The Pros And Cons Of The Genome Project

This is making it easier for scientist and doctors to find diagnosis for patients. And find cures for some of the stronger diseases. so could you ask yourself ,in the next decade or two could we just might find the cure to some of the big problem diseases in our society, such as cancer, ALS, and hundreds more. the answer could be right before our very eyes.

The altering of human genes could save lives. You could cure cystic fibrosis or alzheimer's. This would save the lives of many (Doc. 3). This technology could also give you children with specific traits of your choice. Also, this engineering can leave people painfree. This is not good because they can’t detect danger. As a plus side, scientists will eventually take the gene that causes this and help cure those with chronic long lasting pains (Doc. 2). This would make more people happy and healthy across the nation! Eventually we could go so far as to make a genetically engineered nation. As you can see, Genetic Engineering also could have a positive effect on

You are probably familiar with GMO’s (genetically modified organism) and scientifically modified food that has had its DNA changes. There has been debate on GMO’s has been going on for a few decades, whether GMO are safe and even ethical. However, there is another debate that far surpasses GMOs and has a potential to radically shake society: the issue of genetically modifying humans. Changing our DNA could limit health issue or create a new Frankenstein’s monster among humans. Frankenstein had the wrong intent when he set out to create his monster. He only cared about himself and advancing his future. If Genetic engineering is sought after to just create something new there will be another monster. However, genetic can be safe and ethical if its intent and use is for medical purposes. We need to help the sick in society and one way to do that is with genetic engineering. With this purpose genetic engineering is not overstepping our authority like Frankenstein did.

The HGP was a 13-year long project started in 1990 with the objective of determining the entire human euchromatic genome sequence. It was a public funded project and the goal was to complete the project within 15 years. Since its inception, the project had been met with scepticism from scientists and commoners alike. One significant doubt was whether the astounding expenditure of the project would outweigh the potential benefits from it. However, the incredible success of the HGP became apparent very soon after completion. Not only did it mark the beginning of a new era in medicine, it also made significant development in the various techniques that can be used for DNA sequencing. This publicly funded, $3 billion project began formally in 1990, under the co-ordinated effort of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). Although destined to be completed in 15 years, rapid technological development accelerated the completion date to 2003.

With the technology, we should be able to, in the future, help cure diseases and maybe even help prevent/help disabilities that are both mental and physical. For example, we could use this newly developed technology to help cure HIV. Not just fight it off or just prevent it, but cure it. We could help people with handicaps like Asperger’s Syndrome and insert a gene or two so that their brains are more used to social conversations. We could help people with ADD/ADHD by inserting genes that help their brains focus! We could help people globally with just about any issue involving their

In recent discussions of medical advancements, a controversial issue has been genome mapping poses risks to its patients. On the one hand, some argue that it is going to be time consuming and costly. On the other hand, however, others argue that this can be a breakthrough in medicine. In sum, then, the issue is what America’s next step towards medical advancement is going to be. While some believe genome mapping poses many unseen risks, genetic testing can help identify unsurfaced illnesses.

CRISPR may have received lots of ethical concerns but I still believe that this technology will be of great help to the society. Some of the diseases that people get are genetic in nature and with

First, with today’s technology doctors are able to solve the problem of knowing if a child will be born with a birth defect or a fetal anomaly. However, even with the technology to tell if the child will be born with a defect, this still provides a problem for the family as they have to choose whether to keep or end the pregnancy. Although, “termination of pregnancy when abnormalities are present is unlike any other form of loss and it is a relatively rare event,” it has nonetheless happened and has demanded families to make a difficult but necessary choice (Coleman) The choice to end a pregnancy is not an easy act and can have serious detrimental effects on the mother afterward. For example, when a mother is told “they are carrying a child with Down syndrome, 92% choose abortion,” because they believe it is the best for the

The final, but perhaps most tremendous, genetic controversy is known simply as the “Designer Baby Controversy.” According to Welch and CBS News, scientists Junjiu Huang and his colleagues at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, “have successfully edited DNA in human embryos, a highly controversial move governing much criticism in the scientific community.” Huang and his team have spliced out a gene called HBB, which causes beta-thalassemia, a fatal blood disease, and successfully replaced it in the embryos with a healthy copy of the gene. This method could be used to fix many other single-gene diseases, and, eventually, modified to remove other multiple-gene disorders, as well. However, two large problems arise from this. The first

This could be illustrated in the Human Genome Project, which mapped all human genes in order to eventually understand the effect of each gene in human behaviour. Wallace (2004) claims that the Human Genome Project is perhaps not ethically neutral. Misuse of ethically sensible data was already seen in Nazi Germany and the eugenic policies in many modern societies with practices such as sterilization of individuals thought to be inferior. This should serve as a warning to modern geneticists. First of all genetic research is by nature correlational, which means that it is not possible to state a clear cause-effect relationship between genes and disorders like depression. Secondly, researchers are far from being able to determine the specific role of genes in psychiatric disorders.

Some parents see prenatal testing as a way to appease their anxiety, knowing that their child will not have major birth defects. Others wish to be better prepared for what is to come, knowing that their child will be born with a defect. Still, others will be faced with the tough decision to terminate the pregnancy if birth defects are detected in the screening. The issue of aborting a pregnancy due to the detection of birth defects has been a source of major ethical controversy and debate (Ashford, & LeCroy,

The human race, a species consumed by curiosity and discovery. With the rapid growth of scientific knowledge, a new mystery has unraveled. This endeavor is known as The Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project is an organization designed to physically map all of the genes in the human body. Once these scientists uncover all of the genes, it becomes possible to isolate them for uses such as possible prevention, treatments and cures. This organization promotes the progression of science to new heights. “There have been a number of technological advances since 1990 that have accelerated the progress of the project to a completion date sometime during the year 2003,” (Melaas). The project raises uproar in the argument of ethics. Ethics can

“I don’t care if it’s a boy or girl. I just want a healthy baby.” Advancements in technology allow parents to learn more than ever about their baby in utero such as the sex, developmental milestones and potentially any congenital defects. A new parents’ greatest fear is that their baby will be sick or struggle to survive; if parents were able to know their child would be born with a condition that would keep them from leading a typical life, should they be able to terminate? Having a disability or congenital birth defect does not mean the same thing for our youth as it did ten, twenty, or even fifty years ago. The same advancements in technology and science that allow us to learn more in utero have enabled us to understand genetic conditions

Techno-optimist or techno-pessimist? That is the question. Technology throughout time has no doubt changed our way of life. Travelling to destinations quicker, curing new diseases, or figuring out how to cease a wide famine are examples of how technology has made advances over time. The solutions that scientists create spark a tool that others cannot live without. But what if these technologies bring out negative effects rather than their desired purpose? Sometimes, innovators create new inventions that bring unintended consequences. It could range from less communication face to face, side effects from new medicines, or pollute the earth’s atmosphere.

This excitement can be good, bad or in some cases, misleading. The medical field has vastly made its way into a huge money pit of enduring “technological advances”. But, the advances are sometimes not always what they seem to be. Looking ahead, the questions we need to ask ourselves would be: are we getting to excited too quickly when it comes to the amount of anticipation we have about the advances in the medical field? Is there a chance we look for the potential of these “revenge effects” with it all? While trying to discover an answer to these questions, I feel as though people need to take a step back and realize that we will never know right now, what these advances will do for us in the near future whether its change us negatively or positively. Harmful or safe, watchfulness should always be done when it comes to medical technology. Thankfully, the knowledge and skills used with the equipment, has and will continue to save millions and millions of lives now and in the future. The diagnosis of new vaccines and miracle drugs has increased the existence of this population by about twenty years.