Health Issues Take 2

Well I was so little informed when I wrote the last blog on Health. Since then I read the book on Genome. This is a very fascinating book I would readily recommend to anyone who wants to understand the Human Genome, get an idea how it has evolved and what it does as well as the potential in terms of the potential cures that may be possible for some of the human diseases.

There is so much I learned after reading the book that it would be almost impossible to cover this in the blog. Also at the same time if I do attempt at writing something along these lines it would reveal how ignorant I am about this subject. So I will not write what I learned about the genome but rather the impression it left on me.

First and foremost I want to convey the difficult and tedious history of how the genome was discovered. It seems to me like it is like first finding a book, one of a kind, in a library which has no catalogue of billions of book. Then discovering that the book has been written in a language unknown to anyone, trying to learn the language. Then after understanding the language we have been able to read the book but now we don't what the books message is. We know only some part of the message. So that is where we are!

Second thing I want to convey is the potential this understanding of the genome has on human diseases and other human concerns like aging. Manipulating genes though a major ethical concern could make major revolutions in cures possible. I would recommend the funding of such research. Some of the debate on the gene therapy I feel is hypocritical. Lets take the example of genetically altered seeds (agriculture). Humans have been doing genetically alteration of different agricultural plants since prehistoric times (Actually I would argue agriculture is nothing but genetic alteration). However now suddenly genetic altered agriculture is suddenly an issue. I agree certain precautions should be taken but other than that I feel that the current debate is just unjust!

Third thing I want to convey is my ignorance. This subject is so vast and complex that I have to admit my incomprehensibility. I have so many questions and I will and try and get an answer to this. One good website I encountered is the webpage on the NIH Website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim . This is a wonderful website that lists all the known diseases due to mutations in genes on certain chromosome. Remember always: GENES DON'T CAUSE DISEASES. It is the issues due to mutation of the genes that cause the diseases.

Apart from this there are other issues that have left an imprint on me. However I don't want to cover these as these are trivial compared to the above three. I will try and update the blog as and when I read more about this subject.