European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Panel Aims at rein on nuke Power Washington a forty nations concluded a three Day conference Friday and agreed to study nuclear Power and its connection with the spread of atomic weapons. The chief . Delegate ambassador at Large Gerard Smith told reporters the planned two year study is not a negotiation but a technical analysis. Smith said it will not recommend policy and will not obligate any of the participating nations. The project known As the International nuclear fuel Cycle evaluation i Cewill prepare reports on several nuclear issues including new technical develop ments and nuclear proliferation. President Carter opened the conference with a proposal to establish an International nuclear fuel Bank which would Guaran tee an uninterrupted Supply of nuclear fuel to nations which need it. The proposal would protect consuming nations from fuel cutoffs by fuel producing nations. Smith said Carter s proposal was not specifically discussed by the Confer ence but would be studied. Among other issues the studies will focus on the risk of processed nuclear fuels being used to develop nuclear weapons. The feasibility of multinational or regional fuel processing centers to help pre vent nations from using nuclear fuel to make nuclear weapons. Guarantees of assured Supply in the context of National import Export and non proliferation policies a category which presumably would cover Carter s fuel Bank proposal. Exchange of plutonium for other nuclear fuels to take out of circulation a by product of nuclear reactors which can be used to make bombs. Various other International controls on plutonium. Development of different fuels and re actors less susceptible to conversion for bomb making. Smith said it was agreed that eight working groups would meet frequently. He said the entire conference would re assemble next year and again in 1979. By then he said the working groups should have their separate reports ready for the entire conference. Sunday october 23, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 7 r Robert Randall of Washington holds a Container of government supplied mar government connection Ijuana cigarettes that he smokes to Cope with glaucoma an Eye disease. Randall uses about 60 joints a week apart of a government Experiment. A panel to consider allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana for patients Washington a a government panel will consider next month whether controls Over marijuana should be Loos ened enough to allow its use As a prescription drug for some cancer and glaucoma patients. The controlled substances advisory committee will consider on nov. 16 whether marijuana should be moved from the drug class which includes heroin and Ltd into the class which includes such drugs As cocaine and morphine. The change would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana. Researchers Are now studying marijuana s reported ability to relieve the Eye pressure which accompanies glaucoma or the nausea suffered by persons undergoing cancer chemotherapy and Federal experts say some results have been promising. But experts emphasize the evidence is not conclusive and that no one claims mar Ijuana will cure anything. It s just a palliative said or. Robert c. Petersen an associate director in the research division of the National Institute on drug abuse. It by no Means could be regarded As a medical Miracle a palliative eases a disease without curing it. Trivial standards criticized on of safety rules called joke Washington up the Federal government s promises to make the work place Safe for the worker have become a joke a combination of trivial rules and serious failures a House committee said Friday. The report assessed the results of the 1970 Law that created the occupational safety and health administration an Agency that has become one of the most criticized in government. In just six years a Law which was passed with High Hopes As a response to a serious problem has become the Symbol of unwarranted government intrusion and the butt of jokes the House government operations committee said. The underlying thought of the Law was that setting standards for employers would make working areas safer and healthier. The premise was that employ ers would comply if they knew workers could complain to an Agency or that an Agency would make periodic inspections. Osha s six year record of safety and health regulation has caused this premise to be challenged the report added. After conceding that Many standards Are trivial irrelevant or outmoded Osha failed to make Good on its promises to revise them. Widespread accounts of arbitrary inspectors and unwarranted citations have made Osha a Symbol of heavy handed arbitrary governmental Regula the committee said there is a note of Hope the new leadership is now taking the initial Steps to purge the. Stan Dards of their unreasonable the Agency concentrated on safety rules and left health standards largely on paper the report said. It contended that Petty requirements not strongly related to Industrial safety were pushed by the Agency. Examples Are not hard to enumerate regulations forbidding ice in drinking water regulations requiring split toilet seats or coat Hooks on toilet doors or lounges in women s Congress and the labor department Parent Agency of Osha share the blame the committee said. It recommended that Osha erase from its rules trivial irrelevant and outmoded encourage analysis of causes of Industrial accidents so that regulations will reduce the probability of accidents. Enforce health provisions by requiring manufacturers to Tell of any poisons in their products and requiring employers to Tell workers the information. Do whatever it can to solve the debilitating management coordinate with other Federal offices. As a schedule i drug marijuana cannot be prescribed As a Medicine except in federally sanctioned research programs. In its proposed schedule ii classification it still would be considered to have a High potential for abuse but be available for Doc tors. Rescheduling marijuana would not make the drug any More readily available for persons who use it recreation ally. But the lawyer for the National organization for the Reform of marijuana Laws which filed the original request to change marijuana s classification in 1972, says the switch would have an Impact on society s general attitude toward the substance. It would reinforce the message that marijuana is not As dangerous As heroin said lawyer Peter Meyers whose organization favors Laws decriminalizing Mari Juana. The organization waged a Long court Battle against the government to Force it to consider rescheduling marijuana. The Justice department opposed any re classification but a Federal appeals court ruled in april that the department s drug Agency had to let the Secretary of health education and welfare decide whether marijuana has medical value. Joining in the organi nation s request Are Robert Randall 29, a Washington glaucoma sufferer who receives a weekly Supply of about five dozen marijuana cigarettes from the government As part of an Experiment and 61 other persons Many of whom Hope to obtain marijuana to treat their own ailments. Neither Meyers nor government officials expect the advisory panel to decide the question at the november meeting. Meyers says he Hopes the panel makes its recommendation to hew Secretary Joseph a. Califano or. In time for him to make a final decision Early next year
