It's all up from here for the economy. You might not have noticed it yet, but somewhere out there the economic recovery has begun. I swear it. [Business]

I just love the Eastside Journal.  11:14:31 PM    

Nuclear Stockpiling. In the event of an attack, there will be no rules of engagement. So I'm going door to door talking up potassium iodide. By Lisa Belkin. [New York Times: Science]

If a nuclear power plant blew up, there are a lot more isotopes to worry about than whether you have KI tablets. I would immediately leave the area!! If you get enough exposure that leaving will not help, you have more problems than KI will be able to fix. Just my opinion.  10:58:37 PM    

Chemical in Starchy Foods Baffles Health Groups. Two international health and safety organizations said that they still did not understand why a potential carcinogen appears in staples like French fries, bread and potato chips. By Greg Winter. [New York Times: Science]

The real question is how much acrylamide is present in other foodstuffs prepared in other ways. It would seem that we have been cooking starchy foods for a LONG time. If it was a real problem for most people, wouldn't we have seen it. Bruce Ames has written many times that most plants contain huge amounts of toxins and carcinogens. We have evolved to deal with them. I would worry about things we add but things that naturally occur, not. And, if we stop eating starchs, for instance, will we reduce 1 cancer per 100,000 people but have hundreds who suffer other problems (i.e. malnutrition)? It is like refuising to add chlorine to the water supply because of the owrry of cancer that results in many people dying from dysentery because of the bugs that can now grow in the water. Relative risk is difficult.  10:51:57 PM    

Tiny amounts of pollen travel far. Extensive interbreeding between GM and non-GM fields unlikely. [Nature Science Update]

While unlikely, this could present real problems for organic growers. Their inductry is built on trust and it might be very expensive to prove that no GM material is in any of their food. In a rational world this would not be a problem, since most GM foods are not problematic. However, the companies that make many of these foods have a problem with trust. SO even if their product is fine, the public's perception of the companies is not.  10:31:27 PM    

Bugs clean teeth. GM yoghurt could fight tooth decay. [Nature Science Update]

While this is pretty nice, I wonder how much it might be used. Many yogurts emphasize their natural ingredients. Adding GM materials might not go down to well (pun intended;-)  10:26:16 PM    

Judge rules against Genentech in Chiron patent suit. San Francisco Chronicle Jun 29 2002 2:48AM ET [Moreover - moreover...]

Genetech loses another case. First $500 million to City of Hope. This one looks to be big also. SUre hurts the bottom line. That is a lot of money.  10:19:32 PM    

Cell Genesys' new factory shows big gambles biotech firms have to take. San Francisco Chronicle Jun 28 2002 11:04PM ET [Moreover - moreover...]

I wish Immunex had been able to do this before Enbrel was approved. We might still be an independent company. But we would have had to pay a lot more than $60 million.  10:17:49 PM