In today’s world, people are learning a great deal in the rapidly growing and developing fields of science and technology. Almost each day, an individual can see or hear about new discoveries and advances in these fields of study. One science that is rapidly progressing is genetic testing; a valuable science that promotes prevention efforts for genetically susceptible people and provides new strategies for disease management. Unnaturally, and morally wrong, genetic testing is a controversial science that manipulates human ethics. Although genetic testing has enormous advantages, the uncertainties of genetic testing will depreciate our quality of life, and thereby result in psychological burden, discrimination, and abortion. The stress of genetic testing results, that may shorten your life or have no cure, will disrupt an individual physically and emotionally. Healthy people who carry the burden of having a life-threatening disease lack strong social support and coping skills. “The anxiety of living with the likelihood of one or more specific, chronic, debilitating disease create psychological burdens that outweigh the therapeutic potential of lifestyle changes or earlier treatment due to increased vigilance” (Kjono). Survivors guilt, or a mental condition experienced by those who have survived a catastrophic event that took the life of others’. For example, a brother or a sister who carry a gene alteration, like cancer, and one sibling has an increased potential for diagnosis, the other sibling will feel guilty for escaping the increased risk. Not only can a negative genetic testing result affect your well-being, but also your ability to obtain health and life insurance. “Genetic testing may permit a much more complete and refine... ... middle of paper ... ...ral Mission Of Health Insurance." Hastings Center Report 22.6 (1992): 12. Academic Search Complete. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. Janssens, Cecile. "How FDA and 23andMe Dance Around Evidence That Is Not There." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. Kjono, Jason. "Genetic Screening." Genetic Screening. NDSU, 1997. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. Leach, Mark. "LifeNews.com." LifeNews.com. LifeNews, 18 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. Murphy, Samantha. "Genetic Tests Debate: Is Too Much Info Bad for Your Health?"LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 19 Dec. 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. Starr, Penny. "CNS News." CNS News. CNS, 13 Oct. 2008. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. "The Innocence Projectan." The Innocence Project - About Us: FAQs:How Many People Have Been Exonerated through DNA Testing? Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
In Gattaca, the plot focuses on the ethics, the risks, and the emotional impact of genetic testing in the nearby future. The film was released in the 90s; yet in the present, the film does not give the impression of science fiction. Today, genetic testing is prevalent in many aspects of the scientific community. This paper will describe genetic testing, its purpose, diagnostic techniques that use genetic testing, relating Huntington’s disease to genetic testing, and the pros and cons of genetic testing.
Genetic Screening is a medical test that examines ones DNA. It can find mutations in chromosomes, genes, and proteins. These tests can confirm or refute a suspected genetic condition that could become a serious problem for one in the future. They can also help figure out a persons probability of getting certain diseases or sicknesses like cancer or diabetes. ( What is Genetic Testing?, para 1) There is also carrier testing which can be used to see what diseases couples may carry before having children. (What are the benefits of genetic testing? Para 1)
There are several types of genetic tests that can give us a broad amount of information about ourselves, our parents and/or children (What is testing?). Personally, I see advantages and disadvantages to it. Anyone is able to find the probability of them having a disorder or disease and start dealing with before it gets to a lethal stage. For women, it is reassuring to know whether a disorder that they possess can be passed on to their children or not. They can also know whether their child is healthy or not before it is even born. It also impacts on how scientists deal with diseases since they are given a different output of the disease at its early stages and allows them to study it until a cure is found. But what happens when your private information goes public? People will be treated differently because of a high risk of having a cancer in the future. In your CV, your past experiences and your qualities will be accompanied by your genetics test results that inform the company whether you will be a risk to them in the future. A new kind of discrimination will be created in our society. A second major disadvantage to genetic testing is people using it for “superficial” purposes like changing children’s eye colors and other biological characteristics that should not be changes. Above the disadvantages are the benefits which are why I am all for the genetic testing for health-related purposes.
These patients are desperate and are vulnerable, often consenting to research studies without fully understanding the potential outcome. Therefore, it is imperative to educate the patients, public, and regulatory agencies regarding the pros and cons of these therapies.
Testing of one kind or another has always been very common in the job application process, whether it’s the testing of one’s skill sets through an application or drug testing. Now, through scientific advances of the Human Genome Project, a new type of testing has become available to employers: genetic testing. This new sort of testing would detect any genetic problems in a potential employee’s DNA, including genetic predisposition for disease and possible health concerns in the future. Genetic testing could be beneficial to companies monetarily, as it would be a way to screen their employees for long term, damaging factors which could be expensive for the company. The legal right to do so, however, is a controversial issue in the business world. Many people regard it as an invasion of privacy, an open invitation for bias in hiring pools, and a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (French). Genetic testing could be used in both the hiring process, and as an attempt for companies to cater to their employees’ needs. It could also, however, be used as a tool of discrimination against those with minor or major genetic abnormalities. Many ethical issues are raised: does a person have a right to anonymity in their DNA? Should employers discriminate against those with genetic problems, a factor out of the subject’s control? These disputes and more are what make genetic testing in the workplace a contentious topic today. Unless an act, such as the Genetic Nondiscrimination in Health Insurance and Employment Act, is passed, discrimination will run rampant through the job market, injuring the modern employee in the process. Despite the quantity of information about employees that could be retriev...
Many things are changing at an extremely rapid rate in our society. The new advances in the areas of science and biotechnology are raising many ethical and moral dilemmas for everyone. No one will be left unaffected. Everyone will have to make a decision and take a stand on these issues. I will discuss advancements of genetic screening and testing. The first step to any ethical problem is to understand the topic. It is difficult to formulate accurate ideas without knowledge about the topic, so first I will provide a little background information on genetic screening. I will then point out some of the areas of controversy associated with genetic screening, and finally I will discuss my view on the topic.
One of these issues is the moral and ethical issue of genetic testing. Genetic testing is a controversial topic that affects patients, fetus to adult. For the sake of keeping this article from being too broad, I will focus on prenatal and fetal genetic testing. Proponents of genetic testing argue that it is a form of preventative medicine, allowing the parents to be prepared or make decisions about a child before the child is born. They may point out that with knowledge of defects or disabilities while child is in utero, medical staff can be ready to act immediately at birth to save the infants life. Place states that genetic testing gives prospective parents a choice in having a child with a disability or birth defect (as cited in Farrelly, et al., 2012). Malik points out that
Genetic testing, can affect a person’s life in many ways. Genetic testing is a type of medical testing that identifies changes that occur in chromosomes, proteins, and genes. These changes that occur can be associated, and often are associated with inherited disorders. In order understand genetic testing there has to be a clear understanding of the family history and previous medical records. The process of getting these records takes time and patience; and the records must be evaluated by all relatives involved. Knowing the health history is supposed to be the bases of genetic testing, but it more complicated than that. A lot of people utilize genetic testing because they believe that it is essential to know their own body, or a body that their bringing into the world. Parents can learn a lot of information that may be hard to handle. From there they can plan ahead or make difficult decisions. People may like to know problems or occurrences ahead of time, so they can figure out how to handle the situation taken into course. This may give parents a peace of mind and a sense of relief if they think there is a problem that has occurred. This can also help with future family planning, and how to handle future situations (Murza).
The Human Genome Project is the largest scientific endeavor undertaken since the Manhattan Project, and, as with the Manhattan Project, the completion of the Human Genome Project has brought to surface many moral and ethical issues concerning the use of the knowledge gained from the project. Although genetic tests for certain diseases have been available for 15 years (Ridley, 1999), the completion of the Human Genome Project will certainly lead to an exponential increase in the number of genetic tests available. Therefore, before genetic testing becomes a routine part of a visit to a doctor's office, the two main questions at the heart of the controversy surrounding genetic testing must be addressed: When should genetic testing be used? And who should have access to the results of genetic tests? As I intend to show, genetic tests should only be used for treatable diseases, and individuals should have the freedom to decide who has access to their test results.
Genetic testing has become very popular as technology has improved, and has opened many doors in the scientific community. Genetic testing first started in 1866 by a scientist known as, Gregor Mendel, when he published his work on pea plants. The rest was history after his eyes opening experiments on pea plants. However, like any other scientific discovery, it bought conflicts which caused major controversies and a large population disagreed with the concept of playing with the genetic codes of human beings. Playing God was the main argument that people argument that people had against genetics. genetic testing became one of the major conflicts conflicts to talk about, due to the fact that parents could now have the option of deciding if they
Genetic testing, also known as screening, is a rapidly advancing new scientific field that can potentially revolutionize not only the world of medicine, but many aspects of our lives. Genetic screening is the sequencing of human DNA in order to discover genetic differences, anomalies, or mutations that may prove pathological. As genetic screening becomes more advanced and easily accessible, it presents society with difficult questions that must be asked about the boundaries of science and to what degree we are allowed to tamper with the human genome. To better understand the potential impact of genetic screening on our society, we must examine the potential benefits in comparison to the possible negative impact it may cause. With this knowledge in hand, we can examine what the future holds for this field of study and the best possible direction to take.
Genetic testing has become a highly controversial issue among both the general population and the scientific community. It is a process that exposes a person’s entire genome sequence, allowing it to be read and evaluated to identify potential risks for genetic diseases or diseases that could be passed onto offspring (Holt Productions, 2012). With thousands of genetic tests already being used, and more being established, it seems logical to put this growing technology to use. Some agree that it is a person’s right to know and understand his or her genetic makeup. However, others argue that, despite the benefits of genetic testing, caution should be used to carefully inspect the risks associated with this new technology.
Scientists and the general population favor genetic engineering because of the effects it has for the future generation; the advanced technology has helped our society to freely perform any improvements. Genetic engineering is currently an effective yet dangerous way to make this statement tangible. Though it may sound easy and harmless to change one’s genetic code, the conflicts do not only involve the scientific possibilities but also the human morals and ethics. When the scientists first used mice to practice this experiment, they “improved learning and memory” but showed an “increased sensitivity to pain.” The experiment has proven that while the result are favorable, there is a low percentage of success rate. Therefore, scientists have concluded that the resources they currently own will not allow an approval from the society to continually code new genes. While coding a new set of genes for people may be a benefitting idea, some people oppose this idea.
Genetic testing can help people determine why they get cancer or other diseases. Genetic testing is recommended to people who have a family history of a genetic disease, have children who are born with genetic defects, and have gone through more than one miscarriage in the past. Though these te...
Genetic diseases severe enough to validate abortion are those in which the afflicted are terminally physically dependent on others to fulfill their basic life needs, regardless of the environment. By basic life needs I mean the ability to eat, drink, breath, move, and communicate as required for daily sustenance. I believe that aborting individuals who would have such diseases is valid. These guidelines for pre-natal genetic screening give prospective parents the option of aborting a child with certain diseases and/or conditions, and they prevent abortion for more trivial reasons. One disadvantage is that these policies do not allow for the dispensing of information regarding genetic predisposition for medical conditions. Scientists have discovered numerous genes related to diseases such as cancer. If individuals are going to contract a disease at around age 50, should they not know this? Genetic screening, in this sense, could alleviate the 'health guessing game.' Revealing individuals' medical future would allow them to act as they pleased, for they would already know the future of their physical condition. This picture presents genetic screening as the pinnacle and culmination of preventative medicine. In reality, the genetic model for disease is not this simple. Genetic screening is not a crystal ball that foresees an unchangeable medical future. Having genes for specific diseases does not indicate that individuals will acquire the diseases; it simply means that they have a greater than average tendency to get them. In fact, many individuals who have genes for certain conditions never exhibit related ailments (Hubbard 133).