The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

Intro JIM LEHRER: Good evening. Leading the news this Tuesday, New Hampshire voters went to the polls in the nation's first presidential primary, the U. S. Naval force in the Persian Gulf was reduced in size, and there were more violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the occupied territory. We'll have the details in our news summary in a moment. Judy Woodruff is in Washington tonight. Judy? JUDY WOODRUFF: After the news summary, a new experimental drug to treat pneumonia in AIDS patients is our lead focus. Food and Drug Administration chief, Dr. Frank Young, joins us. Then a documentary report on one of the nations worst hit by AIDS, Zaire, followed by a talk with an official of the World Health Organization. Next, from Capitol Hill, critics speak out on the medium range nuclear missile treaty between the U. S. and the Soviet Union. And finally, a look at the impact of higher academic standards at the university with the nation's number one football team.News Summary LEHRER: This is the day the people of New Hampshire finally voted. Their choices for the Democratic and Republican Presidential nominations are expected to impact greatly on the next new turns in the races, if not the final outcome. The polls show the Republican race too close to call between Vice President Bush and Senate Republican leader Robert Dole, with a battle for third between Congressman Jack Kemp and Pat Robertson. Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis is expected to be the big Democratic winner, with Congressman Richard Gephardt, or Senator Paul Simon, in second place. Judy WOODRUFF: Two developments in the Persian Gulf today. The Pentagon announced that the U. S. is withdrawing the battleship Iowa and two escort ships from the Gulf and will also pull out a helicopter carrier ship by the end of the month. Officials insisted this does not signify a change in the U. S. policy of protecting U. S. --flagged vessels in the region. It said it simply means that the same level of protection will be provided, but with fewer ships. Also today, the Pentagon announced that a team of U. S. military officials will visit Iraq this week to discuss the increasing number of close encounters between Navy ships and Iraqi war planes in the Gulf. A spokesman called a near attack on a Navy destroyer over the weekend troubling. LEHRER: Palestinians staged a general strike today in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The protestors called it a day of wrath and they enforced the strike by stoning cars and other vehicles. That led to clashes with Israeli troops. In once disturbance, in one West Bank village, three Arab protestors were shot by the soldiers. Meanwhile, in Greece today, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization vowed to proceed with a plan to return some 100 Palestinians to Israel. Yesterday, the ship they were going to use was damaged by a bomb explosion as it waited at a port in Cyprus. The U. S. --based Jewish Defense League claimed credit for the bombing, but P. L. O. officials blamed the Israeli Government. WOODRUFF: The Food and Drug Administration today gave a green light to an experimental drug used in treating a deadly form of pneumonia that commonly kills AIDS victims. The drug, called Trimetrexate, is being made available in a special category called Investigational New Drugs, or IND. Such drugs have not passed full safety review but are being made available to patients with life threatening diseases. FDA Commissioner Frank Young made today's announcement. FRANK YOUNG, Food and Drug Administration: This is designed to treat patients severely ill with ppneumocystis carinii pneumonia. And this particular treatment IND was sponsored jointly by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease and by Warner Lambert. Essentially, this partnership has brought forth a drug designed to treat patients who are refractory to other types of treatment pneumocystiscarinii pneumonia. This is extremely important because it is this type of pneumonia that has been most deadly in afflicting patients with AIDS. WOODRUFF: A spokeswoman for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said the drug, Trimetrexate is likely to be made available to about 300 severely ill patients around the country. LEHRER: The Conrail engineer in last year's railroad tragedy near Baltimore, pleaded guilty to manslaughter today. Richard Gates entered the plea to one manslaughter count. He had been charged in 16 counts, the same number of people who died in the January, 1987, crash between his train and an Amtrak passenger train. Gates was charged with, and today admitted, he ran a stop signal. Jury selection for a trial on the 16 counts was about to begin in a Towson, Md. , court, when the guilty plea was announced. The prosecutors dropped the other 15 counts in exchange for the plea. RICHARD GATES, Conrail Engineer: I have accepted my responsibility by pleading guilty today. But I hope the railroad will accept their responsibility, by correcting unsafe conditions and dangerous situations that exist. I have relived the events of Jan. 4 over and over in my mind and the pain never goes away. I can not begin to imagine the pain and the grief I have caused the accident victims and their families. I am sorry. WOODRUFF: In London today, an American citizen who formerly belonged to the Irish Republican Army was sentenced to life in prison20for the 1975 killing of an off duty British policeman. William Quinn had been arrested in California in 1981 and extradited to Britain in 1986, after a five year legal fight. He was extradited after the Supreme Court refused to hear his argument that the shooting of the police officer was a political offense, not covered by a U. S. --British extradition treaty. LEHRER: Richard Feynnman is dead. He was the Nobel Prize winning physicist who helped develop the atom bomb, and more recently served on the Presidential commission that investigated the Challenger space tragedy. His Nobel came in 1965, for his work with other scientists in electrodynamics. He died late last night in a Los Angeles hospital from abdominal cancer complications. He was 69 years old. WOODRUFF: Finally in the news, today is no ordinary Tuesday. It's Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras. In New Orleans, that means the end of two weeks of parties, parades, and outrageous costumes. This Fat Tuesday was no exception. Thousands of revelers packed the main streets. Police said the crowds could surpass last year's estimated one million people. The party ends at midnight, with the beginning of Ash Wednesday. And for Christians, that's followed by 40 days of sacrifice for Lent. That wraps up our summary of the day's news. Just ahead on the NewsHour, two AIDS stories, one on a new experimental drug for AIDS patients, the other on AIDS in the African nation of Zaire; critical testimony on Capitol Hill about the INF treaty, and the impact of higher academic standards at a college with a top ranked football team. AIDS Medicine WOODRUFF: We lead off tonight with two sides of the AIDS story: a new drug and an African nation hard hit with the disease. First, as we reported a moment ago, the Food and Drug Administration today approved the use of an experimental drug for some AIDS patients suffering from a deadly form of pneumonia. The drug is called Trimetrexate and its approval is part of a new process to speed up the availability of promising drugs to patients with life threatening diseases. That FDA process is the subject of a meeting here in Washington this week. And we hear more about it from the Commissioner of the FDA, Dr. Frank Young. Dr. Young, what is this drug exactly? Dr. YOUNG: This drug is a drug that influences and inhibits an enzyme called dihydrofolate reductase pentamidine. That enzyme is necessary for the growth of normal cells, as well as parasites. By using fairly high concentrations of the drug, with another drug called Lucovorin, which protects the animal cells, the -- in the case of animals the human cells -- in the case of humans it's possible to differentially kill the parasite pneumocystiscarinii, which really causes havoc in the lungs of individuals that are stricken with AIDS. WOODRUFF: Now again, this a form of pneumonia that many, many, AIDS patients actually die of, isn't it? Dr. YOUNG: That's right. It's one of the worst and dreaded complications that occur with AIDS. WOODRUFF: Why make this available through this special process? Why couldn't it have been made available through your normal drug approval process? Dr. YOUNG: It could be made available through the normal drug approval process about a year and a half to two years from now. We put a new facility into place by focusing on helping desperately ill people. Normally, when we approve a drug, it goes through all of the clinical phases of testing and then is evaluated by FDA. And actually, I hate to say it, the applications are sometimes 100,000 pages long. It's a lot of work to put them together. In this case, we promised for desperately ill patients, when there is no other alternative therapy, that we would get the drug out as soon as we had enough clinical data to evaluate. That's what we did here. It means that people have to know that there is some risk but by working with your physician, it's possible to get this drug. And if you're not able to be treated by the other methods, this can be a real life saver. WOODRUFF: So you must think this is really promising in some cases, or you wouldn't have approved it. Is that right? Dr. YOUNG: Absolutely. WOODRUFF: What about the risks, just how high are they? I mean, what does this mean for people who are -- who are very, very, ill? Dr. YOUNG: Well, in the average person who has pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, one would use one of the drugs which are already approved, such as Pentamidine. But there are a certain number of people -- maybe about 20 to 25 percent -- that can't tolerate this drug, or the other drug that's out there. And that pneumonia just ravages the patient and they go on towards death. In this case, we said if you can't tolerate the drug that's normally used, we have enough information now -- over a hundred patients have been studied, not the many thousands that usually are -- but if you come and say to your doc -- you know, I've heard about this, Doc, what do you think? And he says, I think we ought to go for it, would you like to try? Then we have something in place. WOODRUFF: Would you agree with what we reported a moment ago, that this'll be made available to about 300 people around the country, at this time? Dr. YOUNG: That's right now the number that'll be there. But it'll be possible to see a number in the order of thousands that will be eventually treated with this drug -- 300 right now but it will increase in use. WOODRUFF: Now, as I understand it, it was last June when you decided to make these exceptions for certain, again, very ill patients, very serious diseases. Dr. YOUNG: That's correct. WOODRUFF: Not just AIDS, but other diseases as well. What other drugs are in the pipeline that you might make this sort of exception for? Dr. YOUNG: Well, the first one that came out was an interesting drug because people who have an infection called cytomegelovirus infection, following renal transplant, have a substantially serious illness. WOODRUFF: This is a kidney transplant? Dr. YOUNG: That's right. And what we do now, is we have an antibody that's available. It can treat this and reduce the type of infection from 60 percent, down to about 20 percent. That hasn't even come to FDA for approval yet but the Department of Health in Massachusetts has made it available and now it's widely used throughout the country. The second one was for a germ cell testicular tumor, in which there was not treatment available at all. And for that small number of people it can really be helpful there, as well. WOODRUFF: So you're saying that drugs are being approved now on a fairly regular basis and under this special IND process, is that correct? Dr. YOUNG: Yes, this is called a treatment IND. That means that we go from a clinical trial, where it's only looked at in a certain number of medical centers, to now we say every physician in the country should be able to use this as long as he or she tells the patient just what the risks are, just what the advantages are, and there's an informed consent on part of the patient20and the physician. WOODRUFF: How much does this drug cost? Dr. YOUNG: Right now, it won't cost anything. It's going to be made available through the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease. WOODRUFF: Somebody's paying for it though. I mean, who's paying for it? Dr. YOUNG: Warner Lambert has been a pioneer in helping this drug be developed and I believe they, with NIAID, at the national laboratories, are providing this drug to patients that need it. The way the reg -- WOODRUFF: Free of charge? Dr. YOUNG: Free of charge. The way the regulation works is we first approve the treatment IND and then if it's a small company, or somebody that needs to recover costs, they can charge for it if they apply again. So the Massachusetts Department of Health, being really constricted on dollars, eventually came in, after it was approved, and said could we recover costs on it. And we said yes. WOODRUFF: As you know, there are some AIDS activists who are saying that the FDA isn't moving fast enough. That even though you've got this special procedure you have -- we really haven't made use of it on a frequent enough basis. What do you say to those who say you should be moving more or these experimental drugs to the pop -- Dr. YOUNG: The regretful part is we haven't had any come in for AIDS, other than this one. This is the first one, other than riboviron, which came in earlier, which there was a lot of question about and we didn't have the evidence there. But this is the first one that came in on AIDS. We share the frustration. WOODRUFF: That came in. Does that mean from the pharmaceutical company? Dr. YOUNG: That's right. WOODRUFF: okay. Dr. YOUNG: We share the frustration of people out there with AIDS. They're searching for a medicine. Right now, there are about 40 anitviral drugs under study but none of them are far enough along that the sponsor saw fit to apply. We hope that this will be the first of many coming in through this new system. WOODRUFF: The State of California, I was reading today, has recently passed a law, or regulation, that is setting up its own system, as I understand it, for approving drugs. Dr. YOUNG: Not quite. It sets up its own system for allowing drugs to be first introduced into people. They can't approve drugs to go in interstate commerce. But 34 states already had the laws that they could do it within their own state, on starting clinical investigations. WOODRUFF: Now what does that mean? Does that means that there are drugs that some states can use that others might not be able to use? Dr. YOUNG: Not really. It's practically -- I don't think that sort of a case at all. We've been working very rapidly in getting new drugs into people. And in fact there are 160 some odd drugs that are underway in people, or immunological agents that are being studied, or vaccines, or diagnostic tests. We've turned some of these around as short as five days. FDA is not the bottleneck. Regretfully, all of us are frustrated on there being not really a large number of drugs. I could point out one thing that may be helpful to you. We have hundreds and hundreds of antibacterial drugs in the world but there are only eight drugs that inhibit viruses. Antivirals are really hard to find. A large part of the problem is this is a cutting edge of science. I'm just as frustrated as those that are actively concerned about this themselves. WOODRUFF: So when this California official is quoted as saying, business as usual in the drug testing process isn't good enough -- Dr. YOUNG: It's not that way at FDA. These are the things we did: About a year and a half ago, we made a new category called the One Double A Process. We promised the American people 180 days or less on getting the drugs out. Then we did the treatment IND. We've also accelerated by interaction with the companies. It's not business as usual. We're at war. WOODRUFF: Dr. Frank Young, we thank you for being with us. Dr. YOUNG: Thank you. AIDS in Zaire LEHRER: We move the AIDS focus now from the United States. The World Health Organization says 75,000 people throughout the world now have the killing disease and one million may have it by 1991. Nowhere is the problem more acute than in many of the countries of Africa, where education and health care facilities are limited and where the risk is great. We have a report from one particular African nation, Zaire. It is the work of Julian Manyon of Thames Television. JULIAN MANYON, Thames Television [voice :over] In the slums of Mobutu's capital, Kinshasa, AIDS is a new cause of despair. More than 3 million people live in poverty, with malaria and typhoid as known killers. Now AIDS is spreading as a mainly sexually transmitted disease, affecting both men and women, equally. Manteka is 30 years old, the mother of four children, pregnant with a fifth, and dying of AIDS. It's not known how she contracted the disease. Her husband is not infected and has virtually abandoned her. On Tuesdays, there's an AIDS outpatients clinic at the university hospital. Manteka has lost a stone in weight, at a time when pregnancy would normally increase it. She suffers fevers, diarrhea, and in front of a helpless doctor, a tragedy is unfolding. PROFESSOR LURHUMA [voice :over] There's a strong possibility that this woman's baby might be infected. In fact, it has a 50 percent chance of being born with the AIDS virus. And if the baby is infected, it would definitely develop full blown AIDS while very young and won't live longer than a year. And there's another thing. If a woman infected with AIDS gets pregnant, the pregnancy speeds up the development of the disease and the woman even risks dying before the end of her pregnancy. We see that a lot. MANYON: There is no free health care in Zaire and Manteka has, in effect, been sent out to die. One of her daughters is showing disturbing signs of being ill. But as Manteka explained to me, she has no money to have her child properly examined. Even buying the anti diarrhea tablets prescribed by the doctor, will be difficult. Normally, the African family system is a source of support. But in Manteka's case, the relatives have refused to help. It took less than 24 hours for President Mobutu's secret service to hear that we had filmed this interview. Their response was to arrest us. A secret service officer told us that it is forbidden to take pictures in the slum known as La Cite, forbidden to film the AIDS crisis now taking root there. We were ordered to leave and put on a plane for Geneva. We were told that the order to throw us out was given by President Mobutu himself. And it was an action that dramatically highlighted the unique combination of medical and political problems that the World Health Organization now faces, as it sets out to try and fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa. For many of the countries worst affected by the disease are totally unprepared for the battle against it. Political crises, poverty, mismanagement, and downright corruption, have left many African health services in a state of virtual collapse, and nowhere is that more true than in Zaire. Before we were expelled, we managed to film inside a hospital, which was once regarded as one of the most modern in Africa: the University Clinic of Kinshasa. Today, the health service budget for a country of 30 million people is just 2. 5 million pounds a year, less than it costs to run one major hospital in Britain. Mothers still bring their children for treatment and are torn by grief when their loved ones die. But in this hospital, medicines are only available for those who can pay. Facilities range from inadequate to dangerous. The blood bank is a refrigerator dating from the 1950's. The shelves are dirty and there is still no equipment to screen the blood and protect the patients who receive it. It's estimated that 10 percent of the blood bank is now contaminated with the AIDS virus. DR. KAYEMBE KALA [through translator]: In developing countries, resources are a problem: a very severe problem. Take syringes and needles for example, here we simply cannot afford to only use syringes and needles once. That would become terribly expensive and no hospital here, no government even, has enough resources to regularly equip a hospital with these things, without supplies breaking down. MANYON: The needle being pushed into this blood donor's arm will be used until it breaks, perhaps on as many as 30 different people. In the age of AIDS, the dangers of contamination are well known and the medical staff make every effort to sterilize the equipment. Every bag and plastic tube has to be cleaned and reused. To treat major accidents, or diseases like malaria, blood transfusions are still needed. But the idea of using the blood bank literally gives some doctors nightmares. Dr. LURHUMA: It's a real problem. When we know somebody is going to have a blood transfusion, we are always afraid, really worried. We don't know if we're going to give that patient AIDS or not because we have had people here who have got AIDS through a blood transfusion, even children and pregnant women. So it is a very, very, serious decision, with potentially disastrous consequences. Now the policy is that doctors must only give transfusion when it is really necessary, only when there is a really good reason for it. MANYON: The windows of the AIDS wards are painted green because there are no proper curtains. Inside, on a bed without sheets, lies a young student who has caught the disease. In many Western countries, the growing number of victims is placing a strain on hospital resources, In Zaire, the risks of contamination are so real, that doctors like Professor Lurhuma are advising patients to stay at home, if at all possible. The hospital itself can be a danger zone. Dr. LURHUMA: I try, as far as possible, to leave them at home, treating them as outpatients, not only because of the lack of hospital resources but also because it's a form of prevention. Because the more they're at home, the more they're out of the way of needles, injections, blood, and all those things. So that's a method of prevention, by keeping them at home as much as possible, where they're not in contact with the equipment we use. MANYON: At another hospital, researchers are now working on a vital question: how far has the AIDS epidemic in Kinshasa really spread? A team, backed with American money, is testing the blood of different groups of the city's population of around 4 million. We've seen some of their results and some from the separate. French backed, team. What's starting to emerge is a unique and disturbing picture of the spread of AIDS virus in an African city. Pregnant women, attending two of the city's hospitals, are shown to be 5. 7 percent zero positive. Staff at one of the main hospitals in the capital, 7. 5 percent positive. Workers of the Utexco Textile Factory, 4 percent. Army soldiers, at a barracks in Kinshasa, 12 percent zero positive. And in a sample of 107 young male students, seeking to study in France, again, 12 percent. Some experts now believe that around 8 percent, or 1 in 12 of the sexually active population of Kinshasa, is infected with the AIDS virus. In the next five years, many of these will fall ill, placing a tremendous burden on the crumbling health service. Infection exists in all classes of society and one fear is that death among the educated elite could damage the country's future. LEHRER: Some additional perspectives on the African and worldwide problem now from Dr. Jonathan Mann, Director of the World Health Organization's global program on AIDS. He founded and ran an AIDS program in Zaire, from 1984 to '86. Doctor, that's an astonishing story that we just saw. Is anything that -- is there anything that can be done about it? Or anything that is being done about it? DR. JONATHAN MANN, World Health Organization: Yes, in fact that is a very good and, in many ways, accurate description of the problem. But we have to also talk about what's being done and what kinds of solutions can be proposed. The World Health Organization, through its global program on AIDS, has been working with the Zairean Government to, first, provide some immediate assistance, urgent assistance, then help the Zairean Government develop its own health plan, a plan that was submitted just last week to donors from about a dozen nations. And that plan, totalling for the first year about $5 million, received full support. So the steps that -- LEHRER: The $5 million is a drop in the bucket, is it not, in that health care system? Dr. MANN: Well, it is and it isn't. There's an enormous amount that can be done. For example, the blood transfusion system is being brought under control, first by reducing transfusions, but also by making the blood that will be transfused, screened and safe for AIDS virus. LEHRER: It's not tested now is it? It's not screened now? Dr. MANN: It is in several hospitals in Kinshasa. But the WHO, along with the United Nations development program, is launching an effort to make sure that the blood would be screened wherever it would be used. But that's just one part. The major risk of spread -- LEHRER: But what about -- excuse me. What about the use of needles as many as 30 times, as the man said? Dr. MANN: Well, there's no reason at all that needles can't be reused, if they're properly sterilized between each use. And so rather than try to provide millions of single use needles and syringes, the effort focuses on proper sterilization and disinfection, which is easy. All it requires is a container, a heat source, and water. LEHRER: All right, what about the other part of the problem, which is the spread of the disease itself, the educating the people of Zaire, where is that program? Dr. MANN: Well, a great deal of the resource that's been made available to Zaire has been used in information and education. Because sexual transmission is the major mode of spread. LEHRER: Heterosexual, right? Dr. Mann: That's right. In Africa, and in Zaire in particular, heterosexual spread accounts for the majority of the sexual transmission. That requires education and information. And this is now being done in the schools. It's being done through the media. It's being done in the churches. It's being done in many different ways, coordinated by the government, and with the support, as I mentioned, of many, many, international organizations. LEHRER: But what about this problem that the Thames Television reporter mentioned, that has been reported in other -- by other people and in other African nations, that the leaders of the country do not want their AIDs problem discussed because they do not want to panic their citizens? What are you doing about that? Dr. MANN: Well, fortunately, here there's been a major change in the last two years. A few years ago, you literally could not speak about AIDs publicly in Africa. When I was in Kinshasa, Zaire, last week, we held press conferences, we had open discussions. And this is the case throughout the continent. So there really is openness now. All the countries of sub Saharan Africa are reporting AIDs cases, officially, to the World Health Organization. They're all working with us, so that we can help them develop rational plans, systematic approaches, for dealing with the problem, that then can attract external sources of resource, as well as creating more rational use of the national resources. LEHRER: Are they all involved in education programs to tell their own people about what's happening? Dr. MANN: That's right. In fact, the programs like the Uganda program, or the Kenya program, aimed at female prostitutes, are some of the best programs in the world. LEHRER: To the United States, moving from Africa back to the United States for a moment, as you say, in Africa, the disease is spread mostly by heterosexual contact. Is that correct? Dr. MANN: On (unintelligible) that's correct. LEHRER: Okay, now the -- most of the reports in the United States say that the fear of the spread of AIDs by heterosexual contact is going down. And how do you explain the difference? Dr. MANN: Well, I'm not sure. No one is sure. But we think it may just be a historical accident, that the virus was principally introduced into this country, or began to appear in this country, among male homosexuals and bisexuals. And that most of the spread, therefore, occurred in that group, along with the spread among intravenous drug users. In Africa, the virus appears to have been present in the heterosexual population -- LEHRER: From the beginning? Dr. MANN: And therefore spreading -- LEHRER: From the beginning? Dr. MANN: Apparently, and we're not sure about this. Again, we really don't know. But I think one of the lessons of the worldwide perspective on AIDs is that the virus is a sexually transmitted virus, which means it can be spread from man to woman, woman to man, or man to man. And I think that the current perception in the United States, that the risk to the suburban heterosexual is zero, I think that's just another example of the ''nice people don't get VD kind of syndrome. And I think that it's important that the denial that that involves, and the complacency that that could create, that that be dealt with effectively with information. It is a risk. It is -- LEHRER: Well, but how much of a risk? Dr. MANN: A low risk. A risk that most people wouldn't be willing to take, if you put it into a number. In other words -- LEHRER: Put it into a number. Dr. MANN: If the risk -- it's difficult to say, it is. It's not really possible for the whole United States. But if the risk were one in 10,000 of acquiring not gonorrhea, which can be treated with an injection, but a fatal, lifelong, infection, a potentially fatal infection, how many people would take that risk? How many people would prefer to be ignorant of the risk, if it were one in 1,000, of catching a fatal disease? Most people would like to know. And most people would like to bring on themselves the choice of taking responsible action to prevent that risk or not. So, I think it's important that the issue of heterosexual transmission not be buried under the fact that most of the cases in this part of the world are in male homosexuals and bisexuals. LEHRER: Dr. Mann, looking at this from your global perspective, is the answer to the AIDs problem still primarily education and not new drugs, like were introduced today, that Judy talked to Dr. Young about? Dr. MANN: Well, technology clearly is going to provide us with, ultimately we hope, a real vaccine, a real cure. But everyone agrees that those are years away, at best. And there is some concern that vaccine may be even more difficult to make than was thought a year ago. And so, we know this virus is spread through responsible -- through actions. And it can be prevented, therefore, through responsible, informed, human behavior. It takes two people to spread this virus. The behavior of the infected person, the behavior of the uninfected person, can each break the chain of transmission. So information and education will remain the focus, the cornerstone, of prevention efforts. LEHRER: Dr. Mann, thank you very much. Dr. MANN: Thank you. Critic's Day WOODRUFF: Next tonight an update on the debate over the Intermediate Range Nuclear Missile Treaty signed by President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev in December. As if to show they are not going to wait for ratification by the U. S. Senate, the Soviet Union today began dismantling some short range missiles based in East Germany. And the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee continued its hearings on the treaty by calling on a principal treaty foe, former NATO Commander Bernard Rogers. And from the man who came up with the idea of a zero zero deal, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle.

RICHARD PERLE, Former Pentagon Official: There has been a great deal of talk about the possibility that this treaty may be destroyed by killer amendments. Unlike some, who argue that the INF treaty is politically and conceptually flawed, I believe that it is sound in these respects and should be ratified. Indeed a failure to ratify the treaty could do grave harm to our political and security interests. So I would oppose any amendment aimed at killing the treaty. At the same time, I believe that the Senate role in the consideration of treaties should entail more than a selection between a rubber stamp that says yes and one that says no. To offer treaties for Senate consideration on a take it or leave it basis, would do to the Senate what the President rightly claims the absence of a line item veto on budget measures does to executive authority.

GEN. BERNARD ROGERS (RET.), Former NATO Commander: With respect to the INF treaty, I -- there are some positive aspects. The cohesiveness and will of -- of the allies -- have shown that you can get the Soviets to negotiate seriously and keep them at the table. It has on site inspection, which is a breakthrough, asymmetrical reductions, which is another. My concerns: it reduces the credibility of the deterrence of NATO, by giving up the escalatory options, particularly the Pershing 2's, which the Soviets fear because they can strike Soviet soil, with certainty and with accuracy, within 13 minutes. It has returned us to 1979. It puts Western Europe on the slippery slope of denuclearization, which is something the Soviets have wanted to make Europe safe for conventional war, but more likely safe for the achievement of Soviets' objective in Western Europe, which is to be able to intimidate, coerce, and neutralize Western Europe, without having to fire a shot. It is not a questions of numbers. It is a question, really, after this treaty has been implemented, will NATO have the weapons platforms that can propel nuclear warheads onto militarily significant targets. And do the Soviets know we can do it. After this treaty is implemented, the answer is no. SENATOR JESSE HELMS (R) North Carolina: I'd like to have your assessment, General, as to whether this treaty strengthens NATO or weakens NATO? Gen. ROGERS: It's my opinion that it weakens NATO. Sen. HELMS: Now it's been said over and over again that the European opinion is overwhelmingly in support of this treaty. And I have countered, as best I could, with the conversations I've had with leaders in Europe, particularly in France, that say just the contrary. How would you characterize the public or private views of Western European military leaders, with whom you are familiar? Gen. ROGERS: There are two different opinions, in my experience. Publicly they must support the position of their government because they're tied to their government. Privately, they have told me that -- of their concerns about this -- of this treaty. That's not unique with the military. I might say that the political authorities were very upset, in my opinion, about -- in the aftermath of Reykjavik and the Gorbachev apparent readiness to accept this agreement, as I mentioned. But for political credibility purposes, there was nothing they could do but accept to say yes. And when the shorter range INF proposal by Gorbachev came along, how could they turn to their people and say we can't accept this, when it was only Gorbachev who had any weapons to give up. And so, I think that, as I said, political credibility took a higher priority than that of the deterrence of NATO. Sen. HELMS: That's true right here in this city. We've got a lot of people who will say privately that this thing is a pig in a poke who may have -- but the pig may have a tuxedo on but he's still a pig, nonetheless. LEHRER: Do you think it's important, Mr. Perle, and I ask the same question of Gen. Rogers and perhaps ask the General to answer first, that we should, by reservation or some other indication, clearly tell the Russians what steps we'll take in the event that the Soviets violate the treaty? And can we do that? Gen. ROGERS: Well, I would hope that there could be some language, crafted by those who are paid to do such things, that would make themessage very clear to the Soviets that we're tired of their failing to comply with treaties. LEHRER: Mr. Perle, do you have any suggestions as to what -- how we could craft language that, in view of the history of noncompliance that Gen. Rogers points out, what can we say to the Soviets, in advance, as to what we're going to do in the event that they violate this treaty as well? Mr. PERLE: I think it's very difficult to know now what would be in our interests at some subsequent time. And, frankly, the history of support for the President, when he has found violations in the past, has been a pretty discouraging one. As you know, when the President attempted to take the position that we would no longer be bound by some of the SALT 2 treaty provisions, when the Soviets violated those -- violated that treaty and he was voted down in the Congress of the United States. So I think it would be very difficult to get a commitment now, as to what we would do in the future. LEHRER: What do you think the consequences of not ratifying it would be? Mr. PERLE: Well, I think they would be quite adverse politically, within -- within the alliance. I think there'd be disappointment within the alliance. This is a treaty we've signed and I think we ought to go ahead and ratify it. LEHRER: Is it your view that the -- that further deployment of intermediate range systems would not -- wouldn't be able to take place and that the ones that have been deployed on the part of the West would be in jeopardy, if the treaty -- Mr. PERLE: Oh, I think it extremely unlikely that we would be permitted to keep the missiles we have already deployed. And it goes without saying we would not be permitted to deploy new ones. So you would -- and the Soviets could keep their SS 20's. LEHRER: Yeah, so if you didn't ratify, you'd lose what you'd deployed and they would continue to have what they've deployed, under this logic. Is that correct? Mr. PERLE: That's right. WOODRUFF: The committee hopes to complete its hearings next week and send the treaty to the full Senate next month. Tackling The Books LEHRER: Next tonight, a story from Miami about education and sports. The issue is whether a university that produced last year's number one football team can tighten academic standards, without lowering its athletic results. Correspondent Kwame Holman reports. KWAME HOLMAN (Scenes of students marching band): This is what major college athletics cause people to do. In Miami recently, some 25,000 people turned out to pay homage to the Hurricanes, the University of Miami's football team. Last New Year's Day the Hurricanes won the Orange Bowl, defeating the nation's other top ranked team from the University of Oklahoma. Virtually unknown as a football power a decade ago, Miami had produced its second national championship in four years. It now sits on top in the multimillion dollar world of big time college football. But some are worried that the University of Miami's athletic success may be threatened by the school's new emphasis on raising academic standards, standards some of these student athletes may not be able to meet. Leading the push for tougher academics is University of Miami President, Edward Foote. EDWARD FOOTE, President, University of Miami: Mr. Chairman, I'm Ted Foote, the president of the University of Miami. HOLMAN: In 1984, at the annual convention of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Foote was a leader in an effort to get colleges to emphasize academics, instead of athletics. Mr. FOOTE: But we are dealing with students, students first who are athletes second. HOLMAN: Back home at the University of Miami, Foote has been clear about his expectations of athletes. Mr. FOOTE: They have to make their grades. They are real students in regular programs leading toward degrees, as approved by the faculties for all students. And they gotta make their grades. That is they have to be in good academic standing in order to compete. Some people find that a wrong way to do business. I think it' the only way. HOLMAN: In the last few years, the university eliminated majors in education, including physical education, a traditional favorite of athletes. It was the beginning of a series of stricter academic standards. Mr. Foote: We have revised curricula throughout the university. We have tightened standards. We've cut 2,000 undergraduates out of the student body at that university. We basically cut off the bottom 20 percent of our undergraduate student body. HOLMAN: Foote also required athletes to earn better grades to be eligible to play sports. Average SAT scores are up 120 points, new research facilities have been opened, and: Mr. FOOTE: Don't forget our Rhodes Scholar. HOLMAN: But the tighter academic requirements have begun to cause anxiety in the Athletic Department. Student athletes, like all other students, now must choose from a shorter list of tougher courses. Since the early '80s, the graduation rate for football players has risen from about 10 percent to about 70 percent. Still, six Miami players have left school, in part because of the new standards. Athletic Director Sam Jankovich says limiting courses limits the number of disadvantaged student athletes who will be able to attend the University of Miami. SAM JANKOVICH, Director Athletic Services, University of Miami: If we eliminate those opportunities for disadvantaged young people to be able to go to schools such as the University of Miami, then yes, we will score less touchdowns, we will intercept fewer passes, and maybe score fewer points in basketball. HOLMAN: For their part, some players worry that top athletes will shy away from the University of Miami. Freshman Robert Bailey is a premedical student, who hopes to play in the Hurricane defense next fall. ROBERT BAILEY, Student: It is a concern because we will -- we will be losing the great athletes and we'll end up probably playing against them. HOLMAN: Athletes with lesser academic skills could choose to bypass the University of Miami for the many colleges with less demanding academic standards. Miami's standards are even higher than those required by the governing body of college sports, the NCAA. At its latest convention, the NCAA turned down the opportunity to toughen academic standards for athletes. Miami football coach, Jimmy Johnson, says the college athletics playing field should be even. JIMMY JOHNSON, Miami Football Coach: You really just have to look at, you know, what's happening with your competition. And you have to look and see if there are schools with an unfair advantage. Personally, I feel like we should be raising the standards all over the country. HOLMAN: Some members of the University of Miami's Board of Trustees share those concerns and also worry about lost income from lost competitiveness. Board member Richard McEwen: RICHARD McEWEN, University of Miami Trustee: We have, for example, the Hurricane Club, and it has over, oh I think 110 members, who give $10,000 each to the club. Wehave other people who also give a thousand, or more, to the club. And they, in part, carry the athletic program. Now, they would lose interest if we didn't have interesting athletic teams. HOLMAN: James MacLamore, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, says while most donations do go to fund academic improvement, team spirit also can translate into money. JAMES MacLAMORE, Chairman, Board of Trustees: The excitement that is attendant with the University of Miami being very much in the public mind, because of its athletic achievements, in some way helps influence the people that run the major corporations, the banks, the foundations, and so forth, and individuals, to support this institution. HOLMAN: Trustees and boosters say they support Foote's reforms so far but they will watch to see if further changes hurt athletic competitiveness. Mr. MacLAMORE: We don't want to sacrifice that in pursuit of academic standards, high academic standards. HOLMAN: Both sides insist they are not at war but the conflict could intensify as Foote takes further steps to transform this campus from its old image as Suntan U to what he has called a Harvard of the South. Mr. FOOTE: What we're trying to do at the University of Miami is to build an institution which is still relatively young, it's 61 years old, into one of world class greatness. Literally, world class greatness. That's what I came to Miami to try to do. Mr. MacLAMORE: He's made notable strides in that regard and I'm sure that he'd like to do as much of that as he could, to build a world class academic institution. But I think he realizes, because the board has made it very clear to him, that we can't do that and sacrifice the athletic program too. We won't do that. HOLMAN: Another concern is that higher standards hurt minority students. About 7 percent of the student body is black. But blacks make up well over half the football team. Many of them were poorly prepared for college academics. Mr. BAILEY: Approximately 90 to 100 percent of the blacks here are in football or in a type of sports. And that's -- it's the way out. It's the way to make it to college. I'm sure, if they do raise the standards and, you know, it'll hurt the black athletes and stuff, they'll just -- they'll go to another school, you know. They'll do what they have to do to make it. Mr. FOOTE: A major university has a very special, extra, obligation to minority students, who may come, who sometimes tend to come, from backgrounds that do not include the educational advantages of some other students. Those are obligations on a university that go far beyond anything having to do with intercollegiate athletics. HOLMAN: The faculty and the Athletic Department hope to keep minorities in the classroom and athletes on the field, with counselling and tutoring programs. But the academic reforms, ultimately, may be judged on the won lost record of the Hurricanes. If the Hurricanes should lose half their games next year and someone suggests that it was because of the tougher standards put on the players, would your job be in trouble from the trustees? The coach says his would. Mr. FOOTE: As one of my favorite relatives once said, we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it. HOLMAN: How Edward Foote fares will be watched by other college presidents and by other athletic departments. If the conflict over academic standards moves to a confrontation, no one is guessing whether Pres. Foote or the chairman of the board of trustees will win. Fatal Attraction WOODRUFF: Finally tonight, we close with a look at one of the biggest grossing movies of the past several months. The movie is 'Fatal Attraction,' the story of a married man who has an affair with a mad, obsessed, single woman. Our essayist is freelance writer, Penny Stallings. SCENES FROM FRANKENSTEIN PENNY STALLINGS: And now, from out of the deep, dark, recesses of your deepest, darkest, fears, comes the scariest movie monster of all time: the single, liberated, woman. You've seen her at work. You've seen her jogging in the park. And shopping the sales. Now see her as she really is: as Alex Forrest, the she devil of ''Fatal Attraction. '' Look into her eyes and you'll forsake everything that's holy. Let her in your life and she'll boil your pet rabbit. ''Fatal Attraction'' has become a genuine phenomenon. It was last year's second top grossing film, with earnings of $137 million in just three months. And even now, ticket sales continue to perk right along, with many people returning for a second and third time. What is it that keeps them coming back for more? Well, it depends on who you are. If you're a man, married or single, you'll discover that unattached women, particularly the take charge, independent, kind, is more lethal than an armed grenade. Before you know it, you'll find yourself empathizing madly with Gary Hart and Jim Bakker. If you're a married baby boomer, chances are you'll find yourself gloating over Alex's downfall, seeing it as a validation of your own conventional lifestyle, the lifestyle rejected by so many of your peers. And finally, if you're a single woman, you'll see ''Fatal Attraction'' as yet another variant on a conspiracy to drive you insane. That conspiracy started with the infamous Spinster Report, otherwise known as the ''Yale Harvard Study of Marriage Patterns in the United States. '' It showed that the odds of a college educated woman over 35 getting married were about the same as being kidnapped by Martians. Suddenly the women of the postwar generation were thrown into a panic. They'd always intended to marry, to have a family. But they wanted to develop their own identities first, to avoid all the traps that had ensnared all those millions of smart women, who loved men, who hated them for loving them too much. But now the game was over and they'd lost. They'd been too careful, too discriminating, too smart, for their own good. With that, those same women began to consider pulling up stakes and moving to Alaska, where the ratio of 10 men to one woman was a little more -- friendly. But just as single women everywhere were packing their designer parkas, things began to look up. The Yale Harvard researchers admitted that the interpretation of their results might have been slightly skewed and new census figures showed a jump in the under 30 male population, making the male female ratio in that age group a heartening 2 to 1. And best of all, Cher had moved on to boyfriend number 36. But then came ''Fatal Attraction. '' Everyone had a theory on what the movie was really about: sex in the AIDs era, yuppie mid life crisis, or the usual female put down. But talk to any single woman over 35 and she'll tell you that whatever it means, ''Fatal Attraction'' has set back the dating game 20 years. That the title has already become a part of the vernacular, an action verb as in say, are you one of those women who's gonna ''Fatal Attraction'' me? ''Fatal Attraction's'' runaway success means that we're probably going to be deluged with all sorts of predatory screen females: single mothers, divorcees, widows. So, a word to the wise to all you single women out there: hold on to those parkas. Recap LEHRER: Again, the major stories of this day. New Hampshire voters went to the polls in the nation's first Presidential primary. Late surveys showed the Republican race too close to call, between Vice President Bush and Senate Republican Leader Robert Dole. On the Democratic side, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis is expected to be the big winner. In the Persian Gulf, U. S. Naval forces were reduced and there were more violent protests in the West Bank and Gaza, as Palestinians held a general strike to protest Israeli rule in the occupied territories. Good night, Judy. WOODRUFF: Good night Jim. That's our news hour for tonight. We'll be back tomorrow night. I'm Judy Woodruff. Thank you and good night.