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FRE

W
EE
KL
Y

Thursday August 24, 2006

Volume 1, Number 19

Nuclear power
plant may require
a tall water order

said, adding he also wants the

city of Amarillos support.
We need to get our agreehen Amarillo de- ment with the AEDC (Amarillo
veloper George Economic Development Corp.)
Chapman
pro- and well be off and running,
posed a 2,700- he said. Until I get something
megawatt nuclear power plant done with the AEDC, my hands
to be built near Amarillo, ques- are tied.
tions flew faster than promises
But, based on other interviews
that take wing with a multibil- and information, Chapman is at
lion dollar project.
the early stages of such a projWhile much of the attention ect.
so far has centered on the evenTo date, the Nuclear Regutual jobs the deal could bring to latory Commission has only a
Amarillo, questions have arisen letter of intent to seek an appliabout how the two nuclear re- cation for an early siting permit
actors would be
for a plant in the
cooled and where
vicinFairbanks said Amarillo
the water would
ity, said Scott
his calculations Burnell,
come from were the
an
indicate that
plant to be built.
NRC public afOn
Tuesday, water usage could fairs officer.
Chapman preferred
If the agency
be as much as 38 were
to only talk about
to grant
percent greater that
the quality of his
permit,
team on the project,
than for a coal- Burnell said, he
General Electric,
would expect
fueled power
which would supChapman
to
ply the two boiling plant operating in seek an operatwater reactors; the the area and 177 ing permit soon
engineering
and
percent greater after that, posconstruction firm than a combined sibly as early as
Bechtel, and Toshimid-2008.
cycle power
ba and Hitachi. His
A
two-unit
plant, such as reactor would
concern now is to
move as quickly as Mustang Station, require a sigpossible.
which serves area nificant body of
But in an Aug.
water to prorural electric
1 phone conversaduce the steam
cooperatives.
tion, Chapman said
needed to genhe expected to reerate electricity
ceive help from the
and to cool the
city of Amarillo on water and reactor cores, Burnell said.
would seek support from other
Typically, nuclear power
entities.
plants are built near large rivWhen asked about water for ers or lakes, although the Palo
the reactor, he said, Oh, I think Verde plant near Phoenix uses
the city got that. I think we got recycled wastewater.
that all covered.
The conversations with the
We want both the chamber development agency started
and the economic development about a year ago, said Richard
board to support this thing, he David, AEDC president and
By Greg Rohloff
The Amarillo Independent

Ratliff part of
three-artist
exhibit at the
Lemmons
page 4

David Fairbanks talks with The Amarillo Independent about the water usage for a nuclear power
plant. (Photo by Ralph Duke)

Top water users by gallons

The following are the highest volume water users (in gallons) for the fiscal year from
Oct. 1, 2004, through Sept. 30, 2005, according to the city of Amarillo:
Tyson Fresh Meats
Xcel Energy
Owens-Corning
Texas Department of Corrections
City of Canyon
Baptist St. Anthonys Hospital
ASARCO
Northwest Texas Hospital
Plains Dairy
Craig Retirement Community

133,494,166
102,420,416
26,885,916
19,267,333
18,216,666
7,025,833
6,902,500
5,485,333
4,175,333
1,634,866

Total

325,508,362

chief executive.
Oddly, the agreement the
AEDC approved on Aug. 16
does not directly name Chapman or his Amarillo Power in
laying out an offer to help with
financial incentives.
Instead, the memorandum

that was forwarded to the City

Commission for its approval offers the incentive to any qualified license holder, a condition
that the AEDC did not impose
on previous big-ticket proposals.
Those incentives could in-

Becoming
a dad of
destiny
page 7

clude tax abatement and up to

$50 million from economic
development sales tax and revenue bonds so long as the project meets job-creation and other
economic development criteria.
continued page 7

Mail-order
reaches new
magnification
by focusing on
little ol DNA

page 3

Page 2

OPINION

The Amarillo Independent Thursday August 24, 2006

An Independent Attitude

n icon in Amarillo returned Saturday night.

Shortly after 10 p.m.,
with a crowd counting
down the seconds,
Center City and
Xcel Energy officials relighted the
newly restored sign
on the Paramount
Building.
The event, which
was part of the
GEORGE
11th Annual Polk
SCHWARZ
Street Block Party,
was the highlight of the evening,
although the party continued.
My wife and I went to the party
to distribute The Amarillo Independent, enjoy the music, sample the
food, people watch and, yes, see
the sign on the Paramount Building blaze again in all its refurbished
glory.
We went for ourselves and I didnt
take a notebook or notes because I
didnt plan to write anything about
the event. This was to be a time to
enjoy being in Amarillo and take
pleasure in a signal event.
But the evening turned out to be

so much fun and had such significance to the community that it bears
comment.
When the event began, under the
threat of clouds and the risk of rain
that never came, crowds were light
but built as the evening wore on.
Throughout the evening, people
seemed mellow.
In fact, the crowd was well behaved and, as far as we could tell
then, there were no incidents. The
block party was a far cry from some
of the Mardi Gras events I experienced growing up in New Orleans.
In the 1950s, attending the parades
was a family outing.
But by the time the late 1960s
rolled around, things were getting
out of hand. No worries here. Even
at the lighting of the sign, the crowd
was orderly and it was a pleasure to
watch.
Then, there was the entertainment.
Our tastes ran more toward the
Martinis and Chase N Scales, but
that doesnt mean we didnt enjoy
knowing other bands were satisfying
other musical tastes. Just listening to
those musicians was worth the price
of admission and bought ahead

of time, the $8 tickets were a modest

fee, at that.
In addition to the Paramount, a
similarly vertical sign now graces
the new Acapulco Restaurant, at the
corner of Eighth Avenue and Polk
Street. And joining some of the old
standbys, like Caf Marizon and Zen
721 will be Randys of Wildorado
II and Victor Leals new restaurant,
Pacos Tacos Fresh-Mex Caf.
Burberrys and Bodegas, which
have been on the street a while, were
joined a few months ago by Mayfair
Club and Butlers.
The food and drink offerings were
also satisfying. We didnt take note
of all the names of the food stands,
except for Nu-Castle Diners movable feast. We remembered it for the
ribbon fries and because the diner itself is one of our regular lunch stops
during the workweek. We know
the kitchen crew from Burberrys
was also serving and Acapulco was
open, but we wonder about the other
restaurants that could have strutted
their stuff but didnt.
It was also gratifying to see the
diversity of people attending the
event. The variety of races, different

styles of dress and many members

of ethnic groups were obvious. The
areas diversity was clear. Amarillo
may be on its way to becoming a
bit more cosmopolitan, especially
if events similar to this continue to
draw people downtown.
And downtown will be the keystone for that progress.
Revitalizing downtown wont
be an overnight job and the task
force working on the plan knows it.
Events like the block party go a long
way toward the goal, however.
Meanwhile, the way I add all this
up, Center City and its executive
director, Beth Duke, need to be congratulated for such a superb job with
this event. So should all the workers
and volunteers who helped Center
City and Duke put on such a good
show. We know whom to thank for
the weather.
In April, Duke was inducted into
the Panhandle Press Association
Hall of Fame.
We hope she takes this suggestion in the spirit it is given: That the
Party Planner Hall of Fame, if there
is one, needs to keep its eye on her.
We cant wait until next year.

Two restaurants to open in Paramount Building

New location, new concept touted

our new businesses will

move into the Paramount Building over the
next few months, according to
a news release issued Saturday
in conjunction with the Polk
Street Block Party and the
relighting of the Paramount
sign.
Two of those are long-established restaurants and two are
well-known businesses, according to the release.
Randys of Wildorado II will
occupy 5,500 square feet and
offer lunch and dinner service.
Owners Randy and Orvilla
Allred said they were targeting

a Thanksgiving opening.
Pacos Tacos Fresh-Mex
Caf a new concept of Leals
Mexican Restaurant will
tentatively be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They
are planning to open around
the first of the year and will
occupy 4,500 square feet.
The lighting of the historic
Paramount sign at the Polk
Street Block Party by Mayor
Debra McCartt will literally
light the way for a thriving
downtown retail and entertainment district by attracting major local capital, the release
quotes Bill Ware, one of the

Publisher/Editor George Schwarz

george@amarilloindy.com
News Editor/Writer David Bowser
bowser@amarilloindy.com
Business Manager Dedra Stevens
dedra@amarilloindy.com
Business Correspondent Greg Rohloff
greg@amarilloindy.com
Production Troy Foos
troy@amarilloindy.com
Voice: (806) 331-5066 Fax: (806) 331-5096
Ads ads@amarilloindy.com
Calendar calendar@amarilloindy.com
News news@amarilloindy.com
The Amarillo Independent is published by The Amarillo
Independent, L.L.C. weekly 52 times per year at 301 South
Polk St., Suite 320, Amarillo, Texas 79101.
Unsolicited submissions, including but not limited to articles, artwork,
photographs and rsums, are not returned.

2006 The Amarillo Independent, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

owners of Downtown Amarillo

Development L.P., as saying.
Wares partners include his
brother, Richard, and McCartt and Associates, whose
partners are Joe Bob McCartt,
Gene McCartt, Alan Rhodes
and Kevin Nelson.
We are excited about the
revitalization of downtown,
Orvilla Allred said. Randy
and I both as children enjoyed
Polk Street so much when we
were kids. Were excited for
all of the growth going on in
Amarillo and especially downtown. A large percentage of
our customers are from Ama-

rillo and were hoping that this

new location will make it more
convenient for them to dine
with us.
Pacos Tacos Fresh-Mex
Caf is planned as an upscale,
fast-food concept, according
to Victor Leal, the owner.
We chose to open this newconcept restaurant in The Paramount Building because it fit
into a dream that Ive had for
the past 12 years, Leal said.
This will be an upscale,
hip and funky restaurant like
youd see in Austin or Dallas, but with the charm of this
great, historic, building.

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Pacos Tacos will feature a

streamlined menu with traditional favorites like beef and
chicken fajitas and some new
items like pulled-pork tacos
and vegetarian fare such as
Mahi or Tilapia tacos, Leal
said.
The caf will also feature a
hot-sauce bar with eight or 10
sauces made fresh daily.
Other innovative items will
include a fresh juice and coffee
bar offering Internet access.
Leal will introduce bicycle
delivery to downtown offices.
Customers will be able to
fax or call in their orders on
lunch menu items, which will
be delivered to them promptly,
Leal said.
Two corporate business entities, Admarc Southwest, a
regional advertising and marketing firm, and Real Estate
Concepts, a locally owned real
estate brokerage company,
have announced their relocation to The Paramount Building.
Those firms will bring the
building to a 100-percentleased capacity, Ware said.
Molly Hood Davis, vice
president/account
manager
for Admarc, said, Were very
pleased to be a part of the revitalization of downtown Amarillo and to be in a location
with such historical significance.
Patrick Stahl, partner of
Real Estate Concepts, said,
We were in need of more
space due to growth. We want
to be a part of this downtown
revitalization because we like
the fun, energetic, urban culture that downtown brings as
well as the history of The Paramount Building.

Thursday August 24, 2006 The Amarillo Independent

Are you a dad of destiny?

As I frequently fly there is
a lot of time to gaze out of the
plane window and think about
things. Maybe its the spirituality of the moment or the
serenity of the sky? But I seem
to come around to questions of
my life, which for me revolve
around my family and my role
as a father. You see, when
you have realized the hurt and
pain you caused to your sons
and wife because of a torrid

A Fathers Cry
workaholic personality, you vow to become a Dad of
Destiny each day.
To Think About....

DAVE
CLARK

Page 7

What is a Dad of Destiny?

First, being a great father. Youre always looking for ways to become a better dad. You have a
steadfast commitment that doesnt waiver during
difficulty.
Second, working to strengthen your children
and family. This is the real everyday stuff of being
a good husband and father. You serve your family in
humility; you seek to know your children and guide
them in achieving their potential.
Third, engaging in the moral, ethical and
spiritual development of your children (and grand-

children). You are intentional about modeling and

spiritual development.
Finally, encouraging other children. Knowing
that the outcomes for unfathered children are grim,
you reach out to encourage other children in any
walk in life.
Action Points for Dads of Destiny
Building a strong family begins with a steadfast
commitment to love your childrens mother.
Commit yourself to pray for your children (and
grandchildren) every day.
Look for opportunities where you can impact the
lives of children who need a father figure.
I challenge each man to become a Man of Destiny and realize You are the Difference. Kids Need
Dads....why? Because they say So!

Nuclear plant: Might use as much water as Amarillo

continued from page 1

The plant would have to

meet other restrictions aimed
at ensuring that the project
would be viable.
Mayor Debra McCartt said
the actions taken to date are
the beginnings of a process
to open a door to consider
nuclear power as an alternative
to coal and natural-gas-fired
power plants.
McCartt said Chapman has
not indicated a location for the
plant to the city, although the
AEDC recommendation on financial support for a nuclear
power plant project stipulates
that the plant would qualify for
the $50 million in incentives
if it were located in Potter,
Randall, Carson or Armstrong
counties.
Through several months of
discussion on the project, McCartt said her understanding
was the proposed plant would
use less water than a similarly
sized fossil fuels plant.
To date, thats my understanding, she said.
She has heard little reaction from the community
about Chapmans proposal,
reiterating that the incentive
agreement is intended as an
attraction for whoever gets an
operating license.
In this early stage of the
process federal officials are
looking for communities that
would accept such a plant, the
mayor said.
She said the proposal is
worth considering as a way to
reduce the countrys dependence on fossil fuels, which
include imported oil.
But others wonder about
the water requirements at this
point.
A water-usage number is not
available from GE.
Water needs are specific to
each individual plant and the
Amarillo project would not be
far enough along to know with
certainty, said Claire Zurek, nuclear marketing spokeswoman
for GE Energy in Wilmington,
N.C.
But David Fairbanks, an

Amarillo consulting engineer

with more than 30 years experience in power plant design
and operations, including conventional and nuclear plants,
looked at the project to estimate water usage, starting with
the plants projected output.
Fairbanks, in drawing up a
rough approximation, worked
under the assumption a nuclear
power plant would use cooling tower technology similar
to the Xcel Energy Harrington

On Tuesday,
Chapman preferred
to only talk about
the quality of his
team on the project,
General Electric,
which would supply
the two boiling
water reactors; the
engineering and
construction firm
Bechtel, and Toshiba
and Hitachi. His
concern now is to
move as quickly as
possible.
Station northeast of Amarillo.
Among other factors included
in the calculations were the
plants operating capacity and
the amount of solid particles
within water drawn from the
Ogallala Aquifer.
His calculations were drawn
as if he were preparing to defend them in a presentation to a
commercial client, so they tend
to be conservative.
Fairbanks said his calculations indicate that water usage
could be as much as 38 percent
greater than for a coal-fueled
power plant operating in the
area and 177 percent greater
than a combined cycle power
plant, such as Mustang Station, which serves area rural
electric cooperatives.
A 2,700-megawatt nuclear
power plant using two boil-

ing water reactors could use

as much as 46,000 acre-feet
of water a year if it were to be
strictly water cooled, according to Fairbanks estimate.
One acre-foot is about
325,851 gallons.
In comparison, Amarillo residents use about 47,000 acrefeet of water a year, which
works out to about 42 million
gallons a day, although the
peak daily usage this summer
was as high as 81 million gallons.
The top 10 water customers for the Amarillos water
utility, by comparison, used
325,508,362 gallons for the
fiscal year from Oct. 1, 2004
through Sept. 30, 2005, according to an auditors report
to the city.
While all those numbers
seem large, water planners
note that irrigated farming uses
much more water.
By 2010, the earliest likely
date projected for operation of
a nuclear power plant, irrigation use is projected at 1.7 million acre-feet of water, Fairbanks said.
C.E. Williams, general manager of the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District,
said Chapman has not approached the district about the
availability of water.
That lack of contact surprises him, Williams said, because
three of the four counties listed
in the AEDC agreement are
part of the conservation district.
If the 46,000 acre-feet of
water proves to be an accurate
estimate of the plants water
needs, Amarillo Power must
have rights to 46,000 acres of
land to comply with conservation district rules.
Those rules call for an acre
of surface land for each acrefoot of water withdrawn.
Thats a significant amount
of water, but I can see where
it could be put together, Williams said.
Roy D. Williams, president
and chief executive officer of
WAATTS Inc. of Amarillo, a
reactor design and DOE regu-

lations consultant, said he

thinks that some of the water
needs could be reduced by improvements in cooling tower
design.
Additionally, he said, sharing the citys wastewater that
now goes to cool its nearby
power plants could reduce the
need for groundwater.
But Xcel Energy, which receives about five billion gallons of water a year of the recycled wastewater, uses all of
its allocation, said Wes Reeves,
company spokesman.
Chapman has not inquired
about a water-sharing arrangement, nor has he contacted
the company for any kind of
participation in the project,
Reeves said.
One other potential source of
water for a plant is Mesa Wa-

ter, which controls water rights

to about 200,000 acres in the
northeastern Panhandle.
But, spokesman Jay Rosser
said, Mesa Water founder and
chief executive Boone Pickens
has not spoken with Chapman
for about 10 years.
The reactor design that
Chapman is inquiring about
using is now being used in Japan, where four are producing
power, Zurek said.
Two more units are under
construction in Taiwan and one
more in Japan, where another
nine units are planned.
Although GE does not put
a price tag on its nuclear reactors, Zurek said the industry
standard is in the $2 billion to
$3 billion range per unit.
George Schwarz contributed to this story.

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Page 4

The Amarillo Independent Thursday August 24, 2006

Artist adds color to own imitation of life

By David Bowser
The Amarillo Independent

figures to figures with objects,

Ratliff said.
heres a simple reason
Many of his figures are bold.
Eric Ratliff became an An early self-portrait has Ratliff
artist.
staring intensely at the viewer,
I wasnt good at
but more recent works can bormath, Ratliff said.
der on the whimsical. Almost
A graduate of Randall High
all of them have a shared theme
School, the 22-year-old is the
of humanity.
youngest artist in a three-man
He came across a stack of
show at Lemmons Gallery in
black and white photographs at
Sunset Center this summer.
an antique shop not long ago
He said hes had a great deal
showing a family in the 1950s.
of encouragement from the othIn one, a woman and small
er two men in the show, Mardy girl were dressed up on a cold
Lemmons and Rick Peters.
Easter morning posing for a
Its a definite privilege to be family photograph in front of
in the show with them, Ratliff their house before going to
said.
church. Theres another of the
But hes also had encourage- little girl on a giant saddled rabment from others in the art
bit at a tourist stop.
community.
Ratliff did a couple of paintHe sold a painting at the
ings based on the photographs
Texas Association of Schools of and found that the reaction from
Art show this year.
almost everyone looking at the
I had this Texas State profes- works was that they had picsor buy one of my paintings,
tures like those in their family
Ratliff said.
photo albums.
Ratliff said hes always been
They connected with the
interested in creating. He enjoys subjects, Ratliff said.
the creative process, but admitHe said hes considering doted that hes still learning.
ing a series.
Ive only done it about five
Many of the forms are based
years now, Ratliff said.
on black and white images. He
He also said that he expects
uses photos as references.
to be learning for the rest of
Everything is painted from a
his life and hes still growing.
black and white image, Ratliff
When he stops growing and
said, and I did my own colors.
learning, he said, his life will be
He said the black and white
over.
presents the form, but the colors
Ratliff had been painting in
come from his imaginations.
a small room at the back of his
I mostly paint, he said.
house across the street from
While he now thinks in color,
Sunset Center when it began its Ratliff said it hasnt always
metamorphosis into the citys
been so. Its taken a while to
concentration of artists.
reach that point. He said hes
He went to Ann Crouch, the
learned many things over the
artist behind the conversion
past few years. One of them is
of Amarillos first retail mall
how to relax.
to an art center, and talked to
He admits that his earlier
her about studio space. After
works tended to be more
looking at some of his art, she
structured. He said that he often
developed the necessary finanoverworked them, refusing to
cial arrangements and Ratliff
let them go, yet couldnt reach
moved in.
what he was striving for.
He said hes expanding his
I got so into overworking
subject matter at the moment.
my paintings that I decided it
Im trying to progress from
was really a bad thing, Ratliff

Amarillo artist Eric Ratliffs work is part of a three-man exihibition during August at the Lemmons
Gallery in Sunset Center. (Photo by David Bowser)

said.
College really helped him
realize that being spontaneous
and letting his creativity flow
are the best way to create, he
said.
It definitely took a long
time to say Im done, Ratliff
said. Sometimes it comes a lot
easier.
His more recent works still
show the same style, the same
technique, but they flow better,
he said.
I can see a progression,
Ratliff said.
Yet the technique is not that
different, but workflow is easier.
I spent a year on some of
those works, at least, Ratliff
said.
Ratliff, like many artists in
Sunset Center, is nocturnal. He
usually works nights, alone and
uninterrupted. The time passes
quickly, he said, when hes
working.
Once you get back there in
that back room, Ratliff said,
the time disappears. Ive
walked out of here, and its
been light.
He said he keeps no clock in
the studio because he doesnt
want to know what time it is.
Thats a distraction.

Like many artists, he paints

over some canvases, unhappy
with his first attempt.
Carefully examining a lifesized painting of a figure hes
still working on, Ratliff noted
the work beneath, which hes
painted.
All my stuff is really multilayered as far as how many
times I write my name on and
then come back, he said.
Hes still debating his next
step.
Having finished Amarillo
College, Ratliff said he wants to
go on to the university level.
Hes looking at moving on
to another college in the state.
Perhaps Texas State University
in San Marcos or the University
of North Texas in Denton.
Ratliff has taken the summer
and may take the fall to develop
his individual talents before
moving on.
The three-man show is his
first major exhibition.
The night before his opening
at Lemmons Gallery in Sunset
Center, he was working on his
latest painting. He wasnt sure
whether it would make the
show.
It could come together
tonight, he said, gazing at the

canvas.
Ratliff said hes gotten a lot
of positive comments on this
particular work.
I guess I need to get it done
tonight, he said.
He said he has been well received so far by those who have
seen his work.
While he is relatively new to
the art scene, his work will be
familiar to some in Amarillo.
One of the exhibitions hes had
was at Roasters.
A bold painting based on a
photograph of Angelina Jolie
greets visitors to one of the
smaller galleries at Sunset Center where a number of the artists
share space.
His studios are in the rear of
the space since he has works
in progress in each of the four
rooms in the back of the gallery.
He also uses part of the space to
frame his work.
Ratliff said he hasnt been
able to find someone to frame
his work the way he wants it
done, so he stretches his own
canvases and frames them.
I try to do it all, he laughed.
Too often, he says, the frame
shops want to show off their
frames instead of the paintings
within the frames.

Thursday August 24, 2006 The Amarillo Independent

Thousands of people attend the 2006 Center City Block Party as the historic Paramount Theatre
sign is lit over Polk Street. (Photo by Ralph Duke)

Page 5

Top, Polk Street begins to fill up early with people attending the
2006 Center City Block Party. Bottom, left to right, Mayor Debra
McCartt, Wes Reeves, Amarillo Historical Preservation Foundation,
Elayne Shults, donor and Center City Board Member and Beth Duke,
Executive Director, Center City, prepare to light the Paramount sign
at the 2006 Center City Block Party. (Photos by Ralph Duke)

Dr. Steven Jones,

president of
Amarillo College,
visits with Paula
Kerger, president
and CEO of
PBS,andPrenis
Williams. Kerger
was visiting the
PBS station at
Amarillo College.

(Photo by Ralph Duke)

Page 6

The Amarillo Independent Thursday August 24, 2006

Kind of catchy: Direct-to-consumer tests claim mutation detection

continued from page 3

get back a detailed analysis of

your potential medical future.
Particularly for patients who
are so concerned about confidentiality that they dont want
to get tested through their own
doctors because the results
would become part of their
medical records to which
many people have access.
Moreover, genetic knowledge has also exploded so
much in recent years, she said,
that many doctors dont have
the time or expertise to do the
tests. In the right hands like
hers, she said DTC testing
can be done well.
At DNA Direct, there is a
pre-screening process to help
consumers decide if testing
is for them and a free consult
by phone with a board-certified genetic counselor after
they receive their 30-50 page
report.
Dr. Fred Ledley, professor
and chairman of Natural and
Applied Sciences at Bentley
College in Waltham, Mass.,
and the founder of several
personalized medicine companies, also welcomes DTC
genetic testing as the way of
the future. What people really
want to buy is privacy and
control over information.
But others are far less sanguine, in part because government regulation of these tests
is so loose. Consumers going
the Internet route risk being

sold personalized products

like dietary supplements
or cosmetics or even exercise
programs - that are not personalized at all. They risk spending hundreds to thousands of
dollars for generic medical
advice like Stop Smoking that they can easily
get elsewhere free.

said.
Thanks to a law called the
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988,
the government regulates the
laboratories that conduct the
actual genetic testing, but
the law does not address the
clinical validity of the tests
themselves.

Its a buyer beware marketplace now,

said Gail Javitt, law and policy director of
the Genetics and Public Policy Center at
Johns Hopkins University.
More important, unless test
results are interpreted by a
trained genetic counselor, people risk getting misinformation, said Dr. Jeff Milunsky,
director of Clinical Genetics at
the Boston University School
of Medicine Center for Human Genetics.
There are hundreds of
mutations in two well-known
breast cancer genes, BRCA1
and BRCA2, for which reliable commercial tests exist.
A woman could be told that
she didnt have the common
mutations, but might still be
a high risk from less common
mutations or a different risk
gene altogether, he said.
The Federal Trade Commission does watch out for
untruthful advertising claims,
but has not been aggressive
on DTC genetic testing, Javitt

Indeed, only about a dozen

genetic tests have been reviewed and approved by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a report
to the Senate committee on
July 27 by the GAO (Government Accountability Office.
The FDA considers a genetic
test to be a medical device
only if it is manufactured as a
freestanding kit and sold to
a lab.
Most current genetic tests
including those used by
mainstream labs are manufactured by in-house clinical
laboratories, in which case the
lab itself decides whether the
test actually measures what it
purports to measure.
To see how DTC tests may
impact buyers, GAO investigators purchased four tests
through the Internet and sup-

plied the testing companies

with 12 DNA samples actually
taken from one 9-month old
girl and an unrelated 48-year
old man, but described as
coming from multiple people.
The results, in some cases,
were laughable. One site
claimed that its expensive dietary supplements could repair
DNA damage, which no pill
has been shown to do. Others
offering supposedly personalized results told smokers
to quit and non-smokers to
continue to abstain.
In particular, the GAO
cautioned against tests that
purport to tell, by a sample
of DNA, that the consumer
should buy personalized
dietary supplements that could
cost $1,200 a year, when the
same ingredients could be
purchased at a local store for
$35 a year.
Despite such concerns, the
market for all types of genetic testing is likely to soar.
A Harris poll in 2002 showed
that 80 percent of adults think
genetic testing is a good thing
and half said they would want
a test for a serious medical
condition even if there were
no way to prevent or treat
it. The poll also showed that
people are willing to spend
hundreds of dollars out of
pocket to get genetic tests.
Given that demand, the big
issue, said Kelly Ormond, immediate past president of the

National Society of Genetic

Counselors, will be making sure that consumers get
the right tests, that the tests
are valid and that results are
interpreted by trained genetic
counselors.
Thats a tall order since
there are only 2,000 to 3,000
trained genetic counselors
in the United States, who
typically have Masters level
training, plus another 1,500 or
so physicians and some nurses
who specialize in genetics.
And that, said Ormond,
means that consumers who opt
for the DTC genetic testing
must be extra savvy. Before
handing over your credit
card number, ask the Internet
company what its test means
will it show you have a
clear susceptibility to a certain
disease, or just a pattern of
clues that may or may not be
meaningful? Is there data to
show that if you have a bad
gene that you will get sick
later in life, or is that gene just
one of many risk factors?
And think carefully about
the privacy issue. If you are
truly at risk for a serious
disease, chances are youll see
a doctor and that information
will wind up in your medical
record anyway.
But that issue is tricky. If
you are asked by an insurance
company if youve had such a
test and you answer no, that
would be fraud.

No shameless self-promotions allowed

But you have to find an actual story somewhere

Discover The

NEWS

All Happy State Bank Branches

All Hastings
Amarillo Cardiology Center
Amarillo International Airport
Amarillo Senior Citizens
Amarillo United Citizens Forum
Ambassador
Arbors
Atomic Lounge
Barbara Tabor European Day Spa
Beauty Mart
Belmar Bakery
Big Texan Steak House
Caf Marizon
Catfish Shack
CellularOne of Amarillo
Central Branch Library
Coffee Memorial Blood Center
Connies Cleaners
Coyote Flight Service

Dr. Paul Munden

East Branch Library
EatRite
El Patio
English Field Restaurant
Exclusively Rose
Family Medicine Centers
Fort Amarillo
Golds Gym
Hilltop Senior Center
Leals
M&R Liquors
Market Street United
McCartt & Associates
North Branch Library
Northwest Professional Building
Northwest Texas Healthcare
Nu-Castle Diner
NW Sports Medicine Center
OUTstanding Amarillo

Park Central
Roasters
Small Business Development Center
Southwest Branch Library
Southwest Retina Specialists
St. Andrews Episcopal Church
Sunset Center
Surgery Center on Soncy
TACAir
Texas Dawg House
Texas Tech School of Medicine
Texas Tech School of Pharmacy
The Amarillo Building
West Texas RX
Western Bowl
Wolflin Avenue Barbershop
WTAMU JBK
And more to come!

Thursday August 24, 2006 The Amarillo Independent

Page 3

Marketers grasp the niche, whether DNA tests or repairs

The gene scene sprouts an entirely new strategy at home
Special Feature
ByJudy Foreman
Featurewell Syndicate

or years now, worried patients and even

just the medically curious have been
able to glimpse their potential health future
through genetic testing.
And until recently, the nearly 1,000 genetic tests
on the market have been available mainly through
the mainstream medical establishment clinics,
hospitals and doctors offices and have been cautiously interpreted for lay folks by trained genetic
counselors.
But that is changing rapidly with the advent of
direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing, a booming

and controversial subset of the $6 billion genetic testing and molecular diagnostics business.
Because of its potential to mislead consumers or
at least waste their money the DTC genetic testing

The results, in some cases, were laughable.

industry is generating concern among doctors, patient
advocates and, most recently, the U.S. Senate Special
Committee on Aging, which held a hearing late last
month entitled, At Home DNA Tests: Marketing

Scam or Medical Breakthrough?

Its a buyer beware marketplace now, said Gail
Javitt, law and policy director of the Genetics and
Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University.
While the public believes genetic testing is subject
to government oversight, that is largely not the case.
To those who market such tests, like Ryan Phelan,
CEO and founder of DNA Direct in San Francisco,
theres a huge benefit to being able to mail off a DNA
sample (a cheek swab or a few drops of blood) and
continued page 6

Dances With Wolves author to sign new book in Perryton, Miami

cademy-Award-winning author Michael Blake will be in Perryton

Friday and
Miami Saturday to sign his new
book, Indian Yell.
Blake, author of
the book and screenplay, Dances with
Wolves, will be at the
Perryton campus of
Frank Phillips College
at 7 p.m. Friday and
at the Roberts County
Museum in Miami
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Saturday.
Indian Yell, Blakes first nonfiction book, covers some of the epic battles

between Native Americans and the U.S. military in the

western United States following the Civil War.
Blake will also read from his other books, including
Dances with Wolves, The Holy Road (Dances sequel)
and Marching to Valhalla.
According to his Web site, Blake was born on July 5,
1945, at Fort Bragg, N.C. His family traveled to Texas
before settling in Southern California where they moved
constantly from town to town and Michael Blake moved
from school to school. His writing career began at Walker
Air Force Base, assigned to the Public Information Office
as assistant editor of the base newspaper, The Strategian.
He pursued his writing as a student journalist at the University of New Mexico.
On leaving school in 1970, he continued to write for
periodicals. In the seventies he attended film school in
Berkeley, Calif., and began to write screenplays.