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The Battalion
Serving the CIniversity community
Vol. 80 No. 192 CISPS 045360 6 pages
College Station, Texas
Friday August 16,1985
154:5!., :1HJ |
CVETHw
South Africa’s Botha offers no new reforms
Associated Press
DURBAN, South Africa — Presi
dent P.W. Botha rejected the one
lY6Pa(| man, one vote principle for South
'•o&biMfrica on Thursday, and told his
a prty he would not lead the country
“on a road to abdication and sui-
P-
sa '^ ec l ua I voting rights for
•iiUjJIQj all racial groups, including the 24
million blacks who have no vote at
:—all, “would lead to domination of
one over the others, and it would
lead to chaos.”
IIDSHol i “I ani not prepared to lead white
South Africans and other minority
groups on a road to abdication and
suicide,” he said. “Destroy white
South Africa and our influence and
this country will drift into faction
strife, chaos and poverty.”
He indicated no impending
change in the “pass laws” that re
strict where blacks can live and work.
Botha addressed the convention
of his ruling National Party, which
has been in office since 1948 and de
vised the apartheid system of race
discrimination that reserves the best
of everything for South Africa’s 5
million whites.
There had been speculation that
the much-heralded speech, which
was televised internationally, would
announce reforms in response to the
year of riot and boycott.
On “influx control,” which re
stricts rural blacks from migrating to
white cities where the jobs are, Botha
said: “I can only say that the present
system is outdated and too costly,”
and that a government commission
will complete a report on possible
changes soon.
Blacks say the most hated aspect
of influx control is the pass laws re
quiring them to secure permission to
work and live near white areas.
Botha said government funds
would be allocated to improving un
derdeveloped black cities and towns,
where black people live in shacks
without plumbing, often a short dis
tance from the private swimming
pools of privileged whites.
The president stated anew that
blacks. living outside the 10 tribal
homelands “are South African citi
zens and should be accommodated
within political institutions within
the boundaries of the Republic of
South Africa.” He repeated that
blacks should be allowed to own land
in urban areas and not just lease it as
is now the case.
But he hewed to the long-time
policy of his party that nominally in
dependent black homelands “rep
resent a material part of the solu
tion.”
Another idea he rejected was the
concept of a fourth chamber of Par
liament for blacks. The white Parlia
ment runs the country, but separate
houses with limited powers were es
tablished last year for ethnic Indians
and people of mixed race, known
here as “coloreds.”
He said South Africa’s future
must be determined by negotiation
among all its racial groups. There
are 2.8 million coloreds in the coun
try and 850,000 ethnic Indians.
The government will approach
the future “by letting the people
speak through their leaders,” Botha
said, and “by negotiation between all
these leaders.”
“We will not prescribe and we will
not demand,” he said. “We will give
so that others can also give.”
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312
stance on hiring
goals assailed
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Civil rights
hnd labor groups Thursday sharply
Criticized a Reagan administration
idraft proposal to abolish require-
nents that businesses with govern-
nent contracts set numerical goals
for hiring women and minorities.
At a news briefing in Santa Bar-
ftara, Calif., White House spokes
man Larry Speakes said the proposal
had not yet been taken up by the
■Cabinet Policy on Domestic Policy,
and “therefore, it has no standing
whatsoever as administration pol-
The regulations affect up to
F73,000 private firms that employ an
pestimated 35 million workers.
| A draft version of the new order,
I obtained by The Associated Press
I from non-governmental sources,
‘ said that under its provisions, a gov
ernment contractor would no longer
be required “to utilize any numerical
quota, goal or ratio” to remedy dis-
: -crimination based on race, sex, reli
gion or national origin.
It said that compliance with gen
eral equal employment opportunity
objectives would be judged by a
firm’s “demonstrated nondiscrimi-
natory treatment of its employees
and potential employees, irrespec-
; live of the number of minorities and
[ women recruited, trained, hired or
| promoted.”
( “It’s an unconscionable proposal,”
said Ralph Neas, executive director
of the Leadership Conference on
I Civil Rights.In Pittsburgh, the AFL-
| CIO’s executive council, concluding
I a three-day policymaking meeting,
i said “such a move would represent a
giant step backward in the fight
| against employment discrimina
tion.”
Virginia Lamp, a labor relations
I attorney for the U.S. Chamber of
| Commerce, said of the proposed re-
I vision: “We have not been actively
j seeking this kind of initiative, but we
s are pleased to see it taking place.”
Brian Chubb is afraid to look at the graduation block list while roommate Tony Franklin reassures
himself that he isn’t blocked. Seniors had until 5 p.m. Thursday to check the list and clear their names
for graduation ceremonies on Saturday. Chubb was relieved to find his name was not on the list ei
ther.
Danny strikes
coast packing
90 mph winds
Associated Press
NEW IBERIA, La. — Hurricane
Danny churned across Louisiana’s
marshy coast Thursday, spinning off
tornadoes, causing flash floods, and
keeping tens of thousands of people
from their homes and offshore jobs.
Danny hit shore Thursday morn
ing, with wind gusts of more than 90
mph. Gov. Edwin Edwards declared
a state of emergency in 13 parishes.
National Guardsmen were put on
alert statewide, but only three dozen
were called out to help with evacua
tions and other tasks.
More than 20,000 people lost
power, and indications were that the
most serious damage was inflicted by
winds behind the storm’s center.
By midafternoon, the highest
winds were 75 mph in squalls along
the coast, the National Weather
Service said.
An estimated 65 people were
stranded near Weeks Island on a
bridge over the Intracoastal Canal,
apparently the only place high
enough to be above the water, St.
Mary Parish officials said.
One person was hospitalized in
stable condition after a mobile home
at Kaplan was tossed and rolled
about 60 yards.
A flood watch was issued for the
entire state, and forecasters warned
that the hurricane could dump 10
inches of rain on some areas. Many
roads in the marshes near the coast
were reported blocked by floodwa-
ter.
All of south Louisiana was under
a tornado watch. Two twisters hit at
Grand Isle before dawn, and two
more tornadoes were spotted at mid
day, one in St. Bernard Parish and
one south of West Hackberry, offi
cials said. No damage was reported.
At 2 p.m. CDT, the center of the
hurricane was about 40 miles east-
southeast of Lake Charles.
The hurricane was weakening
and moving toward the north-north
west at 10 to 15 mph, the weather
service said. But gale warnings con
tinued during the afternoon from
the mouth of the Mississippi River to
Pensacola, Fla.
Six damage assessment teams
were to start work at daylight Friday,
Tom Creaghan, state director of
emergency operations, said in Baton
Rouge.
“We have experienced pockets of
damage — mostly from wind. We
won’t know the full extent until we
actually get out in the field,” he said.
About 20,000 customers were
without electricity for a couple of
hours in New Orleans; at noon
about 2,000 customers of Gulf States
Utilities were out in the Baton
Rouge area; sections of Crowley lost
power; and at Kaplan, transformers
were reported on emergency radios
to be “blowing like popcorn.”
Flood waters buckled a kerosene
storage tank at the Berwick Oil Co.
in Intracoastal City in Vermilion
Parish, said Hamilton Mixon, of the
state police.
The tank was leaking and officials
called the state emergency opera
tions center because of fears the ker
osene would get into area homes,
Mixon said.
“They’re calling this a class one
hurricane, minimal hurricane, and
that’s just exactly what it is,” said
Vermilion Parish Sheriff Ray Le-
maire. “A minimal hurricane,
knocking powfer out, a real head
ache.”
First bill introduced in 1981
Groups seek laws regulating VDTs
Editor’s note: This is the second in
a two-part series on possible health
problems associated with the use of
Video Display Terminals.
By BRIAN PEARSON
Staff Writer
Concern over possible harmful ef
fects of Video Display Terminals has
trickled into 23 state legislatures.
National groups — including The
Newspaper Guild, the National In
stitute for Occupational Safety and
Health, or NIOSH, and 9 to 5 (the
National Association of Working
Women) — have lobbied to get the
legislatures to consider bills to regu
late VDTs and their use.
The first VDT bill was introduced
in 1981 by a 44-year-old cleaning
lady in Maine who worked at a pub
lishing company. She heard VDT
operators complain of health prob
lems, became interested in the VDT
health issue and ran for a seat in the
Maine House of Representatives in
1976. She won.
Edith Beaulieu, an employee of
the Guigannett Publishing Co. in
Portland, Maine, told The Battalion
in a telephone interview that she was
National groups — including The Newspaper Guild,
the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, or NIOSH, and 9 to 5 (the National Association
of Working Women) — have lobbied to get the legis
latures to consider bills to regulate VDTs and their use.
convinced that she had to jump on
the VDT issue after reading a health
report by NIOSH. The report
blamed VDTs and the way they are
used for causing eyestrain, eye fa
tigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea,
body aches, miscarriages and cat
aracts.
Beaulieu said newsroom workers
at Guigannett complained of VDT
health problems identified in the
NIOSH report. Guigannett pub
lishes the Portland Press-Herald,
Evening Express and Maine Sunday
Telegram.
The NIOSH report said possible
VDT health hazards were caused by
radiation emitted from VDTs, glare
from VDT screens, lack of comfort
and mobility at the VDT work staion
and stress caused by demanding em
ployers.
The NIOSH report also sug
gested solutions to these problems.
The report asked employers to in
stall special equipment, such as ad
justable chairs, detachable VDT key
boards, glare control knobs and
tillable screens. The report also
asked employers to provide free eye
exams and more rest breaks for
VDT operators.
Similar requests were in Beau
lieu’s 1981 bill presented to the
Maine Legislature.
Beaulieu said she introduced the
bill to “educate legislators on the
VDT issue” and force reluctant em
ployers to meet NIOSH requests.
“When I put in the bill, I was
doing it on purpose to shake up the
establishment, and I never expected
it to pass,” she said. “The manufac
turers (of VDTs) came out scream
ing against it because they were to
tally paranoid about the issue of
even beginning to contemplate regu
lations in this area.”
Beaulieu’s bill, which made na
tional headlines, served as a launch
ing point for a nationwide attempt
by labor groups, such as the Guild
and 9 to 5, to force state legislatures
to take action.
Within four years, the national
groups had slowly carried the issue
to legislatures in California, Massa
chusetts, Minnesota, New York, Col
orado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Florida,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland,
Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jer
sey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Washington, West
Virginia and Wisconsin.
None of the bills passed.
The only VDT bill that came close
to passing was one that made it
through the Oregon House and Sen-
See VDTs, page 4
Variations in AIDS virus
hurting vaccine efforts
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The virus
suspected of causing AIDS has so
many variations in its genetic struc
ture that developing a preventive
vaccine against the disease may
prove very difficult, if it can be done
at all, researchers said Thursday.
Scientists at the National Cancer
Institute said they looked at the sus
pect virus found in 18 patients with
AIDS or at high risk of getting the
disease, and that each isolated virus
showed a different variation in its
genetic structure.
The findings, to be published to
day in the journal Science, mean that
it could be difficult to find a com
mon site on the viruses that can be
targeted for preventive and thera
peutic measures, they said.
To develop a vaccine, researchers
say they need to find a common pro
tein region, preserved in all varia
tions of the virus, that triggers an
immunologic response.
If the body has been previously
primed to produce antibodies to this
area, such as through vaccination
with the protein produced by the
targeted region, then it may be pos
sible for people to resist the virus
when they come in contact with it.
Drs. Flossie Wong-Staal, Robert
C. Gallo, Mikulas Popovic and col
leagues at the institute also said
there was no distinct viral pattern
found in patients with actual ac
quired disease immunity syndrome
as opposed to those with a similar
immunity disorder called AIDS-re
lated complex or those who were vi
ral carriers *
Gallo, a co-discoverer of the sus-_
pect virus called HTLV-III, said that
although viral diversity is affecting
development of a vaccine, it should
not have a great effect on efforts to
develop chemical agents to contain
the disease or attack the virus in the
cells of infected patients.
The studies, conducted with Phil
lip Markham of Litton Bionetics
Inc., and Robert Redfield of the
Walter Reed Army Institute of Re
search, also found that only two of
the 18 patients showed evidence of
actual infection by more than one vi
ral variant.