Edited and managed by students at-the University o Michigan Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of the author. This must be noted in all reprints. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1972 News Phone: 764-0552 Poor old Hubert POOR OLD Hubert. People leave before he makes speeches, and he makes speeches before very few people. The senator arrived for a luncheon speaking en- gagement in Santa Barbara 45 minutes late this week but his businessman audience had already left. Then he delivered the: speech he had prepared for the first appointment at a Carpenters Union Hall in Ventura. There he talk- ed to over 100 people, over 50 of them media person- nel. BUT HUMPHREY i s nt giving up. He is still attacking Senator McGov- ern's "schemes" gamely "I am not going to let the election be settled on slogans," he declared. "We were slicked before," he added. "Slogans settle nothing - dedication, perservering leadership, experience and, most of all, fellowship, that's what does the job,' the Minnesota senator explained. Poorold Hubert. -ARTHUR LERNER NIGHT EDITOR: PAUL TRAVIS EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR: ROSE SUE BERSTEIN ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITOR: JIM O'BRIEN PHOTO TECHNICIAN: GARY VILLANI Dange exa, By MARK M. GREEN MOUTH WASH, face soap, toothpaste, shampoo, after - shave lotion, fungicidal spray for fruits and vegetables and vaginal sprays against odor - some 400 products on the American market contain the well advertised sanitizer, hexachlorophene. The name is familiar. Less well known is the brain damaging properties of this commonly used chemical. In 1967, five long years ago, research showed that hexachloro- phene can enter the body through the intact skin. In addition, as early as 1961 and later in 1968 two diseases, chloasma and burn encephalopathy involving muscle twitching, coma andhblackening of the skin, were shown to be caused by external application of this "cleaning agent." It doesn't take a PhD to con- clude that this chemical can mess over your chemistry good and proper if it gets into you. It does. Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Lab- oratory in Atlanta, Ga. have demonstrated that a few parts per million (ppm) of hexachloro- phene fed to rats caused gross, brain damage. (A total of one ppm of a substance in an aver- age sized man would be less than one three hundredth of an ounce.) This information was made available in 1969. Other scientists in the same. laboratory studied the blood of men and women who used the over the counter drug store products in normal ways. They found ppm levels of hexa- chlorophene t h a t approached concentrations causing paralysis and visible brain damage in rats. EVEN more horrible, hospitals across the country have routinely washed infants with soap solu- tions containing hexachlorophene for years. Scientists determined that when the children left the hospitals, their blood contained hexachlorophene at a proportion- ate level of one tenth to one half the concentration necessary to cause brain damage, and paraly- sis in laboratory rats. Many of these findings were written up for publication in jour- nals to expose to public scrutiny the entire hexachlorophene ques- tion. But the FDA refused to al- low such publication and also re- fused to act on scientists' recom- mendations to restrict the sale of hexachlorophene-containing ma- terials. The data finally did get out when the Atlanta laboratory was transferred from FDA control. At that point things began to move, lurks in hexa, !exaclorophene since not only the damaging char- familiar with from the thalido- acter of hexachlorophene became mide tragedy. known but evidence came to light Three Dow chemists repeated that 24 million American women, the work and in a subsequent ar- spending $53 million per year, had ticle in Food and Cosmetics Toxi- been using vaginal sprays con- cology showed that the earlier taining the drug - even though work was correct. They also found the manufacturers knew that fetal abnormalities including un- hexachlorophene had no effect on derweight, swelling, retarded bone odor-causing vaginal bacteria! formation and extra ribs in the One company, Alberto Culver, lumbar region. after hearing that some truth was However, the Dow chemists getting out about their rip-off, immediately redefined the word demanded a meeting with the teratogenic to mean something commissioner of the FDA. The which almost kills the fetus and corporation's president, Leonard blithely proclaimed that 2,4-D is Lavin, was immediately received, safe for continued sales and happily left the meeting, 'ac- cording to the company, "satis- fied that they (FDA) will await more scientific evidence before taking action." NOW SINCE the facts have fi- nally struggled to the surface, the FDA has been compelled to place certain restrictions on hexachlor- ophene use. Nevertheless, at the end of May I could not find a single store selling drugs and cos- metics in the campus area that was not selling hexachlorophone products. Meanwhile, Dow Chemical Cor- poration is waging the battle against us on another front. A very heavy selling herbicide for lawn use causes congenital de- fects in rats and mice. The herbi- cide 2,4-D, was studied by two scientists who found that it caus- ed fetal abnormalities in mice. The phenomenon is termed tera- -togenicity - something we are LEADING scientists have pro- tested that the new definition is "messing about unnecessarily"- but the sales go on. It's interesting that in Vietnam where forty million pounds of chemically similar herbicides have been used, the provinces subjected to intensive spraying have ex- hibited a large increase in con- genital birth defects - this time among human beings. You can purchase 2,4-D on the shelf of any well-stocked garden store in the city. For further information, including references, see Science Magazine, Nov. 19, 1971, p. 805, Jan. 14, 1972, p. 148 and April 21, 1972, p. 262. Mark. Green, an assistant pro- fessor of chemistry, will gladly discuss with anyone interested where to find out more about hexachlorophene and 2 4-D. BOB ANDREWS .. .. ....... RasBERBARKIN . JAN BENEDETTI ... ROSE SUE BERSTEIN .. DANIEL BORUS ... ... LINDA DREEBEN .... DENNY GAINER ...... ANDY GOLDING ..a.a . .... MERYL GORDON ..a...a.. . HARRY HIRSCH .... .. .... SHERRY KASTLE ......... KAREN LAAKKO ............. ELLIOT LEGOW .......... ANTHUR LERNER ........ DIANE LEVICK .... . DAVID MARGOLICK.-. SHEILA MARTIN ..........-. JIM O'BRIEN CHRIIS PARKS5.......... NANCY ROSENBAUM. PAUL RUSKIN .. ............ ROLFE TESSEM ,..........- PAUL TRAVIS... GARY VILLANI ...... JIM WALLACE ......... DEBORAH WHITING ......,... CAROL WIECK ................ Summer Staff ................. Associate Sports Editor .~Night caitor . NightEditse ............ .. Co-Editor .Sports Night Editor .B.os Editor ............ ..Night Editoe ... Photography Editor . . ............ . .....n. Business Manager .... ............... Assistant Night Editor ..... .. Display Manager ..... . ............... Circulation Manager .Classified Manager . ....................... Sports Editor .... Co-Ediitor .A.sistant Night-Edtor .." .. .... Photographer .. . . . ..... General Business Assistant ..Sence Edlitae .... ....... ................. .N ight Editor .Assistant Night Editor ....................... Assistant Night Editor ................................ Photographer ............................... Night Editor ..................Phtgapher ... ... .. .. Ph apher ....... ............... Circulation Assistant . ................. General Business Assistant The Great Debate: By ERIC SCHOCK FOR THOSE voters whose only con- tacts with Hubert Humphrey this year were primary night television in- terviews, his television debates with George McGovern must have come as quite a shock. Remember Hubert, after those vic- tories in Indiana and Ohio and those defeats in Oregon and Rhode Island? It was Hubert the Happy we saw, with that never-ending smile and confident attitude. He was humble. in victory and magnanimous in defeat. But then the California campaign got tough, and Hubert discovered he was behind. So he challenged George Mc- Govern to a series of national television debates. And with the debates came the Big Change. No more Mister Nice Guy, now it was Hubert the Mean. Humphrey's goal for the debates was to discredit the McGovern tax, welfare, and defense budget proposals, and he seemed to get pretty involved, if not steamed up, about the whole thing. His eyebrows hopped up and down over his narrowed eyes, and his patented smile was rarely seen. He came across at times like the last of the angry politicians. IN CONTRAST, George McGovern seemed more relaxed, more confident. He came across like your friendly family dentist. Whether or not Humphrey succeeded in discrediting McGovern and his pro- gram in the minds of the voters is hard to tell. The California primary results may not even answer that question. But he certainly tried. HHH jabs George When the correspondents weren't estimates that must have lost their probing McGovern's proposals, Hum- meaning for most viewers. 76 billion phrey was attacking them, usually on dollars, 150 billion dollars, 40 billion the basis of what they would supposedly dollars, 200 billion dollars-what's that cost. McGovern was forced to spend again? most of his time defending his pro- It is questionable whether very many grams, viewers choose either Humphrey or Mc- The result was a bewildering barrage Govern as their favorite on the basis of of conflicting cost, taxation, and budget the debates. Hardly anything new was :::; :brought up, and one broadcast was much like another. The episodes must have been fairly boring to anyone who knew very much 'about the campaign and the candidates. :4 Humphrey hoped to force McGovern into a serious blunder in front of mil- lions of viewers, or at least raise doubts about the McGovern program. BUT McGOVERN was calm under y fire. Senator Humphrey may not have raised many new doubts, and may have even hurt his own image with his grim * -NW defensiveness. a It was a dual composed of repetitious charges and countercharges and billion- dollar estimates. How much all of it may affect the outcome of the Calif or- nia primary may depend upon the num- ber of people that got bored and con- fused and decided that the movie on another channel was probably more Daily-Rolle Tessemn interesting anyway.