Report: Agree on ban or expect human clone soon

Report: Agree on ban or
expect human clone soon

LONDON — The international community faces a stark choice: Outlaw human cloning or prepare for the creation of cloned humans, U.N. researchers said Saturday.

Previous attempts to reach a binding worldwide treaty foundered over divisions on whether to outlaw all cloning or permit cloning of cells for research.

The best solution may be to ban human cloning, but to allow countries to conduct strictly controlled therapeutic research, including stem cell research, according to the report from the Japan-based United Nations University Institute for Advanced Studies.

Almost all countries oppose human cloning and more than 50 nations have introduced laws banning it. But lack of binding global legislation gives scientists an opening to create human clones in countries where bans do not exist.

DNA shows the Gipper
didn’t father child

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — DNA from the recently exhumed body of college football hero George Gipp shows he was not the father of a child born shortly after his death, quelling longstanding rumors, relatives said Saturday.

Gipp’s remains were taken Oct. 4 for testing from a cemetery near the Upper Peninsula village of Laurium. Rick Frueh, whose grandmother was Gipp’s sister, said in a statement he authorized the exhumation, which angered some family members.

Gipp died in 1920 from pneumonia and a strep infection during his senior year at Notre Dame, where he was the school’s first All-American and set a school career rushing record that stood for more than 50 years.

He is known for the deathbed exhortation attributed to him years later by coach Knute Rockne, who rallied the underdog Fighting Irish by telling them Gipp had urged the team when the chips were down to “win one for the Gipper.”

Mike Bynum, an Alabama sports author who is researching a book on Gipp, said he came across an Internet posting several years ago by a woman who believed she was a descendant of the football great. She was a granddaughter of Eva Bright, a South Bend, Ind., woman Gipp had dated for about a year before his death, Bynum said.

Bynum said he helped put the woman in touch with Frueh and other Gipp relatives. Eventually, Frueh decided to have the body exhumed. Gipp’s right femur was removed and the other remains reburied, Bynum said.

Disabled sue Disney

ORLANDO, Fla. — Three disabled people have sued Walt Disney World for not allowing them to use their Segways to move around its theme parks.

The plaintiffs are each able to stand but cannot walk far, and they have been denied permission to use their two-wheel vehicles at Disney World, according to the federal court lawsuit.

The suit filed Friday says they’re among an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 similarly disabled people who have turned to Segways as mobility tools.

A group called Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, which raises money to donate Segways to disabled U.S. military veterans and pushes for their acceptance, previously asked theme parks to lift bans on the devices. Group co-founder Jerry Karr said Segways offer more mobility and dignity than wheelchairs.

Disney says it fears Segways could endanger other guests because they can go faster than 12 mph.

King to Chavez: Shut up

SANTIAGO, Chile — The king of Spain told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to “shut up” Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Chavez, who called President Bush the “devil” on the floor of the United Nations last year, triggered the exchange by repeatedly referring to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a “fascist.”

Spain’s current socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, responded during his own allotted time by urging Chavez to be more diplomatic in his words and respect other leaders despite political differences.

Ham soda, anyone?

SEATTLE — Coming soon next to the Coke and Pepsi in a store near you: ham-and latke-flavored soda to make your holiday feast complete.

It even will be kosher, the company making it says — including the ham.

Jones Soda Co., the Seattle-based purveyor of offbeat fizzy water, is selling holiday-themed limited-edition packs of flavored sodas.

Associated Press