Introduction:
Gene therapy is when you purposely change the DNA in a person to treat their disease, they do this by replacing or correcting the defective genes inside their bodies. Scientists usually do this by inserting a virus into your body so that they can get to your genes, the virus is first changed a little so it doesn’t affect your body. There are many controversies revolving around gene therapy, some people believe that it should be continued while others raise questions about its ethical and safety concerns.
Pros:
Gene therapy gives hope to those that might have a disease that we currently don’t have the cure to. Without treatment, many of these disease and disorders result in death and disability. Using gene therapy, scientists have been able to help people with cancer, heart and blood diseases, hemophilia, leukemia, infectious diseases, etc.
If you receive gene therapy earlier, it can prevent damage before it occurs. Though research is still seeing to what extent it will reverse the damage, there will be good outcomes in the future.
Cons:
Gene therapy was first used in 1990, we have just started researching the science of gene therapy. For now, we can’t guarantee that there will be beneficial outcomes or cure your disease. There may be side effects like certain types of cancer, allergic reactions, or damage to organs and tissue if an injection is involved in the process.
Because scientists use a virus to change your DNA, sometimes this virus attacks the wrong places, resulting in some side effects. During this process, your immune system might mistake this virus as dangerous, it then attacks it, eliminating the effectiveness of the treatment.
Conclusion:
Gene therapy may be a recently discovered, but so far it has shown some promising results. There are still some errors, with some dying from the process. What do you think? Should gene therapy be continued?
Related Stories:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/01/perspectives-on-gene-editing/
https://www.britannica.com/science/gene-therapy
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/17984-gene-therapy
Take Action:
https://acgtfoundation.org/take-action
https://www.dana-farber.org/cancer-care/treatment/cellular-therapies/gene-therapy
