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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 1988)
Wednesday, August 10, 1988AThe Battalion/Page 3 • no State and Local ^Bank’s president resigns because of policy changes tting 'fsocif Debate continues over use of Retin-A for sun damage Acne medicine controversial anti-aging potion v DALLAS (AP) — For 34 years, e Sl111 Polly Lewis built a reputation as a tudjil tometown banker, servicing loans dth personal attention and working p to bank president. Now, her former customers say 1S1 ^ she’s been forced out by the Seago- ville State Bank’s board of directors, thf. Depositors and friends put up money for a newspaper advertise ment to protest her termination. Lewis’ departure has pitted loyal bank depositors against directors of the institution where she was hired in 1954. Depositors on Tuesday said the 61-year-old woman helped them get their start in business. A bank official, however, said that Lewis left after she refused to accept reassignment in a management sha- keup in the bank once owned by the late M.D. Reeves. “Reeves, who had been a banker for years and years and years, bred into Polly that the customers — the ial wt itt.lt arc ey also t (lit led al ant I'raeit re. cry ii; id enc are ave st people — built the bank,” Ray Com pton, a Dallas businessman, said. “Pappy taught her to work with depositors when they having prob lems, and that is country banking at its best. That was the way it was. This 'modern hanking, where they just foreclose on folks — she could not deal with that,” Compton said. Lewis, who had been Seagoville State Bank president for the last two years, declined to comment on the bank’s action, referring questions to her attorney. Compton, a long-time bank de- E ositor, said he was angered by the ank’s treatment of Lewis and had already taken some of his money out of the institution. “In the past several years, the area has been in a recession and a lot of people 1 know could not pay her and the bank on time for every bit of what they owed,” he said, “but could pay the interest or what they could.” By Marc Weisinger Reporter America’s newest answer to the fountain of youth, Retin-A, is touted as an anti-aging potion to reduce wrinkles and the effects of sun damage to skin. The applicable form of retinoic acid, already a patented drug, has been approved by the FDA for more than 15 years to use in counteracting the effects of acne. The drug, which contains Tretinoin, is a mix ture of retinoic acid and vitamin A and is now used for wrinkles. The drug was developed by dermatologist Dr. Albert Kligman of the Univer sity of Pennsylvania. Dr. Clyde Caperton, a dermatologist in Bryan, said, “I’ve been using it off and on for the past few months and I can definitely see the results in my face.” It is the first skin medication to have a signifi cant effect on the texture and the characteristics of skin damaged by overexposure to the sun. known as photoaged skin. Caperton said he sees no drawbacks with the drug, but other docters have different opinions. Dr. Carl Korn of the University of Southern California Medical School said, “The only thing I see Retin-A doing is irritating the skin and in creasing the susceptibility to sun damage and thus leading to skin cancer.” College Station pharmacist Sonny Ogbonnaya said some people may experience averse skin re actions. Sensitive skin may become excessively red, hypersensitve, blistered, crusted and mav develop a rash. It also may cause burning of the skin. The use of sunscreen is advised because the drug causes skin to become highly sensitive to the sun. “All Retin-A does is peels off your skin,” Jill Alderink, Ogbonnaya’s assistant pharmacist, said. Regardless of the harmful side effects some physicians claim the drug has, Retin-A is becom ing hard to Find. The drug has become scarce in the drugstores lately because ot its increasing popularity, Caper ton said. Although it is a prescription drug, any physician may prescribe it to their patients. Retin-A works on the top layer of skin, the epi dermis, and on sun spots. It helps thicken the skin as well as even out blotchy skin. It also aids in smoothing out fine lines and wrinkles caused by sun damage. Since it does irritate the skin, Ca perton indicated that a moisturizing cream should be used. “I have prescribed the drug to over 200 of my patients and they all seem to be pleased with the results,” Caperton said. “However I see no rea son for young people to use it except for acne purposes.” Beside the fact that Retin-A is being used for the treatment of acne and damaged skin, Caper ton said he and other dermatologists are satisfied with the drug because of their expectations of a possible prevention of skin cancer. But he added that these results will not be known for a few more years. ?d cm eople 1 adit iurs« i thet prott not est. irj et rlhe IS u ki» lave 2i New artificial fat product could prove dangerous to consumers By Andrea Halbert Reporter Dieters may rejoice if a new artifi cial fat product gains Food and Drug Administration approval. But Oles- tra, a fat substitute developed by Proctor & Gamble Co., may he too good to be true. Olestra could cause vitamin defi ciencies in consumers and waste dis posal problems in neighborhoods. Dr. Joanne Lupton, assistant pro fessor of scientific nutrition at Texas A&M, said Olestra promises to sweep the food industry the same way that NutraSweet did if the FDAi gives its approval. She said, however, that the product’s drawbacks may- stand in the way of FDA approval. “It works, tastes and smells just like fat,” Lupton said. “It will be very appealing to consumers.” Olestra goes a step beyond low- cal; it’s no-cal. The product is not ab sorbed by the body because t here are no enzymes in the human body to break it down. Although this charac teristic is the main advantage of Ole stra, it is a potential disadvantage. Lupton said no one has devised a way to dispose of the waste that would be produced. Disposal is a problem because Olestra is not bro ken down in the body and no known bacteria breaks it down. “This waste could build up and take over our sewage systems,” Lup ton said. “If the waste went un treated, you’d have to move people out of their neighborhoods after a while.” This is not the only potential problem with Olestra, Lupton said. If Olestra became the primary fat source in people’s diets, she said, negative health effects could result. Lupton specializes in dietary Fib ers, foods that are not absorbed by the body. She testified at FDA hear ings last year about possible side-ef fects of Oletra. She said it is a possible that Oles tra would cause fat-soluble vitamins to pass through the body without be ing absorbed. This could result in vi tamin deficiencies in the body. “We can’t be sure that this would happen,” she said, “but there’s no conclusive data to show that it wouldn’t happen.” Teen looks for sister who may save his life AUSTIN (AP) — Thirteen-year- old Kenny Hammonds’ rare blood disease has prompted his family to try to find his sister, who they last saw nearly 11 months ago. “Please come home,” Kenny said from the living room of his Austin home Monday, after he and his fam ily learned he needs a bone marrow transplant from family members — and that the best possible donor might be sister Sandra Lynn Ham monds, 20. The family lost touch with Miss Hammonds, who went by “Sandy,” and does not know where she lives. She was apparently in Fort Wayne, Ind., in recent weeks, and has lived in Virginia Beach, Va., and Mobile, Ala., since they last saw her. She faces fraudulent check charges in Travis County, her father said. But Earl Hammonds also said the need for a family reunion has grown more vital since they learned of the serious illness faced by their son, an eighth-grader and top soccer player. Kenny has aplastic anemia, which his doctor described as a “one-in-a- million” illness in which the bone marrow virtually shuts down and stops producing blood cells. Kenny feels Fine and appears healthy, but his low blood counts will keep get ting lower unless something is done. MICHAEL KEATON... In an unexpected film... About thirty remarkable days in the life of an ordinary man. CLEAN SOBER AND WARNER BROS, presents AN IMAGINE ENTERTAINMENT production a GLENN GORDON CARON film MICHAEL KEATON KATHY BAKER CLEAN AND SOBER MORGAN FREEMAN M. EMMET WALSH TATE DONOVAN MUSIC BY GABRIEL YARED EXECUTIVE PRODUCER RON HOWARD WRITTEN BY TOD CARROLL PRODUCED BY TONY GANZ AND DEBORAH BLUM directed by GLENN GORDON CARON irfiR K RESTRICTED UNDER 17 REQUIRES ACCOMPANYING PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN ® DOLBY STEREO | ( IN SELECTED THEATRES WARNER BROS. A WARNER COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY ©1988 Warner Bros. Inc. All Rights Reserved NOW PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU!