Austrian Youth Plan 340-Mile March for Life

ZENIT, July 21-The March for Life by German and Austrian youth is scheduled to leave from the cathedral in Munich on Aug. 1 and end with Mass at the cathedral in Vienna on Aug. 27.

The youth will proclaim the Gospel of Life en route by means of talks, slide shows, flyers and posters. Mass will be celebrated daily. The planned route includes a stop in Altoetting, the largest Marian pilgrimage site in Germany. On Aug. 9, the marchers will cross into Austria.

The 340-mile-long March for Life has the support of Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne and several other bishops. Auxiliary Bishop Andreas Laun of Salzburg announced his desire to take part in the march.

“This initiative hopes to bring together prayer, pilgrimage and meetings with youth,” said Cardinal Schoenborn. “Without wounding or judging, the young people will be encouraged by the witness of lived solidarity and charity, and through conversations and detailed information on the defense of life.”

The march has already attracted the attention of Austrian lawmakers. Matthias Ellmauer, a representative in the National Assembly, told the young people, “I assure you that I am intervening in Parliament for the right to life [also for unborn children!] and that I will allow this to [permeate] my entire parliamentary work.”

Genetic Testing Not Always the Answer

THE WASHINGTON POST, July 21-Genetic testing, in particular those which claim they can tell if a person is predisposed to certain diseases, are not always accurate, according to The Washington Post.

The tests are “technically more difficult to perform and trickier to interpret than conventional medical tests,” said the paper.

Nancy Seeger, whose mother and aunt both died of breast cancer, got her report last September from Oncormed, a genetic testing company then based in Gaithersburg, Md. The report indicated that the Bethesda woman had not inherited any of the common genetic mutations that would predis-pose her to the disease, said the paper.

However, eight months earlier, Oncormed told Seeger “she harbored a mutation that could place her at a greatly increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. As a result, and after consulting with her doctor, Seeger quickly underwent surgery to remove her ovaries,” said the article. “Now the company was writing to say the first result had been a mistake.”

Said the paper, “Seeger is one of a growing number of people in this country learning the hard way that the rapidly expanding field of genetic testing is not everything its gleaming molecular image would suggest.”

The paper also said that genetic tests are subject “to virtually none of the formal oversight required of standard medical tests. The Food and Drug Administration, which approves the safety and effectiveness of other blood tests, has opted not to regulate genetic tests such as the one Seeger took, saying it lacks the resources.”

U.N. Population Control Funds Approved by House

CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS SERVICE, July 20-The U.S. House voted July 19 to give $25 million to the United Nations for population control programs provided none of the money is given to China.

Said the newswire report, “Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), the most promi nent pro-life member of Congress, unsuccessfully challenged the amendment which passed 221–198.”

Smith attempted to ban funding for the U.N. program “as long as it has a presence in China, which has a one-child, one-family policy that includes forced abortions.”