Limitations of Gene Therapy

Original Paragraph:
The basis of gene therapy is find a gene that is not functioning right and to insert a healthy portion into that gene. To find these genes, scientists must perform genetic tests or genetic screening to see if the gene that causes for example, cystic fibrosis, is present. This genetic testing is producing much controversy and raising many ethical and legal problems. Many believe that this is an invasion of privacy. They believe that if prenatal tests are performed that these could lead to an increase in the number of abortions. Many people that hear a positive test for a disease are now are faced with a dilemma. That dilemma is in finding adequate insurance to cover the treatments, which could be gene therapy, or living out their lives knowing that they carry a gene for a disease. This positive test has placed them in a high risk group that they may have not been in if they had not been tested. This high risk tag makes insurance coverage almost impossible to find. The insurance that will cover them may be extremely expensive. So, choosing to have the test may be a question of whether they think their current insurance will cover them or not. Many young couples may find out that they are carriers of a disease, and now must decide if they want to have a child that could be born with a genetic disease. Still another problem is regulation of the uses of gene therapy. Our society is obsessed with the idea of youth and beauty. If scientists could identify the gene that contributes to youth or beauty, then the technique of gene therapy could be monopolized by the cosmetic industry to enhance beauty or to "turn back the clock." The problem with this is whether baldness, height, or beauty should be enough of a reason to require gene therapy. Federal regulation will have to come into play in deciding whether a big nose is as important of a genetic problem as cystic fibrosis and which requires gene therapy.

Key Ideas:

• Gene therapy produces too much controversy and it's raising legal and ethical issues.
• A lot of people think that genetic testing is an invasion of privacy.
• They believe that if they found out about their baby's genetics, it might lead to a number of abortions.
• When people hear that they have positive results for the disease, they are often faced with dilemma.
• The dilemma is that they're not sure whether to get an insurance to help cure the disease with treatments (maybe gene therapy), or living their life with that certain disease.
• If they are positive, then it will put them in a high risk if they have not been tested.
• This high risk will cause the coverage to be hard to find.
• The insurance will sure be expensive.
• So they should decide if they actually want to get tested or not.
• Many couples might find out that the baby they're carrying has a disease, and they have to decide if they want the baby to be worn with the disease.
• Since the society today is infatuated by youth and beauty, they would be able to have an abortion because the baby's not perfect.
• The issue is that the height, beauty or weight isn't a reason to have gene therapy.
• The federal regulation will have a role in this when it comes to deciding if it's actually a problem or not.

Source in MLA: Ndsu.edu, (2014). Gene Therapy. [online] Available at: http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~mcclean/plsc431/students/brandi.htm [Accessed 15 Oct. 2014].

Paraphrase:
Gene therapy produces too much controversy and it's raising legal and ethical issues. A lot of people think that genetic testing is an invasion of privacy. They believe that if they found out about their baby's genetics, it might lead to a number of abortions. When people hear that they have positive results for the disease, they are often faced with dilemma. The dilemma is that they're not sure whether to get an insurance to help cure the disease with treatments (maybe gene therapy), or living their life with that certain disease. If they are positive, then it will put them in a high risk if they have not been tested. This high risk will cause the coverage to be hard to find. The insurance will sure be expensive. So they should decide if they actually want to get tested or not. Many couples might find out that the baby they're carrying has a disease, and they have to decide if they want the baby to be worn with the disease. Since the society today is infatuated by youth and beauty, they would be able to have an abortion because the baby's not perfect. The issue is that the height, beauty or weight isn't a reason to have gene therapy. The federal regulation will have a role in this when it comes to deciding if it's actually a problem or not.

Figure 1: This pictures explains how genetic screening works.
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1047145003009_2003/03/12/genetics2.jpg

     In Figure 1, this picture is talking about how genetic screening works, since I talked about it earlier on how some couples find out about their baby's genetic diseases through genetic screening. So in this picture, it's saying that the birth mother is given fertility drugs, then multiple eggs are produced and then are fertilized to make embryos. Then the embryos are analyzed in the lab for any genetic limitations or a tissue that doesn't work well. After that, they inject only healthy embryos to the uterus and the mother finally gives birth to a healthy baby.