Social.
Imagine you go into your doctor’s office for a regular check up. Your doctor tells you that you are a candidate for having a disease. He or she asks you if you would like to know if you have the disease in your genes. What would you think? Would you like to know if you have the disease? What if you doctor told you when you will have the disease and which disease you will have? This question has been around for decades.
In the past genetic testing has been used to convict criminals. For example the OJ Simpson case was acquitted in 1995 because the DNA came back negative. In other cases such as sexual assault, forensic scientists swab the DNA found on the victim and the suspects mouth, then test to see if the DNA is a match. Also if DNA is found a crime scene they can put it into a forensic data base and see if there is any previous convicts with the same DNA. The Human Genome Initiative (HGI) is a company that has been researching the function of the thousands of genes that make up your hereditary traits. In the next couple of decades, they are looking to put all of our genetic information on, what is equivalent to, a CD. For example, the military puts your first, middle and last name, your birth date, blood type, and your social security number on a dog-tag. They want to be able to do the same thing. If they don’t then the research for the disease for a single person will take years.
Economic
Genetic testing can help our economy tremendously. It can create more jobs and give the stock market the ultimate boost. As the saying goes the more money spent the more money made. Also through the job stimulation more research will become of this to move on in the creation of other genetic research. Genetic testing assists pharmacists to generate new medications to cure sicknesses. If America was the first to create a machine or computer that could analyze DNA and look into the future in our genes we could get out of our national debt.
Political
The New York Times had a recent article in November about genetic testing. The Supreme Court decision came onto effect November 21st 2009. The decision basically said that insurance companies and potential employers cannot deny you health insurance or a job because or your health. It's called genetic discrimination. The political and economic impacts go hand in hand. If the economy gets better our leaders will find hope again. Perhaps even give them more ideas on how to better our lifestyle. Politicians are either driven towards or driven away from genetic testing. In comparison to abortion or health care reform, some are for or against it. For example if a political leader was a Naturalist they would feel that genetic testing was destroying the human. Naturalist believe that anything manmade such as medication, will destroy what was originally God-given. However a non-naturalist political leader would be for genetic testing. Politicians want one thing more than anything else, the vote. The vote tells politicians what the community wants. Therefore it will lead our society for or against genetic testing.
