Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 12, 1993 TAG: 9312120199
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A: The FBI, which handles all kidnappings, says there are 3,250 to 5,000 child abductions every year, two-thirds of which are committed by family members or acquaintances of the child. Child welfare agencies believe that figure falls short of the real total because of underreporting. Also, an FBI spokesman said, a disappearance is not classified as a kidnapping if the child is thought possibly to have run away. There are at least 1,000 to 1,700 clear-cut abductions of children under 16 by strangers in any given year. (In 1990 there were 1,346, of which 22 involved ransom demands.) It is very rare for a kidnapper to invade a home, as in the Polly Klaas case. More common are abductions from streets and parking lots. In abductions by strangers charted over a 10-year period, 79 percent of the children were never found, either dead or alive. Of those found, 91 percent were found dead.
Q. Who can a person contact if they have information on a missing child?
A. People with missing child information should of course contact their local authorities, but they can also call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the Justice Department and numerous law enforcement, legal, social and elected officials. In the past nine years, the NCMEC has handled 683,000 telephone calls through their toll-free hotline, and worked on matters involving 34,800 missing and exploited children, resolving over 23,000 of the cases. Their number is 1-800-843-5678.
Q: Who would be North Korea's allies if it were to invade South Korea?
A: Probably nobody. China, which sent massive numbers of troops to help North Korea during the Korean War 40 years ago, might aid the North again if the North were attacked or if China's borders were threatened. But China is not considered likely to aid the North if it attacks the South.
Q. What is the nature of the U.S. military commitment to South Korea?
A. U.S. military troops have been stationed in South Korea since 1953, when an armistice ended two years of fighting between North and South Korea.
Since that time, maintaining the security of South Korea has been an important cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. Although there has been speculation in the past regarding a possible U.S. military pullout from South Korea, the U.S. commitment on the Korean peninsula probably will remain open-ended for now, or at least until a permanent peace treaty ending the state of war between North and South Korea is signed.
Q. Who runs North Korea?
A. Kim Il-Sung, the world's current longest-reigning communist leader, has presided over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since its establishment in 1948. In recent years, amid growing speculation about the health of the 81-year-old president, the responsibilities for most of North Korea's governing decisions and day-to-day affairs have fallen to his 51-year-old son and designated successor, Kim Jong-il.
Q: What diseases do sperm banks screen for in donor sperm? And since some men have a low sperm count, is it determined beforehand that the donor is fertile?
A: Donors without proven fertility - those who have never fathered a child - are tested for their fertilizing ability. Two different tests are used to guarantee sperm quality and quantity, said a spokeswoman for Paces Cryobank, an Atlanta sperm bank. Sperm bank technologists, whose work is reviewed by doctors, test for diseases, and specimens are held in quarantine for six months. Screening is done for hepatitis B and C, HIV (the AIDS virus), HTLV-1, chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea and cytomegalovirus. Donors belonging to groups at risk for certain genetic disorders - Tay-Sachs, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia and cystic fibrosis - are screened for those.
Q: Why does muscle weigh more than fat?
A: Because of water. Muscle is more dense than fat and contains 80 percent more water. Fat has low water content.
Q: Will the government recover the cost of fixing the Hubble telescope?
A: Not even close. Costs will run to more than $600 million. Last month, after a three-year federal inquiry conducted by the Justice Department and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, it was announced that the Perkin-Elmer Corp. of Connecticut and Hughes Danbury Optical System, which bought Perkin- Elmer in 1989, had agreed to pay $25 million to settle claims over defects.
Q: What is the federal project costing billions of dollars called the genome project? What good will it do the public?
A: The Human Genome Project is a $3 billion, 20-year government effort whose aim is nothing less than to decipher the entire human genetic code. Although it's been called "one of the major scientific undertakings of the 20th century," it, along with the superconducting supercollider, recently was suggested as a possibility for being thrown on the trash heap. Five years into the project, the genes that cause nearly 5,000 genetically based diseases have been located. Genetic testing is available for at least 250 disorders, and gene therapies to replace defective genes with "normal" ones are being tested on people. And dozens of new drugs made through genetic engineering have been created.
But the project's critics cite, among other things, a fear of discrimination against a new underclass based on genetic makeup. Who will control all that genetic information about individuals? And what about privacy rights? It's been called "the civil rights issue of the next century." Congress is considering a DNA identification law that would formally restrict access to data banks and provide standards for states to follow in DNA collection and analysis.
Q: Is the poinsettia plant poisonous?
A: The Agriculture Department put out a pamphlet about 15 years ago that erroneously said the poinsettia was poisoious and that one leaf could kill a small child. Since then, the Christmas plant has been shown often with a skull and crossbones, with many people thinking it's deadly. The fact is, it's not poisonous and never has been, according to Paul Thomas of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service. The most dangerous thing about the plant is the sap, which can cause irritation if it gets in your mouth or nose. But because the plant tastes absolutely awful, the chance of a child or pet chewing it is slim to none.
Q: For $30 an organization - I believe it's the International Star Registry - will name a star after you. Is this recognized by any scientific body or government agency?
A: It's not recognized by the International Astronomical Union, which is the only body authorized to name celestial objects, according to a spokesman at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Figuring there are about 200 billion stars, at $30 a pop this sounds like one of those classic "I wish I had thought of this first" ideas.
Q: The National Christmas Tree came from California. Wouldn't it have been easier and cheaper to transport a tree that was closer to Washington?
A: The National Christmas Tree, which is the one presidents have been lighting since the 1920s, is a living blue spruce on the Ellipse between the White House and the Washington Monument. "We haven't cut down a tree for the National Christmas Tree since the 1970s," when a blue spruce from Pennsylvania was transplanted, said a National Park Service spokeswoman. The tree from the national park in Big Bear, Calif., is the Capitol tree. The Agriculture Department selects the park the tree will come from, with an eye toward geographical diversity.
Q: Will sperm banks serve anyone who will pay a fee? Is marital or economic status ever taken into consideration?
A: Sperm banks aren't concerned about the financial or marital status of the person acquiring the sperm, and there are no regulations that require them to take that into consideration. Licencing requirements mandate sperm banks provide the sperm only to licensed physicans like any other tissue donor organizations must do. She said some physicians will provide the sperm only to married people. Others will consider single people, even those in same-sex relationships.
by CNB