The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 12, 1998, Page 2, Image 2
L2,1998 Scientist reaffirms vow to WASHINGTON (AP) - Chicago physicist Richard Seed shrugged off President Clinton’s denunciation of his plans to clone humans and reaffirmed his determination Sunday to do it abroad if necessary. Seed said he has receiveffan outpouring of support from infertile couples. “I have been enormously encouraged in just one day by calls I have received from infertile couples who are in tears,” Seed said on “Fox News Sunday.” “They ... tell me things like ‘Don’t let them stop you.’” Seed stood firm in his resolve to clone a child within the next two years, saying he would move his enterprise offshore to Tijuana, Mexico, if Congress bans human cloning in the United States. “My target is to have a two-month pregnan cy in a year and a half,” Seed said. “It’s not a dif ficult project.” The Chicago physicist is sure to face diffi culty in the United States from scientists, ethi cists and political leaders who oppose human cloning and say they will work aggressively to block his experiments. “Dr. Seed will not do human cloning in this country,” Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala vowed on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” After Scottish scientists cloned the adult sheep Dolly last winter, Clinton sent Congress a bill that would ban for at least five years the use of similar procedures to replicate human beings. Some congressional leaders were say ing Sunday, 24 hours after Clinton demanded quick action, that they will push to pass the leg islation. “I think this is a nasty business, something that we should not be messing in,” House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Tex., said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We already have that leg islation before the House. And even last week, 1 made the point that we are going to move that ban.” Seed’s endeavor would involve removing DNA from a woman’s egg and replacing it with genetic material from the person being cloned. The embryo would then be placed into the woman. Many scientists and officials involved with science have expressed grave reservations about both the safety and the ethics of human « Dr. Seed will not do human cloning in this country.” Donna Shalala Health and Human Services secretary cloning. “There are concerns about the freedom and autonomy of die child that arises. There are con cerns about treating children as objects rather than as cherished beings,” Ezekiel Emanuel of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission said on Fox. And many others, including Shalala, who said the term “mad scientist” came to mind as she listened to Seed, have cast serious doubt on the physicist’s qualifications to undertake such a project. “I’m not even sure whether he is taking him self seriously,” Dr. Thomas Murray, director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Case Western Reserve University, said on the CBS program. “The fact is he doesn’t have any of the abil ities to do these procedures - he’s a physicist, not a physician, and by no means an expert in embryology or infertility treatment.” Seed, who has a Ph.D. from Harvard* is unaffiliated with any institution. He said Sunday he has enough money to start his pro ject but lacks the $2 million he estimates he will need to complete it. V ■" I States vie for Ellis Island ■ New York and New Jersey argue historical and legal claims to the site. WASHINGTON (AP) - The heart of the issue, really, is only bragging rights. But the long and sometimes bit ter battle over Ellis Island enters its final round Monday when lawyers from New York and New Jersey go before the Supreme Court to lay claim to the landmark. “We’re not at war with New York, but we do have a strong dis agreement,” New Jersey Attorney General Peter Verniero said. “This case is not unlike two neighbors arguing over a bound ary,” he said, “the difference being the neighbors are sovereign states and the dispute’s been over 160 years in the making.” The U.S. government has weighed in on New Jersey’s side. Some historians and preservation ists have added their 2 cents worth that the island - where legions of tum-of-the-century immigrants set foot in America - lies within New York’s boundaries. Dennis Vacco, New York’s attorney i general, calls New Jersey’s effort a “Johnny-come lately” attempt to rewrite tradition and custom. “There are millions of Americans who can trace their ancestral roots through Ellis Island,” said Vacco. “Those folks who came here knew two things as they sailed into New York Harbor: They knew they were in America, and they knew they were landing in New York.” Everyone agrees the original part of the island, three acres rising above the high-watdr mark, is in New York. In dispute is the rest of the 25.5-acre island created through years of filling in parts of the harbor that New Jersey claims. Last spring Paul Verkuil, a for mer Columbia University law pro fessor appointed as a special mas ter in the case, recommended awarding most of the island to New Jersey. The island’s museum and major monuments would remain in New York. However, both sides are urging the court to reject many of Verkuil’s recommendations. New Jersey still wants the court to recognize New York’s jurisdic tion as extending only to the origi nal highf-water mark. But that would leave the island’s main his toric building, which houses the museum^ split between the two states. New York maintains that histo ry, tradition and the law entitle it to sovereignty, citing an 1834 com pact awarding Ellis Island to New York “with no limitation on the size of the island.” In August, the federal govern ment filed papers siding with New Jersey and asking the justices to reject Verkuil’s proposals. The gov ernment argues that while the court has authority to decide boundary disputes, it lacks the “historical power” to adjust a boundary, as Verkuil recommends. The matter is largely symbolic, although some state sales tax rev enue is at issue. The island is feder al land and will remain under con trol of the National Park Service. Some preservationists fear New Jersey politicians plan to push for a bridge from New Jersey to the island and want a hotel-conference center built there. Splitting sovereignty, they say, would be impractical. They con tend New York’s “well-established and consistently enforced” land marks laws would better protect the island’s historic character. “In a historical sense, New York has long exercised attentive stew ardship toward the historic resources of Ellis Island,” said Edward Norton, a lawyer with the Washington-based National Trust for Historic Preservation. .■*'tSSl| **r.w s3j •action editor at Fax number (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: aww.uni.edu/DailyNeb The Daly Nebraskan (USPS144400) is pubfshed^the UNLRjbtobons Board, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St, lincoin, Nfc 685884448, Monday through Friday doming the academic year weekly during the summer sess»ns.The public has access to the Pubfications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by caSng (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $56 for one year. Postmaster Send address changes to the Daly Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln NE 685884448. Periodical postagepaidat Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1996 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN . ....'VS XvX. -x -• > •*'; * - -N- • -•*' '/ ___-X i •..V* " ' % •:*,} . <*9 Pakistani gunmen kill 22 in graveyard massacre LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - Gunmen opened fire on a memorial service in a Shiite Muslim grave yard in Lahore on Sunday, killing as many as 22 people and injuring more than 30 others, police said. Several of the wounded were in critical condition, hospital officials said. The shooting in the heart of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab capital may have been religiously motivat ed. Police believe the gunmen belong to a militant Sunni group known as Friends of the Guardians of the Prophet. However, nojone has taken responsibility for the killing. Nearly 100 Shiite Muslim wor shipers had gathered at the grave yard to honor dead relatives when two gunmen on a motorcycle drove up and opened fire with automatic weapons, police said. People scrambled for cover, but before the shooting stopped several minutes later, 22 people were dead and another 30 wounded. “We were in the middle of dur ( prayers,” said a trembling Imam | Hassan, 52. “Two men with kalash- ; nikovs just walked up and started firing. Everyone started screaming • and trying to find a place to hide, > but they just kept on firing.” Worshipers stopped rickshaws, motorcycles and passing cars to take the wounded to the hospital, Hassan said. “Even the ambulance didn’t f arrive for a long time,” he said. Police didn’t reach the scene for an hour. J I Nearly 300 people have been killed in religiously motivated vio lence in Pakistan, mainly in Punjab, in the past year. Most of Pakistan’s 140 million people are Sunnis who hold no i grudge against Shiites. However, ^ small militant groups have emerged and they routinely clash. \ Domestic violence down in Columbus COLUMBUS (AP) - The number of domestic violence calls seems to be down slightly in the Columbus area, a criminal justice advocate with the city’s sexual assault and domestic violence center said. v Law enforcement and battered women’s groups have teamed up since mid-1996*0$p&ttaitifea cbdidi-} nated response to domestic violence complaints. Beth Freeman, a member of the coordinated response team, said she is not sure if the program is responsi ble for the (hop in domestic violence calls, but it shows batterers that such incidents will not be ignored. “It at least is working in the sense they know other people will get involved” Freeman said. The team issues referrals every time officers respond to a domestic violence call. The victim’s name is given to the Center for Survivors, and the victim is contacted and given information about how to get help. Many people don’t know where to go when they need help, so the refer ral helps them take action, said Platte County Sheriff Jon Zavadil. Frustration at the lack of prosecu- f tion of domestic violence complaints bemgpfosecutodMoffKMtemftbfm ? the coordinated response team. “Law enforcement goes back to j the same homes over and over again,” ■ Center for Survivors Director Jamie ;; Snyder said. “Prosecution is frustrat ed because the woman doesn’t want to testify. The idea is to get the word out this won’t be tolerated in this conummity.” Response team members include i the Platte County sheriff’s depart ment, Columbus police, Platte j County attorney’s office, Catholic Charities and the Department of Health and Human Services.