Gene Therapy Argumentative Essay

The thought of caring a hereditary disease can cause some to fear the chance of passing such disease onto their children. A hereditary disease is a type of illness that is difficult to cure as it is embedded into the patient’s genetic makeup. Their genes carry the malfunctioned DNA throughout the person’s body, affecting not only the person but it could also affect their future children. Luckily, with the advancement of science and modern medicine, it's become possible to manipulate a person’s genetic makeup to rid of the malfunctioned DNA. Gene therapy allowed scientist and medical practitioners the chance to go into a person’s genes and correct genes that are flawed. It targets to repair various genetic diseases that would affect a person as well as could affect their future children. The therapy remains a controversial topic and centers around the ethics of manipulating a person’s genetics. Although viewed as unethical to many people, gene therapy is a medical practice that should be …show more content…
Gene therapy can be split into two categories, somatic and germline therapy. Somatic gene therapy works with individual patients to “produce a naturally occurring protein or substance that is lacking or not functioning correctly” (Hunt 2015 p.2318). Germline gene therapy not only works with individual patients but also works to correct the genes in eggs and sperm to correct “genetic abnormalities that could be passed on to future generations” (Hunt 2015 p.2318). In order to correct these gene mutations, a scientist needs to transfer “an entire gene or a recombinant DNA to a cell's nucleus” and to do so, a scientist has developed the method of using vectors (Fallon 2013 p.1453). Gene therapy works by sending the vectors into a patient’s body to attach itself to the defected genes and rewriting them. This method of gene therapy works best to help eliminate mutated