There are several legal or political issues regarding knowledge of a person’s genetic make-up, such as to whom would it be available. Will insurance provider’s and employers be aloud access to a person’s genetic information? If such information is shared with these institutions, it allows for the possibility that individuals may be refused based on this information (Khoury and Dorman, 1998). Also, there must be federal legislature determining appropriate use of genetic information. As of right now, the state legislature controls this issue and the laws vary from state to state (Khoury and Dorman, 1998). This may cause future problems within the legal system once this information becomes available.
There are also various social issues which must be addressed regarding the use of genetic information to determine risk for possible disease. A Gallop poll conducted in 1998 showed that 93% of people wish to be consented before allowing the government to research their genetic makeup (Khoury and Dorman, 1998). This information proves that most individuals wish to keep their genetic information private for fear of genetic discrimination. Also, there is a risk that a person’s genetic information may fall into the wrong hands. Until regulations are placed, society may not be ready to handle such information.
The ethical issues of genetic mapping can be discussed for days. The religious oppositions to such research is well known and worth discussing. The issue of genetically designing children must be addressed before the ability to do so become available. Ethically, people need to know what they will be facing pending these new advancements in genetics.
There are positives to further knowledge of human genetics. Already, with the current information that geneticists possess, there has shown significant genetic predisposition for many chronic diseases. In the issue of health promotion, further knowledge of this topic can be very beneficial. Research has shown that up to two- thirds of the risk for obesity may be genetic (McGinnis et al., 2002). With this information, health promoters can focus on educating those predisposed for obesity and possibly prevent occurrence. Also, environment has shown to increase occurrence in those showing a predisposition for disease, such as cancers. With knowledge of their increased risk, health promoters can encourage alteration of the environment in order to prevent disease.
Society today is faced with several issues concerning genetics and the human genome project. There are several pros and cons for such knowledge and society today appears to be undereducated on how to deal with such important information regarding the human race. The only way in which society will be able to manage such information is by forming a plan now. A unified stand must be taken amongst the human race as to what will be done with this information once it becomes available. If not, I fear, a great deal of damage could be done.
References
Khoury, M. J. and Dorman, J. S. (1998). The Human Genome Epidemiology Network (HuGENet™) American Journal of Epidemiology;148:1-3.
McGinnis, J. M. Williams-Russo, P. and Knickman, J. R. (2002). Active Policy Attention To Health Promotion. Health Affairs ,21(2).
Zimmern, R. L . (1999). The Human Genome Project The human genome project: a false dawn? BMJ 1999;319:1282