a y. Novemte;
by, November 9, 2000
science
iden
Page 5 A
THE BATTALION
|rofessor imagines, gives insight on future of ocean drilling
SALYNN VASQUEZ
'attalion
Ten years ago, Dr. H. Paul Johnson
inj the University of Washington
ilt. - robotic dri 11 to collect rock sam
is tram the ocean floor. However, it
m i to be ineffective when one of
:drill's wires broke and the drill was
yjfHn the ocean.
nee then, there have been few al
ts to construct another drill, be-
of difficulty obtaining federal
xasA&M oceanography profes-
filliam Sager held a workshop at
\ this weekend to readdress the
e said he envisions a small ro-
K drill suitable for his research on
QES ikanic rock samples from the ocean
I 5
floor. “We need to build drills that can
be operated on ships and bring up vol
canic rock samples with complete
magnetic orientation,” Sager said.
Sager said magnetic orientation is
similar to a compass needle frozen
into the rock. If magnetic orientation
can be measured, then one can deter
mine how the tectonic plates (plates
that make up the Earth’s exterior) have
shifted since the rock first formed.
“My research could put sea-floor
samples to good use in attempting to
explain the rapid shifts in the Earth’s
magnetic field that have occurred over
time,” he said.
The only ship able to go to these
depths to collect volcanic rock sam
ples from the ocean floor is A&M’s
Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) ship.
The ship is 470 feet long and costs
about $ 7 million dollars for a two-
month cruise.
Sager said the ODP ship is not ef
fective.
“It only manages to scrape the rock
samples needed, and it is also very ex
pensive,” Sager said. “Furthermore,
the rotation of the drill’s pipe makes it
impossible to orient the sample rock
cores.”
At the workshops, Sager and
A&M’s ocean drilling program host
ed a two-day robotic drills forum fo
cused on designing a robotic drill ma
chine that would enable scientists to
sample rocks beneath the waves.
Thirty scientists and technical experts
from institutions across the nation at
tended the workshop, which was
sponsored by the National Science
Foundation (NSF).
The committee members conclud
ed that four drills would be needed to
conduct their research thoroughly and
effectively. One large drill would run
on one of the largest ships in the U.S.
fleet. The development of the drill is
estimated to cost $1 million. There
will also be a need for several other
drills that will be simpler and smaller,
costing $ 100,000 each.
The committee wants to mount
these smaller drills on remotely oper
ated vehicles (ROV). The advantage
of using ROVs is that an electronic
camera can be attached to these drills,
which would aid in maneuverability
and visual capability.
Other issues addressed included
how the design, cost, and operational
limits affect the development o
drill, the tyigaaafi
quired and how many drills with what
specific capabilities are needed.
The new type of drill that Sager
and his team are attempting to devel
op will land on the ocean floor and
stay fixed in one place. Therefore, as
it goes into the ocean floor, it will ori
ent the samples.
“This is the way to do what people *
have been doing wrong for 30 years^A
he said. “It's a quantum leap into sckm^
ence.”
Sager said the next step for the
committee is to submit and receae
proval for a proposal to provide
ing to start the project.
Sager this process could tak<
“With a drill like that, I could find
a sea mount of virtually any age, de
termine where the magnetic pole^as
at the time, and loolcat the efblution
of the magnetic tjeld 11 uc^h tiqjtjj
DA issues voluntary recall of PPA in over-the-counter medication
Woni Sri dhara
Battalion
talking around campus yesterday, one
d witness many students wrapped in
/y jackets, and gloves, sneezing and
fling along the way. When some of the
;nts start to run to local pharmacies, they
lay be surprised to find their cure-all miss-
)n the f 'gfro™ ^e shelf.
r rU poedJ|fiiesday, the Food and Drug Administra-
on (FDA) voluntary recalled the drug
lich co henylpropanolamine (PPA).
j staycojPy ane P earsor h chief pharmacist at Texas
reeze.” t&M’s A.P. Beutel Health Center said this
ble fro' prevalent in over-the-counter (OTC)
■dications and diet pills.
1 his t((V'*l“PPA functions both as a decongestant to
are than U P drainage and as an appetite suppres-
)r eatingw 11 ” Pearson said.
Safety Omi P ecenl studies conducted by Yale medical
'severaliw searc h ers showed that, within the last year,
vounded.lii'
nice toM
er i
PPA could be to blame for 200 to 500 hem-
morrhagic strokes (bleeding in the brain) for
people under 50 years of age.
Laura Bradbard, an FDA spokeswoman
in Washington, D.C., said strokes in people
who were consuming PPA products are very
rare, but they are catastrophic when they do
occur.
Bradbard said the reason the FDA drug
advisory panel ( which reviews all OTC med
ications) deemed to the drug to be complete
ly safe was the limited population sample
size.
“The Yale studies had people 18 to 49
years old to study,” Bradbard said. “This is
the group where we were seeing bleeding in
the brain, but it was described that the sub
jects did not have any previous risk factors. •
“If you are doing a trial you are generally
going to be observing 150,000 to 200,000
subjects throughout the course of the study.
However, this product was selling 6 billion
doses a year, which gives you an opportuni
ty to see the adverse effects you can have
with a larger population,” Bradbard said.
While there is not an official ban on the
drug, many pharmacies, including Beutel and
“We just wanted to
warn consumers ...”
— Laura Bradbard
FDA spokeswoman
the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Bryan, imme
diately pulled products containing PPA off
their shelves Tuesday.
“One of the main reasons for us not hav
ing the figures is that this is a voluntary re
call, it is not life-threatening, and so it is not
something to cause alarm,” Bradbard said.
Bradbard said the drug is not officially
banned because OTC medications existed
long before food and drug laws were present.
Therefore the OTC medications are unclas
sified, and do not have an health hazard risk
associated with them.
“We just wanted to warn consumers be
cause this is a drug where the individual de
termines whether they need it or not and there
is no learning intermediary to teach them
about the drug,” she said. “We wanted to in
form the consumers while we go through the
legal hurdles instead of having the products
just hang out there on the shelves.”
PPA is not used to treat only human ill
nesses.
Dr. George Lees, a urinary specialist in the
College of Veterinary Medicine, said in a
press release,rtflat PPA is widely used among
veterinariansYfor treating urinary inconti
nence in dogs.
“The drug was never on the market specif
ically for use in dogs, but a recall of PPA will
adversely impact its availability for veteri
nary treatments,” Lees said.
Lees also said in the press release that vet
erinarians were able to use PPA in animal pa
tients without risking the same side effects
that humans may experience.
“There are no direct alternatives that have
proven as effective for treating urine leakage
in dogs,” he said. “Now veterinarians will
have to start trying other drugs in this class to
see if any are as effective on canine urinary
incontinence.”
The FDA advises concerned consumers to
read all labels on OTC cough, cold, nasal de
congestant and weight control products con
taining PPA.
Bradbard said that consumers can also
check with their health care providers or
pharmacists to see whether their prescrip
tion cough-cold or nasal decongestant prod
uct contains PPA and to discuss alternative
medications.
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Education Pkogkams
Got FreedomP
>v
Come hear how it all began.
Veteran’s Day
Sat. Hov. 11th 10am-- Veteran’s Day ceremony and
reception in MSG Flagroom.
Sponsored by:
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anonymous, random, sample of 861 studems