" Designer Babies" by Patricia Smith- Is Genetically Designing Babies Ethical?

The May 12th edition of Upfront magazine contains an article titled “Designer Babies,” by Patricia Smith. This article outlines the efforts scientists are making to engineer genetically altered babies, and the contemporary ideals and controversy surrounding this topic.  After reading and analyzing this passage, I concluded that genetically designing babies is not a smart idea for many reasons.  This belief, I realized reflects largely on my morals and ethics.

Designing a baby is potentially dangerous to the baby’s health. While many scientists find it exciting to design a child resistant to certain diseases and birth defects, Jeremy Gruber, President of the Council for Responsible Genetics, believes differently: “We need to be extra cautious about any procedure that changes an embryo’s genes...such procedures could cause new and unforeseen genetic abnormalities or accidentally eliminate positive traits.” So by trying to create a perfect baby, you take the risk of permanently damaging the baby’s ability to maintain physical homeostasis. The passage also describes what may happen if we legalize designer babies:  Any mutations, genetic defects, or diseases found in the designed babies can and will be passed down to future generations, creating a dangerous gene pool to reproduce from. You see, by creating one genetically-engineered baby, you are not only affecting one human life, you are possibly threatening the lives of future populations.

To me, “ designing a baby” defeats the purpose of creating an individual.  Many of the pleasures of parenting have to do with watching a child grow, explore the world around them, and eventually develop an identity.  By pre-deciding the genes for a baby, one eliminates some of the qualities that could possibly become essential in a child’s sense of self.  For example, the article states that parents can alter a child’s “...intelligence, height, athletic abilities, musical abilities, and social abilities.” Imagine wondering if the true you is really tall and athletic, or if that is only the genome inserted into you. I would constantly be questioning, second-guessing myself:  was I really smart enough to get an 100 on that test, or is that only due to my scientifically-engineered gene sequence? Not only is choosing a baby’s traits unfair, it also isolates the child from the world around them.  If I were a designer baby I would feel like a project, an inferior being from my normally-produced peers.  While these pre-chosen favorable traits may give a kid a advantage over other children, it may also cause peers to exclude the “laboratory kid” from their play.  Overall, being genetically different has unfavorable effects not only directly on the child, but on how the child perceives the world, and how the world perceives the child.

In conclusion, designing babies in laboratories is not natural, nor does it have many favorable effects on the human race.  At least for now, developing babies with pre-decided genomes is a chancey and risky process that could potentially injure the baby itself, as well as the world around the baby.  Until Designer babies can be guaranteed safe and favorable (which I doubt will ever happen,) I believe the human race should continue to create unique individuals instead of “human” laboratory projects. In summation, in my moral code, designing babies is unethical.

What Caused Romeo and Juliet's Deaths?

The play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, is possibly the most infamous love story of all time. This play describes the age-long feud between families Montague and Capulet, and the doomed romance that buds between Romeo and Juliet, teenagers each in love with their family’s mortal enemy. Shakespeare demonstrates just how cursed this romance is from the very beginning of the play, foreshadowing: “these violent delights have violent ends.” The play concludes with an eerie scene in the Capulet tomb, in which Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves, convinced of the hopelessness of their forbidden romance. While Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were literally caused by a series of accidents, the overarching cause of their deaths was the family feud. The vendetta forced the romance to be kept secret, which led to Juliet’s consumption of a potion and Romeo’s death. The vendetta also led to Romeo’s exile from Mantua, a key component in Juliet’s eventual death. All in all, the family feud made Romeo and Juliet’s romance and eventual marriage very dangerous, and put a lot of pressure on the teens.  If there had been no feud, Romeo and Juliet would have been able to pursue their love without fear of being ostracized.

In Romeo and Juliet, the hostility between the Montague and Capulet families plays a major role in the forbidden romance. The feud is so prominent that the two lovers are forced to be extremely secretive and careful about their love. For example, Romeo has to ask Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet secretly.  Quote “…my heart’s dear love is set/ on the fair daughter of rich Capulet./ As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine/...I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray/ that thou consent to marry us today.” Since their marriage is so secretive, Juliet feels torn when her father, unknowing of Juliet’s previous marriage, arranges for her to marry another man by the name of Paris. Grieving for her situation, Juliet says: “ How shall this be prevented? My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven/ How shall that faith return again to earth/ unless my husband send it me from heaven.” Readers see here that the hushed manner of the relationship between the two protagonists made an extremely awkward and difficult situation for Juliet.

Erratically looking for a way to solve her problem, Juliet turns to Friar Lawrence, wanting a poison, a potion- anything- to let her escape from her marriage to Paris; “ I’ll to the Friar to know his remedy/ if all else fail, myself have the power to die.” Here readers note Shakespeare’s foreshadowing of the upcoming deaths of both lovers. After begging the Friar for her substance, Juliet receives a concoction that supposedly will make her merely appear dead, so that she will not have to marry Paris. Romeo, upon discovering “dead Juliet,” is beside himself, drinking a fatal poison. Naturally, upon waking up and finding Romeo dead, Juliet kills herself. Overall, secrecy was necessary to keep the romance alive and avoid the family feud, but hiding the romance led to Juliet’s engagement to Paris, her consumption of the potion, and the couple’s eventual deaths.

The feud between the Capulet and Montague families causes the entire town of Mantua to take sides.  Often, brutal quarrels are fought.  One of these fights involves Romeo, Mercutio (Romeo’s friend of Montague descent), and Tybalt (Juliet’s cousin).  At the beginning of this fight, Romeo tries to keep the peace between Mercutio and Tybalt.  Romeo acts kindly to Tybalt, for after marrying Juliet, Tybalt is his family. Romeo asserts “I do protest I never injured thee/ But love thee better then thou can devise/till thou shalt know the reason of my love.”  But after Tybalt stabs and murders Mercutio, Romeo seeks revenge on Tybalt-  declaring “Fire eyed fury be my conduct now.” Romeo and Tybalt duel, Romeo eventually killing Tybalt.  As Romeo’s punishment, he is exiled from Mantua. Romeo’s exile plays a key role in both his and Juliet’s death.  Because of his removal from Mantua, he is unaware that it is merely a potion that has put Juliet under a spell- he believes her to be truly dead, saying “ O my love, my wife/ Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.” Being that Romeo perceives Juliet to be dead, and he cannot live without Juliet, Romeo drinks the potion and dies. In general, the vendetta between the Montagues and the Capulets led to a series of events causing Romeo’s death: The family feud was emphasized in the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio.  This led to the fight between Romeo and Tybalt. Tybalt’s death led to Romeo’s banishment, and Romeo’s misunderstanding of Juliet’s death led to the death of his own. Clearly, the pronounced conflict between the two clans makes Romeo and Juliet’s romance nearly impossible, part of the reason why the two lovers took their own lives. 

Some may say that Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were not the fault of the feud, but rather the fault of fate itself.  Fate is defined as: “ the development of events (or mistakes) beyond a person’s control.” There were many missteps which led to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.  One mistake is exemplified in Act 5 scene 2. Friar Lawrence writes a letter telling Romeo that Juliet is merely under a potion and is not really dead.  However, this letter never reaches Romeo.  Friar John cannot get through to Romeo, because Romeo’s town is quarantined with a serious infection. Friar Lawrence asks “Who bare my letter… to Romeo?” and Friar John answers “ I could not send it/ Nor get a messenger to bring it thee/ so fearful were they of infection.” While sickness is definitely not in the realm of a person’s control, this was a mistake that would not have been a problem if the family feud had not existed. Although, yes, there were many accidents caused by fate that led to the death, the overarching cause of all these accidents was the quarrel between the two families. 

The Montague and Capulet families had so much hate for eachother, (as shown when Tybalt stated “ Talk of peace? I hate the word, just as I hate hell, and all Montagues.” as well as when Montague exclaims “Thou villain Capulet!”) Any friendliness, let alone romance between the two would be considered dangerous.  If it hadn’t been for the family feud, Juliet wouldn’t have to keep her marriage with Romeo a secret, and she would have never had to drink the potion to avoid marrying Paris.  Also, the feud caused the fight between Romeo and Tybalt, leading to Romeo’s exile.  Without the feud, Juliet would have never drunk the potion, Romeo would have never been exiled, and the two lovers would never have died.

In summation, the play, Romeo and Juliet shows readers that, while true love can be extraordinary, it can also painful and devastating. These qualities are demonstrated as the two admirers struggle to love amidst such a strong conflict between their families. The feud between Juliet’s family, the Capulets, and Romeo’s family, the Montagues is extremely harsh, finally causing Romeo and Juliet to commit suicide. This complicated play teaches readers that there is no timing or place for love.  Love arrives naturally, and when it does, the effects can be disastrous.  As stated previously, “Violent delights have violent ends.”