The New York Times article, “The Made-To-Order-Savior,” which was written by Lisa Belkin and published in July 1, 2001, basically tackles both the ethical considerations and medical importance of embryo research. The article mainly revolved around the lives of two children, Henry and Molly, who are suffering from Fanconi anemia, a disease that causes bone marrow failure and eventually leads to leukemia and other types of cancer. The author also showed that the parents of these children opted to undergo in-vitro fertilization and, using newer technological advancements, were also able to choose from the resulting embryos, whose bone marrows were guaranteed to genetically match the two Fanconi children.
Personally, I believe that the idea of having a made-to-order-savior, in the form of genetically-modified children, is actually very noble and an important development in fighting new diseases and illnesses that are coming out each day. Evidently today, there are still diseases that have no known cure yet such as AIDS and various types of cancer. Therefore, it is highly imperative that scientists, researchers, and other professionals in associated fields do all they can to find cures and treatments for these diseases.
In terms of ethical considerations, for me, it is alright to breed genetically altered babies for the purpose of saving many lives. I believe that despite questions from ethicists, at the end of the day, it is the lives of people that matter. It is always acceptable for me to do things, such as embryo research, for the greater good. I also do not believe that such methods is like playing God because it is simply aimed to improve the lives of sick patients and people who are suffering from terminal diseases. If I weigh between stopping embryo research due to ethical considerations and continuing it in order to save millions of lives, I would choose the latter because it would mean the world to a lot of people across the globe.
References
Belkin, L. (2001). The Made-to-Order Savior. The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/magazine/the-made-to-order-savior.html?sec=health&pagewanted=1.
