Cracking the Code Your April 10 cover story “The Race to Decode the Human Body” was fascinating (Science & Technology). Whoever is able to harness the power of our genes will become the Bill Gates of DNA. The creation of superintelligent humans or supersoldiers may be right on the horizon. Could scary times be ahead for the human race? Or could humankind be facing a bright future, free of disease, with a chance to live to the ripe age of 200? These are interesting times: I will be watching. Paul Dale Roberts Elk Grove, Calif.
There is something fundamentally creepy about even the possibility of genetically determining and cataloging life on our planet. Are we really prepared to strip away many of the differences that make us each unique and enrich the life experience? Tinkering with human genes, even with the best intentions of improving health, is the first step on a very slippery slope. Suzann Wright Seattle, Wash.
Your story about The Human Genome Project was fantastic (“A Revolution in Medicine”). It was informative and covered many of the issues involved in genetic testing, including the arguments for and against having it done. My family has Huntington’s disease, and when my father was diagnosed, we found out that my five siblings and I would each have a 50-50 chance of getting the illness. Years later, the genetic test was made available. Two of us took it and found out that we do not have the gene. Four of my brothers and sisters do. I am the youngest, and while I’m grateful to God that I have not passed this trait on to my son, I am heartbroken, watching my sisters and brothers deteriorate. I continue to have hope for the future, though, and articles like yours will help. Suzanne Kengla Ghent, N.Y.
In your article “The Race to Decode the Human Body,” a Harvard biologist says that once we know the entire code for the human body we will know “what it is to be human.” Isn’t this like saying we will appreciate a great work of art when we know all the molecules that make up the paint and canvas? Just as a painting has an immaterial quality that transcends its molecules, humans have an immaterial quality that transcends their genes. Daniel F. McNeill Front Royal, VA.
Congratulations to Geoffrey Cowley and Anne Underwood for the April 10 story on genetic testing, “A Revolution in Medicine.” Instead of portraying it as a direct path to gloom and doom, revealing diseases with no cure or treatment, the article took a fresh, positive approach, discussing diseases such as hereditary hemochromatosis (iron-overload disease), the most common genetic disorder in the United States, for which there are both a treatment and prevention strategies. Sandra Thomas, President American Hemochromatosis Society (AHS) Delray Beach, Fla.
I have entered your April 10 cover photo in the “Left-Handed DNA Hall of Fame” (Web-site address: fred.net/tds/dna). You share the company of many other prestigious organizations and writers who have inadvertently printed that reverse image of DNA, making what should be a right-handed spiral into a left-handed spiral. Right-handed, forward-slanting DNA (the structure that usually occurs in nature) is the mirror image of the left-handed, backward-slanting DNA shown on your cover. But I still want to commend NEWSWEEK for continuing to provide accurate stories that promote scientific literacy. Donna M. Fox Fairfax, Va.
Although patenting genes for financial profit may at first seem appalling, it is a necessary reality to reward biotech companies for the formidable cost, time and effort it takes to make the discovery of these genes possible. What remuneration do these companies get for their work, if their competitors can simply copy their achievements without restriction? The financial incentive is necessary to motivate companies to develop topnotch technology. Competition is the driving force for progress, and that progress includes the development of drugs that will save lives. Lucas Koziol Penngrove, Calif.
Too Much, Too Soon To answer Donna Cornachio’s question “What Do I Get the Boy Who Has Everything?” (MY TURN, April 10), give him the thing that will matter most: a parent with the backbone to say “no” to a consumer culture, peer pressure, advertisers who prey on children and even well-meaning relatives. You seem to know the values you want to pass on to your son, but are waiting for some magical moment to act. If not now, when? Lynn Meincke-Wohlers Blue Grass, Iowa
Get real, NEWSWEEK. What will happen to the economy if parents like Donna Cornachio teach their children that life isn’t about spending money and accumulating things? Yeah, OK, so the kids will grow up to be more sensible and have better lives, but we can’t let details like that interfere with what’s really important–making profits. Linda Sleffel Columbus, Ohio
I appreciated Donna Cornachio’s My Turn–it was good to see that I’m not alone. It seems every time my almost-4-year-old daughter wants something, she gets it. We are just starting to say, “No, you will have to wait until your birthday,” and I really hope we haven’t waited too long. I worry about what values we’ve taught her and her understanding of money, too. I want her to grow up to appreciate what she has and how she got it all. This concern really hit home when she dropped a Barbie shoe in the car last week and couldn’t find it. Her immediate response was, “Well, Mommy, you will just have to go buy me some more.” Karen Naide Alpharetta, Ga.
Elian’s Journey Isn’t Over I am disheartened by the protesters in Miami who seek to keep Elian Gonzalez in this country (“The Elian Endgame,” National Affairs, April 10). I think of my own 4-year-old sister and wonder what would happen if my mother decided to renounce her American citizenship and moved to Cuba with her. Would protesters in that country try to kidnap her? Punishing a parent for unpopular political beliefs is a blow to the heart of our democracy. The Florida protesters have accomplished two things by dragging this case out for months. They have given Castro a political and public-relations victory and they have prolonged a little boy’s suffering. Josh Abrams Brevard, N.C.
With all the hype over the future of Elian Gonzalez, it is rarely mentioned that this child’s world has been totally distorted. After Elian witnessed the tragic loss of his mother and had the agonizing experience of floating in the water for two or more days, his whole former world totally disappeared, as if it had never existed. As a retired school psychologist, I am particularly concerned that he did not have the opportunity to feel his real loss. Instead he stepped into a world of fun and games in Miami with a never-ending stream of gifts and “love” from people he hardly knew. He needed a period of mourning, preferably with family and peers he knew. The tragic events that befell him cannot be removed, but Elian can be helped to return gradually to the real world he once knew and in which he was a healthy and normal child. Ann Marsico Plantation, Fla.
A pox on all the houses involved in the Elian Gonzalez custody battle! Shame on Fidel Castro, whose 41-year-old dictatorship sent Elian’s mother on a dangerous freedom flight across ocean waters on an unseaworthy little boat. Shame on the boy’s Miami relatives, who have showered him with a conspicuous downpour of consumer goods, paraded him before cameras and thumbed their noses at American immigration law. Shame on both the family’s and the government’s lawyers, who, no doubt, are securing their careers and financial futures via this tragedy. Shame on the politicians–both George W. Bush and Al Gore–for injecting Elian’s plight into their campaigns. They obviously tremble at the thought of losing the powerful Cuban-American vote in November. And shame on American society. We opine loftily about the sanctity of the family, but we have kept a 6-year-old boy from being reunited with his father for more than four months. James Webster Galena, Ill.
I think we should change the verse on the Statue of Liberty to read: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses… or I’m going to take them away from you.” Fred Mastromarino Jr. Brooklyn, N.Y.
Hoop Dreams, Beijing Style Your article “Boxed Out By Beijing” (INTERNATIONAL, April 10) saddens me. It is unfortunate that Beijing considers Chinese basketball star Yao Ming’s potential international success to be “losing a player who could help its international prestige.” I think it would actually be in China’s best interest to allow Yao Ming, and other talented athletes like him, the chance to realize their full potential outside China. They would no longer play for China’s national teams, but their successes would reflect well on China and would bode well for Chinese people everywhere. By allowing these athletes to thrive, the communist government would be taking so huge a step past oppression that the rest of the world might gasp in astonishment as they take note of this act of good sportsmanship. It could pave the way for future generations of Chinese athletes and would instill a sense of pride in all Chinese, sports fans or not. But if the communist government continues to stifle its athletes, it will always be China’s loss. The rest of the world would be denied the opportunity to appreciate these talented people, as well as the culture and country they represent. And the athletes will be losers, too–they are rare gems who may never get a chance to shine. Jennifer Mui New York, N.Y.
The Big Picture Thanks for your April 10 Arts & Entertainment piece “Art in the Fast Lane.” It’s good to see some national, generalist attention being paid to interesting visual art by young comers. But the proportion of space given to the artists’ faces was in some cases greater than that given to their work. Teaching in an English department, I’m accustomed to the heady brew of identity politics and political correctness that makes it nearly impossible to have a sensible discussion about a work of literature in terms of esthetic merit alone, but it saddens me to see NEWSWEEK endorsing the notion that the person who makes something is more important than what he or she makes. Dean Young Associate Professor Indiana University Bloomington, Ind.
Fate in Our Fingers? I read with amusement your April 10 Periscope item “Hot Topic: Digits Don’t Lie.” As a high-school geometry teacher, I explained to my students that a hypothesis needs only one counterexample to be proven false. I happen to have a ring finger slightly longer than my index finger. The journal Nature isn’t going to convince my husband of 29 years or me that I am a lesbian. Interestingly, my 70-year-old mother, happily married for 57 years, also has a longer ring finger. She is not a lesbian, either. Hey, two counterexamples! Maybe genetics rather than sexual orientation plays a role? I do have a concern that such illogical, unprovable and irresponsible statements may cause difficulties for young people trying to navigate adolescence: “I don’t have a boyfriend. My ring finger is too long. I must be a lesbian.” I can’t believe that a reputable “scientific” magazine would publish such garbage. I’ll bet all the lesbians with short ring fingers find this hypothesis just as stupid as I do. Martha Dauphinais Bel Air, Md.
Don’t Underestimate Alcohol I cannot thank you enough for publishing Anna Quindlen’s piece about the hazards of alcohol, “The Drug That Pretends It Isn’t” (THE LAST WORD, April 10). We desperately need this call of alarm. Just one year ago, one month after his 19th birthday, my only son died from the drug everyone seems to believe is harmless. This tragedy cut short the life of a wonderful, deeply loving and loyal young man who was highly intelligent, committed to life and otherwise deeply responsible. My son was a “star” in every sense; yet he fell victim to the fun-loving peer culture that dictates that binge drinking is the way to celebrate the freedoms and opportunities of being a college student today. On the last night of his life, under the influence of several beers, my son felt compelled to drive from a party in our hometown back to his college, to celebrate a friend’s birthday the next day. This awful mistake ended his life in a horrible crash, and ended our life as we knew it. His family and friends will mourn him forever. Michele M. Marsh Havertown, Pa.
Three cheers for Anna Quindlen! It’s high time someone spoke forthrightly on a substance that accounts for so much death, destruction and disruption of human lives. The tobacco companies are beginning to acknowledge their deadly product. It’s long overdue for someone to call the breweries to accountability. Why do we permit clever TV commercials by wealthy breweries to interrupt worldwide athletic events every few minutes? Are stockholders more important than healthy human beings? D. Eugene Lichty Mcpherson, Kans.
Anna Quindlen’s piece emphasizing that alcohol is a drug was on the money. As a recovering alcohol addict (dry for 21 years), I’ve realized this for a long time. Daniel H. Byars Columbus, Ga.
As a parent, a former university chancellor, a beverage-alcohol industry leader and someone who enjoys a drink before dinner, I feel compelled to comment on Anna Quindlen’s column “The Drug That Pretends It Isn’t.” We must keep in mind that while there is a small minority who abuse beverage alcohol, the overwhelming majority of adults drink responsibly. That is why, as Quindlen points out, prohibition didn’t work. Alcohol has always been and will continue to be part of the fabric of our culture. The distillers believe that alcohol abuse is best addressed through education, strict enforcement of existing laws and comprehensive treatment measures. Peter H. Cressy, President and CEO Distilled Spirits Council of the United States Washington, D.C.
Correction In a special issue called “Kids Online: How to Use the Internet to Help Your Child in School,” jointly published by NEWSWEEK and Score! and currently available on newsstands, a chart appears on page 8, listing the 20 largest school districts in the country and comparing their ratios of students to teachers and students to computers. Since publication, the source of those statistics, Quality Education Data, has informed us that the figures for some of the districts we listed, though accurate, are out of date, making the chart as a whole misleading. NEWSWEEK and Score! regret the error.
