DATE: Monday, May 26, 1997                  TAG: 9705240071

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: From Staff and Wire Reports 

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

NEWS AND NOTES

Stock up on sunscreen.

Harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun increased slightly in North America during the past two decades, says a new study that supports concerns about Earth's thinning ozone layer.

The Washington Post says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report disputes a 1988 study showing a 6 percent solar radion decrease over the same period. Help stamp out breast cancer

The Hearst Corp.'s HomeArts Network is providing an online version of a nationwide petition to issue a 33-cent stamp in the ongoing fight against breast cancer.

The petition asks Congress to pass The Breast Cancer Research Stamp Act calling for the U.S. Postal Service to issue an optional 33-cent stamp and direct the additional funds generated by the extra penny to the National Institutes of Health's Breast Cancer Research Fund.

Capturing only half of the current stamp market would provide the Research Fund with an additional $300 million per year, an increase of about 50 percent.

Visit the Body & Soul channel at

http://homearts.com to help support this legislation.

Michigan probes

possible pill coverup

Did Upjohn Co. hide safety concerns about the controversial sleeping pill Halcion? That's what a federal grand jury in Michigan is trying to find out. Halcion was the world's top-selling sleeping pill until allegations arose that it could provoke violent reactions. It still is sold worldwide, although Britain banned it in 1991.

The Food and Drug Administration has examined Halcion many times since 1982, lowering the dose and adding to the label warnings of such side effects as anxiety, behavior changes and abnormal thinking. Quindlen touts benefits of weightlifting

Add Anna Quindlen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times columnist, to those weighing in on the benefits of weightlifting. ``I've lived for a long time with one kind of strength,'' she tells Sports Illustrated's Women/Sport. ``Now I've developed a taste for another, for power and for perspiration.'' Some can be talked out of a drink

Good news for problem drinkers and their families. People who drink too much but aren't alcoholics will often cut back if their doctors counsel them about the health risks, researchers report. The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at men and women who aren't chemically and psychologically hooked but drink enough that they run a higher risk of problems such as cirrhosis, cancer and heart disease. Generic diuretic good drug choice

A plain old generic drug works better than fancy, high-priced ones in treating a major complication of high blood pressure, a new study finds.

The diuretic known as hydrochlorothiazide is a better drug choice than calcium channel blockers and ACE-inhibitors for reducing the increased heart size in high blood pressure patients, according to a study lead by the Veterans' Affairs Cooperative Studies Program at Hines, Ill.

``This is the first long-term, large-scale clinical trial to show that Hydrochlorothiazide works well in reducing left ventricular mass - and at a low enough dose to avoid harmful metabolic changes,'' said Dr. John S. Gottdiener of Georgetown University. ``The general impression is that you get what you pay for, but that's not true in this case.

``The cost difference between these drugs is sizable, with hydrochlorothiazide available for about $1 a month wholesale versus about $70 for calcium channel blockers and ACE-inhibitors.''

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