Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: British Medical Association Oxford Oxford University - 2,199 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

Gender Selection Introduction In our advancing society, almost everything is possible. Due to the rapid development of genetics, parents now are able to choose the gender of a child. For some it may seem as a great step towards future when it will be possible not only to predict, but also to choose gender of a future child, while others are concerned with implementation of new scientific achievements into life. The Human Genome Project Under The Human Genome Project, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences within the human chromosomes were developed and unveiled to the public. This project was under development since 1980 s. It has only been in the last thirty years, when scientists have learned to understand the complex processes involved in conception, and more recently, to manipulate them.

Science has the techniques that can overcome natural infertility, and attempt changes in the genetic make-up of the babies that are desired. (Challoner, 1999) Many nations participated in studying human DNA and it is predicted that by 2003 there will be all the required knowledge for choosing the gender of a future child without a single mistake. Micro Sort Micro Sort is a sex / gender selection method that was developed in 1998 by geneticist Edward Fugger. The method is based on sperm separation. The high technology approach used in Micro Sort relies upon known fact that X chromosome carries almost three percent more DNA than that of Y chromosome. Special fluorescent molecules are created to attach to the DNA and the sperms passed under the ultraviolet light, which causes these molecules to emit light. The more light is emitted during the process, the more DNA is present in a particular sperm.

An automatic machine; a flow cytometry, sorts large numbers of individual sperms quickly and with a high degree of accuracy. (Fugger, 1998) This actually allows selecting needed sperm that will influence the sex of a future child. Thus, it becomes possible to select the gender of a child. Concerns with genetics Today it is evident that there is much more than just a sum of genes, which mainly determine future abilities of an individual. Moreover, people today know how to manipulate with these genes in order to create an individual with certain chosen abilities and features.

Some people believe that due to a scientific advance lot of existing problems with family planning can be solved, while there are others who oppose any scientific intervention connected with human genes. Major concerns associated with genetics exist because of the human disability to control the wise knowledge. There is no doubt that it is a great thing to discover the essence of human life, however life of a human is the most valuable thing and nobody has a right to mess with it. Nature has created humans with the way of reproduction, and any change in the existing order will certainly cause negative or positive consequences.

This essay will examine the influence of modern scientific achievements on society, which undoubtedly will have a huge impact on the future families and children. The main point of this essay is to discover what are the benefits and losses humans will endure due to the development of genetics, which will help to understand what the attitudes towards sex pre-selection in the society are. Therefore, should parents have an opportunity to select the gender of their child? Would it be ethical for families with fertility problems to choose which fertilized embryos get implanted and have the rest discarded as being the wrong gender? Ethics and sex pre-selection Today in our country, people are highly concerned with the ethical issues of sex pre-selection; therefore, different opinions exist in the society concerning this matter. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a group that establishes ethical guidelines for fertility clinics, the answer to these questions is certainly positive.

Many specialists in the field of genetics around the country were shocked to hear this announcement, released in a letter written by John Robertson, an ethicist and lawyer at the University of Texas who is currently the acting head of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Some, however, have to offer the service immediately and report having received many requests for it over the years. The technology allowing pre-determining sex has existed for a long period there is actually nothing new about it. However, it was used almost exclusively for couples with legitimate fears of having babies with certain genetic diseases. For example, male embryos might be rejected because of the possibility of carrying hemophilia. In other cases, the embryo can be genetically tested for the disease itself, and only healthy embryos will be implanted, which certainly brings positive results.

The Ethics Committee verdict The Ethics Committee (2001) raised serious ethical questions with such gender pre-selection, including the potential for inherent gender discrimination, inappropriate control over nonessential characteristics of children, unnecessary medical burdens and costs for parents, and inappropriate and potentially unfair use of limited medical resources. After all, if doctors are using their skills for non-medical reasons, then those resources cannot be brought to other individuals with indisputable need. Concerns However, there still exist concerns associated with sex pre-determination. Among them are possible sex ratio imbalances in the future, psychological harm to sex-selected offspring (i. e. , by placing on them too high expectations), increased marital conflict over sex selective decisions, and reinforcement of gender bias in society as a whole. (British Medical Association, 1998) What will happen if somewhere one day due to variety of reasons (ex: high rape rate) people will decide to have only boys? Nobody would like to have a female child, because parents would be scared that one day their precious daughter can be raped or murdered, (nobody knows what will happen in the next 20 years what if physical power will be the single attribute of respect in the society).

Opponents of gender pre-selection claim that God gave life to us, and that it is in His hands to choose the gender of a child. Such a natural balance had existed for thousands of years and since we all humans made it until today, probably it is the reliable and the correct way things should work in the nature. Natural balance in gender can be easily shaken with the introduction of new technologies that can determine the sex of a future child. Therefore, opponents of sex pre-selection believe that human intervention into the process of life creation will definitely cause negative consequences. What will happen if one day every family decides to have only sons? When their children mature, they will not be able to find a female mate due to a small percentage of females living in this certain area or a country.

Of course, you may argue that it sounds not realistic. However, if 30 years ago people were told that it would be possible to make exact copy of an individual (clone) in the year 2005, nobody would believe that such a thing would ever be possible. Therefore, dis balance of genders in the society can be a serious threat to the future of humankind, and opponents of gender pre-selection believe that this dis balance can be caused by gender pre-determination. Moreover, this can result into serious social problem in the future, when gender roles will be significantly changed due to the dis balance of genders, which can cause unpredicted consequences. Benefits of gender pre-selection People who support sex pre-selection believe that it will do more good than bad to many people around the world. In some countries women are discriminated, and quite often families prefer to have sons instead of daughters.

If gender pre-selection technologies will reach this countries it will be possible to change the situation with gender discrimination. Moreover, in some cultures there are abortions made because of gender bias. With the help of gender pre-selection, all these problems can be successfully solved. People should not forget that the decision made by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine does not simply approve of widespread gender selection instead, it approves of situation-specific actions.

The particular term used by Robertson is gender variety, by which he means that a couple who already has a child of a certain gender should be allowed to ethically choose the implantation of embryos, which would make sure their next child would be of the opposite gender. It is possible to understand families that have already two or more kids of the same gender and desperately want to have a child of another gender. Many families attempted to have a child of a certain gender and did not succeed in it. Besides, a family with children of different genders is a more harmonic one. Children in such families grow together and learn how to interact with opposite sex.

Sex selection to balance a family is ethically acceptable but that it wont be popular enough to change Mother Natures gender sorting. (Caplan, 1998) Aside from the fact that parents have conventionally been given great discretion over their reproductive choices, the ability to aid the desires of couples who have strong preferences about the gender of their offspring is perhaps the strongest reason for allowing gender pre-determination to exist. Thus, it is arguable that unless there is demonstrable and substantial harm to others, then couples should be allowed to choose the gender of their offspring. Parents should leave the selection of non-disease traits to fate, although sex-selection techniques may be useful to limit the size of all-girl families where the parents might otherwise continue having babies until they get a son or of all-boy families intent on having a girl. (Rothman, 1998) Ethical principles Therefore, it is possible to conclude that if the basic concept of gender selection were ethical, then it would be unethical to offer only an inferior method of performing it. Others, however, see a significant ethical difference between the two methods, noting that sperm sorting does not result in discarding potential babies. This looks like a rather hypocritical objection, at least coming from anyone concerned of the creation of embryos for fertility treatments. Why?

Simply because they always create more than it is needed, which necessarily results in some, which may simply be discarded because they are superfluous. If some individuals are really bothered by potential babies being thrown away, then they should protest to these fertility treatments totally. Ethical guidelines Despite some peoples concerns, there is no reason to think that because we accept gender selection, society will inevitably end up creating designer babies and discriminate against any child that is not perfect. Decisions over how scientific knowledge is used are independent of knowledge and should be taken independently. (Dawkins, 1999) If, however, we are only doing it because we can and because there is a consumer demand, then the path of designer babies remains very much open to us, and there is every reason to think that society will take it. (Gender Selection: Ethical Considerations & New Technologies, Online) It is obvious that it is incumbent upon people to define and create those ethical guidelines and be certain about what we are willing to do and why. Conclusion Genetics gives hope to many people, while we should not forget what harm it could cause at the same time.

The society should be aware of all the negative consequences that can be caused by genetics. At the same time, people should know about great benefits it can give. Main goal of todays society is to avoid errors while stepping into the new era of scientific revolution, where ethics plays one of the key roles in determining the future outcomes of scientific advance. These are the matters for all members of the society; therefore, its citizens should participate in the debates over ethics of sex pre-determination, because each opinion supporting or disapproving the practice of gender selection is valuable. Works Cited: Apple yard, B. (1999) Brave New Worlds: Genetics and the Human Experience. London: Harper Collins Publishers.

British Medical Association. (1998) Human Genetics: Choice and Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Caplan, A. (1998) If Gene Therapy Is the Cure, What is the Disease? (Online). Available: URL: med. upon. edu/~bioethics / genetics /articles / caplan .

gene. therapy. html. Challoner, J. (1999) The Baby Makers: The History of Artificial Conception. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Fugger, E. , et al. (1998) Births of Normal Daughters after Micro Sort Sperm Separation and Intrauterine Insemination, in Vitro Fertilization, or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection.

Human Reproduction. 13, 2367 - 70 Golden, R. (1999) Designer Babies: The brave new world of reproductive technology. London: Phoenix. Dawkins, R. (1999) (Ed) The Genetic Revolution and Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press Murray, T. (1991) Ethical issues in human genome research.

The FASEB Journal, 5, 55 - 60. Rothman, B. K. (1998) Genetic Maps and Human Imaginations. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc.

Statham, H; Green, J; Snowdon, C; France-Dawson, M. (1993) Choice of babys sex. Lancet, 341, 564 - 5. Gender Selection - Ethics and Technology, web Gender Selection: Ethical Considerations & New Technologies, web MID-ATLANTIC ETHICS COMMITTEE, web ABCNEWS. com, Fertility Clinic to Allow Sex Selection, abcnews.

go. com / sections /GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/GMA 011001 gender selection. html


Free research essays on topics related to: oxford oxford university, human genome project, gender selection, british medical association, gender bias

Research essay sample on British Medical Association Oxford Oxford University

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com