threat to natural order

I've been contemplating, especially recently, my position on advancing and novel health care. As an avid supporter of scientific breakthroughs, medical progress, and almost anything regarding immunology, I have come to a stark realization that I just may be doing more harm than good. This is not a new idea, especially to most students in the medical field. However, I do not think this point is discussed enough, or at least thoroughly--before one can come to a conclusion, the point is usually shrugged off.

Gene therapy. Look into it. Probably one of the most upcoming and fascinating medical ideas of our day. Still in its genesis, gene therapy has already proven successful in treating cancers in mice, intelligibly by using viral vectors as methods of gene insertion. Continuing research in this field lends me to a strong inclination that this will be successful in humans.

Viruses are obligate intra-cellular parasites, designed through the course of evolution to infect cells, often with great specificity to a particular cell type. They tend to be very efficient at transfecting their own DNA into the host cell, which is expressed to produced new viral particles. By replacing genes that are needed for the replication phase of their life cycle (the non-essential genes) with foreign genes of interest, the recombinant viral vectors can transduce the cell type it would normally infect. To produce such recombinant viral vectors the non-essential genes are provided in trans, either integrated into the genome of the packaging cell line or on a plasmid. As viruses have evolved as parasites, they all elicit a host immune system response to some extent. Though a number of viruses have been developed, interest has centred on four types; retroviruses (including lentiviruses), adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses & herpes simplex virus type

Then we have our very popular GMO products, water treatment centers, and readily used antibiotics and immunizations. Together, aren't we unnaturally surpassing the carrying capacity of this earth? I truly believe that the spread of infectious disease, cancer, etc are nature's method of keeping a balance in earth sustainability. One can argue that finding continuous cures will just allow organisms to build stronger viral strains, perhaps putting the end to the struggle for long-life. Perhaps this is true. Or perhaps science will continuously surpass and succeed, always finding a new drug, a new antibody, or a new global method to further inflate longevity.