The Michigan Daily-Friday, September 16, 1977-Page 9
-,Earth' Moon
-- -- -- - - -
\th
x /,
This diagram depicts L-4 and L-5 two points in space where
gravity is at an equilibrium. Members of the L-5 Society are
advocating construction of future space colonies and indus-
try on the sites.
A 'weightless' topic:
Colones in space
Sentenc4
(Continued from Page 1)
DEFENSE ATTORNEYS for Narciso
and Perez, after escorting the women to
their car through pouring rain and over
100 chanting supporters, returned to the
Federal building for a press confer-
ence.
"They (Narciso and Perez) feel that
they are innocent and they still have
faith in the judicial system and faith in
a religious sense," said defense lawyer
e delaye4
Edward Stein. "They feel that their fate
is in God's hands."
Co-Counsel Lawrence Burgess be-
lieves the Judge ordered the women
under observation because the crimes
they were convicted of are "so incon-
sistent with what we know about these
women."
BURGESS SAID the only reason
Narciso and Perez are being sent to the
prison at Alderson was because "this is
d forVA
where the people who do this (testing)
are located."
Burgess said Judge Pratt will order
the testing to proceed "as quickly as
possible," and it could be completed
within two or three weeks.
But while both sides in the case in,
sisted that Pratt's move yesterday was
not unusual, the "interim sentence"
seemed just another bizarre twist in an
equally bizarre case. Narciso and
U.S. holding talks with Ethiopia
nurses
Perez were convicted of poisoning five
VA hospital patients during a string of
mysterious breathing failures that
swept the hospital during the summer
of 1975.
A jury of nine women and three men
added another twist when they delib-
erated for over 92 hours, breaking the
record for the longest jury deliberation
in the federal court's history.
The nurses face a maximum sentenlce
of life imprisonment for each of the
three poisoning charges against them.
In addition, a conspiracy conviction can
add up to five years to each sentence.
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NAIROBI* Kenya (AP) - U.S.
officials were reported yesterday to
be holding high-level talks with
Ethiopia's Marxist regime in Addis
Ababa, and there was speculation
they were discussing a resumption of
American military aid shipments.
"Top-level contacts are continuing
between the embassy and Ethiopia's
government," said a spokesman for
the UsS. Embassy in the Ethiopian
capital.
HE REFUSED to provide details of
the talks., When asked if they
involved Ethiopian approaches for
arms, he replied, "That seems to be
the popular conception a r o u n d
town."
It was reported, meanwhile, that
heavy fighting was continuing be-
tween Ethiopian troops and Somalia-
backed secessionist rebels around
the cities of Jijiga and Goba in
eastern Ethiopia.
The Soviet Union replaced the
United States as Ethiopia's main
military supplier after the govern-
ment of Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile
Mariam expelled American military
advisers and shut down U.S. mili-
tary installations five months ago.
Untill then, Ethiopian forces had
been almost entirely trained and
equipped by Americans. But military
analysts believe that as a result of
secessionist wars in eastern and
nothern Ethiopia the Mengistu re-
gime now needs spare parts or
replacements for v their American
equipment.
Senate rejects TV
saccharin warnings
By ENID GOLDMAN
When the cow jumped over the
W'oon, she presumably did not know
ahout a pair of points in space known
as L-4 and L-5, or perhaps she would
Iave stayed to investigate these
'iearby "green" valleys of weight-
lessness more thoroughly.
cCurrently being discussed as pos-
'gble sites for a solar power satellite
'rstem, human colonies - and even
a an alternate location for polluting
industries - these areas of gravita-
Aonal equilibrium are considered by
some scientists, politicians and other
'bservers as the new "high" frontier
or mankind.
"HUMANIZING space would be as
ig a step for the world as when life
fjirst moved out of the sea onto the
nd," said Ann Arbor L-5 spokesper-
son Marc Boone. "But I'm not sure
people are ready to accept it."
- The L-5 Society, an international
J'rganization named after the French
Wathematician, Dr. Joseph La-
,grange, who discovered these spaces
halfway between the earth and the
moon, locally concerns itself with
promoting the knowledge and study
extra-terrestrial resources.
The two-year-oldialui subscribes
avily to thidea- of Princeto4-
ofessor Gerard O'Neill who con-
uded with his freshman physics
c ass in 1969 that the surface of a
planet is not really the right place for
an expanding technological civiliza-
tion.
"THE EARTH is simply a bad
place for industry at the present
level," said Boone at one of the
Society's weekly Tuesday meetings.
"We're obviously polluting above
nature's capacity to recycle and
demanding more power than we can
get out of this planet."
Many members of the L-5 Society
hope a successful solar satellite
program would also prompt the
relocation of present environmental-
ly harmful industries to the L-4 and
L-5 "pockets" approximately 250,000
miles from earth.
According to Congressman Morris
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Udall (D-Arizona), who urges finan-
cialsupport for continued research in
this area, ~ studies have already
shown that colonies in L-4 and L-5
could support themselves using the
natural resources of the moon and
asteroids. The original investment,
would not be much greater than that
spent on the Apollo project.
PROPONENTS OF the technology
are also quick to point out that the
solar satellite system would be
cheaper than earth-based solar pow-
er systems, would create new jobs,
and would open up a new world in
which large numbers of people
could participate directly.
Not everyone, however, agrees
with the views expressed by O'Neill
and Stewart Brand, editor of the
CoEvolution Quarterly. University
Astronomy Department Chairman
W. Albert Hiltner finds this idea of
space colonization "a phenomenal
undertaking" that "does not empha-
size the quality and beauty of living
on earth."
Solar astronomy specialist Prof.
Orren Mohler calls colonization a
"difficult problem," scientifically
since "we can't even now put a
decent sized telescope in space."
SIn another orbit, some advocates of
the solar power satellite system
readily discuss what they see as
potential pitfalls of the program.
"Birds flying through the solar
transmission area will feel warm -
but not cooked - and building
scarecrows in the vicinity is a
consideration," Beene said with a,
galactic grin.
(Continued from Page 1)
be acted on by the House Commerce
Committee next week.
Sen. Gaylord Nelson, (D-Wis.),
urged the Senate to allow the FDA
ban to take effect and to allow
saccharin to be sold only as an
across-the-counter, non-prescription
drug.
"It causes cancer to animals, no
one disputes that," Nelson said.
And he said there was impressive
evidence that saccharin also in-
creased the risk of cancer in humans.
"TO SATISFY a sweet tooth, we're
going to subject millions of people to
a cancer agent," Nelson told the
Senate. "We're going to have thous-
ands of people who are going to die
from cancer for the convenience of
getting a bottle of soda pop."
But Sen. Edward Kennedy, (D-
Mass.), argued that definite answers
must be found before such a ban
should be considered. "The scientific
community is divided and the public
remains skeptical," Kennedy said.
He said the 18-month delay should
provide enough time to find these
answers while the warnings should
alert consumers to the possible
dangers of saccharin.
THE FDA announced earlier this
year that it planned to ban saccharin
as a food additivein products such as
diet sodas. The ban has been tempor-
arily delayed to await congressional
action on the legislation to delay it.
In announcing the ban, the FDA
cited a study done by the Canadian
government which showed that sac-
charin, when fed in high doses to
laboratory rats, caused bladder can-
cer. It acted under a federal law
requiring the banning of any food
additive shown to cause cancer in
either man or animals.
A later Canadian study linked the
sweetener to humans, concluding
that it increased the risk of bladder
cancer in males.
However, announcement of the
proposed ban generated a storm of
public protest and many medical and
scientific authorities questioned the
wisdom of removing it from the
marketplace.
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Charles Ginnever's
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