BIOMEDICAL ETHICS.pptVIP

The goal is to develop treatments for individuals with inherited diseases. Genetic disease is prevalent and increasing, in part due to medical advances that enable those affected to survive and reproduce. Genetic engineering will be able to make changes that can be transmitted to succeeding gereations and will be able to create new capacities, and hence to establish new norms of health and fitness. * 6% of all consultations with doctors are related to genetic disorders * 26% of all institutional beds are occupied by patients with genetic disorders * 8.5% of all infant deaths are the result of single gene defects * over 600 single gene defects are known, another 900 suspected. * on average, we all carry 6-8 defective genes And the survival rates for these transplants is quite high -- and getting higher. That’s the good news. CDC, Summary of Notable Diseases, 2001 Another area in Kass’s “control of Death” category includes infectious disease. He claims we’ve learned to conquer infectious disease, which seemed very true in the 1970s. For example, how many of you know someone who died of smallpox, polio, cholera, influenza, malaria, bubonic plague? Smallpox now exists in 7 (?) testtubes. It was declared beaten in 1979, no new cases since. And when you look at the decreases in infectious disease rates in the US over the past 5-6 decades, you see this trend. This list shows the 5 best and 5 worst life expectencies. The US average is 78 years, the UK = 77 yrs. Now the major problems are degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis and cancer. A common question I get when lecturing on paleopathology in ancient populations is why do we so much less cancer. Simple answer - they werent living as long on average. One estimate says that everybody, if they live long enough, will get some form of cancer - its inevitable. We are indeed living longer today. This is the CDC report on the 5 countries with the highest live expectancies from birth. If we were