Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994                   TAG: 9410250018
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IN THE NATION

WASHINGTON - The NAACP settled a lawsuit by fired Executive Director Benjamin Chavis, a court-appointed mediator said Friday. The announcement came three days before a judge was to determine whether to order the civil rights group to reinstate him.

``It's been resolved,'' said the mediator, Robert Barnett. Terms of the settlement, which was filed in Superior Court, were not disclosed.

Judge Richard Salzman had scheduled a hearing Monday on Chavis' lawsuit, which contended the NAACP violated its own procedures in firing him Aug. 20. Chavis had asked for a preliminary injunction reinstating him.

``I'm grateful that this matter has been finally resolved,'' Chavis said, deferring further comment until Monday.

- Associated Press

Cigarette smoke can cause miscarriages

MONTREAL - Cigarette smoke may cause a catastrophic disruption of the chromosomes in human eggs that can lead to miscarriage, researchers say.

The researchers found nicotine and cadmium, another component of cigarette smoke, in the fluid that surrounds maturing eggs just before they are fertilized.

Women who smoke produce immature eggs, said Maria Teresa Zenzes, a geneticist at Toronto General Hospital. Those eggs have twice the appropriate number of chromosomes, and they can produce highly abnormal fetuses that nearly always result in miscarriages, she said.

The study was reported at the annual meeting this week of the American Society of Human Genetics.

- Associated Press