Page 5
Thursday, August 3,1
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Thursday, August 3, 2Q0Q
Gene scheme
Completion of human genome mapping could spawn new kind of predictive discrimination
T wo groups,
the Human
Genome
Project and Celera,
have been com
peting to finish a
map of human ge
netic sequence.
Recently, each
group announced it has completed a
"working draft" of the human
genome, delighting many in the sci
ence field. When the human genome is
completely mapped, it will unlock the
door to many questions that have
plagued scientists for years — like the
question of whether certain diseases
are hereditary. Scientists have speculat
ed, but now proof may be found.
With the working draft done, many
sdentists hope to understand the de
tails of the human genetic code. With
this advance in genetic knowledge
comes tine potential for abuse. The
American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) is supporting efforts by mem
bers of Congress to pass legislation to
prevent genetic discrimination.
Having a complete map of the hu
man genome is the first step in deter
mining whether people are predis
posed to developing many genetic
disorders. Many fear that if insurance
companies and employers obtain in
formation about these predisposi
tions, discrimination will occur in the
form of charging higher policy rates
or refusing to employ people.
Not only could this discrimina
tion occur, but for companies to ac
cess such material to discriminate is
an invasion of privacy. Congress
should accept the bill supported by
the ACLU before the notion of genet
ic discrimination becomes a frighten
ing reality.
The proposed bill will prohibit in
surance companies from raising pre
miums for policy holders who are
predisposed to an illness. If compa
nies use genetic information to de
cide policy rates, they will penalize
people for simply having the poten
tial to become sick or disabled. Pre
disposition does not guarantee devel
oping the condition. Many genetic
diseases occur only with the right en
vironment. A person can have a ge
netic defect that often leads to a dis
ease like breast cancer but never
develop the disease.
Insurance companies will use the
human genome's medical break
through to make a profit. By bank
ing on the possibility that someone
will get sick because of predictive
genetic information, these compa
nies will be punishing people for
having a poor genetic makeup.
These companies will be treating
people unjustly because of some
thing they cannot control.
Insurance companies argue
that if customers withhold
their genetic information,
the companies will take
unnecessary risks by in
suring people with pre
dispositions for genetic
disorders. Yet, this is
not a new risk; the
companies have
been doing this for
ages as they in
sure people with
hereditary dis
eases in their
family histo
ries. Complete
knowledge of
the human
genome should not be
squandered on a ploy for insurance
companies to save a dollar.
To many groups like the ACLU,
this sounds similar to other modern-
day discrimination based on gender
or ethnicity.
This kind of judgment based on
genetic material could take place in
the workplace. If potential employ
ees are required to have physical ex
aminations that include reports and
details about their genes, employers
could use that information as a rea
son to not hire a person who might
develop genetic disabilities.
The Americans with Disabilities
Act currently prevents discrimina
tion against people who have a dis
ability but can still perform their
jobs. With the information gained
by the genome project, employers
would be taking discrimination one
step further since the act does not
protect Americans with predictive
genetic material from discrimina
tion. Without this kind of protec
tion, potential employees might be
refused jobs because of a disease
they do not yet have and might
never get.
Also, future employers do not
have a right to know whether an em
ployee might become sick because of
a genetic predisposition. It is the
same as potential employers asking a
woman if she plans to become preg
nant. That type of information is a
personal matter that should not af
fect an applicant's chances during
the interviewing process.
Furthermore, if insurance com
panies and potential employers
use this genetic information,
they will invade people's
privacy. People's genes are not
public knowledge and society does
not have the right to know.
The completion of the human ge
netic code should be celebrated as
the scientific breakthrough it is.
Americans should not have to fear
the possibility of genetic discrimina
tion. The breakthrough can help save
lives, but if insurance companies and
employers are not prevented from
using the information to discriminate
against people, the negative effects
will outweigh the benefits.
By safeguarding the jobs and pri
vacy of the American people,
politicians can help those
with the dispositions
lessen their chance of
being affected by more than just a
disease. The only way to do this is
for Congress to pass the proposal
and stop the discrimination before it
Brieanne Porter is a sophomore
chemical engineering major.
BRANDON HENDERSON/Tm Battalion
Understanding police brutality
W hile many viewers watched the news last
week, their heart were saddened by a
certain 28-second news clip. In Philadel
phia, police apprehended a black suspect after a
lengthy police chase. The reason this story made
"Headline News" and not another mundane
episode of "Cops" is because of what happened in
those 28 seconds. Many thought it was the Rodney
King beating all over again.
The news clip showed officers dragging Thomas
Jones from the police car he had recently stolen. Then
multiple officers began to kick and beat him. Watch
ing this image — officers surrounding and beating a
solitary individual — could not help but evoke mem
ories of the 1991 King beating. King and Jones were
both victims, but were they the same type of victim?
They both seemed to receive the same treatment from
officers. However, that is where the similarities end.
The beating of Rodney King was a one-sided
story with a single motivation. This King incident
was an unnecessary, pointless assault based on
racial prejudice. The Jones case does not fit this cri
teria because it is more complicated. Thomas Jones
led police on a 20-minute chase in a stolen car. Reck
less driving sent him crashing into other motorists
and onto a sidewalk crowded with funeral mourn
ers, risking the lives of many innocent civilians. He
refused initial attempts to be subdued by biting
some officers and even shooting another one. He
was then shot, but only after he tried to make a sec
ond escape in a police car. The controversial 28-sec-
ond tape was filmed after he was pulled from this
second police car.
Two different incidents both met the same end:
the beating of the suspect. Yet these situations in
volve two different individuals, with two distinct
records. If people agree that King did not deserve
the treatment he received, does that mean that
Jones did? No. In the Jones case, the police action
did seem excessive. But that does not mean people
should be surprised by what Jiappened.
If the police are removed from the scene and one
imagines that the people attacking Jones are average
citizens, suddenly the situation, no matter how dis
turbing, becomes more agreeable. Then there are the
brave souls of Philadelphia who chased down and
apprehended a career criminal who had shot some
one, bitten someone, nearly run several people
down and stolen two cars. People would not neces
sarily cheer the fact that several of the police were
kicking this man, but the same people would proba
bly be happy if the average citizen had put a stop to
this small fraction of America's criminal element.
After all, Jones is not a shining star of society. He is a
man with a record of convictions for burglary, theft
and assault whose low points include snatching
purses from women and stealing a bike from a 12-
year-old child.
For some reason, when the police are placed back
into the crime scene, it is suddenly more appalling.
The chase and pursuit did not go smoothly; that part
is a given. Even top Philadelphia brass admit that.
Not all chases go smoothly. Society has the miscon
ception that the police will swoop down like they do
on television or the movies and make an effortless, er
rorless arrest. And if there is one thing most people
learned from criminal justice classes, it is that this type
of arrest does not happen. In most cases, the criminal
influences how smoothly the arrest procedure goes
more than the authorities. Had Jones immediately
surrendered, the chase never would have occurred.
Criminals can be desperate and unpredictable people,
and police are human beings. Society cannot expect
the police to rid the world of such a complicated prob
lem easily and effortlessly.
People are horrified that the police beat this man
when they should probably be stunned that it does
not happen more often. Our country holds police to a
superhuman standard that says they must take any
and all types of abuse and still calmly maintain con
trol of the situation.
In Jones' situation, people have to remember that
an officer was shot, and that Jones had already ig
nored countless attempts at an orderly arrest. This
might help explain the irrational, unnecessary behav
ior of the police. One should think about how willing
they would be to kick an individual who had shot a
member of their family or a friend. A policeman's fel
low officers are like family and are likely friends as
well. That is probably why both black and white offi
cers were involved in the beating — this was not an
issue of racial hatred. Rather, it was an issue of police
retaliating for the injuries to one of their own. This
does not make it right, but easier to comprehend.
The Jones beating is surely a shocking, disturbing
half-minute of video. Some would say this is another
example of the rising level of police brutality in to
day's society. Others would say it is the result of the
frustration generated by career criminals emboldened
by a feeble judicial system. Either way, it should not
be considered a case of police brutality on the level of
the King beating. Where one was completely wrong,
the other was simply unnecessary. In a Utopic world,
police would never do anything outside of the proper
arrest conduct code. They would never swear, hit,
beat, kick or shoot at another person. And in a Utopic
world, perhaps suspects would return the favor.
Chris Schafer is a columnist for the
Minnesota Daily at the U. of Minnesota.
Keep the fire from burning
Unsanctioned bonfire loses meaning of tradition
E xpecting the
temporary,
or even per
manent, removal of
Aggie Bonfire, the
student group
Keep the Fire Burn
ing started a peti
tion prior to A&M
President Dr. Ray M. Bowen's an
nouncement about the future of bon
fire. Since the May press conference,
the group has been busy trying to dis
prove Bowen's assertion that two years
are needed to successfully plan a safe
bonfire. The student leaders have taken
some positive steps toward planning
their bonfire, but even if their project
goes smoothly, Keep the Fire Burning
will still have made a mockery of the
bonfire tradition.
The seven students on the group's
board said they plan to make their bon
fire smaller than recent bonfires and
have contracted a professional engineer
to develop safe designs. Furthermore,
while the group plans to hold a stu
dent-run cut, drinking will not be al
lowed and private security guards will
be in place. For the most part, the
group is following Bowen's guidelines
for future bonfires, but moving the date
up two years.
Keep the Fire Burning may disagree
with Bowen's belief tlaat two years are
needed for planning future bonfires,
but taking that long will ensure the
safest future for bonfire. Likewise, in
stead of consulting a team of profes
sional engineers. University officials
and student leaders, the group has put
its faith into one engineer. By eliminat
ing additional input, the group is for
feiting valuable opinions.
Bowen said in May that he expects a
student-coordinated memorial event to
occur in November. Such an event
would be the correct way to participate
in bonfire in 2000. Having an off-cam
pus bonfire two days before the Univer
sity of Texas-Austin game undermines
the meaning of this, memorial event.
One of the biggest gripes many stu
dents had with Bowen's decision was
the cancellation of student cut. While it
is a shame that cut was eliminated, the
people who were upset about its re
moval will gain nothing from an off-
campus bonfire cut. Anyone can go
into the woods and chop down trees.
Cut was special because of dorm rival
ries, yells and "groding pots." Unfortu
nately, those activities will not be a part
of future bonfires, but neither will they
be at Keep the Fire Burning's cut.
Those who participate in bonfire say
that the tradition is more than burning
the stack. However, the events of that
night are also important. Bonfire is not
just cut, but a yell practice, a band per
formance and an event drawing several
thousand future, current and former
students to one place in the heart of Ag-
gieland. Sadly, Keep the Fire Burning's
bonfire will have none of these. Its bon
fire will be the burning of logs, signal
ing the end of a lot of hard work, but
this pales in comparison to even a
smaller. University-sanctioned bonfire.
Considering that both bonfires will be f
smaller than previous ones, waiting
two years for a University bonfire with
the Texas Aggie Band,, an R.C. Slocum
speech and thousands of families and
friends gathered on the polo fields is
much better than slipping out to some
off-campus field to see what a group of
renegade students has accomplished.
Above all, the biggest problem with
Keep the Fire Burning's bonfire will be
the reasoning behind the event. The
group's board members are full of
rhetoric about their Aggie spirit and
love for bonfire, but their motivation
comes down to one thing - proving the
University wrong. Like other students,
the leaders of Keep the Fire Burning
disagree with Bowen. However, in
stead of examining why the moratori
um is in place, they consider it a chal
lenge to break, and they blindly forge -
ahead. This stubborn closed-minded-
ness kept participants from seeing
problems with bonfire before the col
lapse.
Will Clark, a member of the group's
student board, said, "The Aggie spirit .
and love for bonfire can't be turned
off." But every Aggie should know
when to be driven by the Aggie spirit
and when to listen to reason. No matter
what its supporters say, an off-campus ‘
bonfire will be motivated by defiance,
and defiance has never been what the
tradition is about.
Phone-code users
deserve punishment
In response to Cayla Carr’s Aug. 2 column.
I almost had to do a double take
when I read Carr’s article on students
who misused the state phone system.
The students who used the code
to make free long-distance calls
should be punished. It does not mat
ter how much they pay in tuition, they
stole from the school's pocket for
Mail Call
their own gain. What makes their
crime worse is that the students
knew what they were doing was
wrong. The whole situation reminds
me of when I get a parking ticket. I
knew quite well that parking in a yel
low space was wrong, and when 1
came back to my car to find a ticket,
1 am upset that I got caught, but I do
not try to play it off by saying, "It did
not do that much damage."
Peter Stevens
Class of '00
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The opinion editor reserves the right to edit let
ters for length, style and accuracy. Letters may
be submitted in person at 014 Reed McDonald
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to:
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