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FDA approves use of controversial gel\nfor pelvic surgery\nWASHINGTON -- In a reversal, the Food and Drug Administration approved a gel Monday that promises less internal scarring for women undergoing certain surgeries -- even though regulators originally deemed the product too risky.\nThe FDA had initially rejected Lifecore Biomedical Inc.'s Intergel, which promises to reduce internal scarring from certain gynecologic operations. The reason: In studies, women given the gel during open pelvic surgery had only one fewer internal scar but almost twice the risk of infection as women given standard treatment.\nLifecore argued that Intergel was better than that, citing study results that suggested even if women did have internal scars, they were smaller and less severe when their surgeons used the lubricating gel.\nSo Lifecore became the first company to test a new law ordering the FDA to allow appeals without making manufacturers go to court. The government picked a panel of independent scientists to review the Intergel decision. These mediators ruled in September that the FDA had erred and should approve Intergel -- and on Monday, the agency did.\nStill, the FDA's approval announcement Monday was lukewarm at best. The agency called use of Intergel "reasonably safe," and provided surgeons with a list of warnings restricting how it should be used.\nThe gel, formally named Gynecare Intergel Adhesion Prevention Solution, is intended to reduce adhesions, internal scar tissue that can cause chronic pain or intestinal obstruction. Various adhesion-preventing treatments already are sold, but Intergel is the first liquid one.\nPowell: Roadblock to peace in Mideast\nis Israeli occupation\nWASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Israel of crippling chances for peace with the Palestinians by building homes for Jews on the West Bank and in Gaza.\nReflecting a long-held Arab view, Powell said Monday that Israel was occupying land on which Palestinians were entitled to build their own state. He also called the Arab-Israeli conflict the central problem in the region.\nUnlike his predecessors in the past 28 years, Powell did not say he would go there himself to push his program with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He is sending Assistant Secretary of State William Burns this week in his place, and retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni will be sent as Powell's special adviser.\nThe next chapter in the unfolding drama will be a visit to Washington in December by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for talks with President Bush and Powell.\nIsraeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who takes a far more conciliatory stance than Sharon, said the Bush administration's recognition of a Palestinian state "is, in fact, already an accepted vision."\nPeres also said the Israeli government already was committed to not building new Jewish settlements on the West Bank and in Gaza "and we would also like to put an end to the occupation."\nPowell said the Bush administration will stay engaged in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. If it would help, he said, the United States might monitor and verify peacemaking efforts.\nAnd, Powell added, "We will work urgently with our international partners on an economic reconstruction effort to help rebuild the Palestinian economy."\nPoll suggests Kernan not well known\nto Indiana voters\nINDIANAPOLIS -- Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan might be the Democrats' heir apparent to run for governor in 2004, but more than 60 percent of Indiana voters have no opinion of him, according to a new statewide poll.\nThe results come after three weeks of high-profile media coverage for Kernan, who's been explaining the administration's plan to increase sales and income taxes to shield homeowners from expected property tax increases in 2003.\nKernan is the architect of the plan and its leading salesman, pitching it to the public and business groups.\nThe telephone poll of 500 voters was conducted Nov. 10-12 for The Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis television station WTHR.\nWhen asked whether they approve of how Kernan has handled the situation, 24 percent of those polled approved, while 14 percent disapproved. But 62 percent had no opinion.\nKernan, a former mayor of South Bend, said he was not surprised, though voters have seen his name twice on statewide ballots as Gov. Frank O'Bannon's running mate.\n"It's the nature of the job," Kernan said. "It goes with the territory."\nThe poll was conducted by Market Shares Corp., an Illinois-based marketing and public-opinion research firm. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.\nBush pardons turkey in annual ceremony for Thanksgiving\nWASHINGTON -- President Bush smoothed the feathers of a nervous 55-pound turkey, declared him safe from any Thanksgiving roasting pan and then snickered at the absurdity of it all.\n"Here we are at the White House. All in a day's work," Bush said Monday while two dozen news cameras focused on him and the bird, named Liberty.\nIn the Rose Garden with some three dozen schoolchildren, Bush seemed a reluctant keeper of this particular White House tradition -- the 54th annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey -- and an inexperienced hand at handling live turkeys.\nBush grabbed 7-month-old Liberty by the scruff of the neck and the bird snapped in protest. "Down boy!" the commander in chief ordered before encouraging the children to step up and pet the saved Liberty.\n"Looks mean, but it's a sweet bird," Bush said.\nLiberty will live out the remainder of his two-year life expectancy at a suburban Virginia petting zoo in the ironically named Frying Pan Park.\nAs is the custom, an alternate turkey -- named Freedom -- was on standby Monday to fill in if Liberty had a case of stage fright. "And Freedom is not here because he is in a secure and undisclosed location," Bush joked.\nTurning serious, he said this year's holidays come at a tough time, especially for the families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and for the military personnel serving far away from home.\n"On this holiday, we give thanks for our many blessings and for life itself. Thanksgiving reminds us that the greatest gifts don't come from the hands of man but from the maker of heaven and earth," Bush said. "This week, American families will gather in that spirit"