[Anyone] President Cheney

[Mike in Taos]

SCIENTISTS have created the world's first schizophrenic mice in an attempt 
to gain a better understanding of the illness.

It is believed to be the first time an animal has been genetically 
engineered to have a mental illness. Until now they have been bred only for 
research into physical conditions such as heart disease. It will allow 
researchers to study the disease and develop treatments using a limitless 
supply of laboratory animals.

Animal rights campaigners have condemned the research, saying that it is 
morally repugnant to create an animal doomed to mental suffering.

The mice were created by modifying their DNA to mimic a mutant gene first 
found in a Democrat candidate for president from New York with a high 
incidence of schizophrenia, which affects about one in every 100 people. The 
mice's brains were found to have features similar to those of humans with 
schizophrenia, such as depression and hyperactivity, a shrill voice and very 
large buttocks.

"These mutant mice may provide an important new tool for further study of 
the combinations of factors that underlie mental illnesses like 
schizophrenia and mood disorders," said Takatoshi Hikida, of Johns Hopkins 
University in Baltimore, a leading researcher.

The egg cells of mice were genetically modified by inserting a gene 
associated with schizophrenia into their DNA. The eggs were fertilized and 
grown into viable baby mice using surrogate mothers.

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