FAA shows its safer fuel tank for aircraft

EGG HARBOR, N.J. -- The Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday that it had developed a simple, lightweight system for preventing fuel tank explosions like the one that destroyed TWA Flight 800 in 1996. The system uses a combination of equipment already on board the aircraft and parts that are in common use in the chemical industry.

Since it became clear in late 1996 that the cause of the Flight 800 disaster was a center fuel tank explosion, safety experts have made tank improvements a top priority. Some flaws that could introduce a spark have been addressed on the Boeing 747, the craft that was TWA Flight 800, and in other models, notably Boeing 737s. But no overall solution has emerged to the problem of the potentially explosive mix of fuel and air in near-empty tanks.

The new system, installed on an old 747 at the aviation agency's Technical Center at Atlantic City Airport in New Jersey, separates air into oxygen and nitrogen, and pumps the nitrogen into the air space in the tanks, to assure an inert condition that could not support fire or explosion even if fuel and a spark were present.

Estrogen listed as cause of human cancer

WASHINGTON -- All estrogens used in replacement therapies and contraceptives were listed Wednesday by the federal government as "known human carcinogens," a significant upgrading of the dangers they pose.

However, government scientists said it is not yet known whether estrogens retain their cancer-causing potential when used in combination with other hormones, as they commonly are in hormone replacement therapy and in oral contraceptives.

While some estrogen compounds were previously listed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences as likely to cause cancer in humans, Wednesday's listing of the entire class of steroidal estrogens was a broad expansion.

FEC asks for less from Bush, Gore campaigns

The Federal Election Commission on Thursday decided to scale back the amounts that auditors had recommended the 2000 presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Al Gore repay the government.

The commission directed the Bush campaign to repay $224,518, far less than the $723,176 sought by auditors.

The FEC failed to achieve the four votes needed to accept or reject the auditors' call for reimbursement of $498,658 in costs for phone banks operated by several state parties, so it excluded that from the repayment amount.

The commission directed Gore's primary campaign to repay $137,894, reducing the $372,245 sought by auditors. It allowed the campaign to count more costs as primary, rather than general, election expenses.

Recall

EASY ENTREE POPCORN STYLE CHICKEN: ConAgra Foods Poultry Group of Elberton, Ga. Cause: May be contaminated with plastic. Call: ConAgra Consumer Affairs, toll-free 1-800-321-1470.

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