BEHS 343 Ethical and Practical Issues in Early Childhood

Genetic testing, especially in the study of human genome has over the decades provided evidence on the prevention of certain ailments that would otherwise be inherited from one generation to the other. However, despite the innumerable benefits of such tests, what continues to puzzle many resonates on the period when such tests should be done and the particular people with absolute rights to receive such results (Eeltink et al., 2021). Ethically, genetic testing would be beneficial to patients especially when results can enable such clients to alter their lifestyles as a way to reduce the chances of developing a disorder. For instance, the APOE gene is directly associated with health risk for developing high cholesterol levels in blood, and therefore the at-risk patients with such genes would be advised to check their diets as a remedy to cardiovascular disorder (Manzini et al., 2021). However, despite the benefits of such tests, it would be prudent to inform the concerned patients before the test and the need to counsel them about the outcomes considering that it is their property.

Apart from genetic testing, the other issue of concern entails the use of technology as a way to assess brain development in childhood. The use of technology can be an incredible method to assess human mental status and predict future well-being of an individual (Austin, 2020). On the contrary, accurate brain-imaging techniques need to be taken into account to ensure that the data on brain development detects the unconscious behavior of a child or a person towards a given action (Bang et al., 2021). That notwithstanding, consumers of such data on brain status need to use them sparingly so that they do not infringe on the rights of those suspected of brain development issues. For example, brain assessment that result in autism should be used to assist children with development challenges to have a dignified life instead of mocking such children for their cognitive insufficiency.

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References

Austin, J. C. (2020). Evidence-based genetic counseling for psychiatric disorders: A road map. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 10(6), a036608. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a036608

Bang, S., Lee, S., Choi, N., & Kim, H. N. (2021). Emerging Brain‐Pathophysiology‐Mimetic Platforms for Studying Neurodegenerative Diseases: Brain Organoids and Brains‐on‐a‐Chip. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 10(12), 2002119. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202002119

Eeltink, E., Van der Horst, M. Z., Zinkstok, J. R., Aalfs, C. M., & Luykx, J. J. (2021). Polygenic risk scores for genetic counseling in psychiatry: lessons learned from other fields of medicine. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 121, 119-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.11.021

Manzini, A., Jones, E. J., Charman, T., Elsabbagh, M., Johnson, M. H., & Singh, I. (2021). Ethical dimensions of translational developmental neuroscience research in autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 62(11), 1363-1373. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13494

BEHS 343 Ethical and Practical Issues in Early Childhood