Radioactive Pillow Student Expelled

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Radioactive Pillow Student Expelled

NEW YORK (AP) - Columbia University has expelled a Chinese graduate 
student who officials say tainted a pillow in her apartment with a 
radioactive material in an attempt to force the school to let her 
switch majors from biology to business. 

The student, Yao Cheng, claims she didn't know how her pillow became 
tainted with the radioactive stain. 

Cheng, who works in a lab in a building where the radioactive 
material, phosphorus-32, is used in research to tag cells and genes, 
has appealed the expulsion. If she loses the appeal, she could 
forfeit her student visa and be forced to leave the United States. 

A Columbia spokesman declined Tuesday to comment on Cheng's claims. A 
telephone number for Cheng could not be obtained. 

Cheng and her husband, Lei Liu, a Ph.D. candidate in computer 
science, initially said a routine test on Feb. 8 showed she had 
slight contamination on her hands, chin and hair. The next day she 
borrowed a Geiger counter, scanned her apartment, found the pillow, 
and reported it to the university. 

Columbia suspended the couple when an investigation determined the 
radioactive substance had been intentionally placed there. Columbia 
officials said that during the investigation, Cheng suggested that 
she might have to transfer her current studies from biology to 
business. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Biomedicals, Inc.				E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626                                      

Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

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