When you become a parent you want what is best for your children. Sometimes parents can have expectations for their children based on their own lives and experiences. As we continue to further technology in the field of genetics, we seem to be reaching for answers to questions that might not be answerable. There is a new genetic test that is available for direct to consumers (DTC) information regarding a child's athletic ability (Camporesi, 2016). So parents can make the choice to get their child tested for their “athletic ability”. This raises many ethical questions in my mind: How accurate is this information? Is it ethical for parents to do this for their children? What is the company doing with this genetic data?
There are many questions that arise from such a broad test and its uses. The genetic test looks at specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that have been seen to correlate to athletic ability (Camporesi, 2016). It is known among the scientific community that there is no reliable way to measure talent identification in athletics genetically (Camporesi, 2016). But that has not stopped these DTC tests from being used and being popular in the United States.
My biggest issue with this topic is that these tests do not allow for the “right to an open future” (ROF) and will ultimately deter children from trying activities that promote exercise (Camporesi, 2016). There also seems to be a problem with autonomy when it comes to children’s rights (Camporesi, 2016). These tests have to be ordered by the parents/adults and can be done with or without the child wanting it done. Without even getting into the fact that these tests are not accurate measures of athleticism, I see a huge moral and ethical problem with these tests being used on children. There are also ethical issues that come with DTC genetic testing in itself. What these companies can do with this genetic data is highly unregulated and giving someone’s genetic data away without their consent (as in the case of a child not being able to give consent for this type of testing) is a privacy breach.
There are so many issues that come up when discussing this type of testing and the implications it can have on a child's life. Please comment with your thoughts on whether you would do a genetic test for your child’s “athletic abilities”.
Citation:
Camporesi, S., & McNamee, M. J. (2016). Ethics, genetic testing, and athletic talent: Children's best interests, and the right to an open (athletic) future. Physiological Genomics, 48(3), 191–195. https://doi.org/10.1152/physiolgenomics.00104.2015
When it comes to genetic testing on my future children I don't think I would be willing to test for something such as athletic ability. I would be willing to test for medical conditions and potential predispositions to things like cancer. This is in order to have the health and wellbeing of my child at the forefront of the reason for genetic testing. Things like athletic ability certainly have some genetic component but a lot of it is also nurture. Training and practicing can absolutely help an individual improve in an athletic endeavor and it builds character to struggle to improve. Thought provoking post Scott!
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic. I think that you cannot ban these types of testing as that takes away individual's autonomy to seek out any test they wish. Yet, I think there needs to be a lot of education on how these tests work and what the efficacy of them is. Whether that be adding a genetics class in middle and high schools or being more active in getting the word out to the public about the facts of these "genetic markers for athleticism". To me, these tests are much like horoscopes or palm readings, which any person has the right to go get and many people will believe the results they are given and that will always be true to an extent. At the same time, it is our job as a scientific community to educate those outside of the scientific community so as to prevent misinterpretations of "scientific results" from DTC genetic testing companies.
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