Free Republic

WASHINGTON, March 2 - Fifteen years after experiments with human gene therapy began in earnest, a federal drug advisory panel on Friday will discuss the death of a French child in one such experiment and why, after so many years of hope, the technology has been such a disappointment. Three major gene therapy trials in the United States have been suspended pending the outcome of the meeting. Dr. Donald Kohn, the principal investigator in one of those trials, said, "I'm going to tell the committee that there is a significant difference between the French trial and ours." Dr. Kohn, a...

When Karen Coveler and her husband began trying to have a child, she told her obstetrician that she wanted to take all the DNA tests she could to determine whether she was at risk of passing on a genetic disease to her child. Based on her Ashkenazi Jewish background, Ms. Coveler was offered 10 tests, all of which were negative, and went on to have a normal pregnancy. It was not until her son, Benjamin, was born that she discovered he was deaf. And it was not until a few weeks later that she learned a simple blood test could...

For the first time, scientists have identified a gene that appears to influence the development of at least some cases of dyslexia. This learning disorder is characterized by difficulties in perceiving sounds within words, spelling and reading problems, and troubles with written and oral expression. It's estimated that dyslexia affects at least 1 in 25 people. Although scientists are investigating dyslexia's suspected neural roots (SN: 5/24/03, p. 324: http://www.sciencenews.org/20030524/fob4.asp), the condition's causes remain unknown. If confirmed in further studies, the new genetic finding represents a major step forward for dyslexia researchers. Until now, investigators have only been able to link...

Although it would seem that Marx himself was equivocal on the matter (Geras, 1983), it has long been a major Leftist doctrine that there is no such thing as an inherited "human nature". This root and branch rejection of heredity was of course what underlay Stalin's support of Lysenko's otherwise thoroughly discredited theory of evolution -- the idea that characteristics acquired in one's lifetime can be passed on to one's offspring. Leftists reject the importance of heredity in order to justify their frequent claim that "education" can change almost anything in human behaviour. Even Leftists in the “Western” world claimed...

Human nature Something that Leftists have long had in common is the rejection of any idea of "human nature". Basically, Leftists seem to believe that "education" can change almost anything in human behaviour. Even Leftists in the “Western” world claimed for many years that “education” could create “a new Soviet man” who would work for the common good rather than for selfish greed. This root and branch rejection of heredity was of course what underlay Stalin's support of Lysenko's otherwise thoroughly discredited theory of evolution -- the idea that characteristics acquired in one's lifetime can be passed on to one's...