Build-a-Baby

Figure 1: Building a baby

What if you were able to pick and choose what your next sibling could look like? Like building a bear at Build- a - Bear the store that allows you to pick all of the traits and features that you want your stuffed animal to have, but just for siblings as shown in figure 1. Choosing if your parents were going to expect a boy or a girl and what hair color you would want the baby to have. Or increasing the babies athletic skills creating a future Olympian. All you have to do is  go to a store and pick these things out ? This is what many people believe is done when designing a baby. However, the process of creating a baby aren't as easy as some are lead to believe. Phil is going to share his families story with you and the realities of how to design a baby.

Figure 2: Phil

  Hi ! I am Phil a 14 year old from Philadelphia and being the only child isn’t so much fun especially since I live in such a big city that offers so many activities for teenagers. I am glad that my parents have decided to have another baby, that way all of their attention won't be me anymore because they can get overbearing. I have Cystic Fibrosis, which is a genetic disease that  is hereditary disorder which means this disease can be passed on from my parents to myself or other potential children they will have. This disease makes my body produce abnormally thick mucus in my lungs and digestive systems. Having Cystic Fibrosis requires for me to take four pills a day, go to chest physical therapy, and has put me on the waiting list for a new pair of lungs. My parents don't want the new baby to get the same disease and have to suffer and go through numerous procedures like I have. They told me that the safest and most efficient way to ensure that the baby wouldn’t get Cystic Fibrosis is to genetically modify the baby, in better words design the baby. Design the baby ? I thought you could only do that with material things like clothes, stuffed animals and shoes but not an actual human being !

  How are the babies made?

Figure 3: Scientist looking enzymes

Designer babies are a fairly new trend that allows families like mine to be able to modify the genetics of the child. My parents sat me down and explained to be me how the baby was going to be created. They told me that doctors had not yet figured out how to create certain features and abilities in babies so we weren't literally designing the baby.

They explained since the baby needed a certain gene

removed my parents could not naturally conceive by having sex. Instead, the baby was going to be made with the technologies IVF and CRISPR. An IVF is  a reproductive technology in which an egg is removed from a woman, joined with a sperm cell from a man in a test tube the egg and sperm are then united. The CRISPR technology is the gene- editing technique which is the essential part what will help the baby not develop Cystic Fibrosis. Enzymes speed up chemical reactions in the body and almost all biochemical reactions in living things need enzymes.

Figure 5: Fortnite

The CRISPR technology uses an enzyme to cut strands of the DNA out of the egg to pick out the genes that you do not want the baby to have. The CRISPR acts as scissors and cuts the bad genes out. In our case the enzymes will be cutting the gene that carries Cystic Fibrosis. The CRISPR technology is like in Fortnite when you build and edit walls, arch's, and doors. The purpose of building and editing the walls and things in Fortnite is so that it can protect you from bad things. That is what the CRISPR technology is doing for the baby editing and protecting the baby from the bad genes.

After that step is completed the egg will be inserted to my mother’s uterus using a catheter. A catheter is a flexible tube inserted through a narrow opening into a body cavity. Then, we just wait for the baby to grow until birth.

Figure 6: New born baby

 After my parents explaining to me how  designing a baby works I learned that this method can not only be essential for my family but yours or someone you know too! Giving a child the opportunity to be guaranteed healthy is something that I wish could have happened for me. This can change the future, and in 20 years you never know you could be designing your baby as well.

References

Baird, L.S. (2007). Designer babies: eugenics repackaged or consumer options?. Technology Teacher, 66(7), 12-16.

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=9964c529-ca0b-42ff-b098-f36218be35dc%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=24658576&db=iih

Are we ready for designer babies? . (2016). Popular science, 288(2),35.

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11&sid=5fbefbb8-2eba-407a-a038-dc741da042af%40sessionmgr4009

Sandel,M.(2007). Designer babies: the problem with genetic engineering. 22(5), 40-85

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=15&sid=37c04738-07c6-4b0c-99b3-bfe1c618e6fe%40sessionmgr4009&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edspmu.S2164004107500147&db=edspmu