Page 12-Saturday; August)11, 1979-The Michigan Daily
LANSING (UPI)-Health officials yesterday urged
P aren ts told parents not to use two baby formulas which were recalled
due to an apparent manufacturing error, but said there have
been no reported illnesses in Michigan associated with the
products.
not to use The formulas, Neo-mull-soy and CHO Free, were recalled
by their California manufacturer, Syntex Laboratories, after
they were found to have caused failure to gain weight, loss of
eca appetite, lethargy, and constipation in some infants who took
them.
FEDERAL OFFICALS reports 31 cases nationwide, but
there have been no deaths and infants taken off the formula
have recovered.
The formulas are made from soy beans and are given to
23sotht e Effect
children believed to be allergic to milk.
The state Department of Public Health urged parents who,
have the products to return them to the store for a refund.
STATE WOMEN and infant care programs have been
notified to stop distributing the formulas and refer children
who have taken them to physicians for tests, officials said.
Marian Van Neirop, a nutrition consultant for the depar-
tment, said the two products accounted for about 6 per cent to
10 per cent of the formula market.
She said she could not estimate how many Michigan
children received them.
VAN NIEROP said Neo-mull-soy was used in the so-called
WIC program-Special Supplemental Food Program for
Women, Infants, and Children.
of nuclear accident
on pregnant women studied
ANOTNER STATE COMPLEXPATRON CONVENIENCE
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"AL 0 eFRTCKTINOMAIN
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -
Pregnant women living near the Three
Mile Island nuclear plant will be
studied over the next two years by
scientists trying to learn how they are
affected by low-level radiation - and
by the fear of it.
With the help of hospitals and death
records, a nine-member state team will
check on the outcome of an estimated
8,000 births by women living within 10
miles of the facility between last March
28 and March 27, 1981.
MARCH 28 was the day that two
valves malfunctioned in the nuclear
plant's cooling system, resulting in a
leak of radiation into the atmosphere. It
was the worst accident in the U.S.
civilian atomic program.
On March 30, Gov. Dick Thornburgh
advised pregnant women and pre-
school children livingwithin a five-mile
radius to leave. The advisory lasted 11
days for the two groups, whose body
tissues are particularly susceptible to
the effects of radiation.
"In my first trimester, I couldn't
sleep. I had nightmares ... and won-
dered if I would have to take
tranquilizers that could affect the
fetus," said Dr. Joyce Kim, the project
supervisor, who is six months pregnant.
"EVERY DOSAGE of radiation is an
overdose. Children and babies are four
times more susceptible to radiation,"
Kim told reporters.
"The susceptibility of the unborn is
even higher."
Dr. George Tokuhata, director of the
state Bureau of Health Research,
downplayed the possible physical effec-
ts of the radiation on births.
"THE AMOUNT of radiation that
was monitored and reported was very
small," he said. "We don't anticipate
any great impact from the radiation.
"But there was considerable
psychological stress on pregnant
women, and that may have caused
some impact on their pregnancies," he
added.
Tokuhata said the team would check
fetal deaths, congenital birth defects,
premature babies, babies who die
within 28 days of birth, and the con-
dition of babies at birth.
HE SAID THE two year period was
selected to compare babies whose
mothers were pregnant during the 10-
day crisis period, and those whose
mothers became pregnant afteward.
The mothers will be asked dozens of
questions, including whether they were
emotionally disturbed by the accident,
and whether that prompted them to
take some type of drugs.
All of the information will be
analyzed by computer and will be kept
confidential, according to the Health
Department.
"I THINK IT'S such a worthwhile
program, not just to Pennsylvania, but
as a great contribution to the whole
world," Dr. Kim said.
The U.S. Department of Health, Eud-
cation, and Welfare is providing $80,000
for the study, "but the budget will be
much larger than that," said William
Sheppard, a state Health Department
spokesman. He did not know how much
more money would be needed.
Wisconsin board proposes
tests for elderly M.D.'s
MADISON, Wis. (AP)-Wisconsin
may become the first state in the nation
to require elderly doctors to take com-
petency tests, state officials say.
Dr. William Baker, chairman of the
state's Medical Examining Board, said
written and oral tests may be required
of physicians after a certain number of
years, perhaps when the reach age 60,
65, or 70.
Such testing, he said, "could be one
possible way of making sure.. . that
someone is not a menace."
BAKER SAID the board will study
the testing proposal at a meeting next
Wednesday, and seek legal advice.
Many states require doctors to take
courses to keep abreast of medical
developments, but board spokesmen
say they know of no state which
specifically asks them to take and pass
tests in-order to retain their licenses to
practice.
Baker said the idea is not likely to be
popular, at least in the profession itself,
and that he has a "sneaky feeling that
we would not be followed" by other
states.
THE 4,500 member State Medical
Society, Wisconsin's largest
physicians' organization, has taken no
formal position on the proposed com-
petency tests, spokesman William
Wendle said yesterday.
If the tests "would do what the people
who advocate them want, the society
probably would support them," he said.
"It's a laudable thing to try to insure
competency."
However, he said earlier attempts at
testing have shown it "doesn't work out
to be the cure all we would like it to be."
"UNFORTUNATELY, those who
need it most find ways around it,"
Wendle said.
Currently, Wisconsin doctors are
required to have their licenses renewed
every two years and show they have
had 30 hours of continuing education
during that period.
"But the board thinks these are the
people who probably need continuing
education even more," shesaid.
FOR GOD'S SAKE GET OUT
JAMES BROLIN
THE
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