monday, October 13, 2003
news
the university daily kansan
5A
Pill may restore hearing damaged by toxic noise
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Scientists have been accumulating evidence in lab animals for years that a pill might be able to reduce the damage loud noise does to your hearing. Now they're sending in the Marines.
Starting in a few months, a group of 600 Marines at Camp Pendleton in California will face riffle training with not only foam plugs in their ears, but also a drink that tastes very much like Wild Berry Zinger herbal tea.
They'll take it with every meal
during their two weeks of the noisy training, an experience that normally erodes a bit of hearing ability from about 10 percent of trainees.
And if all goes as hoped, hearing tests will show that a substance dissolved in the drink made a difference.
It's the latest wrinkle in research toward finding a pill that will help protect and even treat hearing loss from exposure to loud noise.
While the effort is hardly new, experts say it has picked up steam in just the past few years.
Nobody is saying such a pill could replace earplugs and other mechanical ear protection. It's clear that the standard protections so far haven't prevented a wide-ranging problem.
Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common occupational diseases and the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury, the federal government says.
About 10 million Americans have permanent hearing loss from loud noise, either a long-term exposure or in a sudden burst like an explosion.
Suspect wants insanity plea
The Associated Press
FAIRFAX, Va. — Defense lawyers for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo say their client had been brainwashed — a victim of "indoctrination" by older codefendant John Allen Muhammad — and plan to use the argument to propel an insanity defense.
defense. In previous motions and hearings, Malvo's attorneys have
argued their client was "under the spell" of Muhammad. For the defense to work, lawyers must show jurors that Malvo could not tell right from wrong at the time of the shootings.
the smoothing of the Lawyer Craig Cooley will rely on privately retained mental health experts who have examined Malvo, not the expert appointed by the court. Cooley called indoctrination a form of mental illness and said it would be up to the jury to decide if it
amounted to insanity.
Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said the reports of a court-appointed mental-health expert working for the defense team suggest no signs of insanity or mental disease.
Virginia law requires that Malvo now submit to another mental-health examination, this time by an expert selected by prosecutors, if he wants to present the insanity defense to juror
On a Roll
Abby Tillery/Kansas Hilary Metzger bowled yesterday with the Best Buddies group in the Kansas Union. Metzger has been part of the Best Buddies program for about five years. Robin Conner, Iowa City, Iowa, junior, is the director of the program and said they could use more volunteers. To become a volunteer with the mentally disabled contact her by email at rconniner@ku.edu.