Rosalyn Millman, head of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said Americans should not wait until the number of deaths and injuries grow before passing laws restricting usage. Some nations have banned the use of cellular phones and related technology by drivers in certain cities, while others have designed special areas of motorways where drivers can stop to use such devices. In Germany, if a driver causes an accident while using a cellular phone, insurance companies may not cover damages. An e-mail response is preferred, although no written submission will be ignored. It's unlikely that space will permit publication of all responses, although we'll try to draw a representative sample.
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Suggestions for discussion subjects are welcome. Please send them to any of the above contact points. Here are some responses to our September question that asked if members thought Celera should be able to patent the human genome and if knowing an individual's DNA might lead to discrimination. This was not a discovery of something entirely new and different but, as profound an accomplishment as it may sound, it is just a human understanding of something that has existed for thousands of years. Discrimination has taken many forms, and it will be a remarkable departure from our past experience if genetic predisposition doesn't suffer the same fate.