STATE & LOCAL
RICHMOND – Gov. Tim Kaine has signed into law legislation giving teenagers and their parents the right to refuse doctor-recommended treatments for life-threatening ailments
Kaine also announced Wednesday that several tax relief bills were among the measures he approved as passed by this year’s General Assembly.
“Abraham’s Law” arose from the case of Starchild Abraham Cherrix, 16, of Chincoteague, and his parents, who chose alternative therapy for his Hodgkin’s disease and waged a successful court battle in Virginia against state officials who tried to force him to undergo chemotherapy.
After state social services agents objected to the family’s decision to forgo chemotherapy and asked a court to intervene, a judge threatened to jail Cherrix’s parents for neglect and force Abraham to undergo conventional cancer treatments.
Delegate John J. Welch III, R-Virginia Beach, and Sen. D. Nick Rerras, R-Norfolk, introduced the legislation as a result of the legal battle.
“I believe this measure strikes the appropriate balance between the rights of parents and a mature child to make informed medical decisions, and the responsibility of the state to protect the health and safety of children,” Kaine said in signing the bill.
NATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Federal health officials used a flawed analysis when they gave preliminary approval to food from cloned animals, a consumer group charged Wednesday.
In its report, the Center for Food Safety said the conclusions the Food and Drug Administration drew late last year were based on “scant data from few peer-reviewed studies” and failed to consider possible side effects of cloning.
“There isn’t the science to show that these foods are safe,” said Charles Margulis, a spokesman for the Washington-based center and author of the report. “I think the agency was heavily influenced by the biotechnology industry.”
The FDA declined to comment, but the center’s claims were vehemently rejected by supporters of the agency’s review.
“There’s not a single shred of data to suggest that food derived from clones or their offspring is in any way unsafe,” said Val Giddings, a scientist who consults with biotechnology companies.
WORLD
BEIJING – Stalled six-nation talks on the nuclear disarmament of North Korea are being extended for at least a day, Japan’s envoy to the negotiations said Wednesday.
The negotiations were supposed to end Wednesday but have made no progress since Monday because of a dispute over $25 million in North Korean funds that were frozen in a Macau bank under pressure from the United States.
U.S. officials announced this week that the money would be transferred to the North Koreans, saying it was up to the Monetary Authority of Macau, a Chinese territory, to release the funds. The authority has refused to say when the money would be released.
Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae said that the issue of the North Korean money “has not been completely settled just yet.”
“We have decided to extend the talks for one or two days for now,” Sasae told reporters.
Russian envoy Alexander Losyukov told the ITAR-Tass news agency that the Bank of China had refused to accept the transfer because of worries about coming under U.S. financial sanctions. Telephones at the main Beijing branch of the Bank of China rang unanswered Wednesday night.