Genetically Engineered Virus- Lawsuit

RodISHI

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CAUTION: All processes involving lentivirus should be performed in a safety

By EDMUND H. MAHONY The Hartford Courant

March 14, 2010
Medical experts will be watching closely Monday when a scientist who says she has been intermittently paralyzed by a virus designed at the Pfizer laboratory where she worked in Groton opens a much anticipated trial that could raise questions about safety practices in the dynamic field of genetic engineering.

Organizations involved in workplace safety and responsible genetic research already have seized on the federal lawsuit by molecular biologist Becky McClain as an example of what they claim is evidence that risks caused by cutting-edge genetic manipulation have outstripped more slowly evolving government regulation of laboratories.

McClain, of Deep River, suspects she was inadvertently exposed, through work by a former Pfizer colleague in 2002 or 2003, to an engineered form of the lentivirus, a virus similar to the one that can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Medical experts working for McClain believe the virus has affected the way her body channels potassium, leading to a condition that causes complete paralysis as many as 12 times a month.

"If a worker in a plant as sophisticated as Pfizer is becoming infected with a genetically engineered virus, then I think the potential is everywhere," said Jeremy Gruber, president of the Council for Responsible Genetics, a public interest group created to explore the implications of genetic technologies.

"Genetically engineered viruses are commonly worked on at your average university," Gruber said. "The public has a right to know what regulations are in place and what regulations are required to fix an industrywide issue. We need to have a conversation about this. Ms. McClain's attempt to do that has been hampered at every turn, by the courts and by regulators."

Pfizer disputes all of McClain's claims and says it fired her in 2005 because she refused to come to work. The global pharmaceuticals manufacturer, with research labs in southeastern Connecticut, defends its safety practices and denies that McClain's physical disability is related to exposure at its Groton lab. The company says she did not link her disability to workplace exposure until after she was fired.

As a molecular biologist, McClain studied cells on a molecular level, manipulating genetic codes in an effort to develop vaccines. During the period at issue in the suit, McClain worked in Pfizer's Human Health Embryonic Stem Cells Technologies, Genomic and Proteomic Sciences and Exploratory Medicinal Sciences Group... continued at link.
 
All genetically engineered organisms are classified as BLS-2 and up.

Biosafety Levels

bio_safety_cabinet.jpg
 
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Sounds like this worker was careless, as there are many steps to handle dangers laboratory reagents, especially live viruses. And if her colleague was at fault, then she is still careless to not notice carelessness of the coworker. many laboratories work with dangerious, live, infectious diseases, and they have no problems with infecting themselves. she's trying to blame the employer? Seems bogus to me, unless they didn't have safety regulation up to date, but I doubt that as these facilities have to work under Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) for their research and that requires frequent inspections.

Plus, although the lentivirus is designed from HIV-1, its unable to replicate itself becasue its been mutated. THe lentivirus is often used in laboratory research to infect cells or animal tissue stably expressing the RNAi to knock down a gene of interest. It can infect a cell, and integrate into the geneome, but the virus itself can't be replicated, so the worst that can happen is the virus integrates into a cancer gene, and mutates it, but that is extremely rare. Even so, steps are taken to avoid infecting yourself.

I've worked with lentivirus many times, I didn't infect myself. THis is a completely bogus lawsuit as the article hints at


I know, its anothe rRodishi attempt to completely bastardize science. Maybe if you added arguments other than copy and pasting people would know what the hell you were trying to show here.

oh, and here is another inconvenient fact to her case

OSHA dismissed McClain's complaint. In a decision published after McClain's termination, the agency criticized her for refusing to return to work in spite of "Pfizer's substantial efforts" to address her concerns. In a speech last year to a labor safety group in California, McClain said she was told by an OSHA investigator that the federal agency's legal authority has not kept pace with developments in sophisticated medical research.
 
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There have been 3 cases at my university where someone working with fully active HIV infected themselves, but its their own carelessness and not following safety protocols that lead to it
 
These stories keep getting published at least once every 2 or 3 years but more often than not, people forget about it and move on. I mean, it's not really probable that they were engineering it to hurt people though I guess the risk makes it dangerous enough.
 
These stories keep getting published at least once every 2 or 3 years but more often than not, people forget about it and move on. I mean, it's not really probable that they were engineering it to hurt people though I guess the risk makes it dangerous enough.

I work with lentivirus, its not dangerous unless you are completely careless. This case smells like a disgruntled employee trying gto stick it to their old company, as lentivirus can only infect you upon contact with the virus, and can't replicate, so worst case scenario it integrates into one cell in a gene that disrupts that gene function. VEry very rare case of that occuring, mostly it would integrate into junk DNA and have no effect. No way can it cause the problems she is stating.
 

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