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Conservative credo has
birth control pill mired
in bureaucracy

THE ISSUE The Food and Drug Administration has again deferred a decision on a contraceptive pill.

IF the Bush administration does not want women to have access to a contraceptive that can significantly lower risk of pregnancy, it should just say so.

Instead, it continues to throw monkey wrenches into the approval process and hatch bogus issues as pretext to delay non-prescription sales of what its own medical experts have said is a safe and effective drug.

The Food and Drug Administration has again postponed a decision on the pill, called Plan B, that when taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex can cut the chance pregnancy by 89 percent. The pill that has been safely used by more than 2.4 million American women and millions more in other countries also could reduce the abortions the administration's conservative ideologues so dislike.

Laws in seven states, including Hawaii, already allow nonprescription sales of Plan B, which is merely a higher dose of regular birth control pills that prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg and has no effect if a woman is already pregnant.

For two years, the drug's maker has sought FDA approval for over-the-counter sales, jumping through hoops to satisfy a string of objections raised by a succession of commission bosses. When the FDA failed to make a decision by the January statutory deadline, the nomination of Lester Crawford as agency head was put on hold until the administration promised resolution by Sept. 1.

Now, Crawford is balking, saying a requirement that the drug's sale be limited to women 16 years and older, which the FDA deemed reasonable before, raises problems of "enforceability," and that the FDA needs to solicit public comment for 60 days before it can proceed. Crawford also would not say how soon a decision will be made after that.

Clearly, the issue is a ploy for further delay since preventing younger females, who will need prescriptions, from obtaining Plan B is as simple as procedures that restrict alcohol and tobacco sales to minors. The postponement is unjustifiable.

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Make grid season finale
for alcohol

THE ISSUE The Aloha Stadium Authority has delayed a possible ban on alcohol until after the upcoming football season.

THE snail's pace of government has resulted in a forestalling of abstinence at University of Hawaii football games. Fans will be allowed to imbibe at home games this season, but future seasons at Aloha Stadium should be free of alcohol, a source of misbehavior and violence.

Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona called for a ban on drinking both inside the stadium and in the parking lot, a longtime venue for alcoholic tailgating. David McClain, UH's interim president, agreed that drinking in the stadium should be forbidden but doubted whether drinking at tailgating parties could be effectively enforced.

The Stadium Authority's nine members agreed to consider a ban but then called time out for a three-member task force to mull it over and report back to the authority's Sept. 29 meeting. The rules of the game will keep the board from voting on the issue until late October and from formally adopting a new policy until after UH's final home game on Dec. 3. Hundreds if not thousands of fans will drink to that.

The following season is a more sobering matter. All teams in the Pac-10 Conference have agreed to end alcohol sales at home football games. Eighty-eight percent of all colleges that participate in sports don't allow alcoholic beverages at games, according to Tamah-Lani Noh, the state drug control liaison.

Kevin Chong Kee, the authority's chairman, said the delay should put fans on notice that their behavior will be on trial for the coming season.

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