Biological Knowledge of Society Flashcards
Genetic Testing
Refers to the screening of an individual, most commonly an ‘at-risk’ person. Used to confirm or rule out the presence in a person of a defective allele that is involved in an inherited disorder or that increases the person’s susceptibility to a disease
Types of genetic testing
- Adult screening
- carrier detection
- prenatal screening and diagnosis
- predictive screening
- embryo biopsy
Pros of genetic testing
- People who know from carrier testing that they are at risk of a cancer can ensure that their health status is regularly monitored, and they can make any relevant lifestyle changes
- People who know from carrier testing that they can pass a defective allele to their children can plan their pregnancy and use prenatal testing or preimplantation diagnosis to ensure that they have a baby free of the specific disease
Cons of genetic testing
- Pre-symptomatic testing may be a source of anxiety and stress, such as in the case of a person testing positive for a defective allele that is the cause of an inherited late-onset disease
- The result of antenatal testing and diagnosis may place an emotional burden on prospective parents faced with deciding about the fate of a pregnancy
Types of errors in genetic testing errors
Systematic Errors
- Identifiable causes
and can be rectified
with a better
method.
- Consistent and will
affect all results.
Random Errors
- sometimes unidentifiable causes
- inconsistent and may or may not affect all results
Genetically Modified organisms
An organism that has had its DNA artificially modified to produce a desired characteristic. Can involve the addition of a gene or segment of DNA, including from another species or the silencing of genes
GMO’s can be problematic
because their resistances reduce the ability to eliminate them if they are to contaminate the natural ecosystem
Transgenic organisms
- Subgroup of GMOs
- An organism that contains DNA from an unrelated species (hence ‘trans’)
- Genes from one organism is added to another organism (DNA is universal, allowing this to occur)
Biological Issues with GMO’s
- Impact on health of organism carrying the gene
- Danger of altering our DNA by eating GMOs
- Uncontrollable pest plant species
- Cross pollination between GMO and non-GMO crops
Social Issues with GMO’s
- Solve malnutrition and hunger
- Create more social inequality (e.g. due to cost of GMOs)
- Right of the consumer to choose whether to eat GMO food
- Farmers may not have equal access to the technology
Ethical implications
- If companies control the right to the genome of a GM crop, they can control seed prices
- Some people believe that producing GM animals violate the animal’s rights
- The genes inserted into animals may affect the animal’s health (e.g. making pugs grow quickly
Outbreak
suddenly appears in a restricted locale or a restricted population
Epidemic
drastic increase in the occurrence of an infectious disease in a community or in a restricted geographic area at a time. Can be international, but not worldwide.
Pandemic
refers to the worldwide spread of a new disease. Must infect all continents and countries.
Conditions for a pandemic
- A new pathogen or a novel strain of an existing pathogen suddenly appears in geographic areas where the human populations have not previously encountered the pathogen
- The pathogen is the cause of an illness, often serious, in people
- The pathogen can be transmitted easily from person to person
- Uncontrolled spread of the pathogen occurs across a wide geographic area
