Designer Baby

• Baby whose genetic makeup has been altered using genetic engineering techniques (like CRISPR Cas9) to ensure the presence, absence or enhancement of certain traits. 
• These traits include
  1. Appearance (like height, skin colour, eyes etc.)
  2. Disease resistance
  3. Intelligence
• Bio-information of physical characteristics is encoded in the genetic material. With the ability to alter this information, scientists try to control some of these features.

Pros of allowing this technology

• It reduces the risk of genetic diseases. Thus, it prevents the next generation of the family from getting characteristic diseases.
• It has the potential to increase the human life span by up to 30 years.
• Designer babies have a greater probability of success in life.
• Development in the field will help in a better understanding of genetics.

Cons of allowing this technology

• It will create a social gap as the designer babies will have better looks, intelligence etc. and thus more chances of success. 
• The genetic engineering technology used is not 100% safe yet. 
• It has the possibility of damaging the gene pool.
• It is not an inclusive technology as it is expensive, and only the rich can afford it.

2019: A Chinese scientist claimed that he made the world’s first “genetically-edited” baby in whom a gene linked to HIV was removed using the CRISPR technique.

• Euthenics is the science of improving the well-being of humans by improving the external factor of their environment.

• In contrast to Eugenics which is a capitalist ideology, Euthenics belongs to socialist ideology. It emphasises that instead of changing the genes, governments should provide a better environment for the people to develop.