| Inheritance | autosomal recessive |
|
Occurrence
|
American Jews of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage have a 1 in 30 chance of being a carrier. |
| Description | a degenerative disorder causing death usually by age 5 |
| Testing | is available to identify carriers, as well as detect genotpes prenatally |
Background:
Tay Sachs is a very sad disease. A child born perfectly healthy suddenly begins to lose all muscle control and degenerate. The only way to eradicate this disease and other autosomal recessive diseases is through testing for it and then preventing two carriers from both passing on the defective gene. The ethics behind such action can be brought into question. This activity is a list of ethical issues that could be discussed when dealing with Tay Sachs testing.
Activity:
(1) Should all individuals be forced to be tested and those who are carriers be notified? Why or why not? Should only individuals in high risk populations be tested? Why or why not?
(2) Should all pregnant women be tested for Tay sachs? Should pregnant women in high risk populations be tested for Tay Sachs? Defend your answer.
(3) What would one counsel an individual who discovered he or she was a carrier?
(4) Should the government provide funding for couples who are both carriers of Tay Sachs to undergo in vitro fertilization, test the single-celled embryos and then implant only those without the disease?
For more information visit Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, the National Tay Sachs Association, or the Tay Sachs Overview
Return to Human Genetics homepage