"There's either a strange plague of hyperactivity in the U.S., or we've
got a lot of folks prescribing Ritalin as a psychopharmacological
nanny."
-- Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics, on the increase
in children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(Business Week, Monday, Aug. 25).
"I don't think they care if it turns off people who are over the hill." -- Joseph Turow, professor in the Annenberg School of Communications, in an article on whether ABC's advertising campaign to attract Generation X is effective (Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday, Aug. 21).
"Medical ethics are slowly being undercut by business ethics, and in
business, pushing to the limit of profits is not considered a sin --
it's considered a virtue."
-- Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics, in an article on
the finding that 89 percent of hospitals nationwide have been
double-billing for inpatient care (Philadelphia Inquirer, Tuesday, Aug.
26).
"We'd like to see shark cartilage developed in a rigorous fashion, just
as any drug is developed."
-- Dr. Angela De Michele, a fellow in oncology and clinical
epidemiology, talking about the sudden popularity of shark cartilage as
a drug to aid cancer patients despite its lack of clinical testing
(Asbury Park Press, Tuesday, Aug. 26).
"It's a wonderful, optimistic message ... to counter the terrible
pessimistic message that people can't lose weight."
-- Dr. Albert J. Stunkard, professor emeritus of psychiatry, on a study
showing that yo-yo dieters should persist in dieting because practice
makes perfect (Washington Post, Tuesday, Sept. 2).
"The only people outside the monarchy who were granted state funerals
... were all military figures, all male, and all linked to war. The
ceremony was worked out in the context of the military, which was
extremely appropriate."
-- Lynn Lees, chair of the history department, on the gun carriage and
military regiment used in Princess Diana's funeral (Philadelphia
Inquirer, Friday, Sept. 5).
"[Tupac Shakur] is one of these iconic figures to young people. ... He
and Biggie [Smalls] will be like these mythical figures, like
Zeus."
-- William Eric Perkins, adjunct professor of African-American studies,
on Tupac Shakur's staying power in the popular consciousness, even
after death (Philadelphia Daily News, Friday, Sept. 5).
"The Pentagon is not credible to continue inquiries that veterans and
the public do not find persuasive."
-- Arthur L. Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics and a member
of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses,
commenting on the request to have the Defense Department stripped of
all oversight of the investigation into the use of chemical weapons in
the Persian Gulf War (New York Times, Saturday, Sept. 6).
--Assembled by Sunil Kumar
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Compass Features for September 30, 1997