University Daily Kansan
Thursday, March 1, 1973
9
Use of DES Pill Slows
By MYLA STARR
By MILLA STARK
Kansan Staff Writer
Use of the controversial "morning-after pill" at both the Douglas County Health Department and Wakka Hospital has been questioned by many, including a report questioning the safety of the drug.
Diesthylestibolest, or DES, has been linked to vaginal cancer by consumer advocate Ralph Nader and is the same drug banned from cattle feed several months ago.
Dr. Dale Clinton, director of the Douglas County Health Department, said Monday that he was convinced that DES was safe, but that some patients had become "leery" about using it because of the recent scare reports.
Dr. Raymond Schweiger, director of the KU student health service, said the use of a staff member to monitor months ago pending a staff investigation of the drug. Schweiger said that he was personally convinced of the safety of DES and would continue his advocacy continuing its use at Wadkins.
Schweigler said that the scientific background of DES, a synthetic estrogen, was extensive. Work with estrogen in animals began in 1826 he said, and DES was tested in animals after 1838 as a powerful, cheap estrogen which could be builduled by mouth.
The contraceptive effect of DES has not yet been pimped, Schwegler said, but it is probably still effective.
According to Schwegler, DES may cause changes in the uterine lining that make it more susceptible to infection and egg, changes in the motility, or movement, of the uterine tube that drives a fertilized egg into the uterus, or changes in the blastocyst, which is the egg cell in its early stage.
Schweigel said that either of these changes or a combination of them could account for the effectiveness of DES as a "morning-after pill."
According to Schweger, 50 milligrams of DES must be administered for 5 days, beginning within 72 hours of intercourse, for the drug to be effective. DES has no contraceptive effect if the ovum has time to become implanted. he said.
Schwegler said that much smaller doses
Tenure Report Of KU Faculty To Be Heard
Two reports, one on promotion, tenure and nonrepayment of faculty members and one on confidentiality of faculty personnel records, will be considered during a meeting of the Faculty Council at 3:30 p.m. today in 108 Blake Hall.
John Wright, professor of human development, will present the report. He said that the recommendations concerning the admission of students passed by the council, would establish for the first time at KU a formal policy about the privacy of faculty records. The policy about student records, but that has not been a said a policy about faculty records, he said.
He said the recommendations on promotion, tenure and non-reassignment, would more clearly define step-by-step procedures for determining appointments, tenure and promotions. They would clarify the criteria for tenure for irregular time periods and would give added protection to all parties when a decision is appealed, Wright said.
Wright emphasized that the recommendations were not yet University policy and would become University policy only if approved by the council.
The report has been persuaded by the Faculty Senate Committee on Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities and on Tenure and Related Problems, the University Committee on Promotions and Tenure, the Senate Executive Committee and by Charles Oldfather, University attorney.
of DES were used to overcome hot flashes in menopausal women and to prevent lactation in women after childbirth. The safety of DES has not been questioned, he said.
According to Schwegler, it is the once-common use of DES to prevent threatened abortions in pregnant women, which has increased the incidence of the safety of the drug as a contraceptive.
According to Schwegler, some of the female offspring of women treated with DES during pregnancy can be cancer of the vaginal wall at the age of 18 or 20. Occurrence of vaginal cancer at this age is rare, he said. Schwegler must that only a subset of women with DES treated with DES developed cancer and that the theory might be fallacious.
Clinton said that another theory claimed that the female fetuses carried the tendency for vaginal cancer before administration of DES, and the drug interfered with a natural attempt to interrupt the development of a fetus.
"An occasional female in this age group will develop vaginal cancer anyway," he said.
Schweiger said that Nader's claim that using DES in brief and massive doses for the prevention of pregnancy may cause cancer was unfounded.
"Nader is wrong," he said. "He is carrying information from an entirely different source."
Schweigler said that DES was regularly prescribed for rape victims treated at刃刺馆 he said that the decision to use DDES was determined by the individual invicnists at the hospital.
Schweiger said that the only proven side effect of using DES as a contraceptive was that it reduced the incidence of preterm birth.
Schwegler said that he thought the prescription of DES in nonemergency situations might not be good judgment and that establishment of a contraceptive program should be considered in such cases.
Tape recordings of local residents reminiscing about the early days of Lawrence are being collected by Grace and Ted Kennedy of Lawrence, the husband and wife co-chairman of a Douglas County Historical Society committee formed last spring.
Clinton said that the county health department had administered DES for about 10 years and that the drug was 'available for the asking.'
The oral histories are merely an attempt to catch the flavor of the era, Kennedy said. It is easier to collect historical information by having people record on tapes what they remember, than to try to have them write the history, he said.
He said that a woman who planned to have sexual relations should not rely upon DES, but should use one of the contraceptive measures more suited for daily use, such as birth control pills or a diaphragm.
said that DES was not suitable for use as a long-term contraceptive.
"I would think that if a person got her fingers burned once, she would take semi-permanent or day-by-day measures to prevent it from happening again," he said.
Lawrence History Recorded on Tapes
"I think it is better to keep people out of trouble than to bald them once they get away."
He said that he favored development of another drug currently under study that would be administered if a woman missed a menstrual period. The chances of conception from one act of intercourse are slight, he said, and with this drug, a doctor can be fairly certain conception has taken place before administering medication.
By DIANE YEAMENS Kansan Staff Writer
Such things as weather, religion dating, agriculture, and illness which helped to make Lawrence history, will be included in the tapes Kennedy said, as well as some of the more well-known figures as Quantrill's raid and the border war.
Kennedy said anyone whose family history was related to the Douglas County area could make tapes. Some basic information, such as parents' names and addresses, could be so that the family's relationship to the community could be determined, he said.
Although the tapes will be of interest to anyone who wants to listen to them, he said, they will be most beneficial to scholars who work with the sociological history of early Lawrence.
Mrs. Kennedy said the project was started about two generations too late to be very complete. However, a number of local residents were upset and reached into the post Civil War era, she said.
Mable and Gottlieb Neider of Lone Oak High School said the tape was a rural presentation in the mid-1980s, Mrs. Kennedy said. Their tape also included information about the life styles of the day at the school.
Elmer and Magdalina Housetold also have made a tape. Mr. Waremeyed said about it, "I'll send the tape to you."
prominent farmers southeast of Lawrence
The more recent history of the community, such as the street car system that was in Lawrence 25 years ago, is being included in the oral histories, Kennedy said. He said that the trouble the University of Kansas had experienced in recent years is related to people living in cities if persons involved would be willing to participate in making the tapes.
Once the oral histories are on tape, he said, they are sent to Kansas State University. The library at K-State is the main repository for the oral histories of the state, although some are kept at Fort Smith and some in Kansas State Teacher's College at Emporia.
In 25 or 50 years, the interests in the events and social norms of today will be great, Kennedy said. The committee did not believe the mistake of not recording the event.
Paige E. Mulholland, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at K-State, said the library made a transcription of the tapes for its records and then returned the original and a copy of the transcription to the locale where it originated.
The K-State library has from 30 to 50 different tapes of different lengths, Mulholland said. Most of them are from the eastern half of the state, he said, although an effort is being made to get more tapes from the western parts of Kansas.
Some of the tapes that date back to the early parts of the 20th century, Muhollian said, are recordings of Pittsburgh theatre companies in the 1930s and 1940s in Kansas. Another explains the development of real estate in Johnson County. One particularly interesting tape, he said, is of a black man recollecting the kind of life he had during the Civil War in Kansas during the early 20th century.
As the collection of oral histories grows, Muhollan said, it will be given to the Khalilis.
843-9111
SUA and the Anthropology Department
Alfonso Ortiz
present
"BEHIND & BEYOND THE TEWA WORLD: NATIVE AMERICAN VISIONS OF LIFE"
Alfonso Ortiz, professor of anthropology at Princeton has published and lectured extensively concerning the Indian anthropologist's perspective on anthropology and the American Indian in society.
FRI., MAR. 2
3-5 p.m. Council Room.
Patronize Kansan Advertisers
BILL SPENCER CANDIDATE FOR CITY COMMISSION SPEAKS TO KU:
The Citizens of Lawrence are Frustrated.
They want to be informed.
They want to make an intelligent contribution to their government.
If the facts are known, and the decisions are known, the whole phase of openness is academic, for whether not you are present at all times, at all levels, in all phases of government is relatively unimportant (and a 'supernatural' phenomenon), or not.
There is no way we can determine whether an elected official is representing us the way we want to be represented unless we know whether or not we would have made the same decision with the same set of facts. Secondly, with facts, we can, if we desire, directly present our views and opinions. If we can directly present ourselves, and if we are listened to, then we must be represented.
And they want to be able to tell when their government is making intelligent decisions.
intelligent decisions.
If the people truly feel free and secure in telling government what they feel, based on facts, then it is very obvious whether or not any government or any official is being responsive.
WILLIAM H. SPENCER will make sure the citizens are kept informed.
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