The Human Genome Project: The Debate

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The Human Genome Project: The Debate

        The Human Genome project began in 1990. It was a collaboration movement by the scientific community to better understand our genetic make up. The project involves scientists in many countries, including the Sanger centre in the UK. The project itself is aimed at working out the order of all 3 billion base pairs that make up the human genetic blue print or genome. The human genome is made up of about three billion base pairs, which contain 100,000 genes. Along with this, the project also aims to find the location of the genes on the 23 human chromosomes and store all this information for future research where it can be accessed worldwide. It is hoped that the project will also help develop even better tools for sequencing and analysis. The project not only affects the science world but also affects the business world. The desire of companies to sequence parts of the human genome ahead of the Institutes of Health has led to a multitude of company mergers and partnerships.

        The project will help us to know exactly which sections of DNA, on which chromosome, are responsible for the many inherited diseases from which people can suffer. Once the sequence of bases in a gene is known it is possible to devise a reliable test to see if it is present. This is known as genetic testing. The advantages of genetic testing are that it can detect illness and problems in new born babies and alongside the advances of medical technology, can help treat them. Genetic testing can also be used to test the parents to see if they are carriers of any diseases, and then the probability of their child inheriting this disease can be calculated.

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        Some genes that have been identified by the project by the project contribute roles in diseases that develop later in life, such as Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer and ovarian cancer. These diseases are multifactorial in that both the genetic make up of a person can cause it, alongside the environmental factors which can also contribute. Genetic testing can identify people at greater risk and then health authorities can target these people- giving regular screening, advice and counselling.

Knowing the base sequence of a normal, functioning gene may eventually with advanced medical techniques be able to eliminate all risk of the ...

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