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National and International Approaches to Human Germ-Line Gene Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Andrea L. Bonnicksen
Andrea L. Bonnicksen*
Affiliation:
Northern Illinois University, USA
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Abstract

Germ-line gene therapy, in which genetic flaws are corrected in the DNA of externally fertilized human embryos, lies in the distant yet foreseeable future. Worries about germ-line therapy have prompted international bodies to craft guidelines that are unusual for their anticipatory nature. Motivating these guidelines is the idea that a “transnational harmonization” of principles should be reached before national policies are developed. This article reviews selected national policies and international recommendations, and it concludes that national policies should be precedents for, rather than descendants of, international normative codes. The inclination to develop morally-based codes, which is implicit in transnational harmonization, will be more useful if grounded in empirically-based medical technologies and politically-tested policies rather than on abstract principles developed well in advance of technological feasibility.

Type
Germ-Line Gene Therapy
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , February 1994 , pp. 39 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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