Dream Child
But, I think, gender selection is the major issue in this week’s learning experience. Medical scientists have achieved a major breakthrough in IVF technology which can help millions of women around the world. It is a boon for a man or woman who may not be able to conceive a child. Ovum donation or sperm donation offers the opportunity for gestation and parenting of a child genetically connected to half of the couple.
But there are some implications of this concept for practice. If the child design becomes possible, every parent would want to go for dream child. So only heroes will be born. No wonder they would look like twins and clones!
Most of all, the children in the next generation would be skeptical and feel probably they were handmade kids made out of somebody’s sperm, somebody’s cell and developed in somebody’s womb!
In most countries boys are most wanted. So if gender selection is a choice the male to female ratio will be imbalanced. South Korea is an example of that. South Korea has more men and fewer women resulting in sucking in brides from abroad. In 2008, 11% of marriages were “mixed”, mostly between a Korean man and a foreign woman.” This will further give rise to new problems due to mixed cultures. Hence new technology has to be used discreetly and moderately.
Rosy
Hi Rosy,
ReplyDeleteProgress in reproductive technology such as in vitro fertilization and cryopreservation has been a blessing for many couples enabling them to have children. However, embryo screening for gender selection has taken it one step further. What next? Will we be able to engineer the perfect babies by playing with DNA to determine the color of hair, eyes, shape of nose etc? How about smart babies? I do also share your concern about the gender ratio imbalance in some countries like Korea and India.
Sravani
Hi Rosy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog; it is very informative. Reproductive technology is really a sensitive topic. It's good for couples who cannot have babies because this will really help them. If a couple is having a hard time having a baby, reproductive technology might be the couple's last resort. It only becomes bad if we abuse the use of it and causes overpopulation to the country or imbalance between boys and girls.