Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, July 14, 1983
Dow to sponsor 'U
dioxin researchers
By JACKIE YOUNG
with wire reports
Dow Chemical Company awarded a
$250,000 research grant yesterday to the
University's Department of Chemical
Engineering to investigate dioxin
problems in Michigan.
University Engineering Prof. Jerome
Schultz and H.S. Fogler, associate dean
of chemical engineering, are co-
directing the study which is part of a $3
million, six-part program, to
develop technology for removing trace
amounts of dioxin found in wastewater.
ONE RESEARCH method would in-
volve passing toxic liquids through a
bed of clay-like materials. This process
would examine the ways clay could be
improved to absorb more dioxin,
Schultz said.
A second method would use micro-
organismsdto increase the absorption
capacity of organic material by
breaking the chemicals into less
dangerous compounds.
Currently, wastewater treatment
plants break down compounds in this
way but are not effective in absorbing
possibly toxic compounds existing in
liquids at low concentrations.
ABOUT 10 University faculty mem-
bers and graduate students will work on
the research. Dow will give the Univer-
sity all their information on dioxin
problems in Michigan and the study
results will be open to the public,
Schultz said.
Preliminary results on the study are
expected in a year-and-a-half, Schultz
said adding that such complex research
takes a long time.
Other groups on campus, studying
dioxin and related compounds will
share information with the Dow-
sponsored program, said Schultz who
has been a chemical engineer for 20
years.
FOGLER HAS also been researching
chemistry including substantial work
on clay particles since 1973.
No technology currently exists to
reduce trace amounts of dioxin found in
wastewater.
In addition, Dow said it is proceeding
with its investigation at its Midland
plant exploring water, air, landfills and
process waste in an effort to identify the
source of dioxin found in the complex's
effluent.
The investigation of the Midland com-
plex includes an independent external
auditor, professor Henry Freiser of the
University of Arizona.
Dow has also donated $250,000 to the
Michigan Department of Public Health
to study soft tissue mortality in Midland
County women. The department had
previously announced it was unable to
establish a link between dioxin ex-
posure and the apparent soft tissue
cancer increase in county women.
A $750,000 lab expansion has also
been made at Dow headquarters in an
effort to expand its dioxin analytical
capabilities.
IN BRIEF
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press International reports
Chrysler hastens loan payback
WASHINGTON - Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee Iacocca, declaring finan-
cial independence from the government, said yesterday the nation's No. 3
automaker will pay back - seven years early - the remaining $800 million
it owes in federally guaranteed loans.
"We at Chrysler borrow money the old-fashioned way: We pay it back," he
said in a speech at a jammed luncheon sponsored by the National Press
Club.
The automaker's turnaround from near-collapse several years ago, when
a $1.5 billion federal bail-out plan was engineered, was greeted en-
thusiastically and some, including Iacocca, predicted the auto industry was
entering a boom period.
But Iacocca tempered his optimism with a word of warning about interest
rates.
"I'm banking on interest rates continuing to come down ever so slowly. If
they turn back up, forget it," he told reporters after he met with President
Reagan apparently to tell him of the corporations plans.
After Iacocca's announcement, Treasury Secretary Donald Regan,
chairman of the board that watches over the Chrysler bail-out, said "It's a
very great day for Chrysler."
Poland's parliament drafts new
press laws for civilian rule
WARSAW, Poland - Poland's parliament is drafting a new law on
regulation of the news media in preparation for the lifting of martial law,
sources said yesterday.
The text of the proposed legislation indicated that tough censorship and a
crackdown on underground press activities would continue after full civilian
rule is restored.
But some provisions of the law, which could be approved by the Sejm, or
parliament next week, were more liberal than expected.
Anyone involved in unauthorized publishing would face up to one year in
prison under the new law, compared with a minimum of three years under
martial law regulations in force for the past 19 months, the sources said.
Despite a series of raids and searches by Police, the Solidarity un-
derground and other opposition groups are involved in many publishing ven-
tures.
Chileans protest for democracy
SANTIAGO, Chile - Opposition politicians yesterday declared that the
third mass protest against the military government of General Augusto
Pinochet was a success that showed Chileans want a return to democratic
rule.
Two teenage girls were shot dead, at least one other youth was seriously
wounded and nearly 1,000 people were arrested during demonstrations
Tuesday by Chileans who lit fires and banged on pots and pans in homes and
streets.
"Chile does not need reforms," Diego Portales, secretary-general of the
multi-party opposition front, Proden, said at a news conference. "the coun-
try wants a total change of government and democracy now.'
Soldiers and police patrolled the streets of Santiago firing warning shots in
the air to scare protesters back into their houses and silence pot-banging
during a military curfew enforced by the government to quell the protest.
Judah camp mother stands trial
ALLEGAN - A mother from the House of Judah religious camp yesterday
was ordered to stand trial for manslaughter in the death of her 12-year-old
son who was severely beaten for alleged disobedience.
Allegan County District Judge Gary Stewart said there was sufficient
evidence presented at a preliminary hearing to bind Ethel Yarbough over to
circuit court for trial. She will be arraigned Friday. Bond was continued at
$50,000.
All 66 children from the House of Judah camp were removed under
probate court order and placed in temporary foster homes last week
following an investigation into the July 4 death of John Yarbough.
The camp is run by William Lewis, a self-described prophet of black
Israelite Jews who believes in strict discipline and corporal punishment for
offenders
FTC calls drug ads deceptive
WASHINGTON - A decade after charging that advertising for major pain
relievers was deceptive, the Federal Trade Commission yesterday ordered
two major drug makers to drop claims of superiority for Bufferin, Excedrin,
Bayer Aspirin, Cope, Vanquish and Midol.
Sterling Drug Inc., and Bristol-Myers Co. may not claim the non-
prescription drugs are better or safer than similar products without well-
controlled clinical tests to prove it, the commission said.
Commissioner David Clanton, who wrote the decision, explained its im-
pact this way:
"I think we make it clear you just can't go around touting your product and
claiming it works better than your competitor's without having some solid
scientific support backing those claims up."
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Job outlook for college
graduates still dim
I
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - The job
market for college graduates is still in a
downward spiral despite the improved
economic outlook, with company
hirings this spring down more than 11
percent from last fall's expectations, a
new survey indicates.
The 1983 Endicott Report, a national
survey of corporations published by
Northwestern University since 1945,
showed employment prospects for
college graduates continued a slide that
has reduced hiring 41 percent in the last
two years.
VICTOR Lindquist, author of the
report and Northwestern's director of
placement, said yesterday that cor-
porations that participated in the
school's November survey were asked
to provide recruiting data for 1981, 1912,
and 1983.
The update showed actual hirings of
inexperienced graduates with
bachelor's degrees dropped 12 percent
WANTED: Volunteer male subjects
to serve as controls for sickle cell
anemia research. study involves two
hours time, blood draining, urine
collection. $25 compensation.
Call 763-353O between 9-11
and 1-4 weekdays.
from the companies' November projec-
tions. The drop for graduates with
master's degrees was 11 percent.
Lindquist said it signaled "the worst
employment market in my 25 years in
the profession."
HE SAID some industries, "most
notably defense and some high
technology, were running counter to the
general cutbacks in corporate
America, while other firms had com-
pletely eliminated recruiting."
A majority of the companies reported
an average 62 percent decline in cam-
pus recruiting in the last 12 months and
a drop of 66 percent in the last two
years, he said.
The new data confirmed that the jobs
simply "were not there," Linquistsaid.
Hardest hit by recruiting and hiring
cutbacks were engineering graduates
with bachelor's degrees, with 35 per-
cent fewer offers than a year ago, the
report said. At the same time, demand
for engineering graduates with
master's degrees increased 5 percent.
Lindquist said 75 percent of the cor-
porations surveyed anticipated better
times in the coming year. And he noted a
12 percent increase over 1982 in the
hiring of sales and marketing personnel
- an indication of an improving
economy.
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