The Ethics of Genes - Essay Example

Genetics-The Ethics of GenesThe developed possibilities introduced by genetics have come also with new questions about what is either right or wrong. For example, genetic testing is, as par now, optional. However, a number of medical tests that begins as optional become less optional with time. The question is who should decide the time genetic tests are to be done. Should the insurance firms or staff have access to the results? If the tests of prenatal genetic become common, does this mean that people with unique genetic traits, predispositions or diseases suffer from increased discrimination?

Will the so called designer babies be part of the norm? For some people, the opportunities given by genetic testing and the therapies smack of eugenics the introduced use of selective breeding to come up with superior people. The possibility of transplanting animal organs into people has raised some concerns that new diseases would jump from animals to human beings, like the mad cow already has. For gene therapy, a lot of people wonder if it is right to tinker with the DNA of humans. Today, treatments become aimed at the somatic cells.

Any differences do not become passed on to the next generations, since DNA in the germ cell eggs and also the sperm is unaffected. Nevertheless, the germ line gene therapy is still possible. These could cure certain diseases before they occurred, but might also lead to other problems that would be troublesome in the coming generations (Christenhusz, 2012).Genes and ethics have always featured dominantly in thinking about healthcare future. The revolution of genetic has the possibility of transforming medicine from an enterprise that gets concerned with the end stage diseases, to that often predicts and prevents diseases.

These revolutions also introduce new ethical problems. The discussion of genes and ethics tend to be more common in the medical journals. A couple of years back American and two Britons won Nobel awards for their commitment and work on genes. Cambridge’s Sydney Brenner used a nematode model to continue the understanding of the cell division, organ development and differentiation. Also, John Sulston from Cambridge showed how programmed death of a cell is a part of the normal process of differentiation.

Robert Horvitz discovered the genes that control the death of cells (Hawkins, 2006).Gene therapy also raises ethical difficulties, and this also affects the buying and selling of organs for transplantation. A number of medical authorities have always found the idea unacceptable fearing for the exploitation of the poor people who are also vulnerable, and at the same time having the belief that the high integrity of the body of the humans should never be a trade subject. Other individuals like the American Medical Association tend to believe that the global shortage of organs implies that the idea should be given a thorough consideration (Thomson, 2002).

ReferencesChristenhusz, G. (2012). The systematic review of the ethical reflections on the incidental findings from the genetics contexts. European Journal of human Genetics, 12 (30), 14-15.Hawkins, A. (2006). Genetics: The Sociology of Identity. Journal Of Genetic Counselling, 5 (22), 28-29. Thomson, R. (2002). Genes and ethics. British Medical Journal, 12(5), 10-11.