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Genetics and
Human Malleability
W. French Anderson
Just how much can, and should we change human nature . . . by
genetic engineering? Our response to that hinges on the answers to three fur-
iher questions: (1) What
can
we do now? Or more precisely, what
are
we
doing now in the area of human genetic engineering? (2) What
will
we be
able to do? In other words, what technical advances are we likely to achieve
over the next five to ten years? (3) What
should
we do? I will argue that a line
ran be drawn and should be drawn to use gene transfer only for the treat
ment of serious disease, and not for any other purpose. Gene transfer should
never be undertaken in an attempt to enhance or “improve” human beings.
What Can We Do?
In 1980 John Fletcher and I published a paper in the
New EnglandJournal
o\ Medicine
in which we delineated what would be necessary before it would
I
k
*
ethical to carry out human gene therapy.1As with any other new thera
peutic procedure, the fundamental principle is that it should be determined
in advance that the probable benefits outweigh the probable risks. We ana-
Iv / cd
the risk/benefit determination for somatic cell gene therapy and pro
p o s e d
three questions that need to have been answered from prior animal
experimentation: Can the new gene be inserted stably into the correct target
I W. French Anderson and John ( Fletcher, “Gene Therapy in Human Beings: When Is
h Filmal to Kegin?”
New
linglmui Journal of
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