole process as sometimes it's

like a trial and run affair to find out which technique works the most and thereby choosing it keeping in

mind certain default as well as imposed conditions which a scientist or a researcher or a partitioning

doctor needs to determine.

Don’t get me wrong at this point of time after reading terms like “media assigned Phrase”,

“Ideal” “mislead public “etc. The idea behind the birth of this technology was certainly a very novel one

and promising too and the basic motives can be summed up as follows:

Creating healthy babies free from any genetic disorder or disability

Having desired traits

Now I have put forward quite a number of jargons which might seem to be a bit alien to all

those who are unaware of this field.

Hence at this very juncture I would like to explain some of these so as to provide the readers

with a basic idea of what these processes are and how do they work

The Science and technologies involved

If you remember I have mentioned about the Human genome project on the very first page as one of

the stepping success stones for designer babies. Though artificial reproductive techniques came into

being much before the complete gene mapping was done through the human genome project still its

a very important pillar for present as well as future advancements, so let us discuss about the Human

genome project in brief before jumping onto the other techniques and tools

8

Genome:

Human Genome Project invariably consists of the term genome, so why not go for a quick

understanding of what "genome" is? Genome of an organism may be defined as its whole hereditary

information which is encoded in the DNA. Genome includes both the coding and the noncoding

sequences of DNA. The genome of an organism is the complete genetic sequence on one set of

chromosomes. Sequencing of the genome of a sexually reproducing species refer to a determination

of the sequences of one set of autosomes and one of each type of sex chromosome, which together

represent both of the sexes. The human genome consists of 24 chromosomes of which 22 are

autosomes and the rest 2,i.e. X and Y are the allosomes or better known as the sex chromosomes.

The human genome has about 3 billion base pairs containing about 20000-25000 genes(for your

quick recap of the biology classes in high school days, gene in simpler terms is the "hereditatory

information carrier"

Now let's start with the human Genome project.

The Human Genome Project:

The Human Genome Project is an international 13 year project which started in October

1990.though it was assumed to last for 15years, but aided with the rapid technological advancements

it was accelerated to completion at the year 2003.Final Human Genome project papers were

submitted in the year 2006.Project goals were to determine the complete sequence of 3 billion DNA

subunits, identify all the human genes and to make them accessible for further biological studies. The

Department of Energy’s Human Genome Program and the National Institutes of Health’s National

Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) together sponsored the Human Genome Project. The

project was started in 1990 and as was initially headed by James D.Watson at the U.S.National

Institute of Health. At least 18 countries have established human genome research programmes.

Some of the larger programmes are in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, EU, France,

Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom and The

United States. Some developing countries have participated through studies of molecular biology

techniques foe genome research and studies of organisms that are particularly interesting to their

geographical regions. The Human Genome Organization (HUGO) helped to coordinate international

collaboration in the genome project. The main goals of the HGP were to determine the more than 3

million base pairs in the human genome; the other goals were to identify all the genes in the genome.

The process of identification still continues, at present about 25,000 genes have been identified. The

project goals are as follows:-

▪To determine the sequence of the 3million base pairs that make up the human DNA.

▪ Identify all the 20000-25000 genes in the human genome.

▪To store this huge amount of information in a proper database.

▪To improve tools for data analysis.

▪Transfer the results and related technologies to the private sector and finally

▪To address the ethical, logical and social issues (ELSI) that arises from the project.

The detailed knowledge of human genome now provides new avenues for advancements in

medicine and biotechnology. Clear practical results of the project emerged even before the work was

finished. There are also many tangible benefits for scientists. For example if a researcher

9

investigating a certain form of cancer may have narrowed down the search to a part icular gene. By

visiting human genome database on the web he can examine what others have written about this

gene, including its 3dimensional structures and functions and possible detrimental mutations,

interactions with other genes, body tissues in which the gene is activated, diseases associated with it

or other datatypes.

Fig: The human chromosome

Enough said about the HGP, lets now focus on the other technical nitty-gritty. One might find

the portion of the HGP to be unnecessarily prolonged but perhaps it was the HGP that ushered in a

new era of gene therapy and other related techniques and moreover myself being a biotechnology

graduate and having a affinity for bioinformatics might also be the reason, and I would like to

10

apologise beforehand if I sound too technical and unnecessarily lengthy in the subsequent

paragraphs because i feel that to get the "procedure" part of how designer babies are born, a

thorough and deep understanding(i am not mentioning knowledge) of these topics are a bare

necessity.

Genetic engineering and gene therapy:

In simple terms gene therapy can be described as a medication technique involving genes.

Gene therapy involves replacing the faulty gene with a new gene either by replacing it directly or by

deleting it at first and therby inserting the new gene. Gene therapy was designed with a very noble

view of treating genetic disorders .In earlier times it was impossible to treat genetic diseases

successfully and to nulli fy theme and prevent them from express ing in the subsequent generations

but now a days gene therapy research gives some hope to patients and their families as a possible

cure and it won't be a overstatement i f i go overboard and term it as the "Panacea of the future". But

like a coin has two sides, gene therapy too has its own share of positive and negative side effects like

expression of undesired trait or in extreme case may even let too death so it is still trying to achieve

its perfection by endless work of researchers and scientists all around the globe as we humans, may

be from the fear of the unknown are still a little bit sceptical about gene therapy, though it is slowly

gathering up its pace however several research bans on humans are curbing down the pace with

which it should have evolved.

Now in order to perform a gene therapy, we need to introduce the desired gene into the

genome and it is not an easy process but I will try my level best to describe it in a lucid way avoiding

too much technicalities. Gene can be introduced in a number of ways like using the "gene gun

method" ,using the "lipid globule techniques", using "DNA vaccination techniques" and an array of

other feasible methods. However the most common and the most widely practiced of these is the

Vector method. No , Its not that directional vector of physics or Vector algebra but these are biological

vectors or simply carriers of the gene which transport the required gene to the desired location. To

perform the role of this biological vector virus perfectly fits the bill and there is no need to jump up and

shout out loud hearing " virus" because these virus are generally deactivated virus which are

attenuated off their infection causing powers.To use a virus as a vector, the virus ' own genes are

removed and replaced with the new gene destined for the cell. When the virus attacks the cell, it will

insert the genetic material it carries. A successful transfer will result in the target cell now carrying the

new gene that will correct the problem caused by the faulty gene. In this process a number of virus

can be used like Retroviruses, adenoviruses Herpes Simple virus etc

The technique can be broadly divided into ex vivo and in vivo processes for gene transfer. In

the ex vivo process it is basically transferring the new gene into cells that have been removed from

the subject and cultured in the laboratory. After the gene transfer he cells are inserted back whereby

they will continue to grow and produce the new gene product. In the in vivo process it is the insertion

of gene through vectors to the target cells, where transfer of the new gene will occur in the target cells

within the body to achieve desired results. Thus the vector method of which I was talking about earlier

is an in vivo process

The genomes of any two people are 99.9 percent identical. The 0.1 percent difference in DNA

sequence between individuals makes each person genetically unique. These differences in DNA

sequence often are referred to as genetic variations. Most genetic variations carry no harmful effects.

Some variations, however, can cause disease or increase one’s risk of developing disease. A

variation as small as one nucleotide in the DNA sequence can disrupt a gene severely; these

deleterious alterations in DNA sequence are called genetic mutations. Genetic con ditions such as

Huntington Disease, cystic fibrosis, or sickle cell disease are caused by mutations in single genes.

11

Gene therapy has been found very useful in conditions that occur due to mutations in a single gene.

However, gene therapy has to walk quite a distance so as to achieve the desired rate of output mean

to say the success rate

Fig: Diagrammatic representation of the gene therapy process using vector

Gene therapy can play a role of immense importance to make a baby free from genetic

diseases. Let us understand it through an example. X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-

SCID), a disease which occurs due to unavailability of the T and B cells which makes a child severely

susceptible to external infections because he completely lacks his immunity power as these two WBC

s play a major role in the immune system by phagocytosis .The only treatment that used to be was

bone marrow transplant from his or her siblings so as to make up for this genetic disease of lack of

immunity but unfortunately this technique is quite not feasible so scientist and researchers had to find

a other way round. It was found out that this occurs due to a faulty gene in the X chromosome and so

their main job is to cure it up and for achieving this gene therapy was used and the research was

carried by scientists from France and UK. These genius brains treated 14 children by replacing the

faulty gene ex vivo. Upon receiving the altered cells, the patients showed great improvements in their

immune system functions. Though there were a few unfortunate and unexpected results which

evoked controversies. Gene therapy is also used in effectively treating type 1 diabetes and so from

this it is not very hard to conclude that families prone to diabetes will try to give birth to a child free

from it and thereby opening another potential for development of designer babies, which was the main

motive for all these research works

But again a word of caution on the ending note that gene therapy is yet to reach an

acceptable success rate and has been a centre of controversies for years about the ethical logical

and social issues.

Now we have covered the "genetic" part so let's move on to a few other cutting edge

techniques of artificial fertilization and reproduction which are in vogue today . Today various new

reproductive technologies have developed alongside an increased understanding of the roles genes

play in disease or genetically inherited diseases Together these fields of advanced genetic research

and reproductive technology researched has been coined as "Reprogenetics". Now talking of this let

12

me mention abaout two very important and frequently heard terms, IVF and PGD. Preimplantation

Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) combines genetic testing and in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF involves

collecting eggs from a woman, fertilizing the eggs with sperm in a petri-dish, and transferring the

resulting embryo(s) to a woman’s uterus. PGD typically involves removing one or two cells from an

embryo two to four days after fertilization, extracting DNA from these cells and testing the DNA for a

specific genetic alteration or chromosome abnormality. Embryos free of the genetic disease being

tested for or possessing desired genetic characteristics are selected for transfer into the woman’s

uterus. Let us now discuss them more elaborately so as to develop at least a basic understanding of

what they are because just mentioning about them will do injustice to them.

Now let us have a look at the futuristic trends and technologies which are aiding this particular

arena of research and to start with ,perhaps IVF holds and utmost importance in shaping these

theories into reality followed by a couple of screening technologies to realise this into perfection, so

let’s start with the key aspects of these technologies. No I won’t be covering them in-depth to irk your

ire or make you bore but will try my level best to touch upon these so as to at least give you a fairly

comprehensive idea about “how these things work”

IVF (IN VITRO FERTILIZATION):

It is basically the fusion of a

man's sperm and a women's ovum in a

laboratory in a petri-dish under

favourable conditions. In normal case

or in the case of unassisted conception

fertilization takes place inside the

woman body where sperms enter to

get attached to the ova and produce

the embryo subsequently through a

number of stages .In case of IVF this

whole process is replicated in a petri

dish or a test tube, i mean to say the

whole process of fertilization and then

the fertilized egg or the embryo in its

earliest stages are implanted back to

the mothers womb. IVF is a form of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and has been

successfully used since 1978. It is most often tried when other, less expensive fertility techniques

have failed and in this case it plays a pivotal role in the making of designer babies as it gives us the

chance to use a "Donor Sperm" of a desired individual to coupl with the ovum and production of

embryo which may subsequently be genetically engineered through other techniques so as to

produce an embryo with desired characters and implant it back to the womb.

The IVF process can be broadly divided into 5 stages .They are like ways: Stimulation

process in which fertility drugs are administered to a woman to boost her ovum production. Normally

in general case only one ovum is produced in a month, however these drugs synthesise production of

more than one egg (ovum). The second step is the egg retrieval step whereby eggs are removed from

the body by advanced follicular surgery. Then comes the insemination and fertilization steps where

the sperm is placed together with the best quality ovum and stored in an environmentally controlled

chamber. The process of mixing of the sperm and ova is called insemination. The Fertilization

process usually takes place a few hours after insemination. Embryo culture and transfer are

subsequently done after the fertilization process.

Fig : Diagrammatic representation of In vitro fertilization technique

13

Embryos develop by the rapid division of the ovum(fertilized as you all know it) and are kept

under constant observation and during this time PGD(pre -implantation genetic diagnostic) can be

done and also the embryo can undergo necessary gene therapy .PGD also helps in choosing the best

embryo to be implanted back in the womb. More on PGD later. More than one embryo may be placed

into the womb at the same time, which can lead to twins, triplets, or more. The exact number of

embryos transferred is a complex issue that depends on many factors, especially the woman’s age

but that 's not our area of focus so let it be there. Now rose comes with thorns too so IVF has its own

fair share of disadvantages too like it runs the risk of multiple pregnancies, severe mental stress and

in extreme cases may even lead too diseases like OHSS etc and last but not the least IVF as of now

is a very costly affair so limiting its benefit to only the upper rungs of the economic ladder.

PGD:

PGD, or Pre implantation genetic diagnosis holds high relevance in this context as it is used

for screening of genetic defects in the embryos and thereby helping us to ascertain the nature of the

defect (I mean to say which defective or mutated gene is involved in the disease) and hence providing

us to cure it through gene therapy by inserting desired gene for necessary modifications. PGD

essentially involves removing one or two cells from an embryo 2 -4 days after fertilization; DNA is

extracted from these cells for a specific genetic alteration or chromosome abnormality. Embryos free

of the genetic disease being tested for or possessing desired genetic characteristics are then selected

for transfer into the woman’s uterus. PGD was developed in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s as

an alternative to current prenatal diagnoses.PGD also has a significant role to play in c ase of gender

determination as an indirect means of avoiding an X-linked disorder. In 1989 in London, Handyside

and colleagues reported the first unaffected child born following PGD performed for an X-linked

disorder.

As of 2006, more than 15,000 PGD cycle)s have been reported of. PGD is currently available for most

known genetic mutations. Although the indications for PGD are well established,

Germline Therapy:

In Germline therapy,a faulty DNA in egg sperm or fertilised embryo is replaced with a healthy

DNA and has been t ried out with a fairly feasible success rate in animal embryos.PGD is meant to

affect only the immediate offspring but this germline therapy or germline engineering as it is

alternatively termed, seeks to amend the genetic defect in all the future generations so that it does not

remains as a inheritable genetic disease. This technology holds immense potential as it goes a way

beyond disease treatment but also indicates new horizons in modifications to human longevity,

muscular mass, highly increased intelligence and other genetic enhancements some of which are

fancy ones like beautification too. This technology is fairly controversial too as it opens the door for

alteration of the human species as the modified genes will get expressed in al l the subsequent

generations.

As stated earlier, Genetic modification can be achieved by inserting a desired gene (or a new

gene) into living cells with the help of viral vectors (or liposomes).The process can be incepted by

using IVF to create a single cell embryo or a zygote. This embryo now develops for the subsequent 5

days to attain the blastocyst stage.It is from this blastocyst that the stem cells and trophoblasts are

derived for the subsequent job. The stem cells are then removed and necessary genetic manipulation

is then carried out with the aid of viral vectors as mentioned earlier. Now several colonies of these

14

altered stem cells are grown to check for successful incorporation of the new and desired gene and

also for abnormal results, if any because the desired success rate is yet to be achieved and germline

therapy is still very much in its nascent stages. Now if everything goes perfect then cloning techniques

are used to transfer a successfully modified stem cell nucleus into an enucleated egg cell. This

artificially modified embryo Is then implanted into the uterus for further subsequent developments.

But as of now this technique is facing some tethering problems regarding its acceptability and

consequences on the newer future with a pertinent question “Shall we go on with germline therapy?”

The arguments in favour of the controversy regarding germline therapy are as follows:

Germline therapy has been proved successful on animals so far but will it be successful on human

beings too? And if not then what will happen if it gives rise to a mutant species altogether?

It may also result in severe detrimental effects in the offsprings born as a result of this

technology like personality disorders, Physical disabilities, mental disabilities etc. But to contradict this

general proposition we can put forward an argument stating that various biological characters and

traits depend on the interactions amongst many genes and at the same time the activity of genes also

depends on a plethora of processes that occur inside the organism and its surroundings. SO full

prediction about the results cannot be proposed but with the new inventions creeping up every day we

are slowly and steadily heading towards a full proof process

Body cell gene therapy:

Without going into a elaborate description I will just state a fact or two about body cell gene therapy as it also deserves a special mention.AS mentioned earlier, germline therapy, though

successfully practiced on animal embryos , is still illegal to perform on humans in many countries. However it is legal to modify faulty genes in the cell of a mature or grown adult and also to cure diseases like cystic fibrosis.

Effect of these technologies:

These Advanced reproductive technologies are used for the following reasons whic h are as follows

(and not just only for producing the so called “designer babies”) -

Assisting infertile couples to have children

Screening of embryos to detect genetic disorders which is mainly done for couples who have a history of genetic disorder

Sex determination of the baby, an equally important job so as to rule out possibilities of

genetic diseases like haemophilia .It is to be nted that some diseases are only found in the male child like muscular dystrophy and couples with a history of this can go for a female child but it is to be borne in mind that the sex determination technique should never be used to perform the “balancing act in the family”

An outlook on the research and advancement till date:

As I mentioned earlier the whole idea and concept is still very much in nascent stages and it is a amalgamation of advanced processes and techniques involved and there is no such common procedure for this and various scientists all around the globe are trying out different methods to

achieve perfection. Perhaps this can be traced back to the year 1976 when a group of scientists were successful in achieving genetic manipulation on mice to produce more accurate models and test subjects for them and it was in these mice were modified in the germline stage by inducing permanent

genetic changes with new genes in the mouse embryo.This experiment however insignificant it might look at the first sight was a forerunner for things to come later. Another groundbreaking achievement was the birth of a rhesus monkey carrying a jelly fish gene which was done by scientists at Oregon on

January 11.2001, some 25 years from the first experiment .though in the mean time various other

15

experimental researches were performed too but this one deserves to be termed groundbreaking as

this was the birth of a genetically engineered primate, the closest relative to mankind and truly ushered a new era in terms of research and controversies too, more on the controversies later.

In the meantime the completion of the Human genome project also paved a new road to success with a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. The first modification of the human genome

was reported in 2003 by Dr Jacques Cohen who was a fertility expert in New Jersey. He was successful in producing two babies with DNA from two different mothers and this can be very well acknowledged as the first case of human germline modification to create healthy children and disease

free children in the subsequent stages. This also lead to the rise of several bio-ethical questions of whether these research should be allowed to continue or not.

Now as the basic concept behind these gene therapy in human was to create disease free human beings and also to cure any sort of inherited genetic disorders and syndromes like muscular dystrophy, hemophilia etc

Let us take up the case of muscular dystrophy which shows its symptoms as one grows older and mostly results from malfunctioning of immune system and gene therapy can provide great help. Professor H. Lee .Sweeney of university of Pennsyl vania addressed this issue by developing a

synthetic gene which when int roduced into muscles of subjects like mice,can prevent the ageing and normal detoriation of the muscle cells and this is certainly worth mentioning as not only it offers to solve this issue but again raises eye-brows fetching the same old question “Are we going to create super humans? “

A look into more recent happenings in the field of advanced reproduction technologies which now form a integral part in the implementing the benefits into reality.

In this context it would be apt o remind about the first IVF-conceived baby Lousie Brown. And the scientist who pioneered this technique, Robert .G. Edward was awarded the Noble Prize this year.

In Paris three babies were born as a part of a pilot study involving a technique to screen

across the full range of chromosomes looking for defects that risk the rate of miscarriage. Two girls were successfully born in Germany involving the trial of a technique called microarray comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) which aims at boosting success rates in assisted reproduction. Apart

from these experiments, other researches like finding out potential genetic disorders like Down’s syndrome and Huntington’s disease by analyzing the cells containing th e embryos genetic information. A Scottish fertility clinic has come up with an option by which they offer women to

genetically screen their unborn children to screen for and nullify these defects. Doctors at the Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine are also working towards the same goal.

The Economic Perspective:

Before going into the economic perspectives and feasibility let us once again dwell on the advantages and ideas and arguments put forward to support the beneficiary aspects.

Advantages involved:

Advantages involved includes

Pretreatment of embryos for any genetic defect

Curing the genetic defects found out thereby

Insertion of new traits through selected genes

Sex determination of the baby before birth and by sex determination I mean “choosing the sex of the baby” before its born and this seems to be a highly controversial issue

16

Cosmetic benefits: choosing of eye color ,skin color and what not but this again is something

equally controversial-The superhuman

And last but not the least a healthy baby free from diseases and disorders and delivering a smile to several couples or delivering happiness, going philosophically

Though the advantages, benefits and the marketability of this idea can be countered equally on ethical grounds but let us for a while stick to our business and find out the arguments in favor of the idea of marketability

The arguments are as follows:

Living in an age of technology we are using and exploiting it in every aspect so as to make our li fe perfect, creamier and smoother.

We are using several techniques to prevent diseases which might get expressed in the later

stage of li fe, using arti ficial organ implants and also using other technologies to ensure our children to be free from any deformities and disabilities and also trying to find a way out to reduce the financial and emotional strain on the parents and we certainly have our own rights

to ask for the best for our children to make their life content and happy

Some might raise the issue of embryo killing but now a day’s parents are flocking to wards fertility clinics ,paying thousands and millions of bucks for arti ficial reproductive methods .They are spending so much money, time and effort and resorting to emotional stress so they

can always ask for a baby who will be a healthy one

Nature follows the rule of screening for and survival of the fittest, and many no of naturally conceived embryos are rejected due to defects ,and by doing it with the help of technology we

are also doing the same job

And last but not the least, as I mentioned earlier in this paragraph about organ implantation, we are doing arti ficial organ implantation like artificial knee surgeries, pacemaker surgeries,

renal surgeries and replacement of failed organs and by doing genetic engineering for the defective gene we are basically doing the same job so perhaps there is not enough room for argument if the whole issue is seen and perceived logically

Now let us have a look at one of the fact that several Australian couples are now flocking into the

US into various fertility clinics for screening their arti ficial IVF embryos for potential diseases and also

other ancillary traits like sex,skin colour etc.

Another survey was conducted recently by Feighanne Hathway, Esther Burns and Harry Ostrer

on “Consumers desire towards Current and prospective reproductive genetic screening” which found

that majority of respondents voted in favour of screening diseases like mental retardation, cancer and

heart diseases. But the surprising aspect of the study was that almost 10% would like to screen for

aesthetic features like tall stature, increased intelligence etc which clearly indicates a demand for

commercialization of these aspects too.

Though these findings about the 10% of the sample size might result of another ethical and

logical issues battle but these can also be treated as a precursor for what is about to come Like IVF

might become the default mode of reproduction in the near future but it can can be countered stating

the general cost of the procedure and the emotional and mental stress related to it but then again far

more research and findings might lead to commercialization of the procedure(if at all permitted on

ethical grounds) .At this point it is important to understand that there is no such procedure so as to

completely nullify the effect of majority of common diseases and complex traits like height ,weight etc

with the modern set of technology as they are governed by thousands of genes each having a very

small but noticeable effect so “perfect man” is yet not possible but there is certainly a option for our

17

potential embryos with increased risk for some diseases but decreased risk for other diseases but this

again has the room for working upon to achieve near perfection.

But one thing emerges out clear from the above survey that screening for severe early onset

diseases like muscular dystrophy etc is already attractive towards couples and might become the

norm for the day in the near future for couples undergoing IVF and even for those who are not opting

for it so as to make them aware of it and also to generate a possibility of driving them towards using

the IVF technology and other screening methods for their desired one and thereby increasing the

chance of marketability of this technology manifold by including screening for complex diseases and

cosmetic traits . In short we can easily move towards a world where genetic screening will become far

commonplace and as mentioned above already various fertility clinics are offering this ,though not as

extensively as projected for the future but to some extent, bypassing whatever stringent norms and

rules are being laid over human embryo genetic research and cloning by regulatory body and

negative media outcry about commoditization n of the embryos and “going over god ”. Whatever the

future might be the present still deals with the niggling issues of ethics and non ethical practices

making this emerging field a controversial arena and a battleground ,as of now ,but keeping trust on

technology, one can certainly presume that efficient and moral use of this technology will someday

lead us towards a better world. And it has already started sending ripples of commercialization as I

mentioned about the Scottish infertility clinic that offered these kinds of services in the earlier chapter.

We might also quote the name of “The fertility Institutes” which has its centres in los Angeles, New

York and Mexico ,offering “Sex selection and Family balancing program “ which is basically PGD

techniques offered for sex selection etc.Apart from this as a value addition to it, many institutes are

also coming up with genetic counselling programs to achieve this reality but then again most of them

are facing some problems over the curb of the moral issues but situations will certainly improve in the

near future.

Ethical questions: the biggest challenge

Like a coin has two sides, each and every technological implementation has its own share of

positives and negatives too, like the eternal argument that it can fairly be misused. Perhaps all of us

remember the dilemma and the thunderstorm of controversies about the implementation of nuclear

technology like it can vastly be misused, same is the case for designer babies too, and if not bigger

because these technologies like Genetically modified organisms, embryos, food crops and last but not

the least “human cloning” has already resulted in a large hue and cry and several bans and other

restrictions have already been imposed on them. Well, certainly the use of the word “ban” might seem

improper from a logical mind so let’s stick to the term “regulations”

So we have now finally reached the issue of ethical concern which plagues this field of

research today. Is it ethical? Are we doing anything wrong?

Before placing our individual views let us have a look into what the matter is all about

It can be addressed by saying that there are basically two types of questions that arise from the

issue. The first addresses the technologies that might be used to select or modify a baby’s genetic

makeup and the second one deals with the idea behind creation of designer babies

Are these practised technologies safe enough to be implemented on human beings?do they

have any or many adverse effects?

Can we morally defend and subscribe to the use of these technologies?

It will be illogical to damn these questions by aptly saying that these are very safe as this won’t be

a very logical job and also the persons who are addressing these issues are equally learned(except

18

for some self proclaimed ones) and if not more because implementation of these techniques does

involves a lot of study, research and trial and error and they are still in their developing stages so they

might as well come up with some unintended results

To put forward this rationale we might make the following points

The right gene may not get inserted to its desired place thereby causing chromosomal

abnormalities resulting in genetic disease which might get expressed later on and may even

lead to the death of the subject

Many genes have more than one effect and the gene which is inserted to achieve a desired

effect might in course of time result into various undesired effects which might as well

produce a mutant.

Many traits that we want to have in the baby might depend on several genes and it is a

cumbersome process to identify all of them and may lead to erroneous findings .For example

one might want a child with high IQ, it is very unlikely that the researchers can find out a

single gene which results in a boot in IQ ,so it might not be a very feasible idea

At this instant one might say that that’s why PGD is implemented but having PGD is not at all

altogether safe because it still runs the risk as the technology has not matured so much to give a

assurance that “everything is fine”

Now being dealt with the technical aspect let us now look into the arguments shown against

creation of designer babies on the ethical grounds that whether we shall at all proceed with the idea of

designer babies or just refrain from it

The arguments can be jotted as follows:

Killing of embryos so as to achieve “the perfect one:, but what is or will be the definition ?

The black arm of “eugenics” seems to plague this noble idea too as If it falls into the hands of

greedy politicians or some super-power crazy nations then it might be highly detrimental to

the society as it might give the “evil power” to express genetic preferences over a society like

creating a army with only “killer gene” or a bunch of blood-hungry posthumans

Then comes a very important social question of the availability of the benefits of this

technology to the wealthier lot and the same time these genetically modified offspring might

look down on their non modified counterparts as “inferior ones” This might also create a lower

class who might be the only victim of genetic diseases and other inabilities and can also give

rise to a new social discrimination and imparity

The gene pool can also get damaged as a result of this process

As the process of selection the best embryo involves terminating of the other embryos, it has

to deal with the religious and moral beliefs

And last but not the least where will be the end of “customization” will it be limited to curing

genetic diseases or extend upto a” blue eyed, blond, tall,handsome” and other adjectives or

even more?

These issues certainly needs to be approached before any further research or

commercialization of the whole aspect and cannot be damned with a single proposition that

“orthodox are out there to mar the show”

19

The Way Round

Like the way we treat with other technologies, this issue also deserves the same treatment,

use and implement it logically and sensibly.

As the controversies are shortlisted it is now the need of the day to also find out and implement a

solution and not just banning it or carrying away with it to get the taste of superpower

Now let us have a look at the possible solutions, though they themselves might have short falls as well

The first thing that can be done is to control the way it should be used and to find out the

specific purpose of the use so that it doesn’t translate itself to the play toy of the rich and well

to do. Keeping this view in mind we can restrict the method of PGD only to couples who might

give birth to a child with genetic defect or are careers of some defective gene and n ot just for

aesthetic purposes keeping the social consequences in mind. But like every solution it has its

own downside too like as to what basis one will classify the disorders to be addressed by

PGD and as it is impossible for a single person or organizations to decide on the guidelines

there will be again scope for controversies

But this again might leave room from another argument that PGD is already highly expensive

and only a selected few will be able to afford it leaving the major chunk of the society.To

address this the government might come up as to fund PGD techniques and also implement it

at a lower cost at healthcare institutions.

The 2nd

best thing to be done is to spread awareness about the ethical and logical issues and

make the parents feel the same ,education can alone solve several problems if implemented

correctly

The third solution might be completely banning the “aesthetic” aspect, same as the PGD

method, just making the law more blunt to deal with the consequences if the above two

solutions doesn’t bear the fruit

And last but not the least, and perhaps may be the most important of all of them is laying a

common guideline for the whole process starting from scratch, revisiting the current laws as

well as devising new laws and regulations for which the government of all the countries

across the globe need to sit down and frame the rules and regulations and may form a

agency to look after the same but at the current political scenario and other pressing issues

like global warming and terrorism might force it to take a backseat. Though this might as well

appear to be a herculean task but it is not at all impossible.

20

Summary and conclusion

Enough said about the issue let us have a quick recapitulation of the entire thing. To start with “Designer babies” is not at all a scientific term but a media assigned phrase to designate “babies’ born

with the help of genetic manipulation “with the aid of several arti ficial reproductive techniques to give parents more control over how they want their offsprings to be and also to nulli fy the effect of genetic disorders so as to provide the babies with a healthy life and for the parents too. This as stated earlier

is a amalgamation of several advanced genetic and reproductive techniques aiming at a comm on goal of providing a healthy future. There is no common and universal process for the creation but several processes and newer technologies work hand in hand o achieve success. Of the technologies

involved,they can be classified into understanding of the fields of genetics and genomics to get adequate knowledge of how we are affected by our DNA.Then there is cellular and chromosomal manipulation through genetic engineering and germline therapies involving r-DNA technologies, stem

cell research and a plethora of other technologies. Once done with the modifications now advanced artificial reproductive technologies like IVF are employed to implant the embryo into the womb and then it’s time to reap the benefits of this cumbersome and expensive process. Economically this

process also holds good as it can be successfully implemented as a means of curing of previously uncurable genetic diseases and thereby showing a new horizon, a new ray of hope. However there are quite a number of ethical and social questions which can be raised against this topic but a logical

and systematic implantation of the entire concept with sufficient guidelines and regulations will certainly hel the mankind with better control over himself with a healthy future.

It should be kept in mind that a greedy mind results in the mal-implementation of technologies designed and meant for a noble cause. Hence it is up to us how we use the benefits of modern day technology, leaping towards a healthy future or mass destructing ourselves. Human

beings are rational animals, we have heard his proposition from our very childhood. Indeed at time we tend to act foolish by destructing ourselves but it is the same human being that has created so many wonders. Any technological or scientific concept has to face teething troubles in its early days, so this

is also not an exception for “genetically modified babies” or designer babies considering the troubles and socio-ethical questions it is facing now but it will surely overcome all of them in due course of time.As an example we can cite the example of Galileo when he first suggested that the earth

revolves round the sun and it met with dire consequences but it was ultimately proved and our modern astronomy revolves round his propositions .So all we can say is that the future looks bright once we overcome these niggling issues and learn to control ourselves,in the truest sense of term

subscribing to the philosophy of “ Live and let live” or “Live healthy,think better,as one might say”. This era is just the tip of the iceberg, the future has numerous benefits in its store to offer us.

21

Reference:

Designer Babies, Stem Cells, and the Market for Genetics: The Limits of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act – Samantha King,Queens University

Consumers’ Desire towards Current and Prospective Reproductive Genetic Testing-Feighanne Hathaway, Esther Burns and Harry Ostrer

http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/index.php

http://vod.journeyman.tv/store?p=2601

http://www.christian.org.uk/news/scots-ivf-clinic-makes-move-towards-designer-babies/

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/

www.fertility-docs.com/fertility_gender.phtml

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/designer-babies/

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6757560.cms

22