Ethical and Social Problems of Gene Therapy

Abstract

Since the early days of gene therapy at the end of the 1980s, both the scientific community and the public have perceived the ethical and social problems intrinsic to this discipline. On one hand, the technologies for gene transfer are still largely experimental and thus pose important safety issues. On the other hand, the objective of several gene therapy applications is the stable modification of the genetic characteristics of an individual. Whether such modification is ethically acceptable and might also be applied to the embryo or fetus before birth, or to the germinal cells, has always been the subject of intense debate. Finally, while gene therapy is largely accepted when its application is to allow survival or improvement in the health of an individual, the gene transfer technologies of this discipline can also be exploited for the improvement of aesthetic appearance or physical and intellectual performance. These, and other major themes currently at the center of the ethical and social debate accompanying the development of gene therapy, are discussed in this chapter.