March 30, 2004

World Business Brie

President's Council on Bioethics, 18-member panel, plans to issue report that recommends regulations on research and practice of in vitro fertilization; 1.2 million babies have been born using in vitro techniques since 1978 birth of test tube baby Louise Brown; panel proposes some regulations, like banning any attempts to conceive child that do not involve union of egg and sperm and restricting research on human embryos to not more than 10 to 14 days after fertilization, which would, in effect, ban human cloning; these ethical safeguards could open door to vital stem cell research, which many scientists believe will provide cure for some diseases; photo (M)

AT&T Corp begins making Internet-based phone service available to residential customers in 11 northern and central New Jersey counties; move is first step in AT&T's plan to offer Internet telephone service nationwide eventually, even where it undercuts cost of its standard service; service will be offered at six-month introductory rate of $19.99 for unlimited local and long distance calls; price will rise to $39.99 per month; comparable unlimited calling plan with AT&T's traditional phone service, not including taxes, is $49.95 in New Jersey (M)

Chairman and vice chairman of independent commission investigating Sept 11 attacks say they will ask Condoleezza Rice to testify under oath in any future questioning because of discrepancies between her statements and those made in sworn testimony by former counterterrorism chief Richard A Clarke; comments made by commission chairman Thomas H Kean reflect panel's exasperation with White House and Rice; White House has cited executive privilege in refusing to allow her to testify before commission in public or under oath, even as she has granted numerous interviews to news organizations about investigation; she has granted one private interview to commission, not under oath, and has requested another; commission's chairman Thomas H Kean, calling for Rice's sworn testimony, says she should be under same penalty as Clarke, who has been accused by Congressional Republican leaders of lying under oath in describing Bush administration's counterterrorism record; outside adviser to White House says Pres Bush's political staff seeks compromise on Rice's testimony, judging political costs of continuing to fight in midst of tight re-election campaign to outweigh any cost from showing flexibility on principle; photos; chart with information about testimony of several past national security advisers before Congress (M)

Hypochondria, which is thought to afflict one out of every 20 people who visit doctors, is physical and mental condition in which patients believe they are ill when they are not; American Psychiatric Association defines illness in patient who fears they have serious disease for over six months and continues to worry even after physicians have said they are healthy; origin and history of hypochondria outlined; current success of cognitive and drug therapy to help hyprochondriacs discussed; hyprochondriacs are believed to feel common aches much more acutely than average people and two-thirds of hypchondriacs also have other psychiatric disorders; photos, drawings; graph (L)