[The M hi n D ttVol. LXXXIX, No. 21-S
Ya a Thursday, May 31, 1979
6 Twelve Pages
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ten Cents
U' Hospital cautious in dispensing DES
by ADRIENNE LYONS
The drug diethylstilbestrol (DES), now known to
increase cancer risk in the daughters of women who
take it, was dispensed at the University's Health Ser-
vice during the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of an
experiment. DES still is dispensed at University
Hospital as a "morning-after" contraceptive, but only
under rare ircumstances, according to a nurse in the
hospital's gynecology clinic.
Executive Director of the National Women's Health
Network Belita Cowan was quoted in the State News,
Michigan State University's student newspaper, as
saying that Health Service dispensed DES as a mor-
ning-after pill ten years ago, even though the federal
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) haji not ap-
proved the drug.
COWAN COULD NOT be reached for comment.
According to FDA Consumer Safety Officer Joanne
Narrone, the FDA does not recommend the drug as a
morning-after pill, but it is still legal to dispense DES.
"Using a drug for an inappropriate indication (a
reason for which it was not intended) is within a doc-
tor's practice," she said.
DES is a synthetic estrogen. It was often prescribed
to women during the 1940s and 1950s to prevent
miscarriages. Research has shown DES to increase
the risk of an unusual form of vaginal cancer in the
daughters of these women.
ACCORDING TO the State News article, Cowan was
a gradaute student at the University and an employee
of University Hospital during the experiment a decade
ago. The tests were conducted to examine the possible
use of DES as a morning-after oral contraceptive in
emergencies, according to the experiment's final
report. The article also stated Cowan claimed that 100
students were given.the drug and none were aware of
its experimental nature.
But according to the final report, 1,000 women were
tested and all were informed that using DES as a con-
traceptive was experimental, and that follow-up
examinations were expected. Only consenting women
See 'U', Page 2
DC-10 eng
defects un
in safety iil
CHICAGO (AP) - The death toll
from the crash of American Airlines
Flight 191 rose to 274 yesterday as
crews still labored at the disaster site to
collect the bodies of the victims.
The victims were so mutilated and
dismembered bylast Friday's crash
that 305 body bags have been used
already and more will be needed, sear-
chers said.
Meanwhile, dozens of DC-10 jumbo
jets lifted off again yesterday just hours
after the wide-bodied jets were groun-
ded for safety checks, but federal of-
ficials said other DC-10s had failed to
pass inspection.
A "CONSCIENTIOUS mechanic'-
who didn't like the way a metal cover
was sitting on an engine pylon of a
United Airlines jet discovered a crack
that helped convince authorities of the
need to ground all DC-10s, a federal of-
ficial says.
Officials of McDonnell Douglas,
makers of the DC-10, have declined to
discuss details of the pylon structure.
They were asked what the bolt is made
of, who makes it, and how the DC-10
engine mounting compares with those
on its DC-8 and DC-9 aircraft.
But McDonnell Douglas promised
that a statement describing the way the
engine is put on the plane, and the
engineering reasons for it, would be
provided.
CAPT. ERNEST Burmeister, a
United captain and a member of the
National Transportation Safety Board
team investigating Friday's American
Airlines' DC-10 crash, said an inspec-
tion of the United jet revealed a crack
in a large steel plate that is a vital part
of the engine mount.
"We were just lucky a very conscien-
tious mechanic was putting forth extra
effort," said Burmeister, who did not
identify the mechanic.
He said a ground crew found the
problem after completing its inspection
of bolts and other mechanisms at the
three attachment points where the
pylon is connected to the bottom of the
wing.
BURMEISTER said the crack would
have allowed the entire engine assem-
bly to move beyond proper limits and
could pbt extra strain on the bolts and
ine mount
covered
spections
other devices at the main attachment
points.
He said the crack would not have
been discovered if the mechanic had
not gone beyond federal orders to in-
spect the mounting system.
The FAA grounded the DC-l0s for in-
spection on Tuesday because of "grave
and potentially dangerous deficien-
cies" in their engine mounts.
THE FAA order removed from ser-
vice 12 per cent of the available seats on
See INSPECTIONS, page 2
Private gifts
supplement
U'fin~an'icial
structure
by JULIE ENGEBRECHT
Tuition skyrockets. State ap-
propriations decrease each year. And,
the University increasingly depends on
private gifts to maintain its reputation
as a prestigious institution.
Only ten per cent of the University's
budget comes from private donations -
30 per cent comes from tuition, and
about 60 per cent from the state - yet
this year monetary private support is
expected to reach $33 million.
THE UNIVERSITY'S Director of
Development Wendell Lyons prefers to
call the University tax-assisted, rather
than state-supported, because, he said,
it must depend on private gifts and
student funds as well as state
allocations. Lyons said people assume
the state provides for everything the
University needs, and they tend not to
give money for that reason.
"A university like Michigan has got
to raise more and more private funds if
it's going to remain great," Lyons said.
"Tuition will raise to the price where
few can afford to come (to the Univer-
sity). You can price yourself out of
See DONATIONS, page 2
ALEXI BRUMBAUGH put on a broad brimmed hat to protect herself from the
light rain yesterday as she hiked through the woods at the back of her land on
Dexter Rd. She and other neighborhood residents say a six-unit apartment build-
ing planned next to her property will endanger the woods.
West side residents irate
over planned apt. building
By JOHN GOYER
Any of the five massive developments
proposed for the south side of Ann Ar-
bor could indirectly affect virtually
every city resident. But a six-story
apartment building proposed for a one-
acre lot near Dexter Rd. has raised the
ire of a dozen neighborhood citizens.
Neighborhood residents protested the
plans at a City Council Public Hearing
May 14. They claimed the apartment
building, proposed for land owned by
the Vitality Seed Company Pension
Fund, would threaten wildlife and add
to the trend of crowding more people on
less land.
"I WOULD JUST love for it to stay
like this, but I know it won't. If they
were going to put in a home there, then
I'd say go ahead. But apartments, I
don't want that," Alexi Brumbaugh
said yesterday as she walked on her
land next to the one-acre site.
Brumbaugh, 78, has lived next to the
land earmarked for apartments for 32
years.
As she tramped through rolling
brush, Brumbaugh pointed out the
raspberry bushes, the apple and pear
trees, and the wild grapes on her
property. She also pointed out the shop-
ping carts that had been dumped on the
small wetland at the back of her land,
as well as the debris on the property
next to her own.
BOTH BRUMBAUGH and Revella
Woodson, 52, whose house is also near
the proposed apartment building,
blamed the dumped shopping carts on
See WEST, Page 10