ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 21, 1996 TAG: 9611210062
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
Spermicides called 50 percent effective
GAITHERSBURG, Md. - The government is casting doubt on how well decades-old contraceptive foams and gels actually prevent pregnancy. But its scientific advisers said Wednesday the spermicides do appear to reduce women's risk of catching the common sexual diseases of gonorrhea and chlamydia.
The advisers to the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that the spermicides appear to prevent some venereal diseases despite growing concern that women who use them might actually increase their risk of catching the AIDS virus.
On the contraceptive issue, the FDA's Dr. Lisa Rarick said: ``It's scary to think there are products out there with failures in the 40 to 50 percent range. Women should know how well these products work.''
The FDA opened a three-day meeting Wednesday to hash out these issues with outside scientists.
- Associated Press
Democrats return another donation
WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee Wednesday returned another $253,000, saying it appears a Thai businesswoman illegally represented herself as the donor when the funds actually came from her mother-in-law.
The DNC's action was the latest in a series of embarrassments for the party and brought to more than $1 million the amount the DNC has returned since press reports began focusing on its fund-raising practices and lax procedures for checking the legality of donors. It has now given back more than 10 donations because the funds came from possibly illegal foreign sources, because the donor had a questionable background or because party officials could not be sure the donor had adequate resources to give.
- The Washington Post
Schools must pay for not shielding gay
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. - Because he is gay, Jamie Nabozny was regularly spat on and beaten up in school, subjected to a mock rape and kicked in the belly so many times he needed surgery.
On Wednesday, Nabozny, now 21, accepted a $900,000 settlement, ending the first federal trial of a school district for not protecting a gay student from harassment.
The settlement was announced one day after a jury found that three school administrators in Ashland violated Nabozny's rights by failing to protect him from years of gay-bashing.
The verdict marked the first time school officials have ever been held liable for anti-gay violence against a student, said Peg Byron, public education director for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay rights organization that represented Nabozny.
- Associated Press
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