The Status and Recognition of Gene Therapy in American Society - Essay Example

?Fitsum Deresa EN102 4-18-201 Prof. Shannon O’neill The Acceptance of Genetic Therapy in the American society The determined human mind has long questioned the miracle behind creation of all living things and the associated problems of genetically inherited disease and suffering. This curiosity to discover the mysteries behind creation and the need to solve the debilitating presence of genetically created disease have inspired generations to discover the answers. Over the centuries many theories have been accepted and rejected and through trial and error we have reached the current state of advancement in genetic therapy. The manipulations of the creative chemical of life, DNA, inspires both wonder and fear in the human heart and mind and has created countless controversies in its application to combat disease. Genetic therapy is the alteration, removal, or insertion of genes in order to treat an illness. This definition is taken from the Washington Times article by, Marilynn, Marchione. This method uses a technique discovered by researchers to find and then correct the defective genes that are cause of the disease. This scientific marvel raised many questions, both in the scientific community and the public, each having various interpretations and viewpoints on the subject of genetic therapy. Some people depend on these experiments to improve their lives while others deem scientists as playing God. On the other hand some can see both side of the spectrum. Introduction (Positive) Those people suffering from a disease most often will have a positive and optimistic outlook regarding the promising research involving genetic therapy. Curing a life threatening disease like AIDS, or repairing vision loss that severely impacts your quality of life can bring about an new and hopeful world for those who are suffering. This would be a world where one would not have to worry about suffering or even their longevity; they could just live carefree. This may seem like a pipe- dream, but the good news is that every day we are coming close to making it a reality. This remarkable new therapy was brought to light from and the case of an AIDS patient who seemed to recover from the disease after receiving a blood transfusion from a donor, who apparently had a natural immunity to HIV. Therefore it was theorized that the donor cells combated the virus. Regarding article reporting this same case, during a Boston conference Dr. John Zaia, was quoted after the announcement of their scientific breakthrough saying. “For the first time, people are beginning to think about a cure”. This was uplifting news for the entire world because many people had died from AIDS. Thinking that a virus that killed millions can one day be treated as if it were a common cold truly shows the advancement and growth science and medicine This article further states, “Scientist used genetic engineering in six patients to develop blood cells that are resistant to HIV.” However, even though the gene therapy has shown very promising results, one must not celebrate too soon as this research is still in experimental stages, and it is still far too early to declare this method as an absolute cure. Gene therapy offers various possilbe benefits, and discovering a cure for HIV is perhaps only the beginning. For the first time in history researchers are using this new therapy to improve the vision in patients who were almost blind. According to The Seattle Times writer, Thomas H. Maugh, “this discovery brings hope to thousands with inherited forms of vision impairment in the field of retinal dystrophies.” Previously, cataract surgery along with medication and corrective lenses were used to cure vision impairment. Additionally, doctors have not been able to restore vision due to hereditary degenerative disease to restore their patients sight. Now with the use of gene therapy scientists are able to take these defective genes and replace them with strong healthy ones in order to cure an ailment. Similar to the Aids case article previously mentioned an article in the Washington Times entitled, “Gene Therapy Raises Hope for an AIDS Cure.” Also shows that this remarkable achievement will definitely relieve those who suffer from the disease. If you have family members or friends whose life is affected by a disease, you must be feeling the same joy as I. Yet I hear of people protesting all the promising clinical trials and pulling out every single negative source they can find on the matter turning it into something to be feared and even despised. These people aren’t only taking hope from me, but from those who suffer from the same life threatening illnesses. Introductive (Negative Persona) Even though gene therapy is advantageous in many ways, the manipulation of one’s DNA, the creative and divine building block of life, makes it unacceptable in the eyes of many religious individuals. They see it as altering the natural order of creation put there by God and any alteration is blasphemous. Based on several failed clinical trials one may conclude that gene therapy can actually be fatal. In addition to that, as a result of religious beliefs, some church goers cannot comprehend humans taking the place of God. Taking medicine to cure a cold or to bring down an allergic reaction is one thing. Yet to go into people’s body bodies with the purpose of altering our DNA could be difficult to for many of the faithful to accept. In some cases churches have banned the gene therapy. For example, according to, The Washington Times article, On December 12th, 2008, a prestigious Vatican representative read from their 32-page document regarding procreation and genetic technologies stating. “Designer babies, human/animal hybrids, cloning, stem cell research and a whole range of common biomedical innovations are forbidden.” The honored doctrine was penned by Cardinal William J. Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Vatican believes experimental tests are mutilating the natural order of God’s creation and is directly controverting the teachings of the Bible. The alteration of any gene should be banned and never experimented with. The embryo, although not a full blown human, should be treated as if it is one. This is also written in the Vatican’s 32-page doctrine titled, “Dignitatis Personae”. These documents call out the “eugenic perspective” of many medical researchers and scientist stating their “injustice” because they are freezing and/or destroying embryos. In addition, in an interview with Henry Blackwater, who is a deacon at the First Baptist church in Washington DC, where he was asked to comment on the alteration of human gene to cure a disease he respond as, “It’s as if these scientist are playing God, worse than that they’ve sent more people into the hospital while others died from these experiments. They’ve cause more harm for humanity than help and I am here to bring light to this horrific act. I’m not in the Vatican, yet their beliefs sort of coincide with my own as well as those around me.” How can genetic therapy advance humanity if these clinical trials only kill our children before they’re even born? People do not trust these researchers not only for religious reasons, but also due to the dangerous consequence of some scientific experiments have on their subject. For instance, an article by Angel Gonzalez, writer for Seattle Times emphasizes that, Scientist aren’t only destroying embryos, they’re destroying lives by placing patients in the hospital or into the mortuary. The article explains how Gene therapy was once thought to be safe until a clinical trial ran by a Seattle-based company called ‘Targeted Genetics’ caused the death of their patient. The anonymous patient who had enrolled for experiments to take the company’s experimental drug had become seriously ill. Two days later the company and the FDA reported that the patient was deceased. What’s worse is that the company refuses to disclose what happened during the patients last moments, the cause of death or if the patient had any other serious illnesses. Gonzalez also mentioned several failures including a case that occurred back in 1999 in which an 18-year old by the name of Jesse Gelsinger, who was from the University of Pennsylvania. He was involved in an inherited liver disease clinical trial program. During the treatment 18-year old Jesse Gelsinger, died of a massive immune system reaction to their gene-therapy treatment Targeted Genetics is also linked to other numerous cases involving similar matters of patient fatalities. These companies aren’t only hiding the death of their patients but they also profit from the research tremendously. Another article, by Deborah Nelson, on the same case stated that, The University of Pennsylvania experiment was led by Dr. James Wilson who owns a company called Genovo, which licensed the technology used during these clinical trials. Targeted Genetics acquired Genovo in 2000 for $66 million in stock. In Boston, during the summer of 1999 a Harvard-affiliated hospital suspended a gene therapy experiment. Not because of the anonymous death of one patient but also because the researchers failed to report numerous deaths to the National Institutes of Health when they occurred. Federal rules demand that such reports must be filed immediately as problems occur. Yet in the same article, it is mentioned that 652 of the 691 patient fatalities weren’t found in the National Institutes of Health archives. This is a clear sign that these researchers are just toying with our lives, and once someone dies they will just brush us under the rug. After discovering this alarming information it’s becoming very difficult to justify scientific research using ‘gene therapy’. According to, “BBC NEWS” There had been an abundance of medical problems during these procedures. Several patients suffered fevers, blood clotting abnormalities, and serious drops in blood pressure. What is even more discouraging is the fact that patients who were talked into receiving brain tumor treatments wound up being partially paralyzed or had also acquired sever speech impairments. The profundity of failed clinical trials has certainly caused great speculation amongst the masses. Why are we allowing scientist to treat us as if we are guinea pigs? Life shouldn’t become a lab experiment just because the idea of curing a disease seems good if will work. Furthermore, just because we can do something, like genetic manipulation, does not mean we should be playing God and doing it. Introduction (Indifferent Persona) During my studies of gene therapy I came to an important conclusion. The relevance of gene therapy ultimately depends on your position in life. Gene therapy can be exciting if you’re a person who suffers from an inherited genetic disorder or any type of disease. Yet one may oppose gene therapy if it conflicts with his or her religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. If that’s the case, Gene therapy will seem to be nothing but trouble. I am neither on the positive or negative side, but as a medical student I believe in science and the necessity of gene therapy. Even though I have this mind set, I have also read and heard the failure of some genetic research that has ruined or destroyed lives. I have seen many of my close relatives dyeing of Aids, cancer and several other diseases. For me to see any human being healthy and alive is priceless. I do not have any opposition towards the research being done to prevent diseases or to save lives. My questions is, are those experiments safe and effective? I have read an article by Marchione which states, it is a known fact that HIV can damage the immune system for several years before a patient develops full blown AIDS. Therefore, strengthening their immune system using gene therapy gives hope to these patients in fighting off the virus without the use of medication that is often ridden with side effects. The article is fascinating to read and gives hope to those who are HIV positive. This made realize that perhaps my speculation the moments of research failure, may be a necessary evil. Especially the section that explains that, for the first time in scientific history researchers were able to successfully delete a human gene permanently then infused the altered cells back into patients which strengthened their immune system. However, it explains that there is a side effect which gave the patient two days of flulike symptoms. Once again it’s still in the testing phase, and it will take even longer to perfect these therapies and to determine their safety. Maugh further states, “Thanks to a rare case where people lack both copies of the CCR5 gene. A set of genes that’s responsible for absorbing protein, HIV targets these cells in order to destroy the host immune system. Well if you lack both CCR5 genes, you are automatically resistant to HIV. So scientist are studying these type of people to find a cure, because during the year of 2007 a person donated blood cells to an American man living in Berlin who had HIV and leukemia.” After the cell transplant both of the host ailments were non-existent. The only problem is that those born without the CCR5 gene are immune, yet will deleting this gene in others cause catastrophic consequences? That is the question A Seattle company has been making astonishing breakthroughs involving gene therapy. The researchers of Seattle biotech Targeted Genetics may have found a cure for vision certain impairment called “Leber’s congenital amaurosis. Six patients who had this rare form of blindness were tested. This disease is a rare vision lost that occurs at birth and develops in the first few months of growth. It affects 1 in 80,000 of the population. Despite this disease being rare researchers believe this approach could ultimately be used for a wider variety of disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa which is an eye condition that gradually turns into vision loss and macular generation, which is vision lost through aging. While all of these are certainly psoitiv aspiration, the very same company had lost a patient back in July of 2007 after a clinical trial of its leading drug failed and a death resulted. Seattle biotech Targeted Genetics claim that gene therapy was not the culprit, after Federal investigation clinical trials we’re allowed to resume. Who can say what the cause was? Common sense would say that it had to be the clinical trial, because the patient was alive prior to taking these bizarre tests. Conclusion: In conclusion, you may feel as though gene therapy is the greatest discovery in medical health over the past several centuries. While others may feel that gene therapy should be banned, that it is unethical, and is doing more harm for humanity than good. The beauty about it all is that you have the right to your opinion, you are right in your own sense, yet at the same time you are wrong form another’s point of view. However, if you research and educate yourself about gene therapy, and follow the history of it all you will see that it is being developed for the greater good of humanity. Although there certainly have been some dubious practices regarding false reports of patients’ deaths, of people become ill and so on, one must remember there is often no progress without some setbacks. One must weigh the risks and proceed as carefully as possible for the betterment of mankind. Works Cited "BBC News | SCI/TECH | Hundreds of Gene Therapy Experiments Failed." BBC News - Home. Web. 01 Feb. 2000. . Shows the danger, and major backlash from failed attempts at genetic therapy experiments. This article shows how genetic engineering is bad for our society. Gonzalez, Angel."Business & Technology | Death Clouds a Gene-therapy's Future | Seattle Times Newspaper." The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper. Web. 28 July. 2007. . Shows the dangers of genetic therapy, how people have lost their lives or became ill. Also shows how it affects the research institutions. Marchione, Marilynn. "Gene Therapy Raises Hope for an AIDS Cure." Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. . Scientist believe they have the cure for AIDS. Researchers have been doing experiments on patients and say they've developed a gene to resist HIV. This article is valid proof that gene therapy is good for our society. Maugh II, Thomas H. "Gene Therapy May Aid Blind." The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper. Web. 28 Apr. 2008. . This article shows that gene therapy can be good for our society. Scientist have been in the lab doing experiments to improve vision in those who suffer with poor eye-sight. Not only that, they believe that they can fully cure the blind. Nelson, Deborah. "Gene-therapy Deaths Belatedly Reported" Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com. Web. 31 July. 2000. . This article is proof that gene therapy can be bad for our society, the author mentions various situations when gene therapy has gone terribly wrong. "Vatican Forbids Designer Babies." Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News. Web. 12 Dec. 2008. . Religious views on genetic therapy, shows the Vatican's stand point on gene therapy and why they forbid it. Read More