, generating vaccines, andaltering livestock traits (Clarke 1). In the not so distant future, genetic engineering will becomea principal player in fighting genetic, bacterial, and viral disease, along with controlling aging,and providing replaceable parts for humans.Medicine has seen many new innovations in its history. The discovery of anestheticspermitted the birth of modern surgery, while the production of antibiotics in the 1920sminimized the threat from diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and cholera. The creationof serums which build up the bodies immune system to specific infections, before being laid lowwith them, has also enhanced modern medicine greatly (Stableford 59). All of these discoveries,however, will fall under the broad shadow of genetic engineering when it reaches its apex in themedical community.Many people suffer from genetic diseases ranging from thousands of types of cancers, toblood, liver, and lung disorders. Amazingly, all of these will be able to be treated by geneticengineering, specifically, gene therapy. The basis of gene therapy is to supply a functional geneto cells lacking that particular function, thus correcting the genetic disorder or disease. Thereare two main categories of gene therapy: germ line therapy, or altering of sperm and egg cells,and somatic cell therapy, which is much like an organ transplant. Germ line therapy results in apermanent change for the entire organism, and its future offspring. Unfortunately, germ linetherapy, is not readily in use on humans for ethical reasons. However, this genetic methodcould, in the future, solve many genetic birth defects such as downs syndrome. Somatic celltherapy deals with the direct treatment of living tissues. Scientists, in a lab, inject the tissueswith the correct, functioning gene and then re-administer them to the patient, correcting theproblem (Clarke 1). Along with altering the cells of living tissues, genetic engineering has also provene...
