Wednesday, October 9, 2013

A morally and ethical controversial concern this age and day is human genetic research and relations to Reproduction, AIDS and disease management. Research in human genetics presently engages to identify the function and location of the roughly 40,000-80,000 genes that comprise the human genome. The intention is to develop treatment and diagnostic techniques for a host of hereditary diseases.

Immune system genes that emerge to play a key position in the body defense against HIV, a virus that cause AIDS, have been recognized through research.  The findings can result to ways of circumventing the virus’s ability to mutate fast, a characteristic that has disenchanted the development of effective vaccines. HIV infection is driving human progression, since people with protective versions of the known genes are more probable to survive and pass those genes to the children.

The management of genetic diseases can be divided into counseling, diagnosis, and treatment. The basic purpose of genetic disease counseling is to assist family or people understand their options and risks, thus allow them to make informed decisions.

In the healthcare field, healthcare providers need to know that they will be faced with several situations that put morals and goals to test or professional reputation. Discovering the genes liable for infectious disease severity or susceptibility of illness and how they relate with other risk factors may provide new opportunities for disease prevention.

A topic that is of a major concern to everyone has been stem cell research. It is related to genes in ways that a single stem cell may have possible cures or hold cures to several different diseases.  General issues connected to experimental techniques such as child protection and medical safety are often raised, particularly, reproductive clone as an aspect of social experimentation. Many worries remain, such as rank of human clones, the risk of ambiguous relationships, discrimination, harmed psychological development and confused personal identity. Cloning seriously challenges the very notions of family and reproduction.

I would support the research because it generates knowledge with the potential to improve community and individual health. The information on the research may be of benefit to the people especially if preventive measures exist. On the other hand, I would not support research because it is carried out on a few individual’s genome, thus not representative of all people.

Work Cited
Alexander, I. L. (2008). AIDS sourcebook: Basic consumer health information about human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), featuring updated statistics and facts about risks, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatments, side effects, and complications, and including a section about the impact of HIV/AIDS on the health of women, children, and adolescents, along with tips on managing life with AIDS, reports on current research initiatives and clinical trials, a glossary of related terms, and resource directories for further help and information. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics.

Merino, N. (2010). Human genetics. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press.

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