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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1990)
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'e bui/dii]; anitizafor rant even spectionj a four-a ed during mall viola feredsani- on i nt story unit, 'Id the For nell thedet 'and btfe ‘ end, who at had be pelledlott refuse da; the quesno I she hast chemical c ie state tie: ng about I the alb part is lit ■vith no si: at this cot: an* :ord fhe “Bant ed because ceilings o! his way to ery record ; the Bant eries in tbc II in Texas ■ak that be nlSOOf 1 dups, said in Wood 1 I his nid- iringasbct during te Man alsc' n Lubboci mes in th liego area: iurt in tbt ,re worritd The Battalion WORLD & NATION Friday, April 6,1990 Study: Most abortions not stressful Researchers find no evidence of long-term psychological threats WASHINGTON (AP) — Legal, voluntary abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy does not threaten most women’s mental health or cause them great emotional distress, according to a new Study. Though some women may feel regret, sadness or guilt, “the weight of the evidence from scien tific studies indicates that legal abortion of an un wanted pregnancy in the first trimester does not pose a psychological hazard for most women,” said the study, to be published Friday in the jour nal Science. Olivia Cans, director of American Victims of Abortion, called the study “a manipulation” of data from earlier studies. “When you look at these studies, you can twist them any way you need to to get whatever con clusion you want,” she said. The new study was commissioned by the American Psychological Association, which asked six experts to examine all current research and determine if a valid conclusion could be drawn about post-abortion psychological effects. Nancy E. Adler, a University of California-San Francisco professor of psychiatry and lead au thor of the report, said the panel surveyed more than 200 studies and found only “about 19 or 20” that met solid scientific standards. Once those studies were examined, she said, the conclusion “was really quite clear.” The APA convened the panel in 1988 after then-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop reported that studies were inadequate to draw final conclu sions about the effects of abortion on women’s mental health. In the Science report, the authors said case studies have shown that some women do experi ence “severe distress ... after abortion and require sympathetic care.” But for the vast majority of women who have voluntary abortions, “severe negative reactions are infrequent in the immediate and short-term aftermath,” the study said. The greatest distress, the study found, “is likely to be before the abortion.” “Severe negative reactions after abortions are rare and can best be understood in the frame work of coping with a normal life stress,” the study said. “I feel comfortable about the conclusion that there is little psychological hazard for women,” Adler said in a telephone interview. But she noted that there is a need for scientific studies that would compare the effects of abortion with that of other stressful events in life. Adler said studies of the psychological effects of a death have shown that if there is no negative mental health response within a few months, there is little chance that one will develop later. Parliament declares democracy, works for German reunification Singer, senator express hope for AIDS victim KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) — Resi dents of AIDS patient Ryan White’s old hometown, many of whom fought to keep the teen ager out of their schools, ex pressed hope Wednesday that he’d win his latest battle — this one for his life. “1 hope he gets better and is able to do something in life,” said Brian Correll, 22, a student at In diana Unversity’s Kokomo cam pus. “I hope he can enjoy life a tittle more." White, 18, remained in critical condition at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where he has been hospitalized since March 29 with an AIDS-related respiratory infection complicated by his hemophilia. Singer Elton John spent his second full day at White’s room, playing tapes of his music, family spokewoman Carrie Van Dyke said. “He’s strictly here as a friend,” Van Dyke said. “He goes in and talks to Ryan, holds his hand and changes his music.” Also Wednesday, a U.S. Senate committee voted unanimously for a bill aimed at easing the nation’s AIDS crisis. “This one’s for you, Ryan,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, ID- Mass., said in a telephone conver sation with White’s mother, Jean- nie, after the Labor and Human Resources Committee approved the Comprehensive AIDS Re sources Emergency Act. The bill, which has bipartisan support, would provide an additional $600 million a year for two years to combat acquired immune defi ciency syndrome. White’s physician, Dr. Martin B. Kleiman, said there was still cause for hope. “He’s holding on,” Kleiman said. “His status deteriorated in the first day or two and then reached a plateau. Any patient who is critical must stabilize be fore he can recover and Ryan has stabilized." White is on a life-support sys tem. He has been unconscious and heavilv sedated so the equip ment would function more effi ciently. EAST BERLIN (AP) — East Ger many’s first freely chosen Parlia ment declared the nation a democ racy on Thursday and began building a political system that will lead it to unification with West Ger many. The lawmakers, elected March 18 in the nation’s first democratic bal lot, convened for the first time and formally dismantled the Communist system that ruled four decades. Meeting in the Palace of the Re public built by the former Stalinist regime, the 400-member Parliament began rewriting the constitution to mirror that of West Germany. The new legislature and the gov ernment it creates could be East Ger many’s last as a sovereign state be cause of the moves toward unification with West Germany. The Parliament empowered Christian Democrat leader Lothar de Maiziere, whose party holds the most seats in Parliament, to build a new government from the 11 parties represented in the legislature. Dr. Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, a Christian Democrat, was elected president of Parliament and urged that lawmakers “do justice to our re sponsibilities and that we soon sit in a common German Parliament.” Bergmann-Pohl said legislators must work with their West German counterparts to merge the nations and bring the capital of a single Ger many back to a united Berlin. The gathering was rich in symbol ism and was the culmination of the revolt that toppled the former Com munist regime in October. But the shape of de Maiziere’s government and the pace of reunification will likely be worked out in backroom negotiations. “Forty years of difficult times have ended in this moment,” said Lothar Piche, 63, the oldest member of Parliament. “God support our German fatherland.” The first thing the 390 lawmakers in attendance did was elect Berg- mann-Polh to be Parliament’s presi dent. Others seeking the post were out going Communist Premier Hans Modrow, who leads a rebuilt pro-de mocracy party that finished a distant third in the March elections. He fin ished third in the voting for Parlia ment president, behind Social Dem ocrat Reinhard Hoeppner. The Parliament also created an office of president to be a ceremo nial head of state and abolished the old Communist collective body, the Council of State. Bergmann-Pohl will serve as head of state until a president is elected by Parliament. Phillips reformulates gas in effort to make environmentally sound fuel ST. LOUIS (AP) — Phillips Petroleum Co. on Thurs day became the latest oil company to introduce a re formulated gasoline designed to be less harmful to the environment than existing grades. Phillips’ reformulated fuel — blended to reduce cer tain hydrocarbon emissions — will be tested in St. Louis, one of more than 100 cities that fall below the Environmental Protection Agency’s minimum stan dards for air quality. Charles Bowerman, a Phillips senior vice president, said the mid-grade gasoline, SuperClean Unleaded Plus, contains 20 to 30 percent less olefins and aromat ics and 35 percent less benzene than the average gaso line sold in the St. Louis area. The company did not make a comparison with the average gasoline sold na tionally. The rush by America’s oil companies to make gaso line less toxic comes in response to stepped-up govern ment efforts to reduce air emissions from the tailpipes of cars and trucks. George Caspar, a stock analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee, said oil companies are trying to protect their markets by developing “cleaner” gasoline that will help auto companies meet tougher air emission standards. “If the auto companies don’t get any help they may have to take some major actions that could hurt the pe troleum industry,” said Caspar. “We’re going to hear a lot about how great reformulated gasoline is.” The new gasoline is made by removing the more toxic compounds and replacing them with methyl-tert- iary-butyl-ether, a blending component with a high ox ygen content. Other oil companies that have introduced reformu lated gasolines include Arco, Marathon, Exxon, Amoco, Mobil, Citgo and Sun Oil. While the new gasolines are slightly better for the en vironment, they’re only a small step in attempts to end smog and other pollution in America’s cities, said Scott 66 T I hey’re missing the forest for the trees. These new gasolines are a little more benign on the environment, but they are not the best way for us to reduce pollution.” — Scott Denman, director, Safe Energy Communication Council Denman, director of the Safe Energy Communication Council. “They’re missing the forest for the trees,” said Den man. “These new gasolines are a little more benign on the environment, but they are not the best way for us to reduce pollution.” The Safe Energy Communication Council, based in Washington, is a national coalition of environmental groups working to promote alternate energy sources and better use of current ones. n set into 1 its where 1 rilante-typt •t trying t« it,” SpeA Drug treatment helps fight illness ige fellp'ti the Notil ing Hoi®' $7,500 re leading t° t. he wore 1 ivepipe l 111 efly earned .be Lineol 11 1. led on on and js an- lessup' NEW YORK (AP) — Each night Shirley Dawson went to bed, unsure if this would be the night the rare disease that had crippled her sons’ immune systems would take their lives. “I was on guard 24 hours a day,” she says. “If they would even cough at night, I would jump up. It was fear. We were always living in fear.” The boys — Dwayne, 15, and Le roy Jr., 12 — are victims of severe combined immunodeficiency dis ease, better known as “boy in the bubble” disease after a SCID child who survived by living in a sterile plastic bubble. Only 40 SCID children survive around the world. Thirteen of them live in the United States; two of them live in the South Bronx, in the Daw son household. But thanks to a new drug treat ment that essentially replaces a miss ing enzyme needed to fight common infections, the Dawsons sleep easier, the years of worry relegated to pain ful memories. The boys’ early years were marked by infections of every kind. They received weekly blood transfu sions and were stuck five, six, seven times with needles. The prospect of each hospital visit made them sick. They went to school, but were out more than they were in. Researchers create enzyme that fights rare SCID disease “Every night I went to bed not knowing — would I find them alive the next morning,” Mrs. Dawson re calls. The emotional toll was enor mous. “I felt trapped,” she said. “I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t dare think of a family vacation, which was sorely needed.” Her husband, Leroy Sr., remem bers working all day and spending all night at the hospital, watching his children grow amid IV tubes, oxy gen lines and monitors. “It was rough; trying to hold a job, worrying about the kids at the same time,” says Dawson, an electrician. Dwayne was diagnosed as having the disease when he was 18 months old. “He always had fevers, infec tions, they would just never go away,” Mrs. Dawson said. “I knew something was terribly wrong.” Dwayne once spent nearly 10 months in isolation at a hospital. He was released a week before Leroy Jr. was born, and lightning — in the form of SCID — struck twice. The Dawsons were prepared. Amniocentesis, a prenatal genetics test, had revealed the worst. When the test results came back, in Dawson’s fifth month of preg nancy, “I thought I was gonna die. I could have, you know, terminated it. But I didn’t want that. I felt we would just deal with it,” she said. For nine years, they did. But then Enzon Inc., a small, South Plainfield, N.J.-based biopharmaceutical com pany, developed what its president jokingly refers to as “our hairy en zyme.” Researchers believe SCID is caused by a lack of adenosine deami nase, or ADA, an enzyme needed to stave off infection. The enzyme is killed out of SCID patients in about a half hour. The treatment developed by En zon, PEG-ADA, is basically an en zyme with a hair-like protein at tached which allows it to stay in the bloodstream for up to a week. PEG-ADA, used experimentally since 1985, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration on March 23. There are no known side effects to the treatment, which costs about $60,000 yearly. The Dawsons long ago exhausted their insurance, and Medicaid is paying for the boys’ treatments. PEG-ADA was developed with a $160,000 grant from the federal “or phan” drug program, which encour ages companies to research diseases afflicting fewer than 200,000 pa tients. Most SCID patients don’t live in circumstances as extreme as the boy in the bubble, but no one would ar gue that theirs is not a lonely, iso lated existence. Their immune sys tems cannot fight infections as common as pneumonia and chicken pox; most have died before they turned 2. To date, the only cure was bone- marrow transplants. Those who could not find a suitable match had to be isolated from the public to avoid germs. Abbey Myers, executive director of the National Organization for Rare Disorders, applauds Enzon for researching this disease that affects so few. “These children can look forward to happy and healthy lives now be cause Enzon took a risk,” Myers savs. Lytle's Comics & Games Your complete Comic & Game Store. We can special order any game. Baseball cards also available Marvel D. C. Eclipse Viz Dark Horse With this ad receive a 20% discount on a 1 year subscription on any comic Normal 15% discount on new comics and games. 103 A Pleasant (Behind the farm patch) 846-2977 M-Th 10-6, F-Sat. 10-9, Sun. 12-6 Battletech Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Talisman Champions ULTRA HOT GRAPHICS Solar Guard 3M window tinting written lifetime warranty 846-5091 301 Texas Ave., C.S. across from Hampton Inn owned and operated by Tommy J. Cook A AM/PM Clinics • Minor Emergencies clinics • General Medical Care • Weight Reduction Program 10% Student Discount with I.D. 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