Gene Therapy

Elizabeth Fedele

The author’s Ewen Callaway and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho have very different viewpoints on gene therapy. Callaway presents an idealistic world where the gene therapy is successful every time, while Dr. Mae-Wan Ho makes gene therapy look bleak and inconsistent with examples of when and how gene therapy has failed. Gene therapy is a procedure that could alter the lives of it’s patients; although depending on which article you believe more, it could be for the better or for the worse.

In ‘UK sets sights on gene therapy in Eggs’, the author Ewen Callaway, writes an article on how in the United Kingdom, scientists are testing techniques that combine both the parent’s DNA, and then an outside third parties mitochondrial DNA. By doing this, scientists are giving the child a chance to lead a normal life, because mitochondrial deficiencies can cause muscular dystrophy and neurogenerative disorders. This topic is controversial because this process involves the destroying of fertilized eggs, which as of right now is illegal in the United Kingdom. Callaway makes an argument that by making this process legal, it could be saving the 1 in 5000 people that are affected by neurogenerative disorders. This number may seem like an abstract idea, as many statistics do, but the idea that it could be your child with diseases, and there is something out there that could possibly prevent it, makes potential parents think about their feelings on the matter.

In ‘Gene Therapy Woes’, the author Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, writes an article explaining the negative effects of gene therapy. Gene therapy can cause death by toxic shock, leukemia, and immune responses to the viral vector. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho also talks about how some scientists believe that it is not ethical. Scientists and other people believe that it is not ethical because ethic codes require that clinical research must be capable of generating valuable medical knowledge, and often times, gene trials fail to do this.

There's still a lot of testing on gene therapy that needs to be done. Although it has a long way to go, there could be a good chance that it could positively effect many people's lives. We cannot know the full effects of gene therapy until testing is complete.




Works Cited

Callaway, Ewen. "UK Sets Sights on Gene Therapy in Eggs : Nature News & Comment." Nature Publishing Group : Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nature.com/news/uk-sets-sights-on-gene-therapy-in-eggs-1.9883>.

Mae-Won Ho, Dr. "Gene Therapy Woes." The Institute of Science In Society. Web. 06 Feb. 2012. <http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GTW.php>.