Capsules

> Should medical scientists be allowed to conduct research on unborn or newly aborted fetuses? No, said the Department of Health, Education and Welfare last year, as it clapped a nationwide ban on fetal studies. But last week HEW reversed itself. Outgoing HEW Secretary Caspar Weinberger announced new rules that would permit hundreds of studies involving fetuses to go ahead. The rules, which apply to all projects funded by HEW, do not give researchers unrestricted rights to experiment on the unborn. Doctors still will be forbidden to carry out any experiment that would end the life of a fetus that had survived abortion, or to conduct any studies that involve keeping fetuses alive artificially --unless they were aimed at preserving the lives of premature babies in general. Researchers would also be prohibited from attempting in vitro (test-tube) fertilization without clearance from a national ethical advisory board. Still, scientists will be able to conduct a wide variety of research. Much valuable knowledge on drugs, pregnancy, birth defects and cancer has already come from carefully conducted fetal studies, and HEW's about-face ensures that this research will continue.

> The glamour gluttons of Beverly Hills, whose excursions into the technology of beauty have popularized such treatments as acid peels, sandpapering and surgical nips, are pushing a new aid to the perfect face. It is Preparation H, the widely advertised ointment sold over the counter to shrink hemorrhoids (painfully enlarged veins in the anal area). Lately, a number of fashion-conscious Los Angeles matrons have been urging their friends to smear it on nightly in order to "close" facial pores and shrink those age-betraying bags under the eyes. "It gives you a dewy look," says Ellen Bennett, who runs a custom wig salon. But Daniel Eastman, a leading Beverly Hills skin-care specialist, protests that it is an "outrageous" fad, and a number of dermatologists back him up. Some doctors explain that Preparation H works on the face by slightly irritating the skin, thus causing enough swelling to minimize small wrinkles; continued use, they warn, may accelerate skin aging by causing inflammation and scaling. American Home Products Corp., which produces Preparation H, has no comment on its unorthodox use. But physicians warn that like any other medication, it should be used only as directed--and the face, they point out, is not the part of the anatomy mentioned in the instructions on the label.

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