Position Paper: Gene Therapy in Humans

Position paper: The science of human gene therapy and the advancement of medicine often involve countless ethical and moral implications. Recent progress in genetics called gene therapy is no exception, it is also a burden of prejudice brought about by new technology. Gene therapy is a very hot topic in the scientific community and everyday life. Every day, new technologies, discoveries, and breakthroughs occur on the spot. The subject of human gene therapy is a controversial topic from the ethical implications related to science.

Gene therapy uses DNA as a drug for treating diseases. Gene therapy was originally conceptualized in 1972 and the authors urged attention before starting gene research on humans. The first FDA approved gene therapy trial in the US was held in 1990. This is a 4 year old girl named Ashanti DeSilva who received ADA - SCID treatment. This is a disease that prevents her from fighting infection. Dr. W French Anderson is the principal investigator of clinical trials and works at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Laboratory. Since then, more than 1,700 clinical trials have been performed using a variety of gene therapy technologies.

Measuring the success of treatment is a challenge for gene therapy. Research is full of practical and ethical challenges. As with drug clinical trials, the purpose of clinical trials in human gene therapy is to determine whether treatment is safe and effective, how to treat it, and whether treatment is effective. Based on the severity of the disease (if it is a more severe disease, it is likely to be a suitable candidate for the experiment), the feasibility of the treatment, and the success rate of treatment based on the animal model, for the study Select disease. This seems very reasonable. But, if you or your child is seriously ill, there is no other treatment. How objective is your decision to participate in the study?

How do researchers judge what kind of diseases and characteristics require gene therapy? Unfortunately, the difference between gene therapy to enhance desirable features such as eye height or color and gene therapy for disease genes is not clear. No one thinks that diseases that cause pain, disability and potential death are good candidates for gene therapy. However, there is a slight difference between what is considered "illness" (such as pygmy chondrogenesis) and "features" which are regarded as healthy people (such as short stature). Even if gene therapy modifies potential socially unacceptable features or improves ideal characteristics, it may improve the quality of life of individuals, but gene therapy may enhance traits Ethicist who worries about that, thereby promoting the increase in discrimination against people with "bad" characteristics