Your Genes,

Your
Choices: by Catherine
Baker Exploring the
Issues Raised by Genetic Research
New Genetics:
 One way to explore the topic of new
genetics and genetic research is to
look at it in terms of the ethical,
legal, and social issues.
 Ethical issues concern what is moral
or right.
 Legal issues concern the
protections that laws or regulations
should provide.
 Social issues concern how society as
Genetic Testing
 In the past few years researchers
have increased their knowledge to
test for hundreds of genetic
disorders
 More new tests are established all
the time
 Tests are helpful for diagnosing
disorders in the young and adults
 Tests are also useful in predicting
chances for an individual to come
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 They are also used by couples who
want to learn their risk of passing on
genetic disorders to any children
they may have.
 Prenatal tests are done before birth
to an embryo or foetus, to check for
genetic problems
 Test results can be definite but in
other cases they only suggest the
risk for developing a disorder.
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 One way of testing is to do a
medical exam
 A person’s family history is studied
using for example, pedigree, for
clues as to how the disorder has
been passed down from generation
to generation.
 A blood sample can be obtained in
order to look at a person’s
chromosomes.
 Concerns About
Genetic Testing
 Great progress is been made in
genetic testing but it is slower in the
treatment of genetic disorders
 Tests are available to give results
but treatment is lacking e.g..
Huntington Disease
 Genetic
Counselling:
 It is a medical speciality that helps
parents and prospective parents
evaluate and cope with their risk of
passing a hereditary disorder to their
children
 It is important for anyone wanting to
obtain information about their genes
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 With counselling from professional
advisors, people can understand the
facts of their situation
 Counsellors can help in
understanding the limitations of the
tests and how different test results
might affect them
 Counsellors can explain to people
what their choices are after they
know the results
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 Genetic counselling is a new field
and there’s a small number of
trained genetic counsellors
 New tests are coming out faster
than new counsellors are been
trained

Genetic
Determinism:
 Genes have something, but not
everything, to do with disorders
 Misunderstanding that genes by
themselves determine what happens
to you is called genetic
determinism
 It can lead people to harmful and
unfair judgements about themselves
and others
Dealing with
Genetic
Knowledge
 Decisions we make on how to live
our lives will be influenced by
information we have about our genes
 Knowing one’s genetic profile is
helpful:
 Suggests what health-related
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 Tips you off to have frequent
checkups for genetic conditions
 Helps to plan life by avoiding
behaviours and substances that
trigger disease
 Knowing one’s genetic profile can
create problems:
 Everyone has a number of problem
genes that they don’t know about
until a health problem surfaces
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 A piece of paper listing “problem”
genes could give a lot to worry about
 People tend to limit their choice
based on fears
 People may choose not to marry or
build a career because of their
“problem” gene or genetic profile
A Big Question! ! !

 Whether children should be told

information about the genes they
carry or, if so, at what age they
should be told
 It is difficult for children to
understand facts about genetics
such as the difference between a
risk and a sure thing
 There’s a possibility of
misunderstanding what they are told
Discrimination
Based on Genes
 Information about “problem” genes
can bring extra trouble e.g. Cost of
health insurance
 People with “problem” genes have
been denied health insurance or
dropped from their health plans.
 Medical expanses are not covered
due to genetic conditions
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 People have been told that their
children will not be covered because
they are at risk for inheriting genetic
disease
 Number of such cases may increase
as genetic testing becomes more
common
 Some people are concern that
employers may use genetic
information to weed out workers who
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 The fear of being discriminated
against may lead people to refuse
genetic testing even when it could
help diagnose, prevent or treat a
health problem
 They may be too afraid that the
information will be used against
them; If that happens, then all the
benefits of genetic research could
come to nothing.
Genes and
Behaviour
 The study of whether and how traits
for behaviour are inherited is called
behavioural genetics
 Scientists have long tried to figure
out whether behaviour is shaped by
our genes or by how we are raised. It
is called the question of “nature
versus nurture”
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 Scientists agree that both genes
(nature) and environment (nurture)
help make us who we are
 What no one knows is just how
nature and nurture work together
 Researchers believe that genes
shape our inborn frame of mind or
temperament
Prenatal Tests:
Types
I. Alpha-fetoprotein test (AFP)
 A sample of the mother’s blood is
taken to measure the amount of a
special protein produced by the
foetus
 Too much or too little of the protein
indicates that the genes may not be
working right
 Therefore, the brain or spine of the
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1. Enzymes
 Foetal cells are checked for
presence of important enzymes
 Some diseases are caused when
the gene that gives the instructions
for producing an enzyme doesn’t
work
 If the production of the enzyme
ceases, an important body function
stops and this results into a disease
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3. Ultrasound imaging
 Ultrasound uses sound waves to
create an image of the baby inside
the mother
4. Amniocentesis (called “amnio” for
short) and chorionic villus
sampling (CVS)
 These are tests that check for
defects in the chromosomes
 Cells surrounding the foetus are
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 A special technique is used to
rearrange the chromosomes into
pairs.
 The picture that is created is called a
karyotype which makes it easy to
see if any chromosomes are missing
or broken, or if there are any extra
chromosomes
Reproductive
Technology
 Advances in prenatal testing have
come hand in hand with advances in
medically assisted ways of making
babies; reproductive technology
 Is often used to help people who
have problems conceiving children
 Also is used to help people reduce
their risk of having babies with
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 Types:
2. Artificial Insemination
3. In vitro fertilization
4. Ex utero genetic testing
DNA Typing:
 First introduced in the early 1980s
 Turns DNA sample into a set of lines
 The lines of one DNA sample can be
compared to the lines of another
sample to see if they are alike
 A match between two samples can
be made only if entire DNA
sequences are compared
 Hair, blood, saliva, semen, skin, and
nail clippings, because they all are
Uses For DNA
Typing:
 For identifying bodies; because DNA
lasts longer
 To tell whether two people come
from the same family
 Gender identification and other
physical characteristics
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 To prove innocence
 To prove guilt
 To identify relatives
 To prove fatherhood
 To identify bodies
 To identify soldiers
 To uncover history
 To study human evolution
Issues of
Privacy
 Computers can store information
from millions of DNA samples
 They can rapidly search through all
of this information to find matches
 Searching is done in the DNA data
bank where the samples are stored
 Every time the police search their
computer to find a match for some
DNA evidence found at some crime
scene, they are checking someone’s
DNA without permission
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 Owners of DNA samples are being
made permanent suspects, which
means that their privacy is invaded
 Privacy is the “right to be left alone”
or “the right to decide for yourself
what information others can know
about you.”
 Also is the right to decide what
information you learn about yourself
Controls on DNA
Files:
 DNA information could end up in other
types of data banks
 Personal and medical information is
released in most cases such as, applying
for a job, life or health insurance, credit,
financial aid, or government benefits
 If the results of any DNA tests become
part of your records, you may have to
release the information in order to obtain
needed services.
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 There are no laws concerning DNA
data banks
 No law which says that a blood
sample collected for one kind of DNA
testing can’t be used for another
purpose
 No law that limits data bank
employees from snooping in your
files
 No law that gives you the right to
check your DNA file to find out what
Eugenics:
 The word "eugenics" was coined by
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) to
denote scientific endeavors to
increase the proportion of persons
with better than average genetic
endowment through selective mating
of marriage partners
 Is the science which deals with all
influences that improve the inborn
qualities of a race; also with those
that develop them to the utmost
advantage (THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
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 Also defined as the use of genetic
knowledge to improve the human
race
