It is never ethical for patients to be intimidated or forced into undergoing certain testing. I believe it is the patient’s decision whether to undergo genetic testing and be informed of the results. In my opinion, a lack of genetic counselors compromises the ethics of genetic testing as patients are more vulnerable to being pressured into doing tests or receiving results they never wished to receive. Therefore, I believe genetic testing is done in a more ethical way when genetic counselors are available as counselors operate by listening to patient requests, only providing information of testing he/she wishes to undergo, and only presenting and helping patients understand the requested results. Even the author of Proverbs 11:14 (English Standard Version) points out the ethical importance of counselors by declaring, “[w]here there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
This is one of the most important guiding questions in my journey to explore deeper into the thoughts of genetic testing and how it ties together what possible effects it can have on human lives. I initially thought, if someone were to get genetically tested, they could find exactly what disease they have and how they could cure it. However, that not the case. As I was watching the documentary Cracking your Genetic Code, they discussed how genetic diseases can be very hard to diagnose if that alteration in a person's genes has not yet been found in previous patients. By analyzing many different people, doctors were able to find the breast cancer mutation.
Designer babies have been the debate for a few years now, placed upon a shaky moral platform. With human science pushing the boundaries of human genetics further and further, many are questioning if designer babies have finally crossed the line in science. The problem is that people view designer babies on a moral perspective rather than a medical one. Designer babies should be tolerated because they can help parents prevent their offspring from having certain diseases and disabilities.
After reading the articles,”Why We Should Think Twice About Giving Genetic Tests to Our Kids” ,by Michael White, and “Genetic Testing for Kids:Is It a Good Idea?”, by Bonnie Rochman, parents should not give these tests to their children. If the children did take the test the result would outway the benefits, they would have anxiety, and the testing doesn’t always work. One main reason that a child should not the test is ,they could have anxiety for the rest of their lives. If a child took the genetic test they could learn they have a deadly disease they don’t know about yet.
The cost of attending college over the last 40 years has skyrocketed. In the 1980s, the average cost of tuition and fees at a four-year public institution was around $3,000 per year. Today, the average cost is around $10,000 per year, a more than threefold increase. The trend is similar at private institutions, where the average cost of tuition and fees has increased from around $10,000 in the 1980s to more than $35,000 today. Not only has the cost gone up but the debt has gone right up with it.
Genetic testing has raised an ethical debate. According to Mand, Gillam, Debatyckis, and Duncan (2012) neither argument has taken a strong dominance over the other. Mand et al. (2012) states that “the debate has adopted a to-and-fro pattern defined by parallel lines of argument, rarely intersecting and relying heavily on fundamentally opposed positions on core principles of bioethics with no reconciliation in sight”(Discussion, para.3).
The movie Gattaca is set up in the fictional not-too-distant future. The not-too-distant future is a society in which eugenics are the dictating ideology and genetic discrimination is real. The use of biometric based on the genetic database registry has helped create two categories of people; the ‘valids’ and the ‘invalids’. The ‘valids’ are those individual who are created based on the choices of the biometrics and are seen as actually being superior that the invalids who have been conceived by tradition la means and are regarded as having a higher likelihood of developing genetic disorders. Genetype profiling is significantly applied in identification of valids for purposes of quality employment with the invalids being subjected to those lower quality jobs.
ETHICAL, LEGAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES (ELSI) IN HUMAN GENETIC TESTING Abstract Genetic testing is becoming an integral and growing part of healthcare provision and services. In order to ensure the benefit of this innovation for individuals and society at large it is important to implement human medical genetic testing within an adequate framework of accompanying measures and activities. Information clarifying risk in an individual and his/her family members can be identified through clinical screening and genetic testing. Application of knowledge about risk of genetic disease in provision of primary health care for women requires understanding of new genetic discoveries as well as the ability to participate in resolution of ethical dilemmas
Obesity is a condition where a person has accumulated so much body fat that causes a negative effect on the person’s health. A person is considered obese if their bodyweight is at least 20% higher than it should be for the age and height. Obesity often leads to other health diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoarthritis and cancer. It was believed that obesity occurred because of environmental factors and diet; however, over the past couples of years, scientists have potentially discovered an obesity gene and believe there might be a cure or way to discover if someone will obese through the use of genetic screening. To understand how a person can detect the obesity gene through genetic screening, a person must understand what a gene is and what is genetic screening and how it works.
Gattaca shows many times that genetic testing can be beneficial and has completely taken over society but at the same time provides many hardships like discrimination against certain ranks of
As technology advances, more things become possible. One of these things is genetically modifying a baby, this is very wrong. Genetic modifying or genetic engineering is altering someone or something’s DNA. Scientists hope to cure diseases with this method but doing this can lead to some harmful effects. This process is very unethical.
Designer Babies Although knowing what and how your child would look and act, it is not morally right to change God 's will due to genetic research engineering. Genetic engineering could cause a lot of problems, examples include; causing a gap in society, losing individuality, and termination of the embryo. The child cannot consent to having its body and life altered.
Eugenics is the science of using artificial selection to improve genetic features of the population. It is thought that improvement of the human race can be seen through sterilization of people who exhibit undesirable traits and selective breeding. Often called Social Darwinism, the concept was widely accepted during the time of World War I. It quickly became a taboo after World War II when Nazi Germany used it as an excuse for genocide. The thought of improving the human race by manipulating who is allowed to breed can either be appalling or compelling.
Science has enabled us to thrive in a world where change is a must if an organism wishes to live. It has allowed for us to bend and twist the world at our feet, even having enough strength to repel the touch of death. Genetic engineering is the next scientific advancement that will stand close in the near future. It has the capability of modifying the food production process, elimination of diseases and disorders, and the guarantation of the best traits in an organism.
Is Genetic engineering Safe? Genetic engineering is the modification of an organism’s genetic composition by artificial means, often involving the transfer of specific traits, or genes, from one organism into a plant or animal of an entirely different species. Human beings ought to consider the pros and cons of genetic engineering before using it. It is a contentious topic because people have different views of weather genetic engineering is safe or not.
