Aggie Dance Team
jg-4S is- Try-Outs
-Aw^r May 3rd -JxJJr!
Reed Building Gym 303
Prep Classes
April 12th & 26th
690-1813
Jennifer Hart
Aggie Pence Teem Pirector
www.agg ieath ieTic &,eo m
Jharfc^athletice.tamu.edu
6A
Friday, April 11, 2003
NATION
THE BAITALIOS
Human cloning may be impossibk
By Lauran Neergaard
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ag...Ag... Parents...Ag...Ag... Parents
Home Buying 101
Call a Coldwell Banker United, Realtors
Sales Associate @ (979) 846-8400
or toll free (800) 359-6622
and let us help you move.
Condos from $ 20,000- $ 80,000
Townhouses from $ 99,000 +
2, 3,4 Bedroom homes from $ 80,000- $ 150,000.
Many are on the A&M shuttle route and we are
members of the Multiple Listings Service.
Open Saturday 9-5 Sunday 1-5 Weekdays 8:30-5:30
41 I Texas Avenue, College Station
Spring Signing ‘Events!
Texas A^gie Artist
Free Personalizations
Thursday - April 10th
3:00-6:00 PM
Friday - April 11th
12:00-4:00 PM
Saturday - April 12th
11:00-1:00PM & 4:00-6:00PM
Friday & Saturday - May 9th &10th
12:00-6:00 PM
Unique Fine Art Gilts
TM
The College Station Depot
405 University Drive East - 979-691-2787
www.benjaminknox.com
WASHINGTON — Cloning humans,
or any other primates, may be impossible
with today’s techniques because of a fun
damental molecular obstacle, say scientists
trying to understand why attempts to clone
monkeys have failed.
From the very first step, cloned primate
cells don’t divide properly, causing a helter-
skelter mix of chromosomes too abnormal
for pregnancy to even begin, University of
Pittsburgh researchers reported Thursday in
the journal Science.
“Most people in the cloning field will
be surprised by this,” said lead researcher
Gerald Schatten. “This work demonstrates
there’s a pothole in the process. We now
know the depth and breadth of the pothole,
and we’re designing strategies to get
around” it.
Dozens of animal clones — including
cows, pigs, mice, goats and a cat — have
been born since Dolly the sheep became the
first new being created from an adult cell in
1997. But it’s still a very uncertain field:
Many are stillborn and some survive only
with severe defects.
A cult group claimed in December to
have cloned a person, something never veri
fied. A doctor who separately is pursuing
human cloning has reported in an Internet
journal preliminary data on an early-stage
cloned human embryo, but with no chromo
some information.
Cloning experts worry that attempting
human cloning is dangerous not just because
of all the barnyard clones with birth defects,
but because attempts to clone monkeys —
far closer genetically to people — using the
Dolly technique so far have failed.
To clone, scientists harvest an unfertil
ized egg from a female donor, remov
ing the genetic material and replacing
it with new DNA from an adult cell of
the animal to be cloned. An electric
shock coaxes it into dividing. If all
goes well, the egg grows into an
embryo that can be implanted into a
surrogate mother.
It took 277 attempts before Dolly
was born. Schatten’s group tried even
longer to clone a rhesus monkey —
724 eggs that yielded only 33 embryos
and not a single pregnancy.
For cells to properly divide, chro
mosomes must duplicate themselves
and precisely line up along a zipper
like structure called a spindle. Once
the chromosomes are in place, the
spindle helps the cell pull apart into
two. During human reproduction, if
the chromosomes don't split properly,
defects such as Down syndrome
result, or the pregnancy fails.
Schatten wondered if chromo
some abnormalities were behind
failed monkey clonings. Indeed,
inside cloned monkey cells, the
Pittsburgh researchers discovered
deformed spindles and chaotic chro
mosome numbers.
How cloning works
An egg's nucleus is removed
and replaced with DNA from
the cell of the animal to be
cloned. .
Tiny proteins block
cloning capabilities
Scientists haven't been able to
clone monkeys like they can
clone barnyard animals. Now
they've discovered why: proteins
removed in the cloning process
cause a chromosomal mismatch
Motor
proteins
in the egg help d’
form zipper-like t ,
spindles that
the chro- '
mosomes use
to align. Once
in place, the
spindles help
pull the cell
into two
identical parts.
Spindle
What goes wrong
When the nucleus is removed
from a monkey egg, motor
proteins cling to it and are also
removed That doesn't happen
when cloning non-primates.
Cells divide,
but abnormal
chromosomes
can cause
defects and
effect the
pregnancy.
Healthy, developing embryo
Abnormal cells intj:
SOURCE: University oi Pittsburgh
Emly
Why? Eggs harbor proteins that act as
molecular motors that are key to spindle for
mation. In primates, those proteins are so
tightly bound to the egg’s DNA that
cloning’s first step of DNA removal pulls
them out, too, dooming hope of later preg
nancy, Schatten said.
In other mammals, enough spindle-form
ing proteins float in the egg’s remaining
fluid for reproduction to occur, he said.
The discovery is very important, said Dr.
Duane Kraemer, a successful cloner of non
primates at Texas A&M University.
“The fact that they don’t get pregnancies
at all is suggestive that there is somette
different going on there than with otk
species,” he said. “It points to a potent
problem that may have to be solved befoi’
the next advance can be made.”
It’s not just bad news for reproduce
cloning. It also means the related field
therapeutic cloning — using embryd
stem cells to grow customized tissues h
medical treatment — may prove harder.t«
Schatten said. However, if 95 percent
cells growing in a lab dish have abnom
chromosomes, the remaining good 5 perce:
could still be used, he added.
STATE
the batt
Pr<
fur
AUSTIN -
put off $318
chases are ca
the publishinj
the Texas texi
“This is a
tough, one mil
it will all wort
of important
Watkins, a k
group Ameri
Publishers.
“1 thought
priority. We’vi
cent cut in ii
and it’s our N<
The Texa;
initially reque
new textbool
budget, more
textbooks all
printed by ]
awaiting payr
But a $9.5
no-new-tax-p
across state
money for n<
Elck
‘V/•‘-O**''-'
NEWS IN BRIEF
Government looks to
halt slavery tax scam
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Justice Department on
Thursday asked a federal court
to block a Georgia man from
selling a slavery reparations
tax scam.
The government, in papers
filed in Macon, Ga., allege that
Morris James Sr. of Montezuma
and his company, National
Resource Information Center,
went to churches nationwide
promoting a bogus tax refund
related to slavery reparations.
The court papers say more than
6,300 customers purchased the
tax preparation services.
"Claiming tax benefits for
slavery reparations, segrega
tion, treatment as a second-
class citizen, or on other similar
grounds is illegal," said Eileen J.
O'Connor, assistant attorney
general for Justice's tax divi
sion. "The Justice Department
is taking vigorous action to stop
schemes that undermine the
federal tax system and leave
honest taxpayers footing the
bill."
In a typical slavery repara
tions scheme, a tax preparer
charges the customer to pre
pare a refund claiming the non
existent credit. Taxpayers can
face a $500 penalty for filing
such claims.
In 2001, the Internal Revenue
Service received about 80,1
tax returns claiming $2.7 billot
in reparations refunds. Hi
majority of claims come ftoir
taxpayers in the South. Af
aggressive campaign by tli
Congressional Black Cauaii
and other organizations drasi
cally cut the number.
The Justice Departnw
recently has obtained coil thdir
orders to stop five other t
preparers from promoting
selling reparations schemes.
Regulators plan to overhau
FCC media ownership rule
fort wc
— The 89-ye
her 71-year-c
slain in their
this week wei
their neighboi
“It’s just i
to happen to
neighbor B
‘They’re jusi
over the neig
the senior res
authority over
one had a qi
plant someth]
ones to ask.”
Crime scei
manic
Wednesday a
UT LAWRENCE MARSHAL!
GET YOU INTO A CAR
OR TRUCK TORAT!
Bad Credit... No Credit... Foreign Students
If you’ve been told you don’t qualify for a car loan, call the
student loan specialists at Lawrence Marshall. We’ve been
putting students on the road for more than 30 years. Let us
get you into a car, truck or SUV with no hype and no hassle.
Call Bob Griffey, Toll Free
1-866-540-3600
Even if you’ve been turned down by another “Special Finance” Lender.
HEMPSTEAD
By David Ho
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Fifteen
senators asked regulators
Thursday to disclose their plans
for overhauling media ownership
restrictions before going ahead
with the changes.
Debate over the Federal
Communications
Commission’s review has heat
ed up as the agency’s planned
June 2 vote nears.
The FCC is studying whether
decades-old ownership restric
tions belong in a market altered
by satellite broadcasts, cable tele
vision and the Internet.
The rules include limits on the
national reach of television
broadcasters, a ban on mergers
between major television net
works and a restriction prevent
ing a company from owning a
newspaper and a radio or televi
sion station in the same city.
In a letter to FCC Chairman
Michael Powell, five
Republicans and 10 Democrats,
most of them on the Senate
Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee, said
they were disappointed that the
updated rules would be released
“without any opportunity 1
Congress or the public to revie*
them beforehand.”
“Dramatic changes in tin
structure of our media market
place could have long-term CO-
sequences on the diversity o
voices and free expression
our nation,” said the lawmakers
including Sen. Ernest Hollins
of South Carolina, the commit
tee’s top Democrat.
FCC spokesman Richard
Diamond said the agency is
working on a response.
Last week, 12 other lawmak
ers took an opposite position,
calling the current ownership
restrictions outdated and i
Powell to complete the reviewer
schedule. Those lawmakers
included four members of tl*
Senate committee and Rep.
Tauzin, R-La., chairman ofthi
House Energy and Comment
Committee.
The Small Business
Administration wrote to Powell
saying that the FCC has moved
too quickly to alter the rules and
should back off, allowing mol
time for comments.
Powell said the FCC will
seek more comment, but hei-
not inclined to do it with!
good reason.
Re
Hwy 290 at Bryan/Hwy 6 Exit
Buy in Hempstead Pay in Hempstead
jEKscx>vc^JRBeseajrxJl x
lot*.
You may qualify for a clinical research study if you have any of the
following conditions:
<3L
NECK OR BACK PAIN
Recent onset of muscle pain in the neck or back with
spasm (involuntary contraction)
Must be 18 to 75 years of age
Up to $200 paid for time and travel.
^ i ScoverySe
FACIAL ACNE
Male and Female 12 years of age and older
Have mild to moderate facial acnc
Reimbursement for time and travel.
Olscoverfc'
(888) 43 8-9 5 86
(979)776-1417 or
Medical assessments, study-related diagnostic tests, and investigational medication
are provided to qualified participants at no charge. ^