Talk:Genetically Modified Babies ("Designer Babies")

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I really enjoyed reading this MediaWiki article, and found that you described the arrival of designer babies that clearly outlined its potential benefits and current ethical implications. I did notice that there were only around a thousand words in the article, so to meet the assignment’s rubric you would have to add about two thousand more. One possible way of doing this would be to expand on the ethical considerations section, as I’m confident that there are numerous more journals and articles that explain the discrimination and morality of genetically designing one’s child. If there isn’t any more information to be talked about regarding ethical issues, I’d suggest giving a more comprehensive summary of the topic or of its history and creation. For style, it would be visually appealing if you added a few images relating to designer babies.

The article definitely has an opening paragraph that summarizes the topic. If anything, I would add a few sentences explaining the potential ethical implications that the technology has, and maybe comment on some of the ethical issues that the practice is currently facing. I only say this because the rubric explicitly tells us to “summarize the issue,” so to be safe, I would give a short explanation of the actual issue. The body of the wiki is succinct, and it is clear where the discussion about the ethical issues starts. I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of information regarding the extent of the technology today. There is a little about the technology’s history, but it would be interesting to see how far gene edition has evolved, and how the implications of its evolution have changed. It would also be helpful if you stated some real-life examples of this genome edition in the ‘Uses’ section of the body. I do think that there’s a lot that could potentially be added to the ‘Ethical Considerations’ section. For example, in the ‘Lack of Embryo Permission’ subheading, it seems that the first sentence wasn’t finished. Furthermore, I think that you could include more information about the ethics of an embryo’s rights and whether they’re legally protected from genome editing against their permission. Here could be a helpful article to grab reference from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28730264/. I would say the same goes for the rest of the subheadings in this section. It does seem, however, that most statements are backed up by a reputable source. I think there’s definitely room to add more information, along with the use of more reliable sources. My one suggestion for the ethical considerations section is that you cite in-text where you are getting the claims from, since at this moment it doesn’t seem like they are warranted with evidence.

I like the description of the ethics involved with designer babies. Furthermore, I think you chose a great group of concerns, and it’s evident why they could be important, especially the issue that gene editing for aesthetics could perpetuate biases like racism. It’s tremendously clear to the reader what the issue at stake is. I’d be curious to see if there are studies that describe parents being able to use genome editing to impact their child’s personality in any way. But other than that, I think the only thing you need to do with the ethical considerations is to expand on each subheading further.

You’ve also done a great job of remaining impartial throughout the article. Especially when talking about the potential ethical issues PGD could have, you’ve managed to describe them in a neutral point of view. However, there are a few instances where the statement is not backed by a reference, making it come across as an opinion. For example, when talking about financial discrimination, you say “[PGD] could lead to greater health disparities if only the extremely wealthy are able to select against genetic disorders.” This sounds like you are making an inference or an argument, so I’d suggest including a citation in order to make it clear that you are simply describing the issue. Overall, I think you’ve done a fantastic job of explaining the designer baby issue.