Research Catalog

Title

The ethics of human gene therapy / LeRoy Walters, Julie Gage Palmer ; with illustrations by Natalie C. Johnson.

Author

Walters, LeRoy.

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Palmer, Julie Gage.

Description

xviii, 209 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

• Depending on the technique, such enhancements could affect not only the individuals receiving the intervention but their offspring as well. Three types of genetic enhancements are considered: physical alterations to improve size, reduce the need for sleep, and decelerate aging; intellectual enhancements of memory and general cognitive ability; and moral enhancements for control of violently aggressive behavior. The authors maintain that genetic modifications should be evaluated individually rather than be condemned in principle or as a group.
• The authors of this absorbing new book describe the science of gene therapy in terms easily accessible to the non-specialist, and focus on the controversial ethical and public policy issues surrounding human interventions in human heredity. After a brief survey of the structure and functions of DNA, genes, and cells, Walters and Palmer discuss three major types of potential genetic intervention: somatic cell gene therapy, germ line gene therapy, and genetic enhancements.
• The final chapter summarizes the public review process that human gene therapy proposals have been undergoing in the United States since 1990. Five appendices, providing technical background information along with a complete list of questions raised in the national public review process, supplement the discussion.
• They start with the current techniques of gene addition, using non-reproductive (somatic) cells in an effort to cure or treat disease. Next they address the technical problems and moral issues facing attempts to prevent disease through genetically modifying early human embryos or sperm and egg cells. These changes would be passed on to future generations. Chapter 4, in many ways the most original part of this volume, confronts the issue of employing genetic means to improve human abilities and appearance.

Subject

• Ethics
• Gene therapy > Moral and ethical aspects
• Genetic Therapy
• Morals

Note

• Includes index.

Contents

1. Genes: Function and Heredity -- 2. Somatic Cell Gene Therapy -- 3. Germ-Line Gene Therapy -- 4. Enhancement Genetic Engineering -- 5. Public Policy on Human Gene Therapy -- App. A. Further Information on Mitosis and Meiosis -- App. B. Background Information on Mendelian Inheritance -- App. C. Additional Methods for Delivering Genes to Cells -- App. D. The "Points to Consider" Developed by the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee -- App. E. Background Information on Homologous Recombination.

ISBN

0195059557 (alk. paper)

LCCN

96033680

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries