The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 15

4 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 1996 THE RECORD A-3 NEW FDA'S OVER-THE-COUNTER STRATEGY IT4 WtMW pMfi DETQ SfiDES5' IP mm Ids attack Whitman answ By BOB GROVES Staff Writer succeed, Fiore said. Quitting usually takes three to five attempts, he said. Nicotine eum is a eood idea onlv if The problem is, a lot of people get addicted to the gum. I've got mixed feelings. I'm not against it, but there's a potential for abuse.

W. Dr. Robert Malovany Englewood pulmonologist Success rates in quitting are double among smokers who use a replacement therapy, such as gum or patch, Dr. Michael C. Fiore of the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison said on Tuesday.

Fiore is chairman of a panel of smoking cessation experts who developed new guidelines issued Tuesday by the American Medical Association. The panel recommended in general that everyone who tries to quit should be encouraged to use a nicotine replacement product. He cautioned, however, that "replacement therapy is not a magic bullet. Quitting smoking still requires the patient to be committed and motivated, and for the clinician to help with social support and knowledge." About 30 percent of U.S. smokers try to quit each year, but only 2 percent year, smoking causes more than 419,000 deaths, and $97.2 billion in health-care costs and lost productivity, according to the American Lung Association.

Physicians caution that nicotine gum has some side effects, such as stimulating heart rates; that it can be addictive; and that it should be used by otherwise healthy patients only as recommended. However, they believe that it can be an effective tool in helping people give up cigarettes, especially if used as part of a smoking cessation program. SmithKline Beecham of Philadelphia, which markets Nicorette sold at about $350 for a 12-week program hopes that switching the gum to over-the-counter status will boost sales, which were about $70 million in 1995. Manufacturers of nicotine patches are seeking to sell their product over-the-counter as well. -IP cyclist enjoying a spring day and the cherry called 'bad for environments! policies TRENTON For the second con secutive year, Governor Whitman is be ing criticized by environmentalists in radio commercials.

Last year, the New Jersey Environmental Federation broadcast ads depicting the Republican governor as "a friend of polluters." This week, the Sierra Club launched radio ads that charge Whitman with weakening environmental regulations. The ads, which began running on New Jersey radio stations on Monday, will run for three weeks and cost about $50,000. "The rollbacks in environmental pro grams being carried out by the governor are not benign changes, and the public needs to be aware that many years of hard-fought environmental progress are at risk, said Tim Dillingham, Sierra Club chapter director. 2 Colombia crash survivors sot to return to flow Jsrsey SOMERVILLE A father and daughter who were among the four survivors of a plane crash in Colombia that killed 160 people in December are preparing to return to New Jersey. "I'm feeling nervous to fly again, but I have to do it because I have to see my family, my brother, my parents," Gon-zalo Dussan, 36, said in a published interview.

"My daughter wants to see her grandmother," Dussan said. Dussan and his 6-year-old daughter, Michelle, were flying to Colombia for a Christmas vacation when their plane slammed into a mountain in the Andes on Dec. 20. Dussan 's wife, son, and three other relatives were among more than two dozen New Jerseyans killed in the crash. The Dussans have been staying with relatives in Cali since the crash.

Grant ensures completion of veterans nursing homo WASHINGTON A nursing home for veterans in central New Jersey will receive an $8.3 million federal grant that will enable construction to be finished, officials said Tuesday. The money from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is the second and last installment of a $27 million grant for the 332-bed nursing home in the Menlo Park section of Edison Township. "The present home was built in the 1930s, its condition is severely deteriorated, and the veterans who depend on the home are desperately in need of a new building," said Rep. Frank Pallone Newark mayor ends policy limiting police car chases NEWARK The mayor of the state's largest city has lifted a four-year-old limit on the kinds of chases police officers can undertake.

Mayor Sharpe James this week ended the "controlled chase" policy he instituted in 1992 that required police supervisors to approve a pursuit. It barred chases of a stolen vehicle unless police were certain the vehicle was used to commit a crime, or that the occupants were wanted for a crime. James also urged the state Legislature to make car theft, now a misdemeanor, a crime with a mandatory jail term for adults and boot camp for juvenile offenders. The controlled chase policy, which officers maintained virtually eliminated chases of stolen cars, was prompted by teen suspects who rammed pursuing police cars with stolen cars. But since the policy was instituted, there have been several cases in which fleeing suspects drove into Newark with police from neighboring towns in pursuit, leading to fatal accidents with bystanders or other motorists.

Newark police were not permitted to join those chases. The policy change pleased Jack McEntee, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents 1,050 of Newark's 1,300 officers. "It's taken handcuffs off the officers," McEntee said Tuesday. "People are going to be hurt whether you have a no-chase policy or a chase policy, so I guess they figured you might as well apprehend somebody." PATH to run six-month test of morning express service PATH will institute morning express service on the Newark-World Trade Center line starting Monday, the Port Authority announced Tuesday. The express trains, which will operate over a six-month test period, will leave Pennsylvania Station in Newark at 7:30, 8, and 8:43 a.m.

on weekdays for the 19-minute trip to the World Trade Center station, a three-minute saving over local service, said George J. Marlin, executive director of the Port Authority. Local trains will make all normal stops at Harrison, Journal Square, Grove Street, and Exchange Place. The test does not include evening express service. STAFF AND NEWS SERVICE REPORTS ix years ago, Margaret Kunis' doctor sat her down for a chaw and a talk.

Kunis, of Prospect Park, had been a pack-a-day smoker for 40 years, and her doctor wanted her to give up cigarettes by" chewing Nicorette, a nicotine gum, which ws then a prescription drug to ease withdrawal symptoms. "The doctor had been after me for my health. Smoking was no good," Kunis, 69, recalled Tuesday. I got a prescription, and the Nicorette really, really helped. You have to be faithful to it, but it really does work," she said.

By the time her six-month prescription ran out, Kunis had stopped smoking. She hasn't smoked since. After 12 years as a prescription drug, nicotine gum was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration to be sold over-the-counter as a nonprescription product at drug stores and supermarkets. It went on sale in stores last Thursday. Health experts hope that by making ''replacement therapies," such as nicotine gum and skin patches, available without a prescription, increasing numbers of the 46 million smokers in the United States will try to quit.

Each BLOOMING BEAUTIFUL: In Newark, a Parks plan The Associated Press TRENTON Governor Whitman's proposal to slash $800,000 from the state parks budget will mean reduced operating hours and maintenance for New Jer sey's parks and historic sites, park employees and advocates warned Tuesday. We feel that vacant parks will be come dumps, vandalism will occur, buildings and equipment will deterio rate, and the taxpayer will once again pay for yet another bad decision by government," said Ed Szabo, a park activist from Newton. The Whitman administration says critics are overreacting. azabo, park employees, and others concerned about Whitman's proposal held a State House new conference Tuesday to draw attention to the proposed cuts, which come at a time when park attendance has jumped 20 percent since 1990. About 13 million people vis ited the parks last year.

Under the governors proposal, the state Division of Parks and Forestry would lose 36 positions out of 360 field jobs. That includes six staff reductions in the park historic preservation unit a 50 percent cut. Five ranger posi tions would be converted to park guards. Whitman wants to give the division used appropriately, said Dr. Robert Malovany, a pulmonologist at Englewood Hospital and Medical Lenter.

"The problem is, a lot of people get addicted to the gum. I've got mixed feelings. I'm not against it, but there's a potential for abuse," especially now that i the gum is available without a prescription, Malovany said. Nicotine gum can raise blood pressure and cause the heart to race, cautioned Dr. Hormoz Ashtvani- chief nf pulmonology at Hackensack University Medical Center.

"In general, I don't like the idea of OTC medication because of the side effects, but the risks are outweighed if it assists people who are in general good health to stop smoking," Ashtyani said. Smoking cessation programs at Hackensack Medical use the patch because dosage is easier to control, he said. Although chronic lung disease can be irreversible, quitting smoking can make you feel better almost immediately, and can cut the risk of heart attack and death in half within a year, Fiore said. "It's never too late to quit, regardless of a person's age," he said. This article contains material from news service reports.

It might as well be summer By JUST0 BAUTISTA Staff Writer Spring fever broke out all over North Jersey on Tuesday as residents flocked outdoors in shorts and shirtsleeves to bask in the breezy, record-breaking, Caribbean-type weather. By 3:30 p.m., a record high for the date 88 degrees had been reached at Newark International Airport, and even the weathermen were hot. "We're all dressing for summer," said John Williamson, a meteorological tech-, nician for the National Weather Service at Newark Airport. The old record was 82 degrees in 1990, he said. Feared phrases such as "winter storm watch" and "snowstorm of the century" seemed light years away even though Propane is booming.

Everybody is trying to get their grills ready. Tom Meyer Richfield Farms Clifton the last snowfall occurred just two weeks ago as North Jerseyans streamed into stores to buy boating accessories, gardening tools, and golf clubs. But weathermen warned that the unusually warm weather may be a temporary phenomenon. A storm system that spawned tornadoes which ripped through parts of Arkansas was heading toward North Jersey late Tuesday. "We have some rain and thunderstorms from the storm system there is a 70 percent chance of rain," Williamson said.

The temperature is expected to drop back to the 60s today. "People were complaining it was too hot Tuesday," said Bob Ziff of the North Jersey Weather Observers. "I said, 'Hey, I'm not complaining. Think about all the mornings you scraped ice off your The observers reported temperatures of 84 degrees in Wayne, 82 at Greenwood Lake in West Milford, 86 in Saddle River, and 82 in Wantage in Sussex County. "We're jumping here," said Steve Rooney, manager of the Ruston Marine Center in Clifton, which sells small fishing boats, outboard motors, and boat accessories.

"A lot of people have been planning or plan to go out this weekend, and they're getting last-minute stuff," Rooney said. Swimming pool owners could not have been happier. "I've been running ragged," said Cathy Alexander, office manager for Acqua Pools in Midland Park. "People are calling and saying they want their pool covers off; they want to get it up and running," Alexander said. The outdoors was on the minds of customers at Richfield Farms in Clifton.

"Propane is booming," said Tom Meyer. "Everybody is trying to get their grills ready." Meyer said vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and sod "and lots of it" were big sellers. The snowstorms slowed business at the North Jersey Golf Center in Pompton Plains. The center's manager, Mike Mar-' chettoryan, said he welcomed the warm weather. "This week has been good," he said.

"And the past week was good." But the winter was good at Cury's Golf Shop in Ramsey, where they sell skis. "We had excellent sales during the winter," said Betsey Traynor, Cury's manager. Whitman seeking reduced hours, job cuts BETH BALBIERZSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER blossoms in Branch Brook Park. decision' Legislature approves the cuts. "I'm not really here to whine about the Grover Cleveland birthplace.

But I am," said Cleveland, a Maine resident. "From the family's standpoint, it the home means a great deal to us." Whitman administration officials contend that the parks are mainly a seasonal, summertime operation and costs can be reduced by closing some sites for a few days a week in the fall and winter and reassigning workers. Also, officials say special exceptions would be made for school groups desiring to visit a site for the day. "No park will close as a result of the cuts," said Jayne Rebovich, a Whitman spokeswoman. "Remember, all state agencies are being asked to make efficiencies." Rebovich said the historic sites facing operating-hour reductions have low attendance.

For example, for the last five years on average, only about 2,000 people a year have visited the Cleveland home, a park official said. Whitman has not recommended raising fees for the parks. No fees are charged to enter the historic sites. $23 million for fiscal year 1997, which begins July 1. For the last several years funding has remained steady, although the park system has lost about one-third of its permanent field staff.

The state park system manages more than 322,000 acres of land comprising 28 parks, 57 historic sites, and 42 natural areas. "It is not just a place, it is not just a percentage, but it is people," said Bradley Mattson, a 15-year-old tour guide at the Indian King Tavern Museum in Haddonfield, which is slated to lose a historic preservation position. Another historic site that would be affected is the Caldwell birthplace of President Grover Cleveland. Under Whitman's proposal, the six historians in the historical preservation unit would be rotated among various sites. That means sites such as the Cleveland home would be open only two or three days a week.

Currently they are open Wednesday through Sunday. George Cleveland, 43, the former president's grandson, warned that his family will reconsider- donating any more artifacts to the birthplace if the.