Letters

CANCER: HYPE VS. HOPE

My father died of cancer in 1963. A cancer cure was "just around the corner" [SPECIAL REPORT, May 18]. My mother died of cancer in 1972. A cancer cure was "just around the corner." Today, after billions of dollars spent on cancer research, the cure is still "just around the corner." I'll put my trust in a daily regimen of healthy, natural foods, quality antioxidant and nutritional supplements and exercise. For good measure, I'll keep my home and garden chemical free. Prevention has to be the better alternative for those of us still healthy. KLAUS KEUNECKE London, Ont.

It has not escaped me, a registered nurse for more than 20 years, that the majority of patients with cancer and other chronic illnesses subscribe to the classic American diet. It is increasingly difficult to support diets that are meat, dairy and egg based. Scientific literature is full of reports by unbiased researchers not funded by any special interests who recommend little to none of these products. ROBIN KIRSCHNER, R.N. Olney, Md.

Your fascinating, in-depth article on cancer was badly needed. But you left out an important factor in surviving many types of cancer: where you live. CEDRIC GARLAND, Associate Professor School of Medicine University of California San Diego

Thirty years ago, I argued with some of my college professors that lab results with animals don't always carry over to humans. I got no sympathy. J.C. SELLS Michigan City, Ind.

Cancer research--today's media hysteria over newer technologies notwithstanding--has always made strides in a slow and deliberate manner. Oncologists worldwide attend yearly meetings to listen to, digest, scrutinize, modify and summarize a universe of scientific and clinical data. No two oncologists walk away from these meetings with exactly the same opinion. Clinical trials that last only several years must further mature before long-lasting conclusions are crystallized. I'm not against enthusiasm, but science always advances without cheerleaders and circus ringmasters. Our patients deserve better. ANTHONY F. PROVENZANO, M.D. Clinical Assistant Professor New York Medical College New York City

Cancer is a human problem, not a puzzle provided for the pleasure of those temperamentally inclined to endless research. The entire question of how best to spend our resources needs to be debated because we are proceeding on blind faith that is unsupported by positive results after decades of research. Scientists continue to work with mice, knowing that what is learned seldom applies to humans. The cancer-research juggernaut has been rolling for way too long now, costing too many dollars and too many lives. LAWRENCE BLAKELY BARNES Bangkok

Your treatment of delays in developing new drugs let the Food and Drug Administration off the hook. A poll of cancer specialists commissioned by the Competitive Enterprise Institute bears this out: 65% believe the FDA is too slow in approving drugs, and more than 70% state that FDA delays have hurt their ability to give the best possible care to patients on at least one occasion. Worse yet, more than 10% say they frequently encounter this problem. In short, for many of these doctors, fighting cancer very often means fighting the FDA as well. SAM KAZMAN, General Counsel Competitive Enterprise Institute Washington

Does hyping angiogenesis inhibitors, radiation treatments and chemotherapy really inspire "hope"? I think not. TIME has given us just another 13 pages of cancer research and treatments with only one teeny-tiny insert on prevention and absolutely nothing on alternative cancer therapies. Today we have more industrial chemicals in our homes, jobs, food, water and air and on our lawns than a chemist's lab had 50 years ago.

The American diet may sustain life, but it undermines health. When the day comes that the medical establishment declares "war" on the systemic source of the problem--the companies producing carcinogens that we consume and absorb daily--then scientists will be acting responsibly, and I will feel hopeful. While the cancer industries have everything to gain financially from their "cure" focus, resplendently depicted in your story, the American public gains little. TERESA DIFFLEY TUETING Edina, Minn.

HOW THE PATIENT SEES IT

I am a cancer patient undergoing treatment [SPECIAL REPORT, May 18]. Clearly there is enough new hope in treating cancer for TIME to give full coverage to recent developments. If you talk to cancer patients, you'll find that hope, false or not, is its own drug. AMY M. SPINDLER New York City

As a mother with two young children and a victim for the past nine years of "brain cancer," I read with wonder and awe of the new developments in cancer therapy. It's been two years since my last brain tumor, but I live in constant terror of another recurrence. I share the hopes and fears of many others in my situation--hope that these advancements will be made available to me within a realistically short period of time in order to avoid the fear of leaving my children to wonder why the process couldn't have been sped up a bit. PAULA J. EISENACH Salem, Germany

Speaking as a 50-year-old metastatic-breast-cancer patient, I say that if Dr. Joseph Sparano can make me live 20 years symptom free, if not cancer free, I'll take it in a minute. That's 20 more years to find a cure. TIME writer Christine Gorman's statement that 20 years symptom free may not be good enough for millions of cancer patients was way off the mark. Evidently she didn't survey many patients. BONNIE KENNEDY Wheelersburg, Ohio

WILL NATURE CONQUER CANCER?

Half the angiogenesis drugs on your checklist of cancer treatments [SPECIAL REPORT, May 18] are derived from natural sources--shark cartilage, African bush willow, mouse urine and fungus. It doesn't take an environmentalist to understand that preserving the world's biodiversity is important to all of us. Nature continues to supply all our needs if only we know where to look--and if the right species are still there to look at. CATHERINE CROW Cambridge, Mass.

THE DAIMLER-CHRYSLER DEAL

What is being highly acclaimed as a "merger" between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler [BUSINESS, May 18] is far more ominous. A close look reveals the disturbing truth. The new company will be incorporated in Germany. After a three-year transition period of co-chairmanship, a single chairman will take charge of the company. That chairman, you can wager, will come from Daimler-Benz. In short, Chrysler has been "bought" by Daimler-Benz. As a result, another great name in America's manufacturing history will gradually fade into oblivion. With only two American auto manufacturers left, we are at risk of losing the automobile industry, much as we have lost the consumer-electronics industry. While we celebrate our evolution into a "service economy," our trading partners are happy to take advantage of our naivete. WILLIAM J. LYNOTT, President Buy America Foundation Abington, Pa.

CHILD OF HER DREAMS

Helen Schulman has proved once again the incredible selfishness of human beings who claim they want to be parents, but only if they are parents of their own biological children [BOOK EXCERPT, May 18]. I believe she truly mourns the loss of the babies that were spontaneously aborted, but what of the child whose parents "spontaneously abort" their role as caregiver? With the world as overpopulated as it is, could Schulman not parent one of those children? After all, she herself said, "The person I saw myself as was a person who took care of a child." Not just any child, it would seem--she needed a baby "to complete herself." I pity that daughter. Not only does she have her own life to be concerned about; she must also bear the burden of completing her mother's. PENELOPE HELENICK ADDY Sherman Oaks, Calif.

It's about time that the emotional aspects of infertility are addressed in open society. Too often the focus has been on the various medical treatments for infertility, while the important emotional impact is ignored. For those who have never experienced infertility or the intense desire for a child, it is easy to pigeonhole as obsessive those who have. ELAINE H. MENARD Exeter, N.H.

I'm sorry Helen Schulman suffered so much, but I feel her adolescent musings belong in a private journal instead of a published book. Many of us have mourned our loss of birth children privately within our hearts, in our therapy sessions and with our closest friends and family. Personally, I've been blessed with children through the adoption process. Take some advice from someone with two fabulous adult children: what you perceive as a "happy ending," the birth of a baby after so many unsuccessful tries, is really a beginning, and this is what we call life. Doors close, doors open. I have two words for Schulman: "Grow up." You've grieved, and you've been grateful. SANDRA LIPPE San Diego

THE DEATH OF VERNON DAHMER

"Widow and the Wizard" brought back vivid memories of my experience in Laurel, Miss., in early 1966 [LAW, May 18]. I was an FBI special agent who had been sent to Laurel along with numerous other agents. We were involved in the investigation of the fire-bombing murder of Vernon Dahmer by the Ku Klux Klan. Klan leader Sam Bowers would often sit across the street from the Laurel FBI office in his souped-up 1940 black Ford. He usually was with another Klansman. They were "surveilling" us, the FBI. Bowers' Klan organization was known as the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi. He formed the White Knights because the more widely known klan, the United Klans of America, led by Robert Shelton, was not "aggressive" enough in resisting the civil rights movement. The White Knights looked on the United Klans as "sissies." I hope some of Pol Pot's DNA has been saved. A comparison with the DNA of Bowers would show that they are related. EDWARD C. SMITH JR. Folsom, Pa.

In 1961, while visiting my uncle, the Rev. Ellis Alford, in Hattiesburg, Miss., I met Vernon Dahmer Sr., who with my uncle and others, including some whites, was planning the strategy to elect a white woman as insurance commissioner. Dahmer was an impressive, deliberate man who was very easy to talk with. In late 1965 at March Air Force Base in California, I met his son Vernon Jr., who was characteristically like his father. The death of his father the following January made quite a stir. In 1966, you see, Riverside County, Calif., had much in common with Forest County, Miss. ADO L. GINN Master Sergeant, U.S.A.F. (ret.) Sacramento, Calif.

A CURE FOR IMPOTENCE

There may be a huge demand for Viagra, the wonder drug that can treat impotence [MEDICINE, May 4]. But is there a sufficient supply of willing sex partners to satisfy the resulting appetite for intercourse? Pity the working women, the mothers and the partners who are content with the status quo. The true winners with Viagra are the drug companies and, of course, the sex workers. Thanks to all those unsatisfied Viagra junkies, they will experience a boom in the trade. KRISTINA WANG New Farm, Australia

Although brand recognition in the 20th century has been led by Mickey Mouse and Coca-Cola, perhaps the 21st century will belong to Viagra. Hurrah for the new millennium! Viagra, drugs and rock 'n' roll! ABID HUSSAIN SHAH Lahore, Pakistan

Aren't you media people the ones who gave us all the hype about the diet drugs fen/phen and Redux, which turned out to have a dark side? I see no apology for that coverage, and little caution in the current frenzy over Viagra. RICHARD WILLIAM SPENCER Warwick, Australia

The Vatican refuses to condone the use of birth control pills yet unofficially endorses Viagra, prostituting itself to some warped code of priorities. So men are allowed to bang away while women remain sinners. No wonder thinking Catholic women have become religiously stateless, bound by years of indoctrination but alienated by rampant discrimination in the church. JENNIFER TAIT Waverley, Australia

When Viagra is available around the world, especially in Asia, there will be hope for those poor endangered animals whose body parts are thought to have an aphrodisiac quality. What a salvation for rhinos, tigers, bears and seals! And for two-legged animals as well. NAMIE PATTERSON Brewarrina, Australia

I can't understand all the fuss about sexual erection, which for many seems the most important thing in life. We have been given a certain amount of sexual intercourse in a lifetime, and there is no point in trying to force nature. This modern attitude is the product of a decadent society that refuses to accept the limitations inherent in our human nature. For my part, I have sired six children, and after that performance, I am not ashamed to admit that I am impotent and proud of it. GILBERT TOUCHE Lindome, Sweden

EXPANDING NATO

Bruce Nelan thinks enlarging NATO membership to include the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland is a "popular bad idea" [VIEWPOINT, May 11]. I vehemently disagree with that position. Nelan postulates that if Poland were to get into a scrape with Ukraine, the U.S. would be reluctant to send American forces to defend the new NATO allies. But every Pole knows that an independent Ukraine is a guarantee of Poland's independence.

And though it is true today that the new members face no immediate military threat, what's wrong with insurance? Finally, Nelan claims that a fresh conventional-arms race will result as the three new members modernize their armies. He says the three don't need new military hardware. Would he prefer a neutral and vulnerable buffer zone? Whether or not these three countries join NATO, updating their armed forces is necessary. PIOTR REDO Colchester, England

NOT VOODOO, NOT CHOW MEIN

In his collection of reviews on upcoming summer movies [CINEMA, May 11], Richard Corliss dismissed Disney's Mulan, the animated tale of a young Chinese woman warrior, as a "chow-mein cartoon." That characterization exemplifies a lack of exposure to the Chinese culture, and is tainted with ignorance and racism. I can't imagine a critic describing a TV series like Roots as some "voodoo flick" without evoking anger and outrage. Understanding makes differences disappear, and without movies like Mulan, people will not discover that Chinese culture is more than martial arts or chow mein. KIMBERLEY SIU-CHONG Toronto

HOLBROOKE VS. THE ADMIRAL

In his recently published memoir of the Bosnian crisis, To End a War, Richard Holbrooke somewhat dubiously ascribes the post-Dayton exodus of Serbs from their suburban Sarajevo homes to intimidation by Radovan Karadzic's thugs [BOOKS, May 18]. Then he criticizes NATO's Admiral Leighton Smith for not deploying troops to combat the thugs. Why were these Serbs expected to embrace "multi-ethnicity" when the Muslim-Croat federation was and remains a sham, and Mostar was and remains rigidly divided into its Muslim and Croat halves?

Surely the burden of responsibility for integrating Sarajevo lay with the acquiring Muslim-dominated government, not the relinquishing Pale leadership. The international community must learn to accept its share of the blame for not pressuring the Izetbegovic government into offering an amnesty for Bosnian Serb combatants. This was a failure of Holbrooke's diplomatic world, not Leighton Smith's military world. ARIANA BEATTY London

In your review of Holbrooke's book, the Bosnians in Dayton are blamed for their uncooperative behavior, but no mention at all is made of the fact that all efforts to make a lasting peace before that had been totally torpedoed by the Bosnian Serbs. GUIDO VAN DAMME Antwerp, Belgium

ON DIVISIONS IN ISRAEL

There have always been conflicts and hatreds between brothers--Cain and Abel, for example. There will always be a Jewish nation, divided or not [WORLD, May 11]. Leave the Jews to settle their differences by themselves. The press has helped destroy a princess, and is working to bring down the American President. Is the state of Israel next? LARA SAUER, age 16 Johannesburg

It is astounding to see how the government of Benjamin Netanyahu increasingly echoes shades of the intransigent, apartheid-era South African government of President P.W. Botha. Only Netanyahu's personal charisma precludes even more opprobrium in the face of international condemnation of his hardened position on the Palestinian question.

If the U.S. is really serious about bringing peace to the Middle East, perhaps it is time to mention the S word--sanctions--against Washington's closest Middle Eastern ally. They may be unthinkable, but sanctions could do wonders to prompt sensible Israelis into taking some control over their own destiny again. JOHN GROBLER Windhoek, Namibia

PORN 'N' SPAM

I'm completely dismayed at the way Joshua Quittner showed an Internet success story in "Boogie Sites" [TECHWATCH, May 18] without reporting the consequent carnage. Quittner said of Scott Hirsch, proprietor of DoMeLive.com "It was easy to find customers--Hirsch just trolled Usenet for e-mail addresses." Quittner didn't mention what Hirsch leaves behind while building his business--the problem of unsolicited commercial e-mail, most commonly known as spam. Right now I have more than 1,000 spam messages in my e-mail In-box folder. Those of us who detest spam support the right of porn websites to exist. We do not support the indiscriminate flooding of our e-mail In boxes with unsolicited commercial e-mail. BRUCE MILLER, President Telecommunications Users Group Seattle

I would expect TIME to be among the first to expound on the technological and cultural possibilities of broadcasting live video over the Internet. Instead, your article appears to give blatant support to a practice that is degrading to both genders of the human race. If I had wanted to read about and see pornography, I would have subscribed to Playboy. VANESSA HAYS Morton, Pa.

How would you feel if your 10-year-old daughter received a spam that told her precisely how to access a free live-sex show on the Internet and the only disclaimer was, "If you are under the age of 18, delete this message now"? This is how online pornographers advertise. BRUCE PENNYPACKER Winchester, Mass.

WHISPERS TO HORSES

Richard Schickel's review of the film The Horse Whisperer makes me think that he's been in the city too long [CINEMA, May 18]. There are cowboys who have the down-to-earth qualities Schickel would like Robert Redford to exhibit. They "swat" their horses and tell dirty jokes. But most of the ones I've worked with are the nicest people ever. If Redford plays a character who embodies admirable qualities, why knock it? I reckon Schickel has never worked around horses. You don't move too fast or make a lot of fuss, or else you'll end up in a wreck with an animal that can hurt you real bad real quick! Schickel should spend a little time far from e-mail, faxes, phones and FedEx. He should try riding a good horse and hanging out with working ranch folks. Then the way Redford played this cowboy might make more sense to Schickel. JOHN BECKETT New River, Ariz.

While most films hit you in the face, this one whispers to your soul. Gosh, you don't suppose Redford was trying to make a film that corresponded to the theme of the novel, do you? Is it criminal, as Schickel suggests, to waste several moments of screen time to reinforce the central theme of the entire film? Those "wasted moments" drew tears to the eyes of last night's audience. And I believe Schickel has had one too many boogie nights if he wasn't touched and aroused by the subtle sensuality of the slow dance, the buttoning of the dress and the hand on the ankle of Kristin Scott Thomas. By the code of the West, these are pretty serious moves. DUANE DAHL Santa Fe, N.M.

YUCKA, YUCKA, YUCKA

After reading "Cruise Lines Go Overboard" [BUSINESS, May 11], I'm still of the opinion that cruises are the yuckiest kind of vacation. What's to do on a cruise except gamble and get fat eating six artery-clogging meals a day? What's to see on any of those flea-bitten Caribbean islands? Nothing! Perhaps on the new megaships one can watch a third-rate version of an old Broadway hit (circa 1950) while undergoing a major acid attack from one of those heavy meals. No thanks, guys! GEORGE NUSSBAUM Casselberry, Fla.

My grandfather, my father and I all went to sea as marine engineers, and we were well paid for the inconvenience of separation from shoreside life. Why anyone would pay to go floating around on a ship of no necessary destination has always baffled me. The sea is not man's natural habitat, and in spite of the illusions cultivated by steamship operators, life aboard ships is replete with hazards. For starters, anytime you are in the presence of more water than you can drink, there is the possibility of drowning. It is depressing to think about these new, towering palazzi having an accident in which the escalators and elevators don't work, and a host of senior citizens on crutches, pushing walkers or in wheelchairs trying to get to the lifeboats among an excited "cast of thousands." RICHARD K. SMITH Wilmington, N.C.

A QUESTION OF MORALS

Obviously, privacy and each man's access to it, no matter what his job, must be sustained [NATION, May 11]. However, the issue of truthfulness, and the nurturing of truthfulness, seems to have disappeared behind the smoke screen of personal privacy in the case of our shameless President. Somehow we must keep the moral and ethical issues in the forefront and resolve them in such a way that our children have positive examples to pattern their lives on. It is unfortunate that the moral issue in this case involves sex. The American penchant for locker-room humor has permitted the immorality of President Clinton's behavior to become clouded, at least, and perhaps even approved of by a cadre of admiring misfits with no respect for the vulnerability of the young. HUGH R. CALLUM Aboard the Yacht Meachelle Sailing on the Caribbean Sea

We have no business claiming that Clinton has no morals or, worse, that he should have morals. Morals have nothing at all to do with Clinton's position as a representative of our government. JENNIFER CAMPBELL St. Louis, Mo.

THE DEPTH OF CARTER

There are two things that Lance Morrow failed to mention in his review "The Lives of the Saint," concerning President Jimmy Carter [BOOKS, May 11]. One is that in spite of the mistakes made during the 1979-81 hostage crisis, Carter brought 53 Americans home safe, including my husband, Bruce, charge d'affaires in Iran. Those of us who went through that ordeal with Carter were grateful he was President, because he and Rosalyn Carter showed the hostages and their families enormous compassion. The second is that in the week prior to the dedication of the multimillion-dollar Reagan Building and the renaming of Washington National Airport, it was barely noted in the press that Secretary of the Navy John Dalton held a ceremony naming the latest nuclear submarine the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter. As Dalton so aptly put it, Carter is like a submarine in that he runs "silent but deep." It's a pity that many of our leaders these days are just the opposite, loud and shallow. PENELOPE B. LAINGEN Bethesda, Md.

GIVE CHELSEA A REST!

I know it's kind of interesting to feel as if I'm getting the inside scoop on the First Daughter, but is it really necessary to profile her boyfriend [PEOPLE, May 18]? As a girl about her age, I can't even imagine what it must be like to have the whole world watch as you try to figure out who you are. One of my friends goes to school with Chelsea, and from the sound of it, she's just trying to be a normal college student. It seems a little too nosy to be commenting on her boyfriend's pecs. RACHEL VESSEY Edina, Minn.