The Negative Impact of Genetic Testing

Although genetic testing may be useful to society in various aspects such as diagnosis of vulnerability of genetic diseases and verification of pedigree, it may possibly become unstable, selecting more preferable individual genetic elements, It will ultimately be a tool for cloning humans. Genetic testing can degrade the quality of our lives and lead to discrimination, invasion of privacy, and harmful gene therapy. In 1993, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Laboratory announced a booklet to promote gene therapy.

In the genetic counseling session, the potential benefits and risks of the examination, the motivation of the examination, the expectation to the examination result, the positive or negative result of the mutation that may affect your life, the processing of the examination result etc. Discuss some issues. The Strategic Genetic Counselor also helps you to identify impact tests on your relationship with your spouse, children and other families, your biography, and other issues like your insurance and financial situation . For example, the results of predictive tests can make purchasing life, disability, or long-term care insurance more difficult.

Many of the risks associated with genetic testing are associated with emotional, social or economic consequences of the test results. People may be angry, irritated, worried, or guilty of the outcome. Due to the potential negative impact of genetic testing, recognition of "unknown rights" is increasing. In some cases, genetic testing may impose a burden on the family. This is because, in addition to subjects, information on other families may be revealed from the results. The possibility of genetic discrimination in employment and insurance is also a problem. Some people are avoiding genetic testing as they are afraid to influence the ability to purchase insurance or find jobs. Health insurance companies do not currently require applicants to conduct genetic testing, and when an insurance company encounters genetic information, the insurance company receives the same confidentiality as other confidential medical information.