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After sending my just prior message, I picked up and read the San Francisco Chronicle, which had a half-page article, replete with picture of Janet Reno,entitled "New Era for Parkinson's Treatment." Subhead: Recent drug therapy advances and promising new methods offer hope. This article makes us all appear to be nattering nabobs of negativity. It starts out, "U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's recent diagnosis with Parkinson's disease wa hardly the crippling sentence many people immediately supposed." The second paragraph hints at few serious consequencies: "Although there's still no cure in sight for Parkinson's, recent advances have made it a far easier condition to manage. In many cases, the disease's tell-tale symptoms of trembling and loss of motor function can be kept at bay for years. Nor is it considered a fatal disease, although it can be deadly if symptoms become so severe that bodily functions are interrupted. "Reno's only symptom so far has been a persistent trembling in her left hand. Doctors said she is expected to do well using current drug therapy." More Good News: "If you ever had to have Parkinson's, now is the time," said Dr. Dee Silver, a Parkinson's specialist who practices in the San Diego area." A box entitled, "Facts on Parkinson's Disease" describes the main symptoms as "Stiffness in the arms, legs or neck; tremor, most prominent at rest; difficulty initiating movement; loss of balance." To the question, "Can symptoms be controlled?" the box provides the answer, "Partially. Dopamine-replacement drugs are the standard treatment now, although these may cause severe side effects after a few years of treatment. Surgery can help some patients." My assessment would be that while the article contains hints of the truly horrendous nature of PD, it is very sugar-coated. Like an article on pancreatic cancer that discusses only the earliest symptoms, the new treatments, but to spare the feelings of the reader, neglects to discuss the invariable consequencies.