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Designer baby is a term that refers to the product of a genetically engineered baby. These babies are "designed" (fixed/changed) while still in the womb to achieve more desired looks, skills, or talents. ==Preimplantation genetic diagnosis== (詳細はmedicine and (clinical) genetics pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD or PIGD) (also known as embryo screening) refers to procedures that are performed on embryos prior to implantation, sometimes even on oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD thus is an adjunct to assisted reproductive technology, and requires in vitro fertilization (IVF) to obtain oocytes or embryos for evaluation. This is not a new technology - the first PGD babies, and thus also the first designer babies were created in 1989 and born in 1990. When used to screen for a specific genetic disease or for risk of getting a disease, its main advantage is that it avoids selective abortion as the method makes it highly likely that the baby will be free of the disease under consideration. In some cases, the term "designer baby" refers to the proposed use of standard medical preimplantation genetic diagnosis to select for desired nonmedical traits of a child, such as sex, hair color and other cosmetic traits, athletic ability, or intelligence. As of 2009, selecting for the sex of a child was already feasible since it requires only identifying an X or Y chromosome, but selecting for nonmedical traits was not due to the amount of genetic material required, and one example has been described where a deaf couple used to PGD to select for a deaf baby.〔〔 A 2012 article by Carolyn Abraham in ''The Globe and Mail'' stated that "Recent breakthroughs have made it possible to scan every chromosome in a single embryonic cell, to test for genes involved in hundreds of 'conditions,' some of which are clearly life-threatening while others are less dramatic and less certain". There is already a "microchip that can test a remarkable 1,500 genetic traits at once, including heart disease, seasonal affective disorder, obesity, athletic ability, hair and eye colour, height, susceptibility to alcohol and nicotine addictions, lactose intolerance and one of several genes linked to intelligence. It is still difficult to get enough DNA for such extensive testing but the chip designer thinks this technical problem will be solved soon.〔Carolyn Abraham, Unnatural selection: Is evolving reproductive technology ushering in a new age of eugenics?, January 07, 2012, The Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/pregnancy/pregnancy-trends/unnatural-selection-is-evolving-reproductive-technology-ushering-in-a-new-age-of-eugenics/article2294636/singlepage/〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Designer baby」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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