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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2001)
Our Bio-Future program tackles genetic issues ■ Professor George Sprague discusses the implications of genetic mapping in humans By Brooke Ross Oregon Daily Emerald Keeping up to date with the latest scientific advancements and main taining a healthy lifestyle go hand-in hand. This was a key message of Our Bio Future, the first in what organizers hope will be an annual seminar series sponsored by PeaceHealth and Lane Community College’s Center for Leisure and Learning. More than two dozen participants attended Saturday’s seminar, which explained how to maintain healthy lifestyles and discussed new scientif ic trends that may affect one’s life span. Events included presentations on scientific news such as the Human Genome Project and interactive workshops concerning topics such as clinical drug trials and legislative is sues surrounding health care for sen ior citizens. George Sprague, a University biol ogy professor, addressed the crowd about the future implications of ge netic mapping and the importance of DNA research in relation to the use of specific drugs and medicines. He spoke about the Human Genome Project, which involved identifying all 30,000 genes in hu man DNA. He said even though hu man DNA is more than 99 percent identical, there are still one million differences between every individ ual. “These million differences are what make us different from one an other in how we look and how our bodies behave,” he said. The differences also determine how a person will react to a certain medication. “If I’m sensitive to a particular drug that others can take, I still shouldn’t take it,” he said. Sprague also discussed the ethics surrounding gene therapy, a tech nique in which faulty genes are re placed with healthy genes in an effort to combat sickness. He said while most people are comfortable with us ing the technique on patients’ tissues and cells to help rid them of a disease, most are uneasy with the idea of us ing gene therapy to create “perfect humans.” “People start to fantasize and want children to be 6-foot-5 basketball players,” he said. “We need to find a between ground.” Educating participants about how drugs reach the marketplace was also the focus of one discussion. Donald England, medical director of Radiant Research in Eugene, dis cussed the importance of clinical drug trials, in which a company tests its drugs on volunteer subjects. He said even testing of a pre-existing drug is needed if the drug is going to treat a different disease than the one originally intended. “You never know how drugs are going to perform with humans until they’re given to humans,” he said. In the same discussion, Alan Ben nett, a public affairs specialist for the Food and Drug Administration in Portland, spoke about marketing drugs and warned participants about media hype declaring major medical breakthroughs and cures for serious diseases. “There are very few miracle drugs,” he said. Bennett reminded the audience that there are several good generic prescription drugs that fulfill the same purpose as high-priced brands. Peggy Hudson, LCC seniors proj ect coordinator, said she is always looking for programs of interest that can help improve participants’ stan dards of living. “People are getting to be 50 or 60 [years old] and are thinking maybe they could live to 120,” she said. Hudson said she hopes to offer three or four similar events each year. “We like to bring in the experts and see what they can tell us,” she said. Travis Geny for the Emerald Participants in the Our Bio-Future seminar listen to one of the event’s many speakers. The seminar was held Saturday at Lane Community College. Judge continued from page 1 encouraged her to drink, and once she was drunk, he invited her to come home with him. Once they were at his house, he pressured her to have sex with him. She said no', but he thought she didn’t mean it. He raped her, and to this day, Crane said, Suzy still bears the emotional scars of that night. Although the incident he de scribed took place in Florida, Crane said sexual assault is a problem that needs to be ad dressed at college campuses across the nation. A member of the Sigma Phi Ep silon fraternity, Crane said it is espe cially important that this issue be ad dressed in the greek system because of the negative perceptions that many people have about fraternities and sororities. He urged audience members, most of whom are involved in the greek system, to change the way their houses are perceived. They can do this, he said, by looking out for their friends if they seem to be in a poten tially dangerous situation. This might mean stopping a drunk woman from going home with a man she doesn’t know, or taking the keys away from a friend too intoxicated to drive, he said. “Do what you think is necessary to prevent a tragedy,” Crane said. Panhellenic Council spokes woman Hannah Unkefer said the Greek Life Department sponsored the event not as a response to prob lems within the University’s greek system, but as a proactive measure to prevent future problems. Michael Kubas, spokesman for the Interfraternity Council, added, “We’d rather stop it before it hap pens.” Ben Fuchs, vice president of Sig ma Nu Fraternity, said the group be came involved with the event in an effort to educate people on how to party safely. “We want to promote awareness in the community about safe drink ing habits,” Fuchs said. Former Sigma Nu president Nick Tomasulo said he hoped the speech would change negative perceptions about the greek system. “We want to get fraternities back to the fundamental ideals they were founded on,” Tomasulo said. Institute for the Development of Educational Achievement College of Education University of Oregon Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program • Full-time juniors & seniors •Oregon residents only • All majors, 3.5 cumulative GPA or better •Strong interest and commitment to research and inquiry • Thition paid for 2001-2002 academic year Deadline: May 4, 2001 Application found at idea.uoregon.edu or pick one up at the Education Annex Questions: call Tanya Sheehan at 346-3562 Tomorrow Street Fair iMr il 25, 26, 27 Food $ Crafts $ Musi; 10 am - 5 PM lllllllll lillf llililgi ifiillii: liililgg1 .■MIMIUIII .. . ■ay:-* mi ■ ..<. : : 011612 TICKETS AVAILABLE AT UO TICKET OFFICE (346-4363) AND ALL FASTIXX LOCATIONS (1-8G0-992-TIXX) OR FAST1XX.COM
