European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday september ?8. 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 health & science news new labels sought for processed foods Congress May require information on Salt Tat Content Washington a americans trying to avoid High Levels of Salt and cholesterol in their Dicu would get a helping hand if Congress passes new legislation calling for improved Labelling of processed foods. Sens. Howard Metzenbaum a Ohio and Paula Haw Kins r-fja., have joined forces to introduce the Bill they say will give americans one of the most important tools to help combat heart disease and cancer. The measure which is scheduled for a hearing oct. 10, would require labels that Tell Consumers the amount of Salt in the product and the amount and Type of fat. Currently Federal regulations require foods to list the amounts of nutrients if they make any sort of nutrition claim or if they Are fortified with extra vitamins and minerals As is often done with breakfast cereals. But otherwise there is no to state the amount of fats cholesterol Salt and so Forth. About half of All processed foods now contain such Labelling. Metzenbaum said hundreds of thousands of americans annually Are told by their physicians to reduce their intake of saturated fat and Salt. However when they go to the supermarket they will discover that the information they need to adjust their diet is not available Metzenbaum said. Or. John la Rosa of the american heart association said Salt is associated with High blood pressure while saturated fat in foods is linked with heart disease and stroke. Fat in foods has also been associated with some types of cancer said Alan c. Davis of the american can cer society. Bruce Silverglade of the Center for science in the pub Lic interest a consumer group said improved labels would allow Consumers to vote for healthier foods. By reducing their purchases of unhealthful foods con Sumers will Send a signal to the food Industry to provide the american Public with lower fat lower cholesterol and lower sodium foods that we All need to maintain Good health he said. Metzenbaum cited Kraft Mayonnaise As an example of a product that already carries nutrition Labelling. They re doing it and they re not going bust Metzon Baum said. We Are not proposing something Industry can t live with. It s realistic it can be and he said the Cost would be very Small compared to the health costs of not providing the labels. Improved nutrition Labelling is important not Only in human terms but in economic terms As Well. For example this nation already annually spends More than so billion in health care costs for the treatment of hypertension alone added Silverglade. Heroic treatment for aids victims is inappropriate gov. Lamm says Denver a gov. Richard d. Lamm who has said terminally ill elderly people have a duty to die says giving expensive heroic medical treatment to aids Vic Tims is inappropriate because the disease is always fatal. There Are two types of aids patients he told doctors and nurses wednesday during a discussion at the univer sity of Colorado health sciences Center on the rising costs of health care. Either you re dying or you re dead " Lamm said. If there s no Chance of any successful outcome then you can t order up every possible medical Lamm Laid he did not begrudge aids patients treat ment that is medically indicated. If the treatment will relieve pain add Quality of life or be of medical Benefit i m All for providing it. But at some Point treatment May become counterproductive Over treatment. Given the limited number of health care dollars we have Money might be better spent on research into finding a cure for the disease rather than on needlessly cruel and expensive treatment he said. In a speech on March 27, Lamm said elderly people who Are terminally ill have a duty to die and get out of the Way instead of trying to prolong their lives by artificial Means. People who die without having their lives artificially extended arc similar to leaves falling off a tree and form ing humus for the other plants to grow up he said. You got a duty to die and get out of the Way. Let the other society our kids build a reasonable acquired immune deficiency syndrome Breaks Down the body s immune system. As of sept. 16, aids had struck 13,228 people in the United slates and claimed 6,758 lives since 1979. California donors of get aids test results san Francisco a hundreds of californians will be getting some bad news in the next few months. They la be told the blood they donated has traces of the deadly aids virus. It will be a Shock to some actually it will be a Shock to All Richard Fox of the California department of health s aids unit said. Some however will have expected blood Bank officials Are preparing for the difficult task of telling about 600 Calico Means that recently instituted tests oxblood donations show they have been exposed to aids. We notify individuals All the time about ailments found while toting their blood but this one has a lot More fear and fright in it said Brian Mcdonough executive director of Irwin memorial blood Bank. Blood Banks throughout the state began testing donors for signs of aids last March. However because state officials did not want people in High risk groups mainly homosexual men and intravenous drug users donating blood simply to get the test they placed a temporary ban on the disclosure. Blood Banks were barred from releasing results until the area had an alternate aids test Center Fox said. We re creating greater evils if we do not notify them. They arc infectious they arc spreading the disease and worst yet they May be or. Paul Thompson red Cross medical director of blood for the los Angeles and Orange county area said about 5 percent to 10 percent of the people who test positively for aids antibodies will develop the disease and die. Because it can take aids victims years to develop symptoms state officials acknowledge Many people who tested positively on the examinations will live in fear that they have the deadly disease. I m sure there la be some degree of anxiety in people receiving such news said Thompson adding that receiving a positive test for aids docs not mean that the person has the Mcdonough said there is certainly some anxiety in informing donors. But my biggest concern is the reaction of the donor s previous recipient. They have no clue that they have had any Contact with the aids while the food and drug administration could act to require the Labelling Metzenbaum said that Agency does not appear disposed to take action Likely because of the Reagan administration philosophy opposing government regulations. Listing the Salt Content of processed foods becomes mandatory in june 1986 for foods that contain other nutrition information. That Means about 55 percent of foods would then have Salt Labelling up from about 40 percent which now do so voluntarily the Fra says. The Hawkins Bill would require the Fol lowing information on the labels of All packaged foods the number of ounces per serving. The total calories per serving. The total number of Grams of fat contained in one serving broken Down by Type of fat saturated polyunsaturated monounsaturated. The specific common name of the fat or Oil used in the product. The total number of milligrams of cholesterol contained in one serving. The total number of milligrams of sodium or potassium contained in one serving. Stairs Don t Stop it a woman demonstrates motor drip in wheelchair that is capable of negotiating stairways up and Down. Tic wheelchair manufactured by the gulag firm in cooperation with Djoro Steiger stif tunic another Gemunu company was displayed at the inter Airport fair this week in Frankfurt. No compassion no certification Board tells doctors Pittsburgh a doctors who Don t treat their patients with concern and compassion Are being refuse certification by the american Board of internal number who have actually been turned Down u very Small so far but it s sending a powerful message Taid or. John a. Benson jr., president of the panel. Physicians can practice internal Medicine without certification but those who want recognition for higher veil of training must meet the Board s . To be certified As specialists in the non surgical Field. Benson a doctor in Portland ore., was at the univer sity of Pittsburgh to speak on the humanistic approach to the practice of i think we slipped a bit in our ability to doctor. It was t just that costs were out of sight. It was that doctors could have been More available could have touched their patients More and been More caring he said. He said new tests and instruments although Benefi Cial to diagnoses imposed a certain distance Between doctors and their the 38-member Board has refused certification to about 10 candidates because they did not meet Stan Dards of humanitarian conduct Benson said. This year i think there were half a dozen and there were about two each in the last couple of he said that was out of a total of 4,600 applicants each year
