The debate on interventions in the human genome for non-medical purposes can be regarded as a promising and currently much-discussed area of enhancement (see also the module “Interventions in the human germline”). Although genetic enhancement is not yet very widespread compared to other areas, the rapid development of new methods allows scenarios in which changes in the genetic material go beyond the treatment of diseases.

The specific modification of genetically determined traits according to individual wishes is called "genetic enhancement" or "enhancement genetic engineering". In general, a distinction is made between somatic cell genetic engineering, with which the genetic material of somatic cells is specifically manipulated in order to change a certain trait in an individual, and germ cell genetic engineering, with which desired traits of offspring can be influenced at will via the germline.

First attempts to treat diseases with the help of gene therapies began in 1990, when the world's first gene therapy treatment was carried out on the then four-year-old Ashanti DeSilva, who suffered from a rare severe immune deficiency. Gene therapy measures were at first often accompanied by severe setbacks. The first approved drugs were soon withdrawn from the market due to limited success (Cerepro, Glybera) and the initial euphoria about new gene therapy methods quickly died down, particularly due to the problematic medical risk-benefit ratio. However, new advances and developments have now brought gene therapies back into focus as potential therapeutic methods.