News to Use 1993
OF NOTE...
News to Use
Special Family Edition (41-50) December 1, 1993
Earl Appleby, Jr., Editor CURE, Ltd.
Against the Odds
"Sara Peters weighed 15 ounces when she was born. A large box of
Cheerios weighs more. She was so tiny that she could wear her mother's
engagement ring-a size 4-on her arm. and at only 25 weeks, she was so
premature that doctors at Fairfax Hospital gave her virtually no
chance of survival....As a team of doctors and nurses in the delivery
room worked intensely on Sara's fragile body, her 27-year-old mother,
Tracy Peters, looked over her newborn daughter kick her feet. 'Fight,
Sara!' Peters shouted. 'You can do it!' Sara did." (Tiny Sara's Big
Battle, Patricia Davis, Washington Post, 11/9/93)
Body Language
"More than a million Americans have undergone liposuction, says Dr.
Peter Bela Fodor, former president of the Lipoplasty Society of North
America, making it the most commonly used cosmetic surgery procedure.
...But liposuction is not for everyone. It cannot correct obesity, as
many people once assumed. And its popularity, says Dr. Eugene Curtiss,
chief of plastic surgery at the Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachu-
setts, has attracted many physicians who lack surgical training.
'Anyone with an MD can advertise himself as an expert in liposuction,'
says Dr. Curtiss. 'They do it for one simple reason: money.'" (Should
You Change Your Body? Caryl Stern, Parade Magazine, 7/11/93)
"Most people who develop tennis elbow don't play tennis. The painful
condition, whose formal name is lateral epicondylitis, was first
described in tennis players in 1882." --Dr. Ramesh Gidumal, New York
University School of Medicine. (Tendon Tension, Gidumal, WT, 7/28/93)
"Most Americans need to become more physically active. We recommend
that every adult male should accumulate at least 30 minutes or more of
exercise most days of the week." --Walter Dowdle, director, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). ABLEnews Editor's Note: I
don't reckon finger-pressing the old keyboard counts. (Exercise: A
Little Bit'll Do You, Sally Squires, Washington Post Health, 8/3/93)
"The days of having an exercise class called aerobics are history.
People today are looking for specific types of activity, movement and
music that they find enjoyable." --Lori Davis, fitness director,
Torrence-South Bay, CA YMCA. (From Bubba Funk to Cardio Combat, Carol
Krucoff, Washington Post Health, 8/3/93)
"Surely they can't keep their secret much longer. Baby boomers are
well on their way to becoming Generation C--the Compromise Generation.
...The nation's almost 78 million boomers--born between 1946 and '64
...once...were dedicated to hard bodies and alfalfa sprouts. Now they
are buying 'relaxed fit' jeans with a tad more room in the seat and
thighs. Their Nikes are seeing more time in grocery aisles than
aerobic sessions...And occasionally they are eating ice cream and--
gasp--red meat." ABLEnews Editor's Note: How did that song go? Oh,
yes, "talkin' 'bout my generation." (Accepting Fatter as Their Fate,
Karen Peterson, USA Today, 8/10/93)
"If people are obese because they choose to live that lifestyle or be
in that condition, then no, they should not be protected under the
act. But if they're obese because of a circumstance like a medical
condition, then yes, they should be protected." -R. Kevin Adams, 34,
general manager, Cumberland, MD. (Question: Should the Americans with
Disabilities Act Protect Obese People? USA Today, 11/15/93)
Cancer Chronicles
"Cancer is a family affair. As the husband of a breast cancer
survivor, I'm appalled that some husbands are not supportive when
their wives need them most. I like to think that we've been married
for better and for worse." -Charlie McKinnie, whose wife of 31 years,
Harley, is a seven-year breast cancer survivor. (Cancer's Impact on
the Family Discussed, Bernard Little, Stripe, 10/29/93)
Care Less
"To many doctors and ethicists, surgery that has almost no chance of
success is morally and economically indefensible. 'It's certainly not
the best way to spend scarce resources,' says [Arthur] Caplan,
[director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of
Minnesota]. But the Lakebergs, who have no medical insurance, refuse
to let the extraordinary expense of surgery stand in their way.
'Families won't say 'stop' because they don't want to feel guilty.'
says Caplan. 'You've got to present options in a way that let doctors
bear the responsibility and the burden.'" CURE Comment: The "burden"
of what? Euthanasia. The families CURE defends don't say "stop"
because they love their children, their spouses, their parents,
regardless of disabilities, illnesses, and age. Unlike Dr. Caplan,
they don't understand why it is the lives of the loved ones of the
poor, the uninsured, and underinsured don't deserve the same vigorous
defense as the baby of a Rockefeller, the mother of a Kennedy. They
have no reason to feel the guilt that should be the normal reaction of
those who harass them and even go to court to declare them incompetent
because they are incapable of understanding why their baby's life must
be sacrificed on the altar of checkbook euthanasia.
Child's Play
"We're seeing 10-year-old girls and boys with the kind of catastrophic
knee injury we once saw only in football players. Kids never used to
get stress fractures, and now we see them all the time." --Lyle
Micheli, MD, orthopedic surgeon, co-author, American College of Sports
Medicine guidelines. ABLEnews Editor's Note: For a free copy of the
guidelines, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Children and
Athletics, c/o ACSM, PO Box 1440, Indianapolis, IN 46206-1440.
(Playing Safe, Carol Krucoff, Washington Post Health, 9/14/93)
Class Act
"This book has the wrong title. 'From cradle to grave' implies
socialism, doesn't it? Some British labor leader giving a dull speech?
This book isn't about socialism--doesn't even touch on it. 'The face
of human poverty'? Not really. Large chunks of this short little
missive are devoted to overspending and the misuse of institutional
wealth. I'm not in the title business, but how about this:
'Bureaucracy Busters: How Brave Americans Took on the System and Won'?
Common, vulgar, glitzy, perhaps, but at least it gives you a hint
about its content...What this volume contains is a very short list of
on-the-spot grass-roots American agencies that have jumped in to help
at crucial moments, when the insurance company won't pay any more, or
high school kids go ape-crazy in the classroom, or when
welfare...makes the husband move out of the house so the wife can
collect her payments. Freedman is dead right that many social
agencies--both public and private--have evolved into monsters." (The
Climb Out of Poverty, Carolyn See, review, From Cradle to Grave: The
Face of Human Poverty in America, by Jonathan Freeman, WP, 10/1/93)
Cloning Around
"The cloning of human embryos by scientists at George Washington
University raises ethical questions that neither science nor the
government is ready to answer. 'The fact that there is a total moral
vacuum in this whole area is now finally being realized,' Cynthia
Cohen, head of the National Advisory Board on Ethics and Reproduction,
said. Jeremy Rifkin, president of a biotechnology watchdog group, said
human cloning represents a destructive type of genetic engineering.
...Cohen said the whole idea raises the 'chilling' possibility of
mass-produced humans, or identical twins created at will for spare
parts.... Rifkin's group, the Foundation on Economic Trends,
threatened to file lawsuits if the National Institutes of Health did
not stop all federal sponsorship of human embryo research." (Cloning
Raises New Ethical Questions, Morning Herald, 10/26/93)
"The Vatican...sharply criticized the cloning of human embryos and
said the United States must regulate unscrupulous scientists who
'venture into a tunnel of madness.' The harsh words ran in a front-
page commentary titled 'A Perverse Choice' in the Vatican's official
newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. Echoing through the article was
insistence by Pope John Paul II that the end does not justify the
means." (Vatican Issues Harsh Words Against Experiment, MH, 10/26/93)
"Dr. Hall's experiments purposely used defective embryos that would
die of their own accord. Nevertheless, man is not known to shun
technological breakthroughs, so sooner or later-and probably not too
much later-we'll have to figure out what bounds should be placed on
cloning. Eventually, would parents perhaps keep a clone in cold
storage just in case a family member might need an organ or tissue
transplant? What is to be done with non-defective embryos used in
future experiments-should they be nurtured to birth? Would it become
common practice for parents to 'select' their children according to
certain physical or mental characteristics?" CURE Comment: With the
search-and-destroy missions of prenatal euthanasia the latter is
already the tragic case. Note the editorial's endorsement of the
discriminatory concept that human beings who have disabilities-in
"quality-of-life" jargon, who are "defective"-are fair game as guinea
pigs. (Cloning's Implications Serious, editorial, MJ, 11/8/93)
Courting Disaster
"Dan and Cara Schmidt, the Iowa couple who waged a successful battle
to regain custody of their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, were reportedly
furious...that the child's custodial parents [Jan and Roberta DeBoer]
had allowed her to be photographed by Time magazine in violation of a
court order...In an apparent eleventh-hour pitch to influence the
court of public opinion, the DeBoers spoke to both publications [Time
and People] separately about their pain. The Schmidts refused to
participate in either story." (Photos Fuel Adoption War, WP, 7/13/93)
In a 4-to-1 decision the West Virginia Supreme Court returns four-and-
a-half-year-old Daniel Snyder to his mother Gretchen, 43, of Cross
Junction, VA, despite her history of mental illnesses and a suicide
attempt. Diagnosed with manic depression in 1979, Snyder had signed
over temporary custody to her sister Nancy Scheerer in March 1989
after release from her hospitalization following a suicide attempt.
Citing a 1981 US Supreme Court ruling rejecting termination of
parental rights solely on a history of mental illness, the WV high
court finds "little support" for the circuit's ruling that "the
potential for future harm justifies the denial of custody." "Such a
conclusion, while laudable in its obvious intent to protect the
innocent child, infringes too profoundly upon the rights of this
natural parent to her child and is based on mere speculation as to the
future course of the...disorder," the majority decision holds. (Court
Returns Boy to Custody of Mother, Martinsburg Journal, 7/18/93)
"On July 2 the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Robby, 35, and her
husband, Jan, 40, to give up their only child. Specifically, the
DeBoers were ordered to return their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Jessica,
whom they have raised since birth to the girl's biological parents.
Dan and Cara Schmidt...by August 2...One of the harshest critics was
Barbara Schlicht, a former girlfriend of Dan's, who is also the mother
of Amanda [Dan's 13-year-old daughter]. Since her birth, Dan has had
virtually no contact with Amanda...In Barbara's view the Michigan
decision amounted to 'court-sanctioned child abuse.' 'He wants that
child back and wants to make a family,...but he doesn't give a rat's
butt about Amanda.'" (Battle over Jessica, Bill Hewitt and colleagues,
People, 7/19/93)
Lawyers for 14-year-old Kimberly Mays, who seeks to sever ties with
her birth parents, tell a Sarosota judge that Kimberly's mother is
like an "obsessed stranger stalking her prey" and that granting her
visitation rights will destroy Kimberly. Lawyers for Kimberly's
natural parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, counter the Twiggs have a
God-given right to see their daughter, mysteriously switched with
another infant at a rural Florida hospital in 1978. (Lawyers in 'Baby
Swap' Case Conclude Their Arguments, William Booth, WP, 8/11/93)
Christian Scientists David and Ginger Twitchell were convicted of
involuntary manslaughter in the 1986 death of their two-year-old son
Robyn, who died from a bowel obstruction after they relied on
"spiritual" in lieu of medical healing. "In a 6-1 decision, the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict on a
narrow point of law. The justices said the Twitchells 'reasonably
believed' they could rely on spiritual treatment without fear of
criminal prosecution because a church publication the father had read
suggested as much. The argument should have been presented to the
jury, the court said...[leaving] it to prosecutors to decide on a
retrial...Between 1980 and 1990, seven Christian Scientist parents
were prosecuted on charges ranging from murder and manslaughter to
neglect. Five were convicted, one was acquitted, and once case was
dismissed." (Parents Cleared in Court, Martinsburg Journal, 8/12/93)
Having ordered the Christian Science Church to pay $5.2 million in
damages in the death of Ian Lundman, an 11-year-old diabetic boy, who
did not receive medical treatment, a Minneapolis jury adds another $9
million in punitive damages in a suit brought by Ian's father Douglas
against his former wife Kathleen, her husband William McKnown, the
church and church officials. According to one juror, the issue was not
religious freedom but whether the boy had any choice in determining
medical care that could have saved his life. (Church Damages
Increased, Washington Post, 8/26/93)
Donnell Robinson, the Prince William toddler whose violent death last
May sparked reviews of Virginia child abuse laws, was shaken so hard
that blood vessels in his eyes burst, as his brain was whiplashed back
and forth with five times the gravitational force that would cause a
jet pilot to blackout. Craig Futterman, a pediatrician who treated
Donnell in Fairfax Hospital's emergency room, testified the 2-year-
old's injuries could only have been caused by "shaken baby syndrome."
Fatai Olatoni "Tony" Okedji, the 28-year-old boyfriend of Donnell's
mother, Bevene "Clare" Adams, has been charged with second-degree
homicide. The toddler's babysitter charges Prince Williams officials
were not aggressive enough in handling her abuse complaint against the
pair filed three weeks before Donnell's death. Okedji faces a maximum
of one year imprisonment and a $2,500 fine in an earlier assault on
Donnell, described by defense attorney's as "a disciplinary beating,".
('Shaken Baby Syndrome' Cited in Death, Spencer Hsu, WP, 9/3/93)
"The stocky, middle-aged man had been referred to me for psychiatric
treatment as part of a court-ordered rehabilitation program designed
to curb his domestic violence...'Take my daughter,' he said with
pride. 'She knows right from wrong now. When I call her she's already
petrified when she gets to my chair. She's in tears before I even
touch her. If I just use a certain tone of voice, she'll start
trembling.' Before he spent 15 minutes in my office, I knew I disliked
him intensely...If I had been introduced to him in...a social setting,
I would have done my bet to avoid him. As a psychiatrist, however, I
couldn't avoid him. Moreover, I knew I would have to forge enough of a
connection with him and delve deeply enough into his life to try to
help him. The empathic imperative is both the heart of effective
psychiatric practice and one of the most emotionally draining aspects
of practicing psychiatry...We are routinely called upon to summon a
regard even for those who have no regard for us, themselves, or
others." --Keith Ablow, MD, medical director, Tri-County Mental Health
Centers, Lynn, MA. (Personality Conflicts, Ablow, WP Health, 9/21/93)
"John and Mary James," a suburban Maryland couple were about to drop
their suit against a fertility specialist for using his own sperm to
father their two young children, after a federal judge ruled they
could not use pseudonyms when the case went to trial. But an appeals
court is asking the judge to reconsider. "They want to sue Cecil
Jacobsen. They feel they've been wronged. But more than anything else,
they want to protect their children, and if the court had not granted
then anonymity, they would not have gone forward with this case." --
William Snead III, the couple's attorney. (Judge to Reconsider Plea
for Anonymity, Bill Miller, Washington Post, 10/6/93)
Dateline World
"The tourist industry brings in $4...to 5 billion into Thailand
annually. Many of the 5 million tourists...see the Buddhist temples,
but Patpong Street, where sex is the business, is an even bigger
attraction. And...child prostitution is a growth industry...The
Norwegian government prepared a report on the number of children for
sale globally. They estimated 1 million, most of them in Asia, with a
concentration of kids for sale in Bangkok." (Freedom and Slavery, John
Cavanaugh-O'Keefe, op ed, National Catholic Register, 7/11/93)
"Feeding hungry orphans in Russia is not only good humanitarianism and
good American defense policy, it's good business, says former US
Ambassador Gilbert A. Robinson. If the big corporations want to cash
in on what may be a future gold mine of markets in the Commonwealth of
Independent States, they should start now by showing some sacrifice of
good will, he says." (Firms Adopt Feeding Plan for Orphans. Larry
Witham, Washington Times, 11/16/93)
"Sabrina Adams jumped up from her chair, grabbed a point-and-shoot
camera off the kitchen table, and shoots a quick picture of 5-month-
old Alexander stroking the family's calico cat. A cute-as-heck photo
for the family album, sure. But for Adams, the simple action means a
lot more. At the end of September, when Adams met her son-to-be at an
orphanage in Tver, Russia, she had expected to pick up her newly
adopted son and daughter and bring them to the United States. What she
didn't expect was spending three weeks cutting through Russian and US
red tape in the midst of a near-revolution before she could bring them
home...to West Virginia." (After Red Tape and Revolution, Russian
Babies Have New Home, Kerry Lynn Fraley, Martinsburg Journal, 11/13-
19/93)
Facts of Life
Dr. Estelle Ramey, an endocrinologist at Georgetown University School
of Medicine, says girls have an edge over boys "from conception."
Comparing fetal development to a production line, she notes there are
no interruptions in the development of baby girls, but boys experience
a change after six weeks in their mother's womb. And while girls have
two complete sets of genes, boys have only one X and one Y chromosome,
with no replacement if one is damaged. "The female resists stress far
better than males," she concludes. "Consistently females did better
than males in survival." (Expert Says Battle of the Sexes Is a Matter
of X and Y, Peggy Swisher, Martinsburg Journal, 10/9/93)
Family Affair
The American Academy of Pediatrics' "Family Shopping Guide" lists
models of children's car seats manufactured to comply with current
federal safety standards. To obtain your copy, send a self-addressed,
stamped business-size envelope (SASE) to: AAP, Dept. MCW-1993 Car Seat
Shopping Guide, PO Box 927, Elk Grove Village, IL 60009-0927.
(Choosing a Safe Car Seat, Fran Jordan, WPH, 6/22/93)
"The speakers at the [funeral] service talked about the man's human
connections to family and friends. Even his business associates made
no mention of his many professional accomplishments but focused on
what kind of person they had come to know and love. 'Whoever dies with
the most toys wins' was regarded as a funny thing to say in the late
'80s, but since that day I've no longer been able to find the slogan
amusing." (Funerals Can Teach Lesson in Living, Michael Levine, op ed,
USA Today, 6/29/93)
Held in her half-sister Jessica's lap, 2 1/2-year-old Katherine Rose
Ahalt, of Martinsburg, WV, watched her favorite purple dinosaur dance
and march and sway to a dozen lively songs in her very own living
room." Katie, who has metachromatic leukodystrophy, could no longer
dance with her big friend, but she could and did smile, thanks to the
Make-a-Wish Foundation. The family was overwhelmed. "I think they're
wonderful," said Jessica, 16. "When they called, I was shocked, didn't
know what to say," her mother said. "I'm happy that it's going to make
her happy." (Barney Grants a Wish, Martinsburg Journal, 7/12/93)
Nicole Schoo, 10, and her sister Diana, 5, left at home during their
parents' Christmas vacation in Mexico are about to begin a new life
with their new adoptive parents. ('Home Alone' Kids Put Up for
Adoption, Kevin Johnson, USA Today, 7/12/93)
"All welfare reform tends to founder on the same rock. The question is
how to reduce the number of families on the rolls without penalizing
the children...A critical issue in moving people from welfare to work
has always been to make work pay. A working parent having to buy
health insurance and child care will often have less to live on then a
stay-at-home welfare recipient on Medicaid." Editor's Note: As a
former head of New Hampshire's Work Incentive Program to assist AFDC
families into financial independence through employment, I found the
discrimination against the working poor and against intact families to
be two of the most egregious aspects of the welfare system. (The
Welfare Puzzle, editorial, Washington Post, 7/14/93)
"We need a new national policy to provide America's welfare recipients
a way to break the unending cycle of dependency and to make their way
off the welfare rolls. We need to expand workfare, not welfare. Able-
bodied welfare recipients of both state and federal programs have a
responsibility to participate in workfare, and states have the
obligation to do so. Through workfare programs, recipients can begin
to enter the mainstream and become self-sufficient." --Senator Alfonse
D'Amato (R-NY). (Welfare Is No Cartoon, D'Amato, let-ed, WP, 7/14/93)
"Why, as statistics confirm, is the traditional American family
disappearing? Allan Carlson, in this well-researched and clearly laid-
out book, offers an analysis of American social history which attempts
to answer that question. He asserts that the weakening of the American
family began when a home-based economy gave way to an industrial-
based one." (The Family and Progress, George Neumayr, rev of "From
Cottage to Work Station: The Family's Search for Social Harmony in the
Industrial Age by Allan Carlson," National Catholic Register, 7/25/93)
"They took Jessica away yesterday. If you were watching television,
you know this. You saw her leave the DeBoers' house and you saw her
being placed in the minivan. And through the glass you saw her cry.
Not a gentle whimper, not an angry scream, but a heart-wrenching open-
mouthed wail--the most vivid expression of terror and sadness that a 2
1/2-year-old could produce." (The Real Power of the Tube, Ellen
Edwards, Washington Post, 8/3/93)
"In an instant, Jan and Roberta DeBoers' 29 months as parents was
over. 'Mommy!' 2 1/2-year-old Jessica screamed...as she was whisked
away from the only home she has known, away from her swing set, away
from her dog. The weeping DeBoers made a final lunge at the dark-
haired toddler they had fought a fierce legal battle to keep. They
were restrained by friends as their attorney carried Jessica away from
their two-story house, adorned with signs that made one last heart-
breaking plea to Jessica's biological parents. 'Dan and Cara, please
don't take our little Jessica away,' read the signs punctuated with a
red heart that was split in two and dripping red tears." (Weeping
Jessica Taken to New Life in Iowa, Washington Post, 8/3/93)
"We've been inundated with calls...You can take as much of the risk
out as possible but until their rights are terminated birth parents
have control over what happens to the child." --Susan Freivalds,
Adoptive Parents of America. (Jessica's Case Puts Adoptive Parents on
Edge, Julie Szekely, USA Today, 8/4/93)
"Baby Jessica's tearful return to her birth parents should not have
happened...an overwhelming 78% told a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll...the
toddler should have been able to stay with the people who raised her.
...The public has 'heard the child's wails,' Barbara Hanshu, American
Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, said." (Sentiment Strong Against
Jessica Ruling, Sandra Sanchez, USA Today, 8/4/93)
"Anyone who watched the heartbreaking scene on television as the
wailing Jessica was taken away from Jan and Robert DeBoer had to
conclude that something went terribly wrong and somebody in this drama
was villainously selfish. But the truth is a lot more complicated than
that." (Keeping the Next Jessica From Crying, Judy Mann, op ed,
Washington Post, 8/6/93)
"It is true, as the article ['Baby-Making in a Test-Tube,' Lifeline,
July 27] stated, that many couples who are unlikely to benefit from
IVF [in vitro fertilization] seek and receive the treatment, but as
long as the procedure is profitable there will be physicians willing
to perform it." --Paul Hurwitz, Silver Spring, MD. (High-Tech Family
Formation, Hurwitz, letter-editor, Washington Post Health, 8/10/93)
"Most worrisome to some experts is the child's age. Jessica was
removed at a time when children are particularly attached to their
parents an rely almost exclusively on them for a sense of security and
a sense of themselves. Stripping a child of these attachments can
impair his or her ability to trust others and, ultimately, to form
satisfying relationships in adulthood. For a 2 1/2-year-old, such a
move 'is a kind of psychological death,' said Stephen P. Herman, a
child psychiatrist affiliated with Yale University's respected Child
Study Center...one of two dozen child development experts who...stated
that it was in Jessica's best interest to remain with the DeBoers."
(Uprooting Jessica, Sandra Boodman, Washington Post Health, 8/10/93)
"The biological parents of baby Jessica brought her to their home for
the first time...The father, frustrated by media coverage of the case,
shoved one photographer and sprayed a hose at others." (Baby Jessica's
Father Threatens, Lashes Out at Media, Martinsburg Journal, 8/11/93)
"President Clinton's welfare reform task force heard firsthand...about
the anguish of life on public assistance...There were pleas to put the
Internal Revenue Service in charge of collecting child support
payments, calls to 'trash' and then rebuild a system that has become
an 'American nightmare' and charges that the poor have been
'colonialized' into substandard and dangerous housing...Clinton has
promised to 'end welfare as we know it.' He has said that welfare
recipients..should be required to work after two years of benefits."
(Mothers tell of Life on the Welfare Rolls, MJ, 8/12/93)
"The only good thing about the Baby Jessica case is that they
refrained from splitting her Solomon-style, right down the
middle...Instead they decided to go with the ancient law of DNA, which
says that children should be as genetically similar to their parents
as possible. This, of course, makes perfectly good sense if you're
raising those children to be a source of tranplantable organs--heart,
kidney, liver, etc.--for your own eventual use. But if you're not
raising your children to be organ donors--if you simply happen to
enjoy their company--then there is no reason to pay any attention to
the law of DNA, which originated in the age of pterodactyls and lava
pools." ABLEnews Editor's Note: Thou shalt not kill is an old
concept, too, but does genuine progress mandate jettisoning all
ancient moral norms? Leaving aside the merits of this particular case,
where quite frankly I favored leaving Jessica with the only parents
she had known, I find Ehrenreich's cavalier dismissal of the
biological bond between parents and child as prehistoric chilling.
(Want a Child? Take My Son? Barbara Ehrenreich, op ed, Time, 8/16/93)
"The girl who was swapped at birth in a hospital and won a court order
barring her biological parents from contacting her says she looks
forward to a normal life of school and boys--but no children of her
own. Kimberly Mays, 14, responded...to comments by the attorney for
her birth parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, that even when she is an
adult they will seek visitation rights to her children as the
biological grandparents. 'I'm not going to have any kids,' Kimberly
told a news conference. "I don't want them to go through what I went
through.'" ('Baby Swap' Girl Won't Have Kids, MJ, 8/21/93)
Surrogate mother Susan Chamberlain says her $25,000 deal to bear a
child for Joseph and Jean Kaplan was voided when she and Kaplan had
sex several times in the Kaplan home and a Long Island motel rather
than using artificial insemination, but Anthony DiSanti, a court-
appointed guardian, for Susan's 3-month-old son favors custody for the
Kaplans, citing their "moral fitness." (Surrogate Mom Sues for
Custody, Martinsburg Journal, 8/21/93)
"It's been four years or so since Michael Jackson moved into his
private preserve, the Neverland Valley Ranch. Located about an hour
north of Santa Barbara [CA], it's like a cross between the old family
homestead in the San Fernando Valley, which apparently was not the
happiest place on earth, and a certain Anaheim attraction
n named after Walt Disney that likes to believe it is. The recent
accusation that the singer molested a 13-year-old Beverly Hills boy
has drawn more attention to the ranch and its attempt to bridge the
unhappy childhood Mr. Jackson lived with the happy childhood he
didn't. It's every child's dream: a private amusement park. But now
the public wonders whether there might be a dark side to this kiddie
paradise." (Storm Clouds Swirl Above Neverland, Chris Willman and
Jeffrey Staggs, Washington Times, 9/3/93)
"As Dr. Judith Reisman wrote a decade ago, in his chapter on Child
Sexuality in 'Sexual Behavior in the American Male,' Kinsey & Co.
claimed that based on scientifically validated methods, they had
proven that children, including infants, 'sought adult sexual
attention naturally and were unharmed by adult and child sexual acts--
inclusive of fondling and intercourse and that in many cases children
were benefited and enriched thereby.'...In a new book, 'Degenerate
Moderns' (Ignatius Press) E. Michael Jones further investigates Dr.
Alfred Kinsey...'Beneath all the high-sounding ideas,' writes Jones,
'one detects the unsavory odor of hypocrisy and mendacity, and beneath
that sexual compulsion masquerading as scientific interest.'"
(Original Dirty Old Man, Pat Buchanan, op-ed, WT, 9/8/93)
"Most mothers hope that when their daughters enter adolescence, they
can help them achieve a full and happy life. But many mothers know
instinctively what recent studies have consistently demonstrated;
Between the ages of 9 and 12, when a girl is finishing her grade-
school years and entering junior high, her self-esteem often drops, as
does her performance at school and her outlook on life." (In an Age of
Conflict, Barbara Mathias, Washington Post, 9/20/93)
The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect reports that children
with disabilities are abused and neglected far more frequently than
other children. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), sponsor of the 1988
legislation mandating the study, says its findings underscore the
"tremendous economic and social pressures that are crushing" many
families with children who have disabilities and the need to help
them. (Disabled Children Are Abused Most, Washington Post, 10/7/93)
"Little kids can get very scared" by witch, devil, or dragon costumes.
"It's the whole idea of badness." --Joan Kinlan, MD, president-elect,
Washington chapter, American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry. (For Young Children, It Isn't Just a Costume, Sandra
Evans, Washington Post Health, 10/12/93)
"Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard Law professor is the mother of a grown
son born to her when she was 27 and two little boys she went to Peru
to adopt as infants when she was well past 40. She had spent the
previous 10 of the intervening years in unsuccessful treatment for
infertility that culminated in multiple trials of in-vitro
fertilization (IVF), the test-tube baby technique." (Quest for a
Child, Judith Randal, review of Family Bonds: Adoption and the
Politics of Parenting, by Elizabeth Bartholet, WP Health, 10/12/93)
The Census Bureau reports the number of American farm families has
become too small to count, adding that living on a farm is no longer
an indication that one is a farmer. Between 1910 and 1920, before
government financial and agricultural policies sought to eliminate
small farmers, more than one-third of Americans were involved in
family farming, nut by 1991, the number of farm residents had dropped
to 4.6 million less than 2 percent of the population. ABLEnews
Editor's Note: With the death of the family farm the heart of America
grows weaker. (Endangered Species, Wanderer, 10/21/93)
"Because Stern learned to get along in a shaming family environment
...he successfully recreates this pattern on his show. Underneath he
still fears the shame and humiliation of his childhood...His father
has always engaged in verbal put-downs. He calls Howard a moron, and
now Howard refers to others in the same manner. He learned from his
father the sense of power that comes from demeaning and humiliating
people." --one of two psychological profiles by psychotherapists of
Howard Sterns published in his book, "Private Parts." (Howard Stern,
All Id, No Lid, Richard Harrington, Washington Post, 10/28/93)
"It is extraordinary to think that the federal government wants to run
an experiment to test what will happen when poor families with
children have nothing to live on." -Mark Greenberg, senior staff
attorney, Center on Law and Social Policy, who says "the Clinton
administration has opened a Pandora's box with its decision to let
Wisconsin push some families off welfare after two years." (Wisconsin,
Georgia Get OK to Test Welfare Limits, Martinsburg Journal, 11/2/93)
"A fledgling movement whose goal is to strengthen the communities of
families, schools, and neighborhoods urged Congress to adopt pro-
family policies, including fringe benefits for parttime workers,
guaranteed child support payments, and elimination of the tax penalty
for married couples." ('Communitarians' Press Hill on Pro-Family
Policies, Barbara Vobejda, Washington Post, 11/4/93)
According to a study commissioned by the Department of Health and
Human Services, 22,000 babies were left in hospitals by parents unable
or unwilling to care for them. Three out of four of the "boarder
babies" tested have been exposed to drugs, and three out of four of
the abandoned babies are African American (Twelve percent are white,
and 8 percent Hispanic.) (Study Finds 22,000 'Boarder Babies' in US,
Barbara Vobejda, Washington Post, 11/10/93)
FDA Files
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s Endocrinologic and Metabolic
Drugs Advisory Committee recommends FDA approval of Nutropin,
Genetech's recombinant human growth hormone, which may help children
with kidney failure keep growing. (FDA OKs Growth Drug to Help Kids,
Morning Herald, 10/25/93)
Food for Thought
"The US government under Presidents Reagan and Bush supported a
'negligible [cancer] risk' approach for both processed and raw foods.
President Clinton is on the same track." (In Search of Pesticide
Peace, Goody Solomon, op ed, Washington Times, 6/28/93)
Researchers at Duke and Indiana University find that moderate drinkers
of one glass of wine, mixed drink or beer a day at age 66 to 76 have
slightly better reasoning ability than twin brothers who drank more or
less. (A Drink a Day to Make You Think, Mike Snider, USAT, 6/29/93)
"In Jurassic Park, dinosaurs are created using DNA from prehistoric
blood-sucking insects. Although the movie is extremely farfetched,
crop plans with genetic materials from moths, mice, fireflies,
viruses, and bacteria have already been created. Biotechnology
companies are already on the verge of bringing foods from such crops
to the market...Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration's
current policy for safety testing and labeling of genetically
engineered foods protects the biotechnology industry rather than
consumers." --Rebecca Goldburg, senior scientist, and D. Douglas
Hopkins, senior attorney, Environmental Defense Fund. (They're
Fiddling with our Food, Goldburg and Hopkins, op ed, USAT, 6/30/93)
"The report says 'Don't be scared,' yet they come out with this thing
that tries to scare you half to death." --Eileen Morse, Fairport, NY,
whose daughter and three grandchildren live with her, on the National
Academy of Sciences' report warning of the dangers posed to children
by pesticides in food. Editor's Note: For protective tips see ABLEnews
to Use on Tainted Produce on the ABLEnews echo and in the upcoming
July ABLEnews Review. (Parents Weigh Nutrition, Risk to Children,
Nikki Maute, USA Today, 7/1/93)
"We found that the anti-inflammatory action of chicken soup may
explain its salutary effects. We postulated that chicken soup may stop
neutrophil migration, thereby reducing inflammation, and indeed that
is what happened in the lab," --Dr. Stephen Rennard, California
researcher. (Grandma's Penicillin, Donna Thompson, CTC, 7/11/93)
While true food allergies affect fewer than 2 percent of the US
population, food sensitivity or intolerance affect many more. To
receive a free brochure from the American Academy of Allergy &
Immunology, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: "Understanding
Food Allergy," PO Box 1144, Rockville, MD 20850. (Do Some Foods Make
You Sick? Fran Jordan, Washington Post Health, 7/13/93)
When cows are sick they may be given antibiotics, which are often
found in their milk subsequently. While the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) sets "safe" levels of antibiotics in milk,
researchers at Rutgers University find "even those 'safe' levels might
be detrimental to the public's health." (Milk Drinkers Beware, Donna
Thompson, Catholic Twin Circle, 7/18/93)
According to a study conducted by Michael Siegel of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health,
and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA), waiters, bartenders, and other food service workers face a
significantly elevated risk of lung cancer from breathing customers'
cigarette smoke. (Restaurant Employees' Risky Business, Sandra
Boodman, Washington Post Health, 8/3/93)
Motivated by an outbreak of food poisoning last January traced to
undercooked hamburgers tainted with E. coli bacteria that led to the
deaths of two children, The Agriculture Department orders that all raw
or partially cooked meat sold in America after October 15 must be
labeled with safe handling instructions. (US Orders Labels on Raw
Meat, Martinsburg Journal, 8/12/93)
"For spectators in the slow, clause-by-clause trench warfare that
finally produced nutrition labeling on packaged foods in 1992, the
swift adoption of safe-handling labels on meat and poultry is a
refreshing contrast. The reason is simple enough: On this matter the
Agriculture Department happened to be in substantial agreement with
the main outside campaign pressing for labels, scientist Jeremy
Rifkin's Beyond Beef...The Beyond Beef campaign, whose longer range
purpose is cutting world beef consumption in half, criticizes the
mandated labels for lack of specifics...It's a good start and it ought
to proceed." (Safer Meat, editorial, Washington Post, 8/17/93)
"The Clinton administration is preparing to ask Congress to relax a
long-standing ban on cancer-causing pesticides in food. The move is
part of a plan to revise food safety standards, administration
officials said. The most controversial part of the package is...the
'negligible risk factor' standard...(that) would...allow (pesticides)
that present a lesser risk. The cutoff point is still being
debated...That proposal would replace the Delaney Clause of the
Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which strictly prohibits
carcinogens in processed foods...Environmental groups are opposed to
any weakening of the Delaney Clause. 'It's very difficult to conceive
of a food safety plan that is worth its name that doesn't contain a
strong support for Delaney and an expansion of that concept, rather
than a weakening of it,' said Jay Feldman, executive director of the
National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides...Representatives
of the food industry, who have long worked to see pesticide
restrictions loosened voiced...support for the package." (Relaxed Food
Safety Rules on Pesticides to Be Sought, John Schwartz, WP, 8/20/93)
"There's no getting around it: The magnitude of one's blood pressure
correlates neatly with the circumference of one's waist. Which means,
two new studies conclude, that losing just a few pounds can make a
long-lasting dent in many cases of mild hypertension...Adding modest
doses of medication to such healthful lifestyle changes can further
lower blood pressure, reducing the risk of stroke or heart attack. An
estimated 50 million Americans have hypertension (many of them
unknowingly)." (Pounds and Pressure, Rita Rubin, USNWR, 8/23/93)
"I think there's no question any longer of the relationship between
diet and chronic diseases and the consequences children face of
lifestyle dietary patterns that are too often high in fat and sodium."
--Ellen Haas, Assistant Secretary for Food and Consumer Services, US
Department of Agriculture (USDA). 25 million children take part in the
school lunch program where only 2 percent of the fruits and vegetables
provided free to schools are fresh. While Dorothy Caldwell, president
of the American School Food Service Association, welcomes USDA's
promise to increase fruits and vegetable in school lunches, Caldwell
is concerned that the produce arrive in satisfactory condition so that
they "will be eaten by the students who will benefit from them." (USDA
Seeks to Improve School Lunch Nutrition, Carole Sugarman, WP, 9/8/93)
"The way we guarantee water safety for the American people is broken
and it needs to be fixed." --Carol Browner, administrator,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announcing Clinton
administration legislative proposals to strike a balance between
assuring citizens that public water supplies are not contaminated and
satisfying concerns of local government officials about the costs and
burdens of meeting current federal safety requirements. Eric Olson, an
attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, however, is wary
that the "fine print" in the Clinton proposal giving flexibility to
local governments might allow them to "evade national standards
completely." (Drink Water Proposals Combine Aid, Flexibility, Tom
Kensworthy, Washington Post, 9/9/93)
According to French scientists, fish, vegetables, a sprinkle of olive
oil, bread, fruit, and a glass of wine is the ideal menu to avoid
heart ailments, when combined with reduced meat consumption and
avoidance of butter and cream. (Heart Patients Prosper on
Mediterranean Diet, Washington Post Health, 9/14/93)
The world's largest preventable cause of mental impairment, iron
deficiency, would costs pennies a day to prevent, James Grant,
executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),
advises. (Iodine Deficiency Has Cheap Solution, Sandy Rovner,
Washington Post Health, 9/14/93)
The Clinton administration's bid to move the authority to inspect meat
from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is running into heavy flak on Capitol Hill.
Leading the barrage is House Speaker Thomas Foley, a Democrat from
Washington state where tainted hamburgers killed three children last
January. Other opponents of the White House plan include Rep. Kika de
la Garza (D-TX), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee; Rep.
Charles Stenholm (D-TX), a member of the same committee; and Sen. Dale
Bumpers (D-AR), a member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations
Subcommittee. (Foley Leads Opposition to Food-Safety Changes,
Christopher Hanson, Washington Times, 9/16/93)
"Most Americans...eat Chinese food all wrong. The dishes most people
like best...are the least healthy ones: moo shoo pork, sweet-and-sour
dishes, and beef with broccoli. 'Look at older Chinese,' says Carrie
Chang. 'They're not fat.' Native Chinese and Chinese-Americans eat
four times as much rice with their meals and tend not to eat much of
the rich sauce that comes with beef, chicken, and vegetable dishes.
The typical American diner often dumps an entire entree--sauce and
all--on top of a mound of rice. 'The rice soaks up the sauce, and
you've got yourself a cholesterol bomb,' says researcher Hurley."
(Pork, Sweat, and Tears, Julie Tilsner, Business Week, 9/20/93)
"'Life's uncertain. Eat dessert first.' It's a playful bumper-sticker
slogan, but when it comes to feeding kids some nutritionists treat it
like the gospel. Desert first? Have they flipped their carbohydrate
lids?" (Why Not Desert First? Carole Sugarman, WP Health, 9/21/93)
"This is an epidemic. Americans are talking health and being couch
potatoes and eating a high-fat diet. There are too many work-saving
devices. We're not using our bodies." --Dr. George Blackburn, Harvard
Medical School. (Fat Keeps Winning Battle of Bulge, Nanci Hellmich,
USA Today, 9/23/93)
"Only time will tell if an alligator can be domesticated or whether it
is better off in the bayou. Consumer advocate Ellen Haas, who spent
her career snapping at the heels of the Department of Agriculture, has
finally stepped inside. As USDA's assistant secretary for food and
consumer services, Haas is the nation's top school lunch lady." (From
Adversary to Appointee at Agriculture, Carole Sugarman, WP, 10/4/93)
"Is a diet worth $179.89 per pound? That's the cost of shedding and
keeping off excess weight in a popular, medically supervised liquid-
diet program, according to a new study. The study, which looked at one
of several programs that limit patients to 450 to 800 calories
generally by protein drinks, documented that it is costly for patients
to participate in these programs and that the outcome is often poor."
(High Cost of Shedding Pounds, Christine Russell, WP Health, 10/12/93)
"Roasted chicken outlets are cropping up faster than you can scramble
an egg...The advantage of roasted chicken over fried chicken is less
fat, particularly at places that use rotisserie cooking...But unless
consumers are willing to also strip roasted chicken of its tasty skin,
the savings in calories and fat will not be very significant." (Pick
of the Chick: Roasted vs. Fried, Sally Squires, WP Health, 10/12/93)
"She once got herself in trouble by putting down the home-baked
cookie, and now Hillary Rodham Clinton has "dissed" another humble
culinary staple-the pea. 'Hardly anyone likes peas,' Clinton said...as
she visited the set of "Sesame Street' in New York to record some
health advise for preschoolers....Big Bird disagreed with the first
lady." (On the Pulse, Washington Post Health, 10/19/93)
"One of the great insults of aging is the advice from family members
to eliminate or curtail a lifelong coffee or tea habit because of
concerns about is effects on heart conditions and cancers. Two new
studies are suggesting that caffeine may not play a troublesome role
for women...Pamela Starke-Reed, the coordinator for nutritional
research at the National Institute on Aging,...said that caffeine may
be useful as a cognitive stimulant in older people. But she cautioned
that for about 5% of Americans, caffeine 'either makes them too hyper
or its acid content causes gastric problems.'" (Quiz Caffeine's Impact
on Older Women, Sandy Rovner, Washington Post Health, 10/26/93)
"We can't continue to deep fry our children's health." --Mike Espy,
Secretary, Department of Agriculture, releasing a report finding that
America's school cafeterias give students too much salt and fat,
contributing to cancer, heart disease, and other ailments. According
to the report, school lunches exceed governmental dietary guidelines
for fat by 25%, and saturated fat levels by 50%. Sodium is nearly
twice the recommended amount. (School Lunches Criticized, MH, 10/27/83)
In advertisements in Cosmopolitan, Kathy Morgan claims she "lost 52
pounds with the most amazing diet discovery available today!"
According to the ads, the discovery: the LIPO/Trim pill "makes it
possible to loose 6 to 10 pounds a week, while eating fried chicken,
meatballs on a hoagie roll, pork chops, double burger and would you
believe even Belgian waffles and pancakes with syrup. " "These false
promises hurt consumers' health and their pocketbooks." Richard
Schrader, acting commissioner of New York's Department of Consumer
Affairs, charging Hanover Labs and six other firms with deceiving and
misleading consumers." (Those Fat-Pill Ads Thin on Truth, Rosemary
Lavan, New York Daily News, 10/28/93)
"Some of the 30,000 doctors, nurses, and researchers at the American
Heart Association's annual meeting talk healthy diets out of ones side
of their mouth, and put burgers and fries in the other. At lunch they
clogged their arteries with meals high in cholesterol, fat, and
sodium, all of which contribute to heart disease. 'It was convenient
and quick,' Dr. Paul Colavita said as he gulped down a Big Bacon
Classic Burger and Biggie Fries at a Wendy's near the convention site
the Georgia World Congress Center. But doesn't it set a bad example
for doctors to be seen eating such fatty meals? 'Not me, because I
took my name tag off.' Colavita said." (Do As I Say, Not as I Do:
Heart Doctors Load Up on Junk Food, Martinsburg Journal, 11/10/93)
Heart Stoppers
"Ultimately, Marcia Rimland saw death as the only protection for
herself and her 4-year-old daughter. 'Please forgive me,' said her
suicide note to her two grown children. 'I have no choice.' She was
certain--dead certain--that her estranged husband had been sexually
abusing their daughter Abigail. But Abigail's father, and a judge,
said that the abuse never occurred, that the child was coached, that
Rimland was overly protective--or vengeful. When [Family Court Judge
William Warren] ruled that Abigail's father, Arie Adler, could
continue to visit Abigail, Rimland brought a final, horrific end to
the dispute." (Fear of Sex Abuse Leads to Child's Murder, Mom's
Suicide, Martinsburg Journal, 7/12/93)
A special section of the Summer 1993 Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare
Ethics is devoted to neonatal euthanasia. "Quite possibly as a natural
outgrowth of the euthanasia movement there," the editors observe,
"concerns about incompetent patients qualifying for the 'kindness' of
euthanasia have led to reports of active involuntary euthanasia, not
only of adults but of handicapped newborns." (Infanticide Rampant in
the Netherlands, NRL News, 9/30/93)
The arrest of 30-year-old Gail Savage of Wauconda, IL on charges of
killing her three babies, whose deaths were first ascribed to sudden
infant death syndrome, raises a disturbing question. "How many SIDS
deaths are actually homicides?" According to experts, the answer is
unknowable. Dr. Maria Valdes-Dapena, a pediatric pathologist at the
University of Miami, estimates no more than 2 percent of SIDS cases
are actually slayings, but others put the number as high as 10
percent. (Scientists Still Struggle With the Enigma of Crib Death,
Martinsburg Journal, 9/28/93)
The Dana Foundation is underwriting a three-year, $2.5-million project
to discover the genetic basis for manic-depressive disorder which
affects one out of one hundred Americans (two and a half million).
Prof. Kay Jamison, of John Hopkins, says finding a genetic link will
add to early diagnosis. CURE Comment: Let's hope early diagnosis leads
to early treatment and not early euthanasia as all too often occurs.
(Genetic Source Sought for Manic-Depression, WP Health, 10/19/93)
Lights, Cameras, Action
"'I cannot do this. Not only do I feel it's wrong personally, it's
totally against the character.'" --Susan Howard, actress. Ms. Howard,
a regular on the TV show 'Dallas,' rejected a script that called for
her to abort a Downs syndrome baby. The changed script provided for a
miscarriage with Ms. Howard subsequently doing volunteer work with
Downs children, a portrayal for which she won an acting award." (CGA
World, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1993)
"Everyone loves a love story, and 'Sleepless in Seattle' delivers the
goods without sex or violence. It even suggests that responsible
parenting can be a turn-on...But [writer-director Nora Ephron's]
characters' constant references to 'An Affair to Remember' [Leo
McCarey's 36-year-old classic] only hints at the older film's real
subject matter...'An Affair to Remember' illuminates its characters'
moral choices...(and) reveals the power of love to redeem lost souls
when it is formed by fidelity and suffering. 'Sleepless in Seattle' is
about the excitement of being IN love WITH love. Its charm is only
skin deep." (In Love with Love, John Prizer, rev, NCR, 7/18/93)
Medicine Chest
Health magazine warns that iron, an essential nutrient for expectant
mothers can be a death sentence for inquisitive toddlers. Eating just
six of the shiny, brightly colored, sugar-coated pills can kill a one-
-year-old. (Pills that Kill, Donna Thompson, CTC, 8/1/93)
No Place Like Home
"New York City's new policy on homelessness sounds straight forward:
the city will shelter only families who have no adequate place to
live, screening out those with apartments of their own or friends or
families they can stay with. But carrying out the new eligibility
rules...will be anything but simple. Most of the thousands of families
who ask the city for shelter each year are not literally living on the
street with no roof over their heads. Rather, they are doubled up in
cramped apartments with their mother, aunts, cousins, or friends."
(New York Confronts Its own Shelter Rule, Celia Dugger, NYT, 8/12/93)
According to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
in a Baltimore federal court, city police and 35 "public safety
guides" hired by merchants under a special taxing authority "have
engaged in an apparent effort to expel an entire class of citizens
from the downtown area...based on their appearance and homeless
status." Sue Goering, legal director of the Maryland AC:U, charges,
"There was a decision by the city that it's not good for business, not
good for tourists, to have homeless people on the streets." ABLEnews
Editor's Note: I don't imagine it's all that great for the homeless.
(ACLU Sues Over Treatment of Homeless in Baltimore, Paul Valentine,
Washington Post, 8/19/93)
Larry Melton and Charles Squires have disabilities and have been
unable to find work. Until recently they lived at the Federal City
Shelter in Northwest Washington. The shelter, which is run by the
Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV), moved to evict the pair
after they criticized shelter policies on WPFW-FM. The evictions have
been upheld by a federal judge and CCNV director Carol Fennelly says,
"Now they'll both be out on the street." ABLEnews Editor's Note: I
don't know how "non-violent" that is, Carol, but it sure is
"creative!" (Judge Says CCNV Can Expel 2 Men Who Criticized Shelter,
Michael York, WP, 9/2/93)
With "scarcely a whisper from the White House," Senate and House
conferees ratified the termination of the Interagency Council on
Homeless to the dismay of advocates like Joan Alder of the National
Coalition for the Homeless. "Rather than kill the council we had hoped
the new administration would strengthen it," she lamented. (Federal
Council for Homeless Dies, Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post, 10/18/93)
Public Health Post
"Despite a natural home-state pride, the nomination of Arkansas' own
Dr. Jocelyn Elders as US Surgeon General should not delight those of
us who suspect that the social unraveling of America will require a
more subtle prescription than condoms all around...Let it be said that
Dr. Elders never made a secret of her views, or tried to disguise them
with the usual euphemisms. For that she deserves respect...Or, so it
seemed until last week. That's when it turned out that the Arkansas
Public Health Department has been distributing condoms with defects 10
times the normal rate...and that Dr. Elders, that eloquent orator,
never said a word about it. Not a whisper." --Paul Greenberg,
editorial page editor, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Little Rock, AR.
(Arrogance that Blinds, Greenberg, op ed, Washington Times, 7/28/93)
Stay 'Tooned: Boy, wearing jacket bearing "City High" stands hand-in-
hand with girl before condom vending machine whose lever is labeled
"free." The legend on the package he holds reads: "Warning: The
Surgeon General nominee has determined that practicing sexual
abstinence until you get married isn't worth mentioning." (Benson,
Arizona Republic, 1993)
"Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Pres. Clinton's nominee for surgeon general, has
been seeking confirmation under what may be a smokescreen of deception
and doublespeak. Dr. Elders, speaking...at a Department of Health and
Human Services meeting...asserted, 'The federal government will make
sure that every state provides comprehensive health education for all
children because we are holding the checkbook.'... This statement...is
at variance with Dr. Elder's testimony before the Senate Labor and Human
Resources Committee. There she repeatedly expressed support for local
control of education. 'I do not believe,' she said, 'that we can dictate
from above what communities need.'" "Dr. Elders' history reveals her as
a social reconstructionist, a social engineer, who would be capable of
side-stepping parents and local school boards to achieve her goals...Her
carrot-and-stick tactic is a common federal practice, leaving one to
only guess at which approach will predominate. Whatever the case, she is
being positioned to have a great deal of power." (Smoking Screen on
Elder's Sex-Ed Plan, Lawrence Criner, op ed, Washington Times, 8/26/93)
"Jocelyn Elders is a national leader in the fight to promote healthy
and productive lives for all Americans, especially our children. We
need this kind of courage and conviction as we work to tackle the
public-health challenges of the day." --T. Berry Brazelton, professor
of pediatrics, Harvard Medical School. (Jocelyn Elders's Compassion,
Brazelton, letter-editor, Washington Post, 9/2/93)
"We want to make it clear that this was a dubious apology...since she
didn't take back any of her false accusations. She says she's not a
bigot, but she goes around talking like one." --Patrick Riley,
director, Office of Governmental Affairs, Catholic League for
Religious and Civil Rights, on Surgeon General nominee Dr. Jocelyn
Elders' apology to Catholics for "any offense" her controversial
remarks may have caused them. "About Jocelyn Elder's apology, it's not
an apology, since a key ingredient of an apology is a recognition of
being wrong. What's clear is that she will disagree with people on the
most personal terms possible rather than answer them on the merits of
their criticism." --James Smith, director of government affairs,
Christian Life Commission, Southern Baptist Commission, who has been
advised by Arkansas associates that when Elders directed the state
Health Department for Gov. Clinton she "treated evangelicals with
disdain" and "vilification." (Catholics, Baptists Find Elders' Apology
Lacking, Joyce Price, Washington Times, 9/3/93)
School Daze
"The Chronicle of Higher Education...published...'Overcoming Legal
Barriers to Regulating Hate Speech on Campus,' a chilling presentation
of the argument for limiting, if not actually suppressing, free speech
on American college campuses...The authors of the article are Richard
Delgado, a professor of law at the University of Colorado, a Jean
Stefanic, a 'research associate in law' at the same institution...In
the ideal world as visualized by Delgado and Stefanic, the
expectations of the state are high indeed...These scholars of the
law...have it in mind to forbid 'severe, disruptive, face-to-face
insults' of any kind. The example they offer is illuminating, if
ludicrous:'...a professor saying to a student in the professor's
office, 'You incompetent, illiterate fool.'' If that's an example of
punishable speech, then we'd just as well admit the sky's the limit.
Anything that rubs some tender psyche the wrong way is grounds
for...what? Dismissal? Denial of tenure? Imprisonment? Drawing and
quartering? Take your pick. In the fascist state no punishment is
beyond imagination, and no power of enforcement too extreme. 'Free
Expression Monitors,' indeed! Send in the Gestapo." ABLEnews Editor's
Note: I'd like to express my opinion of Delgado and Stefanic but I'd
hate to be charged with a "hate crime" by the thought police, besides
Jonathan Yardley has done so with his customary clarity. (The Code
Word: Alarming, Jonathan Yardley, op ed, Washington Post, 8/16/93)
"We have to move beyond overviews into giving people an educational
experience, and sit down and teach people skill and techniques, and
get them into resources and reading and practices." --Elliott Dacher,
MD, creator of Northern Virginia Community College's mind-body
curriculum, which Dacher says embodies three principles: "[1] Health
is more of a verb than a noun, an intentional choice of attitudes and
behaviors that orient one's life in the direction of health and
wholeness. [2] Disease and adversity of any sort can serve as an
opportunity to develop new resources and capacities. [3] The shift
from treatment to healing emphasizes the importance of education and
self-learning and self-development as mind-body health care tools."
CURE Comment: We have seen ample evidence of Dacher's second principle
during our 12 years of service as a patient advocate network.
(Wellness 101, Margaret Mason, Washington Post, 10/18/93)
"More and more, parents are bombarded with reports of dangers in their
children's schools: from other students, from school food, from school
buildings themselves. How real are these dangers and what can parents
do to protect their children?" Colin Greer, president, New World
Foundation. (How Safe Is Your Child's School? Greer, PM, 11/7/93)
"Some parents at the prestigious National Cathedral School were
horrified recently when a homework assignment depicted what's been
interpreted as a negative racial stereotype. The fifth-grad math
riddle talked about gum-chewers being 'loud, drooly, and eventually
toothless.' It was illustrated by a pigtailed black child surrounded
by gum wrappers and looking startled. The non-gum-chewers ('neat,
prim, and watch their grammar') were represented by a placid-looking
white boy." (Homework That Didn't Make the Grade, Lois Romano,
Washington Post, 11/9/93)
"Doubts were expressed in early 1990 when Whittle Educational Network
launched Channel One...a daily newscast to be shown in high school and
junior high school classrooms....At the time, the doubters had little
more than a few hunches on which to base their opposition. Do kids
already saturated by television outside school need more of it inside?
And who is Christopher Whittle, the Channel One creator...with all the
markings of a money-monger to be opening a captive-audience market for
such advertisers as Pepsico, Mars, and Reebok?...The speculation can
stop. Channel One ought to be Channel Zero-it is worse than originally
thought." (Time to Pull the Plug on Channel One, Colman McCarthy,
Washington Post, 11/9/93)
TABulations
"Eugenics, a science to 'improve' the human race by preventing births
of the handicapped and encouraging births of those with 'superior'
genes, was quite powerful in the United States in the early part of
this century. It led to compulsory sterilization of many retarded and
insane people and to anti-immigration legislation. After the horrors
of the Nazi regime in Germany discredited the idea of eugenics, the
American Eugenics Society lowered its profile and eventually changed
its name to Society for the Study of Social Biology--a group that
still exists today. Eugenicists helped establish such influential
groups as the Population Council, the Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, and the American Society of Human Genetics, a major force in
the spread of prenatal testing and 'selective' (eugenic) abortion." (A
Different Take on the March of Dimes, Mary Meehan, NCR, 8/29/93)
Under the Dome
Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK) leads the opposition to Pres. Clinton's
Surgeon General nominee, Dr. Jocelyn Elders, whom he calls a "radical"
for her outspoken advocacy of abortion, sex education, and condom
distribution to minors. Although some opponents concede the nomination
will be approved, Nickles says, "I haven't given up hope." Adds Sen.
Trent Lott (R-MS), "Who knows what will happen over the August recess
as more information gets out about this nominee's background?" (Senate
Republicans Hold Up Vote on Elders Nomination, MJ, 8/3/93)
"The Senate engaged in an often testy daylong debate...over the
controversial nomination of Jocelyn Elders as surgeon general...
Tempers flared when Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-IL) accused Elder's
opponents of using 'character assassination'...'This nominee has
become the subject of an inquisition,' argued Moseley-Braun,
contending it would be 'unconscionable' to delay action to give
Elders' opponents more time to 'dig up dirt.' Sen. Don Nickles (R-
OK)...accused Moseley-Braun of violating Senate rules by imputing
'unbecoming motives' to other Senators. This prompted an angry but
only partially audible exchange of words between Sens. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-MA), an Elders supporter, and John McCain (R-AZ), a foe of
the nomination. Moseley-Braun apologized." (Elders' Nomination as
Surgeon General Stirs Sharp Debate, Washington Post, 8/6/93)
"Whatever Charles Foster can't give his son, Douglas...he can always
give him the look. I first saw it two weeks ago, as Foster, 37,
watched Douglas bouncing on his mother's lap. The child, 5, couldn't
stop laughing....Many loving parents stare at their kids that way.
Foster's look only seemed striking because he and his wife, Marcy, are
white and their adopted son is black-or as Dougie himself describes it
'brown.'...Always controversial, transracial adoptions are getting a
closer look, thanks to the Senate's consideration of a bill that says
race can't be the sole consideration of in children's foster care and
adoption placement....Critics, such as the National Association of
Black Social Workers, say such adoptions wouldn't be necessary if
agencies tried harder to find black adoptive parents. They fear that
black children raised in a white milieu may not appreciate their
heritage, culture, and themselves as African Americans." (A Rainbow
for Dougie, Donna Britt, op-ed, Washington Post, 11/2/93)
VITAmins
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing new regulations
which would allow products containing the recommended dosage of folic
acid, one of the B-complex vitamins, to advertise they could prevent
some birth defects. 6% of breakfast cereals are fortified with 100% of
the daily requirement of folic acid. Cecilla Royals, of Women
Entrusted, a group that encourages respect for women whose unborn
children have disability, is calling on government officials and
private sector leaders to promote a public awareness campaign. (Is
Folic Acid a Prolife Concern? Dale O'Leary, NCR, 7/4/93)
"The FDA's [Food and Drug Administration] report listing 500
unsubstantiated claims on vitamins and dietary supplements
demonstrates that this industry is incapable of responsible self-
regulation. It is discouraging that the bills [before Congress]
proposing to allow the marketing of vitamins, minerals, and dietary
supplements with unapproved health claims on their labels are
attracting broad bipartisan support." (More Power to the FDA--Not
Less, Steven Berizzi, Riverside, CT, letter-editor, WP, 8/13/93)
An FDA plan to subject supplement label claims to scientific standards
is the first attempt to regulate a $3-billion-a-year industry that
came of age in the flower-power days of the 1960s and is profiting
from the health craze of the baby boomers. But a bill sponsored by
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Bill Richardson (R-NM), requiring
that labels provide "truthful and non-misleading" information based on
the "totality" of scientific evidence, does not mandate FDA approval
for supplement labels. (In the Vitamin Wars, Industry Marshals an Army
of Citizen Protesters, Michael Weisskopf, Washington Post, 9/14/93)
"For decades the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American
Medical Association, and the pharmaceutical industry have been trying
to destroy the present free market in nutritional supplements by
classifying them as drugs, controlling their health claims, and making
them available by prescription only. Each time they have been driven
back by public rage. But they now appear close to success in at least
one of these goals by controlling the health claims of foods, of which
supplements are a category." (The War on Vitamins, Jane Ingraham, New
American, 11/1/93)
Word of Life
"Hundreds of Southern Baptist Churches offer Christian weight loss
programs. Presbyterians urge their congregations to explore the
connection between health and faith in asking them to swear off
tobacco. And a new Recovery Bible geared to alcoholics equates the
'higher power' often referred to in 12-step programs to God."
(Churches Focus on Link Between Body, Faith, MJ, 7/11/93)
Worth Noting
At the University of California at Irvine, researchers at the Center
for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory have determined that 10
minutes of listening to a piano sonata by Mozart raised the measurable
IQ of college students as much as nine points. While classical music
may enhance abstract reasoning by reinforcing complex patterns of
neural activities, the researcher believe the simpler, repetitive
rhythms of rock and New Age may interfere with abstract reasoning.
(IQ: Mozart Strikes a Chord, Washington Post, 10/15/93)
Wish We'd Said That...
Something in the heart and mind of every man and woman
recognizes truth, reality, objectivity, the given of life.
Having seen the truth, we then choose, for or against.
Education is therefore not automatic. It begins with a moral
choice, for or against truth. From their education goes in
either of the two directions: to enhance truth, or, at the
expense of truth, to enhance someone's private agenda. It is
the most basic of all choices we make, the foundation upon
which all other choices are made, the results of which lead
to life or death. (Earle Fox, DPhil)
...Glad We Didn't
The administration deserves some considerable credit and
strong public support. (Jeff Nedelman, president of the
Grocery Manufacturers of America, on the Clinton proposal to
allow cancer-causing pesticides in food)
A Word From Our Sponsor
OF NOTE is CURE's biweekly digest of disability/medical news. This Special
Edition focuses on one of many topics it covers. The editor, Earl Appleby,
is the moderator of ABLEnews, a Fidonet backbone conference, featuring
news, notices, and resources of interest to persons with disabilities and
those sharing their concerns.
Special Editions include Abled, AIDS, Cancer, Family, Health Care,
Legal, Medical, Mental Health, Seniors, and Veterans.
...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley
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