DESIGNER BABIES

Prateek Chaudhuri

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 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

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 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 in volved 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 Referenc e 21

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 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 creat e babies free from any
sort of genetic defects and abnormalities. In this article I will try to discuss about the technologies and
the conc epts 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

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Introduction

Do y ou 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 it might be somet hing on
the lines of this that evok es 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 t his “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 “ pers on 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 o f 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 lapt op
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 t his “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 birt h to a sea of moral , ethical and religious questions. That is the foundation line for
the term or the “conc ept” 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 c an 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 int o 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), P re-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) ,
germ line gene therapy and body cell gene therapy and r -DNA technology all confer to t he process of
creation of a genetically modified embryo -the precursor of a “designer baby”. More on t hese
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.

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Mythological wonders

Perhaps most of us have read the two greatest epics of all times, Ramayana and
Mahabharat a.While to some it might look like a cheap stunt to creat e publicity or to forcefully attract
the readers to read this topic, I beg to differ with this opinion becaus e 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 K ouravas. Whenever we talk about Mahabharata perhaps only the war of
Kurukshet ra flashes in our mind, but for this time let us go back to the birth of P andavas and
kouravas.Gandhari was the mother of the 100 Kouravas( to be more precise its 101,because t he
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 birt h 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 advanc ed 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 somet hing. 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 P andavas 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 “P awanputra”
and so on.As a kid it invok ed no questions in my ever curious mind but then again there is t he same
story. Pandu being impotent are they born from Sperm donation by these gods.Also it might be not ed
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 call ed 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 embry os . Is it making sense?

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 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 int ended 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 trans fer etc. It may be noted that there is not
one single process but a c ollection 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 r eading 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 numbe r of jargons which might seem to be a bit alien to all
those who are unaware of this field.

Henc e 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 t echniques c ame into
being much before t he complet e 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

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Genome:

Human Genome Project invariably c onsists of t he 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
chromos omes. Sequencing of the genome of a sexually reproducing s pecies refer to a determination
of the s equences of one set of autosomes a nd 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 t erms 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 15y ears, but aided with the rapid tec hnological advancements
it was accelerated to completion at the year 2003.Final H uman 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 spons ored the Human Genome P roject. 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 ot her 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.

▪Trans fer the results and related technologies to the privat e sector and finally

▪To address the ethical, logical and social issues (ELS I) 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

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investigating a certain form of c ancer 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

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apologise beforehand if I sound too technical and unnecessarily lengthy in the subsequent
paragraphs bec ause 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 wit h a new gene eit her 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 nullify theme and prevent them from express ing in the subs equent 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 if 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 pac e with
which it should have evol ved.

Now in order to perform a gene therapy, we need to introduce the desired gene into t he
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 introduc ed 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 met hods. 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 biologic al 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 wit h 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 t he
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 tec hnique c an be broadly divided int o ex vivo and in vivo processes for gene transfer. In
the ex vivo process it is basically transferring t he new gene into cells that have been removed from
the subject and cult ured in the laboratory. After the gene trans fer he cells are ins erted back whereby
they will continue to grow and produce t he 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 bet ween 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 sequenc e 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.

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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 mak e a baby free from genetic
diseases. Let us understand it through an example. X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (X-
SCID), a disease whic h occurs due to unavailability of the T and B cells which makes a child severely
susceptible to external infections because he completely lacks his i mmunity power as these t wo 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 diseas e of lack of
immunity but unfortunat ely 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 us ed and the research was
carried by scientists from France and UK. These genius brains treat ed 14 children by replacing t he
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 ch ild free
from it and thereby opening another potential for development of designer babies, which was the main
motive for all these researc h works

But again a word of caution on the ending note that gene therapy is yet to reach an
acceptable success rat e and has been a centre of controversies for years about the ethical logical
and social issues.

Now we have c overed the "genetic" part so let's move on to a few ot her cutting edge
techniques of artificial fertilization and reproduction which are in vogue today . Today various new
reproductive tec hnologies 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

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me mention abaout two very important and frequently heard terms, IVF and PGD. Preimplant ation
Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) c ombines genetic testing and in vitro fertilization (IVF). IVF involves
collecting eggs from a woman, fertilizing t he eggs with sperm in a petri-dish, and transferring t he
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 chromos ome abnormality. Embryos free of the genetic disease being
tested for or possessing desired genetic characteristics are selected for trans fer 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 t his into perfection, so
let’s start with the key aspects of thes e technologies. No I won’t be covering t hem in-depth to irk your
ire or mak e 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 FERTILI ZATION):

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 conc eption
fertilization takes place inside the
woman body where sperms enter to
get attached to the ova and produc e
the embry o subsequently through a
number of stages .In case of IVF this
whole process is replicated in a pet ri
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 S perm" of a desired individual to c oupl with the ovum and production of
embryo whic h may subsequently be genetically engineered through other tec hniques 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 proc ess of mixing of the sperm and ova is called insemination. The Fertilization
process usually takes place a fe w hours after insemination. Embryo culture and transfer are
subsequently done after the fertilization process.

Fig : Diagrammatic representation of In vitro fertilization technique

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 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 t o be implanted back in the womb. More on P GD later. More than one embryo may be placed
into the womb at the same time, which can lead to t wins, triplets, or more. The exact number of
embryos trans ferred 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 nat ure of t he
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 t wo 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 t o 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 rat e in animal embryos.PGD is meant to
affect only the immediate offspring but t his germline therapy or germline engineering as it is
alternatively termed, seeks to amend the genetic defect in all t he 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 lipos omes). 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 subs equent job. The stem cells are then removed and necessary genetic manipulation
is then carried out wit h the aid of viral vectors as mentioned earlier. Now several colonies of t hese

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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 rat e 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 trans fer a successfully modified stem cell nucleus into an enucleated egg cell. This
artificially modified embryo Is then implanted into the uterus for further subs equent developments.

But as of now this technique is facing some tethering problems regarding its acceptability and
consequences on the newer future with a pertinent qu estion “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 elaborat e 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 mat ure or grown adult and also to cure
diseases like cystic fibrosis.

Effect of these technologie s:

These A dvanced reproductive tec hnologies 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 t he
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 t he 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 produc e 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 t he first sight was a forerunner for things to come later. Another groundbreaking achievement
was the birth of a rhes us 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

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experimental researches were performed too but this one deserves to be termed groundbreaking as
this was the birth of a genetically engineered primat e, 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 t he completion of the Human genome project als o 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 dis ease
free children in t he subsequent stages. This also lead to the rise of several bio-et hical questions of
whet her these research should be allowed to continue or not.

Now as the basic concept behind t hese 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 whic h 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 t he muscle cells and this is certainly worth mentioning as not only it offers to
solve this issue but again raises eye-brows fetching the s ame old question “Are we going to create
super humans? “

A look into more recent happenings in t he 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-c onceived 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 tec hnique 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 t echnique 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 t he 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 advant ages
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

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  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 c an 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 life perfect, creamier and smoother.
 We are using several techniques to prevent diseases which might get expressed in the lat er
stage of life, using artificial 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 artificial 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 he althy one
 Nature follows the rule of screening for and survival of the fittest, and many no of nat urally
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 artificial organ implantation like artificial knee surgeries, pacemaker s urgeries,
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 c ouples are now flocking into t he
US into various fertility clinics for screening their artificial 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 as pect 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 t he 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 suc h procedure so as t o
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

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potential embryos with increased risk for some dis eases 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 t he
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 mak e them aware of it and also t o generate a possibility of driving them towards using
the IVF technology and other screening met hods 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 what ever 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 et hical practices
making this emerging field a controversial arena and a battleground ,as of now ,but keeping trust on
technology, one can cert ainly presume that efficient and moral us e 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 s ervices 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 ac hieve t his reality but then again most of them
are facing some problems over the curb of the moral issues but situations will certainly improve in t he
near future.

Ethi cal 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 aris e from the
issue. The first addresses the tec hnologies 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 thes e 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

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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 followin g points

 The right gene may not get inserted to its desired plac e thereby causing chromos omal
abnormalities resulting in genetic disease which might get expressed lat er on and may even
lead to the death of the subject
 Many genes have more than one effect and the gene whic h 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
cumbers ome 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 researc hers 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 t hat’s why PGD is implemented but having PGD is not at all
altogether safe bec ause it still runs the risk as the technology has not matured so much to give a
assuranc e 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 det riment al 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 t he 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 diseas es 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 c ertainly 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”

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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 t he 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 t he
specific purpose of the use so that it doesn’t translat e 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 birt h 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 P GD 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 tec hniques and also implement it
at a lower cost at healthcare institutions.

nd
 The 2 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 implement ed
correctly
 The third solution might be completely banning the “aesthetic” aspect, same as the PGD
method, just making t he law more blunt to deal with the consequences if t he above t wo
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 forc e it to take a backseat. Though this might as well
appear to be a herculean task but it is not at all impossible.

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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 artificial reproductive techniques to give
parents more control over how they want t heir offs prings to be and also to nullify 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 chromos omal
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 t echnologies like IVF are employed to implant the embry o 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 diseas es and t hereby showing a new horizon, a new ray of hope. However there
are quite a number of ethic al and social questions which can be raised against this topic but a logical
and systematic implantation of the entire conc ept wit h 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 t he 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 cours e 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 cont rol 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 fut ure has numerous benefits in its store to offer us.

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Reference:

 Designer B abies, Stem Cells, and the Market for Genetics: The Limits of the Assisted Human
Reproduction Act – Samant ha King,Queens University
 Cons umers’ Desire towards Current and P rospective Reproductive Genetic Testing-
Feighanne Hathaway, Esther Burns and Harry Ostrer
 http://www.geneticsandsociety.org/index.php
 http://vod.journeyman.t v/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

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