Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.09.1999, Blaðsíða 6

6 » Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 17 September 1999
Iceland No. 1 in per capita use of Internet
rr^HE current issue OF Yahoo! Internet 5. US 283.0
X Life says Westem Europe is experienc- 6. Australia 234.1
ing a “staggering” growth in use of the 7. Canada 211.5
World Wide Web, along with Central and 8. New Zealand 190.1
South America. In total volume, of course, 9. Denmark 178.6
the US leads in Intemet use, but from a per 10. Singapore 140.0
capita perspective, four European nations 11. Switzerland 138.2
exceed it. The monthly magazine’s 12. United Kingdom 137.3
“World’s Most Wired Nations” with the 13. Netherlands 124.8
number of Net users per one thousand peo- 14. Hong Kong 98.7
ple in each: 15. Israel 95.7
1. Iceland 320.3 Compiled by Robert Kilborn and
2. Finland 305.4 Lance Carden.
3. Norway 304.1 From the Christian Science Monitor
4. Sweden 289.8 listserve, submitted by Art Jónasson.
„,vy, ' ' * -
■ ■ -mm
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11 IvlU I I I IVr* I L
If your chapter of the INL is planning some special Millennium
events—or if you are individually sponsoring such events—please let
us know here at Lögberg-Heimskringla so we can include them in our
special issue in the fall where we will inform you about all the
Millennium events planned by the Leifur Eriksson Millennium
Commíssion as well as by the 125 Millennium Commission.

My sons’ friends are almost all nice fel-
lows, only my youngest son’s new friend
is rather disagreeable.
When he entered this beautiful dining-
room, he only said, “That table is very
nice, but it is not so nice as the old table I
have at home.” When I showed him these
beautiful new chairs, he again said,
“Those chairs are very nice, but they are
not so nice as the old chairs you will find
in my dining-room.” Now, wasn’t that
rather nasty of him?
Then I showed him also the other
rooms of the house, the sitting- room, the
bedrooms, and the kitchen; but he had
everything better at home. At last he as so
disagreeable that I askéd him to leave the
house. I hope that he will never come
again.
Vinir sona minna eru nærri allir mjög góðir
drengir, nýi vinur yngsta sonar míns er sá
eini sem er frekar óþægilegur.
%jjjm Þegar hann kom hér inn í fallegu
borðstofuna, sagði hann aðeins, “Þetta
borð er mjög laglegt, en það er ekki eins
fallegt og gamla borðið sem ég á heima.”
Þegar ég sýndi honum fallegu nýju
stólana sagði hann aftur, “Þessir stólar
eru mjög laglegir, en þeir eru ekki eins fal-
legir og gömlu stólarnir í borðstofunni
minni.” Finnst þér þetta ekki frekar ótuk-
tarlegt af honum? 'Æ
Þvf næst sýndi ég honum líka önnur
herbergi hússins: setustofuna, svefnher-
bergin, og eldhúsið; en allt var betra
heima hjá honum. Að lokum varð hann
svo óþægilegur að ég bað hann að fara
burt. Ég vona að hann komi aldrei aftur.

fellow
disagreeable
dining-room
table
Vocabulary
náungi chair
óþægilegur nasty
borðstofa sitting-room
borð bedroom
stóll
ótuktarlegur
setustofa
svefnherbergi
Iceland
a genetic goldmine
Harley Jonasson
IN an article in the Royal College Annals Dr. Ronald Davidson,
a clinical geneticist at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children,
describes Iceland as a genetic goldmine: “the only homogeneous,
isolated white population in the world.... This homogenization of
the population creates a genetic background that is analogous to that
of an inbred strain of laboratory mice. It has made Iceland a unique
and ideal place to perform modem DNA research.”
In December of last year, Iceland passed legislation which
granted deCode Genetics a monopoly to develop a comprehensive
database of medical records designed to cover everyone in Iceland.
The economic value of Iceland’s “genetic goldmine” has since
resulted in the creation of 250 research jobs and the signing of a
$200 million (US) contract between deCode Genetics and
Hoflfmann-LaRoche Inc. for research derived from the database.
The Icelandic Medical Association (IMA) has objected to the
govemment’s treatment of medical records as a marketable com-
modity and argued that the legislation “violates basic principles
established to allow the use of these resources and at the same time
uphold patient autonomy and dignity.” The IMA took the issue to
the intemational community in April when it presented a scathing
report to the World Medical Association at its meeting in Chile.
The Icelandic physicians outlined their specific concems and
concluded the report by asking, “Is it ethical to sell or give away
data from public or private health services to biotech firms without
obtaining informed consent from patients?” and “Is it ethical to
grant a single private enterprise the exclusive right to create, oper-
ate, and profit from a comprehensive centralized health database,
thus changing a public resource into a private commodity?”
The Icelanders have posed a couple of very difficult questions
for the World Medical Association to answer this year!
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