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Arguments Against Germline Gene Therapy

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Many lives can be saved from manipulation of parental genes. Genetic engineering is a way of manipulating our genes in such a way as to make our bodies better by altering the sperm and egg cells. The act of altering the traits that a child is going to born with, is called Germline Gene Therapy. These changes to the genomes would be inheritable and it will be passed down through the generations as it has been proven over years of studies (Arnold Paul online). Even though germline gene therapy can be risky, and it could decrease the genetic diversity, as well as have some negative effects on off springs of the next generations, it still can increase the life span, enhance and make offspring be healthier and prevent future diseases. Therefore, …show more content…

One reason that a person might be against germline gene therapy is that genetic modification can limit our genetic diversity. This can danger that our gene pool diminishes and that as a population we become more susceptible to being wiped out by a previously unknown disease threat (Arnold Paul online). Although it prevents diseases from parents, it will perfect the family from a certain disease but it will make it hard to predict other diseases because it will be common and more people will be perfected, so it’ll be harder to predict the unknown diseases. Another reason that they believe is that unanticipated negative effects of Inheritable Genetic Modification would be passed on to all future generations (Inheritable Genetic online). Negative effects after the genetic modification can be hurtful to the future offspring, and it can be passed on to generations. The last reason to be against gene manipulation is that it’s very risky as Arnold Paul points out that there are risks associated with getting genes into a human body and having them carry out the desired function. Some genes are carried in on viral vectors and these bugs have been altered so as not to infect a patient with a disease (Arnold Paul online). Inheritable genetic modification is risky in two ways, first is that it might not work, and it could be a waste of money. The second reason is that it could lead to other unknown diseases since the genetic diversity will

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