We had once thought that technology could never revamp as much as it did to this day. We had confined ourselves in the era of the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Never did we expect the time where we would genetically engineer our own babies.
The rise of a new global hegemony, China, brings this issue to the spotlight: designer babies. When it comes to the spurt of babies, China is easily one of the world’s most complex and fertile nations. China is aiming to engineer genius babies with the help of DNA samples from two thousand sagacious people in the world.
Researchers at the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou engineered embryos to their own advantage. In order to diminish the genes that cause blood disorder, thalassaemia, they have decided to modify the genes accordingly. When questioned of their actions, Junjiu Huang responded by insisting the embryos were ‘non-viable’ anyways that they could not have been developed into babies.
The team used a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR/Cas9 so that bacteria attacks viruses by severing that part of the genetic code. This technique uses a bacterially derived protein to cut the gene out and replace it with another molecule. Huang and his colleagues wanted to experiment if this procedure could replace a gene in a single cell fertilized embryo as all cells produced would have the repaired gene.
By using embryos from fertility clinics, they experimented with embryos that had extra chromosomes and injected 86 embryos with the protein. 71 embryos survived and the Chinese team tested out 54 of them to show that 28 were successfully severed. But to their disappointment, only little of them had the replaced gene and their experiment lead to unpredictable mutations in the gene.
These actions of China into becoming the so called “Wild West” of genetic experiments bought concerns and criticism from the rest of the international community. Despite the plausible benefits of reduced genetic diseases, crime rates and the future outlook on nonmedical advantages, British scientists said that no more experiments should be carried out until we understand the line of morality and ethics. The international community called for a worldwide ban on this progress as it affects our future posterities.
Although in the Non western countries, Japan is similarly against the enhancement, China and India are open to this genetic change. As China justifies its actions with similar eugenic programs like selective abortion of severe disorders, it continues to be approving of such research. The Chinese government is actively funding Chinese research to be the first in editing these human genes and lead Asia to be the forefront of this field.
The controversies regarding this stands on an ethical and practical level. Numerous countries stand fervently in opposition of this genetic modification of babies. Recent polls among Western populations revealed critical positions against human enhancement. A Pew study of 4,726 Americans claimed they would not use a brain chip to enhance their long term memories, finding human modification immoral. Yet Americans don’t stand alone to this phenomenon, as European countries like Germany and the U.K protested against these “designer babies”. They insisted that selecting best embryos on subjective traits like appearance, strength, intelligence was unacceptable.
Many activists expressed concern for safety, as playing around with genes could last in a serious, risky aftermath. They claim that scientists should take risks in only necessary situations regarding medical conditions and health of the babies rather than for non-medical traits. British biologist Edward Lanphier, told Nature “we need to pause this research and make sure we have a broad based discussion about which direction we are going here.” Edward Lanphier is not alone in his cautions and concerns regarding this experiment that is slowly subsiding into reality.
Dr Philippa Brice, of the health policy think-tank the PHG Foundation, also agreed that “This story underlines the urgent necessity for international dialogue over the ethics of germline gene editing in human embryos…” Both pundits are on the same page, concerned that scientists were “playing God” by tinkering with human nature and genes. Are the critics’ claims legitimate that it is going beyond human ethics to create our own babies and their traits to satisfy us?
Certainly both sides regarding the controversy make legitimate points. But a political factor may be one of the reasons for such fear, as our genetic future is in the hands of China. Western democracies care immensely about their reputation in the public and in the global society, meaning that they have to directly reflect the wants of the citizens. On the contrast, China lacks fundamental democracies and therefore public opinion can be shaped by their officials. The fact that China is willing to reject international principles for its own profit and self interest wreaks havoc on the rest of the world’s future.
Therefore, we shouldn’t turn a blind eye onto this research as this may be opening the Pandora Box. Once we continue this research, there is no turning back. We would be forever losing our sense of morality, ethics, and humanity and we never know what would come out of it. It is up to us if the journey would be worth taking, as the progress of science is significant to human development.
