Editorial opinion
Going encamping
Being a student leader is no pic
nic Neither is being a faculty
leader or a University administrator
or a town official or a legislator.
But during Fall Term Orientation
week, representatives of all these
groups will get together at Stone
Valley for a sort of picnic: the
1974 Encampment, a relatively in
formal two-day gathering at which
key campus and town figures will
discuss University problems.
This year's participants cannot
afford to treat the EnCampment as
only a big, friendly picnic. In addi
tion to playing, volleyball and
splashing around the lake in
canoes, they will be contributing
James J. Kilpatrick
Drug laws: ex Bono
Son-,e of the greatest failures of
_xtenlporary liberalism can be
aSured in their reversal of Pollyanna's
raxim Ex malo bonum out of evil,
good Liberalism has , a way of standing
, he maxim on its head: Ex bono malum.
A new study: is at hand to buttress this
lamentable Observation.
The new study, by Professor Sam
P-Ifziman of the Chicago Graduate
of Business, deals with the
unsequences that have stemmed from
the 1962 amendments to our drug laws.
He finds these ' , consequences, on
tialance, bad Some of us who are riot
professional economists long ago
arrived at the same conclusion by hunch,
intuition, and rough observation.
Peitzman gets there by classic methods
of economic analysis.
Collegian
DIANE M. NOTTLE
Editor
their ideas on what directions
the University should take in the
next year.
Some participants in last year's
Encampment criticized the
program because they felt it ac
complished little. This must not be
allowed to happen again. And it is
up to the invited guests to see that
it does not.
The pre-invitation letters contain
an enclosure listing possible topics
for: discussion suggested by the
Encampment committee. In ad
dition, guests are asked to sug
gest their own topics and sub
mit outlines for discussion
That evil consequences flow from
good intentions is scarcely a novel
proposition. Such results often are
observed. when government sets , out to
tinker with the functions of the
marketplace or with the workings of
human behavior. Two recent examples
come readily to mind: wage-price
controls and racial-balance busing. To
these might be added suph fiascos of
liberalism as high-rise public housing.
urban renewal, deficit spending, and
certain measures taken in the name of
reducing pollution.
The 1962 amendments to the basic
1938 Drug Act were an outgroWth of the
very best intentions. Congressional
liberals, led by the late Senator .Estes
Kefauver, were convinced that drug
manufacturers were exploiting a gullible
public. Riding the shock waves
CYNTHIA A. ASHEAR
Business Manager
sessions they would like to lead
When :your invitation arrives,
read over the topic list carefully
and indicate which topics you feel
should haVe priority at the En
campment. If you have strong in
terest'or knowledge in a particular
field, sign up to lead the
discussion.
The progress made at this
Year's Encampment can benefit
the University community only if its
representatives put their best ef
forts into the program. Now is the
time to start planning for an ef
fective Encampment by planning
to participate. •
produced by the thalidomide scandal,
they wrote into law some sweeping new
demands for the approval and marketing
of drugs. Where the old law had
demanded proof merely' of a drug's
safety, the new law demanded proof of a
drug's effectiveness as well. The senator
from Tennessee assuredly did not want
to harm the consumer; his purpose was
to benefit the consumer. Who could
quarrel with so goodly an Intention?
Peltzman quarrels with it. In his
methodical examination of the actual
results of ti e 1962 1 amendments, the
Chicago economist demonstrates
convinciwly that these consequences
have ensued:
Innovation has been stifled. In the
decade preceding the amendments, drug
manufacturers introduced an average of
43 new chemical entities a year. The
average since then is 16 new entities a
year.
Consumers have not gained. On the
contrary, they are losing from $250 to
$350 million annually in benefits they
might have had if it had not been for the
prolonged delays and abandoned ex
periments of recent .years. That is the
demonstrable economic loss. The
human loss is incalculable. Human
beings have died, or have suffered
needlessly, for want of drugs that might
have been available if the Kefauver
amendments had never been adopted.
Letters to the editor
Gays and the Bible
TO THE EDITOR: We live in a democracy in which rule is
ultimately (hopefully) based on the wishes of the ruled. Ad one
time in our history a significant majority of the citizens wanted
to be ruled by what they construed as "Christian" principles in
,government. The ratio of such people has declined so
dramatically during this century that writers such as Schaeffer
("Death in the City," 1969)• refer to this as the Post-;Christian
Era. As a Christian, naturally I regret this; however, as a
citizen of this democracy I have to agree to the right of the
People to, govern themselves. To this extent I agree with your
• editorial of Wednesday.
I would like to make some comments on the Biblical
exegesis which has sprung up as an aside to the issue of gay
rights. First, you are to be complimented for your commeht in
the editorial that the Bible teaches that all persons are sinners.
However, you miss the mark when you imply that since all
persons are sinners it really doesn't matter. There are many
passages that agree with you that all persons are sinners. For
example St. John writes: "If we say we are not sinners, we are
fooling ourselves" (I John 1 :8) but he also says three verses
later: "I write this to you ... so that you may avoid sinning. If
You should sin, we have Jesus Christ who is sinless to plead
our casd . before God." Sinning does matter, accordinf► to
Scripture.
iTICIIUM
The principal result of the 1962 act has
been delay. Because of the elaborate
requirements of the Food and Drug
Administration, manufacturers now are
compelled to devote from four years to
nearly nine years in accumulating ab
solute proof of a drug's effectiveness.
The FDA itself, which in 1962 processed
a new drug application in seven months,
now requires two and a half years for its
own .review.
Peltzman offers these bleak
illustrations: A delay of two years in a
drug that could reduce cancer deaths of
25 percent would result in the loss of
166,000 lives between 1970 and 1980. A
similar delay as to heart disease could
cause 383,000 deaths. If pre-1962 drugs
for tuberculosis and severe mental
disorders had been subjected to the
same delays now demanded, thousands
of patients would have died or endured
needless hospitalization.
Like._ most professors of economics
(John Kenneth Galbraith' and Milton
Friedman excepted), Peltzman writes
with a.. - .laborious pen. His study,
published this week by the American
Enterprise Institute, is hard going. But
this is rewarding scholarship all the
same. It supports a thesis long ago laid
down by such keen observers as Burke
and De Tocqueville: . governeer4 is most
to be feared when government'sets out
to do good.
University Mennonite
Fellowship
112 Chambers Building
10:00 a.m.. Sunday ;
c4ttr
326 E. College
Across from
Atherton Nall
• : ~.ci Akirc i
%
....-
.................... c ii
... .4 ♦ o.**
0., omit Ss ' Ics
* ••• ...
44
4 ‘ , ••• % # .
.: vi •.: / lii , lt%
%' 1 0
.• %
,
. 1174 i• ..• I v '
iii I olk
fils i .6
> ?
: : r
mi. iiiJl HE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY • /
1 1,1
UASAIUNty .°0
0
By Mary Chase
in the Pavilion '
July 23-27
Matinee July 27
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Bell and Samuel Spewack
In the Playhouse
August 1-4, 6-10
Matinees August 3 and 10
JUEAVEU CFAS.
SAILIILtsBAA‘f%
By Arthur Miller
In the Pavilion
AugUst 2-4, 6-10
Matinees August 3 and 10
800 office open daily 10:00am - 6:oopm, Performance days 10:00 am too
9:00 pm; Telephone rosorratlons accepted 865-11384, Out of Town call ,
1014)853-01n collect
For further information and a brochure, write
Festival Theatre, 137 Arts Building, University Park, Pa. 18802
Telephone reservations held Yr hour before curtain,
then they go on general sale.
Accuratoly dotallod!
Tb• WNW&
P.an flat•
class ring
In stock for
immediato
delivery
Serving Penn Staters
!!ne• 1927
IFISS tAIE
lICATIE
The anonymous letter pleading for gay rights the other week
made some very confused references to the Bible and con
cluded in effect that the Bible really did not teach against
homosexuality. There are several very precise comments about
homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments. The
thesis of the entire first chapter of the Epistle to the Rothans is
that everyone is a sinner. Homosexuality (both males and
females) is the point of verses 26 and 27. Also in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians. St. Paul writes: "Don't be fooled,
neither fornicators nor idolators .. nor malakoi nor ar
senokoitai will inherit God's kingdom." (I Cor. 6:9) Both Greek
words are masculine, nominative plural nouns. Malakoi
literally means "softies." but specifically a male who plays a
female role in homosexual intercourse. Arsenokoitai means
"males who practice coitus with males." Homosexuality does
matter. according to Scripture.
The real issue is not what the Bible teaches, but whether or
not individuals wish to submit themselves to Scriptural
principles. This is a free choice, but one of significant con
sequences, according to Scripture.
May I respectfully suggest that if you wish to support the
gay rights cause that you do so on the grounds of minority
rights rather than on the grounds of distorted exegesis of Bible
verses out of context.
g
Post House Tavern
q - nacie/ftylx, 6giyietouz
146 N. Atherton Street
State College
wimmanommEmorilimm ,
L) e- 02 1 keel Jel-tc4-`ol*-
S
Corn cet...otzes- •
ni • •
%nut % Oak •
~~;o 2 incLel<et,
Uv eL i cc oati Coc‘.extti%
KEYSTONE TOWERS Inc.
Renting now for fall
at three convenient locations
Barcroft House 522 E. College Ave.
Dorchester House 600 W. College Ave.
Foster Arms 134 E. College Ave.
Efficiency Apartments
Individually controlled heat and air conditioning
TV cable
Fully Carpeted
laundry facilities
All utilities included in rent, except Foster Ave.
Apartments within walking distance of Campus
Rental Office 134 E. Foster Ave., Apt. 101
Phone 238-1771
SIDEWALK SALE
Largest Ever!!
Sales in all Departments!
.cx, ~s • Tire Close-Out
v .', Premium Quality
ANY SIZE $14.88
Friday 10 -10
Saturday 10 - z 9
/ I ,
,_l' ifrPFORISTS'
'-', ,/, - ,i FRIEND, /NG
University Shopping Center - /
1 inle On Westerly Parkway 1- ~1
J State College, Pa. 16801 L
David G. Boorse
Graduate-biological science