My congratulations for the excellent essays "Lives In the Balance: Assessing The Risks Of Waiting For Perfectly Accurate Tests," by Dorothy C. Wertz, and "Advantages Of Genetic Testing Outweigh Arguments Against Widespread Screening," by Philip R. Reilly, regarding testing in cystic fibrosis [Opinion, "Unanswered Ethical Questions Forestall Genetic Testing," The Scientist, Jan. 21, 1991, page 9]. Both essays highlight the need for education and counseling that must accompany such testing.
With recent interest in the possibility of mass screening for cystic fibrosis by the Human Genome Project of the National Institutes of Health [C. Anderson, Nature, 348:569, 1990], another ethical issue--of equal importance to those raised in the essays but undiscussed in them--comes to mind.
H.R. Colten has focused on the implications of gene therapy techniques for cystic fibrosis. In the context of the recent advances made in gene transfer approaches by groups led by M.J. Welsh [FASEB Journal, 4:2718-2725,...
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