Gene Therapy Saves Lives Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Argument Es

Gene Therapy Saves Lives   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tim was diagnosed with a rare and deadly disease this morning. He is only five years old with the rest of his life ahead of him. It isn't his fault that he received this disease or even his parents'. This disease comes out in anyone's body that has a defected gene. The disease has made Tim live in a sanitized bubble the last year because of the fear that he might catch any common bug and die. He has severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID. The disease lacks a gene in charge of the body's immune system called adenosine deaminase. Tim could be helped through a process called gene therapy, but he won't because there is too much debate on the ethnicity of gene therapy; too much even to save his life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The use of gene therapy to prevent illness and disease by changing a person's genetic makeup is a good use of science. Gene therapy is an approach in science to treat, or ultimately prevent disease by changing the expression of a person's genes. The way a gene is expressed is something like a person's hair color. Gene therapy is still in its very early stages of development. Any gene therapy that is being worked on today is still in its experimental stages. It will not be used in humans for extensive use for a while. The only humans are ones who are in clinical trials ("Gene Therapy").   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Gene therapy can be done by using either somatic, which are from the body, or germ, which are from egg or sperm, cells. In somatic gene therapy the recipient's genome, genetic makeup, is changed, but the changes are not passed down to the next generation. In germ line gene therapy, the parents' egg and sperm cells are changed with the goal of passing on the changes to their offspring. Germ line gene ... ...http://www.srtp.org.uk/genthpy1.htm#Issues]. "Gene Therapy." Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 21 Nov. 2002. 3 Dec. 2002 [http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/medicine/genetherapy.html]. "Genetics in the Courtroom." Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 21 Nov. 2002. 10 Dec. 2002 [http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/courts/courts.html]. Godoy, Maria. "Gene Therapy Offers Hope for the Blind." TechTV News. 1 May 2001. 4 Dec. 2002 [http://www.techtv.com/news/specialreport/story/0,24195,3325114,00.html]. "Human Genome Diversity Project." Morrison Institute. 6 Oct. 1994. 3 Dec. 2002 [http://www.stanford.edu/group/morrinst/hgdp/faq.html]. Kitcher, Phillip. "Manipulating Genes: How Much is Too Much?" PBS Online. Apr. 2002. 8 Dec. 2002 [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/manipulate.html]. "Scenario A- Part 1." Strategis.gc.ca. 6 Dec. 2002 [http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/bb00010e.html#AP1].