Discuss The Pros And Cons Of Genetic Studies On Two Parents

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.

The impacts will likely depend on the type of condition and severity, as well as the physical, emotional, and financial wherewithal of the family and the resources that are available. For parents, having a disabled child may increase stress, take a toll on mental and physical health, make it difficult to find appropriate and affordable child care, and affect decisions about work, education/training, having additional children, and relying on public support. It may be associated with guilt, blame, or reduced self-esteem. It may divert attention from other aspects of family functioning.

Poor health and disability will affect a child’s social and emotional development because they may not be able to do things that their friends can do and not feeling included. Disability can have a positive affect for other children who are friends with a disabled child because they learn empathy and to accept their disability, not just point and stare when they see a disabled person. It also helps the disabled child to feel included with their peers. It also helps the children to learn to care for each other.

The medical advances being made feasible by genetic testing are very exciting. It is possible for people with predispositions for genetic defects to know in advance if they will have a healthy child or not. If they find out there is a problem they can choose to terminate the pregnancy or they can prepare in advance for their child's special needs. There is even new technology called Ex Utero genetic testing. This test is performed on eggs fertilized through in vitro fertilization before they are even put in the mother's uterus. Understanding genes in the developing human will help doctors understand the nature of genetic diseases and may lead to countless other medical breakthroughs. Though it is probably a long way off doctors may one day be able to manipulate genes. If this is possible some genetic problems may be cured.

As you can see genetic testing is very important and can affect a child's and parents lives for the better and the worst. Children all over the world have serious genetic diseases that affect their life on a daily. Some of these diseases are Achondroplasia, Down syndrome, and Turner's syndrome. Many believe genetic testing is a good way to test for these genetic conditions before the child is even born, but others think that it can harm the baby very badly and even cause a miscarriage, so they choose not to do this kind of testing. Knowing about the most serious genetic diseases is very important for expecting parents to be informed as well as being

Disability could delay a child’s social development if they feel left out, it may lower their self-esteem and their confidence in making friends therefore they won’t be getting the experience they need to develop their social skills and their emotional development because they won’t be learning to wait their turn and share. Also they may lack in a ‘can do’ attitude which could stop them from trying new things and trying again if they fail the first time.

I believe that the parents of children with disabilities play a pivotal roll in the educational and social development of their children. When a child is diagnosed with a disability it leaves the parent with a lot of responsibility and difficult decisions to make. When parents start planning to have children, most of them do not expect to have a child with special needs. It is the parents’ responsibility to provide everything that they are capable of to give the child what they need to succeed regardless of what those needs may be.

However, it doesn’t mean that people are not going to have disabled babies even though they have gone through testing prior to birth. In many cases, advanced techniques fail to tell if the baby will have psychological problems which can only be discovered after birth. Moreover, this doesn’t mean that parents or future parents cannot have kids for fear of having a disabled child. For example, in the article called “Deaf Culture and Cochlear Implants” by Boinne Poitra’s Tucker says that culturists of deaf society advocate that is mandatory to have a genetic test to see if the child is going to be born deaf as they believe is the best for him. However, if a potential parent is deaf or there is genetic factor that put in the predicament of having a disable child, they can have the test done before conceiving to know how the child is going to be or to choose other ways of making a family. Another approach for parents about having a child with Down syndrome is to abort that fetus. For example, there are tests to detect if a child has Down syndrome early in the pregnancy. Now, it is my argument that why bring to this world a human being that will suffer in many areas including socially, cognitively, and biologically. Moreover, in the reading “The Infant Does Case” there was a case in which a woman has a Down syndrome baby with major

A lot of controversial issues present themselves in psychology. Two topics that I will be discussing in this essay are the controversy over genetic testing and what things would be like without genetic testing. I will be describing what genetic testing is, and how it can affect an individual’s family life. I will be discussing the benefits of genetic counseling, as well as the positives without genetic counseling, and how this issue is debated in a psychological view.

When you look at society today, it is plausible to say half of the population is affected by cancer or disease. Now based on the millions of people on this earth, this assumption is not one to be proud of. Day by day and year by year medical advancements have been in affect and so far helping decrease the number of deadly cases of disease. Recently researchers have made a major breakthrough in the field of medicine. Technology has become so advanced that physicians are able to detect disease present in genes inside a fetus before it is completely developed. Because they are now able to identify the gene, it brings up a whole new topic of altering specific genes upon our children to physically enhance them. In most cases, parents would choose to enhance these genes to have athletic or musically talented child. Now whether you think this is ethical or not is up to you however, I will be evaluating three articles on this topic and presenting the argument for each one.

This article from Kids Together, Inc. gives a few lists. It also gives an excerpt from a section of literature from the National Down Syndrome Society. There are two lists. One list is the benefits of inclusion for kids with disabilities. A few examples from the list are more relationships, greater opportunity for interactions, and higher expectations. The other list includes benefits for children without disabilities. These benefits include meaningful friendships, respect for all people, and prepare them for an adult life with an inclusive society. The excerpt from the National Down Syndrome Society states things such as the students without disabilities can serve as role models for speech and behavior. Also during a study in 2000, children

As technology is improving, there is becoming more of a debate for if parents should get their kids genetically tested. There are three reasons why you shouldn’t, it produces anxiety, finds unknown information, and it can find incurable diseases.

What would you do if an immediate family member of yours developed a popular genetic disease and there was a possibility of you having it? Wouldn’t you want to know whether or not you had it as well, in your genes? Genetic testing allows for people to know if they have a certain genetic disease, if they need to get a certain treatment plan set up, or if there are ways to prevent it from becoming present or visible in the body. Genetic Discrimination is no longer legally allowed, meaning that there is no longer a need to fear the possibility of your genetic information getting into the wrong hands. Genetic testing should be done by anyone who may have a chance of developing any type of disease that could be life-threatening or not.

The final, but perhaps most tremendous, genetic controversy is known simply as the “Designer Baby Controversy.” According to Welch and CBS News, scientists Junjiu Huang and his colleagues at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, “have successfully edited DNA in human embryos, a highly controversial move governing much criticism in the scientific community.” Huang and his team have spliced out a gene called HBB, which causes beta-thalassemia, a fatal blood disease, and successfully replaced it in the embryos with a healthy copy of the gene. This method could be used to fix many other single-gene diseases, and, eventually, modified to remove other multiple-gene disorders, as well. However, two large problems arise from this. The first

If one new children has a disability, instead of investing resources into them, they could release them, and not use any resources on them. Another reason is that when a birth mother has identical twins, Instead of keeping both of them, and offsetting the population, they could release the smaller one to get rid of any problems associated with them.