Washington – Meat and milk from cloned animals may not appear in supermarkets for years despite being deemed by the government as safe to eat. But don’t be surprised if “clone-free” labels appear sooner.
Ben & Jerry’s, for one, wants consumers to know that its ice cream comes from regular cows and not clones. The Ben & Jerry’s label already says its farmers don’t use bovine growth hormone.
“We want to make sure people are confident with what’s in our pints,” company spokesman Rob Michalak said. “We haven’t yet landed on exactly how we want to express that publicly.”
For food that does come from clones, the Food and Drug Administration is unlikely to require labels, officials said.
The FDA gave preliminary approval Thursday to meat and milk from cloned animals or their offspring. Federal scientists found virtually no difference between food from clones and food from conventional livestock.
DENVER
CU health campus got record grants in 2006
The University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center received a record $374 million in sponsored research grants during fiscal year 2006, a 3 percent increase over 2005.
Combined research for the entire University of Colorado system for fiscal year 2006 was $640 million.
BOULDER
Cancer drug OK’d for human clinical study
Array BioPharma Inc. filed an Investigational New Drug application for a cancer treatment with the Food and Drug Administration and is now able to proceed with human clinical studies, the company said Thursday.
ARRY-520 is a Kinesin Spindle Protein inhibitor that caused marked tumor regression in preclinical models of human tumors and human leukemias.
NEW YORK
Nasdaq to close early for Ford’s funeral
The Nasdaq Stock Market said Thursday it will close Tuesday as part of a national day of mourning to mark the funeral of former President Ford. The New York Stock Exchange was expected to follow suit.
Financial markets have traditionally closed for presidential funerals, the last time being the burial of former President Rea gan in June 2004.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association recommended that U.S. bond markets close early Tuesday to honor the former president.
SAN FRANCISCO
Sirna shareholders OK sale to Merck
Shareholders of Sirna Therapeutics Inc. on Thursday approved the sale of the biotechnology company to Merck & Co. for $1.1 billion.
In October, Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck said it had offered Sirna shareholders $13 per share for a company attempting to turn a Nobel Prize- winning technology into medicines.
Sirna was formerly based in Boulder and continues to operate a facility there.
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
Scrushy requests new corruption trial
HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy asked a federal judge for a new trial on bribery and corruption charges, claiming he has new evidence of jury misconduct that should void his conviction earlier this year.
Scrushy, 54, said he has e-mails between jurors that may have violated the trial judge’s instructions, according to court papers filed Thursday with U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller in federal court in Montgomery, Ala. Fuller rejected an earlier request for a new trial, ruling there was substantial evidence of guilt to support conviction.
HONG KONG
Teams work to return Net access after quake
Several ships were on their way Thursday to repair regional telecommunications cables broken by an earthquake off southern Taiwan, but officials warned that it could take several more days before Internet access is restored to Asia.
Fixed-line and mobile international telephone connections were largely back on line, two days after the 6.7-magnitude quake struck the Luzon Strait, telecommunications companies and regulators in several countries said.
BEIJING
Pfizer wins Viagra trademark case
Pfizer Inc. won a trademark case in China blocking drugmakers there from copying its Viagra impotence pills’ blue-diamond shape.
A Beijing court ordered the three companies to pay a $38,000 fine to Pfizer, stop producing the blue, diamond-shaped pills – which didn’t contain the active ingredient in Viagra – and print a public apology in a Chinese legal newspaper, Pfizer spokesman Bryant Haskins said in a telephone interview.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
Exxon appeals for oil, natural-gas leases
Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest energy company, is seeking to regain control of oil and natural-gas leases for the Point Thomson field that were terminated last month by Alaskan authorities.
Irving, Texas-based Exxon filed an appeal in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage on Dec. 22, spokeswoman Susan Reeves said Thursday in an e-mailed statement.
SUNNYVALE, Calif.
Intel to cooperate on antitrust court order
Chipmaker Intel Corp. said it would not object to a court order to produce documents related to its international business practices, as part of an antitrust case filed by rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD said the court order issued Wednesday was a “significant legal victory.”
In a letter to Judge Joseph Farnan in the U.S. Federal District Court in Delaware, Intel said it plans to cooperate with the court order and that it does not plan to file an objection.
NEW YORK
Penney fires COO, offers no reason
Department store operator J.C. Penney Co. Inc. on Thursday said it fired chief operating officer Catherine West effective immediately, without citing a reason.
A company spokeswoman said there was no plan to fill the COO role.
WASHINGTON
Earnings adjustment favors Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae, the largest provider of funds for home loans, gained $1 billion in capital as of Sept. 30, after adjustments related to the earnings restatement completed this month, a federal regulator said Thursday.
