The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

MR. MacNeil: Good evening. Leading the news this Wednesday, the economic summit ended with a promise of meaningful aid to the Soviet Union and reduced farm subsidies. Federal regulators said they may sue the officials of more than a thousand savings & loans. Soviet coal miners went on strike calling for an end to Communist rule. We'll have the details in our News Summary in a moment. Jim.

MR. LEHRER: After the News Summary, we have a summit wrap-up interview [NEWS MAKER] with Treasury Sec. Nicholas Brady, a report on the problems facing Jews in the Soviet Union [FOCUS - GLASNOST & THE JEWS], a look at a new treatment for the bone disease called osteoporosis [FOCUS - BONEBREAKTHROUGH], and a Jim Fisher essay [ESSAY - DEATH OF A SALESMAN].NEWS SUMMARY

MR. MacNeil: The economic summit in Houston concluded on a note of harmony today. The leaders of the seven industrial democracies reached compromises on a number of disputes. A final communique set conditions for meaningful and sustained Western aid to the Soviet Union. Those conditions included further economic reforms, reductions in Soviet military spending, and a halt to Soviet aid to countries like Cuba. The group also agreed to provide technical assistance to help speed Soviet economic reforms. On other matters, trade negotiators worked through the night to reach an agricultural agreement. The final communique called for across-the-board cuts in all types of farm subsidies. On the environment, the leaders agreed to begin international negotiations to curb deforestation. They also agreed to work on steps to stem global warming. We'll review the summit agreements with Treas. Sec. Nicholas Brady after the News Summary. Jim.

MR. LEHRER: The federal government may sue the directors and officers of over 1000 failed savings & loan institutions. William Seidman, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said 500 such suits have already been filed. FDIC officials said one lawsuit under consideration is against the directors at the Silverado Savings & Loan in Denver, Colorado. Pres. Bush's son, Neil, was one of those directors. The Office of Thrift Supervision released documents which said the younger Bush engaged in one of the worst kinds of conflict of interest by approving loans to a business partner. At his summit news conference in Houston, the President defended his son.

PRES. BUSH: I have great confidence in the integrity and honor of my son, and beyond that I say no more, and if he has done something wrong, the system will digest that. This is not easy for me as a father. It's easy for me as a President because this system is going to work, and I will not intervene. I have not discussed this with any officials who suggested any outcome, but what father wouldn't express a certain confidence in the honor of his son? And that's exactly the way I feel about it and I feel very strongly about it.

MR. MacNeil: The Senate today finally passed the crime bill. It bans the import or manufacture of nine types of semiautomatic weapons. It also mandates capital punishment for certain federal offenses. The legislation must now be approved by the House, where a different anti-crime bill is being considered.

MR. MacNeil: Soviet coal miners walked off the job for 24 hours today. About 100,000 of them participated in the protest strike, despite appeals from the government. They want the end of Communist rule, as well as better pay and working conditions. Workers at about half the country's mines did not participate in the strike. At the Soviet Party Congress in Moscow, there was a battle over who would become Mikhail Gorbachev's deputy in the Communist Party. Running against Gorbachev's man was the country's most powerful hardline critic of the Gorbachev reforms, Yegor Ligachev. We have a report from Moscow by David Smith of Independent Television News. [TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY]

MR. MacNeil: I'm sorry. We seem to have lost the sound on that report. This evening, the Soviet News Agency Tass reported that Gorbachev's candidate Yivashko defeated Ligachev. The official results are expected tomorrow. Albania is permitting thousands of dissidents to leave the country. Italian embassy officials said plans were in place to ferry at least 4,000 of them to Italy tomorrow. Albanians seeking political asylum began arriving at a dozen Western embassies in the capital, Tirana, two weeks ago. Italian officials have been negotiating with the Albanian government to grant them exit visas.

MR. LEHRER: There were beginning signs today of a possible solution to the labor violence in Nicaragua. Pres. Violeta Chamorro said she had faith a peaceful resolution could be found. The Sandinista Labor Union, which represents opponents of the government, called for negotiations. Thousands of Sandinista supporters walked off their jobs last week. They have been involved in shoot-outs with government supporters in the capital, Managua. At least 12 people were wounded in fighting overnight. The 1992 Democratic National Convention will be in New York City. Party Chairman Ron Brown announced the choice today. The Republicans are not expected to announce their '92 convention site until next year. And that's it for the News Summary tonight. Now it's on to Treas. Sec. Brady, a report on the problems of Soviet Jews, a new treatment for osteoporosis and a Jim Fisher essay. NEWS MAKER

MR. LEHRER: The economic summit in Houston is first tonight. Pres. Bush and the leaders of Britain, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, and Canada finished their work this afternoon. They issued a final communique that dealt with farm subsidies, aid to the Soviet Union, and environmental concerns. Mr. Bush read it to participants and then later answered questions about it at a Houston News conference.

HELEN THOMAS, UPI: For 40 years we've spent untold billions to fight the Soviet Union. Is it conceivable that you and Sec. Baker have portrayed that the U.S., American taxpayer would not be willing to spend a dime to help them now?

PRES. BUSH: We are trying to help them now and I think we're going to send the kind of help that in the long run that will be most beneficial to them and they need reform, and they know it, and we're going to try in every way to facilitate that reform because we are in a very different age, but we have some problems. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about the intercontinental ballistic missiles aimed at U.S. cities. I find it a little contradictory to think that they will continue to spend $5 billion a year for Cuba, a totalitarian system, whose leader is swimming against this tide of democracy and freedom that is lifting up most hopes in the Soviet Union. So certain things have to happen before I as President will make recommendations for direct financial aid. So what we're trying to do is carry our part of the load in helping the reforms.

MS. THOMAS: In your discussion, why did Germany and other countries think it's necessary now?

PRES. BUSH: Well, Germany has some very special interests that we understand and we're not, as I said over in London, Helen, we're not urging everybody to march in lock step.

MIKE McKEE, CONUS: Mr. President, the Soviets have already reacted negatively to the advanced word of the part of the communique that says they should reform, reform would help them get further aid. What would you tell Mr. Gorbachev when you speak to him, why he should not view this as the allied country saying the cold war is over, you lost, here's what you have to do, here are our conditions for integrating you back into Western society?

PRES. BUSH: I think you phrase it well because we've got to be careful that we don't send the signal that we don't want to send, but I don't worry about this one because I sat up there at Camp David with Mr. Gorbachev in a frank discussion and told him the problems that I have with going forward with financial aid. I've been quite open about it in the press conference following a highly successful NATO summit. I am saying that I am not going to have misunderstanding creep in because of failure to communicate, and indeed, I have already sent off a communication to Mr. Gorbachev, and I will be in touch with him personally very soon to discuss this.

CHARLES BIERBAUER, CNN: Mr. President, on the question of the environment, you in the past and your chief of staff, to say the least two, have always said that there has not been enough information, you needed to study more. Now you're prepared to move, particularly on the global warming question. Who twisted your arm? What changed your mind, sir?

PRES. BUSH: Well, I think we're moving forward because we recognize there is a problem. I thought we called for more data here, but clearly we need more when you take the NASA study and then some people point to that as challenging the concepts of global climate change, why I think everybody -- well, put it this way -- everybody at this summit agreed that we needed more scientific information. But the steps that we've recommended here in this communique we can enthusiastically endorse, and so I think we came out with a reasoned position, not a radical position that's going to throw a lot of American men and women out of jobs.

BRIT HUME, ABC News: Mr. President, the final communique here reflecting your views in no small part on agriculture subsidies calls upon each nation to "make substantial progressive reductions in support and protection of agriculture.". Does this mean, sir, that you're prepared to ask Congress to abolish some of the more notorious forms of support and subsidies that are part of our farm program?

PRES. BUSH: Absolutely. And we have to do it and it's a two way street and I expect there would be some political opposition, because like many of these countries, we protect. But I am convinced, and I believe Congress would support the concept, that if we all do this and we all reduce barriers, and we all make a freer trading system, I think the United States can compete. But I am sure I would have some obstacles from the supporters of certain programs that have been in existence for a long time. But that's a little down the road now, and I think as far as the EC goes, it's a little down the road, so what we're trying to do is move the whole thing forward without saying that we have to have tomorrow totally unprotected trade. I'd like to shoot for that someday.

MR. LEHRER: Now to a Summit summary from the Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady. I spoke with him earlier this afternoon from Houston. The farm subsidies issue was first.

NICHOLAS BRADY, Secretary of Treasury: The principle fact that we should notice about the final agreement on agriculture is that the Heads of State took a very real interest in this problem and said that it would warrant their continuing interest. I think that really means that they felt the negotiations did need a push and they gave it to them.

MR. LEHRER: They really didn't agree to do anything specifically did they?

SEC. BRADY: I think the fact that they are going to continue to monitor the process and push it is important and the Communique refereed to that. But I think the Communique itself picks up language which is new language. It talks about progress in three different categories of import restrictions, export subsidies and power production. So that is important.

MR. LEHRER: Now the United States wanted more than that did they not? Didn't we want a stronger commitment to the reduction of Governmental subsidies of farm products?

SEC. BRADY: Well I think what the United States really wanted was to get these negotiations going. The President said any number of times that it was a major priority for this Summit to move along the consideration of agricultural tariffs and import duties in order to make sure that we get a GAT round resolution by the end of the year.

MR. LEHRER: Now GAT round resolution these are trade talks that are designed to reduce subsides on farm products? Correct?

SEC. BRADY: That is right.

MR. LEHRER: And you think that the Communique and the agreement reached in Houston will further that along?

SEC. BRADY: I really do, I mean, there was a good strong discussion. It consumed as much time as anything else before the Summit and the Heads of States really got into it and I think that it will make a difference.

MR. LEHRER: Secretary Brady why is this issue so important to the United States?

SEC. BRADY: It is important to the United States as well as the rest of the World for one simple reason. The OECD nations which number some 25 I believe spend more money on agricultural subsidies, tariffs, import support than they do on foreign aid. In fact we spend twice as much money on agriculture than we do give back in foreign aid. So you can see that it has an enormous effect on the World. If we are talking about trying to help third World countries trying to raise the standard of living and get out of the fiscal problems they have for them nothing can be more important.

MR. LEHRER: So the point of it is to lower the price of farm products is that correct?

SEC. BRADY: Well lower price will mean lower cost to consumers all over the World. But obviously a nation that wants to have trade developed this is not a very important part of it.

MR. LEHRER: The Europeans were basically opposed to what the United States wanted. Is that correct?

SEC. BRADY: I would say when we reached the impasse at the OEC in June the impasse was between the Europeans and not just the United States. I think that we should make a difference. The Canes Group which includes New Zealand, Australia and a great number of other countries plus Canada held the very same view that we did.

MR. LEHRER: You believe that this is a major step in getting this thing resolved?

SEC. BRADY: I don't have any doubt about it.

MR. LEHRER: Now the seven nations are free to do whatever it wishes on that issue. Is that correct is that what the Communique says?

SEC. BRADY: No I think what the communique says is that everybody recognizes the efforts that Mr. Gorbachev is making in the Soviet Union are serious, important efforts and we all welcome them. At this particular moment technical assistance is being provided. Chairman Greenspan of the Federal Reserve went to Russia. Mike Botkin Head of the Council of Economic Advisors went to Russia to help with their programs. Their Finance Minister has come to the United States Treasury as well as their Central Banker all with the idea of what can you tell us about how a free market economy operates. We don't have one. We would like to know what is involved. What is a stock exchange, what is the banking system. What are cost accounting systems? What is the general nature of owning private property? So that is going on and I would say the Communique responded to him saying we will continue all of that and we will try as hard as we can. With regards to the part that everybody what they want. I don't think that is the right way to look at it because the fact that Germany is going to go ahead with loans that one country has decided to that for their own and sufficient reasons.

MR. LEHRER: My point is that they are not prohibiting Germany or any other country is not prohibited in anything they want to do in direct financial aid or direct loan situation by anything that was agreed to at the Houston Summit?

SEC. BRADY: That is correct.

MR. LEHRER: Now but the United States still does not believe that it is time to do that is that correct? To move with these kinds of loans?

SEC. BRADY: I think that the President has been pretty clear on this. First of all he wants to see what the money will go for. What reforms take place of a mechanical nature, where will the money go. Anybody would want to know this. That is what the study is all about. I think that He is joined in that by most of the other heads except West Germany. On top of that he has been very clear Jim that there are conditions which also would have to be addressed by the Soviet Union. The fact that they give 5 billion dollars a year to Cuba, the fact that 18 or 19 percent of their GNP is dedicated to defense, the fact that missiles are trained on U.S. cities. These are things if we engaged in a loan program even if we thought it was a good idea to do so the American people simply would not understand.

MR. LEHRER: What would you say to aids of Soviet President Gorbachev who say don't set conditions on us we will run our country you run yours?

SEC. BRADY: Well I don't think that you are going to get that kind of reaction. I know that is a concern that some people have had but basically the EEC ten days ago commissioned a study of their own and my information is that it was welcomed by the Russians. They understand that people are going to want to know how much money, where is it going, who is going to get before people are going to put up that kind of money. The Germans are different. They have their own reasons for doing it differently.

MR. LEHRER: And the United States does not object to Germany going ahead and doing its thing?

SEC. BRADY: The President has said that he completely understands that Germany has specific reasons for doing so and we all understand that reunification is why important to Chancellor Kohl and that it is underway and they have made their own decisions we all understand that.

MR. LEHRER: Japan intends to go ahead with its grant of 5.6 billion dollars of aid to China,. Does the United States support that?

SEC. BRADY: Well I think that the President, again, let me just tell you what the President said. He said he supports it. The Japanese were very clear to us that this commitment was made some time ago, two years ago, by a former Prime Minister and they felt honor bound to fulfill that commitment. With regard to lending by the World Bank the previous consensus is still in operation although the criteria of those loans being human needs loans could be widened to include loans dedicated to help reforms in the Chinese economy particularly if those reforms were aimed at helping the environment.

MR. LEHRER: Speaking of the environment which was another major area of this Houston Summit. The Seven Leaders declined to set carbon dioxide limits or take specific steps in the global warming problem. Why was that?

SEC. BRADY: The Communique which rather fulsome on this particular subject refereed to a number of conferences that are going around the World that are addressing this particular problem and the Heads decided to continue to study the matter of emissions including greenhouse gases and to try to set standards while that study is being completed but to have a convention and then decide what we are going to do. But it is being pushed rather vigorously.

MR. LEHRER: Is it correct as some of the wire stories have said that it was the other countries pushing harder on it that the United States and the United States was reluctant to go any further on this issue?

SEC. BRADY: Jim, let me reply to this question in a slightly different manor. I think that the idea that is loose on the land now that the UNited States is not interested in the environment is just plain bunk. The United States by itself pushed the World Bank to issue environmental impact statements. We are graded number one by environmental groups on that. The President's initiative for Latin America and that includes a very comprehensive program on the environment including using the interest that we would be paid in current accounts for environmental purposes. The President himself put forth a forestry initiative during the Summit which was enthusiastically received by the Heads. So I understand that the environment is a very strong concern to all Americans but frankly we in the United States got on this problem earlier and I think that the rest of the World is catching up with us.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Secretary. finally on a non Summit issue. Federal Regulators who come under your jurisdiction are considering suing the President's son Neil over his conduct as a Director of an S&L in Colorado. Are you involved in that decision?

SEC. BRADY: No but if you are referring to the story today, Jim, I believe that involved the FDIC and that does not come under the Treasury jurisdiction.

MR. LEHRER: So you are not involved in any way on that?

SEC. BRADY: No the FDIC is an independent organization and what they are doing or what they are not doing I have no first hand knowledge of. I think the President was pretty explicit on his own feelings about that.

MR. LEHRER: Do you agree with the general principle though that action should be taken against officers and directors of these failed savings and loans?

SEC. BRADY: Certainly I agree with what the President said particularly as it refers to Neil. The system will work and the problem will be addressed. I will say as I said on National television a few weeks ago that if every director of a savings and loan or a bank who sat through bank meetings was called in to question by Congressional investigation committees over decisions that we made there would be no time for them to do anything else.

MR. LEHRER: Meaning what Sir?

SEC. BRADY: Well meaning, I question why this particular set of directors at this particular point in time but that is as it is.

MR. LEHRER: You mean why the Directors of the Silverado S&L in Colorado?

SEC. BRADY: I am telling you I was a Director of a number of corporations for a long period of time. The actions of management are ones that they take and are reviewed by the Directors but the idea that you get into every last detail is what management is supposed to do not the Directors.

MR. LEHRER: Do you believe that maybe Neil Bush is being singled out because he is the President's son?

SEC. BRADY: I didn't say that. All I said if they did it for everybody that is in the same position the Congressional investigating committee would not be able to do anything else.

MR. LEHRER: Alright Mr. Secretary thank you very much for being with us?

SEC. BRADY: Thank you.

MR. MacNeil: Still ahead Soviet Jews in the age of perestroika, a new treatment for brittlebones and a Jim Fisher essay. FOCUS - GLASNOST & THE NEWS

MR. MacNeil: Next tonight we look at how the changes taking place in the Soviet Union are affecting that country's Jewish citizens. Fred De Sam Lazaro of public station KTCA in Minneapolis- St. Paul recently returned from a trip to the Soviet Union and has this report.

MR. LAZARO: It's been compared to the exodus of biblical times, up to 10,000 Jews each month have been leaving the Soviet Union, a phenomenon most visible outside the Dutch embassy here in Moscow. It represents the interests of Israel, which is absorbing most of the immigrants. Minneapolis attorney Robert Aronson is a member of the Hebrew Immigration Assistance Society, an organization that is helping resettle Soviet Jews. We accompanied him on a recent visit here when he met with Jewish community leaders and would-be emigres.

ROBERT ARONSON, Lawyer: They don't trust the system to keep this window open. Whether the window closes under Gorbachev or someone else is absolutely immaterial to them but the point is there's a sense of great instability here.

MR. LAZARO: Aronson's visit with Leonid and Natasha Stonov can help explain the apparent frenzy to leave.

MR. ARONSON: When did you first turn in your papers for emigration?

MR. STONOV: It was in 1979, in September.

MR. LAZARO: The Stonovs were denied exit visas for a reason often applied to Soviet scientists, that Leonid Stonov, a leading authority on pesticides, was privy to state secrets.

LEONID STONOV: It's nonsense of course, because it is one secret, but everyone knows it, that there are no one original pesticide in the Soviet Union and when I worked, I worked at my institute, and we were in very close connection with Americans, with Germany's and England firms, chemical firms.

MR. LAZARO: The Stonovs finally did receive exit visas last April. They'll soon join son, Alexander, in Boston. He emigrated there a year ago. The 11 year wait there has been painful and costly for them. Did you lost your job at that time?

MR. STONOV: Yes, yes. I lost my job, but then after three years, I found another job.

MR. LAZARO: Natasha Stonov, a geneticist, was also fired. She found odd jobs to make ends meet, including cleaning apartments.

NATASHA STONOV: It was, you know, ten, twelve times when I tried to answer some job and every time when they learn that I'm Jewish, the place disappear.

SPOKESMAN: This is a law which has profound effects.

MR. LAZARO: Leonid Stonov became the leader of Moscow's so-called refusenik movement, pressing for emigration reform and helping others seeking to leave with meetings like this one with Aronson, who's an expert on U.S. law and refugees.

MR. ARONSON: Your goal has got to be to establish your credibility and that you feel a well founded fear of persecution on the basis of membership in a -- as being a Jew.

MR. LAZARO: Many Jews say persecution is a fact of everyday life, despite, even because of glasnost, everything from street insults to job discrimination.

MR. STONOV: Because everything was under repress of Stalin- Brezhnev system, public had very underground forum, but now we are some kind of freedom, glasnost, state is on a very high level like it was previous time, but public anti-semitism is increasing day to day.

MR. LAZARO: For many Jews, the euphemism for public anti-semitism is Russian nationalism, symbols of it seen everywhere today in Soviet life. Nick Hayes, a Soviet affairs expert from Hamlin University in Minnesota, took us to this weekend Moscow flea market. Here one can even purchasea portrait of Nicholas, the last czar of Russia.

NICK HAYES, Soviet Affairs Analyst: The sudden fondness for the czar, for monarchist symbolists, for anything of the pre- revolutionary past, emphasizes just how much the Russians feel they've been humiliated as a nation for 70 years, that Communism was some alien ideology.

MR. LAZARO: Hayes says Jews in czarist Russia were often victims of pogroms or witch hunts. They were also segregated, not allowed into many Russian cities. That changed with the 1917 revolution and Hayes says this fact prompts many nationalists today to blame Jews for the revolution.

MR. HAYES: The Russian Revolution naturally attracted minorities against the old Russian nationalists, the czar, not just Jews, Georgians, Ukrainians, others, but the Jews, because they had not been in the government before, and because there was a minority in the original leadership were prominent, but the common person of the Soviet Union grossly exaggerates that experience, and what they forget, what they don't see is that the real experience of the Jew was that they were always the victims.

MR. LAZARO: Alexander Repetov leads the Fatherland Movement, one of several Russian nationalist groups. He was recently elected a member of the Supreme Soviet from the Siberian city of Yumen.

MR. REPETOV: [Speaking through Interpreter] Our slogan is not to fight against Jews or anybody. We are fighting for Russian.

MR. LAZARO: Repetov does note that Jews are several times more represented in positions of power than their numbers in the general population, under 2 percent. Analysts say such statements incite latent anti-semitism, but Repetov dismisses the suggestion as an attempt to win Western sympathy and refugee status.

ALEXANDER REPETOV, Fatherland Movement: [Speaking through Interpreter] On this Jewish problem, in general, one way of looking at it is if they create the appearance of violence or say we have a policy of anti-semitism, they can get their status.

MR. LAZARO: Denying anti-semitism, Repetov attributes the Jewish exodus simply to the deteriorating Soviet economy. It's a view quite widely shared among observers here, including Soviet TV commentator Vladimir Pozner.

VLADIMIR POZNER, Soviet TV Commentator: If there were a change in the emigration policy of the Soviet Union today, and I think there will be, where they simply will say, whoever wants to go, go, it doesn't matter, Jewish, not Jewish, just go, you'd see a stampede.

MR. LAZARO: Pozner agrees anti-semitism is on the rise in the Soviet Union, but he notes that Jews have not been the only victims of nationalist sentiment in a Soviet empire going through wrenching change. Nationalism is manifest everywhere, from ethnic riots in the Caucuses and Baltics to individual accounts of brutality.

CITIZEN: [Speaking through Interpreter] They told me, you're not Russian, go back to your own country.

MR. LAZARO: For example, in Moscow's Pushkin Square, a venue for lively and impromptu political debate, this man from the Soviet Republic of Pagakstan showed us his scars from police beatings he said he received in the capital city.

MR. POZNER: We've seen Armenians killed. We've seen Azerbaijanis killed. We've seen Georgian Moslems slaughtered in Uzbekistan. No one has been up in arms about that. The West has not come out with any strong statements about, you know, this should not be allowed to happen. And yet when an organization starts making anti-semitic noises, threats, you get this very emotional reaction. I understand that because we all remember the Holocaust and I guess a lot of people have guilt feelings about what happened during World War II>

MR. LAZARO: Pozner and others say perestroika has brought good as well as bad to Soviet Jews. Some leaders in the Jewish community say there now is both freedom to leave and freedom to practice Judaism here. This recently opened Yasheba, or religious school, is located in the former Dacha, or weekend home of Moscow's mayor. Although funded by Western contributions, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt says his school has both the unofficial blessing and accreditation from the government.

RABBI PINCHAS GOLDSCHMIDT: I think that it's very important for the Soviet government to show at this point of time that they are different from all the other governments before and they are pursuing earnestly policies of openness and freedom.

MR. LAZARO: Still, Rabbi Goldschmidt admits the 20 or so students at his school, most destined to lead clerical lives, represent only a tiny start in reestablishing a Jewish religious life in the Soviet Union. Nowhere is this more evident than in Riga, the capital of Latvia, a republic, itself, seeking to leave the Soviet Union. Riga boasts the first state supported Jewish school in the Soviet Union.

GREGORY KRUPNIKOV: We felt that unless we have some form of education, full education, not only Sunday schools of classes, we won't have a Jewish community here and people wanted that.

MR. LAZARO: Gregory Krupnikov is a Riga city councilor and also a leader of the city's Jewish community. He says demand for the school is so strong that there's a waiting list of over 200. Krupnikov says Latvia to some degree is becoming a haven for Jews, even an alternative for some would-be emigres.

GREGORY KRUPNIKOV, Riga City Council: They don't want for some reason to go to Israel, but they are afraid to stay in Russia, and they ask my advice, should they come and live in Latvia, is it a more safe place for Jews here than in Russia, and my understanding is, yes, it certainly is.

MR. LAZARO: Krupnikov says he has no plans now to emigrate. He is an active member of a new organization formed to coordinate a national effort at Jewish revival. So far, however, Jewish revival, like its survival during past, oppressive regimes, is mostly an informal living room phenomenon. It involves people like Gennadi and Maria Farber of Leningrad who train a Hebrew vocal music group. The Farber family is in many ways a microcosm of what's happening with Soviet Jewry in general. Culturally asserting itself at home, it's seeking to leave.

MARIA FARBER: Almost all our friends left already and almost all of them were not poor. It was middle class, middle intellectuals.

MR. LAZARO: Maria Farber is a teacher, her husband a physicist, and by Soviet standards, they live a comfortable life with their two sons. The Farbers are thinking about emigrating because of rising anti-semitism and a better economic future for their children. Their dilemma is whether to go to the U.S. with its promise of material prosperity, or to Israel, where their children would receive a Jewish upbringing, which they consider important.

GENNADI FARBER: We have relatives. Maybe we'll get to U.S. but we don't know shall we use our rights.

MARIA FARBER: I hope not, because I want to go to Israel.

MR. LAZARO: Are you fighting about that, about where you should go, or are you arguing about that?

MR. FARBER: Well, you see, as for today we don't. As for today we have a lot of problems. We have a problem of getting the permission and when we'll get it, we'll maybe fight or maybe notfight.

MR. LAZARO: The Farbers fear that like the Stonovs they'll be denied permission to leave on state secrets grounds. Gennadi Farber worked in a defense related establishment some years ago. The Farbers have put off seeking a visa because of the potential consequence of harassment and job loss. It's a consequence some call an inevitable byproduct of Jewish emigration.

MR. POZNER: The feeling well, these guys are emigrating; why give them an education, why give them jobs if they're going to leave the country anyway, but once you can't get a job or you can't get an education for your kids, it makes you want to leave all the more so. It's a push-pull kind of situation there where I repeat there's been an increase in anti-semitism precisely because Jews have been leaving, and Jews have been leaving more and more because of the increase in anti-semitism.

MR. LAZARO: Pozner and other analysts note that poor economic conditions have historically been a catalyst for anti-semitism. They say only tangible improvement in the economy will stem the emigration.

MR. POZNER: For them to be able to go out on the street and walk into a store and look around and say, it's better today than it was yesterday, for a kind of belief that yes, things will improve.

MR. LAZARO: Some current projections, however, put the number of emigres as high as 2 million by the mid '90s, half the mid '80s Soviet Jewish population. That still leaves a sizeable Jewish community here, one that Aronson says is not immune to the trends.

ROBERT ARONSON, Lawyer: All nationalistic groups are merging away from an acceptance of Communistic principles and trying to rediscover their own unique, nationalistic roots. Jews are certainly being swept up within this mainstream. I think that the major fear of anti-semitism is what's going to be happening in the very near future, and particularly as the economy worsens, particularly as there becomes kind of a social, national balkanization, splitting up within the Soviet Union --

MR. LAZARO: If political and economic turmoil fuel anti-semitism and anti-semitism prompts emigrations, Aronson says the length of these cues outside Moscow's Dutch embassy could be a key barometer of overall economic conditions in the Soviet Union. FOCUS - BONE BREAKTHROUGH

MR. MacNeil: Next tonight medical news about a possible breakthrough in treatment for patients suffering from osteoporosis. Tomorrow's New England Journal of Medicine reports on a drug that may reverse the bone wasting disease. The study confirms an earlier report from Denmark. We'll hear from a co-author of the study after some background on osteoporosis. It's estimated that some 15 to 20 million Americans, the majority of them women, suffer from osteoporosis.

ELEANOR SAUTTERS, Osteoporosis Patient: It was excruciatingly painful.

MR. MacNeil: One such victim is 69 year old Eleanor Sautters.

ELEANOR SAUTTERS, Osteoporosis Patient: From the X-ray, he could predict that I would have a series of compression fractures in years to come.

MR. MacNeil: Osteoporosis is a painfully debilitating disease, marked by the progressive loss of bone tissue. The bones become thinner and more brittle and as a result, they can break more easily, sometimes even spontaneously. Osteoporosis is blamed for 1.3 million spine, wrist, and hip fractures each year among the elderly. The victims of osteoporosis are mostly post menopausal women, women whose bodies produce less estrogen and absorb less calcium. Their bones actually lose density, becoming more fragile as the years go by. Accordingto researchers, fair skinned women, thin women, women who smoke, and those who don't exercise are at the greatest risk. Until recently, doctors couldn't diagnose the disease until it was already advanced. But today sophisticated technology, such as machines that measure bone density, has enabled experts to spot osteoporosis in its early stages. Calcium supplements for women over age 35 have been one way doctors attempted to help prevent the onset of osteoporosis, although that tactic does have its critics.

DR. BRUCE ETTINGER, Endocrinologist: When a women is building up her bone mass, say between the ages of 10 and 35, calcium is important. If there isn't enough calcium in the growing years, then bones don't develop well. What our studies recently have shown, that calcium is not at all useful in the woman who has just gone through the menopause.

MR. MacNeil: Estrogen replacement therapy for post menopausal women is another treatment for the disease, but not all women can take the hormone, and it can increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.

DR. JAMES BENSON, Endocrinologist: There's some potential risk of estrogen treatment. In a woman who has a uterus still intact, then there's an increased risk of three to five times a normal person of developing cancer of the uterus.

MR. MacNeil: Unlike estrogen, atidrinate does not appear to have damaging side effects. In today's study, the drug stopped the loss of bone in the spine and reduced by 50 percent the formation of new spinal fractures in patients. The drug is now awaiting approval by the Food & Drug Administration as a treatment for osteoporosis. With us to explain the details of the study is Dr. Nelson Watts, Associate Prof. of Medicine at Emery University in Atlanta and one of the authors of this study. I spoke to him this afternoon from public station WPBA in Atlanta. Dr. Watts, thank you for joining us.

DR. NELSON WATTS, Osteoporosis Researcher: My pleasure.

MR. MacNeil: Would you describe your study, how many women were studied, where, how long, and so on.

DR. WATTS: This was a multi-center study involving seven study centers at the Kukini Medical Center in Honolulu, University of Washington in Seattle, University of California in San Francisco, University of Colorado, the Ohio State University and Cleveland Clinic, and Emery University here in Atlanta. Investigators at these sites enrolled 429 women into a study that we reported this week on data that so far represents two years of the study that's currently ongoing.

MR. MacNeil: I see. And in how many women was the bone loss characteristic of osteoporosis stopped?

DR. WATTS: All of these women had osteoporosis. They had at least one vertebra compression fracture, which is the most common complication of osteoporosis. Half of the women in the study received the drug atidrinate in an intermittent cyclical regimen, and in those women, the gain of bone mass over a two year period was between 4 and 5 percent.

MR. MacNeil: I see. And as a gain in bone mass, does that mean that the loss of bone was stopped and therefore, the normal growth of bone could proceed, is that what that boils down to?

DR. WATTS: I think that's a reasonable interpretation or that the bone loss was reversed.

MR. MacNeil: Or reversed. Describe the finding in a bit more detail on reducing fractures of the vertebrae. In how many women was there a reduction?

DR. WATTS: That was the most encouraging finding. It's well and good to show that we're building up bone, but the most important result for the patient with osteoporosis is to reduce or at least eliminate, if we can, the chance of fracture. The women treated with atidrinate, there was a 50 percent lower rate of new vertebral fractures compared with the women who did not receive atidrinate.

MR. MacNeil: Now I understand from what I read today that there was no reduction shown in the frequency of hip fractures with patients taking atidrinate, is that so?

DR. WATTS: That's correct, though hip fractures are much less common than spine fractures, they're much more serious. There are only three patients in our two year study who experienced hip fractures. I don't know whether more extensive study will show any benefit on hip fractures. That's certainly something we would hope for.

MR. MacNeil: Would there be any explanation of why the drug would appear to strengthen bones in the vertebrae, but not in the bones connected with the hip joint?

DR. WATTS: It's a good question, and the character of the bone in the spine and in the hip accounts for the difference. The bone in the spine is spongy or trabecular bone and has a very high rate of bone remodeling. The bone in the hip contains both trabecular and cortical bone, or compact bone, which is more dense, and is remodeled at a much slower rate, so osteoporosis affects primarily the spine, where there is this spongy, trabecular bone, and the effects of treatment of osteoporosis would be more readily apparent in the spine where the bone turnover is more rapid.

MR. MacNeil: Bone remodeling, just in simple terms, describe that process.

DR. WATTS: Remodeling is a natural process whereby old bone is taken away and new bone is put in its place. It's an important process because as we go through our daily routine, we sustain micro fractures and the bone has to remove these, new bone put into place, and the reason that osteoporosis develops is an imbalance in this process of remodeling, where more bone is taken away than is put down so bone loss occurs. This balance is negative. What we think occurs with atridinate is the drug inhibits the amount of bone that is being removed in the remodeling process, so that we can change this balance from negative to positive.

MR. MacNeil: Why would atidrinate be a better treatment for osteoporosis than present treatments?

DR. WATTS: Well, there are several treatments that are valuable for osteoporosis. Estrogen is an extremely important drug for prevention of osteoporosis and we really haven't looked at the value of atidrinate for that purpose. There's no reason to think that atidrinate would not be effective for prevention. But women who have an early menopause or women who have menopause at the expected age, but have a low bone mass at that time should strongly consider estrogen to prevent bone loss. Now there are some women who can't take estrogen. Women with breast cancer, for example, should not take estrogen, so atidrinate might be a useful alternative in that setting.

MR. MacNeil: And what about the other calcium supplements, for instance, that have been part of it?

DR. WATTS: Calcium, in my view, is not really treatment for osteoporosis. It's a part of the raw material for building bone. So our patients received calcium through the study, both those who received atidrinate and those who received placebo, but the amount of calcium plus the calcium in their diet was designed to bring their daily intake into a recommended range of about 1200 milligrams a day to provide the raw materials, to prevent calcium deficiency. Studies on osteoporosis treatment using even higher doses of calcium have not conclusively shown any reversal of osteoporosis by giving calcium.

MR. MacNeil: There is another treatment which requires injections, I understand. Calcinitrate, is that the name of --

DR. WATTS: Calcitonin.

MR. MacNeil: Yes. Calcitonin.

DR. WATTS: Calcitonin is approved by the FDA for treatment of osteoporosis, and I should add at this point that atidrinate is not. It is approved for treatment of Padget's Disease of Bone. Calcitonin is given by injection. Atidrinate is given orally. Calcitonin is reasonably expensive. Perhaps a year's therapy is ten times more costly than a year's treatment with atidrinate, and the studies with calcitonin, while they've been encouraging, have not been of sufficient scope to show the same decrease in fracture rate that we've been able to show with intermittent cyclical atidrinate.

MR. MacNeil: Are you confident that atidrinate will now be approved by the FDA for treatment for osteoporosis?

DR. WATTS: I'm reluctant to predict the outcome or the timeframe of the regulatory process. But our study supports an earlier study from Denmark on a smaller number of patients, but a similar treatment schedule with intermittent cyclical atidrinate, their findings were consistent with ours. There was an increase in bone mass, and a decrease in the rate of new vertebral fractures in the women who received the drug.

MR. MacNeil: And side effects?

DR. WATTS: We were pleased that none of our women showed any side effects from the drugs over the two year course of our study. The Danish study was a three year program and no side effects were seen there either.

MR. MacNeil: Do you know what would happen if atidrinate were given for more than two years in your study?

DR. WATTS: We don't now but we should. Our study was designed to complete three years and we've just finished that. The data we've reported are from the two year mark. And we've extended our study for an additional two years, so we'll eventually have five years of data to report. We can say that treatment is safe in the two to three year timeframe that was covered in our study and the Danish study and I see no reason to be afraid that there will be late side effects that we haven't anticipated.

MR. MacNeil: Is there any suspicion that it might produce this reversal of the bone loss for a short period, but not continue to do that over many years?

DR. WATTS: That's certainly possible. I think we can be enthusiastic about what we've shown, that is, any gain in a situation where a loss is expected is notable, but whether or not continued therapy will accrue additional gains remains to be seen. The situation with calcitonin is such that the therapy regimens that have been described show an increase in bone mass for about a year, but with continued therapy, the gain in bone begins to plateau and then fall off, and that may prove true for atidrinate, but we don't know at this time.

MR. MacNeil: I see. Well, Dr. Watts, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

DR. WATTS: It's been my pleasure. ESSAY - DEATH OF A SALESMAN

MR. LEHRER: Finally tonight an essay about the end of a TV character. It is the work of Jim Fisher, columnist for the Kansas City Star. [ISUZU COMMERCIAL]

MR. FISHER: Surely you've seen one of these. Now the news is that the Madison Avenue types are going to kill off old Joe Isuzu, the venal, rubber faced spokesman for the Japanese car company. As of the 1991 model year, Joe is history, replaced by what the company terms, "a more serious treatment of our advertising". You know Joe, maybe not personally, but you know his type, a smilelocked on his face as he empties your pockets with the words like "easy payments", who has the skill to tell you exactly what you want to hear no matter what. [ISUZU COMMERCIAL]

MR. FISHER: The commercials were wonderful because in them we saw ourselves, a society ready to listen to anyone who can cure that virus that infects most of us, the longing for a new car that smells like nothing else in this world, a piece of steel and plastic that for a brief few days makes us king of the road. No matter that such a disease now costs a small fortune, that we drive that briefly shiny object on gridlocked freeways, that registration and renewal fees equal what once was a semester's college tuition and fees, that parking in some places is nigh impossible. With Joe and in 30 seconds, we learned with laughter exactly what we already knew, the torture that comes once we step on a car lot. As we fiddle with the dashboard controls, we try to look halfway intelligent as the hood is popped. That's the reality of buying a car. [COMMERCIAL]

MR. FISHER: Not the Infiniti Q45 edge that show rain falling gently on a lake, burgling streams and birds in flight, a bunch of rocks in the obligatory sunset. Madison Avenue probably doesn't know it, or if they do, they ignore it, but there's a whole bunch of us out here who don't care a wit about serious ads, who'll miss Joe Isuzu, who still think that the Alka Selter ads told how we really felt with heartburn, and that every year the Ernest P. Worrell Hey Vern ads should get prizes. [ISUZU COMMERCIAL]

MR. FISHER: Did the Isuzu commercials work? Well, in 1986, when they started, who among us could even pronounce Isuzu? In fact, I'm one of these people who never buy anything they see advertised on television, at least not consciously. But I was so charmed by old Joe that last year I went out and tried to buy an Isuzu only to be turned off by a salesman who once I told him I was paying cash asked, nay demanded, full financial disclosure, monthly mortgage payment, wife's maiden name, social security number, shoe size. Obviously the salesman was not Joe Isuzu, a man who you just know would have grinned even wider at the mere mention of the word cash. So I bought this Honda. Still, Joe Isuzu had it right and he had us cold, even if he stretched the truth. After all, don't most salesmen?

JOE ISUZU: [ISUZU COMMERCIAL] And if you come in tomorrow, you'll get a free house. You have my word on it. [HOUSE NOT INCLUDED IN PRINT ON SCREEN]

MR. FISHER: I'm Jim Fisher. RECAP

MR. MacNeil: Once again, the main stories of this Wednesday, the Houston economic summit ended. The leaders of the seven industrial democracies promised meaningful and sustained aid to the Soviet Union. They also agreed to cut farm subsidies and discuss a number of environmental issues. Federal regulators said they may sue the regulators of more than a thousand savings & loans. One of those suits may be against Pres. Bush's son, Neil, and other directors of the Silverado Savings & Loan of Denver, Colorado. In the Soviet Union, coal miners conducted a 24 hour strike to protest Communist rule. Good night, Jim.

MR. LEHRER: Good night, Robin. We'll see you tomorrow night with an analysis of how Mikhail Gorbachev did at the Communist Party Congress in Moscow. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.