According to an article on the Wired website, (www.wired.com) a consumer genomics company called 23andMe was recently granted a patent for a system that would allow prospective parents to choose the traits of their offspring. This designer baby-making system would give parents the opportunity to pick the disease risk, hair color, athleticism, and expected lifetime health care costs of their children. 23andMe currently offers genomic analysis of more than 240 genetic traits that could potentially be pre-determined.
Currently, with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, (PGD) doctors scan an embryo’s genome before it’s implanted in a woman. PGD is currently used to prevent genetic diseases and in some cases to choose a baby’s sex. Clinics that offer PGD don’t give customers a list of possible non-medically relevant traits.
Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, believes that “overestimating the importance of genes could lead people to underestimate the importance of everything else.” Genetics do not account for 100% of who we are. Much of who we are is due to our education, experiences, and choices. Deutoronomy 6:4-7 tells us that we are to repeat God’s commands to our children. We are to talk about them when we’re home and when we’re on the road, when we’re going to bed and when we’re getting up.
At Southwinds, we provide several excellent opportunities for children to learn about God and to grow in to mature followers of Christ. In addition to this, parents must continually share their faith with the children that they share their lives with. Children may make the wrong choices, but ultimately we are to direct our children so they may work out their salvation and obey God “with deep reverence and fear.” (Phil. 2:12, NLT)
