AAAS raises concerns over gene therapy

Some medical procedures and experimental gene transfer technologies used today, and others under development, can inadvertently modify the human genome, and probably have caused inheritable changes, the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) warned in a report released today. The academy called for the creation of a new regulatory and oversight body. It also warned that the large role of private companies in gene therapy research is a cause for concern and recommended the promulgation and strict enforcement of new conflict of interest rules.

The report, Human Inheritable Genetic Modifications, Assessing Scientific, Ethical, Religious, and Policy Issues, states that despite strict prohibitions on germ line alterations, "it is very likely that some of the somatic transfer trials authorized by RAC (NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee) have had unintentional or secondary impacts on the germ line." The report adds: "It is difficult to know, however, (if germ lines have been modified) because to-date data ascertaining the incidence of such effects, as for example through autopsies of research subjects who have died, have not been routinely collected." ...