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Article: A Cure That May Cost Us Ourselves: SOCIETY: One of the pioneers of human genetic engineering predicts that within 30 years, there will be a gene-based therapy for most diseases. But he fears the profound dangers of his own work .(Society)
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- January 1, 2000
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A revolution is sweeping medicine--only the fourth one since Hippocrates argued, some 2,400 years ago, that the workings of the body can be explained by the laws of nature rather than the supernatural. The first revolution occurred soon after British surgeon John Snow discovered, in 1854, that cholera is spread by contaminated water: this led to sanitation systems that protected people from the devastating infections that had habitually plagued mankind. The second revolution, surgery with anesthesia, came at about the same time, allowing doctors to readily fix ailments such as appendicitis and bowel obstruction. The third revolution was the introduction of vaccines and ...