The Human Genome Project (arguments for and against)

Mohsin - -

The Human Genome Project is a piece of scientific research, which allows scientists to know the arrangement of nucleotides in Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). As we know, there are millions of nucleotides in a double-stranded molecule of DNA, which code for the structure of a complete human; their eye colour, size, hair colour etc. There can also be mutant genes in the DNA, which may cause irregularities in the final human. The Human Genome Project’s aim was to find out the order of nucleotides, in the DNA and when mutant genes occurred that gene could be eliminated/changed so the patient would recover and then the patient’s offspring would not have contracted that specific hereditary mutant gene. For example, if a person had cystic fibrosis, doctors could located the mutant gene responsible for this disease, change it to make it “normal” and then the person who has this mutant gene would survive and live a healthier life. Now that the odd gene has been changed, the children of that patient would have no risk of being passed on with cystic fibrosis. Although this sounds like a great idea, to cure people of horrific hereditary diseases, some individuals believe that it is wrong to alter the course of nature and create a “perfect race”.

The advantages of this process are that people won’t have to live with the dreadful, painful, time consuming disease. Instead, the operation of making that person’s disease gene normal would cure them. The argument against this is that, altering peoples DNA is very risky and if a complication occurs the person may die, or even end up worse than they were before.

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Another pro is that, the offspring of the victim would have no fear of having that mutant gene and therefore diseases such as Huntingtons could be wiped out for good. The down side of this is, scientists are playing the part of God and this may go against some religion’s belief. Also, they are trying to create a “perfect race” which could result in a boring, dull life for everyone. The opposite of this is that, why wouldn’t God want to cure its people after all Jesus was a healer, surely there is no harm in making people better.

Another bad point of the Human Genome Project is that, in the wrong hands it would be possible to create a perfect child, or maybe a person who is dangerously smart and cunning and able to live the life of a professional criminal, while having the ability of dodging the authorities. The argument against this statement is that, keep the laboratory, or area, where the altering of genes takes place in a secret location, and the scientists who work there under oath, away from civilization and under constant monitoring. The patients who arrive, would not know how the process is done so there is no risk of them telling.

As you can see, there are many ways of viewing whether the Human Genome Project is good or bad. It depends on you own personal, ethical, social, and religious views. To conclude, my own view on this project is, yes the gene alteration method is good simply because, when I look at the plus and minus points, I see more of an advantage to the individual rather than the negatives. In addition, I see no harm in curing people because Jesus did and in the Islamic religion, Jesus is a prophet. I believe that doctors are not playing the role of God because, he would have wanted to see how his creations, us, would deal with such diseases and he wouldn’t have created such viruses if they were incurable. The HGP has my vote!