Ursinus Intro Ethics Blog - Section A

Humans have started to develop the technology and intelligence to genetically engineer specific traits into new human beings. This ability has created the discussion as to whether the fixing of certain traits is moral or not. While this knowledge presents great possibilities for curing diseases, it also brings about the scary thought of creating a superior race that contains only the traits that are desirable to the maker, whoever the “maker” might be. This is where the situation may get to a place where it could be considered immoral. As we started to mention in class, when a person is genetically engineered by his or her parents, it is solely the decision of the parent/s. When you start changing the trivial traits, such as hair and eye color or intelligence vs. physical ability, it becomes a risk because the child may have wanted some other trait than what the parent chose. In this case, the engineered person has a person to blame for not having the traits that he or she personally desires. In normal reproductive cases, it is a random chance that decides these traits and therefore no one to blame. It seems that when someone engineers a baby, they are thinking about the child as possessing the same personality as themselves; this is not the case, as every person has their own personality separate from anyone else. When it comes to curing a disease such as Parkinson’s before the person is born, it is hard to imagine a case when the engineered person would be angry because they had the procedure done to him or her. I believe that the difference appears in the rights of the child being formed, and they should be able to be whoever they want in their life.