The ethical topic I would like to discuses is the problems people are having with the at home genetic test called 23andMe. The Google owned company has come under fire recently because of failure to comply with the FDA's regulations for class III medical device. That however is not where the ethical issues come in, it just sparked interest in the company. Once 23andMe appeared in the news because of their problem with the FDA people like myself decided to find out what all the hype was about and were surprised to see the actual problems with their services. The first ethical problem I would like to explain is with how the information can be misleading to someone who isn't informed that well with the stats and information that they tell you about yourself. For example, the article talks about a man from Berlin who purchased the at home test, and when he got his results back it said he would likely die from a heart attack or stroke eventually in his later years and he was okay with that. The problem arose when the company emailed him later and said he has mutations in his genes that...
Levine, Carol. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Bioethical Issues. 7th ed. Guilford: McGraw-Hill, 1997.
Embryonic stem cells research has challenged the moral ethics within human beings simply because the point at which one is considered a “human,” is still under debate and practically incapable to make a decision upon.
Ingram, David, and Jennifer A. Parks. "Biomedical Ethics." The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Ethics. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha, 2002. N. pag. Print.
The study of stem cells have brought about many recent ethical questions and been a topic in many recent ethical debates. What is all the talk about? What exactly is stem cell research and why does it raise so many ethical questions?
Genetic Engineering is an issue that touches upon the most profound ethical issues. When discussing the topic of genetic engineer...
Brian Chapman; Conversations: ethics, science, stem cells. EuroStemCell. Youtube, 2013. Youtube. Web. 9 Dec 2013.
The healthcare industry has come a long way in terms of technological advances. These advances have had significant benefits in diagnosis, treatment, and the way medicine is practiced today. Unfortunately, these technological advances also come with ethical issues and dilemmas the healthcare professionals must face.
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 addressed: When should genetic testing be used? And who should have access to the results of genetic tests? As I intend to show, genetic tests should only be used for treatable diseases, and individuals should have the freedom to decide who has access to their test results.
It is patients’ right to opt for genetic testing on their own DNA, although they are accepting a great risk by doing so. DNA is unique to each individual, present in each individual since conception, and influences who each individual is, so the information contained within it belongs to each patient, despite the risks. Such risks include DNA testing services providing results to potential employers or insurers, who can make decisions at the disadvantage of the patients if high disease probabilities are discovered. The results can also cause patients to react emotionally poorly and make negative changes to their lifestyles. Although risky, patients deserve the rights to take these risks if they choose to do so.
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "The Principles Approach." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 36-37. Print.
Who should be tested, when should someone be tested and who should know about the results are some of the small questions that society must answer about the ethics of genetic testing. Ethics plays a major role in understanding the controversy that surrou nds genetic testing. In the following pages I will discuss ethics, techniques, types of test available, major issues, pros and cons associated with genetic screening and finally my opinion.
Many things are changing at an extremely rapid rate in our society. The new advances in the areas of science and biotechnology are raising many ethical and moral dilemmas for everyone. No one will be left unaffected. Everyone will have to make a decision and take a stand on these issues. I will discuss advancements of genetic screening and testing. The first step to any ethical problem is to understand the topic. It is difficult to formulate accurate ideas without knowledge about the topic, so first I will provide a little background information on genetic screening. I will then point out some of the areas of controversy associated with genetic screening, and finally I will discuss my view on the topic.
One of these moral dilemmas is that genetic engineering changes the traditional dynamic that occurs between the parent and the offspring. This issue arose over the possibility of having a human embryo with three genetic parents which is now possible due to genetic engineering. The procedure in question “involves transplanting the chromosomes from a single-cell embryo or from an unfertilized egg into a donor egg or embryo from which the chromosomes have been removed”(Foht). The procedure itself is very useful for women with mitochondrial disorders but the issue involved with this is that the embryo would technically have three biological parents. There needs to be a real concern about “the way genetic engineering can alter the relationship between the generations from one of parents accepting the novelty and spontaneous uniqueness of their children to one where parents use biotechnology to choose and control the biological nature of their children”(Foht). There is a special relationship between children and their parents that may be disappearing very soon due to these techniques. Children could be born never truly knowing one of their genetic parents. If these procedures continue to prosper people will have to “accept arrangements that split apart the various biological and social aspects of parenthood, and that deliberately create
There are opposing viewpoints on the incorporation of gene therapy into modern medicine. Many scientists and individuals from the public find genetic therapy to be unethical. In contrast, others see it as a revolutionizing technology that will change medicine and produce treatments and preventions to genetically inherited diseases. Reece briefly mentions the challenging decisions that accompany technological advancements. The ethical concerns that arise with gene therapy include; is the usage of DNA technology adequate to determine if people have genes for inherited diseases, should the tests be voluntary, should genetic testing be obligatory (Reece, et al. 2018). These ethical values vary within people and are commonly determined by values,
Discuss how the ethics thread is supported and/or refuted by the ethical theories discussed in class and the professional codes of ethics.