Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Nobel Scientist Denies Cancer Claim
> NEW YORK (AP) -- Nobel laureate James D. Watson denies
> telling a reporter that a researcher whose experiments
> have rid mice of maligant tumors ``is going to cure
> cancer in two years.''
>
> Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, was
> quoted as having made that prediction in a front-page
> story in Sunday's New York Times about research by Dr.
> Judah Folkman.
>
> The Times said it stood by its story and the quote,
> which were picked up by The Associated Press.
>
> Watson, in a letter to the editor published in today's
> Times, called the experiments ``the most exciting
> cancer research of my lifetime.'' But he also cautioned
> that ``the history of cancer research is littered with
> promised treatments that raised people's hopes, only
> for them to be dashed when the treatments were put to
> the test in humans.''
>
> Watson's letter said he told Times science writer Gina
> Kolata at a dinner party six weeks ago that the drugs,
> endostatin and angiostatin, ``should be in National
> Cancer Institute trials by the end of this year and
> that we would know, about one year after that, whether
> they were effective.''
>
> Times spokeswoman Lisa Carparelli said, ``We're
> confident of the story we ran and don't wish to be in a
> position of quarreling with a respected source and
> authority. We're glad we were able to let Dr. Watson
> further explain his view.''
>
> Watson was unavailable for comment today at his
> laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., but an aide,
> Wendy Goldstein, said he remains cautiously optimistic
> about the drugs. He wrote the letter ``just looking to
> set the record straight,'' she said.
>
> Goldstein said Watson spoke with Kolata at the dinner
> party while attending a scientific meeting in
> California.
>
> Meanwhile, Random House confirmed today it has signed a
> deal for a book about Folkman's research to be written
> by Newsday science writer Robert Cooke, said Tom Perry,
> a spokesman for the publishing house.
>
> Perry declined to say how much money was involved for
> the book, tentatively titled ``Conquering Cancer.''
> Cooke has been given access to Folkman and has his
> cooperation, said Random House senior editor Scott
> Moyers.
--
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