Gene Therapy
A Site Map
of the Debate
(Updated November 13, 1998 · Issue 42)
| CUTTING EDGE | |
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Gene Therapy
A Site Map of the Debate | |
(Updated November 13, 1998 · Issue 42) |
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The U.S. genome project hurtles toward its postmillennial conclusion. Our human genome has been mapped and mapped again, and so have the genomes of worms and bacteria, livestock and pet dogs. This is very exciting - except for those families affected by genetic disease. They continue to wait for solutions that will save loved ones from a lifetime of suffering or an early death - the consequences of an undesirable mutation.
To date, progress toward effective gene therapy has been much less spectacular than the news reports of genetic advances seem to promise. A few children with the very rare hereditary immune disorder called adenosine deaminase deficiency appear to have been successfully treated with their own altered blood cells. Young people with cystic fibrosis - the most common single-gene hereditary disorder among Caucasians - yearn for the day when research finally reveals the best way to deliver the genetic information that could cure them. Progress toward effective gene therapy is tantalizing, but to those with genetic disease, the answer seems always to recede toward the horizon.
Meanwhile, the gene hunters are continually finding new molecular clues to disease. We are learning the genome. How close are we, really, to fixing its flaws? Fixing them how? What should we fix first - and are there flaws we should never try to fix?
To address these questions, HMS Beagle assembled a panel of eminent researchers in the field, and added two participants with an unusual perspective: A physician who has conducted research and written about ethical issues in genetics, and a theologian who has published articles and books about biotechnology. Together they address not only the technical hurdles that lie ahead, but the moral challenges as well.
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Andrzej Krauze is an illustrator, poster maker, cartoonist, and painter who illustrates regularly for HMS Beagle, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph, Bookseller, and New Statesman.
