Wired News delivered to your inbox or hand-held device. O G Y Sponsored by Ericsson phones and accessories . The 15-member committee, while unable to come to terms on exactly how gene therapy experiments would continue, did agree they should be allowed, in spite of public concern and a death last year due to experimental gene therapy. Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation for Economic Trends in Washington, made a plea for a moratorium on certain types of gene therapy experiments, but the RAC rejected his arguments. Gene therapy is a technique that attempts to cure or treat disease by injecting a healthy gene into the patient.
Many experiments use an altered virus called adenovirus to carry the gene into the body.
Since Gelsinger' s death, gene therapy has come under a magnifying glass. The FDA did an investigation of the Penn lab and said it found several failures to comply with NIH and FDA procedures. The Penn lab wrote two letters back to the FDA defending its experiments. At least two other gene therapy labs also have been shut down. The majority were not considered to be serious.