
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402050063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

FEAR OF ESCAPE BY VIRUS CANCELS CANCER RESEARCH

Government safety inspectors halted a cancer research project at Birmingham University because of the risk that genetically engineered viruses could escape and possibly infect people.

The Dec. 6 order, made public Friday, was the first issued since the government adopted regulations covering genetic engineering in 1992.

Professor Gordon McVie, scientific director of the Cancer Research Campaign, which sponsored the research, said the project aimed at discovering which genes turn normal cells into cancer cells and was "at the leading edge of fundamental research."

McVie said there was no danger people outside the lab could get cancer from the virus, and only a "theoretical risk" restricted to the researchers handling it.

The inspectors objected to the research being conducted in the corner of a larger laboratory in which other people were working, McVie said. The lab is being moved, in consultation with the inspectors, he said.

The order said the researchers created "uncertainty" about safety by not sufficiently assessing "the risks of this work to human health and the environment."

The university may resume the research if it introduces satisfactory ways of containing the viruses by April 7.

by CNB