Endless Possibilities Lie Within Genetic Modification

The power of the Human Genome Project has us asking, “Should we alter the genetic information within oneself to better them?” Understandably, there can be some ethical conflicts that can arise but, those can be avoided by dealing with the medicine of this discovery. By correcting the human genome so that it will function properly should be and should only be the sole purpose for correction. As well, gene editing will only become greater as the research is conducted. As the genome reflects greater knowledge to us, the possibilities in medicine are endless.

Genetics can either make or break us as an individual and were designed in our favour. The possibility of correcting the human genome introduces the idea of eliminating genetic disease for current and possible hereditary victims. Diseases like Cystic Fibrosis and thalassaemia are not curable. These diseases cause for the person to have a short and painful journey through life and for us to have the knowledge to prevent such diseases and not act on such diseases is horrifying. These genetic diseases can be completely avoided and everyone needs their own chance at life. By preventing such genetic diseases, the hereditary possibilities for offspring are completely eliminated from that family tree. This can be important to families who suffer from Huntington’s disease, which is an inherited brain disorder to 50% of the offspring from a parent with the disease. This genetic heredity can be eliminated with the genetic correction of an individual with the genetic disease. Medically, correcting the human genome can also correct more complicated genetic diseases such as Heart Disease and Schizophrenia. These diseases consist of many genetic mutations/errors that can now be fixed. As well, by studying these genetic processes, we can expand our knowledge of the origins of disease by researching genetic modification in embryos. The stem cells can be edited for researchers to create a cell that destroys and cures leukemia. The medical field can be enhanced substantially by introducing genetic correction.

The genetic lottery is one which is unfair. Some people are born naturally gifted and live long lives whereas some are not so lucky and live out short, painful lives. By introducing genetic research into genes in embryos, we can solve the stories of the individual to come and fix any errors in the genetic code. By fixing these codes, it would completely be in the presence of medicine and not for a personal preference of  race, traits and/or looks. These fixtures of the human-to-be would be to ensure a long healthy life from the individual. From things like possible mental illness and eating disorders can be prevented by fixing the genetic information of the embryo.  The life of an individual can also have altercations on their ageing and can be slowed down. By enhancing the genetic information of an individual to not age can cause our average human life expectancy to increase.

All human life should be celebrated and endured by all. The correction of the human genome can be the start to making sure that all human beings have the fair chance in life. This new medical journey has endless possibilities and can only be enhanced by research. The health of the people is where we need to look into and genetic modification has something in common with all of us. The human genome.

Bibliography
Porostocky, Art By Thomas. "Pro and Con: Should Gene Editing Be Performed on Human Embryos?" National Geographic. N.p., 14 June 2017. Web. 16 June 2017.
"Five Reasons We Should Embrace Gene-editing Research on Human Embryos." Phys.org - News and Articles on Science and Technology. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 June 2017.
"What Is Huntington Disease?" Huntington Society of Canada. N.p., 23 Nov. 2016. Web. 16 June 2017.


Comments

  1. Anonymous18 June 2017 at 16:02

    I completely agree! The use of gene therapy could be the most effective way to do medicine and improve the quality of lives of many. Eliminating genetic diseases from impacting future generations is the greatest gift that humanity can give to them!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous18 June 2017 at 18:58

    Even though this consists of very good points, I still do not believe it is correct for the altering of genes to be done. Of course there is a possibility of finding the cure to some diseases or cancer but, how long will it take? could it affect other parts of the body? even though we may never know, by the time it could be found, over millions of dollars could have been placed into it and then still have issues in different humans bodies. It is hard to make accusations such as those because even though it sounds great there can be many issues that arise. As well, I personally believe genetic lottery is quite fair. People are made unique, just by altering there genes to make them healthy and like things, doesn't mean they will be happy. You will never truly know as a person what another human being likes and makes them happy. So what? you may be able to take away mental issues but you never know if they could arise from something else.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous19 June 2017 at 14:04

    Yes, you may be right in a way, but even though this may cure some diseases, it is not right. That's not how the world so supposed to work, we are not supposed to change these things about us. The characteristics and aspects we are born with make us who we are and in a way they shape us to be the person we grow to be until the day we die. We were never meant to change ourselves to please others. The genetic lottery is more fair than unfair as when creating offspring it is known that the chance of certain diseases or defects may be passed on to our offspring, but this should not change anything, everyone is still human and everyone should still be loved no matter what is on the inside or how things may appear on the outside. Eliminating these diseases while the offspring may still be in the womb may create more disadvantages as this may affect the mother carrying her child and it may also create the opportunity for another disease to be created that can be worse than the one the child already had. Other solutions may be better to cope with these kinds of diseases if they need to be cured.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous19 June 2017 at 17:49

    Hey Aidan, I really enjoyed reading your article, however I have to disagree with some of your points. When you say, "These genetic diseases can be completely avoided and everyone needs their own chance at life. By preventing such genetic diseases, the hereditary possibilities for offspring are completely eliminated from that family tree. " I believe that yes, you are eliminating one of the genetic diseases that can be passed on, however, altering the genes of human DNA can cause other problems that are possibly worse than the one that was removed. You can never be 100% sure about the safety, and many complications result that can also be passed on through the family tree.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous19 June 2017 at 19:23

    Overall, it seems as if the point of gene modification is to make everyone similar (no disease, no mental illness), when in reality, it is a natural part of life. No one is perfect, which is why genetic alteration should not try to make anyone perfect. Yes, technology is great, but gene modification is taking it too far. A topic I would like to bring to your attention is the many famous scientists who suffered from mental illnesses. They had mental illnesses (which is what gene altering wants to correct), and still managed to explore many discoveries. Perhaps their mental illness worked to their advantage, instead of hindering their way of life. I always wondered how their life would turn out if they didn't have mental illnesses. Do you think they would have had many discoveries?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous21 June 2017 at 17:21

    Hi Aidan! You definitely brought new perspective to the table. You emphasized how correcting the human genome should be our only intention. With all ethics aside, utilizing our knowledge for the sole purpose of improving our quality of life would be great. However, there will always be a factor, (perhaps taking form of a dollar bill) that will insist on continuing the manipulation of genes for personal gain. My whole perspective is, once we allow for even the slightest alteration, where do we draw the line? The diseases that naturally occur should not be seen as demons, but rather something we should learn to embrace. There are valuable lessons hidden among the tragedy of cancer, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anaemia and more. We are taught to appreciate our health and help others. In the absence of these disorders, genetic diversity will be lessoned and it would be a completely different world.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Just Because We Can Doesn’t Mean We Should

Image
Just Because We Can Doesn’t Mean We Should Do you take every opportunity that arises in your life? The answer is probably a no, because if you did, would you be alive? Every day, you are given the chance to do many things, like try new foods and talk to new people. Sometimes, you are given riskier opportunities like biking without a helmet (rebellious!) or even jumping into a freezing cold lake with nobody around. You sometimes know that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits , and deny these opportunities. Genetic engineering is no exception; we don't have to take this opportunity What is Genetic Engineering? Genetic engineering involves the manipulation of genetic material of organisms in order to attain desired traits. More simply, it is changing an organism to make it look, or act a specific way ( NHGRI, 2006) . In the past, plants have been genetically modified in order to grow crops with a higher product yield and to product more aesthetically pleasing produ...
Read more

Save the Human Genome

Image
why we should SAVE THE HUMAN GENOME from genetic engineering unethical. unnatural. “This is a technology that could have profound implications for permanent alteration of the human genome" - MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST, Jennifer Doudna University of California Although genetic engineering is evolving, it has yet to be proven safe. It is the process in which we alter structure and nature of genes to transform it in a way that is favourable or desirable.  GENE OF INTEREST + TARGET ORGANISM = FAVOURABLE TRAIT   The ability to alter the human genome opens the door to many potential controversial and unknown effects. I think correcting genetic defects is unnecessary and not worth the risk. Genes are what make us all unique and therefore should not be modified.  EMBRYOS ARE UNABLE TO GIVE CONSENT.  They have no say in the changes that are imposed upon them. They can't go against these intentional modificat...
Read more

Why we Shouldn't Fear Genetic Engineering

Image
“Most people don’t want to hear important truth” - Jim Watson  I n 2015, Chinese scientists announced that they had modified human embryos to alter a gene that causes a life-threatening blood disorder, Cystic Fibrosis. This was the first experiment that exhibited genetic engineering to prevent inherited diseases.  Genetic engineering uses bacterial enzymes to delete/replace genes in DNA (Savulescu, 2015). By doing so, traits are added to the human genome that would not have been there previously.  Although its safety still needs to be tested, the likelihood of choosing the DNA of future children is high for many reasons.   “Nature can be cruel” What does Jim Watson mean by this statement?  In the documentary “Pandora’s Box - Episode 5” Jim Watson explains that genes can be “too short, too tall, too fast or too thin” which ultimately causes genetic diseases that are incurable and in many situations, life threatening.  With genetic engi...
Read more