6.7 million women ages 15-44 in the U.S. are unable to get pregnant or carry a baby to term, 1.5 million are infertile (CDC.gov). Birth defects occur in about 3% of live births and are the leading cause of infant mortality, approximately 33,084 babies are born diagnosed with birth defects each year. (CDC.gov) However, there are ways to fix and prevent these problems. In Vitro Fertilization, germline gene therapy, and somatic gene therapy can be used to solve problems such as infertility, cure a variety of birth defects and genetically transmitted diseases, and with a little more research, could possibly be used to cure cancer.
In Vitro fertilization, or IVF is a technique of assisted reproductive technology for treatment of infertility. …show more content…
This is very similar to somatic gene therapy, but with some slight differences. Instead of using “body” cells, like in somatic therapy, it uses sperm and egg cells, also known as germ cells. (ghr.nlm.nih.gov) Another difference is that instead of altering the genes of an already living human, germline therapy inserts a healthy gene into a fertilized egg that has a specific defect in the hopes of curing the disease before the fetus finishes developing and the baby is born. This of course is a major source of contention in the argument about whether or not it is ethical. Many people believe that since the fetus does not have the ability to say whether or not it wants these changes made, it is unethical to make them without their permission, even if it helps them live a healthier, happier life. At this point, germline gene therapy is still highly experimental and is not completely safe, but with more research, it could easily become even more beneficial than somatic gene therapy. Germline therapy not only allows the patient being treated to live a healthier life, but because they are completely embedded in their DNA, it enables the correction of disease causing mutations to be passed to future generations. This could potentially allow many genetic diseases to be removed from the population entirely, which would in turn drastically reduce or even remove the long term health costs of treating them.
In Vitro fertilization, or IVF is a technique of assisted reproductive technology for treatment of infertility. …show more content…
This is very similar to somatic gene therapy, but with some slight differences. Instead of using “body” cells, like in somatic therapy, it uses sperm and egg cells, also known as germ cells. (ghr.nlm.nih.gov) Another difference is that instead of altering the genes of an already living human, germline therapy inserts a healthy gene into a fertilized egg that has a specific defect in the hopes of curing the disease before the fetus finishes developing and the baby is born. This of course is a major source of contention in the argument about whether or not it is ethical. Many people believe that since the fetus does not have the ability to say whether or not it wants these changes made, it is unethical to make them without their permission, even if it helps them live a healthier, happier life. At this point, germline gene therapy is still highly experimental and is not completely safe, but with more research, it could easily become even more beneficial than somatic gene therapy. Germline therapy not only allows the patient being treated to live a healthier life, but because they are completely embedded in their DNA, it enables the correction of disease causing mutations to be passed to future generations. This could potentially allow many genetic diseases to be removed from the population entirely, which would in turn drastically reduce or even remove the long term health costs of treating them.