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Topic Designer Babies

Learning Talk about designer babies
objectives Reading on pros and cons
Encourage students to exchange ideas and opinions
Phase Procedure Material
Warm up • Ask students the following: Pictures:
Which aspect of your appearance would you change?
Aim: Introduce Which one aspect of your character/personality would you change?
the topic of
If you have children, would you have liked to change something about
designer babies
………them?
Skill: Speaking What would your perfect child be like?

• On the board, write ‘Designer Babies’ and ask students what they think this
term means. Write what they brainstorm on the board.

• Show students the cartoons. Ask students for what they think about the
pictures. Do you think it’s correct to choose different aspects for your baby?
Would you ‘design’ your baby if you could? Why/ Why not?

• Show students the last picture showing how ‘designer babies are made’. Elicit
their reaction. How do you view people who want to ‘design’ their baby?

Reading • Hand students a copy of the reading entitled “New Laws May Allow Choice Of Reading:
Baby’s Sex”. Have students take turns reading paragraphs. “New Laws
Aim: Ss read the May Allow
case of a couple
who wants to
• Ask students: Do you think the Jones should be allowed to choose to have a Choice Of
design their baby baby girl? Why? Why not? Would you like to do something similar if you lost a Baby’s Sex”
child? What would happen if the Jones are allowed to choose their baby’s sex?
Skill: Reading,
speaking

Discussion • Tell students that each of the following situations is explaining what genetic Situations
selection they want to make and why. Read or ask one student to read out loud (orange)(8)
Aim: Ss discuss
one of the situations. As a class, invite them to decide whether they should be
different
situations and allowed to do what they want and why. Board
decide
• Discuss with students the following: Do you think there are any situations in
Skill: Reading, which ‘designing’ a baby would be appropriate? Do scientists have the right to
speaking
alter genes? What benefits can come out of genetic selection? How about
consequences? (Write the pros and cons students mention on the board).

Reading • Give students a copy of the reading: “Designer Babies – Good or Bad?” Let Reading:
students take turns reading paragraphs out loud and correct them when “Designer
Aim: Ss consider Babies -
necessary.
the pros and
cons Good or
Bad?”
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Skill: Reading, • Hand students a copy of the vocabulary list and discuss the meaning of the Vocabulary
speaking
words and phrases from the reading. Further explain some words if necessary. list
When you see that students have grasped the meaning of the new words, ask
them to give you one example for each word, thus showing that they do in fact Board
understand the words and know how to use them correctly.

• According to the reading, what other pros and cons are there to genetic
selection? Continue writing what students mention on the board.

Debate! • Split the students into two groups. Afterwards, split your students in half. Be
clear with them and tell students that they must assume the role they are
Aim: Ss hold a given, even if they don’t agree with it. It’s for debating purposes. Also, tell them
debate
that these kinds of activities enhance skills necessary in business meetings,
Skill: Speaking negotiations, addressing a claim or in giving a presentation. Have them take out
a sheet of paper and brainstorm ideas for their argument. Basically, it will be
much of what has already been discussed in class and in the readings.

• They will now try to convince you to adopt their point of view. Allow one
student from each side at a time to present their statements. Then, have them
give counter-arguments or why the others are wrong. At the end, tell students
which group convinced you.

• If you only have one student, you will need to participate and debate with each
other.

Final • In order to conclude, ask students:

Thoughts How do you view this subject in general?
Are you fascinated or horrified by this topic?
Aim: Ss express Did you ever think that something like this would happen?
any final
thoughts

Skill: Speaking
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Designer Babies- Good or Bad?

Given the choice, would you rather have been born with a different eye color, hair color or skin
tone? Maybe you would have chosen to be taller, thinner or more muscular. Of course, you didn't
have these options. The physical and personal traits a person winds up with are just one big roll of
the dice, with only the biological parents' genes to draw from. However, within advances in
genetics research, people may soon preselect their children's physical and personality traits like
they pick out options on a new car.

Designer babies, a term used by journalists not scientists, describes the scenario of the future
where genetic technology can be implemented to modify embryos and choose desirable and
cosmetic characteristics. This can be done via two methods, by sorting a sample of the father's
sperm and only fertilizing the egg with a 'male' sperm or 'female' sperm or by Pre-Implantation
Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), which is also used to screen out embryos.

However, in the near future, it may also be possible to really create 'designer babies' and parents
would thus have the ability to choose their child's height, eye color, facial appearance and
intelligence. However, what benefits and what possible consequences are there?

Pros:

Used to screen out embryos that are potentially at risk of having a genetic disease.

The benefits of this medical intervention are boundless. It would allow a family to virtually
eradicate a genetic disease in only a few generations. Families with inherited medical conditions
like diabetes, obesity, hypertension, etc. or diseases like Parkinson's disease, thalassemia, cancer,
arthritis, hypothyroidism, Alzheimer's disease, etc. may want to go in for designer babies to
prevent the next generation from inheriting genes with these diseases.

Couples who know that they are carriers of a hereditary condition may be reluctant to have
children if there is a chance their children could inherit a life-threatening disease. However,
because it is possible for scientists to alter the genetic make-up of an embryo, they can remove
the genes which are responsible for a particular condition, so that the embryo can be implanted
and form into a healthy baby. Rather than finding drugs to fix the problem caused by genetics, we
could fix the genetics instead. With the help of this new technology, parents can be assured their
children won't have to struggle with the same illness they or their family members are going
through.

This would definitely help families in the long run as they are only required to pay a fee for the
procedure of implanting a healthy embryo and would not be burdened by the heavy price tag of
endless medical treatment upon giving birth to a sickly child. Also, parents would not have to bear
the pain and heartache of seeing their child in agony. Genetic enhancement is the key to
eliminating deadly diseases in unborn children.
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Determining the gender of the embryo can also give parents, who have a medical history of sex-
linked diseases, the opportunity to find out whether their future child has been affected by the
disease. For example, genetic diseases like hemophilia and Duchene Muscular Dystrophy are only
present in male babies. Upon knowing the results, doctors can help the parents by choosing a
healthy female embryo without the faulty gene and implant the embryo into the mother's womb.

Used to help others.

Designer babies may also be created to help another in need. Parents may have a child suffering
from a disease and in need of an organ or blood transplant. Imagine you have a child suffering
from Leukemia, a cancer of the blood/bone marrow. He needs a bone marrow donation, or he will
die young. You and your husband/wife are not matches for his bone marrow. You are, however,
able to have another child. Through designer babies, they could create a perfect match for your
child's blood, bone marrow, or other organ.

Cons:

A social crisis?

A society of pretty, healthy, and intelligent people may sound reasonable and even favorable, until
the full social implications are considered. Designing a baby costs money, and will most likely
continue to cost lots of money. This cost will mean that not everyone will be able to pay to design
their baby, and suddenly people will encounter prejudice, not for their race, but for their inferior
genetic makeup. People with genetic defects will be socially rejected. They will be called 'gene
poor' and will be separated from the society as well. Today, people who have genetic defects are
already treated differently and cast out from society. Kids of rich families will receive genetic
enhancement, leading to genetic aristocracy. This gives them an unfair advantage over the other
children. The people who were not genetically engineered would experience a loss of opportunity.
People unable to afford genetic engineering will be looked down upon, thereby, creating a greater
rift in society.

The advent of designer babies will also affect biodiversity. Moreover, traits decided by parents,
eliminates the say of the child in his or her life. Parents passionate about sports, would have the
athletic ability engineered into the child, however, the child may not want the same. This reduces
the child's freedom to choose.

Designer babies could not be everything parents expected.

Hypothetically, they might choose a female embryo with fair skin, dark hair, and a minimal chance
of disease, and get a healthy daughter who is fair skinned with dark hair who also has a terribly
mean personality. Because "personality genes" are difficult to interpret and understand, the
personalities of designer babies cannot be chosen for. The parents who wanted the fair and
brunette daughter may have accidentally passed up a sweet tempered red haired son.
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New Laws May Allow Choice of Baby’s Sex

Jim and Debbie Jones, whose daughter was killed in a tragic domestic
accident last year, plan to use the new British human rights laws to win the
legal right to choose the sex of their baby.

The Jones, who have four sons, say that the ‘female dimension’ has
disappeared from their family since the death of Jasmine. “Words cannot
describe what it feels to lose the little girl we had wanted for so long. We
know another girl won’t replace Jasmine, but we want the chance to try,”
said Jim Jones. “What we’re hoping to do with the use of technology is create
the female dimension again. We have psychologists’ and doctors’ reports
which confirm that our reasons for wanting a girl go beyond just wanting to
replace her. Our family doesn’t feel complete any more. I adore our sons, but
we would like another girl.”

Gender selection is only possible in Britain for medical rather than social,
psychological or physical reasons. Pro-life campaigners say that if the Jones
are allowed to choose the sex of their baby, it could lead to babies becoming
consumer items. A spokesman said: “We are totally opposed to engineering
the numbers and genders of people in society. That leads only to disaster.”

The Jones’ lawyer will be basing their arguments on new human rights
legislation. Article six guarantees everyone a ‘fair hearing’ from public
authorities and Article eight protects the right for everyone to have ‘respect
for family’.
My four-year-old daughter,
my only child, has a fatal
blood disease. She will die
before she is 12 unless we can
find a match for a bone
marrow transplant. I want to
make sure my next baby is a
suitable match for my
daughter.

In my family there is a
history of a fatal
disease that affects the
nervous system. I want
to make sure that my
baby is not likely to get
this disease.
I suffer from a genetic
disease which I inherited
from my mother. My children
have a one in five chance of
having the same gene. Before
I start a family, I want to have
treatment to make sure I do
not pass on this gene.

I’m a university
professor and my
husband is a
doctor. We’d like
to make sure our
baby is intelligent.
I feel there is too much
violence and aggression
in the world. I would like
to make sure my child is
a calm and gentle
person.

I would like to have a

very musical or artistic
daughter. She should
have blonde hair, blue
eyes and be about
medium height when
she grows up.
There is a history of red
hair in my family. I have
red hair and I was badly
teased at school. I
would like to make sure
my child does not have
red hair.

The male members of my

family often suffer from
a rare and unpleasant
bone disease. I would
therefore like to make
sure I have a baby girl.
Page 1 of 1 Designer Babies

Vocabulary
draw something from something – verb To get ideas, information or knowledge from somewhere

trait – noun A particular quality in someone’s character

screen out – phrasal verb To make a selection, to exclude

boundless – adjective Without a limit or end

eradicate – verb To eliminate something completely, especially something bad

reluctant – adjective Not very willing to do something

make-up – noun The way in which something is put together; composition; construction

struggle – verb To have a difficult time

burden – verb Something that is carried: a worry, sadness or a responsibility

bear – verb To endure, to cope

heartache – noun Great sadness or worry

faulty – adjective Containing a defect, not made/working correctly

bone marrow – noun The soft red substance inside the bones

encounter – verb To meet something unexpectedly, to experience something

enhancement – noun The process of improving something that makes it more attractive or
valuable

aristocracy – noun The people in the highest class of society, a group of people who feel they are
above others

rift – noun The distance between people

advent – noun The beginning or arrival of something

mean – adjective Unkind, cruel, rude

pass up – phrasal verb To miss an opportunity, to not take advantage of an opportunity

sweet tempered – adjective To have calmness of mind, composure, to not become angry quickly