Like many things, gene therapy is a controversial matter. Some issues that are debated are the ethical issues that are questioned by people. Another is the general costs of Gene Therapy, furthermore the economical, political and social effects of Gene Therapy. Since Gene Therapy has not been researched well enough to be fully understood there are doubts and the outcome during and after the treatment. Threats include the risk of other diseases infecting the person during treatment, risk of death and the effect it could have on children. Gene therapy isn’t suited for everyone. Sadly, in 1999 an 18 year old man died during experimental trials of gene therapy, his body could not handle the injection and sadly he passed away. This is one of the biggest problems of gene therapy because the consequences have not been fully understood.
Gene therapy is meant to be used to treat sick people and could quite possibly kill them. This is an experimental treatment and it may only be available to the rich or privileged. The equipment is expensive and massed produced. Some people say this treatment could be used to enhance personal traits; this includes athletic ability, growth and intelligence. This is an issue as it can ruin the natural order of things. This is contradicting the purpose of gene therapy, to cure very ill people. Many believe that enhancing traits would be counted as cheating and unfair in certain events such as academic and sports competitions.
