Three share Nobel prize for fighting diseases
STOCKHOLM – The Nobel prize in medicine went Monday to three scientists hailed as “heroes in the truest sense of the word” for saving millions of lives with the creation of the world’s leading malaria-fighting drug and another that has nearly wiped out two devastating tropical diseases.
Tu Youyou – the first-ever Chinese medicine laureate – turned to ancient texts to produce artemesinin, a drug that is now the top treatment for malaria. Inspired by traditional Chinese medicine, Tu discovered that a compound from the wormwood plant was highly effective against the malaria parasite, while working on a project for the Chinese military during the Cultural Revolution.
She will share the 8 million Swedish kronor (about $960,000) award with Japanese microbiologist Satoshi Omura and William Campbell, an Irish-born U.S. scientist.
Omura and Campbell created the drug avermectin, whose derivatives have nearly rid the planet of river blindness and lymphatic filarisis, diseases caused by parasitic worms and spread by mosquitoes and flies. They affect millions of people in Africa, Latin America and Asia, leaving sufferers blind or disfigured and often unable to work.
Calif. becomes fifth state to recognize right to die
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Monday making California the fifth state in the nation to recognize a right to die for terminally ill patients, saying the emotionally charged bill forced him to consider “what I would want in the face of my own death.”
Brown, a lifelong Catholic and former Jesuit seminarian, said he acted after discussing the issue with many people, including a Catholic bishop and two of his own doctors.
“I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill,” the governor wrote in a signing statement that accompanied his signature.
The governor said he would not deny those comforts to others.
U.S. House to hold vote for new speaker Oct. 29
WASHINGTON – Speaker John Boehner on Monday scheduled the House election to replace him for Oct. 29 and delayed votes for lower-level posts until after that – a move widely seen as benefiting his preferred successor, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
House Republicans, reeling and divided in the aftermath of Boehner’s resignation last month, had planned to vote Thursday by secret ballot for a new leadership team. But a number of members wanted more time to weigh their options and pursue rule changes.
Under the new plan, Thursday’s vote will only be on the GOP’s nominee for speaker. A floor vote in the full House will be held Oct. 29.
It will then be up to the new speaker to set an elections date for lower-level GOP posts from majority leader on down.
Associated Press
