Impact of Gene Therapy
Gene therapy has many benefits to humans but there are also some negative aspects of gene therapy. Gene therapy has the potential to be able to cure genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia, all of which cause by the mutation of a single gene [26]. Gene therapy is also now being looked at as a treatment for cancer and other hereditary diseases that are linked to a mutation in DNA [26]. If gene therapy is found to be useful in curing genetic diseases, of course it is a positive study, but there may also be other affects of gene therapy that may not be advantageous.
If gene therapy is proven to be effective in treating diseases it can improve the lives of many people suffering from these diseases. Many genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy prohibit the person who has it from performing daily tasks that many of us take for granted. Because they suffer from this disease, they cannot physically move, speak, and have to be taken care of making themselves a burden to their family. They cannot go to work, and if they wish to create a family, they have to deal with the fact that there is a high chance that their children will also suffer from this disease. Since these genetic diseases are not curable with modern technology, these patients know that there is no help for them. Therefore, the fact that there is a chance that gene therapy may help cure these diseases is almost a miracle for these people. If gene therapy can cure these genetic diseases, patients can have a normal life without the disease. They would be able to go to work, start a family and provide for it, and will become socially acceptable. Also, treatment for these diseases can become very expensive; a person suffering from cancer needs to spend a large amount of money to get treatment which can financially destroy a family. Most of this money would be borrowed by family or relatives to treat the patient, and since there is usually no cure for these diseases, eventually when the patients die, the family is left in debt. As the amount of people that are in debt increases, the economy collapses because of a lack of money being spent by these people. They need to pay back their debt, which means they do not have excess money to be spent. The patient with the disorder may even become mistreated, with blame of debts and family problems being placed on them. This may make society see them as outcasts and a nuisance, even though they cannot control the fact that they have this disease. If the disease is able to be cured, even if they do need to pay for treatment, they can find a job and pay back the money by themselves so that the burden would not need to be placed on anyone else.
Many of these patients receive financial support from the government because they cannot have jobs themselves. If gene therapy is perfected and the patients are cured, they would be able to find jobs for themselves and lead a normal life. This way, the government no longer have to support the patients financially and will be able to spend tax dollars on something else, such as funding for more research to find cures for other diseases, schooling, and healthcare. But with a growth in people looking for jobs, the job demand will be high, and many of these people would not be able to find jobs. Also, because there would be a high demand for gene therapy, jobs such as researchers and doctors would open up to administer the therapy to patients, creating many job opportunities for people interested in this field. But doctors in other fields that treat genetic disorders may lose their jobs due to the fact that their patients will probably want to undergo gene therapy and are cured.
If gene therapy is proven to work the product would be high in demand. According to the World Health Organization about 7.1 million deaths are caused by cancer each year [20]. This can generate large amounts of money for manufacturing companies that produces this product. There will also be jobs available for the production of this product creating jobs for people who are in need of them. But with the creating of new factory and manufacturing sites, companies would want to find a cheap way to produce this product. This means that the product may pose environmental hazards. To inject the therapeutic vectors into the body, a needle or inhaling device is needed which means that large amounts of these devices need to be produced. Needles are made with plastic and they can only be used once, which means that these needles would all end up in the garbage and eventually landfills. Some pharmaceutical companies may not dispose of these devices property because it costs a lot of money, but these devices may still have viruses left in them. If they are just dumped in a land fill without being cleaned first, they might mutate and become a monster virus that may kill a large number of people. Environmentalists would need to spend money to clean up the toxic needles.
Gene therapy is tested on animals. Scientists purposely breed these animals to have these diseases and test these products on the animals. These products may cause severe side effects which would make the animal suffer before they die. This is still an ongoing debate on whether an animal should suffer so that we humans can have a better life. It would enrage many animal activists and they may have to resort to protesting the government for laws against animal testing. If a protest starts, it would be inconvenient for everyone, since the government would need to spend money to control the protesters, and if the protesters become violent, damage may be done to the parts of the city where they are protesting, which would cost money to repair.
There are also many things that can go wrong with the treatment. A patient may die because of the product. For example, Jesse Gelsinger died from gene therapy in 1999, from a sever immune response triggered by the viral vector that was used to treat his disease [23].
The high cost of gene therapy may only make it available to the wealthy. Therefore, people without money but suffering from the same disorder may not be able to gain the treatment. They may have to look for alternative products on the black market which may not be safe to use and may cause death in that individual. Also gene therapy may be used for “bad” purposes, such as enhancing human traits such as heights, eye colour, and intelligence. This means that the wealth can use gene therapy to change their brown eyes to blue while another person suffering from a genetic disease would not be able to get treatment. Since gene therapy takes a “normal” gene to replace a faulty gene in the cell, we need to know what gene is considered abnormal, and what gene is considered normal. There is no law stating which traits are normal and which traits are not, therefore a doctor cannot just decide that a trait is abnormal and give a patient treatment. For example, the colour of one’s eyes, what is considered to be a normal trait in eyes? Blue eyes? Brown eyes? And what are pale white pupils considered abnormal? By classifying which traits are normal and which traits are not normal the doctor would be discriminating against one trait in favour of another. Another issue that is faced is the fact that if this treatment comes out, people may be pressured to get treatment even if they feel that they don’t want to, or cannot. For example, a person suffering from cystic fibrosis cannot get surgery because their religion does not allow them to have treatment by genetic therapy. If they try to apply for financial support from the government, the government might reject because the treatment if available but she/he “chooses” to not receive it. Also employers may not take pity on people with genetic disorders because there is treatment; the patient just chooses to not receive it. Another thing to worry about is the concern that by altering genetic defects, scientists are trying to play god, choosing what a person will become, will look like. This to some people is a cause for concern.
If gene therapy is proven to be effective in treating diseases it can improve the lives of many people suffering from these diseases. Many genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy prohibit the person who has it from performing daily tasks that many of us take for granted. Because they suffer from this disease, they cannot physically move, speak, and have to be taken care of making themselves a burden to their family. They cannot go to work, and if they wish to create a family, they have to deal with the fact that there is a high chance that their children will also suffer from this disease. Since these genetic diseases are not curable with modern technology, these patients know that there is no help for them. Therefore, the fact that there is a chance that gene therapy may help cure these diseases is almost a miracle for these people. If gene therapy can cure these genetic diseases, patients can have a normal life without the disease. They would be able to go to work, start a family and provide for it, and will become socially acceptable. Also, treatment for these diseases can become very expensive; a person suffering from cancer needs to spend a large amount of money to get treatment which can financially destroy a family. Most of this money would be borrowed by family or relatives to treat the patient, and since there is usually no cure for these diseases, eventually when the patients die, the family is left in debt. As the amount of people that are in debt increases, the economy collapses because of a lack of money being spent by these people. They need to pay back their debt, which means they do not have excess money to be spent. The patient with the disorder may even become mistreated, with blame of debts and family problems being placed on them. This may make society see them as outcasts and a nuisance, even though they cannot control the fact that they have this disease. If the disease is able to be cured, even if they do need to pay for treatment, they can find a job and pay back the money by themselves so that the burden would not need to be placed on anyone else.
Many of these patients receive financial support from the government because they cannot have jobs themselves. If gene therapy is perfected and the patients are cured, they would be able to find jobs for themselves and lead a normal life. This way, the government no longer have to support the patients financially and will be able to spend tax dollars on something else, such as funding for more research to find cures for other diseases, schooling, and healthcare. But with a growth in people looking for jobs, the job demand will be high, and many of these people would not be able to find jobs. Also, because there would be a high demand for gene therapy, jobs such as researchers and doctors would open up to administer the therapy to patients, creating many job opportunities for people interested in this field. But doctors in other fields that treat genetic disorders may lose their jobs due to the fact that their patients will probably want to undergo gene therapy and are cured.
If gene therapy is proven to work the product would be high in demand. According to the World Health Organization about 7.1 million deaths are caused by cancer each year [20]. This can generate large amounts of money for manufacturing companies that produces this product. There will also be jobs available for the production of this product creating jobs for people who are in need of them. But with the creating of new factory and manufacturing sites, companies would want to find a cheap way to produce this product. This means that the product may pose environmental hazards. To inject the therapeutic vectors into the body, a needle or inhaling device is needed which means that large amounts of these devices need to be produced. Needles are made with plastic and they can only be used once, which means that these needles would all end up in the garbage and eventually landfills. Some pharmaceutical companies may not dispose of these devices property because it costs a lot of money, but these devices may still have viruses left in them. If they are just dumped in a land fill without being cleaned first, they might mutate and become a monster virus that may kill a large number of people. Environmentalists would need to spend money to clean up the toxic needles.
Gene therapy is tested on animals. Scientists purposely breed these animals to have these diseases and test these products on the animals. These products may cause severe side effects which would make the animal suffer before they die. This is still an ongoing debate on whether an animal should suffer so that we humans can have a better life. It would enrage many animal activists and they may have to resort to protesting the government for laws against animal testing. If a protest starts, it would be inconvenient for everyone, since the government would need to spend money to control the protesters, and if the protesters become violent, damage may be done to the parts of the city where they are protesting, which would cost money to repair.
There are also many things that can go wrong with the treatment. A patient may die because of the product. For example, Jesse Gelsinger died from gene therapy in 1999, from a sever immune response triggered by the viral vector that was used to treat his disease [23].
The high cost of gene therapy may only make it available to the wealthy. Therefore, people without money but suffering from the same disorder may not be able to gain the treatment. They may have to look for alternative products on the black market which may not be safe to use and may cause death in that individual. Also gene therapy may be used for “bad” purposes, such as enhancing human traits such as heights, eye colour, and intelligence. This means that the wealth can use gene therapy to change their brown eyes to blue while another person suffering from a genetic disease would not be able to get treatment. Since gene therapy takes a “normal” gene to replace a faulty gene in the cell, we need to know what gene is considered abnormal, and what gene is considered normal. There is no law stating which traits are normal and which traits are not, therefore a doctor cannot just decide that a trait is abnormal and give a patient treatment. For example, the colour of one’s eyes, what is considered to be a normal trait in eyes? Blue eyes? Brown eyes? And what are pale white pupils considered abnormal? By classifying which traits are normal and which traits are not normal the doctor would be discriminating against one trait in favour of another. Another issue that is faced is the fact that if this treatment comes out, people may be pressured to get treatment even if they feel that they don’t want to, or cannot. For example, a person suffering from cystic fibrosis cannot get surgery because their religion does not allow them to have treatment by genetic therapy. If they try to apply for financial support from the government, the government might reject because the treatment if available but she/he “chooses” to not receive it. Also employers may not take pity on people with genetic disorders because there is treatment; the patient just chooses to not receive it. Another thing to worry about is the concern that by altering genetic defects, scientists are trying to play god, choosing what a person will become, will look like. This to some people is a cause for concern.