Page 8 • The Battalion
"P 111 B attalion
Tuesday • October 11,
Endeavours
crew spots
smoke on Iraq-
Kuwait border
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) —
Endeavour’s astronauts saw smoke ris
ing from the Iraq-Kuwait border on
Monday as the shuttle soared 127 miles
overhead on a radar-mapping mission.
The source of the smoke was not imme
diately known.
Astronaut Thomas Jones, who used
to work for the Air Force and CIA, re
ported smoke in southern Iraq marshes
as well as what appeared to be small,
black plumes of smoke rising from the
Iraq-Kuwait border.
Diane Evans, a project scientist on
the ground, said she did not know what
might be burning. Smoke usually rises
from Kuwait’s oil fields as waste is rou
tinely burned off.
Hours after U.S. troops landed in
Kuwait on Monday to counter an Iraqi
buildup along the border, Iraq an
nounced it was pulling its forces back.
Endeavour is carrying an air-pollu
tion monitor and a powerful radar sys
tem for mapping the Earth’s surface in
detail. The astronauts on the environ
mental study mission are also pho
tographing the planet.
Evans said the Pentagon made no
requests for radar images or pho
tographs of Iraq and Kuwait. The shut
tle’s survey of that area was planned
long before the military action there,
she said.
Besides, the $366 million radar isn’t
capable of picking out details like
troops and tanks, Evans said.
“We don’t have high enough resolu
tion required for surveillance,” she said.
Endeavour and its crew of six are
scheduled to land at 11:37 a.m. Tues
day at Kennedy Space Center, al
though rain and low clouds were fore
cast. NASA could send the shuttle to
Edwards Air Force Base in California
later in the day.
As of Monday, the radar instru
ments had collected enough data to
fill 67 miles of tape, officials said.
The radar was used largely to exam
ine volcanoes, forests, deserts,
oceans and rivers.
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8 I 0 I 0
New York
doctor offers
abortion drug
NEW YORK (AP) - Araeri
can women barred access to the
French abortion pill RU-486stili
can end their pregnancies wit!
drugs, according to a doctor who
gives patients that option.
Dr. Richard Hausknecht,s
New York gynecologist and abor
tion rights advocate, says he’s
sidestepping medical custom to
make “a political point.”
The treatment combining ho
readily available drugs, although
given without Food and Drug Ad
ministration approval, is appar
ently legal, The New York Times
reported Monday.
“Even if RU-486 gets ap
proved — and it may not be if
the political climate changes-
it won’t be available for anoth
er two years,” Hausknechttold
the Times.
The alternative technique has
two steps. Patients get an injec
tion of methotrexate, a tissue
growth inhibitor used to treat
cancer, arthritis and psoriasis
Four days later they use a vagi
nal suppository containing miso
prostol, an ulcer medicine that
also hastens labor.
Dr. Mitchell Creinin, are-
searcher who has FDA ap
proval to experiment with the
same drugs, told The Associat
ed Press he was upset
Hausknecht had gone public
with what he is doing.
"[Dr. Hausknecht] is
ruffling some feathers
because we feel he
would be more pro
tected if he had institu
tional support, and his
patients would be pro
tected with oversight."
— Dr. Eric dcttdjj
University of Rochester
School of Medicine
A
L W A Y
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©1994 AW FOR ALL INTERSTATE CALLS.
“People want it yesterday,’
said Creinin of the University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
“But the first person who gets
harmed ... will be the first person
to say, ‘You should have done
more research.’ And they also
want to be the first person in line
to sue.”
“He is ruffling some feathers
because we feel he would be
more protected if he had insti
tutional support, and his pa
tients would be protected with
oversight,’’ said Dr. Eric
Schaff, of the University of
Rochester School of Medicine.
Schaff added, “I do believe
he has provided a service to
women in his practice by mak
ing it available. ... He should
be applauded for raising peo
ple’s consciousness.”
Hausknecht’s office said Mon
day he would have no immediate
comment. He told the Times he
gave 126 patients the treatment
this year and five required surgi
cal follow-up.
In Schaff’s study, 23 women
have received the treatment
since July and none required
surgical follow-up. Possible side
effects include diarrhea, vomit
ing, cramps and bleeding.
Schaff said the drugs can be
given by doctors in general
practice, or even by nurse prac
titioners or physicians’ assis
tants. The major drawback is
that the treatment cannot be
performed beyond the eighth
week of pregnancy.
Hausknecht charges $500 for
the drug treatment. In
Rochester, said Schaff, it can be
done for $125 per person, be
cause those patients do not re
ceive an expensive ultrasound
exam. He said a surgical abor
tion costs $325 to $700.
Creinin’s study began in Jan
uary 1993. Its sixth trial started
in June in Wichita, Kan., San
Francisco and Pittsburgh.
Very early results show the
drug combination is effective
more than 90 percent of the time.
Creinin said his researchers
have studied only one-third to
half of the 300 patients needed
for a strong statistical sample.