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/ 2002
CLONING
NEWS
- "Doubts
cast on reporter in cloning verification." ... "As
the alien-worshiping Raelian sect prepared yesterday to assemble proof
that a woman has given birth to the first-ever cloned human baby, some
research scientists raised questions about the impartiality and skills
of the Boston-based freelance journalist handpicked to verify the claim."
... "The journalist, Michael Guillen, a former ABC science reporter, has
maintained a close relationship with the Raelians, as well as other cloning
groups, for more than four years, often winning exclusive interviews while
aggressively popularizing their work, according to a Globe review of his
recent reporting efforts." -By Raja Mishra and Mark
Jurkowitz -Boston/Globe
CLONING
NEWS
- "Cloning
Claim Draws Fierce Denunciations: Vatican, Leading
Muslim Clerics, Jewish Rabbis Denounce Group's Claim That It's Cloned a
Human." ... "The Vatican joined leading Muslim clerics and Jewish rabbis
in denouncing as immoral, "brutal" and unnatural the claim that a cloned
baby had been born. Political leaders, meanwhile, stepped up calls for
a global ban on human cloning." ... "The reaction Saturday came a day after
a cloning company whose leader believes space aliens launched life on Earth
announced that a baby girl, nicknamed "Eve," had been born as a clone of
her mother." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- CLONING
NEWS
- "Cloning
ban to face debate: Congress could take up
dilemma over experiments." ... "Real or hoax, the claim that the world's
first human clone has been born puts the next step squarely into Congress's
court: Will it ban baby-making via cloning?" ... "The nation has no specific
law against human cloning. But the Food and Drug Administration, which
regulates human experiments, contends that its regulations forbid human
cloning without prior agency permission - permission it has no intention
of giving." -By Lauran Neergaard
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- "Terror
Suspects Found With Chemicals in Paris." ... "In
the latest sweep against suspected Islamic militant groups here, French
officials said today that they had arrested four people early Monday and
had seized chemicals and a military personal-protection suit, suggesting
that the suspects may have been preparing a chemical attack." -By
John Tagliabue -NYTimes
via -Google-News
OPINION
- 
- 
- 
- TIA:
Total Information Awareness
- "Snooping
in All the Wrong Places: Not only would the
Administration's plan to centralize every American's records destroy privacy,
the security payoff would be minimal." ... "The 2002 elections proved one
thing: The promise of security wins votes. The GOP campaigned on a pledge
to make the country safer, and it brought home one of the biggest midterm
victories in decades. That huge win may have emboldened the Bush Administration
to ignore widespread criticism of the Defense Dept.'s $240 million effort
to develop a Total Information Awareness system (TIA)." ... "The outrage
over TIA doesn't seem to have reached the President's ear, but it should.
It's not too late for him to realize the folly of such a plan. Funded by
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project would
combine every American's bank records, tax filings, driver's license information,
credit-card purchases, medical data, and phone and e-mail records into
one giant centralized database. This would then be combed through for evidence
of suspicious activity." -By Jane Black
-BusinessWeek/Daily
- Smallpox
News
- "Smallpox
Vaccine Transmission Raises Liability Issue." ...
"President Bush's decision on Friday to offer smallpox vaccinations to
up to 10 million health care workers, firefighters, police officers and
other emergency workers suddenly makes relevant the question of who pays
the medical costs of illness from accidental infection." ... "Tommy G.
Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, and other federal
experts on smallpox were asked on Saturday who would pay. They said they
expected standard health insurance to pay for such medical care." ... "But
they left unanswered the question of who would pay if the accidentally
infected individual was among the estimated 41 million Americans who had
no health insurance." -By Lawrence K. Altman
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- Smallpox
News
- "Smallpox
vaccine costs raise questions." ... "Secretary of
Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, in a press briefing Saturday,
said most states are expected to pay workers' compensation for lost work
time for medical or emergency personnel sickened by the vaccine. Modest
death benefits are also available. Unions, however, say those amounts are
likely to be inadequate." ... "Thompson also said that health care workers
and private citizens who seek the vaccine would need their own health insurance
to pay for any care needed to treat side effects." -By
Julie Appleby -USATODAY
- "Bush
orders smallpox vaccine for military, himself." ...
"The vaccine will be administered to about 500,000 troops deployed in high-risk
parts of the world in the first phase of the vaccination plan. The inoculations
began Friday, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Disease." ... "The second phase will be to vaccinate
about 440,000 public health-care workers, emergency room doctors, disease
detectives and other hospital officials. It will also be made available
to up to 10 million police, firefighters and other first responders on
a voluntary basis." -Contributed to by Frank Buckley
and Elizabeth Cohen -CNN
/Health
- 
- "Report: Al
Qaeda deal for nerve gas: U.S. suspects nerve
agent VX was smuggled through Turkey." ... "The Bush administration has
received a credible report that Islamic extremists affiliated with al Qaeda
took possession of a chemical weapon in Iraq last month or late in October,
according to two officials with firsthand knowledge of the report and its
source. They said government analysts suspect that the transaction involved
the nerve agent VX and that a courier managed to smuggle it overland through
Turkey." ... "Even authorized spokesmen, with one exception, addressed
the report on the condition of anonymity. They said the principal source
on the chemical transfer was uncorroborated, and that indications it involved
a nerve agent were open to interpretation." -By Barton
Gellman -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
Eliot
Spitzer - 
- OPINION
- "Eliot
Spitzer vs. the Chicago Boys: Corporate crooks,
dirty air, pricey drugs -- they're all the doing of the University of Chicago's
free-marketeers, says N.Y.'s Attorney General." ... "As a voice of laissez-faire
economics, the University of Chicago has shaped much of the dialogue over
market regulation in recent years, starting with Ronald Reagan's Administration
in 1980. Free markets, the theory goes, will correct most excesses by making
it impossible for those guilty of bad behavior to survive. "They've said
that intervention by...government is wrong," Spitzer said. "But they haven't
taken into account that markets can have structural flaws."" ... "For example,
environmental polluters are not being punished by the market, he charged,
and that means all of society pays the price for pollution. Relying on
the market to fairly price prescription drugs has also failed, he insisted,
since some severely ill people rely so much on one particular drug that
they will pay anything to get it." -By Heather Timmons
-BusinessWeek/Daily
- "National
Guard aids North Carolina: Tens of thousands
are still without electricity." ... "In a region left dark and cold by
a major ice storm, National Guard volunteers went door to door yesterday
to show residents how to heat their homes safely after two people died
of carbon monoxide poisoning while trying to keep warm." ... "More than
200 people have sought medical help for carbon monoxide poisoning since
the ice storm downed trees and power lines Thursday." -By
Emery P. Dalesio -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- "Power
of Positive Thinking Extends, It Seems, to Aging."
... "Do happy people live longer? A growing body of evidence suggests they
may. Recent studies have correlated long life with optimism, with positive
thinking, and with a lack of hostility, anxiety and depression." ... "One
thing that remains unclear, however, is whether happiness can actually
cause longevity. Perhaps happy people live longer because they practice
healthy behaviors, or for some other unknown reason." ... "The second open
question is: What, if anything, can unhappy people do about it?" (1, 2)
-By Mary Duenwald -NYTimes
via -Moreover
- "Doctors resurrect
dead heart tissue: Increased strength seen
after implant of muscle, bone cells." ... "Doctors testing a new treatment
for heart attacks said Sunday they have restored life to seemingly dead
heart muscle by seeding it with cells borrowed from patients’ own thigh
muscles or bones." ... "The idea is to find an alternative to transplants
for people whose hearts are so damaged that they fail to pump blood forcefully
enough. This condition, called heart failure, is a growing health problem
that afflicts an estimated 5 million people in the United States alone."
... "Preliminary but encouraging data on these experiments were reported
Sunday at the annual scientific meeting in Chicago of the American Heart
Association." -AP
via -MSNBC
- "U.S.
Homeland Security Bill Faces New Hurdle." ... "Senate
Democrats on Friday moved to strip what they called "egregious special
interest provisions" from a bill to create a U.S. Department of Homeland
Security, complicating efforts to complete one of President Bush's top
legislative priorities." ... "Democrats said the vaccine provisions in
the bill appeared to be aimed at shielding major U.S. pharmaceutical companies
-- which were among the biggest donors to Republican campaign coffers --
from a wave of lawsuits seeking to link a mercury-based vaccine preservative
to childhood autism." -By Andrew Clark
-Reuters /Politics
/World
- "Shields
for vaccine makers weighed: Bush administration
already offers it in war on terrorism." ... "While senators debate shielding
childhood vaccine makers from lawsuits, the Bush administration already
has provided such protection for at least two vaccines key to the war on
terrorism —smallpox and anthrax." -AP
via -MSNBC
-
- "USDA
Orders Prodigene Biocorn Destroyed in Iowa." ...
"A small biotech company experimenting with a corn variety engineered to
produce insulin was ordered to destroy 155 acres of the crop in Iowa because
it may have contaminated nearby fields, the U.S. Agriculture Department
said on Thursday." ... "A growing number of U.S. companies are experimenting
with biotech corn to produce cheaper proteins and compounds for use in
pharmaceuticals. ProdiGene's biotech corn grown for pharmaceutical use
is not federally approved for human or livestock feed." ... "The USDA,
along with the Food and Drug Administration, is trying to determine if
the Texas-based company violated any federal regulations. ProdiGene could
face fines of up to $500,000 for each violation." -By
Randy Fabi -Reuters/Politics
- 
- "Biotech
Firm Mishandled Corn in Iowa." ... "The biotechnology
company that mishandled gene-altered corn in Nebraska did the same thing
in Iowa, the government disclosed yesterday." ... "The disclosure raised
new questions about the conduct of ProdiGene Inc., a company in College
Station, Tex., that is now under investigation for allegedly violating
government permits in two states. The ProdiGene matter is proving to be
a black eye for the biotech industry, which has been trying to reassure
the public it can be trusted not to contaminate the food supply." -By
Justin Gillis -WashingtonPost
- "Gas
clouds Moscow rescue: Since the siege's end,
the hostage death toll has been rising steadily from 67 to 90 to 117."
... "The initial wave of relief – and praise for President Vladimir Putin
– that swept over Moscow is now turning to suspicion and anger as the death
toll of the hostages continues to rise. Breaking a news blackout Sunday
evening, a Moscow health official admitted that the gas used by Russian
forces killed 115 of the 117 hostages that had died. The official said
that 150 people were still in intensive care." -By
Fred Weir -CSMonitor/buy
- "Experts:
Valium Gas Used in Raid." ... "Military experts and
toxicologists say Russian commandos probably pumped a gas containing Valium
into a Moscow theater to subtly disable and disorient heavily armed Chechen
rebels prior to Saturday's dramatic assault." ... "Experts also mentioned
BZ [a hallucinogenic drug], or 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, as a possibility
for the gas used by the Russians." ... "BZ was a research focus of the
U.S. Army during the Cold War at the former Edgewood Area labs near Washington.
It belongs to a class of drugs known as anticholinergics that interrupt
the brain's chemical messaging system between cells, leading to confusion
and hallucinations. It needs an hour to take effect, so authorities would've
had to release it into the theater long before the actual assault." -By
Joseph B. Verrengia -AP
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Judge
Drops Pregnancy Records Request." ... "A Buena Vista
District Court judge has vacated an order that would have required Planned
Parenthood to turn over pregnancy records." -By Pat
Mack -KTIV
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Judges
Lifts Pregnancy Records Order: Judge Lifts
Order for Pregnancy Records Sought in Investigation of Abandoned Baby."
... "A judge on Tuesday lifted an order that would have required Planned
Parenthood to provide pregnancy-test records that authorities had hoped
would lead them to the mother of a dead baby boy."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Clues
Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox: Some Clues, Including
Camel Virus Experiment, Suggest Iraq Has Smallpox, Experts Say." ... "Clues
include U.N. weapons inspectors' discovery of a machine labeled "smallpox"
and Iraq's experimenting with a related virus that infects camels. The
official U.S. position, shared by some experts, is that the evidence is
inconclusive." ... ""I don't believe the intelligence community has a smoking
gun that Iraq possesses the virus," said Jonathan Tucker, a former U.N.
biological weapons inspector. "My impression is they're erring on the side
of caution on these bits of circumstantial evidence that are troubling
but not conclusive."" -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Nancy
Reagan Fights Bush Over Stem Cells." ... "Mr. Bush
sharply limited such research. At 81, the former first lady is obliquely
but persistently campaigning — through friends, advisers, lawmakers and
her own well-placed calls and letters — to reverse the president's decision."
... "Mrs. Reagan believes that embryonic stem cell research could uncover
a cure for Alzheimer's, the disease that has wiped out her husband's memory.
She was dismayed, friends say, when the White House took issue on Monday
with a new California law that encourages embryonic stem cell research."
... ""A lot of time is being wasted," she told a friend last week who was
given permission to pass her words on to The New York Times. "A lot of
people who could be helped are not being helped."" -By
Alessandra Stanley -NYTimes
via -Google-News
OPINION
- "House
GOP bill protects bad doctors, HMOs and nursing homes from accountability;
patients lose crucial rights." ... "Just 5 percent
of American doctors are responsible for half the malpractice in the United
States, according to a new analysis of federal data by the consumer group
Public Citizen." ... "The analysis was released as the U.S. House of Representatives
is scheduled to consider legislation that would make it more difficult
for injured patients to hold their doctors accountable for negligence."
-Citizen.org
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Calif.
Approves Stem Cell Research." ... "In a move that
runs counter to Bush administration policy, California has adopted a new
law that opens the state's doors to stem cell researchers." ... "Gov. Gray
Davis signed legislation Sunday that expressly permits the research, which
has been strongly opposed by anti-abortion groups and the Roman Catholic
church because it involves the use of fetal and embryonic tissue."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- ANTHRAX
NEWS
- "China
Food Poisoning Kills 41, Hundreds Ill." ... "The
official Xinhua news agency said the 41 had died after eating traditional
breakfast snacks including sesame cakes and fried dough sticks at a branch
of the Heshengyuan Soy Milk chain." -By Jonathan Ansfield
-Reuters via -Miami/Herald
-
Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Sheriff
demands records of Iowa clinic: Pregnancy data
sought in probe of infant death." ... "Two Storm Lake doctors' offices
and the hospital provided names of expectant mothers who could not be accounted
for. Yet when deputies showed up with a subpoena for the names and addresses
of women who had undergone pregnancy tests, Planned Parenthood resisted."
... "The clinic, which serves six counties, does not perform abortions."
... "Sheriff's deputies trying to find the mother have inquired at schools
and churches and have run DNA tests on a few women who were thought to
have been pregnant. -By Hannah Wolfson
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- "U.S.
Is Stepping Up Drive to Destroy Coca [plants, used to create cocaine,]
in Colombia." ... "With the full support of the Colombian
president, the United States has begun what American officials say will
be the biggest and most aggressive effort yet to wipe out coca growing
[through aeiral spraying]." ... "But despite the rosy predictions, drug
policy analysts and some lawmakers in Washington warn that the intensified
program could just cause coca planting to spread to a wider area." ...
Also, "the spraying has raised the concerns of some environmental groups."
20020829
-By Juan Forero -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "Transmission
of West Nile In Ga. Transplants Probed." ... "Health
officials said yesterday that they believe the nation's blood supply is
safe from West Nile virus, even though they are aggressively investigating
what may be the first known transmission of the disease through tainted
blood or tissues." ... "All 638 known U.S. cases of West Nile this year,
including 31 deaths, are believed to have resulted from mosquito bites."
-By Alan Cooperman-WashingtonPost
- WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "West
Nile Case Suspected In Canada." ... "Ontario health
officials said Friday they believe three people sick in the province have
the West Nile virus, which would be Canada's first human cases of the mosquito-born
illness that has killed 24 people in the United States this year."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- "Afghan
Opium Output Seen Eclipsing Golden Triangle." ...
"Afghanistan will take back its crown this year from the notorious Golden
Triangle [Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand] in Southeast Asia as the world's
top producer of opium, the raw material used to make heroin, a Thai anti-narcotics
official said on Wednesday." ... "Afghanistan lost its top spot in recent
years as a result of strict Islamic rule by the Taliban regime and the
U.S. led war which toppled the movement." -By Sasithorn
Simaporn -Reuters
via -Miami/Herald
-
"More
E. coli cases from [Oregon's Lane] county fair."
... "Disease detectives continued tracking the source Monday of the biggest
E. coli outbreak in Oregon history that has sickened as many as 42 mostly
young people who attended the Lane County Fair." ... "The illness often
causes kidney failure and sometimes requires dialysis and transfusions,
according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some
people develop chronic kidney failure or neurologic impairment, such as
seizures or stroke. Some require surgery to remove part of the bowel."
... "Hemolytic uremic syndrome is the most serious illness associated with
the virulent strain of E. coli, O157:H7, that sickened the fairgoers. The
strain infects about 73,000 people and kills about 61 each year in the
United States, according to the CDC." -By Tim Christie
-RegisterGuard
-
Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Clinic
decries pregnancy subpoena." ... "Jennifer Dalven,
a staff lawyer at the Reproductive Freedom Project at the American Civil
Liberties Union, said the significance of the Storm Lake case went beyond
the ''extraordinary government intervention into people's private lives''
in Iowa. Surveys showed, Dalven said, that fear of disclosure of medical
records led as many as one person in six to keep information from doctors,
change doctors frequently or avoid medical attention." -By
Adam Clymer -NYTimes
via -Miami/Herald
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "Louisiana
confirms 24 new [human] West Nile cases." ... "...
bringing the 2002 total for the state at the epicenter of the outbreak
to 171, a state health official told CNN Friday." ... ""The CDC has recommended
that hunters shooting game birds use gloves to pick up the animals, [but]
... there's no evidence just by handling a dead bird or touching a dead
bird you can contract (West Nile)," said Butch Kinerney, spokesman for
the U.S. Geological Survey." -CNN
- "Texas
Powder Scare Turns to Dust." ... ""There is no hazardous
material, no substance in the package itself, just dust," Lt. Rene Alaniz
told Reuters." -Reuters
- "Police:
Suspicious Powder Only Dust." ... "Authorities said
air monitoring equipment showed sewer gas in the building may have caused
the irritation." -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
WEST
NILE VIRUS
-
- "Expect
long West Nile fight: As the Iowa equine infection
count hits nine, an expert says a human vaccine is years away." ... "The
best thing people can do is wear insect repellent and take other precautions
against mosquitoes, said Dr. Steve Ostroff, a leading epidemiologist for
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta." ... "Ostroff
said researchers are working on a human serum, but they aren't close to
bringing it to market." -By Tony Leys
-DesMoinesRegister
- "70
treated in Texas after white powder found." ... "McALLEN,
Texas [map] (CNN) -- Authorities were transporting some 70 people to
hospitals Tuesday after some of them suffered a reaction to a white powder
found in an office, said Lt. Rene Alaniz of the McAllen Fire Department."
... "A spokeswoman for Rio Grande Regional Hospital, one of two expecting
to receiving patients, said staff was told the substance was non-toxic."
-CNN
- "Iowa
prepares to battle Medicare: Gov. Tom Vilsack
will unveil a plan to contest compensation formulas. A court fight is possible."
... "Gov. Tom Vilsack plans to announce today that Iowa will mount a direct
legal challenge to Medicare formulas that shortchange the state an estimated
$1 billion a year." ... "Iowa ranks last in the country in the annual Medicare
spending per person." -By Tony Leys
-DesMoinesRegister / News
- "States
not treated equally under Medicare, Democrat says."
... "Medicare limits the services available to many elderly patients by
failing to adequately reimburse hospitals and health care professionals
in dozens of states, Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, said Saturday." ...
"Iowa ranks last in the nation in Medicare reimbursement, getting $3,053
for each Medicare recipient, Boswell said. Louisiana is the top-ranked
state, getting $7,336 for each recipient."
-AP via -NandoTimes
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- OPINION
- "Editorial:
The issue is medical privacy: Don't let emotions
cloud the stakes in the Storm Lake dead-baby case." ... "... this case
is no longer just about finding the mother of a dead infant. It's about
the possibility of setting a precedent that allows law enforcement broad
access to everyone's medical records. If a blood sample containing a certain
medication is found at a crime scene, does that give police access to medical
records from all the hospitals and doctors['] offices of anyone taking
that medication? If police have a DNA sample in a rape, can they go on
a fishing expedition for every tissue sample in local hospitals and clinics
in search of a match?" ... "The Storm Lake case isn't about women's rights.
It's isn't about dead infants. It isn't about abortion. It's about medical
privacy. And it needs to be judged outside its emotionally charged circumstances."
-By Register Editorial Board
-DesMoinesRegister / News
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "Louisiana
on the Defensive Against West Nile Virus: Seven
Dead; Health Officials Fear Worst Yet to Come." ... "Birds and mosquitoes
infected with the West Nile virus have been found in 35 states so far this
summer. In most of those states, few people have shown symptoms of the
disease. But in Louisiana, nearly 90 people have contracted West Nile fever,
and at least seven have died." ... "Health officials in Louisiana have
declared a state of emergency, and are asking for federal assistance."
-NPR
/News / ATC
- WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "Hear NPR's Joanne Silberner's report on how West Nile virus
fits into the family of mosquito-borne diseases."-NPR
/News / ATC
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "Hear NPR's John Nielsen's report on West Nile virus in Louisiana."
-NPR
/News / ATC
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Is
pregnancy a privacy issue?" ... ""This was a heinous
crime that demands justice," said Jill June, director of Planned Parenthood
of Greater Iowa. "I feel horrible and this needs to be solved and we want
to help, but what they are asking for is illegal and unethical. This is
a blatant violation of a patient's rights to privacy."" ... "Local prosecutor
Phil Havens argues that privacy is not an absolute right. "If the rights
of society are greater, then those rights should prevail ... We have a
dead baby and there is no way we can investigate the crime without knowing
who the mother is."" -By Waynce Loewe -CourtTV.com
via -CNN
- OPINION
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
-"A
Question of Medical Privacy." ... "... lots of innocent
women did use the clinic and were promised confidentiality when they did
so, and the cost to their privacy could be substantial. Some of these women
likely had abortions -- though the clinic in question does not perform
them -- and their families may not have known about their pregnancies.
Some may have miscarried and wish to keep that secret."
-WashingtonPost
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "West
Nile virus spreading and killing." ... "The total
number of states where the virus has been found in animals -- horses, birds
or mosquitoes -- is now 36, while humans have contracted the virus in six
states and the District of Columbia." ... "The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention has reported a total of 136 human infection cases: Louisiana
(85), Mississippi (34), Texas (12), Illinois (2), Alabama (1), Indiana
(1) and the District of Columbia (1)." -CNN/Health
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "La.
West Nile Death Toll Rises to 7: Death Toll
in Louisiana West Nile Virus Outbreak Cases Rises to 7; Miss. Declares
Emergency." ... "West Nile virus was first detected in the United States
in 1999, when seven people died and 55 others were hospitalized in New
York." ... "With weeks of hot, sticky weather ahead, Louisiana has already
equaled the death toll from that outbreak, and there have been 85 confirmed
human cases in the state, 59 of them involving encephalitis, a potentially
deadly inflammation of the brain." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Court
blocks search of pregnancy data: Death probe
raises privacy concerns." ... "On Tuesday, the Iowa Supreme Court granted
a stay of the lower court's order [for Storm Lake's Planned Parenthood
clinic to turn over women's pregnancy tests in the investigation of a dead
infant discovered at a recycling center] while it decides whether it will
hear Planned Parenthood's appeal [not to reveal the names]." ... "That
some medical providers turned over information about pregnant women has
outraged some in this community of about 10,000 people...." ... "One woman
is considering legal action against her medical clinic after it turned
over her test information without her permission." -By
John McCormick
-ChicagoTribune
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Iowa
Planned Parenthood Granted Stay." ... "Planned Parenthood
will not have to turn over pregnancy test records to Buena Vista County
authorities under a temporary stay granted Tuesday by the Iowa Supreme
Court." -By Melanie S. Welte
-WashingtonPost
- "Japan's
old shy away from retiring." ... "Thanks to a low-fat
diet, reliable healthcare and high standards of living, the average Japanese
girl born last year will live for nearly 85 years, while boys will not
breathe their last until just over 78." ... "But with one of the lowest
birthrates in the world, politicians, demographers and civil servants warn
that the retirement age will have to be extended to save Japan's pension
and healthcare systems from collapsing under the weight of an ageing and
shrinking population." ... "Japan is home to the world's oldest woman,
Kamoto Hongo, 115 this year; the oldest man, 113-year-old Yukichi Chuganji;
and the community with the highest proportion of centenarians, the 33 per
100,000 people of Okinawa." -By Jonathan Watts -Guardian.co.uk
CLONING
NEWS
- "[European]
Human cloning loophole closed." ... "The Munich-based
European Patent office said it had revised the patent granted to Edinburgh
University, Scotland, in December 1999 on altering animal cells following
objections from 14 parties." ... ""The much-discussed 'Edinburgh' patent...
no longer includes human or animal embryonic stem cells," the European
Patent Office (EPO) said in a statement after three days of hearings."
-CNN /Europe
- CLONING
NEWS
- "S
Korea probes human clone claim." ... "The South Korean
Government has started an investigation into a company which claims to
have made a woman pregnant with a cloned human embryo." ... "BioFusion
is an affiliate of the US-based company Clonaid, founded by a religious
cult, the Raelian Movement, which believes life on Earth was created scientifically
by extra-terrestrials."-BBC
/News
- "Clinic's
case lacks proof, judge warns: Planned Parenthood
could have trouble appealing a ruling on pregnancy tests." ... "A lack
of evidence early in its case could hurt Planned Parenthood's chances of
winning a dispute over pregnancy-test records, according to a judge's ruling."
-By
Staci Hupp -DesMoinesRegister
- "Full
'Dr. Death' horror revealed." ... "Relatives of patients
killed by Dr. Harold Shipman say they have been "vindicated" in their struggle
to reveal him as the UK's worst serial killer." ... "His first victims
tended to be terminally ill, but then he moved on to murder patients that
simply irritated him. He himself has never admitted guilt or his thinking
behind the deaths." -CNN
- "Saudi
prince indicted on drug charges: Goya and Foujita
paintings seized." ... "A Saudi prince used diplomatic immunity to smuggle
more than two tons of cocaine from South America to Europe on his personal
airplane in a trafficking conspiracy where paintings by Goya and Foujita
were used to pay for drugs, U.S. officials said Thursday."
-Reuters via -CNN
- "[Iowa]
Judge: Planned Parenthood must release pregnancy records."
... "A state judge upheld his decision that pregnancy test records aren't
confidential and ordered Planned Parenthood to turn over records to help
investigators find the mother of a newborn whose body was dumped in the
trash." -AP
via -CNN
- "Iowa
D.A. Seeks Data on 100s of Prenatal Patients." ...
"The president of Iowa Planned Parenthood may be jailed for refusing to
provide a county attorney--investigating the gruesome death of an abandoned
newborn--with the names of 100s of clinic patients whose tests indicated
that they were pregnant." ... "In this case, law enforcement is seeking
the pregnancy test results although the authorities have not identified
a suspect and therefore have no reason to believe that the mother was a
clinic patient. Authorities don't even know that the mother lived in the
area." -By Rekha Basu
-WomensEnews.org
- "Officials
deny plan for clinic arrests." ... "No one from Planned
Parenthood will be arrested any time soon for refusing to turn over pregnancy-test
records in connection with the case of a newborn boy's body found shredded
at a recycling center, Buena Vista County officials said Friday." ... "While
other clinics complied, Planned Parenthood challenged the court order by
District Judge Frank Nelson, saying records of pregnancy tests are confidential
and protected by law." -By Lynn Okamoto
-DesMoinesRegister / News
- "Opposing
advocates share views on records." ... "Abortion-rights
advocates who run Planned Parenthood and abortion opponents who run Birthright
usually find little in common, but a flap in Iowa over medical records
has put both groups on the same side." ... "Like Planned Parenthood, which
has resisted a judge's order to turn over pregnancy-test records, Birthright
won't reveal details about pregnant women who come to the nonprofit organization
for help, a spokeswoman said Friday." -By Frank Santiago
-DesMoinesRegister / News
- "Iowa
judge orders Planned Parenthood to hand over pregnancy tests."
... "Authorities want the records containing the names of women who tested
positive for pregnancy in five area clinics and hospitals. They hope to
learn the names of all those women who were pregnant between August 2001
and May." -AP
via -MercuryNews
- "Planned
Parenthood fights order on records: Planned
Parenthood cites patient privacy; Buena Vista officials say no medical
records are involved." ... "Planned Parenthood officials in Iowa are fighting
a judge's order to provide investigators with the names of women who took
pregnancy tests in Buena Vista County, where the search for the mother
of a newborn baby left at a recycling center in May has hit a snag." -By
Staci Hupp -DesMoinesRegister
/ News