How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I

I 1~;i1.111*1 .y'1'/
Houstcc :,aJryer John 0'Quinn
<strong>How</strong> to nail Dow Chemical, too .
No love lost
Si'i : Re "A Texas gunslinger" (jatlv
3i . The idea of a i,multi-] billiondoifar
medical lu\~suit \\?tilout scientitic
contirmation linking the breast
prosthesis to a disease or a debilitating
condition is a sad commentanon
toda.•'s intellectual climate . A courtroom
used to be a place for tacts ; now,
emotions rule, evidence becomes secondan,
<strong>and</strong> the successh:i <strong>business</strong>man
or comoanv be danmed . These
ambubance chasing la\\~ers are blata_t
enemies of exen, honest person .
-Jo~N L tv ;s
EastG :zemnich . RI .
SiR : As an M .D ., I am verV uncomfortable
with the breast implant issue .
Prior to dte Creation of implants tilled
with silicon, injections or that verv
same silicon \cere used <strong>and</strong> there \eas
no surge in autoimmune discases .
The techniauc was ab<strong>and</strong>oned for
cosmetic reasons-the silicon shifted
vlace . NoNr O'Quinn isn't satisfied
vrith putting Dow Cornin=into bankruptcvbut
is attenipting to do th.e
same vvith Dovc Chemical! I an- begimting
to dtin :t the indicidual vvho
stated that a cour,tn's economic vitalin,
is inverselv, rebated to the number
o f lavcrers per capita mae vaell be right .
-JAMES DiTCHIK, N5D .
Encirm, Ca1if :
More than skin-deep
~ SIR : Re "Bosnia cs . Stanford" (Jshr
- 17) . The same "self-inC.ulgcnt" student
population that set a Guinness
~codd record tor moor. : ;ig at Stan'rord
also launched a giant bone mannudrive one u-eel later
. Our caispus-
VVide et}OFt to SaCe a telioR' Studetlt
diagnosed m ;h leukemia netted the
largest pool ofAsian dmerican donors
in histon . College is a place \el :ere
sociai norms are tested, nor simply
indoctrinatcd . R'iiilc students todm•
nta~not take thaaselces as seriousiv
as bethre, thevare not "moral ezhi6itionists
." Their sense of obligation
<strong>and</strong> compassion remains ecen, bit as
strung .
-Cz U c S Koro AL
Sc lior
Strzrtfnrr! Gttircrsirl~
Stanford, Crclif.
Japanese war chest
SiR : Re Jude Ci'anniski's letter (jzih31)
. At'annisi:i argues thet the reason
the Japanese ntight stop buring U .S .
assets is tlrat :hev vvou'thave dolLirs if
the li .S purs a 100%, -aritf on lu .un'
ears . [Bur] eNen if the huge Japanese
current surplus accomit vvith the U .S .
should fall to zero .. the Bank of Japan
has accumula .ed a iear chest of about
$157 billion in dollar-dertominatcd
resen'es . This gi~es tl-_cm plentt ; of
dollars [to buc L- .S . asse,s] .
-Sr lE te H . H= N u
Baltirnoz•e, Ald .
Lower losses
SiR : Re "Sqaeak,squeak" (Sfav32) . I
deepiv regrct that shareholders of the
Comr.uinit\ Bankers Fund i ;uurred
anv ioss . The amotuu of the loss \~as
3 .9'.:), not 6°h as stated in vour article .
-loH~~ G . Gcre_~, ~
Di)crter
Comrn rrn irt, Bn n kers Fu rr rl
Chetw Chase, .YId .
Ph.D .s on the dole?
SIR : Re Fac : & Comtnent (Jvlv, 3) .
The job :irat'ker for U .S . citizens with
Ph .Ds <strong>and</strong> their \cor4inQ corw.itions
have declined steadilv, o%er the',ast 20
tears <strong>and</strong> plummeted since 1990 . Scientists
tace scarce jobs, decreasing
status, temporanemplo\ment, Io\\
vcages, lack of bene[its <strong>and</strong> hostile
management conditions . Because of
this, U .S . citizens are getting out of
laboraton research br anq route possible
. Others hace resorted to
"ducibing doa-n" their resumes so
they can apply for uork as technicans
. Our resulting dependence on
foreign Ph .D .s in criticai areas is not a
solution but a symptom of a larger
problem,
-GREGG W . SILK, Ph .D .
Beltrrille . ;bfd.
Looking up
SIR : Re "Newt Gingrich, meet Max
Weber" (Jxlr 17) . Much as I flnd it
ditTicult to take issue vvith someone
\lho so skillful1v unmasked bias in the
media, I am afraid I cannot agree vcith
Stanley Rothmau's gloomc prognosis
for dtnerican societv . The \'erv forces
\\-hich threaten the elite <strong>and</strong> entrenched
bureaucrats are a