Bayertz K
Department of Philosophy, University of Münster, Germany.
Cytokines Mol Ther. 1996 Sep;2(3):207-11.
Progress in medicine has solved many problems facing humanity. At the same time, however, it has also led to many new ones. There is no reason to believe that this ambivalence will cease to exist with respect to future applications of gene technology in medicine. A sober and differential assessment of the chances and risks of this new technology is therefore necessary. The present paper outlines just such an assessment. Its main conclusion is that genetic diagnostics may pose more difficult ethical and social problems than gene therapy. This may especially be the case if this diagnostic technology is routinely used for screening programs to detect widespread diseases like cancer, hypertension or diabetes in a population that is not at high risk.
医学的进步解决了人类面临的许多问题。然而，与此同时，它也引发了许多新问题。没有理由相信，对于基因技术在医学中的未来应用，这种矛盾心理将不复存在。因此，有必要对这项新技术的机遇和风险进行清醒而有区别的评估。本文概述的正是这样一种评估。其主要结论是，基因诊断可能比基因治疗带来更棘手的伦理和社会问题。如果这项诊断技术被常规用于筛查项目，以在非高危人群中检测癌症、高血压或糖尿病等广泛疾病，情况可能尤其如此。
