Benefits and Imperfection of The Human Genome Project and Gene Cloning

The Human Genome Project was a sequence of research that was meant to identify the genetic makeup of humans that lasted from 1990-2003. This was organized by the US Department of Energy, and National Institute of Health but there were also other countries and various universities that pitched in.

Researchers were trying to find out the order of bases in our DNA, create and understand linkage maps, identify the number of genes in the body, and eventually learn the possible pros and cons that the results would open the door to. Scientists examined the lab rat, fruit fly, and E-coli to better understand how their systems are similar to those in humans. The results from all this work were extremely positive, it was revealed that there are 20,500 genes and there is endless amount of potential benefits to these advancements. For the medicine field: drug systems, disease detection, appropriate treatments, learning more about biotechnology, life science, medicine, inheritance, and effects of factors like chemical and radiation products. Another possible benefit is that this information could lead us to a new energy source or way processing things. A huge advantage to this information is that it can help us evolve agriculture and live-stock. It can help with nutrition and production of animals and crops, as well as making them more resistant to factors like disease and insects. Overall, it was seen as a huge success because it finished 2 years earlier than scheduled and was under budget.

Genetic Screening

Genetic Screening is a type of test that determines any abnormalities in your DNA. The reason someone might want to do a genetic test is to learn about any disorders they may carry which can help them to make decisions about their health and offspring. There many different types of tests and each give a specific result for a specific question. Some of them are: predictive testing, diagnostic testing, carrier testing, prenatal testing, newborn screening, and pre-implantation testing. The knowledge about this subject has been beneficial to us because: it gives certainty and relief to people about their health, it can push someone towards a treatment they need or prevention for something they may develop, it shows you the possibilities of your child’s health and conditions, and it can help you change your lifestyle for the better.

Gene Therapy

Gene Therapy is a procedure that introduces genes into a cell in order to mutate you for a positive or necessary health reason like lowering cancer risk or preventing disease. Some of the methods are: gene augmentation therapy, gene inhibition therapy, and killing cells. The problem that is meant to be solved is that there is gene that is functioning abnormally or not sufficiently enough. Augmentation uses a new gene to correct/replace the function of the mutated gene. Inhibition uses a new gene to suppress the negative activity of the mutated gene. Killing cells uses a new gene to seek out the disease cells in order to basically alert the immune system that there is a problem, which it will fight once it recognizes the disease. Benefits to this knowledge include: lowering defect/fatality rates, it gives a chance to aid you when antibiotics and medicine can’t, it can accidentally modify another gene in a positive way, it can lead to new types of treatments and medicine, and it can also be used on live stock and pets.

Gene Cloning and Its Ethical Issues

Gene cloning is a practice of creating identical copies of a specific and desired gene. This is done by researchers and scientists in a lab. The typical procedure for gene cloning starts with specific DNA that contains the desired gene being removed from the original human cell. A plasmid is introduced to a different bacterium cell and the bacteria carrying plasmids are selected and grow up. The gene from human cell is taken out and to join the plasmid in the bacterium cell. As they reproduce, the bacteria with the new plasmid cell make copies of itself. Some of the positives of gene cloning are that it can produce vaccines, regrow organs, improve people’s health, helps homosexual/sterile couples produce their own biological kids, and increase nutrition from food.

However, some of the negatives are that it is religiously wrong to act as God and control the genetic configuration, it has possibilities of unforeseen health issues and transferred disease, cost and access would be very difficult, effecting a person’s individuality and social interactions, it may give unfair physical advantages, there may be accountability issues, people may be generated set purpose like human trafficking and won’t have control of their own life, different family/parent interaction, criminally wrong to put down people, genetic diversity will go down, threat to human (normal) evolution, complicated parental rights, and complicated legal identity.

Conclusion

With all the research I’ve done on both the advantages and disadvantages of the Human Genome Project and gene cloning, it’s very difficult to have a conclusive answer. I feel that researches should continue because of all the medical possibilities it opens up, and it’s only going to more safe, advanced, and efficient. I also think there are numerous dangers and issues to reproductive cloning in humans and gene modifications, so hopefully any further research sticks to the positives I listed above.