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GENETIC TESTING.
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Issues and problems of testing fetuses.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Issues and problems of testing fetuses. Contends genetic testing for potential maladies and disabilities is a potential threat to liberties. Genetic testing reveals only predisposition to a disease. Bioethic issues. Dangers of genetic manipulation. Human rights and societal issues.
Paper Introduction:
Advances in medicine and biology offer great possibilities for future medical procedures and for entirely new procedures such as genetic splicing to create new forms of life for good or ill, and these new capabilities bring with them great responsibility and require that experimentation and development in biology be conducted following ethical precepts. The issues raised are not simple and are not easily answered, making it all the more vital that critical thinking be developed and applied to issues of bioethics. The genetic testing of fetuses to determine whether a child may have cystic fibrosis, some other malady, or mild retardation may seem benign, but in fact it is a potential threat to our liberties.
As a society, we face new problems all the time. In our own time we are faced with the scourge of AIDS, which involves a
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"Unnatural Selection." U.S. "Ethics and Health." World Health (April 1989), 2-6.Brownlee, Shannon. . In our own time weare faced with the scourge of AIDS, which involves a whole panoply ofethical issues that are unique to this disease, issues such asconfidentiality, disclosures, public health, and modes of transmission, aswell as issues facing people with other terminal diseases such as the rightto die by refusing extraordinary medical measures. As a society, we face new problems all the time. Wood notes the ethical question that will face more and more women inthe future, and though he refers specifically to the situation in Canada,this applies to the United States as well: By its silence on abortion, Canadian law effectively allows a woman to undergo the procedure for any reason she thinks fit. Philosopher ofscience Philip Kitcher has looked ahead and noted how health insurancecompanies will want to be able to set insurance rates--or deny insurancealtogether--based on what genetic predispositions are discovered in thegenetic codes of individual people. The issuesraised are not simple and are not easily answered, making it all the morevital that critical thinking be developed and applied to issues ofbioethics. It also results in a change in our notions of "normal" (Edwords 23).Such issues are the reason the National Institutes of Health broughtresearchers and ethicists together in September 1997 for the first GeneTherapy Policy Conference, followed two weeks later by an AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science-sponsored colloquium on genealterations directed at the eggs, sperm, and zygotes, since suchinterventions could, if developed, change an individual's heredity andhence the genetic endowment of future generations: Many speakers at these gatherings expressed concern that the use of such technology could result in a "biological reinforcement" of socioeconomic and class distinctions. "How Biotechnology Is Transforming What We Believe and How We Live." The Humanist (September 1999), 23."Gene Map Being Drawn; Now Ethics Dilemmas Begin." Reuters (17 Sept 1993).Noble, Denis. Concerns were raisedimmediately: But it is also a step into the unknown, raising questions about genetic manipulation by governments to control society, the age- old dream of manufacturing a perfect human being and the nightmare of ending up with Frankenstein's monster ("Gene Map Being Drawn; Now Ethics Dilemmas Begin").UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor considered the matter in terms ofinternational human rights issues when he asked, How can we set the limit between the legitimate desire to avoid transmitting genetic diseases and the illusory desire for the perfect child? News & World Report (July 23, 199 ), 57-59.Clarke, Kevin. The genetic testing of fetuses to determine whether a child mayhave cystic fibrosis, some other malady, or mild retardation may seembenign, but in fact it is a potential threat to our liberties. (Clarke 12). Catholic (January 2 ), 12.Edwords, Fred. (Bankowski 3).Here again we must face the issue of whether simply because we can performsome medical miracle we should do so. Testing in the British case cited above was on eggs fertilized in-vitro, and it would seem that the ethics of the situation differs whenembryos not yet implanted are being tested than when a normally implantedegg is tested. The potential exists for genetic testing for a number of maladiesthat might develop later in life. But today, ought we not to be concerned to make genetic information available to the relatives (or the potential spouse) of the patient? In the latter case, eliminating the pregnancy if a problemis perceived would necessitate an abortion. Just asthere may be a right to know, there may also be a right not to know, not tobe told about certain potential problems. But the expanding scope of prenatal diagnosis and genetic testing is providing women with ever more reasons to at least consider ending a pregnancy. (Wood 14).In truth, though, the fact that the child carries a gene for some maladydoes not mean that the child will get that malady, and there may be modesof treatment possible if the potentiality were known. This might become part of aneffort by parents to create children "according to a genetic palette ofmental and physical capabilities" (Clarke 12). He projects that wewill soon know 5 to 1 genomes in nature. In May 1992, Baby Cloe was born in London.Cystic fibrosis ran in the family, but pre-implantation genetic testing wasused to ascertain whether this was being passed to the child. The issue has been framed in terms of the question of size: Family doctors and pediatricians are increasingly designating children as abnormal who fall in the bottom 3 percent of the height scale for their age group. It is foreseeable that some will pursue such technology despite its cost or legality, intent on providing all possible advantages--genetic or otherwise--to offspring. "The Gene's Out of the Bottle." New Statesman (27 Sept 1999).Wood, Chris. Works CitedBankowski, Zbigniew. In 1991,biologist Craig Venter began to use a new process of his own thatdramatically accelerated results. Clarke further notes thatthe mere fact that this can be done opens a whole panoply of ethical issuesfor examination: For instance, genetically re-engineering "designer babies" according to "desirable" traits will likely be a costly procedure--particularly if it is legally prohibited--perhaps only affordable for the most wealthy and most powerful among us. Advances in medicine and biology offer great possibilities for futuremedical procedures and for entirely new procedures such as genetic splicingto create new forms of life for good or ill, and these new capabilitiesbring with them great responsibility and require that experimentation anddevelopment in biology be conducted following ethical precepts. . "Beyond Abortion: Advances in Science Leave an Old Debate in the Dust." Maclean's (19 Aug 1996), 14-15. Will future generations of "naturals" then be lorded over by a genetically enhanced master class? Several eggswere removed from the mother's womb and fertilized in vitro with herhusband's sperm. The operative word here is "might," forgenetic testing can only identify a predisposition to certain diseases andsyndromes, not the certainty that they will develop. The traditional moral viewpoint has been that professional secrecy is in both the patient's and the doctor's interests. Furthermore, people seem to desire such choices (Edwords 23).Some have suggested that this could have negative fallout regardingsociety's tolerance for disability. After all, gene therapy would most often benefit those most able to pay for it. At the same time, with problemssuch as AIDS, the question of whether it is more right to disclose than toprotect privacy has been raised again and again: Who owns genetic information? What this might mean on a personal as well as societal level hasalready been demonstrated. Venter continued mapping otherorganisms, and in May 1995, he surprised the scientific world with newsthat he had deciphered the first complete script of a living organism: thegenome of the human pathogen Haemophilus influenzae. Pre-implantation genetic screeningis currently used to test for a number of genetic diseases, includingsickle-cell anemia and Tay-Sachs (Edwords 23). Two ofthe embryos were found to be without the disease, so they were implanted inthe mother; one developed and was born. Brownleewrites that many of those who have been told of the results of genetictesting "have already found that the price of glimpsing their medicalfuture is high indeed, and with the advent of each new genetic test moreand more Americans will face similar dilemmas" (Brownlee 57). Many of thepossibilities are bound with the Human Genome Project, which began in 199 in order to spell out the entire genetic code of Homo sapiens. Because of this, newly discovered humangene sequences are being posted on the Internet daily. Many might well choose to do so if they learned that their fetus carried a gene for rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy or breast cancer. Of course, as noted,having such a possibility known raises issues of insurance coverage, denialof employment, and other forms of discrimination not possible now butpossible if genetic testing becomes widespread. But what if the genetic marker were for some lesser problem, shortsightedness, say, or male-pattern baldness? These issues have to be approached individually to determine theelements involved, the ways in which traditional ideas and values arechallenged by new procedures or new genetic engineering, and how the humanbeings involved are affected, how the environment may be affected, and howsociety as a whole is affected by these procedures. This common shortness, being defined now as an "illness," results in the growth hormone being more frequently prescribed. "The Assurances of Genes: Is Disease Prediction a Boon or a Nightmare?" U.S. Critical thinking isvital in making these determinations and in analyzing the issues to findthe moral position in each case. Advances in geneticsraise issues that are also entirely new. As it becomes possible to predictwhich children are likely to get certain diseases as they grow older, thequestion is raised as to whether this means they should be told. . It is not unlikely that society will be tempted by eugenics towards whole populations that could be regarded as genetically vulnerable ("Gene Map Being Drawn; Now Ethics Dilemmas Begin"). The fertilized eggs were then allowed to develop throughthe eighth cell division and were then tested for cystic fibrosis.
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