separated into two categories. The first should be to look for characteristics of genetic diseases which are hereditary. The second is used to show a person’s “predisposition to certain diseases” (Kutukdjian 453). It is in genetic testing that the concept of gene therapy can play a role. The somatic type of gene therapy is considered to be an ethical one. Its main concern is focused toward the cells of the body (Dausset 450). On the other hand, the germ-line type is concerned with the reproductive cells or the embryos themselves, thus being considered unethical (Dausset 450). Dausset says, “The germ-line therapy must be strictly banned” (450). The second area of genetic testing is predictive medicine. Predictive medicine is, essentially, preventive medicine (Kutukdjian 453). The main purpose for predictive medicine is start treatment for a disease that the patient does not have, but that he/she will possibly get in the future. That way the person will not get that disease, thus the doctors “prevented” it. Although it does present some ethical questions, I believe that genetic testing, for the most part, is a good thing. It can do a great many good things for people, if it is used properly. Gene therapy is considered by many medical researchers to be the “ultimate solution to gene-based diseases” (Jaroff 24-6). Dr. W. French Anderson, the director of the gene-therapy program at the University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, says, “virtually every disease will have gene therapy as one of its treatments” Along with two colleagues, “Anderson performed the first federally approved gene therapy” (Jaroff 24-6). Predictive medicine is also a good thing. “Medicine is basically going to change from a treatment-based to a prevention-based discipline” (Jaroff 24-6). The ethical questions of whether or...
