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KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
The snow may have ended, but the cold continues.
kansan
HIGH LOW 3612
Monday
March 9, 1998
Section:
A
Sports today
Vol. 108·No.116
The story of a 6-foot-11 young man from Monona, Iowa, who is about to wrap up his career as one of Kansas' all-time greats.
SEE PAGE 16A
WWW.KANSAN.COM
March Madness
Features, men's and women's NCAA brackets and coverage from the Big 12 Tournament. Today in the Kansan's special tournament issue.
SEE SECTION B
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ieters who have taken fen-phen and Redux risk the dangerous side effects doctors have discovered and the lingering fear of effects unknown.
D
Story by Lisa Stevens John • Illustration by Matt Woodruff
The chest pains hit Van Buckley while he was working in his office at the University of Kansas Medical Center. A band of pressure spread across his chest. He felt full, as if he had just eaten a big meal. Then the back pains started. He broke into a cold sweat.
As Buckley, 40, was admitted to the very hospital where he worked, the media relations coordinator wondered: "Is this it? Am I dying? Was it the diet drugs?"
Buckley had reason to worry. He is one of approximately 5 million Americans who has taken the diet drugs fenfluramine and phentermine, known as the fen-phen combination, and dexfenfluramine, marketed as Redux.
The Food and Drug Administration pulled fenfluramine and Redux off the market in September 1997, two months after the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., published findings of studies on 24 women, average age 43, who had taken fen-phen. All of the women in the study developed heart or lung disease.
Both types of disease seen in the fenphen patients are rare for people younger than 50.
"Unfortunately, because I had been on Redux, the first thing I thought was: Does the medication have something to do with this? Am I going to have heart valve damage because I was on it?" Buckley said.
(USPS 650-640)
A stress test turned out normal, his physician found no evidence of heart damage, and Buckley went back to work after one day in the hospital.
Others haven't been so lucky. Across the United States, a growing number of fen-phen and Redux users are showing up in physicians' offices and lawyers' offices with heart valve damage. They arrive after relying on a drug that the medical industry jumped at prescribing, including the Med Center's weight loss clinic.
Buckley, who was treated at the clinic, still worries.
"There's no indication of heart disease," he said. "But it's still a concern and that will always be the case. Are there other side effects that they don't know about yet?"
No more hunger pangs
"By using the combination of medicines, you're approaching the appetite from two different angles," said Shadrach Smith, the physician in charge of the weight loss clinic at the Med Center. The combination of the drugs was much more effective than the drugs individually, he said.
In 1992, diet clinics began springing up across the country. Fen-phen was touted as the sweetest deal ever in anti-obesity lore. For only about $40 a month, dieters essentially could forget to eat. When they did eat, they soon felt full.
The "fen" in fen-phen stands for fen-
fluramine, which turns off hunger and turns on the sensation of fullness; the "phen" stands for phentermine. Phentermine mimics amphetamines but has little, if any, addiction potential if taken at normal doses, Smith said.
Fnfluramine and phentermine have been available in the United States since the 1960s. Both originally were approved for single-drug, short-term obesity therapy.
See DIETERS on page 6A
Campus Cause volunteers take clean campaign to Hill
Community service, Senate elections lead students to join effort
By Melissa Ngo
mngo@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A program to clean up campus began the Campus Cause coalition's Student Senate campaign.
Those who picked up trash on campus received Rock Chalk Revue community service points. Rock Chalk Revue participants compete for an award for the most community service points.
About 200 people attended the cleanup Saturday morning and about 25 came to the post-cleanup party at Johnny's Tavern, 401 N. Second St.
"Campus Cause was born in the spirit of this cleanup," said Kevin Yoder, Interfraternity Council senator and student presidential candidate. "This is a coalition that is focused on doing things for the campus instead of doing things for ourselves."
Barni Corcoran, Teopika freshman, picks up trash behind the Kansas Union. Corcoran participated in a campus clean-up sponsored by the Campus Cause coalition. Photo by Graham K. Johnson
"In years past I've heard about coalitions politicking. It's nice to know this coalition is doing something for campus as opposed to just sitting and talking." Pigg said.
Karli Pigg, Topeka senior, said Campus Cause was different from previous coalitions.
"They made me realize that Student Senate was an important part of KU. I wanted to get involved and be a part of what goes on," McCallie said.
Allison McCallie, candidate for a Nune-maker seat, said she joined the coalition because of its community-oriented ideas.
"We came in the spirit of getting along," said Jason Fizell, Liberal Arts and Sciences senator and last year's Delta Force student body presidential candidate. "We'll be campaigning side-by-side, and Delta Force wanted to show that we wanted to cooperate."
Patrick Hosty, Oklahoma City junior and Alpha Tau Omega community service chair, sent e-mails to listservs for the Black Student Union, KU Environs and the Environmental Studies department. He invited students to come to the cleanup and then join Campus Cause at Johnny's to watch the Big 12 Tournament and have a beer.
Fizell said Delta Force learned about the cleanup through a posting on a listserv.
Yoder said that he knew nothing about the e-mail and that information about the kickoff was not sent to any listservs. Yoder said the coalition did not give away free beer at the party.
Hosty, who is not a member of the
Repeat performance
The Kansas men's basketball team strikes a proud pose after winning the Big 12 Conference Tournament. The Jayhawks defeated Oklahoma 72-58 yesterday at Kemper Arena in
Safety office showed small boost in 1997 crime figures
By Laura Roddy
Linda kodd
Iroddy@kansas.com
Kansan staff staff
"We hope we can keep that from happening in 1998," said Sgt. Chris Keary of the public safety office. "There's always going to be variations in crime from year to year."
Criminal offenses reported to the University of Kansas Office of Public Safety on the Lawrence campus increased 12 percent in 1997, according to figures released Friday by the office.
Keary said that an increase in the num ber of parking-permit hang tags stolen from vehicles contributed to the total 1.47 criminal offenses in 1997. The tota increased 181 from the 1996 figure of 1.29 offenses.
Overall thefts reported on the KU campus decreased from 617 to 595 in 1997. Burglaries, which include the hang-tag thefts increased from 266 to 348.
The public safety office reported that 9 of 202 thefts from motor vehicles in 199 involved permits. The Parking Department plans to switch parking permits from hang tags to stickers this fall to curb the thefts.
Keary said that the rise resulted from increased officer patrol time, not necessar ily more drunk drivers.
Keary said that crimes against property such as thefts continued to account for the majority of offenses on campus. He said he encouraged students to engrave their property, keep a description of it and not leave it unattended.
Keary said that everyone on campu should be involved in efforts to reduc crime and report anything suspicious.
The public safety office reported that drug violations increased from 28 to 38 and weapons violations increased from zero to five in 1997.
The office also reported that the number of arrests made for operating under the influence increased from 91 to 120.
The number of rapes reported on campus increased from three to seven in 1997. How ever, Keary said the figure did not accrually reflect the total number of rapes or campus. He said that because of its nature rape tended to be underreported.
Todd Johnson, Hutchinson junior, said he thought the KU campus was relatively safe. "I never worry about anyone muggin me or murder or anything," he said.
"Each crime is important to victims and also to us," he said.
Campus crime statistics
Anyone with information regarding an crime can call the Crime Stoppers line a 864-8888. The line is open 24 hours a day and anonymity is protected.
Crime 1995 1996 1997
Arson 1 4 1
Aggravated assault 4 4 13
Simple assault 23 32 28
Intimidation assault 53 42 37
Burglary 310 266 348
Counterfeiting/forgery 3 5 2
Vandalism 233 176 253
Disorderly conduct 8 13 21
Driving while intoxicated 5 4 11
Narcotics equipment 14 10 20
Narcotics violations 18 10 18
Embezzlement 0 1 0
Fraud 4 2 3
Kidnapping 3 3 1
Larceny from building 260 304 296
Larceny from vehicle 188 163 203
Vehicle parts theft 27 22 17
Pickpocket 1 0 0
Purse snatching 1 0 0
Shoplifting 1 1 0
Larceny/theft (other) 105 123 74
Liquor law violation 2 6 2
Motor vehicle theft 8 4 1
Rape 4 3 7
Fondling 3 4 4
Peeping Tom 2 1 0
Sodomy 0 2 0
Stolen property 10 7 0
Trespassing 18 14 0
Weapons violations 0 2 0
Total: 1343 1298 147
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