Q.Now, sequencing of total genomes is getting less expensive day by the day. Soon it may be affordable for a common man to get his genome sequenced. What in your opinion could be the advantage and disadvantage of this development?

Affordable genome sequencing would let individuals know their genetic predispositions to diseases like cancer, diabetes, or heart conditions well in advance, enabling preventive care and personalized treatment plans tailored to their DNA. It could also help identify carrier status for inherited disorders, guiding family planning decisions and reducing the incidence of genetic diseases in future generations.

However, the disadvantages are serious. Genetic information could be misused by insurance companies to deny coverage or by employers to discriminate in hiring, creating a new form of inequality. There is also the psychological burden of knowing you carry genes for incurable diseases, which might cause anxiety without offering a solution. Privacy concerns loom large—data breaches could expose deeply personal information, and without strict regulation, commercial entities might exploit g …

The revolution in DNA sequencing technology has brought us to a threshold moment. What once cost billions of dollars and took over a decade during the Human Genome Project can now be done in hours for a few hundred dollars. This dramatic fall in cost is driven by next-generation sequencing technologies that can read millions of DNA fragments simultaneously, rather than one at a time.

When genome sequencing becomes accessible to the common person, the advantages are genuinely transformative. The most immediate benefit lies in predictive and preventive medicine. Your genome can reveal predispositions to diseases like diabetes, certain cancers, or heart conditions long before symptoms appear. Armed with this knowledge, you could modify your lifestyle, undergo regular screening, or begin preventive treatments early. For instance, someone discovering they carry BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations—linked to breast and ovarian cancer—can make informed decisions about surveillance or preventive surgery.

Personalized medicine becomes a reality. Doctors could tailor drug prescriptions to your genetic makeup, avoiding medications that your body metabolizes poorly or that might cause adverse reactions. This field, called pharmacogenomics, could eliminate much of the trial-and-error in finding the right treatment. Parents could also learn about carrier status for genetic disorders before having children, enabling informed reproductive choices.

Yet the disadvantages are equally profound and touch on deeply human concerns. Genetic privacy stands at the forefront. Once your genome is sequenced and stored digitally, who controls that information? Insurance companies might deny coverage or charge higher premiums based on genetic predispositions. Employers could discriminate in hiring or promotions if they gain access to genetic data suggesting future health problems. Even with legal protections in some countries, enforcement remains challenging in the digital age.

The psychological burden cannot be dismissed. Learning you have a high risk for an incurable disease like Huntington's or early-onset Alzheimer's, with no current treatment available, can be devastating. Not everyone is prepared to live with such knowledge. There's also the problem of incomplete understanding—many genetic variants have uncertain significance. You might receive alarming results that turn out to be false positives, or reassuring results that miss environmental factors entirely.

Instead of listing advantages then disadvantages as two separate lists, sort each point by who is affected: the individual (early diagnosis vs. psychological burden of an incurable-disease result), the family (reproductive planning vs. relatives' privacy being exposed without their consent), and society (personalised medicine vs. genetic discrimination by insurers or employers). …