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8 Pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, June 14, 1990
U.N. officials name A&M hazard center
one of only two such facilities worldwide
By SEAN FRERKING
Of The Battalion Staff
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United Nations officials arrive to
day at Texas A&M to sign an
agreement designating A&M’s Haz
ard Reduction and Recovery Center
as one of only two like it in the
world.
A&M’s Hazard Reduction and Re
covery Center (HRRC) and the
other natural disaster center in
Thailand will focus on serving the
United Nations Office of Disaster
Relief Coordinator (UNDRO).
They will serve primarily as re
search and consulting agencies.
The HRRC, which was established
as part of the College of Architec
ture in November 1988, also will
concentrate on national disaster
plans and will produce educational
materials to promote public aware
ness.
The two centers initially will work
on two projects which focus on es
tablishing a data base for hazard-re
lated information worldwide.
Dr. Dennis Wenger, director of
the HRRC, said the centers also are
developing plans to deal with man
made catastrophes, such as the Ex
xon Valdez oil spill.
“We don’t want to only focus on
natural disasters,” Wenger, a profes
sor of sociology at A&M, said. “We
also have to plan for the new techno
logical mishaps that will make mat
ters much worse.”
Wenger said populations concen
trated in high-risk areas near a sea
coast or in seismically active areas in
crease the probability of costly disas
ters.
The HRRC also is studying the
long-range recovery efforts used by
the Caribbean islands of Monserrat,
St. Kitts, Nevis and Antigua follow
ing the destruction caused by Hurri
cane Hugo in 1989.
The partnership opens many op
portunities in international research
and grants the HRRC daily informa
tion on disasters worldwide, Wenger
said.
But even with this information,
annual losses caused by natural di
sasters are very difficult to calculate,
he said. He said damages probably
exceed several billion dollars a year.
“But that is only calculating the di
rect costs of the disaster,” Wenger
said. “At the present moment, we
can’t even begin to calculate the sec
ondary costs like lost wages or the
loss to the environment,” he said.
“Many of our problems don’t even
include figures from Third World
countries.”
Wenger said the new agreement,
which was signed in New York on
March 29, has helped pave the the
road to reducing time spent recov
ering from a disaster.
He said, however, the cooperative
efforts with the United Nations are
only a beginning.
Wenger said efforts to reduce the
cost of natural disasters should stress
preparedness.
He also said long-range recovery
requires experts in many Fields to re
search the best way to recover from
the problems nature can cause.
“I think it is important to stress
readiness in natural disasters,”
Wenger said. “We must bring to
gether a team of qualified experts to
deal with the plethora of problems
nature can throw at us.”
The research team at HRRC in
cludes architects, building and city
planners, policy analysts and engi-
“At A&M, we have perhaps the
largest and best multi-disciplinary
team of its kind in the world,”
Wenger said.
Along with the signing of the
U.N. pact, the HRRC is hosting a
two-day workshop, which began this
morning.
Hazard specialists from around
the country will meet at A&M to dis
cuss the U.N.’s proclamation of the
1990s as the “The International De
cade for Natural Disaster Reduc
tion” and listen to presentations by
members of the HRRC Advisory
Panel.
Drug information permeates TV
By MIKE LUMAN
Of The Battalion Staff
Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
ached thecfl Brett Hort, 10, of Bryan, enjoys the thrills and spills of his watery
in the Dist™ trip down the giant slide at the Bryan Aquatic Center,
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A Texas A&M survey found television is the leading
source of drug information for middle and high school
students in 24 Texas school districts.
The yearlong study, which did not distinguish be
tween positive or negative drug information, was con
ducted by A&M graduate student Elaheh Mirzaee for
her dissertation in health education.
The survey found that doctors, police and churches
provide little or no drug information to adolescents and
discovered parents were also an important factor.
“I was surprised parents were found to be an impor
tant source of drug information for students,” Mirzaee
said.
“Parents are certainly more involved than ever befo
re,” she said. “They are talking more about drugs, but I
don’t think it’s enough.”
Mirzaee said younger students depend more on par
ents and television for information, while older stu
dents rely more on friends and experience.
About 60 percent of those surveyed reported tele
vision as a leading source of drug information, and par
ents were reported by around 40 percent, she said.
Nearly 70 percent said doctors and churches provide
little or no drug information, she said.
Mirzaee said other studies have shown doctors to be
the most reliable and believable drug information
sources for students.
She said this is true, but doctors are not involved in
drug education.
Mirzaee also said police were an under-utilized
source of information, but noted they have had a posi
tive impact in some education programs.
“Some primary schools in Bryan-College Station use
police,” she said. “Police probably would not be effec
tive with older students who rely more on peers.”
Mirzaee recommends a coordinated anti-drug effort
on television and an upscale endeavor involving par
ents, doctors, police and churches.
“The schools need to involve parents in drug educa
tion programs, particularly those for younger ages,”
she said. “Student leaders should get involved more in
developing programs for older students.”
Drugs considered in the survey included depres
sants, stimulants, hallucinogens, alcohol and inhalents.
Mirzaee said it would be interesting to compare the
results of her survey with an existing national survey,
but has not yet done so.
Germanics
unite to hunt
for terrorist
BERLIN (AP) — German offi
cials in the East and West teamed
up to capture the second top left
ist terrorist suspect in a week, and
a newspaper said Wednesday that
police were on the trail of a third
such fugitive.
West German authorities
hailed the joint effort that led to
the arrest of 46-year-old Inge
Viett, and East Germany’s inte
rior minister called it an example
of “success in German-German
cooperation” following decades
of enmity.
The East German minister,
Peter-Michael Diestel, also prom
ised to investigate the extent to
which his country’s former Com
munist government had har
bored West German terrorists.
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Medical ethics come under fire
Professor examines doctor’s role in suicide
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
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Bringing murder charges against the doctor
who helped a dying woman commit suicide
would be absurd, a professor of medical ethics at
the Texas A&M College of Medicine said.
“If that were the case, then they should pros
ecute all those who manufacture guns and sell or
| make liquour,” Dr. Don Self said.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian faces a possible murder
charge for supplying Janet Adkins with a device
last week that ended her life in about six minutes.
Self said all A&M medical students are re
quired to complete a medical ethics course which
covers euthanasia, suicide and patients’ rights.
“To a large extent, those who approach eutha
nasia from a theological or religious perspective
consider suicide or doctor-assisted suicide uneth
ical,” Self said.
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But ethical decisions regarding doctor-assisted
suicide also should be weighed against the con
cepts of patients’ rights and autonomy.
“In almost all cases, suicide is irrational and in
appropriate and should be avoided, but at times
it is an option,” Self said.
Because Kevorkian supplied Adkins, a woman
from Portland, Ore., dying of Alzheimer’s Dis
ease, with the device and did not administer the
lethal chemicals himself, the suicide is considered
passive, Self said.
Adkins came to Michigan with her husband,
Ron, and a friend, but they left before she died.
Providing the means to commit suicide is a fel
ony in Oregon, but Michigan has no law against
suicide assisted by a physician.
Passive suicide is considered ethical by the
American Medical Association, but Texas law
prohibits it.
Aiding and/or abetting a suicide is a third-de
gree felony in Texas, Jerry Pickle, assistant gen
eral counsel for Scott and White hospital in
Temple and assistant professor in the Depart
ment of Humanities in Medicine said.
Pickle said Kevorkian and other doctors who
help patients commit suicide risk civil and crimi
nal penalties like fines, jail terms and restraining
orders for using devices that haven’t been ap
proved by the Food and Drug Administration for
medical use.
Additionally, such actions could cause doctors
to lose their licenses or memberships in profes
sional organizations depending on the laws of the
state where they practice medicine and the ethics
codes of the organizations in which they belong.
“There are different levels of ethical decisions
and lots of ethical issues in medicine,” Self said.
“Doctors should take seriously a patient’s wish to
take their own life.”
Bars promote designated driver program
Students get advice to drink smart
By KEVIN M. HAMM
Of The Battalion Staff
Serving as designated driver dur
ing an evening of hedonistic merri
ment is an unwanted burden for
most.
But local drinking establishments
and Texas A&M’s Center for Drug
Prevention and Education are mak
ing it easier for students to practice
responsible drinking.
In conjunction with the Texas
Designated Driver Program, the
CDPE is cooperating with local bars,
dubs and restaurants to encourage
responsible drinking among college-
age drivers. This age group is in
volved in more than 50 percent of all
motor vehicle accidents.
The center provides businesses
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with posters, cups and buttons advo
cating the designated driver pro
gram, who in turn encourage pa
trons to adopt the smart-drinking
[philosophy.
Deborah Theis, coordinator of
(the CDPE program, said the main
focus of the program is to inform
people about the advantage of desig
nated drivers and to get more busi-
Inesses involved.
“Most of them (drinking establish-
[ments) have been receptive,” she
paid. “They all want to get involved
6n some way.”
Seven local businesses participate
fn the program, but Theis said she
expects the number to increase in
Graphic by Jayme L. Blaschke
the fall.
More student volunteers will be
available then and Aggies Against
Driving Drunk will lend support to
the cause.
Don Ganter, owner of the Dixie
Chicken, said he backs the desig
nated driver program “100 per
cent,” but added it is not an absolute
solution.
He said in addition to promoting
the program, he employs people
whose responsibility it is to look for
patrons who might have had too
much to drink.
Ganter said he or his employees
have driven patrons home on nu
merous occasions, and have called
taxis or friends for people too intoxi
cated to drive.
“We’re guilty of giving people
rides home ourselves, even before
programs like this were in ‘vogue,’ ”
he said. “We’re extremely responsi
ble and sensitive about it as humanly
possible.”
But on the whole, Ganter thinks
students are becoming more respon
sible drinkers.
“I think there’s more of an aware
ness among college students than
there was two or three years ago —
it’s refreshing,” he said.
Paul Winston, manager of Sneak
ers, agreed the program is a good
one, and in cooperation gives desig
nated drivers free non-alcoholic
drinks.
But he said clubs only can go so
far to promote responsible drinking,
it is really up to the patrons.
“Because most people that are
going to do it (designate a driver)
have already made up their mind,
we’re just helping to push it along,”
he said. “All we can do is reinforce
the idea. We’re not going to change
anybody’s mind.
“The concept is good, it just needs
a little more work to get the message
out, let people know the clubs are
doing it.
“Anything (the program) can do
to help prevent drunk driving is a
good effort,” Winston said, adding
that Sneakers often calls taxis for in
toxicated patrons.
Rita’s Cantina Manager Robin
Burt said the restaurant also is coop
erating with the CDPE to promote
designated drivers.
The restaurant offers free non-al
coholic drinks and appetizers to des
ignated drivers, in addition to “ex
pressing our appreciation.”
Since Rita’s is a restaurant, not
just a bar, she said there hasn’t been
much of a change in the number of
designated drivers frequenting the
restaurant. But she agrees with the
program.
“It seems to be something people
are doing because it’s the best thing
to do,” she said.
Other businesses involved in the
designated driver program are Dud-
dley’s Draw, the Flying Tomato,
Waivers and the Front Porch Cafe.
Electric car saves gas,
produces no pollution
By JULIE MYERS
Of The Battalion Staff
It’s the future, he said as he un
plugged the car from its electrical
cord.
The car doesn’t use gas, pro
duces no pollution and is ideal for
use in heavy traffic because it
can’t overheat and uses no energy
while it idles.
Dr. David Swan, a research sci
entist at the Texas A&M Center
for Electrochemistry, drives one
of four electric cars used for re
search at.A&M.
Swan said when he gets behind
the wheel of his electric car, he is
driving the future of transporta
tion.
Because the electricity that
powers the car can be generated
at a power plant using a variety of
fuels like solar power, coal or nat
ural gas — which are available do
mestically — electric cars could
decrease the United States’ de
pendence on foreign energy
sources, Swan said.
Additionally, even though pro
ducing electricity at power plants
releases pollutants, electric cars
are still cleaner than internal
combustion engines, Swan said.
In fact, operating 33 electric
cars is as clean or cleaner than
driving one car with a combustion
engine. And they are more effi
cient.
Swan said electric cars also run
quieter, need fewer repairs and
use no electricity when idling or
coastin
Electric cars, however, weigh
considerably more than their in
ternal combustion counterparts.
A sub-compact, like Swan’s,
weighs about 700 pounds more
than a similar car with an internal
combustion engine. Swan’s car
has 1,000 pounds of batteries on
board.
With that added weight, they
still only have a range of about 25
miles, then they have to recharge
for four hours, he said.
Unlike combustion engines,
however, when electric cars run
out of power, they slow down, but
don’t stop the moment the power
is used up.
Swan said companies, like Gen
eral Motors, are trying to over
come the limitations of electric
cars that presently make cars with
combustion engines preferable to
the electric models.
An open hood reveals the elec-
tric car’s ‘engine.’
Photos by Eric H. Roalson
David Swan, research scientist from the Texas A&M Center for
Electrochemistry, unplugs an electric car after a battery charge.