London
Paris
Rome
1
rfil
$370
Frankfurt
$476
$418
Prague
$538
$577
Barcelona
$576
$508
Athens
$586
Restrictions apply. Taxes not included.
Fares are based on round-trip and subiect to change.
1
No Service Fee for Britrail &
Eurail passes! Call for details.
’'TRAVEL CUTS
fr4ii
See the world your way
Toll Free
1-800-592-CUTS (2887)
usareservations@travelcuts.com
www.travelcuts.com
Sports Bar
Time Squarej -
Entertainmcntj omplcx p xee njisj
t-- .
Live
“ ^ : •** r Music
.am®
y®
m
imtl*
.<sz
ONE HOUR
FREE POOL
with coupon
Mon-Thurs 8PM-10PM
Cannot be combined
with other specials.
226 Southwest Parkway
College Station
694-4700
timesquarebar.com
Appearing Live at
Time Square
April - May
Randy Pavlock, Throwaway
People, Karan Chavis, Element,
Veritas, Sevenfold, Seth James,
Ian Moore, Canvas, Ultrasonic,
Vallejo, Hadden Sayers, Nooner,
Squint, Malford Milligan of
Storyville, Del Castillo,
Triprocket, Stingers ATX, Roca
Azul, Leon Russell, Hamilton
Loomis, Rusty Wier, Kelly
McGuire, Cowboy Mouth
line-up and dates subject to change
, , r~r~\ time
I Wendy’s | I * 1 SQUARE
i r
3 Q-
<8
8A
Monday, April 12, 2004
Anger over Puerto Rico T s pill test lingei
It D o *7 /An i f '.i i I 1 a “mi ‘ I % \
By Ray Quintanilla
KRT CAMPUS
HUMACAO, Puerto Rico —
When Delia Mestre was a young
woman, a hospital social worker
would visit families throughout
her barrio, offering the women
something that seemed too good
to be true: A tiny tablet to keep
them from getting pregnant.
“We all jumped on it quickly
and didn't look back,” Mestre,
60, recalled. “Women were told
this was medicine that would
keep them from having children
they couldn't support.”
Nearly a half-century has
passed since doctors began
arriving here to begin the
longest-running experiment of
its kind: nine years of veiled
research that helped pave the
way for a “magic pill” now
regarded as one of the pivotal
social and medical changes of
the 20th century.
What unfolded from the
mid-1950s to the early 1960s in
this remote farming town in the
foothills near Puerto Rico's
east coast made Mestre and
hundreds of other women the
unwitting pioneers of the mod
ern sexual revolution.
It remains one of the most
controversial chapters in the
island's history — notably
because participants weren't
infonued that they were guinea
pigs in an experiment to test the
world's first birth-control pill, a
tablet with three times as much
honnones as today’s version.
There were other test groups
on the mainland at the time, but
similar experiments in Boston
and other cities didn't last very
long, partly because of the pill’s
side effects.
In Humacao, the testing went
on for years.
It s difficult to think of those
days, said Mestre, among the
last generation of Humacao
women who took part in the
clinical trials of Enovid and a
Delia Mestre (left) and Nancy Cruz
experiences with the birth control pill
right) recount their
in its initial stages
of testing and development Both women parties
some of the first human trials of the drugs.
collection of similar drugs that
have come to be known univer
sally as "the pill.’’
Generations later, bitter feel
ings still simmer. Secrecy about
the experimental nature of the
pills helped prompt federal offi
cials to ban such practices.
“The experiments were both
good and bad. Why didn’t any
one let us make some decisions
for ourselves?" she asked, her
eyes welling with tears. "I have
difficulty explaining that time to
my own grown children.
“1 have very' mixed feelings
about the entire thing.”
Humacao is a gritty village
tucked between the Cerro and
Labarbera mountains. It was
here that doctors found their best
“control group.” starting in 1955.
The doctors provided hun
dreds of women — descendants
of Puerto Rico's jiharo agricul
tural underclass — with refined
versions of the pill for free until
1964 to test its safety and how
well it worked.
In the early days, the doctor
who ran the tests noted pub
licly, that two seemingly
healthy women participating
in the trials died. No autopsies
were done to determine what
caused their deaths.
Those who remember the
times best recall U.S. doctors,
dressed in white lab coats, arriv
ing to deliver their babies. Soon,
however, they were recruiting
women to try the drug.
Margaret Sanger, the
women's activist who in the
1930s first envisioned a “magic
pill” to prevent pregnancy,
reportedly visited doctors in the
town to lend moral support.
In no time, new mothers at
Ryder Memorial Hospital were
accepting birth-control pills.
Physicians dispatched their
assistants to rap on doors
throughout the town's slums.
She'
:he ii
the
fami
telling women they didnr tran ;
to have another chili
took the pills regularly
That’s how many o
recruits were four
Conchita Santos, 80,aHi!- conv
resident her entire
It was only a few year CCS
Puerto Rico became aUii diet,
monwealth that doctors good
seeking people to test theirs outki
these neighborhoods - ii
of small concrete homes
chickens roam and some[« even
still get around on hotselai
Santos and other
Catholic women were »i
by their parish priests none
the pills. It was not only i
they were told.butitalsoali
God's will.
Santos, a
accepted her first
pills in 1955, sh
birth of her first and
By the end of
at Ryder had recnti
500 participants.
L;
next
will
sion;
gradi
this <
othe
NEWS IN BRIEF
Suspect denies setting
fires in San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A man accused of spark
ing a series of fires at convenience stores owned
or operated by Muslims says he is innocent.
“I did not do it," Thomas C. Carroll, who was
arrested Friday outside a convenience store
which had just been set ablaze, told the San
Antonio Express-News for a Sunday story.
It was the fourth fire at a store owned or
operated by Muslims in the past two weeks in
San Antonio.
Carroll, 32, was charged with two counts of
arson. He was a suspect in three other cases
and was being held at Bexar County Jail on a
bond of more than $1 million Sunday.
Texas judicial district sees
jump in bankruptcy filings
HOUSTON (AP) — Three years ago. Adrian
Caspar made as much as $100,000 a year
working as a police officer and moonlighting as
a security guard at local construction sites.
But the 39-year-old from Manvel, near
Houston, found himself fighting off
last year as new construction dried up
economic slump.
He resorted to bankruptcy when hem
things to sell, becoming one of 25,2111
uals to file for personal bankruptcy in
Southern District of Texas.
The judicial district saw a 23.2
increase in bankruptcy filings between
and 2003 — the highest increase ii
Personal bankruptcy filings increased!
cent nationwide and 15 percent in Ii
Houston Chronicle reported Sunday.
Cl ass Councils Presents:
I he 67th A nnual
Ring D ance
“A Night on the To wn
April 24, 2004
9 p.m. - 1a.m.
I ickets aval lahle at the MSC Box Office
For A Complete Listing of Senior Week Events
Visit Classof2004.tamu.edu
Sponsored hy I he Association of Former Students, Rose Cottage Creations, David
Gardner’s Jewelers and Al’s Formal Wear.
Corps
needs Americans with skills in
Environment EdU c a tion
Health
Peace Corps needs 5,500 graduates
with skills in agriculture, business,
education, environment, health and
information technology. All majors are
welcome. Benefits include medical,
dental and housing, as well as a
monthly stipend and 24 vacation days a
year. Graduates can defer student
loans while serving.
Agriculturf
Visit the TAMU Career Center
209 Koldus Building to pick up
a Peace Corps Catalog.
Name: the Band
Submit Entries at!
AggieAthletics.co
Try All The Winning Varieties
HOT POCKETS
Brand Stuffed Sandwiches
LEAN POCKETS
Brand Stuffed Sandwiches
CROISSANT POCKETS
Brand Stuffed Sandwiches
Try our new HOT POCKETS® brand
POT PIE EXPRESS™ and Fruit Pastries
MFG. COUPON EXPIRES JUNE 9, 2004
Save55
HOT POCKETS , LEAN POCKETS*
CROISSANT POCKETS B Rrand Stuffed Sandwiches
Coupon void if altered, copied, sold, purchased, (ransferred, exchanged or where prohibited or
restricted by law. CONSUMER: Limit one coupon per specified item(s) purchased. This coupon
good only on product sizes and varielies indicated. RETAILER: Neslld Prepared Foods Company,
Hand-held Foods Group will reimburse you face value plus 8c, if submitted in compliance with the
Nestld Prepared Foods Company. Hand-held Foods Group Manufacturer’s Coupon Redemption
Policy dated 1/1/03, available upon request Consumer must pay sales tax. Good only in USA.
Send coupons to Nestld Prepared Foods Company. Hand-held Foods Group, CMS Depl. #43695,
1 Fawcett Drive, Del Rio, TX 78840. Cash value 1/20c.