Insight Designer Babies

Where should we draw the line on genetic screening? Is there anything wrong with choosing your baby's health, sex, personality, even intelligence? Every day, mothers are being screened to see if their future children could be at risk of diseases including Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and spina bifida. But sex selection for non-health reasons is not allowed here so many Australians are going to IVF doctors overseas to choose to have a boy or a girl. In the not-too-distant future, parents might even be able to choose elements of their babys personality and intelligence. Insight looks at the ethics of so-called designer babies. Should humans embrace the new genetic technologies to breed out disease? Or are we, as one guest puts it, in the grip of gene mania? Meet the Guests Melissa and Brad Hunter Melissa and Brad Hunter are both cystic fibrosis carriers. Desperate to have a healthy child, they turned to IVF and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to make sure their baby didnt get the recessive genetic condition. The eggs were transferred last year and baby Myles was born in February this year. Louisa Walsh Louisa Walsh has cystic fibrosis which has meant the loss of most of her lung function. Fortunately, she didnt have to wait long on the donor list and received a lung transplant two years ago. She recently won several medals at the Transplant Games. Louisa doesnt feel shes suffered in her life and believes her illness has enhanced her life, not made it worse. Debbie Waller Debbie Waller says she loves her son Keeden but he should never have been born. Debbie used IVF to fall pregnant, but Keeden inherited a blood clotting condition from his father and quickly developed epilepsy and cerebral palsy. She wishes she had had genetic screening of the embryos or used a sperm donor so that this would never have happened. Debbie says the pain and suffering that Keeden and his family endures is too much to bare. Leon Sugrim Leon Sugrims daughter Rachel has Down syndrome. He says he and his wife would have gone through with the pregnancy even if theyd known about her condition. He thinks society is rich because of its diversity not because of its perfectionism. Julian Savulescu Professor Julian Savulescu is an ethicist who argues parents have a moral obligation to create the best humans possible using the available technology. He would like to see genetically inherited diseases bred out. Rob Sparrow Rob Sparrow is a philosopher and says were not obligated to have the best child possible and that society is in the grip of gene mania. Rob is also opposed to sex selection, which he thinks is sexist. Danielle Morris and Corey Leighton At the time of Insights recording, Danielle Morris and Corey Leighton were in Thailand about to undergo a sex selection process for their embryos. With six daughters and one son between them, the couple is keen to add another addition to the family, and Corey would like it to be a boy. They think sex selection should be available in Australia.

ClickView-logo-inverted-RGBClickView-logo-white-RGBhyperlink-circle