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posted by Fnord666 on Monday December 04 2017, @11:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong dept.

"Cease & Desist" has not worked:

Despite a warning from the federal government about do-it-yourself gene therapy, two companies say they'll continue offering DNA-altering materials to the public.

The companies, The Odin and Ascendance Biomedical, both recently posted videos online of people self-administering DNA molecules their labs had produced.

Following wide distribution of the videos, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week issued a harshly worded statement cautioning consumers against DIY gene-therapy kits and calling their sale illegal. "The sale of these products is against the law. FDA is concerned about the safety risks involved," the agency said.

Does the Executive Branch want the market to decide, or not?


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  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Monday December 04 2017, @12:31PM (12 children)

    by looorg (578) on Monday December 04 2017, @12:31PM (#604995)

    Question is: does it work? I missed that in the text about his glowing beer.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday December 04 2017, @12:50PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday December 04 2017, @12:50PM (#604999) Journal

    In the last year or so the FDA has approved some gene therapies for living, breathing human adults.

    We can't say for sure whether his experiment will work, but that's the point of the self-experiment.

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @03:45PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @03:45PM (#605091)

      It's called being incredibly reckless and irresponsible. When gene therapies are approved, they know what they're dealing with both in terms of the DNA of the person as well as what the general effects of it are going to be.

      This is a case of companies engaged in illegal and unethical research on ignorant customers.

      And to make matters worse, because these aren't designed experiments, even if nothing particularly bad happens, we can't draw conclusions about what effect this might have on other people or no what sort of people shouldn't be using it. This is just bad.

      Self-experimentation is valuable, but this is so far beyond what you could reasonably expect somebody to do on their own that there's no value here. Self-experimentation is for things that are much lower stakes and more personal like figuring out what the best diet is for one person. There's plenty of variation without cutting out too many essential nutrients.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday December 04 2017, @12:51PM (8 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 04 2017, @12:51PM (#605001)

    The real question when you're selling to the general population of lifters is if a dose X works what happens when dumb lifters take one hundred times X, because the dumb ones do that with everything else they can consume. This malfunction is pretty much this is why we can't have basically harmless OTC 'roids. Also you give lifters a nice ergonomically and scientifically and engineering "safe" machine to lift with and roughly 95% of lifters will be "no brah I'm not using a machine I need max gainz" and then you tell them how to do it without destroying their body so again they do the opposite and round their back while lifting and then make the whole hobby look stupid because there they are in the ER (again).

    Well enough shitting on my hobby, gotta leave for the gym, its legs day. Realistically I'd say only 10% of my fellow lifters are morons, but sometimes I get a rant going.

    • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday December 04 2017, @01:32PM (4 children)

      by fyngyrz (6567) on Monday December 04 2017, @01:32PM (#605017) Journal

      Yes, and cheeseburgers! Too many cheeseburgers will KILL you!

      WE MUST LEGISLATE CHEESEBURGERS!

      Oh, wait. We could provide information, that is, educate, and then let people choose for themselves.

      Heresy, I know. Mother Government knows best. You can never have too many rules. WE MUST LEGISLATE CHEESEBURGERS!

      • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @03:47PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @03:47PM (#605092)

        That's not even remotely the same thing. For the most part, there are plenty of warning signs before you eat so many cheeseburgers that it kills you. And if you eat too many, you have options for limiting the effects.

        This is something being done at the genetic level and if it doesn't work or causes problems, that's permanent. You don't get this long set of signs that things are going off the rails.

        But yes, clearly this is some sort of an evil conspiracy to force the government on people that don't need it. Moron. The fact that people are willing to pay to do this to themselves is a large part of why the FDA exists. Back before the FDA you'd have these sorts of snake oil treatments being distributed and many of them were dangerous, but nobody really knew because nothing was being tested in a rigorous way.

        • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday December 04 2017, @11:22PM

          by fyngyrz (6567) on Monday December 04 2017, @11:22PM (#605391) Journal

          Yes, mother. I'll be careful. Now fuck off.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday December 04 2017, @11:00PM (1 child)

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Monday December 04 2017, @11:00PM (#605377) Homepage
        But cheeseburgers are legislated quite heavily. There are limits on what meats can be used, and how they should be processed, limits on hat additivews can be used, and laws regarding labelling. Believe it or not, there is an governmental administrative body that deals precisely with legislating food (and drugs).
        --
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        • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday December 04 2017, @11:21PM

          by fyngyrz (6567) on Monday December 04 2017, @11:21PM (#605390) Journal

          You can make your own cheeseburgers. Out of whatever you want. So, no.

    • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Monday December 04 2017, @02:20PM (1 child)

      by JNCF (4317) on Monday December 04 2017, @02:20PM (#605038) Journal

      The real question when you're selling to the general population of lifters is if a dose X works what happens when dumb lifters take one hundred times X, because the dumb ones do that with everything else they can consume.

      Evolution is bloody, and ever the Twain shall quethe: "censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."

      Also you give lifters a nice ergonomically and scientifically and engineering "safe" machine to lift with and roughly 95% of lifters will be "no brah I'm not using a machine I need max gainz" and then you tell them how to do it without destroying their body so again they do the opposite and round their back while lifting and then make the whole hobby look stupid because there they are in the ER (again).

      Your "safe" machine doesn't require you to actually learn how to move your body in non-harmful ways while lifting heavy objects. This is okay if you just want to look cool, but if you want to gain useful strength you should know how to use it (I'm not assuming you don't).

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @03:39PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 04 2017, @03:39PM (#605088)

        Machines also generally are isolation-type exercises, and don't build the smaller muscles that provide stability and balance, and don't put as much pressure on bones and tendons, which can lead to issues when your muscles are disproportionately stronger than the joints and bones they're anchored to.

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Monday December 04 2017, @06:16PM

      by sjames (2882) on Monday December 04 2017, @06:16PM (#605170) Journal

      The problem really applies to anything. Sell a lawnmower and some idiot will try to trim hedges with it. Sell a hair dryer and some idiot will try using it while still sitting in the tub. No amount of nerfing can save some people.