In the Name of Elian
The Washington Post leads with the Food and Drug
Administration's suspension of all programs at the University of Pennsylvania's
Institute for Human Gene Therapy. Independent investigations by the National
Institutes of Health and the FDA into the death last fall of Jesse Gelsinger, a
participant in the program, raised questions about the ethics and procedures at
the Institute. The New York Times goes with
yesterday's board meeting at Procter & Gamble that revolved around a
possible merger with two large pharmaceutical companies, American Home Products
and Warner-Lambert. The merger would make P & G one of the most formidable
consumer products and drug companies in the world. Although the deal is far
from certain, investors reacted skeptically and P & G's stock fell 9
percent. The Los Angeles Times reefers the gene therapy story and leads with
the forced resignation of Ecuador's President, Jamil Mahuad. After 6,000
indigenous protesters and several disgruntled military officers seized the
congressional building and the presidential palace, Mahuad fled to an unknown
location. The protest against Mahuad centered around his inability to implement
structural economic reform for Ecuador and his government's ongoing neglect of
its indigenous people. The WP stuffs the story but fronts a two-column
photo of the protests.
All three papers front the investigation into Penn's gene therapy program.
The NYT focuses on specific violations of the program. Most damning is
that Gelsinger was technically ineligible for therapy in the first place and
should never have received treatment at the Institute. In addition, none of the
18 people enrolled in the gene therapy program had filled out eligibility forms
to participate (which should have been routine), nor were they ever made fully
aware of the risks involved with what they had submitted to. The WP
closely scrutinizes the ethics of for-profit scientific research, highlighting
the fact that the lead researcher at Penn's Institute for Human Gene Therapy,
James M. Wilson, had a significant financial stake in the results of the
study--a circumstance that may have compromised his judgment. The LAT
reefers the story.
The NYT off leads and the WP and LAT front the
investigation into a Chinese smuggling ring. Throughout the 1990s, a vast
syndicate that included prominent Communist party officials, members of the
Chinese military, and business leaders, smuggled an estimated ten billion
dollars worth of cars, oil, and high-tech hardware into China through the port
of Xiamen. The Communist Party views the smuggling as a breakdown of political
order and therefore as a grave threat to party rule. It has vowed to prosecute
without leniency all those involved. The NYT notes that when a similar
smuggling operation was recently uncovered in China, the ringleaders were
sentenced to death.
The NYT fronts Gov. George Bush's revision of his abortion stance as
the Iowa caucuses approach. Responding to the accusation of his main challenger
in Iowa, Steve Forbes, that he hasn't taken a strong enough stance against
abortion, Bush more firmly asserted that he "disapproves" of Roe v. Wade. But
he stopped short of saying that the decision ought to be overturned, suggesting
instead that it is an issue best ruled on by state legislatures.
The LAT fronts the Group of 7 finance ministers' expression of
concern that the global economy has become precariously dependent on
over-valued U.S. dot-com stocks. A sudden downturn could result in a world-wide
economic contraction. Nonetheless, the G-7 is unlikely to issue any grim
warnings for fear of instigating a sudden and violent panic.
The off lead in the LAT reports that the Confederate flag is causing
all sorts of problems for Bush, especially in his home state of Texas. If he
doesn't renounce the flag he risks losing the support of African-Americans. If
he does renounce it he'll infuriate those who cherish it as a part of Southern
history. If he withholds his opinion and remains opaque on the issue--as the
LAT reports he has--Bush risks the accusation that he's incapable of
making tough decisions.
The WP fronts the Elian Gonzalez story, exploring the mythology that
has arisen around the young boy. Anti-Castro Cuban expatriates have inserted
him into a messianic narrative in which Elian, plucked from the sea, stands as
Moses discovered among the bulrushes: Just as Moses led the Jews out of slavery
in Egypt, so to will Elian free Cubans from Castro's rule. The LAT
stuffs the story but fronts a two-column photo of Elian's two grandmothers in
New York upon their arrival from Cuba to ask for the return of their grandson.
The NYT also stuffs the report on the arrival of the grandmothers. With
political negotiations at an impasse, both women made emotional pleas at a
press conference for Elian's return to his father in Cuba. By noting that both
women shivered in the unfamiliar 16 degree cold as they got off the plane, was
the NYT pointing to the fact that Elian has been removed from his native
(temperate) country to suggest that perhaps he ought to be returned there?
The WP reports that Bush and Sen. John McCain have broken their
agreement to refrain from negative campaigning and "attack politics." The truce
was shattered when Bush ran an ad that assailed McCain's proposed tax plan. To
paraphrase the explanations of how the hostilities resurfaced, each man
vehemently asserted that the other one started it.
