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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1803)	3/24/1999 4:59:00 PM
From: Professor Dotcomm	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

I hope you didn't think I was trying to chop you down! Edward Jones always seems to get overlooked because their offices always seem to be in the 'wrong' places. The only reason I got to know of them is that they are the only broker in the small town where I often go on vacation (in Western Arizona). By the way I would be interested in trying Jones sausages. Are they good?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (1803)	3/24/1999 11:28:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2539

Genetics row 'sure to be election issue' March 24, 1999 The Press, New Zealand WELLINGTON -- Approval of plans by a British-based biotechnology company to put copies of human DNA into sheep will ensure genetic engineering becomes an election issue, parliamentarians say. PPL Therapeutics Ltd has been given permission to "field test" a flock of up to 10,000 genetically engineered sheep in New Zealand to produce milk containing a human protein, so it can be tested for use in treatment of some cases of cystic fibrosis. Alliance MP Phillida Bunkle said last night she was disappointed with the approval to put human gene codes into sheep because it would be used as a precedent for similar applications. A Crown science agency, Agresearch, has already applied to engineer dairy cows with another human gene so their milk can be tested as a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis. Ms Bunkle said manipulation of the gene was, in effect, the use of a human body part, and she intended to challenge its use on the grounds that ethical approval had not been given by the Health Research Council. Ms Bunkle said it was time New Zealand paused to discuss the ethics of the technology and the social implications, so that the general public had a say in whether such technologies were even wanted, and if so, whether they should be used only for medicine, or in food as well. "We are moving deeper and deeper into genetic engineering, yet our food standards and environmental risk agencies are examining the issues only on a case-by-case basis," she said. A wider debate was needed, otherwise each approval would be used as a precedent for the next application, without any investigation of the wider issues. "Today's approval for human genetic coding to be put into animals may be a bridge too far," she said. The Environmental Risk Management Authority announced its approval yesterday, after a public hearing held in Wellington in December. It set conditions to keep the sheep in containment, initially on PPL's farm at Whakamaru, 140km south of Hamilton, but sidestepped concerns raised by its own Maori advisory committee, Nga Kaihautu Tikanga Taiao. Nga Kaihautu told the authority some Maoris found the insertion of human genetic material into other species culturally offensive and abhorrent, and said the bridge between human and non-human species should not be crossed. It unsuccessfully called on Erma not to give its permission. Erma, a semi-judicial body of eight experts, said the adverse effects of the genetic engineering were outweighed by the beneficial effects "taking into account the scope for risk management". A containment regime proposed by PPL, together with additional controls imposed by Erma, would adequately contain the organism, the authority said. The transgenic sheep have been modified with copies of human genes from a Danish woman to produce the human protein alpha-1-antitrypsin (hAAT). This is theoretically likely to be useful in treating some cases of cystic fibrosis and emphysema. Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the Erma decision admitted there was unease in the community over the technology and that the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act did not allow it to consider wider community views and the ethics involved. -- NZPA press.co.nz:80/12/99032428.htm An earlier story: Genetically-engineered sheep may produce human protein abc.net.au:80/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-23mar1999-86.htm