National Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON
BUSH’S APPROVAL NUMBERS REACH A NEW LOW
President Bush’s job approval rating fell to a record low 31% in the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, reflecting an erosion in support among the president’s fellow political conservatives. Mr. Bush’s standing in the May 5-7 poll dipped three points from a USA Today/Gallup survey done a week earlier. A separate CNN poll conducted over the same weekend shows Mr. Bush’s approval rating rising to 34% from 32%. The percentage-point changes in both polls are within the margins of error.
– Associated Press
DEAF SCHOOL PRESIDENT-ELECT DRAWS FIRE FOR NOT BEING ‘DEAF ENOUGH’
The newly chosen president for the nation’s only liberal arts college for the deaf is drawing protests from faculty and students, some of whom question whether she is “deaf enough” to lead their school.
Last week, Jane Fernandes was named to succeed I. King Jordan as president of Gallaudet University. She isn’t scheduled to take over until January, but already the school’s faculty has called a meeting to consider for a no-confidence vote against her and students have carried out a week-long protest. Ms. Fernandes, 47, says she is caught in a cultural debate. She was born deaf but grew up speaking, and she didn’t learn American Sign Language until she was 23. She now characterizes herself as a “fluent signer” who can understand and be understood by everyone on campus.
– Associated Press
STUDY: ONE-FIFTH OF DRUGS ARE PRESCRIBED FOR NON-FDA APPROVED USES
About one-fifth of all prescription medications are prescribed to treat conditions that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and in most cases those uses lack scientific support, according to a new study, by researchers at Dartmouth and Stanford Medical Schools.
While the FDA approves drugs for specific uses, it does not regulate doctors’ prescribing practices. The agency can and has taken action against drug companies that promote prescription drugs for uses other than for which they are approved. The study looked at commonly prescribed drugs and what conditions they were prescribed for in 2001. Those drugs accounted for an estimated 725 million prescriptions and of those, 21% or 151 million were prescribed off-label, or for a use that was not FDA approved.
– Dow Jones Newswires
