All have ethical and social implications. In turning judicial attention to some of these ripening issues, we are spurred by the velocity of genetic research and the vigorous activity to turn it into commercial products. Genetic tests are big business and are largely unregulated. Genetic counseling is an irregular calling just taking form as a profession. Conflicts of law surface immediately.
New conflicts come into view.
Hardly a day goes by without notification of a new gene discovery in the popular press. Sometimes these discoveries are valid and durable. The discovery of a gene family that suppresses tumor growth, for example, may presage new cancer therapies. Other discoveries remain to be replicated. Pressure for gene therapy mounts as biological technologies promise means for altering our genes and those of unborn generations.