Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Human Testing of DNA Vaccine OKd

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first human testing of a vaccine made with pure DNA, in an attempt to find a way to protect against AIDS. Apollon Inc. and the National Institutes of Health will test the experimental AIDS vaccine on 15 healthy people at the NIH hospital in Bethesda, Md. Potential AIDS vaccines have been given to healthy people before. But this one marks the first time a healthy person has received the pure genetic material of any disease. There is no risk to healthy volunteers because the genetic material is not infectious.