• Shardikprime@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    Of the 10k or so identified chronic diseases, about 95% of them are genetic

    Given that we, as humanity, have just barely started ( in research time. From 1987 to 2024, that’s almost 40 years of research, and development, basically nothing on one of, if not the toughest field in the world, and we are still doing breakthroughs on it)

    In fact this research has been the cause of improving the quality of life for people with these diseases as care for the patients during test reveals more data.

    Also remember, low understanding of the technology, particularly AI which is extremely helpful in these types of researches and past eugenics fears have marred the general zeitgeist for years, which may also cause early adoption to be difficult.

    I mean come on, people are still scared about genetically modified food.

    And also, another one thing to remember is that a lot, like 80% of these diseases, have an inherent risk for the life of the patient, which slows the research as this limits the amount of data you can get.

    So, we are not yet at the point of cracking the genetic makeup of a disease, chugging it into a bioreactor, and whipping billions of potential enhanced cures adapted for the specific body chemical makeup, but we are getting there.

    So yeah there is no conspiracy.

    Billions of dollars have been spent only on cancer research, imagine for the rest of diseases. If a government had cancer cure done for X type of cancer, they’d deploy that shit like Doritos locos at the mall and ensure themselves indefinite reelections forever.

    It’s just really, really, RIDICULOUSLY difficult.

    But, we are humans, difficult for us, is an old friend

    • volvoxvsmarla @lemm.ee
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      11 minutes ago

      I’ve grown up fascinated with several diseases and was eager to study them and find treatments that would better and prolong the life of the patients. By the time I was done with university my disease pet peeves were already very well managed. Take cystic fibrosis, a disease that was still considered a childhood disease when I was born in the 90s. With trikafta and other treatments CF patients now climb mount everest and whatnot. They have kids, back in school I learned that the few cases who made it to adulthood were infertile because of their viscous mucus. Like, I would love to work on an mRNA based gene therapy for it, but it seems almost unnecessary, given how manageable the disease has become.

      I also agree and want to stress what you are saying about the acceptance of gene therapy/ GMOs in general. I am in Germany and people here are insanely against GMOs of any kind. Manipulating the human genome is so far off the rails for the vast majority, I mean there is still so much hate against GMOs in food, we are nowhere near trying to use gene therapy on a broad scale. Let alone that to actually cure a genetic disease, you would have to undergo the gene therapy while you’re still a zygote. This is simply illegal here. Our research opportunities are severely limited on genetic manipulation.

    • Phoenixz
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      22 hours ago

      This.

      Yes, yes, there are conspiracies here and there, but these days we can’t have any reason anymore, everything must have an evil genius behind it.

      This is just another case of “it’s not that easy”