2.5.4 Social and ethical issues of genetic screening Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Biology A (Salters-Nuffield), Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. Which principle requires that people agree to a test only after being told its risks, benefits and alternatives?

   • Eugenics
   • Cost-benefit analysis
   • Informed consent
   • Genetic determinism

2. What is the term for selecting people with desirable genetic traits to improve the genetic quality of a population?

   • Pleiotropy
   • Heterosis
   • Epigenetics
   • Eugenics

3. A utilitarian viewpoint judges an action by which criterion?

   • Whether it is commanded by a religious authority
   • The greatest good for the greatest number of people
   • Whether it follows a fixed rule regardless of its outcome
   • Whether the individual personally feels it is right

4. A deontological viewpoint on screening emphasises which idea?

   • Duties and rules, such as respecting the rights of each person
   • Outcomes alone, measured as total happiness
   • Whether the decision is popular with the majority
   • The economic cost of each decision to the health service

5. A couple ends a pregnancy after an adverse screening result. Critics argue this encourages discrimination against people with disabilities. Which concept is central to this argument?

   • The fetal heart rate recorded after the sampling procedure
   • The potential for stigma and discrimination against people living with the condition
   • The reliability of the genetic test performed in the laboratory
   • The income level of the mother at the time of the decision

6. Which argument for genetic screening is a utilitarian one?

   • It can reduce suffering and cost for families and health services by enabling early planning
   • It removes the need for any ethical discussion of the decision
   • It guarantees every child will be free of inherited disease
   • It transfers the decision entirely to doctors and removes parental choice

7. A genetic test reveals information about a relative's risk. Which issue does this raise most directly?

   • The cost of the test to the local NHS budget
   • Accuracy of the laboratory machinery used to read the sample
   • Confidentiality, because the information may also affect family members who did not consent
   • The speed at which laboratory technicians process the samples

8. What is a benefit of carrier screening for individuals?

   • It eliminates the disease from the population within a single generation
   • It allows couples to make informed reproductive choices before or during pregnancy
   • It makes the recessive allele dominant in the next generation
   • It ensures that all children born are free of the allele

9. Why do ethical views on prenatal screening differ between people?

   • Ethical views depend only on the age of the parents at conception
   • People weigh values such as autonomy, the interests of the unborn child and religious beliefs differently
   • Ethics depends only on the cost of the test to the individual
   • All scientific evidence is ambiguous, so opinions vary randomly between people

10. A health authority considers screening all newborns for a recessive condition. Which argument against universal screening is strongest?

    • It identifies carriers and may cause anxiety for families and raise questions about cost
    • It is illegal in every country that has a national health service
    • It cures the condition in newborns who have two copies of the allele
    • It makes the recessive allele dominant in the affected population

11. What is the main concern about genetic discrimination by insurers or employers?

    • People would lose the right to sustainable marine fishing resources
    • People's homes could be searched for genetic samples without permission
    • People could be denied insurance or work because of their genotype
    • People would be forced to change their diet because their genes determine food preference

12. Which statement about prenatal screening accuracy is correct?

    • Screening can give false positives and false negatives
    • Screening can only detect conditions linked to the sex chromosomes
    • Screening is always 100% accurate for every condition it tests
    • Screening results never change during the course of a pregnancy

13. What is a 'designer baby'?

    • A baby whose sex was chosen by visual inspection of the mother
    • A child whose genetic characteristics have been selected by parents, for example through embryo selection
    • A child born by Caesarean section in a private clinic
    • A child given a genetically modified diet after birth

14. Which argument is a reasoned deontological objection to embryo selection?

    • Embryos may be treated as products to be chosen or discarded
    • The embryo cannot feel pain, so selection causes no harm to anyone
    • The procedure is cheaper than natural conception, so it is always justified
    • The embryo's genotype always predicts its behaviour, so selection is accurate

15. A person with a carrier result is asked whether they must tell a sibling. Which principle is most relevant to the decision?

    • Economy of scale in the hospital laboratories that run the test
    • Respect for autonomy and confidentiality, balanced against the benefit to relatives
    • Maximising sales of the genetic test kit to the public
    • Proportional representation of genotypes in parliament

16. What is the term for using a person's genetic information to treat them unfairly, for example in employment?

    • Genetic discrimination
    • Genetic engineering
    • Genetic drift
    • Genetic linkage

17. Which point is the strongest evaluation of a national screening programme?

    • Cost-effectiveness must be weighed against the number of families helped and the psychological impact of results
    • Results depend entirely on the opinion of a single individual
    • Screening programmes are unnecessary because all inherited diseases are curable
    • Screening is free of cost because the tests themselves are inexpensive to buy

18. Why might a positive screening result be followed by a confirmatory test?

    • Screening results are valid only for newborn babies and not for adults
    • Confirmatory tests can cure the condition once it has been detected
    • Screening tests can give false positives
    • Confirmatory tests are cheaper than screening tests and therefore used first

19. What is the main role of genetic counselling?

    • To tell the patient which decision to take about the pregnancy
    • To decide which embryos should be discarded after PGD
    • To help individuals understand their risks and options, respecting their own decisions
    • To measure enzyme activity in the patient's blood sample

20. Which is the best justification for offering carrier screening in a population where a recessive allele is common?

    • It confirms that no one who is screened will ever develop the condition
    • It guarantees that the allele will be removed from the gene pool
    • It increases the number of carriers born each year in the population
    • It helps couples understand their risk and make informed reproductive decisions

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