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Dna Testing

In: Science

Submitted By mmonroe
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Genetic testing is currently available for more than 1000 conditions, and it is increasingly considered an integral component of mainstream health care (Burke, 2004). Furthermore, many genetic tests are now being marketed directly to consumers. The increased availability of genetic testing may result in a wider distribution of the benefits of testing, such as decreased uncertainty, the chance to avoid passing on a gene mutation to future generations, increased psychological well-being, and greater awareness of available treatments or risk-reducing strategies, but it may also contribute to an increase in the risks associated with genetic testing, such as decreased individual and family well-being; increased depression, anxiety, guilt, stigmatization, discrimination, and family conflict; and unnecessary or inappropriate use of risk-reducing options (Riper & Gallo, 2005).
Money is maybe the most important driving force in the modern era of biotechnology. Genome and genetic findings have been given also financial value. The possibility to test for genetically-based individual susceptibility provides new ideas for marketable products. In an industrial worker, a metabolic polymorphism that causes an increased risk for cancer would create an avoidable financial burden in industry and insurance companies. The involvement of such financial aspects brings along several ethical implications in genetic research. The first aspect is the motivation of scientists that determines the target of research interests and goals (Vahakangas, 2001).
Another ethical implication linked with the financial aspects of science is the transparency of science. Especially genetic information is material for numerous patents and patent applications in the hope for a marketable genetic test later. An increasing amount of research is done in laboratories of
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