Some people are concerned with the moral and ethical issues of gene therapy. Some concerns leveled against gene therapy have to do with the act of altering the human genome. On one end of the spectrum, there is a worry that we are interfering with evolution and natural selection; on the other end there is a concern that we are “playing God” when we change our genetic code.
Germline therapy has many more concerns about it. While gene therapy is only altering the genome of single cells for a time, germline therapy involves permanent alteration of the human gene pool. The introduced gene is carried into all the cells of the child. The concerns previously mentioned are intensified. I believe that gene therapy, as it is temporary, is perfectly ethical to treat genetic diseases, such as cancer, etc. I also agree with scientists’ beliefs and support gene therapy as a method of helping people with disabilities or in danger from harmful diseases.
Some pro’s and cons of gene therapy are:
Pro’s:
I think the pro’s all seem like very good ideas and gene therapy is a successful experiment. There have been numerous revolutionary breakthroughs in gene therapy of disorders like hereditary blindness, cancer, myeloid disorders, and sickle-cell disorders. Cancer treatments focus on re-engineering lymphocytes to target and attack cancer cells, or using tumor-suppressing genes to reduce the number and size of tumors.
Cons:
Meanwhile, the cons are a bit more complex. These factors have kept gene therapy from becoming a mainstream treatment for genetic disorders:
1. The DNA introduced to target cells is not replicated during "S" phase, and patients would have to undergo multiple, frequent treatments.
2. As the immune system immediately attacks any foreign object in the body, there is a risk that the immune response reduces the effectiveness of gene therapy.
3. Using viral vectors may cause inflammatory responses. Also, there is a fear that once inside the body, the virus will recover its ability to cause its original disease.
4. Many common genetic disorders like arthritis are caused by the malfunction of many genes, making it difficult to treat effectively
These are only some of the pro’s and cons presented by gene therapy. Hopefully in the future the government will allow further research with gene therapy so it may be able to save people from more deadly diseases such as cancer or something else like AIDS.
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