The fear of genetic discrimination is a phobia gripping many people around the world. People find themselves asking, could my genetic information raise my health bills? Could this cause me to be rejected from a job opportunity? These anxieties are causing people to lash out at genetic research, and ultimately the human genome project. People do not want our understanding of human genomics to advance. This is because the risks of the development of the technology could inflict on them. A major risk is genetic discrimination. I believe that genetic discrimination is wrong and governments should continue to prevent it because it is an invasion of privacy, it violates equity, and it could really hurt people with genetic disabilities. On the other hand, some might argue that genetic discrimination is beneficial because companies can select better workers or choose the appropriate cost of a person’s health care. But, I think that if we continue our research in genetics, gene therapy could cancel any arising issues and everyone could get what they want! The human genome project was a 13-year project run by the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The goal of this project was to discover and map all of the human genes so that they may be used in future biological studies. Also, it aimed at figuring out all the sequences of bases in DNA (in the human genome.) Throughout this project, the new knowledge of genetic material helped us better understand human health and disease. That means the project has assisted in the advancement of medical technology! The advancements include how to predict and diagnose different diseases, such as gene testing. Gene testing is the scanning of a sample of DNA to find mutations. Last, the data has led to the investigation in a new medical
technology, gene therapy. Gene therapy aims at curing any genetic diseases. The human genome project came to a close in 2003, but the data will be analyzed