Argumentative Essay: The Use Of Genetic Testing In Public Schools

In the year 1989, the daughter of Renee and David Abshire died at the age of three to an incurable inheritable disease known as Tay- Sachs. The couple believed they would never have baby again, however, in the year 1994 the couple introduced to the world a completely healthy baby by the name of Brittany Nicole Abshire. Brittany was a special child. She was the first child in the world to be successfully screened for the incurable disease Tay-Sachs using the genetic testing method of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. (The New York Times) There are several thousands of individuals in the United States also considering having children, and sadly many of these couples decide not to undergo genetic testing prior to having children due the controversy …show more content…
One obvious place to start is the science education system, mainly in both high school and college. Through my own experience, as well as by questioning many other recent high school graduates, a common theme I have noticed is that not one of us had been thoroughly educated on the topic of genetic testing, nd if we were educated on genetic testing, it was only for one class period at the most. This lack of education is one of the reasons, if not the greatest, for the controversy that surrounds genetic testing. In fact, these negative thoughts and opinions towards genetic testing as a result of being uninformed even populate the minds of doctors, therefore resulting in the strengthening of these negative views in their patients. According to a poll conducted by the statistics department of SERMO, a social network site for medical professionals, “In an email survey of 1,609 US physicians… 27 percent said they had recommended that their patients get their genome sequenced, while 73 percent had not” (Begley). Now, compare this to the results of a poll created by the Statistics department of Harvard University, in which 1000 US adults who did undergo genetic testing were asked if they believed it was ‘helpful’, “of those tested, 81 percent said it was “helpful” and 10 percent said it was not” (Begley). These two pieces of data raise concerns as to whether medical professionals, who are assumed to be educated on genetic testing, are providing their patients with correct information. Thus, the questions the people of the United States should be asking is if they are in fact being educated enough in high school on the topic of genetic testing, and what changes could be made to the education system to better educate future