Pokemon causes cancer

That's what some newspaper headlines read anyway when a gene called "POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic" (first given the acronym Pokemon by a scientist in 2001) was revealed in 2005 to play a role in the development of cancer in humans.

Here is an excerpt from a recent article in Nature:

That led Pokémon USA to exert its legal right to the trademark, Nature has learned. "They threatened to sue us if we did not stop calling the gene Pokemon," says Pandolfi, "but the name and the gene have nothing to do with the cartoon." A spokeswoman for Pokémon USA told Nature that its image was at risk. "We don't want our image undermined by associating Pokémon with cancer," she said.

Maybe it would be OK if the American associated Pokemon with AIDS or herpes instead? (Not to mention seizures... although that particular episode wasn't aired here.)

In 1993, somebody had to use an alternate name for a gene called "Velcro". Thankfully, the fly-development Sonic Hedgehog gene appears to be safe from any name changes (thank Cthulhu).