Page 6 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1980
Venom treatment possible forarthriti
:
United Press International
ATLANTA, Ga. — The govern
ment is considering a request to test
for the first time a controversial
snake venom treatment for two in
curable diseases — arthritis and mul
tiple sclerosis.
Dr. Frederic C. McDuffie, senior
vice president for medical affairs for
the Arthritis Foundation, said a qual
ified physician has been identified to
perform the tests on a group of pa
tients with rheumatoid arthritis “if
funds for necessary laboratory tests
are provided and drug approval com
es through.”
McDuffie also said medical au
thorities from the Food and Drug
Administration, the Arthritis Found
ation and the National Multiple
Sclerosis Society plan to meet soon
to work out details for the testing.
The snake venom treatments,
which use venom from two poiso
nous Asian snakes — the cobra and
the krait — are available only in Flor
ida because of restrictions imposed
by the FDA.
The foundation said controlled sci
entific trials have not been con
ducted on the treatments. Patient
testimonials, however, have gained
extensive publicity.
One out of every seven Americans
has arthritis and the foundation says
a million new victims are added each
year. Sufferers of these crippling ail
ments include 250,000 children.
McDuffie s comments were car-
Man indicted
for sex abuse
United Press International
HOUSTON — A former chil
dren’s home manager, against whom
homosexual child abuse charges
were dropped two weeks ago, has
been indicted on new charges of
compelling child prostitution.
Robert Cuellar, former supervisor
of the Harris County Burnett-
Bayland Home for Children, was in
dicted on the new charges last week
but the indictments were withheld
until Monday.
Prosecutor Chuck Rosenthal said
the first charges — 14 counts of sex
ual activity with boys aged 14 to 16 —
were dropped because of weaknes
ses in stories told by teen-age com-
plaintants and, in one instance, be
cause a boy disappeared.
Rosenthal said the two new child
prostitution charges arose from some
of the same alleged incidents.
Parents to get
$ settlement
in son's death
United Press International
AUSTIN — The Texas Depart
ment of Mental Health and Mental
Retardation will pay $75,000 to the
Family of an autistic youth who died
at Austin State Hospital, lawyers
Familiar with the case said.
The MHMR Department also has
agreed to revise its rules for the
treatment of autistic patients, said
Mack Kidd, attorney for the family of
Michael Shipley, 16. Shipley died at
the state hospital in July while re
ceiving heavy doses of tranquilizers.
Shipley had been in the ste hospit
al since November, 1976. An auto
psy determined he died from swal
lowing his own vomit and from heart
Failure.
An investigation determined the
boy also received insufficient atten
tion by medical personnel, that he
was given Thorazine in amounts
above those recommended, and that
the department had a general inabil
ity to care for autistic patients.
Attorney General Mark White de
clined to confirm the cash settlement
reportedly agreed to by the state and
attorneys for the Shipley family.
“There have been some offers
made, but no settlement reached,”
White said. “But I’m not saying that
that dollar amount is inaccurate.”
One participant in the negotia
tions said MHMR agreed to the set
tlement to avoid a court battle.
“I think that the state preferred to
pay the money and correct condi
tions than have us file a major lawsuit
protesting treatment throughout the
entire system,” said Dayle Bebee,
executive director of Advocacy Inc.,
a federally-funded organization cam
paigning for rights of the hand
icapped.
The agreed settlement in the case
is expected to incorporate many of
the recommendations of the MHMR
investigation into the boy’s death,
including increased staff-to-patient
ratios and stringent guidelines for
the use of drugs.
The proposed agreement will be
presented to the MHMR board
when it meets Friday.
Energy talks
in Kingsville
United Press International
AUSTIN — Representatives of
>oth government and industry in the
Jnited States and Mexico will parti
cipate in an International Confer
ence on Energy Thursday and Fri-
lay at Texas A&I University in
•Cingsville.
Dr. Duane M. Leach, president of
Texas A&I, told a news conference at
he Capitol Tuesday more than 100
Vfexican representatives were ex
acted for the two-day seminar to
liscuss energy problems common to
)oth countries.
Speakers for the conference will
nclude Robert Krueger, ambassa-
lor-at-large and U.S. Coordinator
or Mexican Affairs; Dr. Charles
rCbinger, director of the program on
energy National Security; G. Dan
lambo of the regional Department
>f Energy office in Dallas, and
rederico Price of Monterrey, Mex-
eo.
Texas Railroad Commissioner
vlack Wallace also is to speak, along
vith Carlos Castillo of Pemex, the
vlexican national oil company.
The conference is sponsored by
Texas A&I, Institute Tecnologico y
le Eustudios Superiores de Monter
ey, and the Texas Good Neighbor
Commission.
ried in the inaugural issue of the
foundation’s new quarterly news
paper, “The National Arthritis
News.”
The publication said the venom
treatments for arthritis and multiple
sclerosis were provided by two
physicians, Dr. Ben J. Shepard, 77, a
general practitioner who operates a
clinic in Miami, and Dr. Murray
Sanders of Boca Raton, Fla.
The venom is supplied by William
Haast, whose Serpentarium is a
Miami tourist attraction.
According to the foundation news
paper, both doctors were offering
varieties of the cobra venom treat
ment to sufferers of arthritis, multi
ple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s
disease.
Haast and Sheppard applied in
August 1979 for approval of the
venom treatments as an “investiga
tional new drug.” Hearings on the
application were held in Washington
in November and the FDA is now
considering authorizing tests of the
drug.
The foundation publication said
the venom treatments may not be
completely harmless.
“Doctors Sheppard and Sanders
have not performed scientifically-
valid tests to prove their effective
ness, and manufacturing methods
used to produce the venom, accord
ing to inspection reports issued by
the FDA, are questionable.’’
The dramatic improvement t
by some recipients of the venomj
not be an improvement at i
the foundation, but rathera
remission of the disease.
Foundation spokesmen!
however, medical authorities \
tate to discount the possibilihj
cobra venom may provide a pole
remedy for some forms of the q
pling diseases.
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