Gattaca Movie Essay

Words: 655
Pages: 3

In the movie Gattaca directed by Andrew Niccol one of the scenes included Vincent's parents talking to a genetic counselor before they had their second son, Anton. The movie introduced the idea of parents being able to predetermine the genetics of your newborn baby. For example, being able to choose your baby's hair color, eye color, and brain power or even to a greater extreme, like being able to choose to have a child with a talent for playing the piano or having great athletic abilities. When asked my opinion on pre-determining child's genetics I do think it’s “okay” but here are some reasons I believe parents should not. First, it would make the world very competitive. If everyone got the choice, then everybody's child would be ‘super …show more content…
First one being that designer babies are very expensive. If you just want to choose the gender of your baby that can cost you up to $18,000. That’s not including if you want do determine more specific things for your baby like how smart, good looking, and athletic they are. When you start to factor in characteristics like those your baby can start to cost you up to $100,000 and that's not including all the fees that come with having a baby at the hospital in the first place. Another reason that goes along with the cost of having a designer baby is why spend so much money on something that is not guaranteed to work yet. The technology that is being used is still in an experimental state and has not been tested on humans yet. So there is no guarantee that it works without any hiccups. Wouldn't that be mortifying as a parent? Thinking you're doing something great for your child in the long run but you actually end up hurting it more than helping it. Current techniques of genetic modification introduce genes at random points in the genome, which could disrupt the function of another gene crucial for survival. It’s not worth the money or the risk to try for something that isn't realistic yet. You would be putting your child's health and potentially their life at risk for an outcome that can be