Gene Therapy Ethical Issues

When it comes to determining the ethicality for a human being to alter a fellow human’s DNA in the hopes of eradicating genetic disorders, every individual is going to have a different opinion on the matter. This idea is observed in the two articles; “Gene Therapy: Human Germline Genetic Modifications– Assessing the Scientific, Socio-ethical and Religious Issues” by Qiana Matthews, PhD and David Curiel, MD, PhD and “Gene Therapy: Theoretical and Bioethics Concepts” written by Kevin Smith, PhD. Matthews and Curiel’s article was published in the Southern Medical Journal in 2007, while the article by Kevin Smith was published in 2003 by the Archives of Medical Research. While these two sources have similar aspects, such as the type of evidence …show more content…
He progresses to inform the audience about somatic gene therapy, another form of gene therapy “which involves removal of cells from the patient’s body; the cells are then genetically altered and returned to the patient’s body” (Smith 248). The author then switches over to germline gene therapy and the possible different methods that could be utilized to alter the germline DNA. Smith goes on to predict that ethical committees will have to be formed to decide which diseases should be treated using germline gene therapy (262). Smith concludes his article by presenting the ethical considerations that are accompanied by germline gene therapy, which include genetic enhancements, fear of a new type of eugenics and possibly altering all of mankind’s …show more content…
While both of these articles are based on opinions, Smith manages to gather gene manipulation data from other sources on “other mammals including rats, rabbits and farmyard animals” (258). Compared to Smith, Matthews and Curiel recognize that “recent advances in animal research have allowed researchers to consider the possibility of modifying genes […] by manipulating eggs or sperms” but they do not give any specific details (Matthews and Curiel