Parents can now choose the perfect baby that suit their needs, much like they would choose their bags, shoes or clothes, complete with the specifications they desire. Think about having designer babies. These are infants practically ordered straight from the embryo menu of the laboratories.
These embryos come in all shapes and sizes. Parents can choose the color of their future baby's eyes, hair or even skin. They can even choose the medical conditions that their babies would be born with when they choose a particular embryo made through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
This scenario was envisioned by Julian Huxley and JBS Haldane when they predicted reproductive technology's future as early as the 1920s. According to The Guardian, the satirical novel, "Brave New World," described a scenario where babies and the future population were grown in a central hatchery.
Parents have become obsolete as workers tend to the babies. The book has unknowingly given the society a glimpse of designer babies in the future.
The Fertility Institute in Los Angeles used the PGD or the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to create babies with specific eye and hair color as well as other physical traits, as per CBS News. The technology was initially created for disease screening and gender selection.
Today, however, this technology will allow parents to order design babies that would suit their requirements. But Medical Daily stressed that not everything that people say about designer babies is true.
Contrary to the common belief, PGD could not create desirable embryos as this can only be done by combining the egg and sperm cell the way it is normally done or in the laboratory. British scientists have been given the clearance to modify embryos through the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority but there are no such moves in the United States. In fact, PGD could screen genetic disorders to reduce specific disabilities among babies.
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