Question: Do you think that when people decide to have a baby, scientists will be able to put the paretn's best genes together and produce a 'perfect' child? If so, do you agree with this and don't you think it is going against nature?

Joanna Giles answered on 23 Nov 2012:

Hi Sophie,

What you are talking about there is a really important ethical issue.

Basically, since the work in genetic engineering has advanced, we have had a lot more scope for genetic screening and also in vitro fertilisation (IVF). At the moment doctors have the ability to screen different embryos of a mother and father and “choose” one that doesn’t have any disease-causing genes. So, for example, if a mother is known to be a carrier of a gene for a genetic disorder that would cause her baby to be born with a genetic disease, doctors can screen embryos for that gene (that gene only) so that the baby does not have the gene. It is really exciting and important to help parents have children that are not terribly sick. It is even possible to choose whether a baby is a boy or a girl – but that is only to prevent diseases that are only caused in one sex (like haemophilia that is usually only male)

However, the fear is, as you say, that one say this might go too far and having a baby will be a bit like shopping by selecting hair colour, eye colour, intelligence etc. Have you heard of the term “Designer babies” ?

I think that a designer baby would be a terrible thing, and you are right: It is against nature. Ethically, I don’t think the law will ever allow that to happen – I hope not anyway.

I am all for helping to prevent disease, but that’s as far as I think it should go 🙂
What do you think?