In this paper, I have explored the benefits and risks involved in this young field of research as well as the significant implications gene therapy will have on human health if it becomes an acceptable form of treatment.
Biotechnology /Gene therapy is based on the concept that genetic disorders and acquired diseases can be treated by replacing abnormal or absent genes or by modifying their functions. Inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis and hemophilia, as well as catastrophic diseases such as cancer and AIDS, are prospective candidates for gene therapy. Although cures for these ailments would be welcome, some medical researchers suggest that the range of diseases that can be treated with gene therapy may be limited.
According to research scientist Lynn Elwell, “Only a handful of the many diseases that have a genetic basis are amenable to treatment via gene therapy: Genetic disorders caused by single genes.” She also adds that “chromosomal disorders, such as Down syndrome, cannot be cured by gene therapy, nor can disorders resulting from complex interactions between many genes or between genes and environmental factors.” Advocates of gene therapy contend that this form of treatment offers hope to the thousands of people whose diseases cannot be cured through current medical means. In 2000, researchers used gene therapy techniques to help mice with hemophilia produce high levels of the protein needed to restore and maintain the clotting property of blood. For advocates, knocking out this disease in the human population makes gene therapy—despite its limitations— a worthwhile pursuit. (Frankel,2003)
Gene therapy is composed of two categories: somatic gene therapy and germ line gene therapy. In somatic gene therapy, therapeutic genes are introduced to the diseased cells of a patient in hopes that they will genetically alter them to function normally.....
