Everywhere that you look, you can tell that society is changing due to the technological advancement that has occurred in science throughout the years. We are always being introduced to new products, vaccines, inventions, or even discoveries. When I think about technology advancing so much that we are almost able to identify and sequence approximately all 30, 000 genes in the human DNA, that amazes me. But a project like the human genome project is sure to develop certain ethical, legal, or social issues from the masses of people. One ethical issue that arises in my mind is the right to privacy. Do we really want insurance companies, employers, schools, and adoption agencies to have access to our genetic information? Only time will tell how successful the human genome project really is.
For me, the right to privacy is a very important factor in my life. Although it may be beneficial for me to have hospitals know my genetic make-up, I know for a fact that I wouldn't want insurance agencies and employers to have access to that information. If there were ever something wrong with me, and the insurance agencies knew about it, chances are is that they"d use that against me in determining whether or not I received insurance. The fact that they could use that reason against me to deny me health or medical insurance is somewhat frightening. Partially because I feel that no one should be denied medical insurance. And not only could they deny me of health coverage, but they can also charge me extra, which in turn does bring up issues of discrimination. .
Having employers knowing about you"re genetic make-up is just as bad as having insurance agencies knowing about it, only because they could also use that information against potential employees. For example, employers could use the information to classify, discriminate, or even deny them of employment even thought it has no relation on their ability to perform the job.
