Page 4-Saturday, June 7, 1980-The Michigan Daily


4

Support Teddy
until the end
TEDDY KENNEDY'S continuing feistiness,
predictably enough, has furrowed many a
Democrat's brow. Some see a situation developing
akin to that in 1976, when incumbent Jerry Ford
claimed that intra-party squabbling cost him the
November election. Carter supporters want Teddy
to drop out of the race now in the interest of party
unity, they say, so that the aging beast from
California can be sent down to defeat.
But there are some aspects of the question that
the pundits have overlooked. When they tell Ken-
nedy to defer in the interests of party unity, whose
interests do they have in mind? The interests of
those Democrats, who, like the president, think
beefing up our military forces via draft
registration ought to be our highest priority? Those
of the Democrats, who, like the president, think
recession is a reasonable price to pay for a lower
inflation rate?
Of course, the claim that dissent within a party
hurts the nominee's chances has not really been
proven. Ford's complaints notwithstanding,
Ronald Reagan's successes in the southern
primaries probably had no effect on the general
election's outcome. Carter would have won in those
states no matter what.
Similarly, Kennedy's successes in many of the
country's most populous states - California, New
York,'Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Michigan, and New Jersey - and his continued
representation of the voters in those states will not
necessarily bring down Carter's machine come
November. Kennedy's presence in the race, in fact,
might fend off the attempts of the Reagan team to
corral urban support.
Kennedy plans to lobby committed Carter
delegates to switch their allegiance, or at least to
vote for a rule change that would free the delegates
to vote for whomever they wish, even on the first
ballot. As unseemly a convention as Kennedy's tac-
tics might portend, it is no worse than the alter-
native: a smooth convention where the interests of
the party's traditional backbone - the blacks, the
poor, and the peaceful - are brushed aside.
Kennedy may only have a small chance to win
the party's prize, but his fight at the convention
could mean some important changes in the
Democratic platform. Kennedy and a strong
showing of loyal delegates in New York this August
will help insure that the interests of the under-
privileged are not forgotten when the platform is
written.
In 1964, liberals were cowed into supporting
candidate Lyndon Johnson. As it turned out, Gold-
water's foreign policy could scarcely have been
any more hawkish. In 1976, many supporters of,
Eugene McCarthy compromised their principles
and supported Carter, only to be rewarded with
Republican rhetoric and economics. This time,
Senator Kennedy, don't throw in the towel. Theeal
Democratsebehndyou.S"' -

,
J tY)Y L/ 7 111E %film,..%I KI .101 t{\k1

Q: What do you think of the
home kits for pregnancy testing?
A: In the 'last' few years
several pregnancy kits for home
use have been added to drugstore
shelves and have been promoted
in popular women's magazines.
Most of these tests employ a
method to detect the presence or
absence of the hormone human
chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG,
a substance that is producedby
the body in the early part of
pregnancy. This method is very
similar to the one used in stan-
dard medical laboratories.
There are uncertainties,
however, about the accuracy of
the home kits. According to a
study carried out by one drug
company, Warner-Chilcott,
which makes the e.p.t.® In-
Home Pregnancy Test, the home
tests were fairly accurate if the
result was positive; that is, 97 per
cent of women who got a positive
result were pregnant. If the test
was negative, however, there
was a much greater chance that
this was a false result. In the
Warner-Chilcott study, 20 per
cent of women who got negative
results were in fact pregnant.
Because of this chance of a.
false negative result, and
because the possibility for error
is greater the earlier in pregnan-
cy the test is done, the instruction
in the kit is to repeat the test one
week later if there is a negative
result.
There are other sources of
error in the home procedure.
They include: not allowing the
tube to stand perfectly still, free
from vibration; exposing the
sample to sunlight; reading the
result earlier or later than the
specified two-hour period; and
using a urine sample that is not
normal-that is, not free from
excess. sugars, blood, or other,
eonthiriants.

Are home
pregnancy
tests
accurate?
Thus, the major disadvantage
of the home pregnancy kits is
their chance of error, especially
very early in the pregnancy.
They cost around $10.00, which is
Health Service
Handbook
twice as much as a test done at
University Health Service. If one
or more repeat tests are
necessary because of an original
negative result, the cost goes up
even higher as the kits are not
reusable. Also, when a woman
seeks medical care based on a
positive result obtained from a
home kit, most physicians will
request that the test be repeated
by a standard medical
laboratory. This increases the
cost even more.
The home kits do have some
important advantages. They are
convenient, and offer more
privacy than standard laboratory
care. If these two features
motivate a woman to obtain an
early diagnosis of pregnancy,
then she can obtain medical care
earlier andcan avoid certain
;lv4' : 5-

drugs, alcohol, chemicals, and
medical procedures that may ad-
versely affect the embyro. In ad-
dition, the home kits allow
greater participation by women
in their own health care, and are
particularly suitable to those
women who strongly suspect
pregnancy (due to their smaller
chance of error when there is a
positive result).
Q: Is sugar a dangerous drug?
A: Sugar is not a drug, it is
food. But like drugs and other
foods, it is capable of being
overused and abused.
Sugar, which is a highly refined
carbohydrate called sucrose,
contains no nutrients other than
the calories that provide energy.
Overconsumption of sugar may
result in: (1) not enough calories
being consumed from foodstuffs
that provide essential nutrients;
(2) an excess of calories due to
sugar's sweetness and compac-
tnesa; (3) dental caries
(cavities) (4) an increase of fats
in the blood, which has been
correlated with heart disease;
(5) an imbalance in the
metabolism of the body that may
contribute to diseases such as
hypoglycemia and diabetes; and
(6) not enough high-fiber foods
being eaten (sugar is a highly
refined, low-fiber food).
Sugar that is added to food
during processing may be "hid-
den" under the guise of corn
syrup, corn sweetner, and dex-
trose. Read the food lables when
they are provided.

Health Service Handboo
answer a variety of h
related questions each
day on this page. Que
should be addressed to
Ryan, University Health
ice, 207Fletcher A ve.

k will
ealth-
Satur-
Stions
Gail
Serv-