Genetic Code

Technological advance always comes at a price. Mary Knudson's July 21 Sunday Sun story on gene mapping shows that the scientific value of charting the human genome carries a potentially debilitating price: loss of job mobility for people found "at risk" of genetic diseases; loss of insurability for families carrying certain gene combinations; even discrimination against people deemed likely to develop unfavorable psychological traits.It shouldn't be that way. Scientists pursuing the 15-year, multi-nation Human Genome Project expect to read the genetic code written in the 100,000 or so genes making up the 23 pairs of chromosomes in each human cell.

DECIPHERING the human genetic code, identifying and sequencing more than 100,000 genes that determine the body's development, is a formidable, complex task. So too is the legal challenge to determine what is proprietary information that can be patented by gene research companies, and what genetic information should be public property. In the balance is the discovery and treatment of myriad diseases and genetic disorders, a scientific breakthrough of unthinkable magnitude. Four years ago, the leading industrial nations agreed to an informal program of complete, continuous release of information gathered by the international Human Genome Project.

AGAIN THE controversy is renewed over whether homosexuals are born or made. This sounds very reminiscent of the hubbub stimulated last year by the book ''The Bell Curve'' about whether genetic intelligence differs by race.That there is a political agenda in these issues cannot be escaped. Conservatives, for example, tend to favor the genetic theory behind IQ as a rationalization for decreasing entitlements for remedial education programs since presumably no amount of extra time or effort (or money)

YOU COULD CALL it "Son of the Fly," a real-life version of the classic Vincent Price sci-fi movie. But it may be more of a "War of the Words" between scientific competitors in the race to complete the human genetic code. Celera Genomics, the Maryland biotechnology firm that decoded the genetic map of the fruit fly, mistakenly included pieces of human genetic material in initial data posted on its Web site. The "human contamination" of the published fruit fly genome, containing some 180 million chemical building blocks, is not fatal to the blueprint.

Your editorial opined "Election by council district makes a lot of sense, and should go a long way toward making the board more diverse in its racial and ethnic makeup. While no Howard council district has a 'minority majority,' at least two of them can claim significant minority populations. " Please inform your readers what the "right" makeup is for a board to improve its "racial and ethnic makeup. " Please explain how melanin, skin pigment or ethnicity makes one qualified to represent another person with a similar genetic code.

Dr. Maclyn McCarty, 93, a pioneer in genetic research who helped demonstrate that genes are composed of DNA, died Sunday in New York City. With Dr. Oswald Avery and Dr. Colin MacLeod, he conducted experiments in the 1940s on pneumococcus that pinpointed DNA as the carrier of genetic information. The team's work paved the way for studies a decade later by Dr. James Watson and Dr. Francis Crick that revealed DNA's double helix structure, and for countless genetic studies since. Dr. McCarty won the $100,000 Wolf Prize in medicine in 1990.

Life can go two ways when you're born with six legs.You can become a snack for snakes, or some biologist can plop you into a glass bowl and feed you to the news media.It was the second fate that befell a little mutant green frog from Riverside, in Harford County, over the holiday weekend. She now resides in a walk-in cooler at Towson State University, the ward of TSU herpetologist Don C. Forester."She looks very healthy," he said yesterday as the frog -- no bigger than a half-dollar -- hopped up his arm with all four hind legs in motion for the camera.

CHICAGO -- Using a newly discovered key to secrets of the genetic code, an international team of more than 200 scientists reported yesterday that they are on the threshold of finding the genetic variations that make one person different than another, and what in their makeup makes them prone to a particular illness. Researchers expect that for the first time they will have the power to pinpoint the elusive genetic basis of disease - why some people get sick while others don't - and why some people are more susceptible to environmental toxins than others, they reported in the British journal Nature.

In Worcester County Ocean City bans swimming until conditions improve OCEAN CITY -- Prompted by numerous people "putting themselves at risk" in rough surf and rip currents, and the drowning death Saturday of a volunteer firefighter from Pennsylvania while trying to rescue a struggling swimmer, the Ocean City Beach Patrol captain announced a ban on swimming until conditions improve. Brian Firkal, 27, of Nesquehoning, Pa., was pulled from the water by the Coast Guard about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, and pronounced dead at Atlantic General Hospital, resort police reported.

BOSTON -- As 1998 races breathlessly toward its demise, I approach my annual true confession column in a state of great humility. How can my meager assortment of mistakes, misstatements and errors measure up to the ones committed during this late and unlamented year of the Monica.I was not the one who predicted last January that President Clinton would be out of office by February. Nor did I say the Democrats would get a political shellacking in November.Of course, I did regard the tale of the blue dress as wholly incredible.