Gene Therapy and Genetic Engineering: Should It Be Approved in the US?

Introduction

"Fifteen advanced-stage Parkinson's patients (three from the UK and 12 from France) were followed up a year after being injected with low, mid and high doses of a modified virus containing genes required for brain cells to produce dopamine, as part of the phase I/II study. A lack of dopamine causes patients with Parkinson's to experience tremors and difficulty in coordinating their movement.” The researchers observed that after receiving the treatment the patients' scores on movement tests improved on average by 30 percent.(Gene Therapy Special News Items, 1.)” Genetic engineering, and its form dealing with humans, gene therapy, is a process in which genes are replaced or "tweaked" to acquire a certain trait or cure an illness or disease. This can be performed in the fetal stage through adulthood. While genetic engineering and gene therapy can help prevent disease and create the "ideal human," these scientific advancements may also affect the worth of future generations as well as continuing to divide social classes.

What is it

It is unknown to the common human what genetic engineering and gene therapy are, as these are widely known subjects spoken upon with everyday people. In the early stages of man, fire, weapons, and electricity were discovered, though today modern technology is trying to adapt humans to their environment instead of inventing tools to make everyday tasks simpler. “Genetic engineering is the process of manually adding new DNA to an organism (What is genetic engineering and how does it work?).” In other words, genetic engineering can be described as adding a desirable trait from one organism with the trait to another in a completely separate species without the trait. The desired gene is taken from...

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...d trials can bring death to loved ones and cause mourning in families.

Conclusion

Gene therapy and genetic engineering are tools given to patients as preventive measures or drastic last option treatments. They currently can prevent a genetic illness or disease in a fetus or give a stage four cancer patient a last chance at a long and healthy life. This treatment does come along with many risks and possible side effects. Advancements in these technologies may allow extremely wealthy parents to create “designer babies” which could result in a major issue; a social class caste system based on physical and character related traits, abilities, and talents. Gene therapy and genetic engineering have many more factors weighing on the negative side than the positive, which is why it should not be tolerated in the United States nor anywhere else.