are often more dominant and assertive and the same is generally true for male offspring. Skewing the population toward doubly dominant firstborns could make it even harder to rid society of gender-role stereotypes. (Lemonick, 1999, p. 65)Reproductive technology is moving forward at an astonishing rate. Researchers are finishing up sex-selection devices that may be available over the counter within the next few years. Also, scientists are now discussing germ-cell genetic engineering, another controversial new technique by which couples tinker with their own DNA to give birth to kids of a preferred height, physique, hair color, IQ, or even temperament (Schrof, 1998, p. 68). If gene therapy lives up to its promise, parents will someday be able to go even further that weeding out undesirable traits and be able to insert genes that have been produced in a laboratory. The genes responsible for our physical and mental characteristics have not been identified yet. At the present time, the only traits that can be identified besides gender are about one dozen serious genetic diseases. This type of gene therapy is at least several years away (Lemonick, 1999, p. 64).Gender preselection can be very advantageous as well as controversial. It is beneficial to determine the sex of a fetus in order to assess the possibility of disease and can aid with family balancing. Some ethicists are concerned that choosing more of a certain sex could cause drastic changes in the population. Confusion and uncertainty still exist regarding the clinical efficiency of in vivo clinical manipulation methods and various sperm separation techniques because of lack of well-designed prospective controlled clinical trials. (Reubinoff, 1996, p. 343)...
