4 - Friday, February 21, 2014

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


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MEGAN MCDONALD
PETER SHAHIN and DANIEL WANG KATIE BURKE
EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board.
All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.
Standardizing medical dosage
The initiative to normalize medicine must be backed by Snyder
More than 1.5 million Americans are harmed each year as the
direct result of medication errors. Of those, about 7,000 will die
from potentially preventable adverse drug effects. The sobering
facts are what stand behind the Food and Drug Administration's recent
funding of a program titled "Novel Interventions and Collaborations to
Improving the Safe Use of Medications." As one of the first 10 institutions
to take part in this program, the University has begun an initiative to
standardize the liquid concentrations of pediatric medications to reduce
the frequency of these types of medical errors. This is precisely the kind
of frontier innovation the University should continue to strive for. By
standardizing liquid concentrations across the state, the incidence of these
medical errors will decrease and lives will be saved. The University should
be commended for its participation in this potentially life-saving program.

Updating sexual education

When I'
grade, I
sex edu
remember learn-
ing, first, how
birds and fish and
other animals
reproduced, and
feeling utterly
confused. Even-
tually, we learned
how humans
reproduced, and
I was still utterly
confused (even-

was in fourth
had my first
cation class. I
KATIE
STEEN

tually, I pressed my parents into
answering my desperate nine-year-
old self as I harassed them with
questions of, "But what is sex?!"). I
remember pads and tampons were
mentioned at some point, too. That
pretty much concluded my elemen-
tary school sex ed.
Middle school was a miserable
blur, but I remember learning more
about pads and tampons. I remem-
ber watching an outdated, over-
the-top video on sexual harassment
that everyone made fun of.
In high school, I remember
studying for a sex ed quiz,
scrutinizing diagrams of a penis
and a vagina in the hour before
health class, tucking them halfway
underneath a page in my notebook
and hoping that no one would
notice me staring down a dick in
pre-calc. I remember watching a
video about a high school student
in Grosse Pointe who couldn't go
to prom because he had sex with an
underage girl. I remember feeling
bad for him.
That was essentially the extent
of my sex ed - endless instructions
on how to discretely deal with my
bleeding vagina, some unhelpful
diagrams and a misleading, blip-
of-a-lesson on sexual consent.
We never learned about sexual
orientation. We never learned
about gender and identity. We
learned that "no means no," but we
didn't learn what to do if someone
says "no" after saying "yes," or if
someone is too drunk to say "no," or
if silence is necessarily a "yes."
I can only speak for my own
experience, but I'm guessing that
sex ed is just as useless nationwide,
especially considering that only
20 states require sex and HIV
education in public schools. The

majorityofAmericanteena
graduate high school with
knowledge on sex and s
and for a lot of parents, t
way they'd prefer it to rem
Recently in Kansas,a
that was meant to be used
of a discussion on sexual
incensed a number of
resulting in a proposedI
would require Kansas sexe
on an opt-in policy as oppo
opt-out policy. What that
rather than parents excus
children from sex ed, paren
have to indicate their app
their children to receive s
all - something a lot of t
may not be comfortable ask
parents to do. What that m
shift to where sexual igno
not education - is the nort
This has lasting, damagin
on the health of our coun
these effects are disprop
based on race and socioe
status). Among industrializ
tries, the United States hast
est teen birth rate, and A
aged 15 to 24 acquire half o
Sexually Transmitted Infec
But spotty
or nonexistent
sex ed leads to
more than just
teen pregnancy Spot
and STIs. It S
leads to thou-
sands of teens mo
left confused
about issues of preg
gender, sex and
identity. It leads
to teenage girls
unsure of how
to acquire birth control, o
talk to when they think th
be pregnant, or how to tall
boyfriends about using a
- or maybe not having s
It leads to LGBTQ student
isolated and unsafe with ex
their sexuality in the pre
their peers. It leads to dep
suicide and homelessness.
a reason things like Ellen P
Michael Sam coming out st
headlines. And there's ar
took Facebook a decade t
add options for gender
"male" and "female." Our
progresses slowly, but thee
these progressive changes

gerswill with individuals through young
minimal adulthood and beyond.
exuality, This culture of ignorance and
hat's the shame can brew into a particularly
ain. toxic environment for institutes
a poster of higher education. Queerphobia,
I as part misogyny and rape culture per-
activity meate colleges - in classrooms, at
parents, parties, on dimly lit streets and on
bill that sun-drenched campus lawns - in
ed to run many ways, to the extent that it
sed to an almost goes unnoticed. But ulti-
means is, mately, college is not equally safe
ing their for all people. The fact that lists of
ts would the most "LGBT friendly" colleges
roval for even exist says something about
ex ed at how (un)supportive the average
eenagers college is of the LGBTQ communi-
ing their ty. And don't forget that currently,
eans is, a one out of five women will be sexu-
rance - ally assaulted in college, and the
s. vast majority of the perpetrators
ig effects will get away with it. There are
try (and countless incidents I could address
ortionate of intolerance and injustice on col-
conomic lege campuses, but I don't feel like
ed coun- turning this into a list.
the high- Wednesday, a banner reading
mericans "THIS ADMINISTRATION
f all new DEFENDS RAPISTS" was hung
tions. from Mason Hall. While actions
like this call
attention to the
culture that
has infected
ty or nonexistent our campus
ex ed leads to and many
other campuses
re than just teen across the
country, we
gnancy and STIs. should be
looking to fight
the problem
before it
manifests itself
r who to at the college level. Ideally, we
ey might would have mandated sex education
k to their that teaches young people about
condom more than just the biology of the
ex at all. birds and the bees, but about a wide
s feeling array of topics, including consent,
pressing gender and sexual orientation.
sence of But if, like me, you were raised
pression, in an environment where sex
. There's education was limited to outdated
Page and VHS tapes and covert Google
ill makes searches, please take care to do
reason it what the U.S. public education
o finally system all too often fails to do, and
beyond educate yourself.
country
effects of - Katie Steen can be reached
resonate at katheliz@umich.edu.

There is arisk of dosingerrors whenapatient
is given medication. Previous initiatives that
have reduced the risk of medical errors include
computerized ordering of pharmaceuticals
and efforts to standardize medical shorthand
and abbreviations. The University study will
attempt to find a way to prevent errors when
pharmacists compound medications.
The FDA's initiative was recently launched
and the standards were published on
mipedscompounds.org as part of a statewide
campaign to educate patients, physicians,
prescribers and pharmacists, supported by a
$150,000 grant. The firstcpartof this program
will focus on pediatric patient populations
since they are especially sensitive due to their
small bodies, still-developing physiologies
and the proportionately large number of
liquid medications they are prescribed that
must be compounded. To alleviate this
problem, more than 110 different oral liquid
medications for pediatric patients across a
variety of therapeutic categories will now be
given the same standardized concentration.
Given that some pharmacies in Michigan use
concentration levels that are up to 30 times
higher than those of other pharmacies, this
push for standardization is much needed.

Endorsed by the Michigan's Academy of
Physician Assistants, Michigan Health and
Hospital Association, Michigan Pharmacist
Association, Michigan Osteopathic
Association and Michigan State Medical
Society, this initiative has received broad
medical support from across the state that
will no doubt foster meaningful collaboration
when the program is implemented statewide.
Notably missing from these official
endorsements are any political or legislative
bodies working on behalf of the state.
Gov. Rick Snyder, who has tended to focus
on access and prevention when formulating
medical legislation - with the elimination
of taxes on certain medications and the
creation of Healthy Michigan Plan - has yet
to endorse this initiative since it was first
conceived in 2011. While the federal program
only in its infancy, the state should make an
effort to support this program where it can,
when it can.
With the proximate goal of saving the lives
ofchildrenandtheultimategoalofeliminating
preventable medical errors, this initiative -
supported by the University, state doctors and
the federal government - is worth our full
support and that of the state legislature.

INTERESTED IN CAMPUS ISSUES? POLITICS?
SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK 'N' ROLL?
Check out The Michigan Daily's editorial board meetings. Every Monday
and Thursday at 6 p.m., the Daily's opinion staff meets to discuss both
University and national affairs and write editorials.
E-mail opinioneditors@michigandaily.com to join in the debate.
ALLISON LEITCH I
Watching what you sav

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
Barry Belmont, Nivedita Karki, Jacob Karafa, Jordyn Kay,
Kellie Halushka, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble,
Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Paul Sherman,
Allison Raeck, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe
Labor pains

It's likely that the majority of us will go
through life without ever seeing a person die.
Most of us will not watch that last breath,
see that last look, feel a hand transition from
warm to cold or hear a heart rate monitor
go from a steady beep to the lifeless flat
line. What most of us will hear, however,
is someone colloquially using the phrase
"I'm going kill myself" or "Kill me now." I
live in a house of 12 twenty-something girls
with synced cycles, exam schedules and
social lives. The things that we would "kill
ourselves" over range from not getting a
piece of bacon on a hungover morning to two
exams in a 24-hour period to being locked
out of our house for, god forbid, 20 minutes.
Believe me, I am guilty of usingthis phrase in
every single inappropriate manner you could
imagine. And I don't know why nobody has
told me to shut the hell up yet. It is ignorant,
and it is offensive.
According to the American Foundation
for Suicide Prevention, 38,364 lives were lost
to suicide in the United States in 2010. This
means that a suicide occurred every 13.7
minutes, making suicide the 10th-leading
cause of death in America.
If you take any other top-10 killer of
Americans and treat it the same way people
treat this phrase, you would probably receive
a well-deserved punch to the face.
Two exams tomorrow? "Ugh, give
me cancer."
No bacon to cure your hangover? "AIDS

me, please."
Death is not a joke. Depression is not
informal. Every time you say "I'm gonna
kill myself" in a casual manner, you may be
twisting the knife in someone's depression.
What this doesn't mean is that things cannot
be terrible, and you can't complain, but it
means that lightheartedly threatening to
kill yourself is absolutely, always, without a
doubt, inappropriate. By doing so, you make
light of someone's disease; and you contribute
to the stigma.
Mental health is severely stigmatized in
our society. If double texting someone makes
you "crazy" in our culture, then imagine the
labels someone would get for revealing they
are stuck in a dark place. Eighty percent of the
people who seek treatment for depression are
treated successfully. Society needs to make
them proud to be brave enough and strong
enough to seek treatment, and to eradicate
the shame that comes with this disease.
There is no shame in cancer, heart disease or
stroke, and depression and suicidal thoughts
should be treated equally.
So the next time you put your first two
fingers together and pull that pretend trigger
next to your head, think about who may
be standing next to you. May it be a suicide
survivor, depression warrior or grieving
family member, there is no doubt that you are
throwing logs into the stigma fire.
Allison Leitch is an LSA senior.

O fAustralia, Austria,
Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, the
Netherlands,
New Zealand,
Norway, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, the
United Kingdom
and the United
States, the United
States is the CAITLYN
only country to BRENNAN
not guarantee
paid maternity
leave, and we
as Americans suffer immensely
fromthis.
The Family and Medical Leave
Act of 1993 - which dictates mater-
nity leave policy in the United
States and was put in place by for-
mer President Bill Clinton - was
meant to help guarantee rights
for new and expectant mothers.
The FMLA is arguably one of the
most progressive pieces of legisla-
tion passed in the United States in
regard to health care prior to the
Affordable Care Act passed under
President Barack Obama. That
said, the FMLA only covers women
employed at large enough business-
es (50 or more people employed
within a 75-mile radius) for a long
enough period of time (12 consecu-
tive months) - leaving a whopping
40 percent of women uncovered for
any sort of maternity leave. That
means if you get a new job at a large
corporation and become pregnant
very quickly thereafter, the cor-
poration is under no obligation to
allow you to take time off and come
back to work. Or, for example, if you
are a seasonal worker, your "time
of employment" may seem to need
to be longer. For example, let's say
a woman works summers at Land-
scape Company X, May through
September. The landscaping com-

pany employs eno
in a certain radius
she would be cove
otherwise. She I
summer in the pa
the end of Septem
six months, she r
winter job at Ret
then come back ne
again at Compan
gets pregnant att
June. She has bee
Company X over t
has only worked
to September fo
months, total) and
next year. Becaus
11 months of act
this woman woul
for maternity lea
despite the fact th
for this company
over what would 1
calendar years.
I can't be the
only person who
finds the con-
cept of this lack
of guaranteed
stability during
pregnancy and
new mother-
hood to be terri-
fying. Defenders
(and opponents,
for that matter)
of FMLA claim t
will step in to fill
erage left by cu
clearly that's not
that companies s
and McDonald'sa
ly, without sham
workers to go on
seek welfare to c
living. I can't im
companies are ch
to provide matert
efits to women t
obligated to cover
The World Het
recommends an

ugh people with- months of breastfeeding and the
to the effect that International Labor Organization
red under FMLA advocates for 14 weeks of paid
has worked one maternity leave for the health of
ast. This year, at both mom and baby, but many
ber, after working women are forced to return to work
esumes her fall/ almost immediately after coming
ail Business A, to home from the hospital; even if
xt May and work their job isn't at risk, women aren't
y X. The woman guaranteed any pay while away,
the beginning of and that lack of income can put a
n "employed" by new family in ruin. As per usual
he two years, but with biases in U.S. law, minorities
for X from May are disproportionately'affected by
r two years (10 the loopholes in FMLA, as they are
lone month of the more likely to be unemployed or
e this totals only underemployed as determined by
ual employment, the Act.
d not be qualified Not staying home long enough
ve under FMLA, after giving birth is woefully harm-
at she has worked ful to both mothers and children
y multiple times alike. Most concerning, women
be going on three who stay home less than six months
after giving
birth are signifi-
cantlyless likely
It's time to step up and to breastfeed
take responsibility sudessfudy,
and breastfeed-
for the future of our ing is shown to
protect against
country, starting with childhood
infections and
paid maternity leave, chronic diseas-
es. It has also
been found to

Policy Matters: Cal Poly's new Greek Life policies
ban a variety of party activities - including
podium completely banning liquor consumption at events.
Maura Levine talks about how this, in fact, puts
more students in danger.
Go to michigandaily.com/blogs/The Podium

he private sector
the gaps in cov-
rrent policy, but
the case, given
uch as Walmart
are now regular-
e, advising their
food stamps and
ope with costs of
agine other large
amping at the bit
nity leave or ben-
hey aren't legally
either.
alth Organization
minimum of six

possibly prevent obesity (a problem
already disproportionately plagu-
ing minority communities).
Americans seem to forget that
while not all of us can get pregnant,
we all started off as babies at one
point. Putting mothers and their
children in peril puts every future
American in peril. It's time to step
up and take responsibility for the
future of our country, starting with
basic and easy access to extended,
paid maternity leave for all women.
- Caitlyn Brennan can be
reached at caibre@umich.edu.

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