Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Fri, Apr 17 1992 Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 05:42:11 EDT Message-ID: 04-17 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update April 17-19, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Friday morning in USA TODAY: Implants; Sanctions; Neuharth. TODAY'S DEBATE - BREAST IMPLANTS: USA TODAY'S OPINION: The Food and Drug Administration, which ruled Thursday to allow only restricted testing of silicone gel breast implants, probably deserves some limited measure of praise. But not much. FDA Commissioner David Kessler said silicone gel implants will be restricted to just women with mastectomies, injuries or deformities - and a few healthy volunteers for clinical studies. ... (Kessler) ruled that although implant recipients have testified to problems ranging from immune disease to hardened and misshapen breasts to gangrenous fingers to mental defects, some women can get the devices anyway. His reason: The FDA lacks formal scientific proof that silicone caused the symptoms - even though they ceased when the inserts were removed. The agency lacks that proof because the inserts were on the market before FDA started regulating such devices. OTHER VIEW: HARRY SCHWARTZ, a Scarsdale, N.Y., writer specializing in medical topics: Once again, a man has arrogated to himself the right to decide what a woman may or may not do in relation to a vital part of her own body. ... FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler's verdict is bizarre, because if he had real fears about serious health consequences from breast implants, he certainly would not have decided to subject victims of breast cancer to the alleged perils of breast implants. The truth is, he knows that these past decades we have had a vast natural experiment in which roughly a million women received breast implants. The vast majority of these women are and have been happy with the result. ... We have here a vast extension of the Nanny State the do-gooders want to impose upon us. ... the latest imitation will produce black markets and contempt for the law. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON SANCTIONS AGAINST LIBYA: HENDERSON, Nev., Shelley Brooks, 36, teacher: For any chance at world peace, terrorism has to be abolished completely. The sanctions against Libya should be maintained at all costs as long as it keeps terrorists under its protection. Gadhafi has delusions of grandeur, and all the acts of terrorism do is re-enforce them. ST. LOUIS, Mo., Tom Birkenmeier, 44, ad agency president: They should put on all possible pressure. Failing that, there is a precedent set by the U.S. Marines; they went into Tripoli when there were pirates preying on innocent seafarers. I see no difference between terrorizing vessels on the high seas and terrorizing vessels in the air. BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Marilyn Whitt-Douglas, 34, account clerk: I approve of the sanctions, but if they don't work, it may be out of the United States' hands. I don't think it's appropriate to use force. I don't want to say the U.S. is powerless if the sanctions don't work, but something else besides force should be used. MANHATTAN, Kan., Christopher Sesler, 26, graduate student: (Sanctions against Libya are) a U.N.-proposed action. The United States should back the U.N. and keep sanctions in place until they turn over the suspects. But we should do it like Desert Storm. We're in the new world order; it is very important that we not take any action on our own accord. SANTA MARIA, Calif., Lee Naumcheff, 65, real estate broker: Let's give the sanctions a chance. They should work. I think it's going to be a real hardship on them. If it doesn't work, as in the past, we're pretty helpless. You can't just go over and destroy a country. TOPIC - NEUHARTH: AL NEUHARTH, founder, USA TODAY: Here's a sure way to take some of the stress out of your IRS deadline next April 15: Schedule something at the same time that's even more traumatic than taxes. That happened to me this week. My annual physical exam took place Monday and Tuesday. After that, completing my tax return on Wednesday was a piece of cake. At my age (68), I've grown accustomed to once a year poking and probing. ... But sweating out the results of all those bloody blood tests brings out the Chicken Little in me. ... Miracles of modern medicine ... are life savers. If you can survive the stress of waiting for sophisticated test results. ... Awaiting those test results found me rating these as the five most stressful periods of my life, in this order: Sweating out results of a medical exam. Prolonged babysitting of a grandchild or godchild under age one. Waiting to find out whether a spouse is pregnant. The final five minutes of the NCAA Final Four championship game when my favorite Duke Blue Devils are playing. Making peace with the IRS. Hope I can arrange at least one of the first four again next April to take my mind off the tax trauma. Issues & Debate Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM