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Biohackers Disregard FDA Warning on DIY Gene Therapy

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

Phoenix666 writes:

"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 HiThere on Monday December 04 2017, @06:26PM (1 child)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 04 2017, @06:26PM (#605173) Journal

    These don't seem to be gene-line therapies, though, so the people are only hurting themselves. As long as nobody is paying them to do this, I don't see it as any worse than lots of other things people do that may hurt themselves, like mountain climbing or watching TV (sloth is deadly).

    OTOH, as you point out people don't really know the risks (do they ever?) and here they seem a bit more opaque than usual, so there should be mandated warnings intelligible to the average high school graduate. (I.e., pages of lawyer-speak shouldn't be valid.)

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by EvilSS on Monday December 04 2017, @07:13PM

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 04 2017, @07:13PM (#605218)
    Like i said I'm torn. It's their bodies (well until they start giving this crap to their kids) so they should be able to do as they please. But without any regulation there is no way to know that people are getting what they are promised, that it's safe and/or effective, and what the known risks and side effects are. And you better believe the field will quickly fill up with companies out to make a quick buck scamming people vs making a difference.

    And before anyone goes all whataboutism on the current state of the pharma industry, do you think they would be BETTER without the regulations currently on them? Really??