The Nation - News from July 26, 1988

Microscopic defects in the body’s energy-generating system have been shown to cause blindness and might also cause major diseases of the heart, brain, liver and kidneys, a researcher said. Douglas C. Wallace of the Emory University Medical School in Atlanta said his research is the first to link a specific disease to defects in tiny chemical factories called mitochondria, which convert food into energy to support living cells.