GENE THERAPY

noun (Health and Fitness) (Science and Technology) The technique or process of introducing normal genes into cells in place of defective or missing ones in order to correct genetic disorders. Etymology: Formed by compounding: therapy which takes place at the level of the gene. History and Usage: Researchers in medical genetics have been working on the idea of gene therapy since the early seventies and during the eighties were approaching a point where their techniques could be applied to human subjects, although most sources spoke of gene therapy very much as a hope for the future rather than a practical reality. Since all forms of transgenic research and genetic engineering raise serious ethical issues which have had to be considered by the courts, gene therapy could not develop as fast as its inventors would like. Approval for the first real gene therapy on human subjects was given in the US in 1990. Researchers were predicting that common disorders of the red blood cells, such as thalassaemia, would be the first diseases cured by gene therapy. Listener 9 May 1985, p. 7 This sort of research, which critics describe as 'playing God', gets even more morally knotty when it comes to gene therapy, with its potential for monitoring and altering human genes to check for and eliminate hereditary diseases. The Face June 1990, p. 111