Gene Therapy

Jake Olsen

10/14/2013

        Over the past few decades advances in science and technology has greatly changed the world in which we live. People can communicate with virtually anyone in the world with a device that you can carry in your pocket. Economies are connected thanks to the amazing speed of transportation. All in the news in the world is at your fingertips. Yet when it comes to medicine, the gaps loom large. As a society we’ve been able to break speed records, climb the tallest peaks, and yet simple illnesses ruin the lives of the ones we love. This is where biological engineering can make the difference.

        The practice of gene therapy is what can solve the problems we haven’t resolved yet. Every year in the U.S. heart disease kills over half a million people, cancer kills 570,000, and respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes kill more than 200,000.^[1] Gene therapy is the practice of manipulating genes in a person’s DNA. The great benefit of this is that it could be used to eliminate disease and cancer. Doctors could map out all the traits of a person and eliminate harmful mutations. Cancer, Down syndrome, development defects, and other problems would be a thing of the past. Gene therapy should be covered by insurance companies and available to everyone in order to eliminate disease and keep people from suffering.