I can say that I would sequence my genome for several reasons. Firstly, even if it has a negative connotation, this information can cause anxiety and stress, but at the same time, I can use precious time to prevent a severe illness. Secondly, any genome sequencing results are essential from the point of view of science since they have the opportunity to either confirm the statistics of the majority of identical sequences or discover a new statistical outlier that carries useful scientific information for society. Finally, this information would be helpful for future generations, even within my family, to prevent similar problems in children and grandchildren. Of course, in this case, the financial accessibility of this tool is essential, and, in my opinion, sooner or later, it should be available to most people on Earth. However, such access should be given only after in-depth research into the psychological nature of the perception of the results and the reduction of possible harm to the participants’ health.
My attention was drawn to scientific information that the structure of the genome contains predispositions to certain diseases and that this information can be obtained not only in qualitative but also in quantitative representation. Surprisingly, 99.9% of people have approximately identical sequences of T, C, G, and A proteins; nevertheless, they contain certain diseases (Sanderson, 2018). The uniqueness of the series leads to a wide variety of disorders in the body, including psychological disorders (Sanderson, 2018). The importance of the psychological aspect in delivering this information to sequencing participants may provide valuable information for further research exploring the relationship between mental health disorders and genome structure (Robinson et al., 2019). A variety of diseases whose symptoms are detectable, but cannot give a complete picture among known diseases, can be studied using sequencing (Robinson et al., 2019). Finally, by sequencing the genome, people provide a fundamental understanding of some aspects of the causes of diseases, which can give impetus not only to medicine in each specific field but also to pharmacology, psychology, and other related sciences.
I try to see my doctors every year to support and prevent health. I go to the gym to keep in shape. I have some back problems and had a severe heart condition as a child, which was cured by adolescence. In my opinion, the timing of this procedure is critical because by focusing on heart disease in childhood, my parents could perceive a predisposition to a condition of a different nature with less emphasis. We need to find a balance between conscious age, responsible decision, and youth when the results of sequencing can help prevent any disease.
This information can be used to improve society in the following way. First, the nature of most serious diseases will be determined individually for each person for the purpose of prevention and care. Secondly, unknown conditions with specific symptoms can be explained in genomics. Finally, mechanisms for working with people who have deviations, including psychological ones, can be obtained in the future. The negative impact can manifest itself in the still poorly understood psychological aspect of delivering information: in some instances, it can harm a person (Sanderson, 2018). In addition, it is difficult to provide further control over the actions of a person who may leave his life unchanged or dismiss low risks of diseases (Sanderson, 2018). Finally, by making this tool more accessible, it will still be quite challenging to check all the people on the planet, leading to injustice and social conflicts.
References
Robinson, J. O., Wynn, J., Biesecker, B., Biesecker, L. G., Bernhardt, B., Brothers, K. B.,… & Gray, S. W. (2019). Psychological outcomes related to exome and genome sequencing result disclosure: a meta-analysis of seven Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) Consortium studies. Genetics in Medicine, 21(12), 2781-2790. Web.
Sanderson, S. (2018). Would you have your genome sequenced? [Video]. Web.