Congress, drug manufacturers disagree about price changes
By Stephanie Greer
Staff Writer
Discussions between the U.S. Senate
Committee on Aging and major U.S.
pharmaceutical companies heated up
recently when allegations surfaced that
the companies had broken promises to
keep costs of their products down.
“The elderly are having to choose
between food, heat and medicine,” said
Andrea Boldon, press assistant for the
U.S. Senate Committee on Aging.
Boldon, who stated that three-fourths
of America’s elderly paid for their pre
scriptions with money from their own
pockets, said the top-30 pharmaceutical
manufacturers in the United States had
Free speech an issue
in magazine decision
By Adam Bianchi
Staff Write-
In a controversy many experts be
lieve could have First Amendment
implications, the publishers of Soldier
of Fortune magazine recently lost then
appeal in a suit brought against them
concerning a man killed by an assassin
who advertised in the publication.
In 1985, a Georgia man was mur
dered by a paid killer who had solic
ited business in the June 1985 classi
fied section of the magazine,
A businessman paid the mercenary
to kill his partner.
The gunman was arrested and con
victed of murder in the case. The fam
ily of the murdered man sued Soldier
of Fortune in an Alabama trial court
and received a judgment of $4.3 mil
lion in punitive damages against
Omega Group Limited, the publisher
of Soldier of Fortune.
Berrett Prettiman, a lawyer who
represented the Omega Group Lim
ited, said the case represented an in
fringement of Soldier of Fortune’s First
Amendment right to free speech.
Prettiman said he thought the case
could create a legal precedent that
might infringe on the rights of the
advertising business. “The plaintiffs
belief that the magazine had a respon
sibility to block advertisements that
presented a public danger 'on then
face (value) and without investiga
tion' is too broad and too vague,” he
said. “This same rule could be applied
to advertisements for cigarette smok
ing and alcohol consumption.”
Lee Levine, a lawyer for publica
tions such as Time magazine and the
New Republic, wrote a legal brief about
the case in which he stressed the rights
of publishers to print what they wished.
“The Eleventh Circuit Court deci
sion went far beyond previous corpo
rate media law interpretation,” he said.
If the ruling becomes precedent in
its widest interpretation, Prettiman
said, newspapers and magazines would
Uhlenberg
eluding one who died not long after of
lung failure.
“It was hard,” Pam Uhlenberg said.
“People have this idea that because we
have so many kids, we have this re
moved relationship with them. But this
was very real.”
The other two children with handi
caps are doing well now, she said.
The mother said raising adopted chil
dren of various ethnic backgrounds was
not much different from raising other
children, except when they reach ado
lescence, when they struggle to find
their identities. “The hardest part is help
ing them figure out who they are.”
Both Peter and Pam Uhlenberg said
God was the main strength and support
for their family.
“We feel God is caring for us and
God is in control of things and he loves
us,” Peter Uhlenberg said.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not hard
sometimes, Pam Uhlenberg said laugh
Recycle
from page 3
lock said.
“It’s hard to predict the future,” he
said. “(It won’t begin) in the next six
months.”
Pollock said the only complaint from
residents about the new plan was that
newspapers now had to be placed in
paper bags at the curb.
“Residents have been conscientiously
not getting paper bags at the grocery
store, and now we’re asking them to use
paper bags, and they’re resisting,” he
said.
“When they wear out, residents can
recycle them and get another one to
use,” he added.
Pollock said the change was made
because it was dangerous for residents
to lump all of their recyclables together.
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been targeted in the committee’s alle
gations.
In 1991, the U.S. Senate’s Prescrip
tion Drug Cost Containment Act in
structed the top-30 pharmaceutical
manufacturers to keep the costs of their
products at or below the rate of general
inflation, Boldon said.
U.S. Sen. David Pryor, chairman of
the Senate Committee on Aging, said
the companies had not done so, Boldon
said.
Boldon also said the Senate commit
tee thought legislation was needed to
help regulate the pharmaceutical indus
try.
“There are a number of studies and
reports that show that pharmaceutical
have to “turn down all ads or risk
heavy damages.”
However, Prettiman said he be
lieved the case presented no real threat
to publishers, calling it “a blip on the
screen, not a general ruling.”
Alan Caruba, an independent ex
pert on legal issues concerning the
media, said he agreed with the jury’s
decision against Soldier of Fortune.
Caruba said the First Amendment
protection issue was “vastly overstated
and not accurate in this case.
“The jury, when finding the pub
lisher guilty of criminal negligence,
made Soldier of Fortune culpable as
an active participant in the crime. (The
publishers) are responsible for all in
formation printed. In this case the
weapons’ ad services were for the
purpose of violence and were a public
danger.”
Levine said he believed the jury’s
decision had been caused by a point of
semantics.“ The term 'Gun for Hire’
appeared at the head of the advertise
ment,” he said. “The jury felt a public
danger was presented by this term.”
He also pointed out that in an ear
lier case involving the magazine, the
jury ruled in the publication’s favor.
“In a very similar case two years ear
lier the jury concluded in favor of
Soldier of Fortune,” Levine said.
An anonymous spokesman for
Omega Group Limited said an outside
agreement in the case was probable.
“We are negotiating with the plain
tiffs right now,” the source said. “Ob
viously, we don’t have $4.3 million.
We will prpbably reach some agree
ment separate from the court case.”
The source stated the ruling was a
“danger as we see it to anyone running
personal ads and also to the funda
mental right to free speech.”
The source added-that a wide vari
ety of groups had disagreed with the
decision. “The free-speech issue is the
first time High Times, The Village
Voice and the National Rifle Associa
tion ever agreed on anything.”
from page 1
ingly. “We’re constantly challenged as
parents.”
Peter Uhlenberg said they also re
ceived much support from the commu
nity and their church.
The Uhlenbergs’ biological children
also support their parents’ choice to
adopt. “I’ve always been in support of
what my parents have done,” said Jeff
Uhlenberg, a senior at Wheaton Col
lege in WTieaton, 111.
Although the Uhlenbergs have no
immediate intentions of adopting any
more children, they are always open to
the possibility. But for now, they are
taking things one day at a time.
“Life is not boring,” Pam Uhlenberg
said. “This is a challenging world they’re
growing up in. We’re just letting God
show us the way.”
Peter Uhlenberg added, “You expe
rience a lot of highs and lows. We have
a really meaningful relationship that is
very satisfying.”
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companies cannot impose any kind of
restraint on themselves,” Boldon said.
Boldon said the committee found
that prices for many pharmaceutical
companies’ products had exceeded the
1992 general inflation rate of 3 percent.
Glaxo Inc., a Research Triangle Park
based pharmaceutical manufacturer,
was accused by the committee of in
creasing its prices by 4.4 percent during
1992, but Glaxo employees disagreed
with the committee’s statistics.
“If you look at the numbers, that’s
not the case,” said Rick Sluder, senior
manager of corporate communications
at Glaxo Inc.
Sluder said the company kept its
prices at an increase of only 1.8 percent
Groups work to provide opportunities for minority youth
By Brad Williams
Staff Writer
In response to indications that young
black, Hispanic and Native-American
men face similar problems, a number of
federal and independent groups are at
tempting to create opportunities for ur
ban minority teenagers.
One such program, the Rockville,
Md.-based Office of Minority Health,
is involved in funding independent pro
grams designed to improve the lives of
these disadvantaged minority youth.
Blake Crawford, senior public af
fairs specialist with the Office of Mi
nority Health, said, “the key to the mi
nority male programs we have been
funding is to tap the talent and energy of
minority males.”
Since it was founded by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Ser
vices in 1990, the Office of Minority
Health has given federal funds to 130
projects, Crawford said.
Eighteen of the programs funded by
the group are long-term projects,
Crawford said. The multiyear programs
are given three-year grants worth
$250,000 to $300,000 per year, and the
funds can be renewed after three years.
The Dallas Urban League Institute, a
program funded by the Office of Minor
ity Health, focuses on building self es
teem and providing employment train
ing for minority males, said Eric Ander
son, the institute’s director.
Fraternities
construction and demolition of houses
in the historic districts first must be
approved by the commission by filing a
certificate of appropriateness.
This is required to ensure that all the
buildings in the historic district are in
BCC
fere with the joint group’s goal of pro
posing the best possible BCC.
“It’s not the kind of thing you want
this kind of project to go up or down
over,” he said. “I know the students
have strong feelings about the Wilson
site, but I hope we can negotiate as a
group together.”
The Wilson site could “comfortably”
hold abuilding of at least 110,000 square
feet, Rutherford said. He added that the
size of the proposed BCC would prob
ably fall somewhere closer to 50,000
square feet.
Eubanks said the final report to the
BOT should include more than one site
option for the BCC building.
McDonald said group members ex
pected the matter to be before the BOT
at their March 26 meeting. At the Black
Student Movement candidates forum
Wednesday night, BCC advocates esti
mated that the current BOT would vote
10-3 against the new center, including a
Bossio
from page 3
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in 1992, well below the general infla
tion rate for the year.
“It is the desire of the company to set
the record straight, and we will con
tinue to make sure that facts are not
misrepresented,” Sluder said.
Sluder cited a study by the account
ing firm Coopers & Lybrand that con
firmed the figure and also said Glaxo
Inc. “would continue to live up to the
pricing pledge.”
But Boldon said the Senate commit
tee obtained its figures and statistics
from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis
tics and the Medispan Cos., a provider of
medical statistics.
“It’s not like we’re just pulling these
numbers out of thin air,” she said.
The organization also helps local high
school dropouts earn their General
Equivalency Diplomas, he said.
Anderson said he thought break
downs in the nation’s family structure
and educational system were respon
sible for many problems facing young
urban men.
He said many minority teenagers
knew the educational system had failed
them by the time they reached the 1 Oth
grade. He also said organizations like
the Dallas Urban League Institute were
often the only places they could turn to
for support.
“There are no institutions in the coun
try that deal with the problems of the
minority male besides the Justice De
partment,” Anderson said.
Anderson said that although organi
zations such as his had many successes,
they still needed the help of churches,
economic foundations and schools.
According to a study being conducted
by Sonia Perez, senior policy analyst
for the National Council of La Raza, a
Hispanic civil rights advocacy group,
there is a high level of correlation be
tween the problems experienced by dis
advantaged Puerto Rican youths and
those of disadvantaged black youths.
Perez, who is involved in the first
year of a study of the lifestyles of Puerto
Rican males between the ages of 16 and
24, said her research indicated that both
groups had a high percentage rate of
poverty, a large number of single moth-
from page 3
harmony with each other.
The purpose of the Historic District
Commission is to “promote, enhance
and preserve the character and heritage
of the historic district,” according to the
town’s development ordinance.
from page 1
vote against the center by Student Body
President John Moody.
Tim Smith, co-founder of the Black
Awareness Council, said that if the BOT
rejected the free-standing center, pro
ponents of the center should “get ready
for World War III.”
Anna Griffin contributed to this story.
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The Daily Tar Heel/Friday, February 5, 1993)
Sluder defended the increasing phar
maceutical costs, saying that more than
50 percent of Glaxo’s business was
subject to a discount of some sort.
“There are various opportunities for
people to purchase drugs as outpatients
from places that get a discount,” he said.
Not all those in the medical field
blame the price increases entirely on the
pharmaceutical companies.
Rebecca Wilfinger, public informa
tion director of the American Society of
Hospital Pharmacists, said she placed
some of the blame on the U.S. Senate.
Wilfinger said that before the 1991
Prescription Drug Cost Containment
Act, the Senate had passed provisions
that allowed Medicaid recipients to re
ers and suffered from a general lack of
parent involvement.
The assessment also indicated that
opportunities for disadvantaged minor
ity youths to attend college or gain
employment were very limited.
Perez said she thought it was impor
tant for urban minority communities to
be self-determined economically. “The
strategy at the community level is to
make the transition to economic stabil
ity,” she said.
J.R. Cook, director of The United
National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc., said
his organization attempted to develop
leadership among young Native Ameri
cans.
The group sponsors the National
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ceive the same discounts on pharma
ceuticals as large buying groups. In
stead of lowering prices overall, she
said, the provisions eventually raised
prices for everyone else.
“When you tinker with health care,
you must tinker with what the whole
machine does ... it’s time to stop fool
ing with one piece,” she said.
Wilfinger said that research by the
ASHP had confirmed their assumptions
but that the Senate had ignored the
warnings of the group.
Wilfinger said she hoped that when
the Senate committee finally decided
on a course of action concerning the
health-care crisis, it would “look at all
parts of the equation.”
Unity Council, a gathering of Native
Americans between the ages of 15 and
24, in which Native-American youths
can voice their concerns about the sta
tus of their culture.
Cook said many problems faced Na
tive Americans, including high rates of
alcohol abuse, high suicide rates and
deep poverty, but he went on to say he
was impressed with today’s generation
of Native Americans.
“I have a great deal of confidence in
this generation of Native-American
youth ... confidence through sharing
talent and working together in the spirit
of unity,” Cook said. “They will be able
to make positive changes in economic
and social conditions.”
5