Clearinghouse Update
From time to time we update our readers on situations which have been described in our Newsletter. Infusion Tip #1 in our Winter 1995 issue reported that "the world's health ministers will decide in May 1995 whether the last remaining samples of smallpox virus . . . should be destroyed." According to Science, 272, 1253 (31 May 1996), the World Health Assembly voted in the last week of May 1996 to destroy all material containing the smallpox virus by 30 June 1999.
New Procedures in Testing Newborns for AIDS
Our "Clearinghouse Update" for Winter 1996 followed up Infusion Tip #5 for Fall 1995 on the continuing struggle over testing newborns to determine whether they are HIV positive. Although testing is required under New York State law, the results have been used only for epidemiological purposes, i.e., to chart the prevalence and spread of the disease. The mother was not told of the results despite the fact that a positive result in the baby indicated that the mother was HIV positive, whether or not the infection persisted in the newborn.The battle was joined when it became evident that HIV infection in the newborn could be prevented by treating the pregnant mother with AZT. On one side were physicians and legislators horrified that a) a woman was not told she had the disease and was not treated and could thus unwittingly spread it to sexual partners or other children she might subsequently bear and b) a baby was not being treated even though it was known that early treatment was imperative. Arrayed on the other side of the argument were AIDS activists, medical societies, and civil libertarians who argued 1) that the woman's civil rights were being violated because this constituted mandatory testing and 2) that women would shun medical care.
On 26 June 1996 Governor Pataki signed a bill requiring that parents be informed if an HIV test on a newborn is positive. This means that both mothers and their babies will have access to treatment against AIDS.
Finally Some Promising News from Privately Managed Schools
Irma Jarcho has continuously chronicled the travails of the Edison Project and other private efforts to manage public schools in her "Observations" column, most recently in our Spring 1995 issue. For the first time since the beginning of talk about pr ivately-managed public schools, some promising results are available. The Edison Project (the brainchild of Christopher Whittle) has taken over and operated four schools in four widely separate locations: Boston, MA; Mount Clemens, MI; Sherman, TX; and Wichita, KS. From all accounts, the past year has been a success. Each family has received a computer, the school day is an hour and a half longer, and the school year is 20 days longer. Students spend an hour and a half on reading every day. Tutors, many of them parents, give extra help to students. At the Wichita school the attendance record was 96%, and there are 320 families on the waiting list. The other schools also have waiting lists, and the company is expanding to 12 schools next year.
Home Fall 96 Full Screen
Fall 96 - Articles: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17The TEACHERS CLEARINGHOUSE FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIETY EDUCATION