The Ethics of Genetic Testing Essay

   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

| Given a situation related to reproductive genetics, genetic research, or the human genome project, develop a set of legal and ethical guidelines, which can be applied to genetic issues for the conduct of medical practice and/or research.

I support the guidelines outlined by Kitcher for the use of genetic information because of their responsible and ethical nature. I believe that future generations will benefit as a direct consequence of these guidelines. I shall begin by defining eugenics as the study of human genetics to improve inherited characteristics of the human race by the means of controlled selective breeding.

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.

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 last 150 years have seen the origin of—and rapid expansion in—human knowledge involving the nature and mechanisms of trait and disease inheritance in human beings. Advances in genetic research hold great promise for the future development of effective prevention and treatment strategies for a great many, often devastating, heritable conditions. However, these advances also raise a series of policy, legal and fundamentally ethical questions concerning what we should and should not do with the knowledge and technology we acquire. These questions are numerous and both imminently practical and speculative, ranging from the exhausted, yet still largely unresolved, question of the moral status of the human embryo to fears about slippery slopes into a Brave New World or Gattaca-style dystopic future characterized by designer children and a genetic underclass.

Worryingly, there has been minimal public debate regarding this technology that could irreversibly alter the human race. Instead, ethical discourse has been largely contained to scientific and political circles. It is extremely problematic that a large majority of the general public is unaware of the research and debate regarding human gene modification. In addition, the current debate has stagnated, with researchers and politicians being unable to find any common ground. However, upon close examination of the three main ideological groups within this controversy, a key similarity becomes apparent: each group, regardless of whether they are proponents or opponents of human gene

In June 2000, the publicly funded Human Genome Project (HGP) and the private firm Celera Genomics Inc. announced that they had completed sequencing the human genome. This unprecedented accomplishment is expected to enable doctors to diagnose, treat and even prevent numerous genetic diseases. As these two entities worked on sequencing the human genome, there was also a separate and less publicized race to patent as many human genes as possible.

The human race, a species consumed by curiosity and discovery. With the rapid growth of scientific knowledge, a new mystery has unraveled. This endeavor is known as The Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project is an organization designed to physically map all of the genes in the human body. Once these scientists uncover all of the genes, it becomes possible to isolate them for uses such as possible prevention, treatments and cures. This organization promotes the progression of science to new heights. “There have been a number of technological advances since 1990 that have accelerated the progress of the project to a completion date sometime during the year 2003,” (Melaas). The project raises uproar in the argument of ethics. Ethics can

The era of scientific advancement in the twentieth century has encouraged several scientific fields to merge into a new, futuristic science called Biotechnology. One idea behind Biotechnical science is taking advantage of molecular biology. At the forefront of this advancement is gene therapy which " attempts to treat disease at its origin on the molecular level"(Kreeger,1996). "Essentially, this therapy deliberately introduces genes into the human cells to compensate for aberrant genes that cause genetic disease" (Beese, 1996). This therapy can be administered in two ways. One is germ-line therapy which not only treats the cells of that individual but these treated cells could be passed onto

The Human Genome Project is one of the most widely discussed topics in genetics today. The United States human genome project began in 1990, when the $3 billion dollar project to map 3 billion DNA base pairs was announced.(4) When the initial funding was provided, it was anticipated that the project would require 15 years to complete and the target date for completion was 2005.(8) Recent technological advances have shortened that time period, and it is now estimated that the program will be complete by 2003.(1) The program now has been expanded to an international effort involving research facilities in France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are also several private companies

Gene therapy, the experimental strategy that requires the use of genes to prevent and cure diseases is a fairly new technique, yet it is one which has shown steady advancements. The journal article “Gene therapy clinical trials worldwide to 2012—An update” sets out to present analysis and summaries of clinical trials that have been performed worldwide. Authors Samantha L. Ginn, Ian E. Alexander, Michael Edelstein, Mohammad R. Abedi and Joanne Wixon dive into some of the 1843 gene therapy trials performed in 31 countries. Analyzing geographical distribution of trials, searching for indications of mishaps in trials, speaking on diseases which have been tested in trials and a general introduction to gene therapy are some of the points within the article.

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.

In the past it has been observed that ethical standpoints and community ideals have major impacts on scientific discoveries and research of the time; with current ethical standards to be met, newer medical innovations are put to the test, and examined to see if they are morally correct and should be performed. One of the most controversial and debated forms of research is work done regarding the modification and alteration of the mammalian—specifically human—genome. Tremendous advancements in understanding the human genome trace back to Gregor Mendel’s cross breeding of pea plants, and have delved even deeper with the Human Genome project. While the research into recombinant DNA, introducing gene sequencing into originally created DNA

The Human Genome Project s first flaw, Marks believes, is its image of being the sole panacea for society's problems. It is important to note that Marks does not condemn the Project as a whole, nor does he advocate a complete abandonment of its future efforts which would, according to biologist Svante Paabo, lead to ignorance and spur prejudice, oppression, and racism (2001, paragraph 8); rather, he promotes a more moderate view of both the Project s prospective benefits and the significance of our genes. He does, however, condemn the extreme deterministic and reductionist outlook that many currently hold regarding these topics. The Human Genome Project has fostered support for the erroneous conviction that we possess, within our grasp, the weapon to eradicate the evils that plague society a complete blueprint of our genome: We are assured that if we could find the genes that underlie alcoholism or the genes that have gone awry when we get cancer, then our problems will be over (Lewontin, 1991, p. 46). R.C. Lewontin, leading geneticist and professor of zoology at Harvard University, expressed it best when he stated that our main problem lies in the belief that our bad genes are the lone culprits for such problems as alcoholism, criminality, drug