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Morgan Hoffman
Mrs. L. Smith 1B
Argumentative Essay
26 October 2014
Genetic Engineering in Humans Have you ever pondered a life where you are able to obtain desired traits for your unborn child? A technology so brilliant that it can prevent your children from acquiring certain fatal diseases? Through a process called genetic engineering, scientists are able to alter or modify the makeup of genes in the embryo of a fetus to achieve desired results when the child is born. The genetic engineering of humans is the solution to many problems involving embryo health and unpredictable individualities and should be legally available to parents under personal discretion. Through a specific form of Human Genetic Engineering (HGE) scientists can treat or cure an existing disease without altering the entire genetic makeup of an embryo. In a process called Somatic engineering, also known as Somatic Cell Gene Therapy, “specific genes are targeted in precise organs and tissues, skin, bones, blood, and connective tissues without affecting genes in the eggs or sperm, determining the gender of the fetus” (Darnovsky 3). Somatic Cell Gene Therapy can best be described as “the repair or replacement of a defective gene” (Nika 2). According to Marcy Darnovsky, “roughly 1,000 to 4,000 children born in the United States each year will develop a
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Mitochondrial disease, most by age 10, with symptoms that can range from mild to devastating” (“Genetically Modified Babies” 1). By allowing this genetic adjustment, the lives of these children could not only be prolonged but also possibly saved. HGE is not only used to alter personality traits of fetuses but also to prevent certain diseases and therefore eventually raising the life expectancy in citizens. Although trait altering is a controversial subject, parents want the best for their children and would certainly benefit from paying to avoid illnesses for their future child. Not only would genetic engineering in humans prevent and treat diseases, but it would also give parents the ability to bear their idea of a ‘perfect’ child. “For about $12,400 a couple can use in vitro fertilization and choose whether to implant a male or female embryo into the mother’s womb”, according to Kate Snow (“Genetics Will Let Parents Build Their Baby” 1). If genetic engineering in humans was legalized, eventually parents will be able to be certain of what gender they are going to have, if they thought it to be necessary. “We already have the ability to isolate genes that affect a lot of the physical traits humans have and the physiological traits. What's going to happen over the next 10 [years] to 25 years is that we are going to fill out the puzzle. We are going to understand how all of the genes in the genome effect how tall we are, whether we are likely to
