Parking and Transportation's garage over surface parking plan not "nice"

This is in response to the article in Tuesday's Daily Wildcat. The piece talks about the price of parking not increasing, with the amount of surface parking decreasing to make way for more parking garages. The part I really have a problem with is the quote from Parking and Transportation, "We're trying to be as nice to people as possible for a change." Let me be the first pissed-off poor college student to sarcastically say THANK YOU!!!

The price of a garage pass is currently $400 and the price of a Zone 1 pass (is) $185. So with the loss of Zone 1 parking to make way for more garages, Parking and Transportation can sell more $400 passes to us, because they'll have eliminated the cheaper surface parking. I won't disagree that parking garages are nice, and they can fit more cars in a smaller space with a garage, but the cost to students, especially with talks of raising tuition, is not worth it. Even if you don't buy a pass, it still costs about $5 per day to use the garage. So thank you, Parking and Transportation, for trying to squeeze yet more cash out of the already financially drained student body. If this is nice, I'd hate to see them when they're being mean.

Tony Santos
computer science sophomore

Abortion, breast cancer may be linked

As a family physician, I spend a great deal of time on women's health. I would like to inform you about an essentially unreported risk for breast cancer: induced abortion. A close correlation has been demonstrated in a large number of scientific studies. Women are not informed about this risk. I believe legislation should be proposed that would require informed consent before a woman obtains an abortion.

Animal studies have revealed the biology of the abortion/breast cancer link. The breast in early pregnancy grows rapidly with undifferentiated cells. These cells are prone to cancer unless differentiation takes place in the third trimester. In fact, carrying a baby to term protects women from breast cancer. Stopping a first trimester pregnancy suddenly leaves these cells vulnerable.

My wife, who has no other risk factors for breast cancer, has developed the disease at age 31. She had an abortion at age 20. She is undergoing a mastectomy this week. Now our goal is inform women everywhere. Breast cancer rates are increasing. According to the American Cancer Society, in 1962 there were 63,000 cases of breast cancer. In 1992, there were 180,000. There may be many reasons for this increase, but I believe there must be some effect from the 1.5 million abortions that have occurred annually since 1973.

The bulk of the medical studies have shown anywhere from 1.3 to 4.0 times the risk of cancer in women who have had an abortion. Some studies have shown more severe risk when a woman obtains the abortion later in pregnancy, such as the 11-17 week range. Some studies show that the younger the woman, the more risk.

I believe that, eventually, the link between breast cancer and abortion will be accepted. It may be a while. It took decades for the link between tobacco and cancer to be accepted. The first study linking tobacco and cancer was published in 1928; the surgeon general's warning did not appear until 1966.

Thomas Messe, M.D.
Groton, CT