Should Genetic Tests Be Passed On To Children

Genetic testing uses laboratory methods to look at your genes, which are the DNA instructions you inherit from your mother and your father. Genetic tests may be used to identify increased risks of health problems, to choose treatments, or to assess responses to treatments.

There are many different types of genetic tests. Genetic tests can help to:
• Diagnose disease
• Identify gene changes that are responsible for an already diagnosed disease
• Determine the severity of a disease
• Guide doctors in deciding on the best medicine or treatment to use for certain individuals
• Identify gene changes that may increase the risk to develop a disease
• Identify gene changes that could be passed on to children
• Screen newborn babies for certain treatable conditions
The results of a diagnostic test may help you make a decision and come up with the right course of treatment to improve your health.
• Predictive and pre-symptomatic genetic tests are used to find gene changes that increase a person's likelihood of developing diseases. The results of these tests provide you with information about your risk of developing a specific disease. The information helps you change your lifestyle to improve your life in the short and long term.
• Carrier testing is used to find people who carry a change in a gene that is linked to disease. Carriers may show no signs of the disease; however, they have the ability to pass on the gene change to their children, who may develop the disease or become carriers themselves. Some diseases require a gene change to be inherited from both parents for the disease to occur. This type of testing usually is offered to people who have a family history of a specific inherited disease or who belong to certain ethnic groups that have a higher risk of specific inherited diseases.
• Prenatal testing is offered during pregnancy to help identify fetuses that have certain