Gene therapy is experiencing a renaissance, with many of the recent successes in children. For some conditions, the younger the child, the better the genetic correction, because affected tissues degenerate with time. This is the case for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), the “Lorenzo’s Oil” disease that strips the insulation from brain neurons. One goal of the not-for-profit Stop ALD is to team gene therapy with newborn screening, to help boys before they begin to lose abilities. 

Should gene therapy be attempted even earlier? Before birth?

Fetal gene therapy is already being done in non-human animals, presumably in preparation for phase 1 clinical trials. Gene therapy is technically more challenging than inserting a shunt to drain a hydrocephalic brain or repairing an open spine, because it entails delivering gene-carrying viruses to affected cells and not anywhere else. It is fetal medicine on a different scale. 

The Alden March Bioethics Institute offers graduate online masters in bioethics programs. For more information on the AMBI master of bioethics online program, please visit the AMBI site.

The overarching ethical concern related to preimplantation genetic diagnosis/human leukocyte antigen (PGD/HLA) testing is the moral status of the embryo. Many books have been written on this topic and many more are being contemplated. The ongoing public discussion of this and related issues continues to be breaking news, as most recently exemplified by the "personhood amendment" proposed to Mississippi voters who will "decide" the matter on November 8th, 2011.

The question of distributive justice is a key concern in all aspects of reproductive genetics and genetic medicine generally.  Moral and ethical considerations demand equitable distribution of these resources.  Ongoing nationwide campaigns should be directed toward functional medical and scientific education of the citizenry.

The Alden March Bioethics Institute offers graduate online masters in bioethics programs. For more information on the AMBI master of bioethics online program, please visit the AMBI site.

During a high school cross-country race last month in Minnesota, Andover's Josh Ripley stopped to aid injured opponent Mark Paulauskas from Lakeville South, carried him more than 100 yards to medical help and then jumped back into the race. As Ripley came to the finish line 211th in a field of 261, the Lakeville squad greeted him with cheers (http://tinyurl.com/3bjzhsv).

If "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing," Ridley failed miserably. We worship winners and assign the losers to public recognition's dustbin.

Yet did you know that Vince Lombardi, just before he died, regretted his one-liner?

The Alden March Bioethics Institute offers graduate online masters in bioethics programs. For more information on the AMBI master of bioethics online program, please visit the AMBI site.