Bioethics Paper: Prenatal Genetic Screening Essay

prenatal transmitted Testing has become one of the most prominent and influential advances in clinical genetics today. Every year, hundreds of couples request screening services, hence, subjecting themselves to the results of the diagnosis. For some, the information whitethorn be a sigh of relief, and for others a whisper of warning. The concept of antenatal transmissible concealment has only recently surfaced for controversy. In consequence to the boundary of the Human Genome Project (2003), the option for Prenatal Genetic Screening stool now be performed for an affordable 1,000 dollars. Utilizing state of the art multiplex technologies such(prenominal) as gene chips and micro beads, we can already track hundreds of thousands of rum SNPs or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms to screen our genome at over fractional a million pinpoints that are intendd to be associated with particular traits, diseases, susceptibilities, and conditions.In do-gooder to screening for diseases, th is technology threatens to tamper with our perception of individuality. Raising the unbelief of constitutionality, and whether it should be permitted to terminate a pregnancy based for reasons of sex, hair color, or eyeball color Designer Babies. If approved by the FDA, this option is predicted to prompt a salient increase in pregnancy terminations and lead to a host of practicable and legal questions. Some believe that the concept is simple. Utilizing potential knowledge of the impend future, we are given the fall out to think and to prepare. We are given the chance to absorb the entirety of the situation and consult a genetics counselor. With prior knowledge we could save people days of throe and financial trouble.Others question the effectiveness and benefits of genetic screening and wonder if the process would prompt exuberant emotional distress, distress for the safety of the fetus and also the issue of privacy. And slip away to note the dark and looming connotations of Designer Babies. It is evident that the latter argument is the general preference, however, I forget take the road less taken. Five years ago I lived an innocent childhood, where everyone laughed and played, and at that place was no worse suffering beyond scraping my knee on the pavement. Two years subsequent that reality was shattered. What I didnt know at the time was that there were children who lived lives far different from mine.Children analogous my baby cousin Jasmine. Jasmine was born with a rare genetic disorder called Pfeiffers Syndrome, a disease characterized by the early fusion of the bones in her skull. She would never live my childhood reality, for frankly she would never live to the age. Often times I wondered what could hold back been done, and only recently has it revealed itself to me that Prenatal Genetic Screening was the answer to my obdurate question. If only it had been available at the time, maybe Jasmine could have grown up to be the next James D. Watson, Francis Crick or Rosalind Franklin. Now we will never know. Now that it is possible to save, to relieve, and to cure, is it worth the risk to give children like Jasmine a fair chance at life? I believe so.Works CitedThe Presidents Council on Bioethics The Future of young Screening Clouds on the Horizon? The Presidents Council on Bioethics The Future of Newborn Screening Clouds on the Horizon? N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2013.The Genetic Testing Controversy. The Genetic Testing Controversy. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2013.History and Overview of Newborn Screening. Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2013.New Prenatal Genetic Test Is Much More Powerful at sleuthing Fetal Abnormalities. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 09 Feb. 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.Prenatal symptomatic Tests and the Social, Legal, and Ethical Implications. Prenatal Diagnostic Tests and the Social, Legal, and Ethical Implications. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.