Use Of Genetic Information

скачати

Use Of Genetic Information Essay, Research Paper

There have been rapid and stunning advances in the knowledge of how genes affect the specific tasks of different cells in the human body. The study of this interaction is known as human genetics. When human genetics and reproductive technology are combined they allow scientists to tailor make a human through the manipulation of human genes. Advances in human genetics and the application of them through reproductive technology could negatively affect society. The manipulation of human genetics and the personal information gained from reproductive technology will cause genetic discrimination based on economics. Genetic information obtained from reproductive technology might be used by insurance companies in the determining of insurance coverage. Employers could use genetic information to select employees based on genetic traits; to lower costs related to personnel. The cost of reproductive technology and genetics manipulation will perhaps make it a process for the wealthy. The insurance, hiring, and technology cost issues possibly will cause genetic prejudice due to financial matters.

One of the most contentious uses of genetic information is its potential use by insurance companies to determine whether to offer insurance and, if so, at what premium. Insurance is based on the belief of providing financial security against the risk of unanticipated events, such as bad health or disability. In return for an agreed fee, the insurance company will pay out a sum of money, or pay for services, if the unexpected event occurs. The insurance company therefore has a reasonable interest in the probability of the unexpected event occurring. Therefore insurance companies could use genetic testing to determine an individual?s premium or refuse coverage based on the outcome of the test.

It is feared that those with a positive genetic test (finding a predisposition to a particular health disorder), who are obliged to reveal this information to the insurance company, will be refused insurance cover or will be charged such high premiums that in effect they are refused the opportunity to benefit (from insurance) (Human 155).

This genetic screening of an individual by an insurance company could leave that individual without insurance coverage because of the individual?s genetic heritage. Refusal of insurance because of genetic testing can lead to even further prejudice.

Life assurance allows an individual to provide for his or her family?s financial stability and is often the prerequisite to obtaining a mortgage. People with genetic disorders who are refused life assurance may therefore be prevented from joining the property owning community and may be unable to protect their families against future financial difficulties (Human 155).

If an insurance company declares a person a bad risk financially, because of their genetic predisposition, then that person will suffer financially than those people pass the genetic test. Therefore, because of commercial pressure an insurance company might use genetic testing to prejudice against people who they consider to have a genetic disorder.

Genetic testing might also be used by employers in the selection of staff that could avoid them unwanted human resource expenditure. This testing would be used to identify individuals whose genetic traits render them more prone to the occupational risks of a particular type of employment. Thus an employer could select those that who are not at risk.

In this way employers could reduce money spent on health and safety within the workplace and could protect themselves from the costs of increased absenteeism. Employers may also see such selection as a way of avoiding compensation to those individuals who suffer illness or disability caused by occupational hazards (Human 172).

However, it is possible that this could restrict a person?s employment opportunities. The person might not be able to get the job or not be able to advance in their field, because of their genetic makeup. Employers could also use genetic testing in order to predict future health of perspective employees.

A potential employee tested positive tested positive in pre-symptomatic testing for a dominant disorder, the employer would know that the individual would be more likely to take time off work due to illness and may be unable to work to the normal retirement age. Such factors would have implications for expenditure on cover for sick leave and additional training as well as the disruption to working practices. In addition, where health insurance or private health care is funded by the employer, those who are not at increased risk are likely to represent a more cost-effective option (Human 172).

This might mean that a person with a genetic disorder, which was qualified for a certain job, may not be chosen because that person could potentially cost the company and decrease its efficiency. This would also restrict a one?s ability to acquire a job based on their expertise. Instead one?s worthiness for a job might be based on their future health, which is determined by genetic constitution. The implications of genetic testing by employers have much potential harm to certain individuals who employers could deem to have a faulty genetic constitution. The drive by business to lower operational costs of safety and health programs, might lead employers to select employees based on their genetic disposition.

Reproductive technology techniques and genetic manipulation are very expensive procedures. The cost of these procedures could make them for the rich only and could cause genetic discrimination against the poor that cannot afford such technology. This divide is already occurring in western society: ?In the United States, infertility is the highest among poor, minority, poorly educated couples who have no biological children. However, consumers of these reproductive technologies (in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination) are largely white, well educated, and affluent? (Walther & Young 113). In Western society they have already begun to divide because of the cost of reproductive technology. This division in society will escalate with more new complicated and costly genetic and reproductive techniques.

The rich will have better and better kids, who will be smarter, stronger, and more beautiful, while kids of the poor will get dumber, weaker, uglier and carry genetic diseases. The poor and politically powerless have nothing to gain from allowing human NST (nuclear somatic transfer or cloning) and perhaps, a lot to lose (Pence 143).

Processes such as human and genetic manipulation will further the division of classes in society by those who can afford to make a perfect genetic child and those who cannot. Lee Silver, a Professor of genetics at Princeton said:

[I]f you have the money, you can do it. We’re bringing this down to reproduction and we just keep pushing and pushing and pushing. I think that it’s all unfair. It’s going to make even worse the division between the have’s and the have-not’s in our society (Interview).

As long as you have money, anything is possible and there will be people there to cater to your needs no matter the demand and this is the case for genetic manipulation and reproductive technology. Anyone with enough money will be able to tailor make their children genetically to their desires. Another use of genetic and reproductive technology is in prenatal screening of the fetus or embryo for serious genetic disorders: ?Patients may be put under pressure to terminate an affected pregnancy, because of the financial consequences of giving birth to a severely disabled child (Health 151).? Health professionals, health care providers and insurers could put financial pressure on a pregnant mother to terminate a pregnancy because of the financial fear of giving birth to a child with a genetic disorder. The interests of the child or parents could be swayed to abort a pregnancy because of the parent?s economic background. A parent, who is poor, might not be able to afford gene therapy to help cure their unborn child. An affluent parent might not have to go through this, since they could afford the cost to care or treat the ailment of a disabled child. This genetic and reproductive technology may perhaps cause a great divide in our society. This divide will be based on a person?s ability to pay for these new genetic and reproductive technologies.

In the future there will possibly be genetic intolerance due to monetary issues linked to insurance, hiring practices, and cost genetic technology. Insurance companies could use genetic information to set premiums or refuse coverage. Companies may well use genetic testing to select genetically healthy people to decrease employee related costs. There might be further division down economic lines because of the cost of genetic manipulation and reproductive technology. The manipulation of human genetics and the private information attained from reproductive technology will cause genetic discrimination based on financial background. These advances in human genetics and reproductive technology could harmfully affect society. This technology basically allows scientist?s to design a human however they see fit. All these problems originate from the understanding of how a human gene dictates what a cell does in the body. This knowledge of human genetics and the application of reproductive technology are ever increasing exceptionally fast.

British Medical Association. Human Genetics: Choice and Responsibility. England: Oxford University Press, 1998.

FRONTLINE. ?Interview: Lee Silver? PBS Online and WGBH/FRONTLINE. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fertility/interviews/silver.html (20 Nov 1999)

Pence, Gregory. Who?s Afraid of Human Cloning?. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998.

Walther, and Young ?Costs and Benefits of Reproductive Technologies? Afflia 7 (1992): 111-122.

Додати в блог або на сайт

Цей текст може містити помилки.

A Free essays | Essay
15.8кб. | download | скачати


Related works:
Information
The Information Age
Information Age
Information War
Money And Information
Public Information
Herbal Information
Information Methods
Freedom Of Information
© Усі права захищені
написати до нас