Genetic Testing and Its Social Implications

Probably, applied genetics’ most impacts on society are as a result of genetic tests. In general, genetic tests seek to detect some feature of a person’s genetic constitution. This feature can be a disease causing mutation or a marker DNA sequence used to detect presence of another gene. Obviously these procedures used for testing the status of DNA, RNA or chromosomes are included in genetic tests. What is more it is possible to include some protein based tests and classical medical examinations when they aim to detect inheritance of a trait. Genetic tests have been divided into four categories in this text, and they will be examined in greater detail later. These categories are:

Prenatal tests that are applied on fetuses during pregnancy.

Neonatal screening just after birth and career screening of marrying couples.

Testing for serious late-onset disease before the symptoms occur.

Testing to assess the probability of developing complex disease.

There are a couple of considerations about genetic tests:

1. First of all, the tests should be reliable. When a positive or a negative result is obtained, we should be confident in that re

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

Testing for complex disease predisposition is not common, because of the lack of sufficient kits. It is a hard decision for a mother to bear a baby with such illnesses. Informing subjects of experimentation is an obligation set by the Nuremberg Code. However, new technologies such as DNA microchips are being developed, which will enable testing of many genes at the same time and calculating the probability of a disease.

Carrier screening may be applied to decrease the incidence of a genetic disease within a community. Tests should not be carried out if there is not sufficient reason to do so.

In the future, probabilities of various complex diseases will be identified during neonatal screening, and the parents of the children will be advised what environmental risk factors to avoid to bring up their children to a healthier future. If their offspring are in considerable risk, they may decide not to marry, not to have children or apply prenatal tests during pregnancy and abort any defective embryos. So, the parents will face a dilemma: Should they abort a child with a genetic defect or should they decide to bear it hoping new treatment strategies will be discovered in the future. The subject of the test should be fully aware of the nature of the test and the consequences caused by the test. The benefits obtained outweigh this adverse situation. People who have been diagnosed as carriers may find it difficult to find partners for marriage, may be discriminated against by employers or insurance companies.

Approximate Word count = 3234
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.