@Rita:
Here we are with dogs are dogs and humans are humans so here go's.
Do we as people need to have testing done for genetic defects so we know who we can marry and who we cannot. If we mix two humans do we get predictable traits???
People change and ways change this change came with the different dogs we may not like it or we may but just life.
Rita Jean
Rita in a way we already do this. While I cannot verify that every sperm bank does this, I offer you the following quotes from an article on the web.
" Donors for sperm banks are recruited from the general population through advertising. However, in order to qualify as a donor, the man must fit certain criteria and undergo a series of tests.
All donors are required to be healthy males who are willing to produce the sperm by masturbation at the sperm bank. Prospective donors must also consent to genetic testing as well as to being screened for syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, cystic fibrosis, HIV, Hepatitis B and C, human T-cell lymphotropic viruses, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, cytomegalovirus and transmissible spongiform encephalopathy."
"After a donor's sperm has been accepted for inclusion in the bank, the sperm is cryogenically frozen in tanks of liquid nitrogen for a minimum of six months before use; during this time period, the donor will be periodically checked to make sure that he is healthy and will not pass diseases to others if his sperm is used."
"Sperm banks allow prospective parents access to certain information about sperm donors, often by way of an online catalog, so that they can choose certain physical traits they would like their child to have. The race, eye color, age, height, weight, family history, educational background, blood group and general health is usually listed.
Sperm banks often allow the parent to choose the sex of the child, to purchase and store vials of sperm from a particular donor, and to purchase sperm specifically prepared for certain types of impregnation techniques."
(http://www.ehow.com/about_4672393_information-human-sperm-banks.html)
We are already aware that the likelihood of birth defects increases if siblings or other close relatives marry.
Cystic fibrosis, Sickle Cell disease, Tay-Sachs disease are all things that humans can be genetically tested for. There are certain ethnic groups where this type of testing has become very important and common place.
The average person does not know that some of this is going on behind the scenes unless you have encountered in through a specific area of study or career choice.
Jason