Human Genome Project Pros and Cons

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Human Genome Project Pros and Cons

Scientific research has been evolving to incredible extents and we now know more than we ever did before. This is obviously something amazing and with the help of science we actually managed to cure a lot of diseases and battle a lot of problems that kept on haunting down our species. We are, however, not yet satisfied and we want to keep on going, discovering new things and understanding everything that composes the world around us.

List of Pros of the Human Genome Project

1. It Can Be a Huge Advantage for the Economy.
A project that is aiming to fully understand our genes and the human DNA is clearly something huge. Healthcare is an industry that, worldwide, makes a lot of money. Some pharmaceutical companies have billions of dollars coming and going, and make millions in profit while doing so. The amount of money that is being moved helps a lot of people and the Human Genome Project can actually become an industry in itself if it succeeds.

This means that it can create an incredibly huge amount of jobs and it can be very positive if companies see an interest in it and help support the cause. So far, the project has employed about four million people, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon.

2. Improve Our Medical Studies.
If the Human Genome Project actually succeeds, it is possible for us to understand the human genes and that can be incredible for the medical knowledge we have today. If we do manage to alter genes, then there is no telling as to where we can go with it. Incurable diseases can be cured, physical anomalies can be prevented, medicine can be more efficient and some of the biggest questions in science can actually be answered. If the human gene is programmed to resist current diseases successfully, even cancer can be a thing of the past.

3. It Can Revolutionize the Pharmaceutical Industry.
The project isn’t really aimed at changing the way natural evolution takes place, no one is trying to play God. The project aims to improve the quality of our medicine and improve healthcare in general. If the project succeeds, the consequences are almost infinitely positive since medicine can be more efficient, diseases can be understood clearly and even medical procedures can have better results.

List of Cons of the Human Genome Project

1. It Can Be Deemed Unethical.
After all, this project is basically playing around with the human DNA and human genes. This is something that a lot of people believe is none of our business and that we should just stay away from it. Religious organizations can even see this as pure blasphemy, while other people see it as playing with nature itself, which is also pretty unethical.

The project has sparked a lively debate in society and it is hard to tell what the outcome of the debate is going to be. Some people see the issue with an open-minded vision, while others cannot accept the project as something natural.

2. There Are Risks Associated With It.
If it is possible for us to use the knowledge we have about human genes to cure diseases and to make us better in an overall manner, than this is clearly something with extreme potential. Then again, the knowledge is going to be shared across the world and it is possible that someone somewhere decides to use this type of knowledge for unethical reasons. Possible mass extinction chemical weapons can be created with this type of knowledge, and that is simply terrifying.

3. Nothing Might Happen.
Even though the project is very promising, it is also possible that nothing really comes out of it. We don’t understand a lot about the human genes and, as such, we don’t know for sure what will come out of it. It can be expected that we manage to improve healthcare with the project, but it might not be so clear.

It’s easy to imagine that we can replace a bad gene with a good gene, but there are other possible outcomes. What if the gene is simply ignored? What if the gene causes a chain reaction that damages us?

History of the Human Genome Project

In the early 1990’s, the Human Genome Project was born. Coming as an initiative from the National Human Genome Research Institute, it had a very clear goal: to understand human genetics and to possibly alter them within the future. This isn’t morally wrong, clearly, and it is something that we wanted to do for a long time, but the implications that come with this are questionable.

Essentially, the Human Genome Project is all about genetic engineering. If successful, it would help us understand our DNA to greater extents by simply helping us understand what a lot more genes we have in there do and how they evolve. A lot of simple organisms have fully been understood already, but not us humans.

As such, people who support the Human Genome Project are all about understand our own DNA and really want the project to go through. After all, we do deserve to know who we are, But on the other hand, skeptics and critics don’t find the idea as good as it looks like it is, and they see a lot of risks in the future associated with the project.