Title: Gene therapy is just a heart beat away.
Sometimes you do not know what you have, until its gone. For example, you never appreciate how good a boss you had, until you are working for an inferior one. You never notice how much those in your family do, until they are no longer there. We never appreciate good health until we are sick, and we never notice the millions of times our heart beats in perfect rhythm, until it does not. Have you ever had a chest pain, and your first question was, Am I having a heart attack?. Is this an irrational question? No! Heart disease is very real and kills a substantial number of New Zealanders every year.
In spite of this high death toll, the future looks bright with the development of a new therapy that could dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease. This newly developed therapy is PCSK9 gene therapy. The therapy is enabled by the development of new …show more content…
One of the cases they looked at was PCSK9 gene therapy.
See: link to document.
This therapy is cutting edge science, but with the mounting evidence, it is my belief that it would be unethical not to allow PCSK9 gene therapy in New Zealand.
What is PCSK9 gene therapy?
The PCSK9 gene handles the regulation of cholesterol in our blood. A small percentage of people are born with a natural mutation (Cohen, Boerwinkle, Mosley, Hobbs, 2006) in their PCSK9 gene. This mutation improves their cells' ability to remove excess cholesterol. The PCSK9 gene therapy would modify the liver cells, recreating this natural mutation.
How do we determine whether PCSK9 gene therapy would be ethical?
This therapy is classified as human experimentation. In her book "Ethics for Bioengineers", Frize (2012) established four principles to evaluate the ethics of human experimentation. These principles are Beneficence, Non-maleficence, Autonomy, and Justice.
The Principle of
Sometimes you do not know what you have, until its gone. For example, you never appreciate how good a boss you had, until you are working for an inferior one. You never notice how much those in your family do, until they are no longer there. We never appreciate good health until we are sick, and we never notice the millions of times our heart beats in perfect rhythm, until it does not. Have you ever had a chest pain, and your first question was, Am I having a heart attack?. Is this an irrational question? No! Heart disease is very real and kills a substantial number of New Zealanders every year.
In spite of this high death toll, the future looks bright with the development of a new therapy that could dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease. This newly developed therapy is PCSK9 gene therapy. The therapy is enabled by the development of new …show more content…
One of the cases they looked at was PCSK9 gene therapy.
See: link to document.
This therapy is cutting edge science, but with the mounting evidence, it is my belief that it would be unethical not to allow PCSK9 gene therapy in New Zealand.
What is PCSK9 gene therapy?
The PCSK9 gene handles the regulation of cholesterol in our blood. A small percentage of people are born with a natural mutation (Cohen, Boerwinkle, Mosley, Hobbs, 2006) in their PCSK9 gene. This mutation improves their cells' ability to remove excess cholesterol. The PCSK9 gene therapy would modify the liver cells, recreating this natural mutation.
How do we determine whether PCSK9 gene therapy would be ethical?
This therapy is classified as human experimentation. In her book "Ethics for Bioengineers", Frize (2012) established four principles to evaluate the ethics of human experimentation. These principles are Beneficence, Non-maleficence, Autonomy, and Justice.
The Principle of