The Future of Medicine: The Impact of Modern Genetic Research. By Aleena Qadri

How Modern Genetic Research is Changing Our Understanding of Diseases

Modern genetic research has truly changed the way we understand diseases. From scientific breakthroughs varying from “designer babies” to the “human genome project”, it is clear that by studying genes, scientists have discovered many ways to alter our DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid). These alterations span from modifying rare genetic disorders early on, to treating more common illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease. This has led to something known as precision medicine, meaning treatments are tailored to each person's unique genetic makeup.

Ethical Considerations in Genetic Testing

While genetic testing has offered huge benefits when it comes to diagnosing illnesses during their early stages, it also brings up important ethical questions. One of the biggest and most widely questioned issues is privacy. How can you know who to trust with such sensitive information about your body? Genetic information is considered to be very personal, and there are risks that it can be misused if it falls into the wrong hands.

Another huge concern is genetic discrimination. Could employers and insurance companies possibly refuse to hire you and make unfair decisions? Fortunately, laws like the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) in the United States aim to prevent this.

In addition to these questions, we face even more tough questions about how far we should really go. With gene editing technologies like CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), people are slowly realizing that editing genes to prevent serious diseases does seem promising, but the idea of “designer babies”, where you are fully capable of altering each and every little thing about your baby, from height to eye color, to even gender, has raised many moral and social concerns. It is very important to consider the views of our society to help balance medical progress with ethical responsibility.

Ultimately, genetic research is still something very new to us, and everyday we find out more about this revolutionary technology, which helps us understand and consider new ways to treat diseases. However, it is very important to acknowledge what can go wrong, and the possible risks of incorporating such powerful technology in our process of medical research.

Sources

Collins, Francis S., et al. “Human Molecular Genetics and Genomics — Important Advances and Exciting Possibilities.” The New England Journal of Medicine, 2 January 2021, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2030694.

“Ethical and Social Issues in Incorporating Genetic Research into Survey Studies.” NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK110038/.