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                        OF NOTE...
                        News to Use

Vol. IV, Issue 80                            March 1, 1995
Earl Appleby, Jr., Editor                    CURE, Ltd.

                         Addictions

Teresa McGovern, daughter of 1972 presidential candidate George
McGovern, who often shared the public spotlight with him, was found
dead in the snow after years of struggle with alcoholism. Miss
McGovern, 45, had been receiving treatment at a Madison [WI]
detoxification center, her father said. An autopsy showed she died of
"hypothermia due to exposure while in a state of acute alcohol
intoxification," Dane County Coroner Ray Wosepka said. Her body was
found Tuesday behind a dilapidated building in a seedy neighborhood.
Miss McGovern's blood-alcohol level was .339 percent, Mr. Wosepka
said. A blood-alcohol content of .10 is considered evidence of
intoxification under Wisconsin law...One week earlier Miss McGovern
was found passed out in a snowbank just a block away...Miss McGovern,
who was no longer married, was the mother of two daughters, Marian, 9,
and Colleen, 7, who live in Madison with their father, Raymond
Frey...Ann McGovern said her sister's problems with alcohol began when
she was a teenager. "There was a Terry that we remembered and a Terry
that kept getting sicker and sicker," she said. (McGovern's Daughter
Dies at Age 45 After Lengthy Battle with Alcoholism, Washington Times,
12/15/94) ABLEnews Editor's Note: Our condolences to the family.

New Orleans--Tobacco companies lost their bid Friday to limit claims
in a lawsuit accusing them of covering up knowledge that nicotine is
addictive and manipulating the drug in cigarettes to hook smokers.
"Plaintiffs claim that defendants' acts reached throughout the nation
to addict cigarette smokers and keep them addicted," U.S. District
Judge Okla Jones II wrote. He certified the claim as a class action
lawsuit so anyone who has ever had a doctor tell them to quit smoking
can share if damages are awarded. No doctor's note is required. Up to
50 million people would be eligible to join the lawsuit, which
currently has only four plaintiffs, the judge and lawyers said. The
tobacco companies want lawsuits against them tried separately. But
plaintiffs' lawyers argue that very few people can afford to sue on
their own. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said it will appeal Jones'
ruling...The nation's other tobacco giants are also named in the
lawsuit: The American Tobacco Co. Inc.; Brown & Williamson Tobacco
Corp.; Phillip Morris Inc.; Liggett & Myers Inc.; Lorillard Tobacco
Co., Inc.; and United States Tobacco Co., and parent companies
including RJR Nabisco Inc... The lawsuit was filed by Dianne Castano,
whose husband died of lung cancer, and smokers Ernest Richard Perry
Sr., T. George Solomon and Gloria Scott, all of New Orleans. The
smokers say they're unable to shake their addiction. They got
ammunition for their lawsuit during Congressional hearings last
spring, when witnesses testified that tobacco company officials knew
nicotine was addictive and hid that information from the public. "It
is this deception that is fueling the case," Mrs. Castano said. "How
can anyone make a responsible choice if facts are deliberately kept
from them? "The tobacco industry has amassed great wealth from
creating millions of nicotine-dependent smokers and they must be held
accountable for their actions," she said. (Judge Gives All  Smokers
Claim in Tobacco Company Suit, Janet McConnaughey, AP, 2/17/95)

Tallahassee--The nation's biggest cigarette makers asked the Florida
Supreme Court on Monday to stop the state from suing tobacco companies
for $1.43 billion. The state is expected to file the landmark lawsuit
under a new state law Tuesday to try to recover the costs of treating
welfare recipients who get sick from smoking. Philip Morris Inc. and
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. argued that neither the state Agency for
Health Care Administration nor the Department of Business and
Professional Regulation had authority to file such a suit...It could
be weeks before a decision from the court about the companies'
request, said Alan Sundberg, a Tallahassee lawyer and former Supreme
Court justice who is representing the cigarette makers. A law passed
last year by the Florida Legislature makes it easier for the state to
win a court victory over tobacco companies. It allows courts to impose
judgments against tobacco companies based on their market share and
not their percentage of fault and allows the use of statistical
evidence to prove the state's claims. It also removes the companies'
major defense, that some of the blame for health problems falls on the
smoker. Florida is the first state to have such a law to help prove
its case... Philip Morris and other businesses already had filed a
lawsuit seeking to overturn the law itself. The lawsuit is pending.
And at least three bills have been filed seeking to repeal the law,
known as the "Medicaid Third-Party Liability Act," that was passed in
the waning days of the last legislative session. Gov. Lawton Chiles is
expected to veto any repeal attempt. (Tobacco Companies Seek Help from
Supreme Court to Stop State's Suit, Adam Yeomans, AP, 2/20/95)

                         AIDS Addenda

The AIDS epidemic is sweeping out of control among crack cocaine
smokers in the country's poorest neighborhoods but is still barely
perceptible across much of the nation, new data show. Several reports
presented this week at an AIDS meeting sponsored by the American
Society for Microbiology demonstrate the vast differences in how the
epidemic touches Americans' lives. One study found that in New York
City and Miami, 4% of crack cocaine users are becoming infected
annually with HIV...This infection rate is "among the highest ever
reported in the United States," said Dr. Brian R. Edlin of the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. But outside hot
spots of AIDS infection, mostly in big cities and the rural South, the
situation could hardly be more different. A new analysis...showed that
just six-hundredths of 1% of people applying for [health, life, and
disability] insurance are infected. Of nearly 1.5 million [blood]
samples tested in 1991 and 1992, just 886 turned out to be infected
with HIV. This low infection rate is similar to those seen among
first-time blood donors and military recruits. Among the tiny minority
who were infected, HIV was most common in the District [of Columbia],
Puerto Rico, Florida, and New York state. (AIDS Soars Among Crack
Users, Barely Registers in Much of US, Washington Times, 2/2/95)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, AIDS Spreading More Slowly in US,
WT, 2/3/95.

Jurors in the murder trial of a black teenager who admitted killing
two white homosexuals may be told one of the victims carried the AIDS
virus, a judge ruled Thursday. "It weighed on my mind and my heart
quite heavily," Circuit Judge Billy Landrum said. "I think the jury is
entitled to know the whole fact in this case." The prosecution
contends that 17- year-old Marvin McClendon killed the two men in a
robbery. His lawyer maintains his client shot Robert Walters, 34, and
Joseph Shoemake, 24, while fighting off unwanted sexual advances and
out of fear the might be infected with HIV...Defense attorney J.
Ronald Parrish...argued that Walters and Shoemaker were "going around
trolling for sex" even though Walters knew he might be HIV positive.
(Judge Allows Victim's AIDS Status in Court, MJ, 2/10/95)

                         Cancer Chronicles

Samuel Broder, director of the National Cancer Institute since 1989,
said yesterday he intends to leave the institute in April to work for
a Miami drug company...Broder, 49, came to the institute in 1972,
after receiving his medical degree from the University of Michigan and
doing a medical residency at Stanford. Officials said he played an
important role in the development of the drug AZT for use in AIDS
patients...Ivax Corp. of Miami, the firm where Broder will work, was
described by an institute source as a small drug research and
development company formed by Phillip Frost, a dermatologist who made
a fortune developing delivery systems for pharmaceuticals. He was
described by Forbes magazine recently as having a net worth of $415
million...Broder did not give his reasons for leaving. (Cancer
Institute Head to Quit Post in April, Spencer Rich, WP, 12/22/94)

Cancer news seems destined to confuse. One week breast cancer has
reached epidemic proportions; the next week all is explained away as a
statistical fluke, attributable to improved mammography. One study
shows cancer deaths are steadily rising; another chalks it up to an
aging population and shows that age-adjusted death rates actually have
dropped. Despite a glut of information on cancer these days--or
perhaps precisely because of that glut--the question lingers
unanswered in most Americans' minds: How goes the war? Researchers
sought to answer the question this month by releasing the latest and
most complete analysis of cancer trends in the United States...Yet as
clear as the figures are, there is still widespread disagreement about
what they mean. On one side are those who are heartened by the news
that death rates have declined for several of the most common and
deadliest cancers...On the other side are those who detect in the
figures a worrisome trend of increased cancer incidence or death rates
for several kinds of tumors, including those of the kidney, brain, and
testicles...Such differing views reflect both the inherent pliability
of statistics in general and the politically charged nature of cancer
numbers in particular. Today everybody has a stake in how cancer
statistics play: researchers in need of funding, politicians
responsible for federal expenditures, environmental activist seeking
attention for their cause, companies not wanting to spend fortunes on
pollution controls, physicians who don't want to discourage their
patients unduly. But most fundamentally, the confusion over cancer
statistics is rooted in cancer's multiplicity as a disease: Cancer is
not a single ailment and cannot be counted as such. (Are Cases Going
Up? Are Death Rates Going Down? Rick Weiss, WP Health, 2/14/95)

Around much of the industrialized world, the leading cause of death is
steadily shifting from heart disease to cancer, according to an
extensive new analysis of international statistics released this month
by US federal health officials. The 191-page report by the National
Center for Health Statistics shows that cancer now "rivals or at times
clearly surpasses" heart disease in several European nations and parts
of Asia and Latin America...Cancer is the leading cause of death among
men in France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Hong Kong, and
Uruguay, and death rates from heart disease and cancer are virtually
tied in the Netherlands and Chile. Among women, cancer is the
top-rated killer in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan,
Hong Kong, and Chile, and it is roughly equal to or slightly behind
heart disease deaths in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland,
Portugal, Italy, Norway, Uruguay, and Costa Rica, according to the
report. In the United States, heart disease death rates have long been
far higher than in other countries, particularly among men, and heart
disease is still the top killer here. But American experts predict
that a continuing decline in heart disease will move cancer into the
number one cause of death by the end of this decade. (Cancer Gaining
on Heart Disease as Number One Killer, Christine Russell, Washington
Post Health, 2/14/95) ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, A Cancer
Survivor Discusses Her Experiences, WPH, 2/14/94; Scientist's Funding
Raises Eyebrows, WPH, 2/14/95.

A $50 million "prostate consortium" to provide doctors with an
unprecedented pool of information on prostate cancer is emerging from
the vision of two unlikely allies: convicted junk-bond king Michael
Milken and renowned scientist Leroy Hood. Milken, diagnosed with
prostate cancer after serving two years in prison for securities
fraud, has committed $5 million a year to Hood's laboratory at the
University of Washington. Hood, chairman of the university's molecular
biotechnology department, is helping to organize leading researchers
for the effort... He said he hopes the campaign will provide
doctors--possibly within four years--with diagnostic information and
treatment options they don't have now. "This is a search for an
effective therapy for prostate cancer on a Manhattan Project basis,"
said Ralph Ingersoll, who heads the Cancer Biosciences Corp. in
Lexington, Mass., which Milken set up to oversee his support for
research. "Last year, (prostate cancer) became the most commonly
diagnosed cancer in America," said Milken's Los Angeles urologist,
Stuart Holden. "Milken decided if this was to be his lot, he would get
personally involved."...Hood and Holden met with Milken at a Palm
Springs prostate conference where Hood laid out his vision: a national
network of scientists working toward the goal of assembling genetic
information. (Miliken Gets Partner in Cancer Fight, San Jose Mercury
News, 2/15/95)

Does Hodgkin's disease run in families because people share genes or
because they share living conditions? A new study suggests it's the
genes. These researchers attempted to answer the question by studying
twins, who serve as a kind of natural genetics experiment. They looked
at 432 sets in which at least one person had Hodgkin's disease. Half
of the pairs studied were identical twins, whose genes are all the
same. Half were fraternal twins, who share half of their genes. In 10
pairs, both twins got Hodgkin's disease. All of these were identical
twins. This suggests that a genetic susceptibility plays an important
role. If something in the twins' upbringing had been involved, then
the disease would have been equally common in fraternal and identical
pairs. The study was conducted by Dr. Thomas M. Mack and colleagues
from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It was
published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Hodgkin's disease is a form of cancer that affects the lymph nodes.
About 7,800 cases are diagnosed in the United States annually. "These
data strongly indicate that genetic susceptibility rather than an
environmental factor is responsible for familial clustering of
Hodgkin's disease," concluded an editorial by Drs. Volker Diehl and
Hans Tesch of the University of Cologne in Germany. However, the
California researchers said something in the environment, such as a
virus, could still play a role by triggering the disease in those who
were genetically susceptible. (Study: Genes Play Role in Hodgkins
Disease, AP, 2/15/95)

                         COMPUTations

Despite the arrest of the FBI's most-wanted hacker, computer system
operators are scrambling to put virtual locks on their cyberworlds in
what may be a futile attempt to protect themselves. "We're doing what
we can, but it's impossible to give people the world with a fence
around it," said Bruce Katz, owner of the Sausalito-based Well, one of
the networks hacker Kevin D. Mitnick is accused of invading. Mitnick
allegedly broke into the system to read strangers' e-mail, camouflage
his other activities and, in one final affront, wipe out all its
accounting records. While Mitnick is considered one of the best
hackers, networks are concerned about the hundreds of others who also
get thrills breaking into computers. Computer security is a daunting
task. The global Internet was designed for researchers to collaborate,
not for high security. But as it has gone from being the purview of
scientist to a business and public forum, security needs have
changed--the porous nature of the network has not. Anyone with a
computer, a modem and a phone line can get onto the Internet. In the
case of the Well, Mitnick's alleged security breach was so  severe
that technicians will have to rebuild the system from scratch next
week. "We're actually going to have to go off the air for two full
days to do it," Katz said. That's on the order of evacuating a small
town so police can search for bombs. (Total Security Impossible, Some
Experts Say Government to Blame, Elizabeth Weise, AP, 2/17/95)

                         Courting Disaster

Mineola, NY--Long Island Rail Road gunman Colin Ferguson wants to
appeal his murder conviction, but he's still not willing to say he's
insane, his lawyers said Monday. Ferguson represented himself during
the trial that concluded Friday with his conviction in the murder of
six commuter railroad passengers in 1993. After the verdict, lawyer
William Kunstler said he would handle an appeal based on the claim
that Ferguson wasn't competent to act as his attorney. But Ferguson's
legal adviser at trial, Alton Rose, said Monday, "Colin would never
want to be deemed incompetent mentally under any circumstances."
Kunstler's partner, Ron Kuby, explained the discrepancy this way:
"Colin  Ferguson has specifically agreed that we can raise the issues
of mental competency on his appeal. But Colin has not changed his
position that he is sane. In some ways, he is humoring his lawyers by
saying we can raise the issue of mental competency as long as we agree
to also raise the issues Colin considers important, such as the lack
of evidence against him." Two judges found Ferguson competent to stand
trial. During trial, he consistently referred to himself in the third
person, claimed the Jewish Defense League was aware of a plot to kill
him in jail and that the plot was linked to the prison slaying of
serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Ferguson also considered calling a
witness to testify that he was controlled by a computer chip implanted
in  his brain and argued that the 19 shooting survivors plotted with
police to frame him. The 37-year-old Jamaican immigrant faces a
possible life term at his March 20 sentencing. (Commuter Line Shooter
to Appeal, But Still Says He's Sane, Pat Milton, AP, 2/20/95)

Union, SC--Susan Smith, who is accused of drowning her two young sons,
was molested by her stepfather when she was 16, the man admitted in
court papers that were unsealed Monday. The admission, signed in 1988,
tells only a small part of her story, her lawyers cautioned. "No
single piece of information about Susan Vaughan Smith's life explains
her," lawyers David Bruck and Judy Clarke said Monday. Bruck has not
said whether he will use the allegations as part of Mrs. Smith's
defense. The 23-year-old woman faces two murder charges and potential
execution in the Oct. 25 drowning deaths of her sons, 3-year-old
Michael and 14-month-old Alex...During her youth, Mrs. Smith twice
attempted suicide, according to court papers. Her father committed
suicide when she was 7. Bruck is expected to tell a judge by the end
of the month if he expects to pursue an insanity defense. The lawyer
has said Mrs. Smith takes anti-psychotic medicine and writes desperate
letters to her dead children...Smith's trial is scheduled for July.
(Molestation Allegation Only Part of the Story, Smith's Lawyers Say,
Gary Karr, AP, 2/20/95)

                         Food for Thought

The biotechnology industry is betting that the way to a politician's
heart is through the stomach. Biotechnology companies such as Calgene
Inc. of Davis, CA and Zeneca Plant Science of Wilmington, DE are
donating genetically engineered tomatoes, carrots, and cheese for
gourmet meals for the industry trade association to serve to elected
officials and their staffs across the country...The idea is to munch a
tomato and feel good--about the tomato. The goal, officials at the
Biotechnology Industry Organization say, is to try to get policymakers
to discover that genetically engineered food tastes like any other
food, despite the claims of some consumer groups that biotech food
shouldn't be approved for sale because the science is too new to know
the environmental and health risks..."This way when somebody tells the
governor of a state not to let a mutant tomato into the state, he can
say, 'Hey, I ate that. It wasn't hairy or weird--it was just a
tomato,' a BIO lobbyist said. (The Biotech Business Goes Lobbying by
the Plateful, Kathleen Day, Washington Post, 1/3/95)

                         Forget the Vet?

A half-century ago, the Japanese commanders didn't bother putting many
of their wartime military communications into code. After all, they
knew how strange their language looked and sounded to foreign eyes and
ears. But the Imperial Army didn't know about an American secret
weapon of World War II, the Military Intelligence Service, 6.000
Japanese-American linguists who served in every major battle in the
Pacific, from the Aleutians to Okinawa. They questioned captives for
immediate, useful information. They eavesdropped on communications
between Japanese pilots and their airfields. They read poems and
diaries taken from the bodies of dead soldiers. If the Japanese
warriors didn't know about these Japanese- American translators,
neither did the American public. The government pledged them to
secrecy; it kept records of their service classified for a quarter of
a century after the war ended. The story is told in a new book, "Honor
by Fire," by Lyn Crost. (Secret Weapon of World War II Unveiled:
Japanese-Americans, Martinsburg Journal, 12/12/94)

The Justice Department has told the Department of Veterans Affairs
that a recent Supreme Court ruling may affect more veterans than some
V.A. officials had expected. In an opinion made public this week,
Justice lawyers rejected a suggestion from V.A. lawyers that a
footnote in a unanimous December 12 ruling, which made the V.A.
responsible for injuries sustained by veterans in V.A. hospitals,
could limit the number of those eligible for compensation. Veterans
groups, which had applauded the court's ruling, as righting a
long-standing grievance, had accused the V.A. of attempting to narrow
the decision's impact. The Justice Department, in effect, sided with
the veterans and told the V.A. not to worry about the footnote.
(Hospital Liability Ruling Has Wide Scope, VA Is Advised, Bill
McAllister, Washington Post, 1/25/95) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For an
account of the DVA's shameful attempt to circumvent the Court's ruling
by narrowing its application, see V.A. Investigating Footnote to
Compensation Ruling, WP, 1/4/95 (ON9501B.*); VA Seeks Help in
Compensation Case, WT, 1/5/95.

Smithsonian Secretary I. Michael Heyman announced yesterday that he
has scrubbed a planned exhibit on the end of World War II in favor of
simply displaying the Enola Gay with a video of the men who dropped
the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. "In this important anniversary
year, veterans and their families were expecting, and rightly so, that
the nation would honor and commemorate their valor and sacrifice,"
said Mr. Heyman, whose move was endorsed by veterans and members of
Congress...During a packed news conference at which the institution's
Board of Regents backed his decision, Mr. Heyman criticized his own
National Air and Space Museum for a "fundamental flaw" in designing
the show and a "terrible error" in making a last-minute script change
that infuriated veterans. One congressional source said a number of
regents during a closed meeting yesterday demanded that Mr. Heyman
fire museum director Martin Harwit, who oversaw production of "The
Last Act: The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II."...Mr. Heyman's
announcement represented a remarkable turnaround for a museum that
just last week planned to open an elaborate $1 million show complete
with panels of text, artifacts, and graphic photographs...A new
stripped-down display will only feature three elements: the restored
Enola Gay fuselage, a videotape of its crew recounting the August 6,
1945 mission,and a plaque describing the bomber. (Exhibit Was
'Flawed,' Says Smithsonian Chief, Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times,
1/31/95) ABLEnews Editor's Note:  See also, Enola Gay Exhibit
Modified, Critics Still Not Satisfied, MJ, 1/31/95. For an account of
the Museum's last-minute error, see Enola Gay Exhibit Loses Legion's
Aid, WT, 1/19/95 (ON9502A.*).

It is important to be clear about what happened at the Smithsonian. It
is not, as some have it, that benighted advocates of a
special-interest or right-wing point of view brought political power
to bear to crush and distort the historical truth. Quite the contrary.
Narrow-minded representatives of a special-interest and revisionist
point of view attempted to use their inside track to appropriate and
hollow out a historical event that large numbers of Americans alive at
that time and engaged in the war had witnessed and understood in a
very different--and authentic--way. The incident inflicts severe
damage not just on its immediate perpetrators but on the
Smithsonian...But the museum brought this danger on itself by the
fecklessness with which it left itself open to legitimate attack on a
fiercely contested topic whose delicacy and complexity it ought to
have appreciated without all the fuss. (The Smithsonian Changes
Course, editorial, Washington Post, 2/1/95)

Lots of veterans who actually fought the Japanese on the Pacific
Islands believe, without question, that they might have taken up to a
million casualties invading the mainland. They make that judgment
knowing how hard the Japanese fought to hold the islands on which US
troops made their brave amphibious landings...There is little question
that fewer died as a result of dropping the bombs that ended the war
than would have been killed using conventional attacks on the Japanese
mainland. The very method of invasion of the Pacific Islands perfected
during World War II makes it clear that the pre-landing casualties
during bombardment from air and sea...would have been horrendous, much
higher than the number that died in the two atomic bombings. And that
only considers the casualties inflicted on the enemy. The low
estimates of casualties that American troops would have suffered
angered veterans groups who have every right to try to protect the
record of the sacrifices of the soldiers who fought the war in the
Pacific...It is a shame that the fight over the exhibit was seen
through the left/right prism. There are many moderates, many liberals,
many Democrats who fought that war, and they believed then, as now,
that atomic bomb saved hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.
Their opinions are based on experience and their opinions should count
the most. (History Lives in the Hearts of Those who Lived It, william
Doolittle, op-ed, Martinsburg Journal, 2/5/95)

British veterans of the Persian Gulf war yesterday demanded and
independent medical inquiry into medical conditions they say they
contracted during the 1991 war against Iraq. Senior Defense Ministry
officials denied any such condition exists and rejected charges they
were slow to respond to veterans' appeals for help. The veterans told
a House of Commons committee that vaccinations and tablets taken by
British troops to protect them against biological and chemical weapons
are the main suspects in the search for what caused their illnesses.
Although the vaccinations were supposed to be voluntary, troops were
told they could lose the right to war-injury compensation if they
refused to take them, a veteran confined [sic] to a wheelchair, Robert
Lake, told the committee. But the injections, as many as four at a
time, caused symptoms ranging from fatigue and short-term memory loss
to tremors, fainting, and chronic weakness, the veterans said.
(British Gulf Veterans Demand Medical Inquiry, WT, 2/2/95)

                         Foundation Facts

More than 80 percent of a tax-exempt think tank's first-year expenses
went to two programs that gave Newt Gingrich national television
exposure, government tax records show. The Progress and Freedom
Foundation spent $460,471 in its first year of operation, according to
documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service and made public
Thursday. The report covers the period from April 1, 1993, to March
31, 1994. The largest expenditure--$291,536--was related to sponsoring
the broadcast of Gingrich's college course, "Renewing American
Civilization." An additional $94,712 raised by the foundation
underwrote a televised call-in show on which the Georgia Republican
serves as co-host. Gingrich has no formal ties to the foundation but
its president, Jeffrey Eisenach, previously headed GOPAC, the
speaker's political action committee. The foundation worked out of
GOPAC headquarters for several months...As a not-for-profit
organization, the foundation is exempt from taxes, and donors can
claim a charitable deduction on their income tax returns. The
foundation was granted tax-exempt status shortly after it was created
in April 1993. Because of extensions granted by the IRS, the
foundation did not have to file public reports during the 1994
election campaign. (Think Tank Spent Most of Its First-Year Money on
Gingrich's Projects, David Morris, AP, 2/16/95)

                         Head Lines

Scientists say they have found a sex difference in how the brain
handles a crucial language task, providing new evidence that men's and
women's brains differ. When a man mentally breaks a word into its
individual sounds, he concentrates the job on the left side of his
brain. But a woman uses both sides of the brain almost equally to do
the same thing, researchers report. Despite this difference, men and
women did the task equally well in the study. That shows "the brain
has great versatility in processing language and in reading," said
researcher Dr. Sally Shaywitz... "This finding is an extremely
important milestone in our understanding of language ability," said G.
Reid Lyon, director of extramural research programs in learning
disabilities at the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development. The institute supported the work with grants. The finding
suggests women have a brain reserve for language ability in case of
damage or malfunctioning in the left side of the brain, he said. That
might help women recover better from language problems caused by
strokes, and explain why girls with a reading disability end up
reading better than boys with the problem, he said...Shaywitz and her
husband, Dr. Bennett Shaywitz, who are co-directors of the Yale Center
for the Study of Learning and Attention at the Yale University School
of Medicine, present the work with colleagues in Thurday's issue of
the journal Nature. (Sexes Differ in How Brain Handles Language Task,
Study Says, Malcolm Ritter, AP, 2/15/95) ABLEnews Editor's Note: See
also, Men, Women Use Brain Differently When Reading, BG, 2/15/95
Scientists Find Evidence Brains of Men, Women Function Differently,
WP, 2/15/95; Study of Brain Reveals Sex Differences, WT, 2/16/95;
Study Shows Brain Sex Differences in Language, MJ, 2/16/95)

                    Health Care Plans and Pans

An attorney for Ira Magaziner, President Clinton's health care
adviser, yesterday turned down a federal judge's offer to resolve a
contempt-of- court allegation against Magaziner in a civil lawsuit
rather than subjecting Magaziner to the possibility of a criminal
trial. Instead, Magaziner wants the issue resolved by US Attorney Eric
E. Holder Jr., who is trying to determine whether there is a criminal
case against Magaziner for allegedly lying in an attempt to defeat a
lawsuit filed by groups seeking access to the deliberations of the
now-defunct Health Care Task Force. If Magaziner took US District
Judge Royce C. Lamberth's offer and were found in civil contempt of
court, he most likely would face only fines. But if Holder's office
finds evidence to support criminal charges and Magaziner is convicted,
he could face jail. (Health Adviser Declines Judge's Offer, Toni Locy,
Washington Post, 1/18/95)

US Attorney Eric Holder's office is investigating charges that White
House health care czar Ira Magaziner lied in a lawsuit seeking to open
secret meetings of Hillary Rodham Clinton's health reform task force.
The probe, revealed in federal court yesterday, was requested by US
District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth to determine whether the top
Clinton aide committed perjury, made false statements, or could be
charged with criminal contempt of court...But even as Mr. Holder began
his investigation, congressional Republicans and the doctors group
that initially filed the suit urged the Justice Department to appoint
a special counsel to take over the Magaziner probe. Thomas Spencer,
lead attorney for the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons
Inc., said: "We would advocate a special independent
counsel...Everybody has to have the appearance that this isn't going
to be sandbagged" by the White House...At least three Republicans who
have previously criticized the Clinton health care task force--Sen.
Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Reps. William F. Clinger and Ernest
Jim Istook Jr. of Oklahoma--were considering joining in the call for a
special prosecutor...Mr. Istook said, "There's an inherent conflict of
interest with the Justice Department as to the great lengths they went
to defend Magaziner and the White House in the suit." An
administration official said Attorney General Janet Reno has not
considered appointing a special counsel...Legal sources said the probe
may include interviews with Mrs. Clinton, who was Magaziner's boss.
Former Associate Attorney General Webster L. Hubbard also would be
interviewed because he was the liaison between the White House and the
Justice Department on the case. In addition, former White House
Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, fired in the Whitewater scandal, and the
files of former Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster, who committed suicide,
would have to be reviewed because the two men played a role in helping
to defend the task force. (Magaziner Faces Perjury Probe Over
Health-Panel Secrecy Case, Paul Bedard, Washington Times, 1/18/95)

The task force and everything associated with it are so ensnarled in
disingenuousness, deviousness, and downright dishonesty that only a
special prosecutor could possibly sort the mess out. Furthermore,
perjury or no perjury, Mr. Magaziner deserves to be shown the door. A
look at the source of Mr. Magaziner's and Mrs. Clinton's insistence on
secrecy sends a chill down the spine. Consider this snippet from one
of the task force memos (coughed up only at the insistence of Judge
Lamberth): "Any model for the new health insurance system that places
state governments in an important role in program design,
standard-setting, enforcement, or anything else will result in
importing into the health insurance system the politics of state
government...a source of uncontrollable and unpredictable variation
that may or may not be consistent with the goals of the program." In
other words. Mr. Magaziner, Mrs. Clinton, and their health care
advisers were decidedly not prepared to let a little thing like
democracy stand in the way of their plans for the nation's health
care. Whether Mr. Magaziner is found in contempt of Judge Lamberth's
court or not, he has amply demonstrated his contempt for the system
we've lived by for more than 200 years. (Contempt and Ira Magaziner,
editorial, Washington Times, 1/19/95)

All Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee yesterday demanded
that Attorney General Janet Reno appoint a special counsel to
investigate charges that the White House health care czar lied to a
federal judge. The members--the majority of the panel--said a special
counsel is needed to probe Ira Magaziner's conduct in a suit targeting
first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's now-defunct health reform task
force in order to clear up conflict-of-interest concerns. In a
four-page letter to Miss Reno, panel Chairman Henry J. Hyde of
Illinois and the committee's 19 other Republican members said the
Justice Department and US Attorney Eric Holder, who is now
investigating the charges of contempt, played a large role in
defending Mrs. Clinton in the suit and lacked impartiality...Mr. Hyde
said in the letter that Mr. Magaziner "many have engaged in
contemptuous and other potentially criminal conduct." The Republicans
said the special counsel could be appointed under the Ethics in
Government Act. (GOP Presses Magaziner Probe, Paul Bedard, WT, 2/3/95)

                         Heart Beats

Men are regularly given a more sophisticated pacemaker than women, a
choice that may affect a patient's survival, the author of a new study
said Wednesday...The study found that men were 18 percent more likely
than women to get the more advanced pacemaker, called a dual-chamber
device because it electrically stimulates two of the heart's chambers,
said Dr. Gervasio A. Lamas, chief of cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical
Center in Miami Beach, Fla. It also found that recipients of
dual-chamber pacemakers were likely to be younger, white or male, and
in a hospital that was large, urban, private or in the West. His
report, published this week in the American Heart Association's
journal Circulation, says doctors may prefer to implant the smaller,
single-chamber pacemaker in small people, including women, to avoid
complications or to achieve a better cosmetic result. The devices are
placed under the skin of the chest. The study examined the records of
more than 36,000 Medicare patients. All were at least 65 years old and
received a pacemaker between 1988 and 1990. Dual-chamber systems cost
about $5,000, compared with about $3,000 for single pacemakers, but
the less-expensive one lasts longer, Lamas noted. The study found that
after two years, mortality rates of patients with the less
sophisticated devices were 6.6 percent higher than those who received
the other design. (Men Likely to Receive More Sophisticated Pacemakers
than Women, Janine Zuniga, AP, 2/15/95)

                         Heart Stoppers

Lansing, MI--The father who unhooked his premature baby from a
respirator was acquitted Thursday of manslaughter...Dr. Gregory
Messenger showed little emotion other than a smile when the jury
returned its verdict after deliberating for four hours. Messenger
acknowledges that he took the 1-pound, 11-ounce boy off the respirator
a little more than an hour after he was delivered by Caesarean section
on February 8. Messenger and his wife, Traci, feared the child had
suffered brain damage. The 40-year- old dermatologist could have
received up to 15 years in prison if convicted. (Man Acquitted of
Manslaughter, Martinsburg Journal, 2/3/95) CURE Comment: When is
murder "not murder"? When the victim has a disability and it can be
euphemized as "euthanasia."

                         Mal-Practice

A Yale scientist who was infected with a rare South American virus
after a bottle cracked in the lab was reprimanded for not immediately
reporting the incident to his superiors. A university report and a
report by the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
blamed Dr. Jean- Paul Gonzalez on Monday for the August 8 accident
with the Sabia arena virus, which was discovered in Brazil in 1992.
"Dr. Gonzalez's conduct created the potential for an extremely serious
public health hazard," said the report by the university's Biological
Safety Committee...Yale officials didn't learn of the accident until
August 19, after Gonzalez was hospitalized with a 103-degree fever and
was questioned by doctors...Gonzalez became only the third person in
the world known to have contracted the virus. One of the other victims
died...The virus, carried by certain South American rodents, can cause
hemorrhaging from internal organs, as well as the mouth, nose, and
genitalia. Gonzalez, a visiting scientist from France, was working
with the virus at Yale when a plastic bottle leaked 50 to 100
milliliters of an infectious tissue culture from a hairline crack
while it was being spun in a centrifuge. Wearing gloves, a lab coat,
and surgical mask, Gonzalez tried to clean up the spill...The CDC
report cited lapses by senior administrative and laboratory officials
at Yale. (Scientist Infected with Virus Disciplined, MJ, 12/13/94)

Researchers knew that some patients injected with plutonium in the
1940s were relatively healthy, according to papers uncovered by a
presidential advisory panel. At least 18 people were subjected to
doses of plutonium as part of secret tests between 1945 and 1947. A
previously released report suggested the subjects were chronically ill
and their survival beyond 10 years was "highly improbable." But
one-third of the patients actually lived beyond 10 years, including
four who lived for 30 years after the experiments. None ever was told
they had been given plutonium. (Some Radiation Subjects Healthy,
Frederick Post, 1/19/95)

                         Medicaid/care

House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for the creation of a task force to
"rethink Medicare from the ground up" as he laid out his health care
agenda in a speech Monday to the American Hospital Association. "The
current, highly centralized, bureaucratic structure, offering one menu
for everybody in a monopolistic manner, is the opposite of how America
works," Gingrich (R-GA) said of Medicare...Gingrich said he would cull
the task force from senior citizen groups, the hospital association,
and medical societies. "We have to set up a truly revolutionary task
force to think about the world without the Health Care Finance
Administration," he said, evoking laughter and applause. HCFA is the
federal agency that administers Medicare, the government's health
insurance program for the elderly...Gingrich said he did not yet know
what kind of mechanism would replace HCFA if it were abolished. "This
is a topic a lot of very smart people ought to start looking at," he
said. (GOP Health Care Agenda Calls for Complete Medicare Overhaul,
Martinsburg Journal, 1/31/95)

                         Medicine Chest

Frederick Shainfeld, a former senior vice-president of Halsey Drug
Company Inc., has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and fined
$5,000 for obstructing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspection
of the company, the Department of Justice announced today. Halsey,
based in Brooklyn, New York, manufactures generic drugs. Lynne A.
Battaglia, U.S. Attorney in Baltimore, and Frank W. Hunger, Assistant
Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division, said the sentencing
Friday by Judge Herbert N. Maletz of U.S. District Court in Baltimore
resulted from the government's continuing investigation of the generic
drug industry.  Shainfeld, who was in charge of Halsey's Technical and
Regulatory Affairs section, pleaded guilty on May 4, 1994. Shainfeld
and four other Halsey executives were indicted July 12, 1993, on
charges of conspiracy to impede FDA's regulatory function, interstate
distribution of adulterated and unapproved new drugs, making false
statements to the FDA and obstruction of an FDA inspection. Shainfeld
admitted he and others created and gave to FDA inspectors records that
fraudulently misrepresented certain research and development batch
sizes the FDA required to ensure that a company can in fact
manufacture production quantities of a drug according to the approved
formula...In addition, evidence at the trial of Hedviga Herman,
Halsey's former vice-president of manufacturing, showed that Halsey
added unapproved ingredients to certain drugs and falsified records to
cover up those additions.  The drugs included quinidine gluconate,
which is used to treat heart arrhythmias; metronidazole, used to treat
serious infections; and propylthiouracil, used to treat
hyperthyroidism. Shainfeld and Marcus sanctioned the
falsifications...The investigation of the generic drug industry by the
U.S. Attorney's office, the Department's Office of Consumer Litigation
and the FDA is continuing.  To date, more than 50 individuals and 14
companies have pleaded to, or been found guilty of, fraud or
corruption. (Generic Drug Executive Sentenced to 18 Months Fined
$5,000, DOJ, 1/9/95) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For the rest of the
story, see MED50109.* wherever ABLETEXT files are found.

The maker of Prozac, the world's most widely prescribed
antidepressant, `turned what was supposed to be a school educational
program on depression into a commercial for its product, according to
some angry students at a Bethesda [MD] high school and their parents.
Officials at Walter Johnson High School say that two sales
representatives from drug manufacturer Eli Lilly & Co. passed out
hundreds of pens, pads, and brochures promoting Prozac at an October
program marking National Depression Awareness Day. The representatives
also addressed two assemblies of students and selected and paid for
another speaker...The program at Walter Johnson gave its 1,300
students firsthand exposure to an ethics debate tackled daily at the
federal Food and Drug Administration: When does an educational program
sponsored by a drug company become a sales pitch? The FDA, other
regulators, and consumer groups have accused the drug manufacturing
industry of being overly aggressive in promoting special "days" for
particular disorders or illnesses. Critics view these activities as
self-serving because they can promote sales for specific drugs. Eli
Lilly spokesman Jeffrey Newton said "we broke no rules" in the Walter
Johnson program and that the company "stands by" the depression
awareness day program. School officials say Eli Lilly's presence was a
mistake. (Depression Awareness--Or a Prozac Pitch? Kathleen Day,
Washington Post, 1/18/95)

A cancer drug has proven to be the first effective treatment for
sickle cell anemia, a disabling blood disorder affecting 72,000 black
Americans. The drug hydroxyurea reduced the excruciating attacks of
sickle cell so dramatically that the National Institutes of Health
ended drug trials four months early and yesterday it notified 5,000
doctors of the treatment..."It's very exciting," said Ralph Sutton of
the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. "This means
significant improvement in the quality-of-life for people with sickle
cell disease." Sickle cell anemia, an inherited disease common among
people with ancestors from Africa. the Middle East, and the
Mediterranean, causes hemoglobin inside red blood cells to clump
together. That changes the normally round cells into a sickle shape
that can't squeeze through tiny blood vessels...The disease eventually
causes organ damage and patients frequently live only into their 40s.
About 8% of black Americans carry the gene. (Cancer Drug Helps Sickle
Cell Sufferers, Lauran Neergaard, Washington Times, 1/31/95) ABLEnews
Editor's Note: See also, Sickle Cell Treatment Effective, MJ, 1/31/95.

For the first time, a study has shown that it's possible to reduce the
damage strokes cause. But experts aren't yet ready to recommend it for
widespread use because the treatment involves a perilous balance
between risks and benefits. The medicine is tissue plasminogen
activator--TPA--a genetically engineered protein that is already a
mainstay of heart attack therapy. About 500,000 Americans suffer
strokes annually. They are the leading source of adult disability and
the No. 3 cause of death after heart disease and cancer. Until now,
there has been no proven treatment to limit the damage in the first
hours after they occur. A European team reported Friday that TPA
significantly reduces the amount of brain injury resulting from
strokes if given quickly after the onset of symptoms--but only when
reserved for a carefully selected group of patients, probably half to
three-quarters of all stroke victims... The dilemma for doctors is
simple: If given to the right patients, TPA can prevent a lifetime of
paralysis and other crippling  disabilities. If given to the wrong
ones, it can trigger bleeding in the brain that makes the strokes even
worse...The European study was financed by TPA's European maker,
Boehringer Ingelheim. It was performed by doctors at 75 hospitals in
14 European countries. "It's not a home run. The question is whether
it's a double or a single," commented Dr. David Sherman of the
University of Texas in San Antonio. Dr. James Grotta of the University
of Texas in Houston, who is participating in a similar U.S. study,
said he believes TPA eventually will become a routine therapy for
strokes. (Study First to Show Stroke Treatment Is Possible, Daniel
Haney, AP, February 10, 1995) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For the rest of
the story, see MED50210.*. wherever ABLETEXT files are found.)

                         Mental Health Memo

Gov. William Donald Shaefer [D-MD] announced plans today to close the
Great Oaks Center, a Silver Spring institution that has been plagued
by lawsuits and federal complaints of dangerous conditions for its
profoundly retarded residents. Shaefer has said he wants to find group
homes within two years for most of the 163 adults who live there and
transfer a few dozen others to similar institutions elsewhere in the
state. The plan will accelerate efforts by Maryland health officials
to move severely disabled people from large, state-run
institutions...a trend taking place across the country. The governor's
plan also responds to a legacy of injuries and deaths among Great Oak
residents...Newer than most similar institutions, Great Oaks has had a
particularly troubled history since it opened in 1970 to relieve
crowding at Maryland's four other institutions for the mentally
retarded. A 1991 federal investigation found that some residents had
been drugged for the workers' convenience and others had been
outfitted with helmets and splints, rather than taught not to hurt
themselves. During a one-year period, nearly 2,000 injuries were
logged, one-fourth of them listed as unexplained, according to US
investigators, who called that incidence "alarmingly high." Great Oaks
still faces a federal class-action suit, lodged in 1991 by Maryland's
main advocacy group for the disabled [the Maryland Disability Law
Center]. The suit alleges that one resident died after swallowing a
rubber glove, another after squeezing her head between a bed's
rails...Thomas B. Stone, a Montgomery lawyer who is the residents'
counsel, said that community homes are more humane for many disabled
people, but that institutions should stay open for the few residents
so severely retarded that they could not live well in a less-
restrictive place...The state's five institutions for mentally
retarded residents house about 800 residents. (Shaefer Moves to Close
Facility for Retarded Adults, Amy Goldstein, Washington Post, 12/9/94)

                         No Place Like Home

Trench fever, a scourge of soldiers in both world wars, has reappeared
among homeless alcoholics. the illness is spread by lice and was
especially common during World War I, when more than 1 million
soldiers caught it. The disease is rare except in wartime, although in
recent years it has been found in AIDS patients. Now, doctors in both
the United States and France have discovered the disease in alcoholic
men living on the streets. No one knows whether it is a new affliction
of cities or one that has been there unnoticed all along. Two reports
on the disease were published in Thursday's issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine. Dr. David H. Spach and colleagues from the
University of Washington in Seattle reported 10 cases, while Dr.
Michael Drancourt and others from the Faculty of Medicine in
Marseilles, France described three others...Trench fever is caused by
a variety of bacteria called Bartonella quintana. It can be cured with
antibiotics and is rarely fatal. Symptoms of the disease often include
fever, aches and a rash. The Seattle outbreak involved nine men and
one woman in 1993. One died of an unrelated infection, and the rest
recovered. Since then, researchers have checked the blood of other
homeless people for antibodies to the bacteria. They found that a
significant proportion have also been infected. "It is possible that
the cluster that occurred in 1993 involved a much larger number of
patients, and we only saw the ones who made it to the hospital," Spach
said...In an editorial in the journal, Dr. David A. Relman of Stanford
University wrote that trench fever cases "must draw attention to the
erosion of social conditions in our cities and the repercussions for
public health." (Trench Fever Reappears Among Homeless Alcoholics,
Daniel Haney, AP, 2/15/95)

                         Nursing Home News

Shelby, NC--The staff of the Whispering Pines rest home convinced a
doctor that Ellie Wall died of natural causes. After all, by the time,
he arrived, she was tucked in bed. That's not where she died, however.
The 77-year-old woman had left the home unsupervised, wearing only her
underwear, and froze to death in a ditch. Employees found her, took
her back inside, cleaned her up, put her nightgown back on, and put
her to bed. An anonymous tip led to an autopsy that brought out the
truth. Wall's 64-year-old sister, Viola Philbeck, wants to know what
really happened. "It's a terrible tragedy she died this way," she
said...Wall was found dead about 7 AM in a drainage ditch outside the
small rest home between Shelby and Boiling Springs. A local physician
signed a death certificate that said she died in her sleep of natural
causes...On Sunday night, Sheriff Dan Crawford got an anonymous tip.
He retrieved the body from the funeral home and ordered an autopsy.
The North Carolina Medical Examiners Office determined Wednesday that
Wall died of exposure. Crawford said overnight temperatures were in
the 20s. "If we hadn't gotten that call, she would have been buried
and no one would have known the difference," he said Thursday. (Tip
Leads Authorities to Truth About Death in NC Home for Elderly,
Martinsburg Journal, 2/3/95)

                         Oh, Oh, HMO

At a time when Congress is desperate to restrain the exploding
Medicare budget...Tom Gibbon's story should be mandatory reading
material throughout the Capitol. When Gibbons, a Los Angeles retiree
and voluntary health-care adviser, became eligible for Medicare four
years ago, he had no personal physician, no chronic illnesses. So he
joined a Medicare- licensed health maintenance organization. The
decision limited his choice of doctors, but it would also save him
hundreds...in premiums, co- payments, and deductibles charged by the
regular Medicare plan and the supplemental policies that go with
it...Only a tenth of Medicare's 36 million recipients have opted for a
licensed managed-care plan...Most distrust the system and its limited
choices. They prefer Medicare's standard fee-for-service coverage and
the patient control it allows...That preference is not necessarily
best either for patient or taxpayer...Congress must be careful to
answer the worries of older Americans, but careful also to propel them
into managed care...The truth is that, absent national health reform,
managed care is the future of health care for all. (Managed Care Can
Help Curb Medicare Costs, editorial, USA Today, 2/8/95) CURE Comment:
And what does Tom Gibbons think about his HMO. "I think I would rather
have a choice of doctors." he now says. "I feel I'm a prisoner of the
system." It is a system under which, even advocates such as USA Today
concede, "operators can no doubt save money by denying or delaying
proper care." For a view closer to ours, see accompanying op-ed below.

The US government's efforts to promote HMOs for Medicare patients goes
back two decades to the days of Richard Nixon's presidency. To date it
has been a fiasco. Now the pressure has increased for Congress and the
White House to get more steam into the drive...Most older Americans
avoid HMOs because they understand the first imperative for those
organizations is to cut costs by reducing the amount of medical care
given to members and sharply cutting free choice of doctors and access
to specialists. Seniors also intuitively grasp the first law of
medical economics, which is the ultimate economy is death...But, of
course, death is precisely what we seniors want our doctors to help us
avoid...Seniors were promised first-class medical care when Medicare
became law in 1965. HMOs don't supply first- or even second-class
medical care. (HMOs Are Wrong Answer, Harry Schwartz, op-ed, USA
Today, 2/8/95) ABLEnews Editor's Note: For the rest of this insightful
commentary, see HMO50208.* wherever ABLETEXT files are found.

                         Safety Scene

A safety arm of the Department of Transportation is investigating
whether there are potentially defective Japanese-made seat belts in
about 6 million cars in the United States. The seat belts, made by
Takata Inc., were installed in 1986-91 model vehicles for Daihatsu,
Honda, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Suzuki. The
inquiry also involves General Motors Corp. Metro and Tracker and
Chrysler Corp. Dodge Colts...Regulators have not determined that the
Takata seat belts are unsafe, but NHTSA is investigating allegations
that broken pieces of the release button fall into the buckle's
receiving end, jamming the buckle. That, in turn, might prevent the
belt from being buckled, from being unbuckled once it is latched, or
being falsely latched - appearing secure but potentially able to come
unbuckled...Automakers supplied by Takata have reported more than
6,799 warranty claims for seat belt repairs or replacements due to
problems with the buckle. The NHTSA said that number is increasing as
the companies continue to respond to the agency's information
requests. The Detroit News said automakers were reporting more than
10,500 warranty claims for seat belt repairs or replacements, but some
of those claims might involve parts other than the buckle...If
ordered, a recall could cost more than $1 billion, according to the
Detroit News, which said repairs could cost $100 to $200 per belt. The
number of vehicles with Takata seat belts, the NHTSA said Friday, are:
Nissans, 2.01 million; Hondas, 1.32 million; Isuzus, 1.26 million;
Mitsubishis, 669,000; Mazdas, 432,000; Suzukis, 115,000; Subarus,
86,000; Daihatsus, 7,500. The number of GM Metros and Trackers and
Dodge Colts with Takata belts was not yet known, the agency said.
(Government Investigating Seat Belts in 6 Million Japanese Cars,
Catherine O'Brien, AP, 2/17/95)

                         Scent of Danger

Denise Kehoe says she was healthy and energetic when she went to work
for Lockheed Sanders Inc. in 1979. But she soon began having headaches
and respiratory problems that her doctors diagnosed as "multiple
chemical sensitivity." MS. Kehoe says years of exposure to chemicals
at the Nashua, NH defense electronics plant broke down her body's
ability to tolerate even tiny amounts of some substances. Now, a whiff
of perfume or window cleaner triggers a reaction. "After washing their
car, my kids can't even walk past me without having an asthma attack,"
says Ms. Kehoe, When she sought workers' compensation after her
doctors told her she couldn't return to work, the Lockheed Corp. unit
derided her ailment as an unproven medical condition. The state
workers' compensation board agreed. But the New Hampshire Supreme
Court found in Ms. Kehoe's favor last September, ruling that multiple
chemical sensitivity, or MCS, is a qualification for workers'
compensation. Ms. Kehoe is awaiting a decision by the board, which
reheard her case this month...In 1991, regulators declared that MCS
can be a disability under the Americans with Disabilities
Act....Daniel Kniffen, an Atlanta defense attorney, worries that
workers' compensation claims will turn into ADA cases when employees
want to return. "What happens if a person comes back and says, 'I want
to work but I can't be exposed to these chemicals anymore'?" he asks.
He is representing a hospital in a case where a nurse with MCS can't
wear latex gloves but wants to return to work. (More Claim Chemicals
Made Them Ill, Wade Lambert, Wall Street Journal, 1/17/95)

                         School Daze

Medication alone isn't enough for kids who have severe trouble
concentrating, the Education Department said Wednesday in its first
report on a disorder being diagnosed in a growing number of children.
Two new videos produced by the department give teachers and parents
tips on what can be done in the classroom to help children afflicted
with chronic attention deficit disorder, said agency official Tom
Hehir. The role of drugs such as Ritalin--now prescribed to 60 percent
to 90 percent of U.S. children with attention deficit disorders--needs
more study, Hehir said. Possible overprescription is a worry, he said.
Many researchers go even further--warning that attention deficit
disorders are diagnosed too often, or that medicines like Ritalin have
become a "silver bullet."...The Education Department and some
Republican members of Congress say they will look at whether too many
children are diagnosed as needing special education when the federal
law governing such programs is re-examined later this year...The
Education Department estimates that 3 percent to 5 percent of children
under age 18 nationwide have attention deficit disorder--between 1.5
million and 2.5 million children. (Education Dept.: Medicine Not
Enough for Attention Deficit Disorder, Sally Buzbee, AP, 2/15/95)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, Drugs Don't End Attention Disorder,
WT, 2/16/95.

Nearly all of the 400 students at an Alexandria [VA] boarding school
are receiving antibiotics to guard against a bacterial infection
blamed for the death Wednesday of a sophomore school officials said
yesterday. Elizabeth Anderson, 16, a student at Episcopal High School,
died early Wednesday at Fairfax Hospital, less than 24 hours after she
reported to the school's infirmary complaining of flulike symptoms.
Doctors diagnosed Anderson's ailment as meningoccemia, a
rare...infection...Although the disease is not highly contagious, it
can be fatal within hours, and "close contacts are usually treated as
a matter of precaution," said Martin Cader, director of the Virginia
Department of Health's communicable disease control division...The
disease is closely related to meningitis and produces toxins in the
bloodstream that rapidly damage vital organs. Medical specialists say
many people carry the bacteria that cause meningoccemia without
becoming infected with the disease. In Virginia last year, there were
66 reported cases of meningoccemia, only three of them fatal, state
health officials said. (Rare Illness Kills Sophomore From Virginia
Boarding School, John Fountain, Washington Post, 2/17/95)

                         Social Insecurity

House Ways and Means Committee Republicans are moving to block the
explosive growth of the [Supplemental Security Income (SSI)] program
that provides cash payments of up to $485 a month to low-income
families with severely disabled children. Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA),
detailed by human resources subcommittee Chairman E. Clay Shaw (R-FL)
to draft possible changes..., said he agreed yesterday with a
Democratic ally, Rep. Gerald D. Kleczja (WI), on the outlines of a
plan abolishing the monthly cash payments that have been made by the
program for two decades. Instead, the children would receive only
specified services they need to help them live with their
disabilities...Lawmakers plan to redefine the term "severely disabled"
to modify the effect of a 1990 Supreme Court decision that expanded
the definition and contributed to the number of children qualifying
under the program..The proposed changes are likely to face strong
opposition from groups representing the disabled...Although the SSI
Children's Disability Program is far smaller than HHS's [Department of
Health and Human Services'] other disability programs for adults or
the general welfare program, Aid to Families with Dependant Children,
it is considered a crucial safety net for some of the most vulnerable
members of society. "The changes would be devastating to almost 1
million families," said Rhoda Schulzinger, a senior staff attorney at
the nonprofit Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. She said wiping
out cash payments would be particularly harmful, since families in
most cases are very low income or working poor and need flexibility as
to how to help the child. Moreover, "The most crucial need for the
disabled child is a secure home where the mother...need not work full
time to help support the family but can devote large amounts of
time...to care for the child's...needs." (GOP to Tighten Cash for
Disabled Children, Spencer Rich, Washington Post, 1/19/95)

Joanne Spencer spends her sons' disability checks on the electric
bills that keep Joshua's feeding pump whirring through the night and
repairs to the portable computer that is David's only form of
communication. Without Supplemental Security Income, Spencer says she
couldn't care for two sons with cerebral palsy at home and work
part-time, earning the money she needs to support a third son in
college. But lawmakers say the $4.5 billion SSI childhood disability
program has grown out of control. They want to abolish cash payments
to 887,000 disabled children, many with chronic illnesses or
life-threatening diseases, who live in low-income families.
Legislation being drafted by Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA) and Jerry Kleczka
(D-WI) would replace SSI payments to children...with expanded medical
care under Medicaid...Parents say they spend their childrens' SSI
checks on items that would not necessarily be covered: for
transportation to doctors' appointments, for electrical bills, which
are high because they are running feeding pumps or air conditioners or
humidifiers, or for special clothing...Jim Farris of Milwaukee, whose
2 1/2-year-old daughter Stephanie has cerebral palsy, uses SSI to buy
the formula that is fed to her through a tube in her stomach and for
the 10 to 11 diapers she uses every day...Conni Wells' teenage
daughter, Janell, needs insulated underwear, jogging suits,
humidifiers, skin creams, and a heated waterbed to cope with a
disorder that affects her heart rate, breathing, and boy
temperature...Spencer, a divorced mother in Brockton, MA, said SSI
"has made it possible to keep our family together." David, 20, and
Johsua, 16. have seizure disorders as well as cerebral palsy.
(Congress Considers Cutting Aid, Martinsburg Journal, 1/20/95)

Amidst increasing partisanship, the Senate refused Tuesday to carve
out an exemption for Social Security from a proposed balanced-budget
amendment to the Constitution. Democrats said the 57-41 vote opens the
door to tapping the Social Security trust fund to reduce deficits, a
step that could lead to benefit cuts. Republicans have tried to
maintain the appearance of bipartisanship on the measure which might
need 15 Democratic votes to pass. Within moments of the roll call,
Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole (R-KS) sought to curtail debate on
the amendment. Democratic leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) replied that he
was "disappointed" at Dole's action, saying some senators had proposed
changes that deserved a thorough airing. Behind the rhetoric, the vote
on the politically appealing attempt by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to
shield Social Security from budget cuts demonstrated that
balanced-budget supporters have the strength to defeat any proposed
changes. Fifty Republicans and seven Democrats voted to shelve the
proposal, and 39 Democrats and two Republicans voted to sustain it.
The Senate earlier had overwhelmingly passed a Dole-crafted
non-binding measure that expressed support for Social Security. One
GOP aide said that provided political "cover" to Republicans on the
issue. At the American Association of Retired Persons, John Rother
said the vote represented a "threat to the integrity of the Social
Security program because it opens up the program to cuts for deficit
reduction." (Senate Refuses to Protect Social Security from
Balanced-Budget Amendment, David Epo, AP, 2/14/95) ABLEnews Editor's
Note: See also, Bid to Immunize Social Security Against Cuts Is
Defeated, 57-41, WP, 2/15/95.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole's office affirmed Thursday that
Republicans won't seek changes in Social Security to help balance the
budget, although Dole had said the politically sensitive program can't
be kept "off the table forever." In a remarks published Thursday in
the Wall Street Journal, the unannounced presidential contender said
Republicans envisioned sharp reductions in planned spending for
Medicare and Medicaid and was quoted as saying, "If we're going to do
this, we'd better make our case to the American people."... With the
balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution pending in the Senate,
Democrats have accused Republicans of planning to use surpluses in the
Social Security trust fund to combat federal deficits. The Senate
earlier this week rejected a Democratic attempt to exempt Social
Security from the proposed amendment...Most GOP lawmakers have been
careful to say that any future changes in Social Security should be
for the purpose of maintaining the solvency of the trust funds that
pay benefits to millions of elderly. Budget committees in both houses
are drafting plans that would reduce the deficit while leaving Social
Security untouched. Even so, Democratic Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who
led the unsuccessful effort to exempt Social Security from the terms
of the proposed balanced-budget amendment, said failure to do so would
lead to use of the government's biggest "cash cow" in the drive to
erase federal deficits...Dole's interview comments drew a varied
reaction. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said there would be a "battle
royal" if Republicans tried to change Social Security to reduce the
deficit...Texas Republican Sen. Phil Gramm, also an unannounced
presidential candidate, said, "Social Security is going to be off the
table as part of deficit reduction for me." But Sen. Alan Simpson,
R-Wyoming, who served on a bipartisan entitlements commission that
reviewed benefit programs last year, said: "Obviously Social Security
is going to have to be on the table. But that does not mean we're
going to pick up a guy who's 65 and drill his teeth." (Dole Won't
Change Social Security to Balance Budget Now, David Espo, AP, 2/16/95)

                         The Painful Truth

It is now possible to control most human pain. Rarely should anyone
have to accept acute or chronic pain. A variety of old and new drugs
and therapies can work to stop pain in its neurochemical tracks.
"Relief is not awaiting a scientific breakthrough. We now have the
methods we need to relieve pain," says Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD, FAAN,
associate research scientist at City of Hope National Medical Center
in Duarte, CA. So why are people still suffering? Because pain and its
treatment remain two of the most misunderstood areas in medicine. Some
50 million Americans--one in five--suffer from intractable (difficult
to relieve or cure) pain according to the American Pain Society. Pain
is the second most common reason people visit doctors--only colds and
upper respiratory infections top it. Headaches and low-back pain are
the most common forms...Yet despite its prevalence, many doctors and
nurses are not educated to treat pain. According to Ferrell, the City
of Hope studies show that "the average medical student will graduate
in 1995 from one of the best medical schools in America having
received one hour of curriculum content devoted to pain. The average
nursing student will graduate from one of the best nursing schools in
America having received 3.9 hours of content devoted to pain. (Take
Charge of Your Pain, Mary Batten, Modern Maturity, 1-2/95) CURE
Comment: We support killing pain as a positive alternative to killing
people. Patients with intractable pain should be referred to
specialists armed with the latest weapons in the anti-pain arsenal.

                         World Desk

Tokyo--Rabbi Abraham Cooper hoped to inspire goodwill by praising a
major publishing house for pulling a magazine that claimed that the
Holocaust never happened. What he got instead was a harangue from a
supporter of the story. Cooper, of Los Angeles' Simon Wiesenthal
Center, held a news conference Thursday with the president of the
publishing house Bungei Shunju. The company stopped publishing one of
its monthly magazines, Marco Polo, this week amid protests over a
story in its February edition titled "There Were No Nazi Gas
Chambers." The story claimed "the German government never pnce plotted
or implemented the destruction of Jews." It said the gas chambers at
Auschwitz, where more than a million Jews were killed, were Communist
fabrications and that Jews died there only because of illness.
(Japanese Publisher Apologizes for Story Denying Holocaust,
Martinsburg Journal, 2/3/95)

San Francisco--Within hours of Japan's earthquake, Japanese had logged
onto the Internet to post news about damage and casualties and respond
to anxious queries from the rest of the world. A young Japanese man,
logged in as Sega, spent part of Wednesday providing a small window on
the earthquake that devastated Kobe the day before. Now 2,800 more
died. Nine hundred more missing, Sega said. 2,800!!! I AM so sorry...
a Frenchman from Lyon replied. By early Friday, the death toll had
swelled past 4,000, making Tuesday's 7.2-magnitude earthquake the
worst in Japan in more than 70 years. Although most Internet sites in
Kobe and surroundings cities were down because of the quake, other
Japanese sites for the global computer network remained active. The
Kobe chat line was established almost immediately after news of the
quake reached the world...All the major on-line commercial services,
including CompuServe, America Online and Prodigy, quickly opened
earthquake-related forums where users could read the latest news as
well as help friends and family connect... One message from California
was very simple: To the people of Kobe. Our hearts and spirits are
with you. (Internet Provides a Link to Quake-Stricken Japan, Elizabeth
Weise, AP, 1/19/95)

London--A car dealer who had claimed to be struck dumb at his fraud
trial suddenly recovered his voice yesterday when he heard the size of
the financial penalties imposed on him. Keith Osborne, 44, had
undergone psychiatric treatment and had been subjected to 12 bouts of
electro-convulsive therapy over several months to cure his vocal
impairment, apparently without success. But when Judge William Thomas
ruled that he would have to pay 69,700 pounds--12,800 of which was
compensation to his victims--Osborne protested at Isleworth Crown
Court, west London: "I thought I gave back more money than that."
Judge Thomas, expressing surprise at the exclamation, said: "That
sounded like perfectly intelligible English to me." He jailed Osborne
for two and a half years, saying that any further medical treatment he
required for his alleged problems could be given in prison... At the
time of his committal in April, Osborne suddenly lost the power of
speech and was unable to enter a plea. He effectively had two
subsequent trials, the first to determine whether he was genuinely
mute and possibly unfit to face jury trial and the second to try him.
After hearing evidence that speech appeared to desert him only in the
presence of a psychiatrist or in court the preliminary jury decided
that he was "mute of malice rather than by visitation of God". He was
then committed for the second trial. (Mute Finds His Voice After
Judge's Sentence, Neil Darbyshire, London Telegraph, 2/2/95)

Warwickshire, UK--An animal rights protester was killed yesterday when
she fell under the wheels of a lorry carrying veal calves for export
at Coventry Airport. Police said Jill Phipps, 31, who was
demonstrating with her mother against the resumption of calf flights
to the Continent, had broken through a police cordon and flung herself
at the front of the articulated lorry. Ms Phipps, who has a
nine-year-old son, then slipped and fell under its wheels, a
Warwickshire police spokesman said. Her death brought renewed calls
from animal rights protesters for the flights to be stopped...Mr Chris
Fox, acting Chief Constable of Warwickshire, said: "There were
approximately 40 protesters at the entrance gate waiting for the
delivery of calves. As the cattle lorry came into view, the protesters
moved towards it and police were deployed to clear the road. Repeated
requests were made for them to move back... The lorry slowed right
down and one protester climbed on to it. The vehicle slowed once more
and a police officer tried to remove that person. Two further people
ran to the front of the lorry and a third tried to grab hold of the
front of the cab. That person slipped and fell under the front wheels
of the lorry." (Woman Killed by Lorry in Veal Flights Protest, David
Grimes, London Telegraph, 2/2/95) ABLEnews  Editor's Note: See also,
Britain to Boose Veal Consumption, LT, 2/2/95.

                         Telling Headlines

Abortion Has Active Foes in France, Washington Times, 1/17/95
Adoption Tax Credit Urged, Frederick Post, 1/19
Aerobic Exercise Helps Heart Failure Patients, 12/26/94
AIDS Becomes Main Killer of Young Adults, Washington Post, 2/1
Alcoholics Coddled, Smokers Criticized, Martinsburg Journal, 2/5
Allen Sues the EPA Over Emissions Testing, Washington Times, 1/10
Alzheimer's Can Be Diagnosed Through New Eye-Drop Test, MJ, 11/11
A Newspaper Man Surfs the Internet, Wall Street Journal, 1/17
Antibiotics Found Best for Healing Ulcers, Washington Times, 1/19
Assassination Plot Fails to Deter Pope, Washington Times, 1/17
Auto Technology Alone Can't Save Lives in Crashes, ed, MJ, 1/4
Better Ties with Vietnam Vital, GOP Senator Says, WT,
Beyond Unfunded Mandates, ed, Wall Street Journal, 1/17
Bill Outlaws Sex Play With Corpses, Washington Times, 2/1
Biological Father Gets Baby Richard Again, Washington Times, 1/26
Blood Banks Should Halt Obsolete Test, Experts Say, WT, 1/12
Brunswick Site May Be Toxic-Waste Route, Frederick Post, 1/19
Cancer Drug Helps Sickle Cell Sufferers, Washington Times, 1/31
Child Killers Deserve Death, USA Today, 1/17
Cyberspace Rescue Prevents a Suicide, Washington Post, 10/24
Cut Out Social Security for the Affluent, Martinsburg Journal, 11/25
Dead Man's Sperm to be Used in Widow's Insemination Attempt, 1/20
Democrats Cool on Curtailing 'Unfunded Mandates,' WP, 1/11
Doctors Delay Birth for Record 95 Days, Washington Times, 1/19
Doctors' Licenses Revoked, Suspended by Medical Board, MJ, 1/14
Doctors Link Genetic Flaw and Cancer of the Prostate, NYT, 11/23
Dole Vows Action on Mandates This Week, Washington Times, 1/26
Drug Firms Post Improved Quarter Result, Wall Street Journal, 1/25
Exercise: An Engine that Burns Fat, Frederick Post, 2/1
Exercise Many Options for Health, USA Today, 2/1
Flu Vaccine Running Low, USA Today, 1/18
Food for Thought About Feeding Needy in Our Community, MJ, 1/15
Forecaster Fired for Remark, Frederick Post, 2/1
Foster's Death Site Strongly Disputed, Tribune-Review, 1/25
'Fragile Bone Disease' May Be Prevented, Frederick Post, 2/1
GAO Doubts Army's Stance on Chemical-Weapons Safety, WT, 1/17
Gene-Altered Squash Gets Federal Go-Ahead, Washington Post, 12/14
GOP Plan for Welfare Is Criticized, New York Times, 1/17
Government Trying to Scare Public with PC Science, ed, MJ, 11/23
Group Sues FDA Over Saline Breast Implants, Washington Times, 1/26
Health Care Reform, Up Close, editorial, Washington Post, 11/9
HealthSouth to Buy Surgical Health Corp. in $155 Million Swap, WSJ, 1/25
Here Are Ways to Manage Stress, Morning Herald, 12/26
Heroics Far Beyond Schindler's, Washington Post, 1/4
Heroin Remedy to be Marketed for Alcoholism, Wall Street Journal, 1/17
HMOs Said to Slow Premium Rises, Washington Post, 12/8
House Votes to Cover Costs of Mandates, Washington Times, 2/2
Husband-and-Wife Doctors Sue Hopkins Over Firing, FP, 12/13
IL Adoption Law Challenged, USA Today, 1/25
Imperfect Gene Could Hold Clue to Causes of Mental Retardation, WT, 1/31
Integration on the Internet, Washington Post, 2/1
Jewish Groups Ready Own Auschwitz Rites, Washington Times, 1/26
Judge Weighs Suicide Law, Washington Post, 12/20
Justice Department Claims MI Man a Nazi, Martinsburg Journal, 12/14
Lab Assistants Speak Out About Informing Patients, MJ, 2/6
Life Term for Susan Smith Harsher Than Death Penalty, ed, USAT, 1/17
Living Life Insurance, Washington Post, 2/3
MADD Against Ads: Widening a Crusade, Washington Post, 12/14
Magnetic Fields Linked to Brain Cancer, Washington Times, 1/11
Man Infects Stepdaughter, 7, with HIV in Rape, Washington Times, 1/10
Medicaid Bill Would Collect Assets of Recipients After They Die, MJ, 2/6
Merck Quarter Earnings Rose 15%, Helped by Zocor, Managed Care, WSJ, 1/25
Molecule May Make Old Age More Bearable, Frederick Post, 1/12
More Genetic Testing Required on Czar, Martinsburg Journal, 2/5
More on the Mandates Issue, ed, Washington Post, 1/17
New AIDS Treatment Found Helpful, Washington Times, 2/8
New Rules for Meat Aimed at Bacteria, USA Today, 2/1
New York Cardinal Goes On-Line, Martinsburg Journal, 1/15
New York Mayor Signs Tough No-Smoking Bill, Washington Times, 1/11
N. VA Hospitals Diverge on Costs, Finances, and Occupancy, WP, 12/14
Olive Oil May Help Prevent Breast Cancer, Washington Times, 1/18
Opposition to Apology for War Splits Japanese Ruling Coalition, WT, 2/2
Oprah Shares Big Secret: She Was Cocaine User, Martinsburg Journal, 1/14
OR's Suicide Bill Get's Second Delay, Washington Times, 12/20
Outsiders Stalling Reform of Workers' Comp Program, MJ, 1/23
Pacemaker Firm Clamps Recall, Frederick Post, 1/19
Pentagon: No Single Gulf Illness Cause, USA Today, 12/14
Pituitary Tells if Thyroid Is Deficient, Martinsburg Journal, 11/10
Poland Says Jewish Complaints Are Groundless, Washington Times, 1/17
Prisoner Paddling Proposed, Frederick Post, 2/8
Protection for the Terminally Ill, Washington Post, 2/8
Quayle Undergoes Appendectomy, Washington Times, 1/5
Questionnaire: Doctors Know Mental Illness, Martinsburg Journal, 12/14
Report Focuses on Elderly, Frederick Post, 1/19
Restructured Fats May Do Less Damage, Washington Times, 1/17
Retarded Man's Execution Upheld, Washington Post, 1/17
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Dies at 104, Washington Post, 1/23
Schools Neglecting Gifted, Parents Say, Martinsburg Journal, 2/1
Scientists Creat Self-Destructing AIDS Vaccine, Frederick Post, 2/1
Short Daily Exercise Periods Beneficial to Health, Experts Say, MJ, 2/1
Slave Descendants Fight for Welfare, Martinsburg Journal, 1/15
Smokers Need Help for Patch to Work, Washington Times, 1/18
Snuffing Out Cigarette Sales to Minors Is a Major Struggle, USAT, 2/1
SC Mother Sobs During Arraignment, Washington Post, 1/17
Sperm Counts Fall in Past Two Decades, Washington Times, 2/8
Strep May Cause Kidney Disease, Frederick Post, 2/1
Suicide Law Legal, Says MI Court, USA Today, 12/14
Supreme Court Eyes 'Baby Richard' Case, Washington Times, 2/3
Survivors of Waco Raid Suing Clinton, FBI, Washington Times, 1/26
TB Threat Worsens Worldwide, USA Today, 1/18
Teens' Beer-Keg Party Shows Lesson Ignored, Washington Times, 1/11
10th Case of 'Flesh-Eating Bacteria,' Washington Tomes, 2/3
The Clinton Orphanages, ed, Washington Times, 1/12
Two Senate Panels Pass Unfunded-Mandate Bill, Washington Times, 1/10
Unborn Baby Chief Concern, Victim Recalls, Martinsburg Journal, 2/5
USDA: Easing Food Aid May Cause Slump, Washington Post, 1/18
USDA Plans to Modernize Meat Inspection, Washington Post, 2/1
US Guidelines for Weight May Be Lax, Study Suggests, Washington Post, 2/8
Vietnam and US to Open Liaisons, Washington Times, 1/10
Vietnam Opens Office Here, Washington Times, 2/8
VA Officials, Business Owners Blast EPA's Car Emission Program, WP, 2/3
Vets' Illness Not Caused by Single Agent, Martinsburg Journal, 12/14
Welfare Change Cited in New Survey, Frederick Post, 1/17
Wrong Way on Social Security, ed, Washington Post, 1/17
Young Men Most Prone to Injuries, Washington Times, 2/8
Zhirinovsky Plans to Seek Presidency of Russia in 1996, WT, 1/17

                    Wish We'd Said That...

          Don't take away the only thing we have, that we can
          use in a flexible manner, to meet all the diverse
          needs of our kids. Our homes are not hospitals.
          (Conni Wells, mother of Janell, on SSI assistance)

                    ...Glad We Didn't

          I know it's the right question; I don't have an
          answer. (House Speaker Newt Gingrich, on what would
          follow his proposed abolition of the current Medicare
          system)

  Of Note is published biweekly by ABLEnews, a Fidonet-backbone echo
  featuring disability/medical news and information. ABLEnews is
  carried by more than 460 BBS's in the US, Canada, Australia, Great
  Britain, Greece, New  Zealand, and Sweden. The echo, available from
  Fidonet and Planet Connect, and gated to the ADANet, FamilyNet, and
  World Message Exchange networks, is a public service of CURE.

  ABLEnews text files--including our digests: Of Note and Mednotes
  (suitable for bulletin and file use) are disseminated via the
  ABLEfile Distribution Network,  which is available from the filebone
  and Planet Connect. AFDN files are available via Internet from
  ftp.fidonet.org.

...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley
Springs, West Virginia 254511 (304-258-LIFE/5433)
[[e-mail]]