anthrax vaccines

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found a surprising potential weapon against the conjectural "biological terrorism" of the imminent future. Sorry, what's that? We have self-inflicted domestic dangers on our hands that are more real and pressing than... terrorism? How things change. In any case, if suspicious white powders do happen to show up in your mailbox, you'll be prepared to defend yourself against them. It'll be as simple as crushing a pill and stirring it up in yogurt. Just like Mom used to make. Or something like that.

Discarded body tissue is a hot commodity. It's bought and sold and used for everything from anthrax vaccines to penis-enlargement products. If you donate tissue for research or leave some behind at a doctor's office after, say, a routine mole removal, those samples are sometimes stored to be used in research or turned into profitable products.

For the most part, this is good; it leads to new drugs and disease cures. But for decades, patients'-rights groups, bioethicists and lawyers have argued that patients should have control over what happens to their tissue once they've parted with it.