Genetic testing ethics debate
Fri, Oct 30, 2026 · Week 10 · Principles of Biomedical Technology (Principles of Biomedical Science)
Today's goal: Students debate whether prospective parents should pursue carrier screening and prenatal genetic testing.
This is a model of the work you should turn in today. Use it to check your own: match the structure and the level of detail, do not copy it. Your data and wording should be your own.
Parallel case (not today's prompt): A student mails a saliva sample to a direct-to-consumer ancestry company and later chooses to upload the raw DNA file to a public relative-matching database. Should she do that, given that her results also reveal information about siblings and cousins who never agreed to be tested?
Claim: She should not upload her raw DNA to the public relative-matching database without first talking to the close relatives it would expose.
Evidence: Her genome is roughly half shared with each sibling and a smaller fraction shared with cousins, so a public match can identify those relatives and hint at their health risks even though only she gave informed consent. Cases where uploaded consumer DNA was used to identify distant family members show that one person's upload can pull in relatives who never made that choice.
Reasoning: Informed consent normally covers the person being tested, but here the same data speaks for people who were never asked, which limits their autonomy over their own genetic privacy. Weighing her freedom to explore her ancestry against the relatives' right to control what is revealed about them, the more responsible step is to seek their agreement first rather than upload by default.
(Vocabulary used correctly: informed consent, autonomy, genetic privacy.)
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A two-sentence written reflection naming the strongest opposing argument the student heard during a parallel debate, on a direct-to-consumer ancestry DNA case, modeling the CER format without answering today's carrier-screening prompt.
- Name the prompt or task.
- Answer it directly with the key evidence.
- Check that the response matches the requested format.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Hand in the reflection card, or turn it in on Schoology under today's exit-ticket.
Turn in: Worked CER on a parallel case
Go to Schoology to turn this in.
Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf.
Open Schoology PDF upload helpIf you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about genetic testing ethics debate. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
One exam-style question that uses exactly what you practiced today. Try it before you reveal the answer, then read why each choice is right or wrong.
Tap an answer to see the full explanation. Nothing is recorded or graded.
It builds this reusable test skill: Using carrier and recessive-inheritance vocabulary correctly.
- Name the concept or data pattern being tested.
- Cross out choices that violate that rule or the evidence.
- Justify the best remaining choice before checking the answer.