anthro 102 assignment 1
Nikki Le
Anthro 102
Alyson Rollins
Assignment #1
#1
Jared Diamond presents many hypotheses in the article “Curse and Blessing of the Ghetto”. The four main points he brings up is that a new mutation could be arising as the old copies of Tay-Sachs disappear. Secondly, Diamond believes that this gene could help fight against tuberculosis. Third, people who already possessed this Tay Sachs gene at a high frequency could have easily acquired this gene. Lastly, Diamond believed that this gene originated from people with a more Jewish background and this gene was more dominant in their society.
#2 One possible ethical issue involved with genetic testing would be that it leads to early intervention in the pregnancy. Once the mother finds out if their child has a deadly disease or some other undesired trait, this may lead them to want to abort their child. Ethically speaking, many people don’t find abortions morally right and knowing early on whether or not their child has a bad gene could cause a lot of distraught for the mom and her decision to abort or keep the child. A second ethical issue that could arise from genetic testing would be that it might be hard to interpret the information about the child through facts and online readings. If a mother decides to abort her child due to a gene mutation she doesn’t consider positive, she isn’t giving this child a chance to possibly fight it and live longer than expected. There’s not a chance given if the mother takes it away. Lastly, another ethical issue regarding genetic testing would be that it could hurt the mother’s attitude towards her pregnancy. Some mothers may not be emotionally sound enough to handle the information if it may be bad and that can take a toll on the overall pregnancy.
#3 One bias Diamond could have would be the fact that he’s Jewish. Tay-Sachs seems to be more prevalent in Jewish communities and seeing that Diamond’s Jewish this could make the content of his article more geared towards how
Anthro 102
Alyson Rollins
Assignment #1
#1
Jared Diamond presents many hypotheses in the article “Curse and Blessing of the Ghetto”. The four main points he brings up is that a new mutation could be arising as the old copies of Tay-Sachs disappear. Secondly, Diamond believes that this gene could help fight against tuberculosis. Third, people who already possessed this Tay Sachs gene at a high frequency could have easily acquired this gene. Lastly, Diamond believed that this gene originated from people with a more Jewish background and this gene was more dominant in their society.
#2 One possible ethical issue involved with genetic testing would be that it leads to early intervention in the pregnancy. Once the mother finds out if their child has a deadly disease or some other undesired trait, this may lead them to want to abort their child. Ethically speaking, many people don’t find abortions morally right and knowing early on whether or not their child has a bad gene could cause a lot of distraught for the mom and her decision to abort or keep the child. A second ethical issue that could arise from genetic testing would be that it might be hard to interpret the information about the child through facts and online readings. If a mother decides to abort her child due to a gene mutation she doesn’t consider positive, she isn’t giving this child a chance to possibly fight it and live longer than expected. There’s not a chance given if the mother takes it away. Lastly, another ethical issue regarding genetic testing would be that it could hurt the mother’s attitude towards her pregnancy. Some mothers may not be emotionally sound enough to handle the information if it may be bad and that can take a toll on the overall pregnancy.
#3 One bias Diamond could have would be the fact that he’s Jewish. Tay-Sachs seems to be more prevalent in Jewish communities and seeing that Diamond’s Jewish this could make the content of his article more geared towards how