Gene therapy is a medical treatment that is used to help prevent or treat a disease that affects cells by replacing, removing or introducing new genes into the body of the affected person or foetus. It is otherwise manipulating a person’s genetic material. An example being the ability to add a gene to a cell to produce a specific missing protein. Gene therapy seeks to alter a gene as gene therapy researchers are trying to improve the body’s natural ability to fight disease. Gene therapy can be targeted to somatic or germ cells. In somatic gene therapy the recipient’s genome is changes but the change is not passed

In 1987 W. French Anderson proposed the first gene therapy. Anderson encountered much critism but continued his work on gene therapy. On September 14th, 1990 researchers at the United States National Institutes Of Health performed the first gene therapy procedure. This was attempted on four-year-old Ashanti Desivla. Ms Desivla had a rare immune system deficiency and the procedure allowed researchers to remove white blood cells and allow them to grow in which they inserted the missing gene. They then infused the blood cells back into Ms Davila’s body, which later showed that the procedure had strengthened Ms Davila’s immune system. The road of gene therapy was not made easier by this first successful procedure but only added to the optimism of the public.

In my opinion gene therapy is a step forward in human genetics. I believe that gene therapy should only be used to correct defected genes and help unborn children to have the right to lead a normal life and lift the strain from the family that would have to care for the disabled child. I give full credit to Mr Anderson for continuing with his work on gene therapy even through the disagreement of society. Gene therapy should be used as treatment to help make those peoples lives that has incurable disease more comfortable and even to find a way to cure the diseases. Such diseases as cancer through the use of gene therapy may one day be able to be cured and this would be great. As cancer is one of Australia’s major killers. What I strongly don’t believe in is that gene therapy should used to make ‘perfect’ people. It is not our right to make people because then the person is not natural individual. Gene therapy doesn’t give people the right to mix and match genes so that they have the perfect baby for show. Allowing this to happen would mean today’s society would be made up of superficial people. The creation of life is a gift that should be treasur

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