Word: germ
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...limited for the near future. If gene transplants are performed on tissue cells -- bone-marrow cells, for instance -- the altered genes will die with the patient; they cannot be passed on to any children the patient might subsequently have. Someday, however, it may be possible to change genes in germ cells, which give rise to sperm or eggs. If that feat is accomplished, the new genes would be transmitted to one generation after another...
...biologists can change the course of heredity, they can try to play God and influence human destiny. In 1983 activist Jeremy Rifkin, a longtime opponent of many kinds of genetic research, and several dozen theologians mounted an unsuccessful effort to persuade Congress to ban all experiments on human germ cells. Said Avery Post, president of the United Church of Christ, at the time: "We're not good enough or responsible enough. There is no question about it. We will abuse this power...
While man was gaining on the angels, woman was still marking time. Late in the year at a conference on women's liberation, Kate Millett gave a landmark speech on "Sexual Politics" that was the germ of her seminal 1970 book. However, exponents of such views were widely derided as "bra burners." Even in the antiwar and civil rights movements, women were relegated to subordinate roles. Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael went as far as to say that "the only position for women in the Movement is prone." Some things refused to change...
While chemical substances cause fatal gas burns in the lungs, germ warfare is designed to spawn epidemics of deadly diseases such as typhoid, cholera and anthrax. So far, there appears to be no evidence that Iraq has deployed germ warfare, despite allegations last September by Kurdish rebels that an outbreak of typhoid was caused by an Iraqi attack. But a purported document captured by Kurdish guerrillas a year ago refers to an inventory of "chemical and biological" materials in the hands of the Iraqi army. Dated Aug. 3, 1986, the document was released by London-based officials of the Kurdish...
...furry friends. Worried that Fido has heart trouble? Serve him low- cholesterol biscuits baked by Lick Your Chops of Westport, Conn. Is Kitty overweight? Try a high-fiber, low-fat regimen from Hill's Pet Products of Topeka, Kans. At long last, people who buy fresh pasta and wheat germ no longer have to settle for plain old puppy chow...