Cure for Cancer

GENE THERAPY: TWO PROPOSALS Two proposals have been presented concerning the issue of gene therapy. The first was a proposal to treat cancer. With the p53 gene being recognized as a tumor suppressor, by manually inserting the p53 gene into different parts of the body, it can potentially “cure” lung cancer by prevention. I would agree with this gene therapy basically because if this gene therapy worked, the consequences and potential for the greater good of the community would be increased immensely. I first warn you, however, that what I am about to say is entirely theoretical. I believe that if the inhalation of the p53 gene into the lungs preventing lung cancer works, a window of economic opportunity would show itself. Here’s how it would turn out: Supposedly that this new gene therapy would work, it could be anticipated that there would be an increase in smokers and a higher demand in tobacco and cigarettes. With this higher demand, the prices would go up for cigarettes. With more and more money flowing into these tobacco businesses, the government can tax

There are relatively few objections religiously to agreeing with the treatment. The counter-arguments for this would be as follows: lifestyle would dictate how these people who are addicted to the nicotine in the cigarettes. If this prevention was successful, then the overall lifestyle of the society could suffer, potentially worsening their lifestyles. If this is not realized and the fertilized egg is nurtured to being born, other genetic problems could occur which would lead to a life of suffering and pain. Only the people can afford this gene therapy would have the pleasure to not worry as much about their health lifestyles, which would inevitably create a large hole in the social hierarchy. This money could be used for other research for medicine. By supporting germatic gene therapy, a whole series of other ethical issues are introduced. By using in vitro fertilization and tampering with the genome by adding the tumor suppressant gene, mistakes can occur which would lead to trashing the fertilized egg. With this extra money, investments in research in the cures for other diseases or from city projects can be started. Some religions also would not agree with gematic gene therapy. Not only would this create disturbance in the Jewish populations, but also the "pro-life" activists. Needless to say, the cost of this kind of gene therapy does not come lightly, which would create a much larger social gap between the wealthy and the poor. Generally speaking, the orthodox Jewish would not agree with this because, to them, it would be creating a "perfect race", just as Hitler attempted to do in World War II.