The DNA Network

Requiescat in pace [genomeboy.com] Posted: 13 Sep 2008 08:04 PM CDT “…Never before have there been so many gaping chasms between what the world seems to be and what science tells us it is. `Us’ meaning laymen. It’s like a million Copernican Revolutions all happening at the same time…” - David Foster Wallace  (1962-2008)

Haute couture [genomeboy.com] Posted: 13 Sep 2008 07:30 PM CDT   Rich people salivating. As the party throbbed in the ground floor space of Barry Diller's IAC Building on West 18th Street, Mr. Weinstein, the film producer, who has acquired the Halston clothing brand, joked that DNA testing was as buzzworthy as the fashion shows taking place all week. "Now that I'm in the fashion business," he said, "I think genetics is a natural extension."

Blogging about politics - update [The Daily Transcript] Posted: 13 Sep 2008 06:59 PM CDT Well since the current US election has taken over my blog, I've done a couple of things. First, I've created a new category Election '08 where you can find all my rants on this year's federal elections. Second, I've joined a new group blog, A Vote for Science. About nine of us sb bloggers will be contributing and the site will be up shortly. And yes, elections have also been called in my home country. For the record, I have been living in the US for 11 years now but that might be changing in the near future. In fact, I'll be up in Toronto late next week for a quick visit. And just to show that the Canadian elections can also be idiotic, here's a clip for you: Read the comments on this post...

Why Gene Patents Suck. [The Gene Sherpa: Personalized Medicine and You] Posted: 13 Sep 2008 03:27 AM CDT So I was on the phone with my good friend Deb Heine. She told me that a great tragedy is occurring.....What is that? Well while everyone was out playing patty cake and hyping 23andMe's... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Equal rights for unborn women [Mary Meets Dolly] Posted: 12 Sep 2008 09:58 PM CDT I remember chanting that back in college on a Walk-for-Life.  I never realized that it would hold such meaning in today's world where prenatal testing and abortion-on-demand fuel the raging gender bias in places like China and India.  I was reminded of this reality reading this piece from Catholic World News: Bangalore, Sep. 12, 2008 (CWNews.com) - In yet another shocking incident of deep-rooted cultural prejudice against girl children in India, the parents of twin babies who died due to premature delivery have left behind the dead body of their baby girl child in a Mumbai hospital, taking the dead body of the baby boy for burial. The dean of Sion hospital in Mumbai told reporters that a week after the dead body of the baby girl was moved to the mortuary, no one had came forward to claim the body. Subsequent inquiries found that the parents had taken away the remains of their baby boy on September 3. India has one of the most skewed sex ratios in the world, with fewer than 925 young women for 1,000 young men, due to a deep-rooted gender bias against girls. In the Hindu tradition, a father cannot attain moksha (salvation) unless he has a son to perform his last rites. This religious sanction makes girls unwanted in a culture that now puts heavy pressure dowry demands that make girls an economic liability for families of limited means. According to the federal government, more than 10 million girls have gone "missing" in India during last two decades because of clandestine sex-determination tests that are often followed by abortions if the unborn child is female. Despite a legal ban on sex-determination tests, many private hospitals and clinics quietly provide the service, camouflaging the tests as routine pre-natal procedures. Federal president Pratibha Patil - India's first woman president - earlier this week sought an urgent report from the Maharashtra state government on the sex ratio in her home town of Jalagaon, after media reports indicated that the president's own home is a hotbed of sex-selection abortions. In some places, "every child a wanted child" means "keep aborting till you get a boy."  I fear that "every child a wanted child" in this country can already be losely translated into "keep aborting until you get the perfect child you want."  Girls, genetic defectives, disease ridden, and other "unwanteds" need not apply.

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