In late August 1975, I took a job at Preterm, an outpatient abortion and gynecology clinic in Brookline. Having searched for a job since my graduation from UMass-Boston four months previously, I felt very lucky to be working at all and particularly in a women's health clinic. I began as a receptionist, learned the...
Category - No 3
The idea of a second SftP trip to China first received serious consideration in December 1974. After a couple of false starts, a resolution was finally agreed upon at a Northeastern Regional Coordinating Committee meeting in September 1976 to make a serious attempt to generate the activity and support needed to...
A Science for the People Midwest Regional Conference was held in Urbana, Illinois on March 11, 12 and 13, 1977. Representatives from the Ann Arbor, St. Louis, and Chicago Chapters attended, in addition to members of the local chapter. An isolated individual from Fayettesville, Arkansas sent a letter, but could not...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision to ban saccharin generated a predictable reaction from the food and beverage industries, but also aroused the many consumers of this product (current U.S. consumption is 5 million pounds per year). Following hasty Congressional hearings, more than 100 senators and...
During the 1960's—a time of great social unrest, questioning of basic American institutions, and a growing interest in socialism as an alternative—there appeared a spate of books on the theme that humans are only another species of ape. Konrad Lorenz, Robert Ardrey, Desmond Morris, Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox, as well...
A few months ago, a member of the Science for the People magazine editorial committee asked me to write an account of my experiences as a member of the organization for the past five years. One reason I was asked is because I am a woman and there's an effort being made to encourage more female contributors to the...
Columbia University is planning to activate a nuclear reactor on its New York City campus. It is designed for teaching and research and would not produce power for either the city or the university. Even though it is small, rated at 250 kilowatts, it can be pulsed to 2500 kilowatts. The basic facility was built some...
Brown lung, or byssinosis, is a chronic respiratory disease associated with inhaling cotton, flax, and soft hemp dusts. The initial symptoms are chest tightness, cough, sputum production and shortness of breath on the first day of every work week. Symptoms may disappear shortly after leaving work but recur each Monday...
I have been doing research in bacterial genetics for the last 12 years at Harvard Medical School and I am a member of Science for the People. Over the last couple of years, we have been discussing in our laboratory how the recombinant DNA technique could make certain of our experiments much easier to do. However, as a...