Biotechnology Persuasive Essay

Words: 1502
Pages: 7

Humanity has long dreamed of perfection, continuously striving to be: faster, stronger, brighter, and most definitely pushing nature to the limit. With the recent advancements in biotechnology scientist will soon be able to tell what the life of an embryo will be through a simple test. Every day, more and more, traits are being analyzed and not just ones linked to a child’s health but to enhancements such as height, hair, skin, and eye color. Once biotechnology reaches its peak parents will be able to choose their child’s genes. Through being able to perform this process, humans will avoid the genes that kill and make us susceptible to cancer, heart disease, depression, addictions, and obesity. However, the ethical dilemma of where to draw the line when using these new technologies is a current controversial debate.
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), known as embryo screening, has been used in fertility clinics since the 1990s. PGD involves taking a
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patent for a technique that could be used in a fertility clinic to create babies with selected traits. The patented process from 23andMe, whose main business is collecting DNA from customers and analyzing it to provide information about health and ancestry, could be employed to match the genetic profile of a would-be parent to that of the donor. In theory, this could lead to the approach of designer babies. With this technique, there’s potential to creating healthier babies, by screening out donors with genes that are predisposed to disease, either on their own, or in combination with the recipient’s genes. 23andMe describes a different technique of how a patient would first specify certain traits that he or she wants in a child. Based on the patient’s own genetic profile, a computerized system then performs inheritance calculations pertaining to the traits of interest and identifies one or more preferred donors for the