instruction:
Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.
question:
Paragraph: Homebred beef cattle are seen at a local cattle market in Hongseong, about 170 km (106 miles) south of Seoul July 29, 2008. A rare genetic mutation may underlie some cases of mad cow disease in cattle and its discovery may help shed light on where the epidemic started, U.S. researchers reported on Friday. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won The mutation, in an Alabama cow that tested positive in 2006 for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is identical to one that causes a related brain-wasting disease in humans. This suggests BSE may sometimes arise spontaneously in cattle. Jurgen Richt of Kansas State University said cattle producers must never let down their guard against BSE because cattle anywhere, at any time, can develop the disease. The finding may support a 2005 theory that the BSE epidemic in cattle could be traced to feed contaminated with cattle remains from India, the researchers report in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens. BSE or mad cow disease swept through British dairy herds in the 1980s, forcing the destruction of millions of animals. No one ever found where it came from but most experts thought at the time it came from cattle feed that contained the remains of sheep infected with a similar disease called scrapie. Cattle were never known to develop BSE before the epidemic, but some experts have argued they may have. This report lends credence to that idea. BSE, scrapie and a human version called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, are brain-destroying illnesses called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In some cases, animals or people that eat brain and nervous system material from victims of these diseases can develop them, too. They are passed along by misfolded infectious protein fragments called prions. A very rare disease called variant CJD has been found in people who ate infected beef products. Fatal and incurable, it has affected just 167 people so far. Most countries now ban the use of meat and other parts from mammals in food for cattle. They also ban the use of potentially infectious tissues such as brain and spinal cord in human food. “There are tendencies around the world, now that the feed-borne epidemic has gone down, to relax these rules and regulations,” Richt said in a telephone interview. “So if we have these genetic cases popping up here and there and we don’t have our mitigations in place, we will have another epidemic somewhere.”   He suggested breeding the gene out of cattle. “We can clean the world cattle herd of that mutation,” Richt said. CJD is also known to pop up spontaneously in the human population. A genetic mutation causes the disease in one in a million people globally. Richt and colleagues tested the brain of the Alabama cow and found a mutation identical to the prion gene mutation that causes some cases of CJD. It is probably rare in cattle, found in fewer than one in 2,000, they said in the report, published here  But the animal passed along its mutation to its heifer, which suggests it is inherited. Claim: Gene mutation underlies some mad cow disease: study.
answer:
A rare genetic mutation may underlie some cases of mad cow disease in cattle and its discovery may help shed light on where the epidemic started, U.S. researchers reported on Friday.


question:
Paragraph: After more than three hours of debate, lawmakers in parliament’s upper house voted on Tuesday for a change in the law to allow the treatments, echoing a positive vote in the lower house earlier this month. The treatment, called mitochondrial transfer, is known as “three-parent” in vitro fertilization (IVF) because the babies, born from genetically modified embryos, would have DNA from a mother, a father and from a female donor. Although the techniques are still at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, experts say that now legal hurdles have been overcome, Britain’s first 3-parent baby could be born as early as 2016. Mitochondrial transfer involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells, and around 1 in 6,000 babies around the world are born with serious mitochondrial disorders. Responding to the vote, Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust medical charity commended lawmakers for a “considered and compassionate decision”. “Families who know what it is like to care for a child with a devastating disease are the people best placed to decide whether mitochondrial donation is the right option,” he said. Mark Downs, chief executive of the Society of Biology, hailed “a great day for UK science” and said the landmark decision “will ensure mothers who carry faulty mitochondria can have healthy children free from the devastating conditions.”  But Marcy Darnovsky, director of the campaign group The Center for Genetics and Society, called the move a “historic mistake” which turns children into biological experiments and will “forever alter the human germline”. “The techniques ... are relatively crude and will not in and of themselves create so-called designer babies,” she said. “However, they will result in children with DNA from three different people in every cell of their bodies, which will impact a large range of traits in unknowable ways and introduce genetic changes that will be passed down to future generations.” Claim: Britain becomes first nation to legalize three-parent babies.
answer:
- Britain will become the first nation to legalize a “three-parent” IVF technique which doctors say can prevent some inherited incurable diseases but which critics fear will effectively lead to “designer babies”.


question:
Paragraph: Food and Drug Administration officials said they are trying  to determine whether the chemical — over-sulfated chondroitin  sulfate — was purposely or inadvertently added during  manufacturing in China. “We don’t know whether the contaminant was introduced  intentionally or by accident,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock,  director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Chondroitin sulfate is widely sold as a dietary supplement  to treat joint pain. The over-sulfated version is not known to  occur naturally and therefore likely was chemically modified,  Woodcock told reporters on a conference call. It is still unclear whether the contaminant is the cause of  up to 19 deaths and hundreds of serious breathing problems and  other reactions reported to the FDA, she said. The substance mimics the blood-thinning actions of heparin  but is not FDA-approved for use in medicines, Woodcock said. In  some batches, the contaminant accounted for between 2 percent  and 50 percent of the samples, she said. FDA officials said chemically manipulating chondroitin  sulfate, which is widely available from animal sources, would  be cheaper than getting raw heparin from pig intestines. Last year, the FDA found pet food ingredients imported from  China were tainted, killing more than 200 cats and dogs and  causing widespread alarm. The Chinese maker involved was later  indicted in the United States for fraud over adding the  chemical melamine in an attempt to bolster the value of its  ingredient. The pet food case drew attention to China’s role in the  U.S. food and drug supply and ignited criticism over the FDA’s  lack of oversight — and little cooperation from its Chinese  counterparts. This time around, FDA officials said they are getting  needed help from China. “It’s quite a different scenario than we had a year ago,”  FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs Murray  Lumpkin, told reporters on the phone, while speaking from  China. FDA’s Woodcock said it remains unclear whether the heparin  contamination was intentional. Many scientists are studying  over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate, which could have  accidentally made its way into heparin products, she said. The FDA announced on March 5 it had found a “heparin-like”  contaminant in some of the drug’s active ingredient supplied to  Baxter by a plant in Changzhou, China, owned by Wisconsin-based  Scientific Protein Laboratories. Investigators had been working  since then to determine its precise identity. In a statement, Scientific Protein Laboratories said a  consultant working for the Changzhou plant concluded the  contaminant is not linked to the plant’s production but likely  occurred earlier in the supply chain. Baxter, in a statement, agreed with the FDA’s finding of  over-sulfated chondroitin sulfate but also said the substance  contaminated the product before it reached SPL. FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said the agency was still  investigating at what point the contamination occurred. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers tentatively scheduled hearings on  the issue for April 15 and April 22. “This latest development underscores our concerns that FDA  does not have a robust enough presence overseas in conducting  inspections,” House of Representatives Energy and Commerce  Committee Chairman John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said in a  statement. Last month, Baxter recalled most of its U.S. supplies of  heparin, used in kidney dialysis as well as heart and other  surgeries to prevent blood clots. The FDA has received more than 785 reports of heparin  reactions, including 19 deaths in patients treated with some  brand of heparin. Baxter has said only four fatalities might be  related to its heparin and there is not enough information to  say the drug was the cause. The agency has told border inspectors to stop all shipments  of imported heparin intended for the U.S. market so they can be  tested for the contaminant. Germany also has ordered a recall of heparin made by  Rotexmedica after reports of allergic reactions there. Claim: FDA pinpoints contaminant in Baxter's heparin.
answer:

U.S. health regulators said on  Wednesday they have identified a contaminant found in batches  of Baxter International Inc’s blood-thinner heparin that were  linked to serious reactions and deaths.