Personal Genome Project

Controversy is at the heart of the Personal Genome Project. Initiated in 2005, the PGP was created by scientists responsible for the construction of the Human Genome Project. The broad purpose of the PGP is to expand the general knowledge base of medical engineers and doctors by providing a common database ideally encompassing the genome sequence of all individuals. By exploring the results different factors may have on individuals with psychological or physical conditions, medical treatment has the potential to become much more efficient and effective and; in a heartbeat a doctor treating a patient with sickle cell anemia, for example, could see what doctors all over the world were using with their own patients suffering from sickle cell anemia, including which methods worked best or what specific symptoms tended to represent. This wealth of information could also lead to a surge in medical research discoveries. The benefits of having such an open system are both obvious and numerous. Despite the help it might provide, we have constructed a regrettable and seemingly insurmountable paradox in society. A growing understanding of health and promising medical advancements beg for information that can only be derived from what an individual deems his private knowledge. Because of the assumed risk of falling victim to social stigmas, and a sense of artificially instated entitlement towards privacy, people are not willing to publicize very valuable information. In a situation like the PGP, where the outcome could provide such advancement in knowledge so critical, people must let go of their notions of private en mass. One individual cannot step too far away from his sense of privacy in the social system at hand without making himself subject to detrimental judgment from the rest of society. Everyone must participate or that one’s actions elicit stark and unfair consequences. If all people are part of the system and share the risk, the sacrifice becomes diluted until it didn’t exist, as we would develop a collective investment in keeping information safe, usable, and valued. For something like the Personal Genome Project, legislature must mandate everyone to contribute in order to protect the individuals who are a part of it, and to ensure that the information is best used.