Ethics and designer babies

“Prospective parents will have to wait for 'designer' babies," said Gina Salamone, Nicole Lyn Pesce, and Carrie Melago in the New York Daily News. After sparking an outcry, a fertility doctor who offered to let patients customize traits such as hair and eye color is backing down. Fertility specialist Dr. Jeff Steinberg says that, for now, he has decided to help parents screen out medical defects, but not tweak how they'll look.

Steinberg has just jump-started an old debate, said Madeline Ellis in Health News. With each giant leap in reproductive technology since the first 'test tube' babies, we have revisited the question about whether such tinkering with nature is ethical. Right now, Steinberg faces an uphill battle, since the vast majority of Americans disapprove of using technology to pick a child's cosmetic traits.

"Well, we knew it was going to happen," said Mary Ann Romans in Families.com, "it was just a matter of when." Regardless of how we settle the ethical issue, it seems a shame to go down this road. "I think diversity breeds beauty, literally."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up