A few years after they wereable to clone human insulin they cloned the human growth hormone and a tumor fighting protein. In 1990 a four year old girl became the first Gene Therapy patient she had a disorder called adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA) which left her body defenseless against infections. Scientists took white blood cells from her and added genes to make the adenosine deaminase to the white blood cells DNA then were re-injected into her body, curing her of ADA. We have come a long way from Watson and Cricks Ideas on the Structure of DNA but while all this gene manipulation may seem great but there are potentially some dangers in Genetic Manipulation and the Capitalization of it.
Every person carries about half a dozen defective genes but we carry two copies of nearly all genes, one from our mothers and one from our fathers. In the majority of cases having one normal gene is enough to avoid the disease, one genetic disorder that requires only one bad gene is Cystic Fibrosis. CF is a genetic disorder that causes the body to produce an abnormally thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections. The thick secretions also get into the pancreas, making it difficult for digestive enzymes to reach the intestines to help break down and absorb food. This disorder effects 1 in every 2,500 babies born in the US. There are about 2,800 genetic disorders and one in ten of us at some point in our lives will develop an inherited genetic disorder. Genetic Manipulation has the potential to cure all of these, in fact the European Genome Project believes that within 15 years they will be able to identify and treat all diseases that humans are susceptible. Right now the U.S. Human Genome Project funded by the government has mapped the entire human DNA structure and are now looking at sequences finding what each one codes for. The US Human Genome project began in 1990 when gene therapy was first used to heal the four year old girl of ADA.
