Smoothie
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2416 C Texas Ave.
& SW Pkwy.
696-5464
‘We started the whole
Smoothie thing”
www.smoothieking
TWO LOCATIONS!!!
Northgate Kroger Center
(between Papa Johns & Subway
601 University Dr.
268-7668
“Happy Hour”
Friday 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
FREE 20 oz. Smoothie
w/purchase of a 32 oz. Smoothie
Not valid with any other offer. No coupon needed.
Offer expires 10-31-99
Page 8 ♦ Friday, October 8, 1999
N
ATION
United States’ syphilis rate
Stopping syphii
hits all-time low, GDC says
ATLANTA (AP) — The syphilis
rate in the United States dropped 19
percent last year to an all-time low,
the government reported yesterday
as it launched a push to stamp out
the sexually transmitted disease al
together.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC)said the rate
of new cases in 1998 was 2.6 per
100,000 people, down from 3.2 a
year earlier. Half of the 6,993 cases
reported came from 28 counties, or
less than 1 percent of all U.S. coun
ties. Most of the 28 counties were ur
ban. About 80 percent of all coun
ties reported no new cases.
“Clearly we have wrestled
syphilis to the ground, and now we
have to put it in lockhold from
which it won’t escape,” Dr. Judith
Wasserheit, director of the CDC’s
sexually transmitted disease pre
vention division, said. “We have an
unprecedented window of oppor
tunity to eliminate syphilis in the
United States because rates are at
an all-time low and because the dis
ease now is extremely concentrat
ed geographically.”
The drop has been attributed, in
part, to increased funding for treat
ment and safe-sex practices
prompted by the outbreak of AIDS,
such as using condoms and having
fewer partners.
The South had the highest rate at
5.1 per 100,000 and accounted for 19
of the 28 counties that had the high
est number of cases. The rate was
higher among blacks — 17.1 per
100,000 compared with 0.5 among
whites. But the disparity has nar
rowed since the beginning of this
decade, when rates among blacks
were 64 times those of whites.
“Syphilis, like many other health
problems, tends to persist in com
munities that are plagued by a num
ber of social problems including
poverty, lack of access to health care
and racism,” Wasserheit said.
The syphilis rate has been de
clining in the United States since
1990, when it peaked at 50,578 cas
es, or 20.3 cases per 100,000.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection
that starts with painless sores and
then a rash and can attack the heart
and brain and cause dementia and
death. It can be cured if treated ear
ly with antibiotics.
Surgeon General David Satcher
and CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan
were to join other national and local
public health officials in Nashville,
Tenn., yesterday to announce the
CDC’s new initiative to eliminate
syphilis.
The plan, aimed at areas with a
heavy burden of syphilis cases or a
potential for re-emergence, calls for
closer monitoring, more community
involvement, quicker response to out
breaks and greater access to health
care for those infected or exposed.
The government is hoping to re
duce syphilis cases to a rate of 0.4
per 100,000 by 2005.
Nashville, Indianapolis and
Raleigh, N.C., are the three initial
sites where the plan will be put
into effect.
A drop in the syphilis laters
been attributed in parttosai.
sex practices and increast:
funding for treatment.
lie Bath
7th
Cases of primary and
secondary syphilis
per 100,000
25 - -~rM
20
15
10
1970
1980
1990
Cases of syphilis in infaris
less than one year of age
per 100,000
80
60
40
20
Inior mi<
liversity
1970
1980
Source Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
Officials try to ease fear of genetically engineered crof
JfliTBFMIBCflfOWiS NC
www.superstarmovie.com
STARTS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8
AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU!
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal regula
tors responsible for ensuring the safety of ge
netically engineered crops sought yesterday to
dispel concerns that hazardous biotech prod
ucts could reach the market.
“Our regulatory system is based on the most
rigorous scientific information available, is cred
ible, is defensible and will serve to protect the
environment and public health,” Jane Ander
son, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
official, told the Senate Agriculture Committee.
The EPA is one of three agencies responsible
for regulating genetically modified crops and
foods, with the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA)and the Agriculture Department.
“We’re very confident about the assurances that
are put forward,” said James Maryanski, biote-
chonolgy coordinator for FDA’s food safety office.
Critics of the technology said the agencies
depend too heavily on companies to conduct re
search and report problems, and that the science
is not advanced enough to guarantee the safety
of the food. Environmental and consumer
groups are pushing the Clinton administration
to require the labeling of foods that contain
biotech ingredients.
“We’re very confident
about the assurances that
are put forward/’
The 1
ised to
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Imes. E
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jhsive t
lurth ga
■ Senior
■butes i
— James Maryanski
biotecnology coordinator, FDA
“We don’t know what the products will prove
to be in the long run. To say we know is an ex
pression of faith, not of knowledge,” Mark Sil-
bergeld, a representative of Consumers Union, said.
Backers of genetic engineering insist it is not
fundamentally different from traditional breed
ing, in which one plant might be cross-pollinat
ed with a wild cousin to produce a hardier va
riety. Genetic engineering involves spli
single gene from one organism to anotk
A major concern of scientists is ra
sure transplanted genes do not causea
reactions. Biotech ingredients, primarily
soybeans and corn, already areinwidea
supermarkets and fast-food restaurad
everything from tortilla chips to soda
baby formula.
When consumers realize that, theywi
mand such foods be labeled, Silbergeld
“They want to make the choice for themsel« en thu;
The food industry fears such labeling* “j thj r
stigmatize genetically modified ingrec« ore p OV
The FDA does not consider biotech ingr&m™ a ani
fundamentally different from convenim ncentr
ones and says there is no need for thelali 0!nn ‘
Half the soybeans that U.S. farme:» s j u ‘ t |
growing this year were engineered to witlm^y^
a popular weedkiller, and a third of th« e ..
crop is biotech, having been altered to pnB
its own pesticide. There also are geneiir®^ v
modified tomatoes, melons and potato.
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get paid to surf the web
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