Biotechnology News Archive 04/00 - 10/00
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10/31/00
EPA pledges review of biotech corn
WASHINGTON (AP) - Pledging to do a thorough review before allowing a variety of gene-altered corn in food, the EPA announced plans Monday for a 30-day public comment period and formal consultations with scientists. Discovery of the corn in the food supply has forced nationwide recalls of taco shells and forced the shutdown of processing plants. Aventis CropScience, which developed the corn, wants the EPA to grant a temporary food-use permit for the corn and submitted data last week that the company said showed the grain posed no hazard to consumers. The corn was only allowed for animal feed or industrial purposes because of unresolved questions about its potential to cause allergic reactions. The government has been unable to trace about 1.5% - or 1.2 million bushels - of this year's crop. The rest has gone to approved uses or is being held in storage.

10/26/00
Temporary biotech corn OK sought
WASHINGTON (AP) - With unapproved biotech corn already showing up in the food supply, the government was asked Wednesday to temporarily allow its use for human consumption. The industry said the move was urgently needed to head off further recalls and plant shutdowns. The concern is that some people might be allergic to food containing gene-altered corn. But the corn's developer, Aventis CropScience of Research Triangle Park, N.C., said data it submitted Wednesday show there is "no potential" for the corn, known as StarLink, to affect people who currently suffer from food allergies. In 1998, the government rejected Aventis' original request to approve the corn for human consumption, approving it only for animal feed and industrial uses because the government's scientific advisers were uncertain whether it was an allergen. A protein special to the corn contains a common characteristic of food allergens such as peanuts in that it degrades slowly in the digestive system.

10/19/00
Report: Biotech corn may be widespread
WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of bushels of genetically engineered corn approved only for animals may have already reached the human food supply chain and could show up in a wide range of foods, The Washington Post reported Thursday. Industry and federal officials are trying to find the corn to buy it back before it is made into more taco shells, chips, corn flakes and other corn products. "We're getting it out of the food chain," said John Wichtrich, vice president and general manager of Aventis FoodSciences of Research Triangle Park, N.C., the developer of the corn. The corn was not approved for humans because of fears it might trigger allergic reactions, but officials do not think its presence in food poses an imminent health risk.

10/13/00
Bioengineered corn withdrawn
WASHINGTON (AP) - A type of genetically engineered corn that is not approved for food use was withdrawn from the market at the government's urging Thursday after the crop showed up in additional brands of taco shells. The EPA said Aventis CropScience agreed to cancel its license to sell the corn, known as StarLink. It is only allowed for use in animal feed because of unresolved questions about whether it can cause allergies in humans. The health risks from the corn, "if any, are extremely low," the EPA said in a statement. But because "Aventis was responsible for ensuring that StarLink corn only be used in animal feed, and that responsibility clearly was not met, today's action was necessary," the agency said.

10/09/00
Scientists close on extinct cloning
BOSTON (AP) - Meet Bessie, who could soon be the first cow to give birth to a cloned ox. If she delivers the rare Asian gaur growing inside her, she will herald a stunning new way to save endangered, or even recently extinct, animals. The bovine surrogate mother is carrying the gaur fetus on a farm near Sioux City, Iowa, and is expected to give birth to "Noah" next month. Scientists had previously shown it is possible for one species to give birth to implanted embryos taken from a similar species. But this is the first time they have combined that technique with cloning. Using a technique developed by ACT in Worcester, scientists removed the DNA from one of Bessie's eggs and fused the egg with a skin cell taken from a living gaur, producing a genetically gaur egg that would be accepted by Bessie's immune system.

10/04/00
Test-tube baby made to save sibling
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - In the first known case of its kind, a Colorado couple created a test-tube baby who was genetically screened and selected in the hope he could save the life of his 6-year-old sister. The sister, Molly Nash, has a rare genetic disease, Fanconi anemia, that prevents her body from making bone marrow. But last week, doctors gave her an infusion of umbilical-cord blood from her newborn little brother, Adam, to try to correct the disease. Doctors should know in a couple of weeks whether the infusion is helping Molly develop healthy marrow cells. Screening laboratory-created embryos for genetic diseases before implanting them in a woman is not new. But this is the first known instance in which parents screened and selected an embryo in order to find a suitable tissue donor for an ailing sibling.

09/27/00
Hemophilia group feuds with Bayer
NEW YORK (AP) - The National Hemophilia Foundation will no longer accept money from Bayer Corp. to protest the pharmaceutical company's decision to sell its new hemophilia drug directly to patients instead of using hospitals, home health care companies and other distributors. The nonprofit foundation, which provides service and research for hemophilia and other blood disorders, will give back $32,000 that Bayer donated this year to fund a national conference. Foundation officials say Bayer's system of selling a new blood clotting drug will amplify a nationwide shortage of the drug. They fear Bayer will only sell the drug to people with high-paying insurance coverage and ration it to the poor. Bayer rejects those claims, saying it can more effectively distribute its bioengineered product, called Kogenate FS, so as to make sure its limited supply is not wasted in distributors' inventories.

09/27/00
Scientists link gene to diabetes
NEW YORK (AP) - A previously unknown gene appears to influence the risk of developing diabetes, particularly in Mexican-Americans, researchers say. Some scientists called the work a landmark in the effort to find genes involved in common illnesses such as heart disease and schizophrenia. For diabetes, the work might lead to better prevention and treatment. The rate of diabetes among Hispanic adults in the United States is nearly double that of white adults. Mexicans account for about two-thirds of all Hispanics in the United States. The study focused on type 2 diabetes, the most common kind, which generally shows up in adults and affects about 15 million Americans. If untreated, the disease can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and amputations.

09/26/00
Biotech group wants crop controls
WASHINGTON (AP) - A group representing the biotechnology industry endorsed proposals by Kraft Foods to tighten controls on genetically engineered crops in the wake of a recall of taco shells made with corn that isn't approved for human consumption. In a letter Monday to federal regulators, the Biotechnology Industry Organization agreed that farmers shouldn't be allowed to grow a crop that isn't approved for food use. That was one of four recommendations that Kraft made to the Food and Drug Administration in announcing the recall on Friday. The biotech group more than 900 companies, research institutions and affiliated organizations. The biotech corn used in the taco shells is only approved for animal feed because of unresolved questions about its potential to cause allergic reactions in people.

09/21/00
New antibiotic drugs on horizon
TORONTO (AP) - A new family of bacteria killers on the horizon for pneumonia and other diseases should offer an alternative to standard antibiotics that have lost their punch because germs are growing resistant. Medicines called macrolides are a standard treatment for many bacterial infections that cause respiratory diseases. They include such antibiotic warhorses as erythromycin. However, bugs like strep and staph are growing resistant to them, as well as to the primary backup medicines, known as quinolones. The drug industry's latest salvo are the ketolides. They are derived from the macrolides, but they are chemically different, so they will kill bacteria that are resistant to macrolides. Reports on two varieties of ketolides were presented in Toronto on Wednesday at an infectious diseases meeting sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology.

09/19/00
Gov't probes biotech corn allegation
WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is investigating whether a variety of biotech corn that hasn't been approved for human consumption was used in taco shells sold in grocery stores under the Taco Bell brand, officials said Monday. The corn, which is genetically engineered to kill an insect, is approved for use only in animal feed because of unresolved questions about whether it could cause allergies to humans. Testing by an Iowa company found evidence of the corn in the taco shells, and a group of environmental organizations that are opposed to genetically engineered food announced the results in a press release.

09/19/00
Report warns on human gene trials
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attempting to change genes and create future generations of perfect, healthy human beings is dangerous, irresponsible and should not be permitted now, a panel of experts says in a report. A committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in a report issued Monday, called for the creation of a public committee to monitor and oversee the increasingly sophisticated research into genetic modification. Much of the current research is concentrating on modifying the genes to correct health problems in living humans. This is called somatic gene modification and involves changing the genes in existing mature cells. But, the committee said, there is animal research in which there is an alteration of genes that affect future generations. This is called "inheritable genetic modification," or IGM. Dr. Theodore Friedmann of the University of California, San Diego, said that IGM technology now "is not safe for humans."

09/15/00
Scientists alter gene in mouse
WASHINGTON (AP) - Researchers have found a way to produce mice with genes that can be switched on and off, a development that could speed up the laboratory study of genes and their effect on disease. In a study appearing Friday in the journal Science, researchers at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland report that they altered a target gene in mouse embryos so that a special protein was triggered when the mice were fed an antibiotic. When the mice were grown, the researchers showed that feeding the animals an antibiotic would cause the gene to shut down. The gene could be turned back on, the researchers said, when the antibiotic was removed from the diet of the animals. John Adelman, senior author of the study, said in a statement that being able to turn a gene on or off will give researchers "a clearer and more detailed insight into the specific functions of any particular gene and its corresponding protein." This, in turn, will speed the development of drugs for the treatment of disease, he said.

09/13/00
Corning jumps into DNA chip market
CORNING, N.Y. (AP) - Using a high-volume manufacturing process, Corning Inc. is swooping into the business of making microarrays - DNA chips used to analyze thousands of genes at once. The materials company said Tuesday that its new technology, expected to shift into high gear by early next year, will speed current production of microarrays at least 10-fold. That could accelerate genetic research and speed the discovery of new drugs. The business of selling genetic information to biotechnology companies, government and academic laboratories is expected to grow from $250 million to $1 billion in the next five years, Corning said. The company said it expects to grab control of as much as half of the microarray market by then and perhaps overtake market leader Affymetrix, based in Santa Clara, Calif.

09/12/00
Researchers find asthma drug genes
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a step toward an age of "personalized medicines," researchers have found gene variations that affect the way individual asthma sufferers respond to a drug widely used to control acute attacks. Out of thousands of variations in a single gene, the researchers said they have identified 12 that determine how well asthma patients respond to albuterol, a drug commonly used to prevent or to control acute attacks. The study appears Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Identifying the genes that affect the way a person responds to a drug will help physicians to individually tailor prescriptions for each patient, said Dr. Stephen B. Liggett, a researcher at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine and the senior author of the study.

09/1/00
Biotech crops may reduce bird food
WASHINGTON (AP) - The skylark, beloved in English verse for its song, could become a rare bird in England if farmers there adopt some new biotech crops, according to a new British study. American agricultural researchers, however, say that conclusions of the study are "simplistic" and are highly questionable. In a study appearing Friday in the journal Science, British researchers predict that the use of a genetically-altered sugar beet in England could lead to a decline of up to 90% in the population of skylarks. William J. Sutherland of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, United Kingdom, said he and colleagues believe that use of the sugar beets that are resistant to herbicides will allow British farmers to use more powerful plant-killing sprays and more effectively control weeds in their fields.

08/30/00
Researchers identify caffeine gene
(AP) - Genetic engineering may hold the key to making decaffeinated coffee that doesn't taste like dishwater. Scientists have identified a gene in the coffee plant that is key to the synthesis of caffeine. They hope eventually to produce a genetically engineered coffee plant in which the gene has been shut down. The research was conducted by Alan Crozier, a professor of plant products and human nutrition at the University of Glasgow, and colleagues in Japan. It was published Thursday in the journal Nature.

08/31/00
Researchers map genes of bacteria
(AP) - Researchers have figured out the genetic blueprint of a common but extraordinarily crafty germ that can be lethal in burn victims and people with lung-clogging cystic fibrosis. Armed with the information, scientists hope to develop new ways of fighting the germ within four to five years. The bacterium is called Pseudomonas aeruginosa and is known for its durability and adaptability. It can be found everywhere from home plumbing to vegetables but is harmful only to people with compromised immune systems. But once it colonizes the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients, the wounds of burn patients and others who are vulnerable, the bug's natural defenses make it nearly impossible to eradicate.

08/30/00
Polymer-coated soybean seed created
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - A Purdue University agronomist has developed a polymer-coated soybean that could allow farmers to squeeze two crops into the same field in a single season. Tony Vyn's biodegradable polymer seed coating permits farmers to sow soybeans between rows of standing wheat in late spring, when wheat is less vulnerable to trampling by machinery. The coating delays soybean germination for about two weeks, a period that accommodates the wheat harvest and leaves enough time for soybeans to produce a good yield before a killing frost. "The coating system is quite exciting," Vyn said. "It offers quite a few opportunities for farmers." More southerly climates, including southern Indiana, already allow for a crop of wheat followed by soybeans.

08/30/00
Experts: Maintain stem cell research
WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite a papal condemnation of embryonic stem cell research, scientists say it cannot be abandoned because it could lead to such great medical benefits for millions of patients. Pope John Paul II said Tuesday that any research that results in the death or injury of a human embryo is "not morally acceptable" even though the work may eventually offer important medical boons. The Pope urged researchers, instead, to concentrate on stem cells from adults. Some studies have suggested adult stem cells can be as medically useful as the stem cells taken from embryos. The adult cell research does not involve the death of a human embryo. But American researchers who are studying both the adult cells and the embryonic cells say that both paths must be followed if the medical miracles possible from stem cells are to be achieved.

08/24/00
Stem cell guidelines issued
WASHINGTON (AP) - New federal guidelines to allow federal funding of human embryo cell research may prompt a revolution in medical science, leading to dramatic new ways to treat virtually every human disorder. But anti-abortion groups are vigorously opposed, saying the research means "you have to kill a human embryo." The National Institutes of Health guidelines, announced Wednesday, allow federal funding for research with stem cells that have been removed from human embryos. The rules forbid research on the embryo itself, which is prohibited by federal law. Experts say the effect will be that privately funded researchers will remove stem cells from embryos - which already has been done at two universities - and that these stem cells then could be used in federally funded studies. Opponents quickly denounced federal research with embryo cells.

08/22/00
Study: Biotech corn kills monarch
WASHINGTON (AP) - Genetically engineered corn designed to kill an insect pest spreads enough of its pollen on nearby weeds to kill monarch butterflies, researchers said Monday in the latest study on the biotech crop's environmental effects. Iowa State University scientists found that one in five monarch larvae died after being exposed to the toxic corn pollen for two days. Three days after the initial two-day exposure more than half of the larvae died. The biotech corn, known as Bt corn for a bacterium gene that makes it toxic to the European corn borer, became controversial last year after a laboratory study at Cornell University showed it was toxic to monarch butterflies.

08/16/00
Researchers produce nerve cells
(AP) - Scientists have been able to produce nerve cells in the lab by using stem cells drawn from bone marrow, a breakthrough that could help people with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or spinal-cord injuries. If the findings are borne out, they might one day enable doctors to take cells from a patient's bone marrow, turn them into nerve cells and then inject them into patients' brains and spinal cords, replacing injured cells. The research, conducted at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and MCP Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, was funded in part by the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. An account of the research was published Monday in the Journal of Neuroscience Research, based in Los Angeles.

08/14/00
Cloning pioneers end pig research
LONDON (AP) - The creators of Dolly the Sheep are halting their research into genetically modifying pigs for human organ transplants, one of the scientists said Sunday. The decision is motivated in part by fears that transplanting animal organs into people could unleash deadly new viruses among the human population. Pigs are physiologically one of the closest animals to humans, and so of particular interest to scientists looking to fill a shortage of transplant organs. Other researchers continue to pursue work on genetically modified, or transgenic, pigs.

08/11/00
Protein may determine fat, muscle
WASHINGTON (AP) - In America's endless search for a magic pill to shrink the waistline, researchers have found a "fat switch" - a protein that causes developing cells to become either muscle or fat. But unfortunately, the "fat switch" protein does not offer the promise of an eternally slim body, say University of Michigan Medical School researchers. "If you could see my midriff, you would know that breaks my heart," says Ormond A. MacDougald, one of the scientists. In a study appearing Friday in the journal Science, co-authors MacDougald and Sarah E. Ross report that a protein called Wnt 10b acts as a molecular switch to determine which developing cells become fat and which become muscle.

08/04/00
Report: Limit egg donor pay
WASHINGTON (AP) - Newspaper ads have offered $50,000 for an ovarian egg donated by a top college student. And the Internet site of a former Playboy filmmaker site solicited similar bids for eggs from models-turned-egg donors. Such tactics are way out of bounds, says a new bioethics report. Women should be paid only for the time, inconvenience and medical demands of donating an egg - meaning anything more than $5,000 requires justification and anything over $10,000 is simply inappropriate, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine reported Thursday. By last year, a common rate appeared to be $2,500, although some clinics paid $5,000, according to a new medical report.

07/24/00
Anti-cancer plants being grown
WHITE PINE, Mich. (AP) - The high-intensity light bulbs and rows of plants make the scene look like an ordinary, garden-variety greenhouse. But these tobacco plants are growing 200 feet below the earth's surface - in an abandoned copper mine converted into what is believed to be one of the first underground plant growth chambers in the United States. In an environment where temperature, lighting and moisture are carefully regulated, a Canadian biotechnology company is cultivating genetically altered tobacco. Its seeds are being used to produce a protein that scientists hope to develop into medicine to fight bone marrow cancer, officials said in announcing the project Friday. "We're embarking on a new era in which we will mass-produce biopharmaceuticals using plants to generate these proteins, instead of doing it synthetically in a laboratory," said Brent Zettl, president of Prairie Plant Systems Inc., of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

07/17/00
Kenyan mice help decode genome
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Nibbling away in boxes filled with wood chips in a building overlooking the Ngong Hills, thousands of Kenyan mice are ready for the most important job of their lives. Now that scientists and researchers have mapped about 97% of the human genome, they will need a guide to help them navigate the secrets of the genes. The Nairobi rodents, they hope, will be their Virgils. The genomes of mice and humans are 80% identical; they have virtually identical sets of genes, but the sequences differ slightly. A comparative study of mouse genes will help explain the significance of the string of 3 billion genetic letters uncovered in the milestone sequencing of human DNA announced in June in Washington.

07/14/00
Gene linked to arthritis located
WASHINGTON (AP) - Researchers experimenting with mice have found a gene that may play a role in preventing arthritis-like disorders in joints. In a study to be published Friday in the journal Science, David Kingsley, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher at Stanford University, reports a gene called ank appears to help produce a fluid that keeps joints operating smoothly. When the gene is flawed, Kingsley and his co-authors said, there can be a buildup of mineral deposits that causes joints in mice to become inflamed. Eventually, the joints are destroyed. The gene was located by studying a mouse species that naturally develops a severe progressive arthritis.

07/13/00
U. Penn gene facility cited
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A University of Pennsylvania gene therapy institute, which was forced to halt human tests after a patient's death, has been accused of federal violations at its animal labs. The Food and Drug Administration in a July 3 letter said the labs, which test gene-therapy drugs on mice and monkeys before they are tried on people, are full of irregularities, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday. The use of old biological material in animal experiments may have led scientists to underestimate how deadly they might be in humans, the FDA said in its letter to James M. Wilson, the director of the Institute for Human Gene Therapy. The FDA said the problems were so severe that it might not accept institute data for any current or past studies. Wilson declined to comment on the FDA's findings. The FDA ordered Penn to outline a corrective plan within 15 days.

07/13/00
Cells may restore sight to blind
(AP) - Scores of blind people in California and Taiwan are seeing again through eyes refurbished in the laboratory. The experimental technique - which involves transplanting lab-grown cells to replenish the cornea's surface - offers hope to hundreds of thousands of people around the world blinded by fire, chemical burns or certain diseases. So far, the transplants are working for about 60 out of more than 90 patients operated on at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei and 11 of 15 at the medical school at the University of California at Davis. Doctors do not yet know if the repair is permanent, but the patients' improved sight has lasted up to 15 months so far. Doctors already transplant cells directly from one person's eye to another to refurbish the cornea. But when that is done, the donor must give about half of the cells from the limbus, the circle where the clear cornea turns to white. The new approach requires only a tiny sliver from the donor's limbus; those cells are then grown in a laboratory dish until ready for transplant.

07/11/00
Experts lament biotech food state
LONDON (AP) - To combat world hunger, rich nations must boost funding for research into genetically modified crops and poor farmers must be protected from corporate control of the technology, a group of science academies said Tuesday. In an unprecedented report by seven independent academies from both the developed and developing world, experts agreed that genetic modification of crops is crucial to addressing the problem of the world's growing population and shrinking land for growing food. Today, "800 million people don't have access to enough food," said Brian Heap, vice president of Britain's Royal Society and chairman of the group that wrote the report. "Increasing production without increasing land use will require substantial increases in yields per acre. This technology needs to be used in the future," he said.

07/11/00
Cloned cow has calf in Japan
TOKYO (AP) - A cloned cow gave birth to a calf conceived by artificial insemination at a research center in northwestern Japan on Monday, showing that cloned cows can reproduce. The newborn, a female weighing 58.3 pounds, is the world's first reported example of a calf being born to a cloned cow, said Koichi Yamamoto, deputy director of the Ishikawa Prefectural Center for Animal Husbandry and Research, 190 miles northwest of Tokyo. "This is very significant in showing a cloned cow can give birth and shows maternal instincts," Yamamoto said. He said the newborn calf, which still doesn't have a name, is healthy and suckling from its mother. The center in Japan has succeeded in creating five clones, using cells around a cow's ovary. All five clones underwent artificial insemination, and so far two of them have gotten pregnant.

07/11/00
Push to find disease genes begins
WASHINGTON (AP) - Now that the human genome is almost completely mapped, research organizations are starting a major push to find the genes that cause human disease. The National Human Genome Research Institute announced Tuesday that three academic centers will start work to find segments in the human gene structure that vary from person to person, a major step toward finding genes that cause heart disease, diabetes and other common diseases. Collaborating in the effort are the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and the Sanger Centre in Hinxton, England.

06/27/00
Experts: 'Designer people' unlikely
WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists who announced virtual completion of the human genetic pattern said Monday that they saw little likelihood that this new knowledge would be used to build "designer people" or change patterns of heredity. The human genes are the biological directions for the formation and functioning of a person. Some people are fearful that science will change genes so that succeeding generations will inherit these changes. This is called germline manipulation. Dr. Francis Collins of the National Human Genome Research Institute said that so little is known about the one million or so proteins that are made by genes that attempting to permanently manipulate the germline is fraught with dangers. "There are many safety issues involved in germline manipulation," said Collins. "I know of no responsible investigator who wants to go into the germline because of the real safety and ethical issues."

06/27/00
Update: Human genetic code deciphered
WASHINGTON (AP) - Proclaiming a "historic point in the 100,000-year record of humanity," scientists announced that the human genetic code essentially has been deciphered, a monumental achievement that opens a dramatic new frontier in medicine. Leaders of competing public and private efforts said at a White House ceremony Monday that they have virtually completed assembly of what they called "the book of life" - nature's genetic instruction manual for making and maintaining human beings. Knowing the human genetic code, said President Clinton, will give science "an immense new power to heal" by attacking disease "at its genetic roots." Because of the new genetic knowledge, said the president, "our children may know cancer only as a constellation of stars" and not as a disease that kills and maims. Clinton also cautioned that the genetic map must never be used to segregate, discriminate or invade the privacy of human beings. Legislation is circulating in Congress that offers such protection.

06/23/00
Mouse brain now self repairing
(AP) - Scientists have managed to make new neurons grow in an area of the brain once thought to lack the ability to regenerate, raising hopes of developing new ways of treating neurological diseases and head injuries. The researchers induced the creation of the neurons in the neocortex of lab mice by triggering stem cells, or precursor cells, that already exist in the brain. Other research has shown that under specific conditions, transplanted stem cells can form new neurons. The new study indicates that transplantation may not be needed. Instead, a combination of molecular signals can accomplish the same thing, said Dr. Jeffrey Macklis, a neuroscience professor at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital who led the study. The researchers were encouraged to find that the new cells showed evidence that they were incorporated into the brain circuitry.

06/22/00
Democrats push genetic bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats urged Republicans Wednesday to move quickly on legislation to protect workers from genetic discrimination, saying swift passage will help employees who fear losing their jobs or health insurance. "Millions of Americans may be afraid to have genetic testing done because the results of those tests could put their health insurance in jeopardy," House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt said. Added Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, "In a sense the genetic code is the key to who we are. No one ought to have a right to pick that lock." "Social policy must keep pace with science," said Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York, the measure's House sponsor. The bill Democrats are pushing would ban discrimination based on genetic information. They hope to get the 218 signatures necessary to force a vote in the House.

06/15/00
Heredity culprit in cataracts
(AP) - Heredity plays a far larger role in the development of cataracts than widely blamed lifestyle factors such as smoking, a study found. The finding could lead researchers to seek genes linked to cataracts and develop genetic tests to identify those most at risk. "I think this is a real breakthrough study," said Sheila West, a Johns Hopkins University cataract researcher. "I think this is exactly what we've needed to reorient our research on the genetic side." Cataracts, which are a progressive clouding of the eye's lens, would develop in virtually all people if they lived to be 120 years old. But smoking and steroid drugs are seen as risk factors, while quality of diet and exposure to sunlight have also been implicated. A British team of researchers for the first time quantified the genetic component of age-related cataracts in a study published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine."

06/15/00
AMA issues anti-bacterial alert
CHICAGO (AP) - Amid mounting concern about the emergence of antibiotic-resistant germs, the American Medical Association urged the government Wednesday to step up regulation of anti-bacterial soaps, lotions and other household products. The resolution adopted by the AMA's policymaking House of Delegates stopped short of discouraging the use of such products. That recommendation was amended after the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association expressed concern that it would alarm the public. The resolution was adopted without debate at the annual meeting of the nation's largest organization of doctors. In a statement, the CFTA said Wednesday that the AMA is diverting attention from proven causes of anti-bacterial resistance and said consumers "should continue to use anti-bacterial personal care/cleaning products in the home with confidence."

06/12/00
Deal OK'd over stolen gene secrets
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. has settled a lawsuit against a former employee who admitted stealing seed corn so a competitor could isolate and develop the unique genetic material. As part of the settlement, Thomas Ishler admitted he took Pioneer corn germplasm, distributed it within Cargill Corp., and that he and other Cargill employees used the germplasm to develop seed for that company, Pioneer said Friday. Ishler left Pioneer in 1989 after 24 years as a corn breeder for the Des Moines-based company. He then joined Cargill and worked there until 1996. According to Pioneer, Ishler has agreed to never use any Pioneer germplasm or its derivatives in any future breeding, and will never engage in "chasing selfs" - isolating parent, or inbred, seeds from bags of commercial seed.

06/07/00
Researchers deny genome map race
WASHINGTON (AP) - Leaders of two groups mapping the human genes said they are not in a race, but are trying to reach the same goal using different methods and the results will be "complementary." Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health program to map the human genome, and Dr. Craig Venter, president of Celera Genomics, a private Maryland company doing the same thing, shook hands and complimented each other in a brief meeting Tuesday at an NIH conference. Asked about their competition, Collins told reporters, "racing is the wrong metaphor. I wish you would stop using it." Instead, Collins said the federally funded project and the private effort by Venter's company are using different ways to explore new territories. Venter agreed, saying the efforts of the two organizations are "complementary."

06/06/00
Drugs could be tailored for genes
WASHINGTON (AP) - Doctors accused her of being a hypochondriac: The woman suffered dizziness and a racing heartbeat from each antidepressant she tried, even though she was taking doses normally far too low to cause side effects. The desperate woman finally saw Dr. Raymond Woosley, who scanned her DNA with a special "gene chip" and discovered she actually has a genetic quirk that makes her super-sensitive to certain medicines. She's lucky: Some people die while taking some of the world's most popular drugs - from antibiotics to heartburn remedies - all because no one knew their genes made them uniquely susceptible to devastating side effects. That's about to change. A new science called "pharmacogenomics" aims to curb the problem by replacing today's one-dose-fits-all culture with simple tests to help doctors customize prescriptions, picking the safest, most effective drug for each patient's DNA.

06/06/00
Study: Toxic corn OK to butterflies
WASHINGTON (AP) - Corn that's genetically engineered to kill an insect pest isn't a threat to at least one common type of butterfly, according to the first of a series of field studies being conducted to determine whether the crop is a danger to the environment. University of Illinois scientists placed black swallowtail butterflies near a farmer's field and found no evidence that they were harmed by the biotech corn, according to research appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The biotech corn, known as Bt corn for a bacterium gene that makes it toxic to the European corn borer, became controversial last year after a laboratory study at Cornell University suggested it could be killing monarch butterflies. The finding produced a public outcry in Europe and calls from environmental groups to curb the spread of gene-altered crops, but biotech supporters said the lab research didn't replicate actual field conditions. "This is not a pest management tool that should be rejected outright based on a single lab study," said May Berenbaum, head of the University of Illinois entomology department and the lead scientist on the swallowtail research.

06/02/00
Patients avoid gene therapy trials
DENVER (AP) - Scientists say they are having trouble recruiting volunteers for gene therapy trials following the death of a patient last year and a resulting federal crackdown on experiments. Researchers attending the annual meeting of the American Society for Gene Therapy in Denver asked for the public's patience Thursday as they try to rescue what had been the hottest field in science from the flames of controversy. Researchers at the meeting reported "spectacular" results in a few, isolated trials to treat rare inherited diseases. And they reported more modest progress in the genetic treatment of more common and complex diseases such as cancer. Last week, federal health officials proposed fines of up to $1 million for scientists and their universities who violate medical research rules governing genetic trials. The penalties were prompted by the death last September of Jesse Gelsinger, 18, at the University of Pennsylvania.

06/01/00
Scientists make plants grow faster
(AP) - Genetic researchers have accelerated a plant's growth by making its cells split faster - a technique that could someday lead to heartier crops, shorter growing seasons and less use of herbicides. One outside scientist called the findings astonishing. But the technique needs more testing on a range of plants, and public fear of genetically modified food is jeopardizing support for such experiments, especially in Europe, researchers said. The experiment, reported Thursday in the journal Nature, was carried out by a team at Cambridge University. The researchers first took a gene promoting cell division from inside the arabidopsis plant, a flowering weed often used for genetic experiments. They transplanted that gene into a tobacco plant. There, in an especially potent form, the gene produced large amounts of a protein that, in combination with other chemicals naturally in the tobacco, made the plant's cells divide more quickly at the tips of roots and shoots.

05/31/00
Melanoma treatment holds promise
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A new combination drug therapy for skin cancer could modestly extend the lives of melanoma patients, a study found. Researchers found that the improvement was most marked in patients with advanced melanoma, especially those in which the cancer had spread to their livers. Those people are usually not given long to live. The two-year study, whose findings are to be presented at a cancer symposium in Pittsburgh later this week, found higher survival rates among melanoma patients who combined interleukin-2, a substance that bolsters immune systems, with histamine dihydrochloride, which makes certain cancer cells more receptive to treatment. The study, which was led by the Melanoma Center at the University of Pittsburgh and involved 56 medical centers, was sponsored by the makers of Maxamine, Maxim Pharmaceuticals Inc. of San Diego.

05/31/00
Enzyme blamed as cause of lupus
(AP) - German scientists have provided the first direct evidence that a key enzyme's failure to mop up dying cells contributes to lupus, a potentially fatal immune disorder. The study, published in the June issue of the journal Nature Genetics, involved only mice. However, researchers said the immune reactions are very similar to what occur in humans. "These mice add strong support to the hypothesis that impairment of the normal disposal of cellular debris predisposes the development" of lupus, said Mark J. Walport of London's Imperial College. Lupus is a disorder that causes the body's own defenses to mistakenly attack the DNA and proteins within healthy cells. Complications include arthritis, blood vessel inflammations and kidney failure. Scientists believe lupus is rooted in many subtle genetic abnormalities. One of many suspected factors is a mutation that disrupts the body's waste disposal mechanism in cells.

05/25/00
Gene lab: No more research on humans
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The University of Pennsylvania's gene therapy institute, under fire over the death of an Arizona teen-ager during an experiment last September, will no longer perform research on humans, the school said Wednesday. The Institute for Human Gene Therapy will instead focus on animal experiments and other basic research into gene therapy. The Food and Drug Administration already had halted all clinical trials at the institute, citing serious violations of federal research rules important for patient safety.

05/16/00
Infected biologist broke lab rule
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - An Army scientist who contracted a potentially deadly infection while working in a germ warfare defense laboratory broke a safety rule by failing to report his symptoms while continuing to work for six weeks, a spokesman said Monday. The unidentified, 33-year-old civilian microbiologist is expected to recover from glanders, which he contracted while working on a vaccine to shield troops from the disease, Fort Detrick spokesman Charles Dasey said. Dasey said it wasn't clear how the man contracted glanders, a bacterial infection typically found in horses that is usually fatal in humans if left untreated. Lab rules require employees working with infectious materials who develop fevers greater than 100.5 degrees to report for medical evaluation after attempting to notify their supervisor.

05/15/00
Wall St. focuses on biotech trial
BOSTON (AP) - The drug is already worth billions of dollars and could be worth billions more. No wonder Wall Street will be paying close attention this week as a three-year-old fight over who is allowed to produce it finally goes to trial. Epogen, a red blood cell stimulator commonly used to treat anemia in kidney dialysis patients, accounted for $1.8 billion in U.S. sales last year for Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company. But a smaller company, Cambridge-based Transkaryotic Therapies Inc., or TKT, has found another way to make the protein that makes the drug work. Amgen says TKT is violating the patents it holds on Epogen, but TKT says its process is entirely new and could not have been envisioned when Amgen patented its technique. Now the courts will decide who's right.

05/11/00
World's 1st cloned mouse dies
HONOLULU (AP) - Cumulina, the world's first cloned mouse, has died of old age. The University of Hawaii medical school said that Cumulina died in her sleep last Friday of natural causes. The mouse was 2 years, seven months old - about seven months above average. The mouse made headlines when the results of the distinctive cloning technique of Dr. Ryuzo Yanagimachi's team were reported in the journal Nature in July 1998. The scientists turned out more than 50 carbon-copy mice using what was believed to be a more reliable cloning technique than the one used to create Dolly the sheep.

04/25/00
DNA can link Americans to Africa kin
WASHINGTON (AP) - A team of geneticists at Howard University plans to offer a DNA test this summer that could link black Americans with their roots in Africa. Geneticist Rick Kittles said Monday that he is still preparing the database for the comparisons, but expected the program to get under way in a few months. Historical records are pretty consistent in showing the early slaves came from west central Africa, he said, locations of the current countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Angola. In Boston, Richard Newman of Harvard University's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African-American Research, said: "It doesn't mean anything to know that some of my people came from Africa, but if I can pinpoint a culture, a religion and language, then it can strengthen my sense of identity and relationship with Africa."

04/24/00
Kennewick man DNA studies to begin
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A team of scientists will begin long-delayed studies of the Kennewick Man skeleton this week to help determine whether the controversial 9,000-year-old bones can be linked through DNA and other clues to contemporary Indian tribes. The government-appointed team also hopes to learn whether Kennewick Man was intentionally buried at the site where the bones were found in the shallows of the Columbia River in 1996. "One of the things that makes this remarkable discovery intriguing is that a nearly complete and very ancient human skeleton was found whose exact burial treatment can never be precisely known," Francis McManamon, chief consulting archaeologist for the U.S. Department of Interior, said Friday.

04/24/00
Inner work of cancer cells studied
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Cancer researchers sometimes liken their work to wandering through a forest of genetic material hoping to find the paths that lead to better diagnosis, treatments and possibly cures. Now researchers at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute have a new high-tech guide for their journey. They are using a machine called a DNA microarray that can scan the thousands of genes in a cancer cell at one time and point out new paths to follow. Moffitt doctors said research that took them 10 years to conduct can now be accomplished in a single afternoon.

04/14/00
Scientists finish chromosome maps
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In their race to blueprint the human genome, government-sponsored scientists said Thursday they have finished "rough draft" maps of three complete chromosomes. The announcement by the Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Joint Genome Institute made it the first of five publicly funded labs - collectively known as the Human Genome Project - to finish its allotted part of the mapping mission. Specifically, the California lab said it has mapped chromosomes 5, 16 and 19, which make up roughly 11% of the human genome and contain vital information about kidney disease, various cancers, hypertension and diabetes.

04/14/00
Chemical prolongs Gehrig's mice
WASHINGTON (AP) - An experimental chemical significantly prolonged the lives of mice with Lou Gehrig's disease by blocking an enzyme crucial for cell death, a finding that holds promise not just for this killer but for other nervous-system diseases that afflict millions. The research at Harvard Medical School may boost efforts already under way by half a dozen drug companies to create "caspase inhibitors" safe enough to test in people. The new findings "provide a compelling argument...for the value of caspase inhibitors," Mark Gurney of the Pharmacia Corp., one drugmaker hunting such compounds, wrote in a review accompanying the research in Friday's edition of the journal Science. Some 30,000 Americans have Lou Gehrig's disease, formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. No one knows the cause, but it results in a creeping paralysis as neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain and spinal cord that control movement are slowly destroyed.

04/13/00
Scientists unlock leprosy mystery
PARIS (AP) - Scientists have deciphered the genetic code of the two separate bacteria that cause leprosy and listeria poisoning, the Pasteur Institute announced Wednesday. The discoveries will help scientists better understand the two conditions and could lead to new treatments, diagnostic tests and vaccines, experts said. As well as trying to unravel the genetic code of the human body to better understand how it prevents, fights and succumbs to disease, scientists around the world have been deciphering the genetic make-up of a variety of viruses and bacteria that cause sickness. They hope to gain insight into how the germs go about attacking the body.

04/08/00
Molecule hits drug-resistant germs
(AP) - Opening up the possibility of a powerful new class of antibiotics just when doctors need them most, scientists have created a molecule that delivers a knockout punch to deadly, drug-resistant strains of bacteria. Drug-resistant bacteria are a growing threat around the world. Germs are becoming impervious to just about anything doctors throw at them, a phenomenon blamed on overuse of antibiotics. In Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison reported they have created a molecule modeled on peptides, the natural proteins that organisms ranging from plants to humans use to kill bacteria. Up to now, attempts to harness peptides have met with problems because they are rapidly disarmed within living tissues and often harm human cells along with the germs.

04/06/00
Biotech foods said safe
WASHINGTON (AP) - Foods made from genetically engineered crops are safe, but the government needs to tighten its monitoring of biotech plants to ensure they won't cause allergies or harm the environment, a panel of scientists said Wednesday. Better methods are needed to identify potential allergens, including long-term studies of feeding the crops to animals, according to a study sponsored by the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. The 261-page study, which focused on plants that have been genetically engineered for protection against insects and viruses, said none of the varieties developed so far poses allergy problems.

03/23/00
DNA doesn't link Jefferson, Woodson
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A DNA test has again failed to link a descendant of Monticello slave Tom Woodson to Thomas Jefferson, according to a retired pathologist who performed the test. Woodson's descendants claim he was the son of the third president and slave Sally Hemings. Eugene A. Foster, a former pathologist, conducted the DNA test on the Rev. Thomas Woodson of Dayton, Ohio, a descendant of Tom Woodson's third son. The analysis did not find a match with the Jefferson family Y chromosome, which passes unchanged from son to son. Previous DNA tests by Foster showed similar results with other descendants of Tom Woodson, and linked the Jefferson family's Y chromosome to descendants of Eston Hemings, the youngest son of Sally Hemings.

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