I heard on the radio the other day a commercial that made me
think of Gattaca, and I wanted to share it. It was advertising for open
enrollment for women to donate their eggs and men to donate sperm. It mentioned
that screenings need to be done to show health and physical fitness. It also
addressed the need to make a profile, so possible parents can pick the best
candidate for their selection. This gives future parents the option of choosing
an athletic build, blue eyes, blonde hair, or whatever their preference. I find
this amusing since Gattaca is still fresh in my mind. Everyone wants to be able
to pick the perfect child. What one person sees as perfect, another may not.
But this is not the point. The point is that perfection is what people are
longing to get. They want a child who will thrive. We are coming closer and
closer to that day of genetically modifying our children. … God help us.
Wow. Because that's not a creepy plan at all...
ReplyDeleteReally, though, I think it's a shame that people want a perfect human being. First, the concept is so completely unrealistic. Second, it's really petty. Yeah, the kid may develop a disability, but we have no idea how he will affect others with his disability. He might end up helping other people in some way.
Manipulating the genome is manipulating the future. While it can prevent future accidents, it can also prevent future successes.
But think about it this way: You're paying for sperm/eggs/etc. Don't you want to know without any shadow of a doubt that the egg/sperm/etc is going to be healthy? No chances for diabetes or illnesses? A knowledge that the child is as intelligent as you believe yourself to be?
DeleteI used to work with a cow breeder. The same sort of thing happened when she was buying bull sperm. It's not all that different. If I were going to have sperm put up inside of me, I'd want to know the best possible child was coming out.
But welcome to my brain.
Yes I understand your point. I have been around farms my whole life and see this done all the time with animals, but to me it's different when it comes to humans. Maybe I'm just biased, but I think a human life has more value than a cow. We are afterall just raising it to kill it and eat it eventually.
DeleteI think this is so crazy/scary. It's ridiculous that our society has come to this. I can understand that some people are forced to do invitro fertilization, but those who choose to genetically modify their children...that's a little extreme.
ReplyDeleteThe politics surrounding this situation are a little complicated too. The question of whether the donors remain any assemblance of parenthood is under debate. For some reason, men don't seem to like the idea of having 50 kids running around belonging to other parents.
ReplyDelete