ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, January 22, 1997            TAG: 9701220061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-4  EDITION: METRO 

IN THE NATION

FDA backs home-use drug test

WASHINGTON - An over-the-counter test that lets parents check their children for drug use won Food and Drug Administration approval Tuesday, the first in the controversial field to do so.

Dr. Brown's Home Drug Testing System can detect cocaine, heroin, marijuana, PCP, amphetamines and other drugs in a mail-in urine sample.

The approval comes four months after the Clinton administration battled congressional charges that, in the face of escalating teen-age drug use, the FDA was blocking parents' efforts to test their children.

``The approval of this test gives parents another option to consider to help ensure that their children remain drug-free,'' said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

- Associated Press

Gulf War ailment tied to nerve gas dosage

WASHINGTON - For the first time, a federal agency acknowledged Tuesday that there appeared to be a direct link between the release of toxic chemicals in Iraq in 1991 and one of the many symptoms that have come to be called Gulf War Syndrome.

A preliminary Department of Veterans Affairs analysis indicates that a limited sampling of soldiers exposed to low doses of nerve gas during the destruction of an Iraqi military ammunition depot reported higher rates of arthritis-like joint symptoms than other soldiers who fought in the war.

But the findings are far from conclusive, according to government researchers who have warned that they could change as more soldiers are examined.

- The New York Times

Oatmeal makers win OK for health claim

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration decided Tuesday to let that morning box of oatmeal advertise that it's heart-healthy.

Under the new regulation, companies can claim that eating foods made from rolled oats, oat bran and oat flour that contain enough soluble fiber may reduce the risk of heart disease - as long as they're part of a low-fat diet.

The regulation, effective immediately, was prompted by a request from Quaker Oats.

- Associated Press

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