Genetic Screening: Right Or Wrong?

On the last years, genetic technology have been improving. The research carried out in this area are focused on the early diagnosis of diseases. Moreover, manipulation of genes in the future provides a critical tool for eliminating fatal diseases to humans. Also humans will be able to manipulate genes from birth. But the real question is although can be perform it, we allow it? Everything possible is ethically permissible? Some dramatic demonstrations of genetic modification have been made with mice and other animals, however, evidence in humans are generally considered outside the ethical boundaries. Gregory Stock, director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at UCLA and author of Redesigning Humans, in his article “Choosing Our Genes” (2012) argues the use of technology to change humans genetic in order to avoid imperfections or diseases. Stock shows genetic engineering as a very useful technology and that applying it on the future to humans, positive results they will gain. Stocks article is effective, since he gives good reasons why using genetic technology would provide several benefits that people wish to have.

What are the most serious genetic diseases and what are the pros and cons of genetic testing?

Genetic testing has brought about many changes in the way many couples look at conceiving and raising families. Through genetic testing you are able to screen for the increased chance that a fetus may have one of many congenital disorders, or even identify gene changes that are responsible for a disease that has already been diagnosed (Genetic Testing, March 2015). Unfortunately genetic testing is not always exact, in some cases giving parents false negatives or false positive results. Even if the results are accurate, there is the burden of knowledge once you know the results indicate a genetic abnormality such as Down’s syndrome. While caring for a 2 year old male patient with developmental delays and anotia, I learned that genetic testing had been started but never completed on the child. Genetic testing could help to identify genetic disorders that led to the child’s developmental delays and possible future disorders that may develop. The ethical dilemma I will be discussing to the ANA Ethical dilemma of the impact of informed consent of genetic testing on children for adult onset diseases and disorders.

There are two main ways genetic testing places a constraint on a child’s right to an open future. The first of these is that the revelation of a child’s disease status can change his life narrative and the way parents and others treat him, and substantially alter his or her life’s trajectory (Davis _____). Parents may feel guilty or shelter their not-yet-sick

-Employers do not want to be liable for employees. Discrimination against people who are at risk for a certain disease is more profitable because it will potently save the company a substantial amount of money.

The world we live in is advancing more and more every day. We are beginning to exceed boundaries and reach new limits. Science and Technology has come a long way since Copernicus said that the sun was the center of the universe. Science fiction is slowly coming to life. We are building robots that are extremely similar to humans, modifying genes, and creating clones. Authors wrote about these abstract ideas not too long ago, but at the time they seemed far-fetched. Scientific and technological advancement may be for good or for evil. The good side is the advancements in medicine that could limit the risk of a particular disease or even cure one. The potentially bad side is the steps we may take to get there without knowing the long-term effect. In Michael Bess’s article “Blurring the Boundary Between Person and Product,” he discusses the advancement of genetic

Gene therapy is defined as the medical replacement of defective genes in living human cells; its aim is to replace the activity of a defective gene by activating a dormant gene which has a similar function (Wheale & McNally, 212). Under gene therapy comes the politically controversial Human Genome Project, a fifteen-year, $3 billion federally-funded biology program. The goal of the project is to isolate the defective gene on the chromosomes which comprise the human genome (Fletcher, 2). In this manner, the Human Genome Project may be able to rid the cancer-ridden genes from human DNA, thereby curing cancer permanently. The project has been the focus of much scientific and political controversy over the past few years for its possible ramifications are extensive to all of human existence.

But did the climax of the Holocaust cease the desire to create the “desirable” human? By 1939, in America, a movement called the “Negro Project” was started to control the ‘breeding’ of the Blacks in the South. In the 1960’s, the Eugenic movement was one of voluntary capitalistic culture. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, there was an explosion of popular and scientific literature based upon molecular genetics. By the 1980s, sperm banks that select donors according to intelligence, looks and success were high in popularity. Women with “desirable traits” were selling their eggs for high cash amounts (de Araujo-Sommer 2015). In 1997, a sheep named Dolly was the first mammal ever to be successfully cloned. The contemporary truth on Eugenics is that technology is at a stage where it is possible to clone humans and genetically engineer them. The modern day Eugenic push is based upon the ideological values of social formation where “quality of life = economic performance” (Raman, 2015).

In this critique, I will be discussing my opinion on Mr. Pollard’s article about genetic screening. These genetic screening began in the 1960’s and since then they have found themselves in the middle of major controversy throughout the years (Press, 2008). Genetic screening a series of test performed when a mother is pregnant in order to figure out whether or not her child may have a developing disorder. Some genetic screening are also performed after the baby is born. Genetic screening can play a major role in personal parenting decisions and medical treatment if and when deemed necessary. Although genetic screening has much debate surrounding it, testing for any potential disorders and diseases can be live saving.

What impact does genetic screening test results have if you can’t afford to treat it? Before anything, one must start basic and understand that genetic screening is the process of experimenting to test the blood flow and circulation. This act indicates which disease is most likely going to strike inside your body. If any, this process is convenient because the fact that the results give you more time to treat it. According to the very many righteous people the life of a human - being comes before the act of discrimination reaching them. Eventually if reports are isolated then most will be going to the insurance company scamming their system, than they will make lots of insurance money. Therefore not all people are / should be entrusted with insurance money trust, the citizens could make over a hundred thousand dollars.

They fear their ability to obtain health insurance or employment for they might be denied due to their genetics. There is a greater fear for those individuals who seek predictive or pre-symptomatic testing because of the chance the insurance company might get the results and drop them from having insurance coverage because their cost to insure will increase dramatically. These individuals also fear current or potential job from finding out that they will eventually develop the disease and deny them the job because they will not work as much or as long as other individuals who won’t necessarily develop the condition. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 protects from discrimination from health insurers and employers, but not everyone is fully protected. “More than 30 states have legislation prohibiting genetic discrimination.

There’s over 13,000 people in Australia that have down syndrome in our modern day. The quality of life for people that have down syndrome can be drastically improved by meeting special health care needs. People with Down Syndrome can achieve their optimal quality of life through parental care and government support, medical guidance and community support systems like inclusive education at all levels. Genetic testing is a medical test that identifies changes in chromosomes and genes. In this article I will be telling you why genetic screening is very important if you are wanting to know if your child has down syndrome. Over this article I will also mention genetic counselling, genetic counselling is a communication process which helps families,

Predictive genetic testing has the potential to be the basis of discrimination, as it could give employers a reason not to hire and insurers a reason not to insure (Wilde et al., 2013, p. 271). Another major concern is that it could cause a loss of privacy of personal genetic data if employers and/or insurers were given the results of the genetic testing (Wilde et al., 2013, p. 271).

On the most surface level, human genetic engineering and human genetic modification are a new and rapidly developing field of science that deals with directly altering the DNA (genetic makeup) of a living human cell. From early science fiction to the present day, taking control of humans’ gen es and directing the flow of evolution has been a subject of debate for many people. Human genetic engineering or HGE tends to bring up thoughts of dystopian futures where altering DNA has unexpectedly resulted in horrible mutant humans that can’t survive and thus the human race perishes, but this is not necessarily the outcome. Since genetic engineering is an emerging field of science, there are still many moral and ethical issues that need to be addressed before continuing research. Atheists and theists both have valid reasons to support / resist the continuation of this field of science. For the purpose of this paper, it will be assumed the reader has a reasonable understanding of the terms atheism, theism, DNA, genes, genome, and how a persons DNA (their genotype) essentially dictates the physical appearance and abilities that person portrays (their phenotype).

The human genome project is something that I have been very interested with ever since first learning of it. I had heard bits and pieces of what it is about, but my interest was greatly stimulated by Dr. Whited in basic genetics 311 last spring. The discussion that we had regarding the project left me with several ideas and questions about not only the process and ethics involved, but the future of the study of genetics as a whole.