GENETIC TESTING IN WORK PLACE

Genetic Testing: What is the one thing that concerns you most about genetic testing in the work place?

Genetic Testing: What is the one thing that concerns you most about genetic testing in the work place?

The use of genetic testing is on the rise in the American workplace. According to a 1998 survey by the American Management Association, 10% of American employers now routinely test employees for predispositions to disease. While employers attempt to justify it, workers and their agents try to abolish it and the government half- heartedly controls it, my essay concentrates on the moral and ethical implications that surround it.

Origin of Species by Means of Natural assortment, Darwin had this to state, "The outlook that each species has been individually created—is erroneous. Iam completely assured that species are not immutable; but...are lineal descendants of some other and usually extinct species, in the identical manner as the acknowledged diversity of any one species are the descendants of that species. Furthermore, I am assured that Natural assortment has been the most important, but not the exclusive, means of modification." Then, in the conclusion, he added, "Why, may it be asked, until lately did almost all the most eminent dwelling naturalists and geologists disbelieve in the mutability of species? It will not be claimed that organic beings in a state of environment are subject to no variety; it cannot be proved that the amount of variety in the course of long ages is a restricted value; no clear distinction has been, or can be, drawn between species and well-marked varieties." From these quotations, two of Darwin's most profound axioms can be derived. First that species develop through natural assortment, and secondly, that species are not static in their design, but rather, can mutate. These two concepts are the staples that contain Darwin's theory of evolution together.

The theory is comprised of four foremost points. The first point is that variation is present within the genes of all species as the result of random mutations. The second point, routinely known as natural assortment, states that in a granted natural natural environment, some persons of a species are better acclimatized for survival and thus depart more offspring. The third issue asserts that over time, change inside a species leads to the replacement of old species by new species as less thriving species become extinct. Fourthly and lastly, there is clear clues from fossil and numerous other causes that the species now on Earth have descended from ancestral types that are extinct. In a nutshell Darwin's theory of evolution can be explained rather succinctly. Variation is the basis for all evolution; without it, species would really be immutable.

Genetic tests can be used to identify the gene itself or to measure proteins coded by the gene (such as enzymes, receptors, and binding proteins). All genetic tests measure biological markers (biomarkers), which may include biochemical, molecular, genetic, immunological, physiological, or other signals of biological events. The biomarkers currently used in occupational medicine are ...