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Show Proposed Test Tube BabyClinic Raises Hopes, Fears Tuesday. January 1. 1980. THE HERALD, Provo, Utah—Page19 NORFOLK, Va. (UPI) — Armed with microscopes and elongated needles researchers are readyto convert a storage room at Norfolk General Hospital into the nation’s first test tube baby clinic As they await a pending state verdict on the Proposed in-vitre (in glass) fertilization laboratory debate over the revolutionary medical procedure grows — raising hopes and fears Proponents Say the project. in which human eggs are fertilized in petri dishes, will provide thousands of women with damaged reproductive systems a chanceto bear children. Foesenvision the facility opening another door for Scientists to meddle with the conception of human life, possibly leading to made-to-order babies and destruction offertilized human eggs deemed unfit. Battle lines zig-zag across the medical, religious and private sectorsand stretchto the state capitalin Richmond wherea verdictis due by Jan. 8 on a state certificate of need . Ten women have been chosen as potential candidates for medical history. If the certificate is granted, officials say the laboratory eould begin operation within a month. Opponents, who have been battling the project since it was first proposed in November 1978, vow they will go to the U.S. SupremeCourt, if necessary, to try to stop it. Norfolk General plans to use the techniaue pioneered by British doctors Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, who performed thefirst in-vitro fertilization that resulted in a human birth — that of Louise Brownin Oldham England, July 25, 1978 woman. her husband then implanted in the woman's womb to develop naturally. It would be used on women with blocked fallopian tubes — tubes needed to carry eggsfrom the ovaryto the uterus. Blockage renders womeninfertile — and there are an estimated 400,000 such women in the country. If the project was called a fallopian by-pass, we wouldn't have nearly so many problems."” said Vern should be pursued " said Dr. Mason Andrews. chief Jones the hospital spokesman who fields phonecalls about the project Under the procedure. a human egg is extracted from aninfertile wornan, fertilized with sperm from In-vitro fertilization holds great promise and of obstetrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School, which wants to operate the facility with the hospital “This is an area wherescience has the opportunity to help a group of people have children whootherwise wouldn't be able to” he said. “It is ethical and legal.”’ Charles Dean, president of the Tidewater Chapter of the Virginia Society for HumanLife, disagrees “This project must be stopped,” said Dean. whose organization has obtained an attorney andis studying possible legal action. “It would result in doctors playing God — something they havenoright to do.” To the chagrin of project coordinators. the proposed laboratory has been widely dubbed “‘a test tube baby clinic.” conjuring up visions of scientists brewing exotic potionsto create life in a test tube Actually the in-vitro fertilization: procedure is almost simple. with the main a man and “Test tube baby’ gives people the idea we could create Frankensteins,”’ he said. ‘“Thisis not true. We would simply help women with blocked tubes. Ted Howard co-director of the Peoples Business Commission a Washington-based organization that studies the impact of technologyon society, doesn't like it — regardless of the name And he disputes pledges from project coordinators that no fertilized eggs would be discarded and that to the lemons’ Norfolk General, a private 90-year-old hospital located in this city of 280,000 residents. announced plans {ast winter to open the lab in conjunction with EVMS. a 6-year-old institution that shares hospital facilities The hospital asked Steptoe to serve as an unofficial advisor and requested a state certificate of need to convert a 120square-foot storage room into an invitro lab. The Eastern Virginia Health Systems Agency last fall recommended that State Health Commiss.oner James Kenley grant approval under the state's administrative review process the laboratory wouldn't eventually begin genetic engineering “Whether youcallit test tube or in-vitro fertilization, this would just be the beginning’ said Howard. whose organization has joined the opposition. “It would be naive not to think this wouldn't lead to genetic engineering.” “We can’t even build a decent car and people are talking about manufacturing people." he said. referr- ing to ongoing research on animals. “What happens But Kenleyrejected the application Sept. 28. saying the project was of such significance it should be subjected to the more detailed standard review EVHSA again recommended approval under the longer review process after an Oct 31 hearing attended by about 600 persons. Theproject directors are two former researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Dr. Howard Jones and his wife Georgeanna As forfears in-vitro would foster genetic engineer- ing. officials say it won't happenattheir facility, but concedeit could somewhere else. ScrambleforOil Of Western Unity WASHINGTON (UPI) — Among those keeping watch on the energy dilemma, only the optimists still fret about such inconveniences as cold houses and empty gas tanks for the 1980s. The rest — government and industry officials alike — now brood overpotential economicdecline, the unraveling of old alliances and an unspoken threat of war. They fear that in the next decade, soaring prices and sporadic supply interruptions may become routine as consuming nationsvie in a topsyturvyinternational crudeoil bazaar. “You can see any imaginable kind of calamity — supply interruptions, are Potentially massive drainage of currency and fundsoutof this country for oil imports,” lamented Rep. John Dingell, DMich., a key energy legislator. Although huge fuei inventories point to an en:couragingoil supply picturein 1980, energy experts are almost uniformly pessimistic about the longrange trend. Unableto fathom the outcomeof Middle East tursmoil or even predict how soon gas lines might return, they are starting to warn of an era of cut with those set by a foreignoil cartel. Oil, which acts as a price magnetfor lesser energy sources, must remain a regulated commodity, he said. Heat-prootglass oat dish in a woven basket server Practical 4-piece Convenient, stick-resistant 10” try pan. General Electric portable Cooking set with meat, candy and hot-fat thermometers. baster and poultry pin in convenient storage rack Better Homes and Gardens Family Medica! Guide. General Electric steam iron. General Electric asbestos-free hair dryer. Extra-thick machine-washable comforter with a cheerful florai design. Queen size machine washable electric blanket with dual controls. Battery booster cables for emergencystarting Magnavox black and white portable television. throat bidding for scarce supplies as orderly oil trade disintegrates. | “The elimination of major oil companies as a huge sector that keeps order andlogisticalintegration will create chaos,”’ said Walter Levy, dean of USS.oil analysts. ‘‘Every indicationis oil supplies will be tight. the price will be high andtherewill be ‘a great deal of confusion.” John Lichtblau of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation agreed ‘the evidence is everywhere” thattheroleofbig oil is shrinking and normal supply and demand channels may be breaking down. As EnergySecretary Charles Duncanputit: ‘We mayreacha situation of an uncontrolled scramble for bilateral deals in a tightening market with every man for himself — a sellers’ market where exorbitantprices. tied-in economic concessions and the temptation of political accommodations become the prevailing currency.” Even OPEC, a lonely oasis of marketstability, is losing control as membersdisregard priceceilings and scrap export contracts to seek killings in the volatile spot market. With recession slowing the economy andrising prices forcing conservation,Iran's cutoff of U.S.oil is expected to have minimaleffect on the American consumer. But the impact could be dramatic if a more large exporters followed suit. Such a development would be a real test of solidarity for Western consuming nations that pledged under the International Energy Agency to share crude oil supplies with fellow members facing severe shortages. “If it doesn’t work, the whole Western alliance could break up,” said Lichtblau. Punitive oil interruptions would haveto escalate well beyondthe Iraniancutoff to provoke a military response, but analysts agree a potential for hostilities is there. luck and conservation, Americans may scrape through the coming year without serious shortages. But officials believe our dependence on vulnerable foreign oil sources will continueto exact unforeseen economic. social and national security costs for the rest of the century. “In terms of energy supply and cost to the country in imports, we're in a helluva way,” says Dingell. Imports ofoil, the premier fuel of our economy, has cost about $60 billion in 1979 and probablywill cost, much more in 1980. The importance ofoil to our society is a matter of simple arithmetic. The United States, with only 6 percent of the world’s population, produces about 16 percentofits energy resources while consuming 29 percent. In fact, the total annual U.S. energy appetite of about 75 quadrillion British thermalunits,is 25 percent more than that of Western Europe and Japan eons Andhalfofall the energy Americansuse is oil. U.S.oil production, currently about 8.5 million barrels a day, has been dropping for a decade. Imports, currentiy 8 million barrels of crude oil and refined products. have risen apace to meet almost half of our total needs, which now average 17 mil* lion barrels daily. If the downward trend in domestic production continues, as geologists say it must, imports would havetorise to prevent unemploymentand maintain some economic momentum. But a new CIA study projects that dwindling reserves and decisions by exporting countriesto cut back production will cause worldoil output to peak in the mid-1980s. Several large export nations have announced cuts that could addupto 2.5 million barrels or more a day in 1980. Analysts also say that any dip in OPEC production below the 1979 level of 31 million barrels daily will keep prices headed upward in 1980. But if OPEC's outputfalls well below 30 million barrels, shortagesin the consuming countriesarecertain. Despite the figures and the gas lines, Americans ; remain skeptical about an energy crisis. * Dingell ‘said a consensus on energy policy is emerging slowly in Congress. But manypoliticians, labor spokesmen and consumer ad like Ralph Nader and the Energy Action Foundation continue to opposeoil price decontrol. The industry has resisted the windfall tax thatis to finance new programs like synthetic fuel development and energy efficiency. Edwin Rothschild, director of Energy Action, believes it makes no sense for government to decontrol domestic oil prices so they can catch up Now In Provo Christmas, the New Year, and now a whole newreason to celebrate: Provo Savings and Loan has merged with Western Savings to bring you a complete variety of high-interest insured savings plans. Your savings can nowbe insured up to $40,000 by the FSLIC. For a family of four, you can receive as much as $560,000 worth of insurance. Federal insurance of accounts, your choiceofgifts, two Money Market Certificates, and a variety of short and long-term savings plans...all at one convenient location. Now that’s something to celebrate. 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