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Article: PARADOX IN GENE THERAPY DEBATE SOME DISABILITY RIGHTS GROUPS FEAR THAT GENETIC TREATMENT COULD UNDERMINE RECENT GAINS IN ACCEPTANCE BY SOCIETY
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- February 6, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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With scientists on the verge of replacing human genes to treat
inherited diseases, a paradoxical backlash is springing up among
some of the very people who seem to have the most to gain.
Criticism has long swirled around the quickening pace of
research to manipulate genes, the genetic instructions in cells
that can dramatically influence health and illness.
But scientists say they were not prepared for the activism
that has suddenly surfaced among disability rights groups, much of
it critical of genetic research. Many in that movement say
medicine's enthusiasm for preventing birth defects through prenatal
diagnosis and abortion, and its eagerness to develop high-tech
genetic therapies, ...