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A brave new world ?

In this unit , the students  have talked about eugenics  , scientific breakthroughs ( like the PGD technique , which is used by parents who not only want to make sure their child will not suffer from a severe disease, but also who wish to select certain physical characteristics.) ,designer babies,and eventually surrogacy.They have studied several documents and have been asked to give their personal opinion on the topic, on  selective breeding, genetic engineering…

design

Mathilde

In 2016, there are  lots of scientists who are doing some  research about many different subjects. One of them is eugenics, a  science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary qualities of a race or breed . This science creates a lot of debates all around the world. First of all, I think this is interesting  for infertile women who are desperate because it could be their last chance to have the best gift ever = a baby. Also, I guess this is a great discovery for families with  lots of rare diseases because this science  is revolutionary in so far as it can help eradicate those rare diseases and  cure them. However,  there are also negative aspects. Actually many  parents wish to have  a perfect child so they are ready to travel the world to go to a special clinic with special doctors who are willing to give them the perfect baby they want. Parents can choose the sex with hundred

percent certainty, they can also choose the physical traits like the eyes and  the hair color. And this is a bad thing because we should not be able to choose the characteristics of our child. This is not important, everyone is beautiful. In doing this, we are playing god  with human beings. Moreover, scientists don’t do this for the good reasons and for me, it’s disgusting. They improve everything for the parents and are tempted to sell their discoveries for money. We may wonder if babies  haven’t become  a cash business for some doctors and this isn’t normal !

Finally, there are some other possible excesses. For instance, it could create a society with second-class citizens and it would  reject people like me or you because we are not perfect enough : the idea that some people  could be under-achieved and seen as outcasts is unbearable. Do you want a world with solely perfect boys and girls ? Blond haired, blue- eyed, well-built ? I don’t think so, this world would be boring, wouldn’t it !

So, all I have to say is : think about it, really, before doing it because this is not the good solution   and be aware of the risks so that scientists can draw a clear line between what is ethically acceptable or not. 

Célia   

I agree with selective breeding because it’s an opportunity given to future parents to choose many details on their baby. It’s a possibility, not an obligation to design babies : if we want we can do that, it’s our choice, if  people do not agree with this procedure , they  just don’t ask for it , it is as simple as that ! We are in a world where everybody can fulfill  their dreams : look at  the couples who are infertile, it’s a tragedy for them, but they have a solution. Indeed, , they can go to  India  in a surrogacy agency ( a center for surrogate parenting )  where poor women rent their womb. Thanks to that, everybody is happy ! the couple of westerners can have a baby and the surrogate can have a better life, buy a house  thanks to the money she received .

Nowadays, science can help anyone , so people  have different solutions  if they can’t have a baby.Women can resort to in vitro fertilization too. Of course we have to be careful with  geneticists  who would be ready to sell their expertise and  transform that into a real business. Every problem has a solution,people can accept or not to be helped  because it’s their choice, their opinion, their life and the most important , their baby.

Fabien

To me these types of research are worrying  for our society and for many reasons .I think it is not positive for we can’t ostracize people  just because they want to stay as they are . Eugenics was tried during WW II and it caused millions of deaths.In my opinion, if the importance or interest regarding eugenics continues to increase , we will soon live in a society where DNA  will control our lives like we saw in the movie « Welcome to Gattaca ». In this film , DNA determines your job , your acquaintances and even the person you will marry in the future ! Screening for serious and debilitating diseases is one thing, but choosing body types, hair colour and height is superficial to me . 

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