When we look in the mirror, we all probably silently single out the traits that we do not particularly desire. Things like, “What if I did not have these freckles” and “what if I had green eyes instead of blue?” With modern medicine, changing these traits before one is born has become a possibility. Scientists are currently working on creating technology that can change one’s genotypes, the specific alleles of your genetic makeup, and phenotypes, the physical expression of those alleles. The predominant goal of this technology is that genetic disorders such as hemophilia or the common Down Syndrome can be cured. This kind of applied science can affect thousands of lives. However, if scientists become able to change the genotype of an individual, who makes the decision on what they should be allowed to change and what should be left to nature?

Social constructs play a significant role in where to stop changing our genetic makeup. The field of medicine has always strived to cure humans of diseases or illnesses that harm our body and cause pain. However, one must now question what qualifies as an illness and what needs to be treated. Society has established the image that genetic disorders are something that need to be fixed as they cause the human body to function in a different way than what we deem as normal. With the purpose of this research based on the constructed image of “normal”, the vision of what parts of our phenotype needs to change becomes blurry. Some argue that parents do not want their children to live with a genetic disorder because they would not be normal or fit into society, and would undergo many treatments. However, one could use the same argument to say that a trait such as a large forehead is also not normal and would exclude them from society, and therefore children should be genetically altered to not inherit this.

The genotypes and phenotypes we are born with all qualify as normal, no matter how we appear or what illnesses we face. Learning more about these disorders has helped us create successful therapies and other resources to move towards including all genotypes and phenotypes in our society. Genetic technology should be used primarily for testing for diseases and research new treatments to try to provide the highest opportunity for these individuals to thrive. It is the responsibility of doctors to educate parents on all the symptoms and risks these tests hold, and it is the responsibility of parents to make the decision to request the test or not. It can be very important to parents to prepare for their child born with a genetic disorder and accumulate the necessary resources, but it can also be in their best interests to wait until their child is born, as every case is different. Genetic technology should not be extended to changing specific genes, for as of right now, the line between helping those with genetic disorders and parents creating a “designer baby” is too muddled in modern society, and the risk of moving towards every individual created in one image runs too high. We must strive to preserve what makes us unique, not strive to change and conform to the societal image of “normal”.