A Massive Project For The Benefit Of Mankind: A Look At The Human Geno :: essays research papers fc

A Massive Project for the Benefit of Mankind A Look at the Human Genome Project     Scientists are taking medical technology to new heights as they race tomap all of the genes, nearly 100,000, in the 23 chromosomes of the human body.Along the way, they hope to understand the basis of, and maybe even developmethods of treating certain genetic diseases, much(prenominal) as Alzheimers and MuscularDystrophy. They plan to do this by identifying the desoxyribonucleic acid while of an abnormalgene in which a disease originates and comparing it with the data of a normal orhealthy gene. The entire research forecast is entitled "The Human GenomeProject."     "The Human Genome Project" is a large scale project being conducted bymore than 200 laboratories, with even more researchers and labs having conjugate in.Most of the labs and researchers are located in France and the United States.The project started in 1990 and was slated to t ake 15 years and cost $3 billionin U.S. notes for the entire project coming to roughly $200 million per year.Federal funding for the project is nearly 60% of the annual need. This hascreated some funding problems for the project. in that location also have beentechnological advances and discoveries that have helped to speed up the project.This automation may help to reduce the cost and help the project to meet itsobjectives in the lead of schedule. The project was estimated to have detailed mapsof all of the chromosomes and know the location of most of the human Genes by1996. Researchers have successfully located the gene and DNA sequence forHuntingtons Disease on Chromosome 4 and have created a genetic test todetermine if a person carries this gene. "The child of a person withHuntingtons has a 50% chance of inheriting the gene, which inevitably leads tothe disease." Once an individual acquires the gene, it is only a matter oftime before they acquire the disease. Because the medical costs of treatingsuch persons in terminal illnesses are extremely high, damages companies whowant to stay in business see this genetic test, and others like it, as anopportunity to covert prospective clients for the probability of such diseases.Some people feel that this information gives insurance companies unfairadvantage over those covered by medical insurance and point out that release ofgenetic information to insurance companies puts a severe disadvantage on theperson who is screened, as well as violates the patients pay to privacy. Ifthis genetic information is not safegua rded as confidential for the patientsand doctors knowledge alone, then the patient can be tagged as undesirable and