Gene Therapy

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Recommended: Ethical issues with gene therapy

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy is a powerful new technology that has the ability to change the way medicine is practiced in the future. The potential of gene therapy offers great hope for cure and alleviation of suffering from genetic disorders that now plague numerous people. Within this past decade, much research has been conducted to learn about the aspects of gene therapy, but there is still much to learn before it is an effective medical treatment. Despite failures to prove any clinical efficacy, many experts of gene therapy predict that the first clinical success will occur in the near future. Gene therapy is a highly controversial topic that entails numerous ethical issues that need to be thoroughly analyzed before it is widely available to the public. While gene therapy may pose practical medical benefits for people, ethical considerations must be addressed in order for society to utilize the potentials of gene therapy appropriately.

What is gene therapy?

Gene therapy attempts to cure or treat genetic diseases by correcting the genetic errors responsible for it. Genetic diseases can be either inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis as well as acquired diseases such as cancer ("What is Gene Therapy?"). These diseases are caused by the absence or defective structure of specific genes that change the composition or pattern of proteins expressed by the cell ("What is Gene Therapy?"). Gene therapy attempts to treat these genetic disorders by inserting a normal gene into diseased cells to replace an absent or defective gene or to enhance the production of proteins that are needed to correct or prevent genetic diseases ("What is Gene Therapy?"). Essentially, gene therapy modifies the expression of a person's gene to p...

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...ww.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/scopenotes/sn24.html

Licking, Ellen. "Gene Therapy" Business Week 12 July 1998:94-104.

Palmer, Julie Gage and Leroy Walters. The Ethics of Human Gene Therapay New York: Oxford Universtity Press, 1997.

Roberts, Leslie. "A Promising Experiment Ends in Tragedy" U.S. News and World Report 11 Oct. 1999: 43.

Taylor, Robert. "Superhumans" New Scientist 3 Oct. 1998: 24-29.

Torres, Juan Manuel. "On the Limits of Human Gene Transfer: Drawing the Line" Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Feb. 19997: 43-53.

Wadman, Meredith. "Germline Gene Therapy Must be Spared Excessive Regulation" Nature 26 March 1998: 317.

"What is Gene Therapy?" Transgene 1999 Internet. 8 Oct. 1999. Available: www.transgene.fr/gene0062.htm

Zallen, Doris T. "We Need a Moratorium on Genetic Enhancement" Chronicle of Higher Education 27 March 1998: A64.

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