Salon.com > Leah Kohlenberg

Designer babies?

Thu, 05 Oct 2000 19:00:00 +0000

Anyone with a heart can understand Lisa and Jack Nash's desperate desire to do something -- anything -- that could save their daughter's life. Six-year-old Molly suffers from Fanconi anemia, a deadly, genetic immune-system disorder, and a bone-marrow transplant from a matching donor is her only chance for survival. Doctors at the Reproductive Genetics Institute, a reproductive technology clinic in Chicago, told the Denver couple that the most effective method for finding a match was to have another baby, whose umbilical cord could then be harvested for the vital stem cells that Molly needed. So that's what the Nashes decided to do.

It's how they did it that has raised eyebrows. When Adam was born Aug. 29, doctors at the institute knew two things beyond a doubt: that he didn't carry the Fanconi anemia gene and that he was a perfect genetic match with his sister. They knew because Adam -- or rather, the embryo that became Adam -- was selected as the most compatible potential donor from among several eggs fertilized in vitro specifically for this unusual embryo "competition." Doctors at the University of Minnesota performed the bone-marrow cell transplant on Molly last month. The outcome remains uncertain, but the procedure has a good chance of providing her with a functioning immune system.

Castrating chemicals

Tue, 05 Sep 2000 19:00:00 +0000

Tom battled for years to control his obsessive sexual attraction to teenage boys. It eventually landed him in court for stalking.

"It's kind of like if you have a big sweet craving, when you think about it all the time," he says. "I would hang around with teenagers and then things would happen."

The 47-year-old, who asked not to be identified, isn't the typical picture of a sex offender. Thoughtful and articulate, he lives with his wife and together they've made a commitment to work through his sexual deviance. And so far, he's proud to report, they're succeeding. Why? A drug called Lupron gets at least partial credit. The drug decreases testosterone, the hormone that fuels the sex drive. Tom's desire for intercourse is almost nil now -- but along with it has also largely gone the lust for adolescent boys.

"It's a big help," he says. "I would be OK without it because I'm committed to working on this deviant behavior, but it would be a lot harder. It would take a tremendous amount of will power."

The heart of the matter

Thu, 27 Jul 2000 19:00:00 +0000

Probably no one knows better than the Bush family about the importance of appearing healthy during an election campaign.

In 1992, President Bush's reelection bid began badly when he vomited and collapsed in Japan at a dinner party thrown by the country's prime minister. From then on, the campaign was dogged with mostly unconfirmed rumors of his ill health. It was speculated, for example, that atrial fibrillation medications he took were affecting his mental acuity. What else would explain his pallid and lackluster performance at debates and appearances, particularly compared to the robust physical health and voracious appetite exuded by opponent Bill Clinton? The Bush campaign headquarters vigorously denied every ill health charge but it didn't change the fact that it wasn't only the economy that was ailing -- it was also Bush's physical image. His election results were equally anemic.

So when Dick Cheney was officially announced as George W. Bush's running mate this week, campaign managers went to great lengths to show that Cheney was physically fit. A highly credentialed cardiologist tapped by the Bush family gave the 59-year-old former defense secretary a clean bill of health -- despite a medical history that includes three previous heart attacks and quadruple bypass surgery more than a decade ago.

The silence of the Pill

Mon, 10 Jul 2000 19:00:00 +0000

The two young women sitting in a Seattle bar one Saturday night are living, breathing examples of modern thinking regarding birth control. In their early to mid-20s, both live with boyfriends they may or may not marry, and both have taken oral contraceptives for years. One of them even took the "morning-after" pill when she was in college. They are savvy, intelligent professionals who are unquestionably pro-choice on the abortion issue.

Yet neither of them is particularly in favor of making birth control pills available without a doctor's prescription.

"The Pill doesn't affect everyone the same way," says one. "What if it made you sick? What if women didn't go in to get their Pap smears and annual checkups?"

The other nods. "When I took the morning-after pill, it was really, really harsh," she says. "I'm not sure I would have wanted to go through that alone."

Their opinions are reflective of the strange debate -- or nondebate -- surrounding the Food and Drug Administration's most recent open discussion about whether oral contraceptives, including the morning-after pill, should be available over the counter.

Attack of the killer nasties?

Fri, 23 Jun 2000 19:02:00 +0000

When the Federal Trade Commission publicly reprimanded the makers of Vaseline for falsely claiming that slathering on their "antibacterial" hand lotion would kill all germs -- from flu viruses to bacteria -- it seemed as though the government was finally cracking down on the booming germ-therapy industry.

"They were saying that if you put this stuff on you, you'd somehow be protected, that the germs would die on contact," says Kerry O'Brien, the FTC staff attorney who researched the case, which was made public in September. "That was deceptive to consumers."

Evidence is mounting that the increasingly popular over-the-counter antibacterial cleaners, soaps, lotions and sprays may not, as touted, kill bacteria and other microbes any better than washing with hot water and soap. Indeed, some research suggests such products may do more harm than good by creating resistance in the very microbes those antibacterial agents claim to kill.

Rights of passion

Tue, 20 Oct 1998 19:00:00 +0000

It's hard to imagine that any woman would take Melvin Wong seriously, let alone sleep with him.

Yet the paunchy, scruffy, middle-aged Asian man staring down at me from "Wanted" posters scattered throughout backpacker guest houses in Southeast Asia apparently held an uncanny sexual power over Western women. Many female tourists fell for Melvin hard enough to become hypnotically entranced, have unprotected sex with him and give him their credit cards. The handwritten billboards described all of this in imperfect but earnest English, and listed the name of a police department in some Nordic country to contact with more information.

Frankly, I'm not so sure Melvin exists. My theory is that this would-be Asian Don Juan is a phantom dogging all us female travelers. He's both punishment and predator, a warning that the realm of one-night stands is an exclusively male domain. Why? Because acting on the libido is about power (as well as fun). And that is still a club with the sign "No Girls" on the door.