In Brief: Nov. 22, 1999

SOUL MATES The danger of heart disease is a family affair. Women whose husbands suffer a heart attack or undergo open-heart surgery turn out to share many of their husbands’ cardiovascular risk factors. Among them: high body mass, smoking and little exercise. A report unveiled at an American Heart Association meeting last week indicates that many spouses don’t realize they share a high-risk lifestyle. The implications: doctors need to develop a family approach to prevention and treatment; spouses should keep informed.

LET THERE BE LIGHT There is good news for families on both sides of the church-state divide. A broad coalition of religious, educational and civil-liberties groups agreed last week to encourage schools to make study about the Bible “an important part of a complete education.” Log in at https://209.130.44.53/bps/bpsfaguide01.htm for the guidelines they developed to help teachers include academic instruction about the Bible in literature and history courses, without proselytizing. Developing better teacher training is the next step, says the National Bible Association.

PARENTAL CONTROL Of the three temptations purveyed on the Internet–sex, alcohol and tobacco–don’t count on screening software to shield your children from the last two. The Center for Media Education tested six of the most popular programs to see if they blocked sites that promote or sell alcohol or tobacco. There was only one, Surf Watch, that blocked more than half the sites. Until there’s better software, the best advice is still to monitor kids’ surfing habits.

–By Alain L. Sanders