6
Tuesday, February 25, 1997
NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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FDA recommends 'morning-after'pills
APPLICATIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING SUAPOSITIONS NOWAVAILABLE FOR 1997-1998:
Higher dosage cuts pregnancies by 75 percent
The Associated Press
SUA Coordinators
WASHINGTON — American women who are raped, whose birth control fails or who just forget in the heat of the moment can use high doses of ordinary birth control pills to prevent pregnancy, the government said yesterday.
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The Food and Drug Administration said six brands of birth control were safe and effective "morning-after" pills, the first federal acknowledgment of the emergency contraception that European women have been prescribed for years.
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"The best-kept contraceptive
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secret is no longer a secret," said FDA Commissioner David Kessler. "Women should have the information that this redemption is available."
The decision opens the door for companies to specially package birth control pills for women to have on hand in case of an emergency, just as the pills are routinely sold overseas.
So while it is legal for doctors to prescribe emergency birth control — and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology endorsed it in December — few physicians know the proper doses, and few women even know to seek it.
Contraceptive manufacturers here have previously refused to sell what the government terms emergency contraception, citing litigation and political fears.
The FDA's decision could change that. One small company, New Jersey-based Gynetics, is developing a specially packaged version of birth control it hopes to sell for emergency use next year.
And the FDA's instructions were purposefully detailed enough to tell family-planning clinics and private doctors the right dose to hand to women today.
His research convinced the FDA that emergency contraception could prevent up to 2.3 million unplanned pregnancies a year,1 million of which now end in abortion.
"This should be in everyone's medicine cabinet," said Janet Benshoof of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.
The FDA announced yesterday high doses of six popular birth control brands, when taken within three days of unprotected sex, were 75 percent effective at preventing pregnancy.
ception, explained James Trussell of Princeton University.
For every 100 women who have unprotected sex during the second or third week of their menstrual cycle, eight would normally become pregnant — but only two would if the women took emergency contra-
"We're going to see a really big change here," said Trussell, who helped set up a hot line and Internet service that offers women information about emergency contraception and the addresses of nearby doctors who already prescribe it.
To work, two to four birth control pills are taken anytime up to 72 hours after sex — not just the "morning after" — and then the same dose is taken again exactly 12 hours later. The brands include Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories' Ovral, Lo/Ovral, Nordette and Trihasil, and Berlex Laboratories' Levlen and Tri-Levlen.
"The best-kept contraceptive secret is no longer a secret."
The pills prevent a fertilized egg from implanting into the uterus so that it can grow into an embryo.
David Kessler FDA Commissioner $ ^{1} $
Emergency contraception is different from the controversial abortion pill RU-486, which expels an already-growing embryo from the uterus.
For more information, call 800-56-
9911 or check the Internet at
http://opr.princeton.edu/ec/
Weak gun control blamed for Sunday's shooting of 7
Security tightens at New York's famous Empire State Building
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — One day after a Palestinian gunman went on a fatal shooting rampage, the Empire State Building tightened its security yesterday while city officials questioned how the man could get a gun just weeks after he came to America.
The famous landmark, long a symbol of romance and tourism, was fitted with an airport-style baggage scanner and two metal detectors.
The mayor said weak gun-control laws — not a security lapse — were to blame for the shootings of seven tourists Sunday on the skyscraper's 86th-floor observation deck.
The fact that the gunman — an elderly Palestinian in the country only two months — could buy a Beretta semiautomatic handgun was "totally insane," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said at a news conference.
A Danish tourist was killed and six other sightseers were injured before the gunman, Ali
Hassan Abu Kamal, 69, killed himself.
Police Commissioner Howard Safir described him as a deranged individual who was working on his own.
An anti-terrorist task force still was part of the investigation, Safir said, but so far it had found no evidence that Abu Kamal was aligned with any terrorist group.
In Abu Kamal's hometown of Gaza City, relatives said he had been distraught about losing his life savings of more than $300,000 and had no ties to Palestinian radical groups.
Abu Kamal called home Sunday and said he could not send tuition money to one of his sons, who is studying civil engineering in Russia, a son-in-law said.
A security camera showed that Abu Kamal concealed his weapon under a long coat while entering the Empire State Building. He took an elevator to an observation deck visited by 3 million tourists each year.
Some witnesses said he mumbled something about Egypt before opening fire on a group of tourists, many of them foreign.
said.
The Empire State Building was closed to tourists yesterday.
As panicked sightseers stamped toward exits, Abu Kamal shot himself in the head, police
Visitors today will be screened by the metal detectors at the second-floor elevator to the observation deck and will have to check their bags through the scanner.
At City Hall, Giuliani attempted to shift the focus toward gun control.
He was accompanied by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., whose husband was killed and son wounded in the 1993 shootings on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train that killed six people and wounded 17.
In both that incident and Sunday's shooting, the gunmen circumvented New York's strict gun control laws by traveling out of state to buy the murder weapons. officials said.
Officials said Abu Kamal established residence in Florida by using a motel address shortly after he arrived in the United States on Dec. 24 from Cairo.
He obtained a temporary resident identification card on Jan. 30 — the same day he went into a gun shop to buy the semiautomatic, which costs about $500 and holds 14 bullets.
Billions of dollars not stopping drugs
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Many school children turn to drugs between the fifth and eighth grades despite billions of federal dollars that have been spent on drug education since 1987, the Education Department said yesterday.
A report commissioned by the department said effects were small even in programs that appeared to curb drug use. Despite the negative results, the department wants more money in 1988, with tighter standards for who gets it.
The report suggested schools would need to spend more time and money on drug prevention. The department also said schools didn't carefully choose their programs.
For instance, the report found better results at schools where students took part in programs other than D.A.R.E., which operates in about 70 percent of school districts.
D. A.R.E., which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, relies on police officers and other law enforcement officials who visit fifth-grade classrooms for 17 hours each year. The program receives federal money through school districts.
The department wants $620 million next year for the program, up from $584 million this year.
The study tracked 10,000 students in 19 school districts yearly for four years, starting with a group of fifth- and sixth-graders in 1991-1992.
Eighteen percent of eighth-graders and 24 percent of ninth-graders reported being heavy alcohol users, meaning they drank more than 10 times or were drunk at least once in the past 30 days. Eighteen percent of eighth- and ninth-graders had used marijuana in the month before the survey, and 5 percent reported being heavy users.
Bill Alden, a national D.A.R.E. executive, said it was foolhardy to think D.A.R.E. could inoculate children for life. He said few districts followed up with the group's booster programs in junior high and high school, largely because drug education is expensive.
Lawrence student Heather Hart, 18, said pupils needed to start learning when they were young that drugs are bad. Maybe then, youngsters would be less likely to turn to drugs when troubled emotionally, she said.
"Something happens in their life and they want to get away," she said.
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INTRAMURAL SWIM MEET
Meet Date: Saturday. March 8 Robinson Pool
Entries Open: Monday, Feb. 24
Entries Close: Wednesday, March 5
Winners Get Championship Shorts
$10 Entry Fee/person
For more information contact the Recreation Services Office: 864-3546,208 Robinson
KANSAS BASEBALL HOME OPENER!
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TUESDAY February 25th 3:00 pm Hoglund-Maupin Stadium
FIRST EVER BIG 13 CONFERENCE GAME!!!
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First 300 fans Limit one hot dog per fan WEATHER HOT-LINE 864-4843
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KUROCK KURC CLIMBING
TRIPS COMPETITIONS
Climbing Club meets:
Tues & Thurs 9:30pm-12:00pm
207 Robinson
Tues Feb. 25—"Nokhu Alpine Guide Service" presentation (Guide Service for College Students) free slide show & information meeting 9:30pm 207 Robinson
Thurs. Feb 27—KURC meeting for all club members & new climbers
NO EQUIPMENT OR EXPERIENCE NECESSARY
For more information call Mike at 841-8277 or Kory at 838-3963