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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Cracking Your Genetic Code Response



What do you think are the benefits and disadvantages of knowing the contents of your genome? Would you want to know your chances of getting a disease that you could do little about (like Huntington's disease)? What would be the consequences of knowing? Do you think those consequences out weigh the benefits? Would you do things differently if you found out that you would get the disease? If so, what would you do differently? If not, why?

Your response should be a minimum of 250 words and answer all of the above questions. Responses should show thoughtful reflection. I recommend that you copy and paste your comment from a word document just in case it erases (so that you do not cry yourself to sleep). You are welcome to turn in a hard copy. This will replace a test for CH 14 and will be worth 50 test points.

12 comments:

  1. I would want to know a disease that cannot be helped because i would want to do all the things that i would want to do. if i had a disease that could be saved i would also want to know because i would want to get it treated and live my life like nothing ever happened. i would want to know my chances of getting a deadly disease so maybe i could take drugs that would lower the risk of getting huntington's disease. the consequences are bad because death or a life in a wheelchair or unintelligence. i would be tempted to rush things when i know i have the disease because i would know that i have a limited time to do the things that life has to offer. things that i will do differently would be to research the disease i have or best possible treatments for the disease that i have. knowing that i have a fatal disease would make me very sad and i probably wouldnt live life normal
    isaac kane

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  2. The benefits of knowing the contents of your genome are that you can change your lifestyle so that you can have lower chances of getting that disease. Another benefit is that if you know for sure that you won’t get the disease, you can keep your lifestyle the same so that you don’t eventually get the disease since you changed your lifestyle. The disadvantages are that knowing if you were going to get a disease could bother you. Another disadvantage is that you could change your lifestyle, but in the wrong way so that your chances go up instead of going down. I wouldn’t want to know if I was getting a disease that you could do little about because that would make me slightly insane. The consequences of knowing are that it could drive you crazy. The consequences could outweigh the benefits, but it depends on the situation. If the benefits were that you knew for sure that you weren’t going to get the disease than yes the benefits would outweigh the consequences. If you knew for sure that you would get the disease and it was bothering you then the consequences would outweigh the benefits. If I found out that I would get the disease then I would change my diet or start to exercise more often. I might also go to places that I haven’t ever been to before and really want to go to. I would prefer to not know because then I would not be able to make any wrong decisions. I would want to live the life I would have lived without knowing.

    ~Amy

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  3. I think the benefits of knowing the contents of your genome is that you can plan out your life. You will get to know when you are going to die. The disadvantages of knowing, it is a death sentence. Also family members might not want to know and they will stop talking to you. It would be nice to know so you can plan out your life and you might be able to live longer and there might be a cure. Once I saw in the video I thought it is awesome how the doctors tried to find a cure and they found one. The consequences of knowing would be you would have to get ready to die. If you had a date and time you would have to be ready for your life to be gone. Yes I do thing the consequences do out weight the benefits because you have to do things quickly and faster. If I did find out I would do things differently. How? I would do anything fun. I would do that because I would want to enjoy the rest of my life. I would also exercise more often. I would want to know but also I wouldn’t. Yes because I could plan my life. No because I want to live my life the way I want to. I don’t want to make my family members not talk to me if I knew. I know for a fact that I will and would not want to find out. Would you?

    ~Maddie Lahargoue
    Science ROCKS!!!!!

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  4. There are several benefits of knowing the contents of my genome. I could find out whether I have a chance to get a particular disease. If there are ways to prevent it, such as how I eat and exercise, I could do those things. If it is treatable, it would be good to know so I can have it treated as early as possible. Also, it would be good know what diseases I may pass on to my children. If I have a chance to get a very bad disease like Huntington, I would be sad. But, it could also affect how I live and I would do as many of the things I want to do before the disease came. I would try to enjoy my life before I got the disease. If I knew I could get a bad disease, what I do may help others, even if I might die from the disease. There are disadvantages too. If I knew of something bad in my genome, such a very bad disease, it could make me depressed. I might never have children if I was worried I might pass on a bad disease. I might not get married if I worried about my future. Also, other people may not want to be my friends if they knew I might have a serious disease. My family may be sad and always worried that the disease I might get will come out and make me sick. I would not want to know the contents of my genome because I want to live my live free of worry, because knowing everything will come crashing down is very scary. If I knew, I would question everything I did what I should do next maybe even rush things that should not be rushed and make mistakes.

    -Shalyn ;3

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  5. Ashley
    Mrs. Yates
    Science/ Biology
    3/11/15

    The benefits of knowing the contents of you genome are the belief that you can save your life. This means you can change your life according to your decisions. The disadvantage of knowing the contents of you genome include changing your life style (the way you think of your life), changing your future and decisions, and feeling like you don’t have enough time in your life to do your plans. In fact, I would like to know if I had an incurable disease like Huntington's Disease because I have plans for my life. If I had an incurable disease and I didn’t know about it, I would just keep going about my day and not realize the risk I’m in. Yes, I would change the way I do my day and the way I think, but I want to live a complete, happy life, where I can make memories of, and have a great time in. If I had (for example) Huntington’s disease where I couldn't do anything about, and I knew about it, yes, there would be consequences. Maybe my family members didn’t want to know or face knowing I had it and wondering if they shared it, or telling my friends and them being afraid to see me, or even having children before know I had the disease. I still don’t think the consequences outweigh the benefits because I would rather know and have people be afraid of me so I can live my life and do the plans I wanted to do. I definitely would change the way I think and do because again, I want to be able to have time to finish a happy life before I start showing symptoms. My life would completely change if I figured out I had a painful, incurable, disease.

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  6. Loved this video!

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  7. Weston Kennedy
    Ms. Yates
    Science
    3 / 11 / 2015




    There are definitely drawbacks to knowing you own genome. If you had a curable disease that you discovered because of looking at your genome then in that case it is helpful. You could cure it pre-symptomatic. But if you have an incurable disease then you may not want to know that you will not live as long as you thought you would because then the thought of it may prevent you from enjoying your life. I would definitely look at life with a different perspective. I would do things I wanted to do throughout my life. I would buy all the guitars and instruments I could find. I would also travel to Spain. You only have one chance to make what you want out of your life and having a sudden drop in time to be alive would shock me into the attitude of living life to fullest a little bit faster. It depends on the person and their perspective. If that person is especially optimistic they would enjoy what they had left. But depending on the individual, knowing your future can have a negative and positive affect. In my personal opinion, the benefits outweigh the downfalls because the suspense of not knowing is more stressful than knowing your future. The bothering thought of "Do I have this disease?" is worse than the thought of "I have this disease".


    (<~Weston~>)

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  8. Tanner



    There are advantages and disadvantages to knowing your genome. A benefit of knowing the contents of your genome is being able to see if you could pass on a certain disease. You could learn if you have a certain type of cancer and you could get it treated. The disadvantage is you could learn you have an incurable disease, and now you know when you are going to die. Family and friends may not talk to you because they might be afraid of their own genetic information. The family would be afraid of realizing there may be something wrong with them as well. I would want to know if I had an incurable disease because I could start planning what I want to do with the time I had left and tell my parents if I was going to die. I do not think the bad stuff out ways the benefits because you now know what you have and you can do something about it. I would do things differently if I found out I had the disease because I would want to live my life to its fullest and be the best I can be. I would tell my family I had it, and I would travel the world. I think having the information of your genome can make you aware that one of you family members might have the disease. Some people might be afraid to know their genomes information but, you can see if you will pass on a disease or if you even have one. Parents can now know if they might end up hurting their child or if they will pass on a bad trait to their kids. Even though their are downfalls knowing your information could save your life.

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  9. By knowing the contents of your genome can benefit you by informing you about the diseases that could infect you in the future. You could change the ways you life by because of the effect of the disease. By knowing this information you can plan out the amount of exercise you do or you can plan out the medical expenses of having a certain disease. The disadvantages of knowing the contents of your genome is the effects on your mental state. Knowing your genome can create a risk of having depression. As the documentary stated, by knowing your genome could make people stay away from you because other family members might not wanted to know that you will have a certain disease. By knowing that you will not have a disease may result in bad habits such as eating wrong and stop exercising. If I know I will get a disease later in my life I would want to know if I have a disease but if a specific disease will affect me in the next couple of years I wouldn't want to know. I think there would be a consequence of knowing because by knowing it would make me go into shock or make me be depressed. I would probably affect my friends around me that didn't want to know because they will be worried for my life and have a burden of knowing. I think the consequences would over weigh the benefits because I would want to live a normal life like everyone but by knowing I would be so afraid that I would want to do anything. The life expectancy of a human with a genetic problem could be mentally defeated because of the thought that you won’t life past a certain date. I would definitely do something different in my life so I can life as long as I can. I will keep fighting till it’s over. As a change I may exercise more, eat healthier, and to stay positive with your life.

    Jovin :)

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  10. The benefits and disadvantages of knowing the contents of your genome vary. The benefits of knowing the contents of your genome is that you will know if you will get a type of disease or have the possibility for getting a disease. Also, with knowing your genome you will have the knowledge of knowing what possible diseases you would pass down to your future offspring. Some of the disadvantages of knowing the contents of your genome would be that you would know if you will get a disease or have the possibility of getting one. All of this new knowledge would be at your fingertips and you could use this knowledge or not. If you sent your DNA to a company a to see what kind of diseases you are prone to and it came up with 90% chance of ALS and told you that you only had two years to live; you most likely would try to accomplish everything that you wanted to do in your lifetime and into two years. I believe that this way of knowing, although can be helpful, it can also be dangerous. I believe that knowing the contents of your genome can be dangerous because all the sudden you will want a life in which you do everything you want to do and know when to get your priorities strait and make sure that you are happy with yourself because you know that you will not have as long as you though you would. I believe that people should embrace the spectacular now without knowing what is in store for them and even through the ups and downs accept themselves and be content with what they choose; because this is just life, we do not know what is going to happen, we take the path of the unknown and because of this knew knowledge that is available, it is conflicting with how we live and how we think we should live. This is important because those are two very different things. Therefor, I would currently not want to know what my chances are of getting a disease that I could do little about. I wish to go with the flow. I believe that the consequences do not out weigh the benefits because I believe that whatever will be will be, and I will learn to take the good, the bad, and the real when those times occur, not before they do. Also, to me it feels like if you know what is going to happen, then to me it just feels wrong. If I happened to find out that I will have a life threatening disease, I would absolutely do things differently. I would live my life differently; I would probably do everything differently with knowing that I do not have as much time as I thought I would. Also, I most likely would cram my whole life into the amount of time that I was diagnosed with. This is why I believe that it would be better to not know the contents of your genome.
    Riley Minning

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  11. One of the benefits of knowing your genome sequence would be able to diagnose diseases early. Diagnosing a disease early would be helpful because then you can get the treatment that helps or start reaching for the cure. A disadvantage about knowing your genome sequence would be that if you found out you had a disease that couldn't be treated or cured, you would just have to live with thinking that you are something that can’t be fixed. I would want to know my chances of getting any disease, curable or not because then you can be prepared for the worst. If the disease runs in your family, you might have a higher chance of you getting a certain disease. A consequence of knowing that you have an un-curable disease is that you might have a shorter lifespan or my limited to your activities. I don’t think that the consequences outweigh the benefits because when you know, you can start treating it and try to get better. If I found out I had an un-curable disease, I would try to live the rest of my life in the fullest. Instead of complaining about everything, I would look on the bright side and marvel at everything. I know that I don’t have a disease right now, so I know that I am more prone to complain and dis-recognize the beauty of life. If you just took a minute to look at all of the beautiful things and people around you, you would realize how precious our time and life is. Being able to recognize that you aren't perfect takes a lot of pride for some people. I know for me that it did.

    Natalie Adamson

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  12. 1. The benefits of knowing your chances of getting a disease are the fact you can change accordingly to the problem and being able to plan what you would want to do with your life. One of the downsides of knowing is the burden of knowing how you will die and you don’t have a chance to change it.
    2. I would want to know if I was going to die early, because I wouldn’t be as scared of dying because I would know I have to try this before I die to a disease. Now that’s only my opinion.
    3. The consequences of knowing are the people who would leave my life because they wouldn’t want to live with the fact of me deteriorating daily. The other consequence is how your family would have the burden of knowing they might get it too because we share genes, and would be scared of that fact.
    4. The consequences do weigh out the benefits of getting it treated. The treatment might not work and you would be devastated. When you find out it’s like you have worked hard to live and then this happens to you. I wouldn’t believe it.
    5. I wouldn’t change my life to accommodate the sickness unless it is desperately needed to treat the illness. My sickness would have to adjust to me! Haha I’m joking. I would slightly adjust though. I would eat the diet needed, and live on what I have to. I would deteriorate, but I would fight it as much as I could.
    -Chris

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