Letters

Crusade Against Colon Cancer

Kudos for your calm and conversational article [COLON CANCER, March 13]. It should nudge many readers into talking to their physicians about colon-cancer testing. And more kudos to Katie Couric for her willingness to describe what she experienced during her colonoscopy, reinforcing TIME's statement that "most people find the idea worse than the exam." PAUL GAERTNER JR. Athens, Ga.

Scientific data show that as many as 90% of colorectal cancers can be prevented when polyps found by screening techniques are removed. In this way, cancer is stopped before it begins. I believe that the knowledge that screening can prevent this deadly cancer from ever getting a start is a more powerful motivator than the hope that it might be found early enough to be curable. This different, even more optimistic view ought to be shared with your readers. ERNESTINE HAMBRICK, M.D. Founder and Chairman STOP Colon/Rectal Cancer Foundation Chicago

A colonoscopy is not innocuous. It can be complicated by severe intestinal bleeding, rupture of the bowel and, in rare instances, death. Colonoscopes are difficult to clean, and transmission of infection from one individual to another is well documented. Society as a whole suffers not only from the huge financial burden of an extensive screening program but also from an ever increasing obsession with health, which, paradoxically, decreases our sense of wellness. KENNETH G. MARSHALL, M.D. Stratford, Ont.

While many people may have found Couric's crusade against colon cancer and her televised colon exam distasteful, I give her a lot of credit for spreading the word. Early detection allows the doctor and patient to work together to gain control over the suffering caused by such illnesses. This campaign may make some fidget with discomfort, but that's nothing compared with the effects of a diseased colon left untreated. LISA TANER Belmont, Calif.

Although I salute Couric for her efforts to increase awareness about colon cancer, I am concerned about what happens when famous people crusade for health-care issues. The main problem is that it allows emotions and politics to override science. We have seen this before. Nonscientific factors greatly influenced recommendations for mammography screening for women ages 40 to 50. And the PSA test for prostate cancer, still lacking in scientific data for appropriate use, has received unequivocal endorsement from athletes and actors. We need to have science, not the media or celebrities, establish the rules. GREGORY L. SHEEHY, M.D. Middleton, Wis.

E Is for Ecstasy

Your story on the popularity of the drug ecstasy included a photograph of a woman dancing [DRUGS, March 13]. I am that woman. Although the caption says ecstasy can keep kids dancing all night, I was not on any kind of drug. I went to the club to enjoy amazing music spun by some incredible djs. I was there to dance, not to do drugs. And I danced all night on the high of adrenaline and great music, not ecstasy. The rave scene was initially all about the music, but in the past few years, it has been flooded with kids just interested in ecstasy and whatever else they can get their hands on. There are, however, those of us who still go to clubs and parties in order to enjoy the vibe, not the chemicals. MARIGOLD GERSTEIN Falls Church, Va.

The growing use of ecstasy illustrates a problem that the American public is at last beginning to understand: Prohibition failed for a reason. The police can't stamp out the production and use of drugs that people want to take. There is no way to prevent the sale of a drug to kids. And when a drug is illegal, it is impossible to impose standards of purity and safety. Instead of responsible manufacturers and distributors, we have the underworld in charge. GREG GOLDMAKHER Dallas

The Book on Bush

I have come to expect the worst whenever Molly Ivins mentions my name in print, and she has yet to disappoint me. But the excerpt from the book Shrub, which she and Lou Dubose co-wrote about George W. Bush and the religious right in Texas [CAMPAIGN 2000, March 13], contained something new, even for Molly. She and Dubose invented a quote and attributed it to me, claiming that I endorsed Dan Quayle for President. In truth I have neither endorsed nor got involved on behalf of any candidate in the Republican presidential campaign for 2000. Ivins and Dubose do have it right in part when they imply that Governor Bush has been far more interested in forging a bipartisan consensus with Democratic legislative leaders than in advancing a conservative agenda on either economic or social issues. TOM PAUKEN Dallas

What's wrong with us? Are we so caught up in scrutinizing political motives that we criticize a Governor's Conference on the Right Choices for Youth concerning drinking, drugs and sex? Parents and teens need all the help they can get. Ivins and Dubose disparage an "interesting development in Fundamentalist theology" known as "secondary virginity." As a mother, I wonder what harm there is in teaching kids who struggle with sex or any other issue that they can have a second chance? SHARON LYNN Temple City, Calif.

Shrub, indeed! But what else could we expect from Poison Ivins. JOAN TRAUGER Fresno, Calif.

Death in the First Grade

As an assistant principal of an elementary school in San Diego County, Calif., I was astounded to read that on the same morning the six-year-old boy shot his classmate Kayla Rolland, a teacher had taken a knife away from him [NATION, March 13]. Why was the boy allowed to stay in school after the knife was discovered? Our school district has a strict policy that possession of a knife in school means immediate suspension for five days and a recommendation for expulsion. Teachers need very specific guidelines on how to deal with potentially violent situations. This tragedy could easily have been prevented had such a policy been followed at Kayla's school. SUSIE ZDANOWSKI Dana Point, Calif.

My daughter asked me if the little boy who killed the little girl would go to jail. When I said no, she asked why. I told her the people where he lived believed he did not understand he had done something wrong. My daughter replied, "That's silly! I'm six years old, and I know not to go around killing people." Although I am glad my daughter is developing a healthy respect for life, I am still grappling with the reality of having had this conversation at all. FERN LEE Los Angeles

Each day 89 Americans (12 are children) die by gunshot. The weekly total of 623 is equivalent to the casualty toll of two crashed jumbo airliners. It's a simple matter, really. It's the guns, stupid! J. ROGER NYSTROM St. Charles, Ill.

I know who killed Kayla. It was every legislator, every proponent of guns and every citizen of the U.S. who thinks handguns are not a problem but a "right" granted by the Constitution. Blame also falls on those who will not support the gun-control legislation that would prevent these tragedies. MARTIN ANTHONY Malvern, Pa.

How is it that the absent parents of the child who shot Kayla are irrelevant and gun legislation is relevant? Why not require parenting classes and forbid procreation without a background check, waiting period and license? This legislation, as absurd as it sounds, would have been more beneficial to Kayla. JOSEPH L. GREENE Canyon Country, Calif.

A Powerful Mouth

Every time Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan opens his mouth the stock market gyrates, making an already volatile market even more so [BUSINESS, March 13]. I think Congress should pass a law forbidding the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board to comment on stock prices with the chance of influencing the market direction. We should let the free-market economy be free of manipulation by powerful people inside and outside the government. SHALINI MOONDRA Marlboro, N.J.

When will Greenspan wake up? The Fed has been blindsided by the phenomenal increase in stock-market valuations. It responds with anemic interest-rate increases designed to cool expansion and control nonexistent inflation-this despite a fundamentally healthy economy. Clearly Greenspan's Fed is suffering from its own brand of irrational exuberance. The rate increases and threats of what might happen punish traditional investors, while the wild speculation Greenspan seems preoccupied with taming laughs in his face. PETER L. ROGERS Darien, Conn.

Rights for All Animals

It's sad to note that attorney Steven Wise, the self-proclaimed champion of animal rights [AMERICAN SCENE, March 13], does not defend the rights of all animals. Instead, Wise has created his own non-Darwinian continuum to argue for legal rights for only certain animals--the more a species is like humans, the more deserving it is of legal rights. Yet there is a danger in this approach. For it means the less like us, the less likely that legal rights would be granted. We don't live in an "us vs. them" world. We live in a world of "us and them." We must protect our differences, not just our sameness. BOB ORABONA, OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Friends of Animals Darien, Conn.