What are the practical and ethical issues of gene-based medicines for modern medicine and human society?
This chapter examines the procedures used to develop gene-based treatments and drugs. It also looks at several cases in which genomic medicine was successful where traditional medicine had failed. Teachers can use the lesson plans and materials to acquaint students with the basic concepts genomic medicine, to give them an opportunity to discuss the possible effects of these improvements in medical treatment, and to encourage them to think about how their own future may change as a result of genomic medicine. Background Information As scientists complete the sequencing of the human genome, they are using this information to create new ways of fighting disease-especially life-threatening diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, obesity, and heart disease. Until now, doctors really haven’t been able to cure these diseases using drugs; they could only treat and control the symptoms. In the case of heart disease, physicians have been treating high blood pressure with one of six different medic
