Should the Government allow Designer Babies?

What are "Designer Babies"?
For couples with infertility issues, in-vitro fertilization has often been their last hope to deliver the joy they hope for, and in recent decade, further advances have allowed couples to choose gender and even some traits thanks to the ability to genetically screen and select the embryo for implantation. However armed with the Human Genome Project data and more precision technological advances, there are moves toward DNA editing, or genetic modification. The term "designer babies" is being applied without distinction to genetic screening vs. genetic modification of babies. An experiment by a cloning scientist in 2013 raises the question of genetically modified "designer babies" which now needs to be addressed for all the implications associated with modification at the genetic level.

Technology Racing ahead of Ethics, Safety, and Law
In the days of embryo screening, there are no gene tampering, cutting, or piecing together. Embryo itself is respected and merely screened. With genetic modification, laboratories are making break-through, but yet again the long term ramifications unknown. The only gatekeeper is the government who should not allow designer babies until the debate can be resolved with hard data. It is an unnatural process, potentially with tragic impact if things go awry.
Humans make mistakes, and genetically modified designer babies is not a mistake-free process. One mistake will cause destruction of the baby, call forth moral and ethical questions, emotional trauma, with wasted money being the least of consequences. The safety of future offspring of these genetically modified "designer babies" is also questionable. Answers rely on real experiment but can the end reality be afforded is yet another unknown.

Case of genetically rectifying embryo 

from parent with known faulty gene 

Defining Parenthood

Even while the procedure would eventually be proven safe or allowed, the traditional family definition would be challenged. In the case where designer babies are done for medical reasons, how would the custody issue be defined and resolved would be a legal maze.








Sources:
http://embryo.asu.edu/pages/ethics-designer-babies
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30742774
http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-there-be-designer-babies
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/designer-babies-ethical/
http://pitjournal.unc.edu/article/prospect-designer-babies-it-inevitable

Pictures:
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000008927/polls_BabyClonesWhiteBackground.jpg_5900_542069.jpeg_poll_xlarge.jpeg
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/the_dubious_ethics_of_creating_children_with_three_genetic_parents