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riverviewguit riverviewguit
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10 years ago
I'd like to sort them into areas of 'ethical issues, prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases, immigration disputes adn confirmation of animal pedigress.' can you give me the advantages and disadvantages of DNA screening according to these groups? (or add additional points as well?)

but actually, i wouldn't mind however you answer this question as long as you do answer it.
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wrote...
10 years ago
There are no disadvantage if DNA screening is done properly with appropriate controls and that it is not used as the only means.  DNA screen is almost like taking pictures of individuals and some people are going to look alike no matter how you look at the one or two pictures available.  

For prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases, the tests are likely to ask specific question of known diseases.  Certainly it will not detect diseases that are not well studied.  The ethical issue may come in at what one is ready to do with the prenatal diagnosis.  

The main concern is that if DNA screening is to be used in ethical or legal issues, we need to make sure that the quality controls are carried out and this must become part of the record and can be reviewed by outside qualified scientist.  The quality control is not there in place, using DNA screen may open to wrong answers.  Si it may depend on the continuous oversight on the methodology and limitation recognized by the investigators regarding their own results.
wrote...
10 years ago
I can only cover a few areas, but I'll help you with what I can.

Prenatal diagnosis:
The main advantage of DNA screening in utero is that it gives parents and doctors time to prepare before the birth of the child for any special needs the child may have at birth or afterwards. That way, parents are emotionally prepared (to the extent they can be), and can seek the advice of specialists before the child is ever born. What makes this an ethically thorny issue is abortion. If parents find out that a fetus has genetic defects, they may choose to abort the fetus. With many genetic disorders, it's hard to know the extent to which they will affect a child prior to birth. Thus, parents may choose to abort a child that may, in fact, have been quite healthy. This is especially an issue in countries where female fetuses may be aborted because parents would rather have sons. Of course, a simple ultrasound can also reveal a child's sex, so that is not an issue unique to genetic testing.

Ethical Issues:
I already covered a few points with prenatal testing. There are other issues related to adult genetic testing. Adults are more often screened for genetic susceptibility to disease, as opposed to genetic diseases themselves. One advantage to this screening is that it allows a susceptible individual to alter their lifestyle in order to lower their other disease risk factors. They can also be sure they are screened more frequently for the disease the are susceptible to. If someone learns they are a carrier of a serious genetic disease, they may choose not to have children. This wanders into something of an ethical dilemma again, since no one can know for sure if a person's children will inherit a particular genetic trait or not. Also, a susceptibility to a certain disease is not the disease in and of itself. Some people, misunderstanding the results of their screening, may develop a fatalistic attitude. They reason that they're "already dead anyway," so their lifestyle and habits are unimportant. A person may reason that he is susceptible to lung cancer, so he might as well smoke, because he's going to die, anyway. Other people live their lives in fear of contracting the disease they're susceptible to. Both of these reactions are reasons why genetic counseling is encouraged for those seeking genetic screening.

Hope that helps some; it's hardly comprehensive, but I suppose others will add more.
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