Personal Gene Scans: Are They a Good Idea?

If you ask me mankind's greatest scientific accomplishment has been the cracking of the human genome. The Human Genome Project was the sequencing of the entire DNA that makes up all the genes that we, as humans, have. And the reason that I think it's so important is that it has such wide and far-reaching potential applications. It's already being extensively used in criminal investigations to positively identify culprits and more importantly, clear those who have been falsely accused and convicted. The code was cracked in 2003, some twenty years sooner than was first expected and this month on April 25^th we celebrate National DNA Day. That's right, National DNA day. (www.genome.gov)

But the most exciting application for DNA research is, of course, in the medical field. The potential for cure is enormous. There are so many different genetic diseases like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and a host of other ailments that could be treated. We may even be able to one day diagnose and prevent these diseases in the womb before the baby is born. Prenatal screening tests are available to do just that even today.

But whenever there is a new breakthrough there is always a possibility of abuse and those possibilities are as limitless as the human imagination. Yes, there is a possibility that most, if not all diseases may eventually be eliminated through genetic research, even aging itself, but what do we do about the excess population that it will bring endangering the world's already strained resources? What good is a world full of healthy long-living people if there is not enough food to go around and people starve? Do we enforce some kind of population control? And what about all those horror stories about scientists creating new breeds of species by combining genes? There's even a danger that by tinkering genetically with viruses a new super bug could be created. So instead of curing disease, we could theoretically create one that is more devastating than we have ever seen before.