Genetic Screening and Love

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Would you want to know the genetic profile of the person you're falling in love with? Would you want to know before making a forever commitment if your partner to be had the genes for sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis? Would you want to be in the position of knowing the potentially defective genes you're carrying and having to decide whether to tell the person you're dating? Well genetic screenings are going on. Would you want one?

This is from The Daily Princetonian:

"What if the internet matchmaker eharmony.com required a blood test? Or if first dates ended with a thumb pricks instead of a kisses and classified ads included family medical histories? While none of these things have happened as far as I know, increasing emphasis has been placed on a new factor in determining compatibility of couples: genetics.

Earlier this semester the Center for Jewish Life (CJL) hosted a genetic screening. The Human Genetics Program at NYU Langone Medical Center contacted members of the CJL and worked to provide the University community with genetic carrier testing. Participants will soon find out if they are carriers for 16 different diseases.

The NYU Genetics Program website promises that screenings, which are done with a blood sample, will "identify changes in a person's chromosomes" and "ensure that your children will not suffer from these diseases." The information could impact who you date and how, if at all, you conceive a child."

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