A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

ennsylvania , who agrees with the report 's findings . `` It 'll be a report tha

t gets cited and invoked . '' In rejecting legalization , the task force felt st

rongly that assisted suicide and euthanasia would be hard to control . The task 

force fears that assisted suicide , in which patients kill themselves with devic

es or drugs provided by doctors , would escalate to euthanasia , in which doctor

s do the killing themselves , with or without an explicit request from the patie

nt . `` Once you accept the validity of killing by physicians , there 's no way 

to put brakes on the practice , '' said a prominent opponent of the practices , 

Richard Doerflinger , associate director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activit

ies at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops . ( Optional add end ) One pr

ecedent the report cited was the Netherlands , which stopped short of legalizing

 euthanasia but guarantees physicians immunity if they follow strict guidelines 

. There , one government report showed 2,300 cases a year of euthanasia at the p

atient 's request and 1,000 cases a year without a current request from the pati

ent . Projecting that onto the United States , the task force estimated a possib

le 36,000 deaths a year from voluntary euthanasia and 16,000 from non-voluntary 

. Though the task force does represent a variety of views on the underlying ethi

cs of the issue , William Batt , president of the Hemlock Society of New York , 

which supports assisted suicide , said that it is out of touch on the issue and 

cited polls showing increasing public support for assisted suicide . For the tas

k force , the bottom line was risk of abuse . One member , Barbara Shack , a dir

ector of the New York Civil Liberties Union , said : `` In the end , the thing t

hat I think brought everybody together was that for a very tiny percentage of pe

ople who may have untreatable pain and suffering , where people might agree that

 it might be ethically and morally acceptable to assist in a death , the possibl

e negative impact of such a change in the law was too dangerous . ''

 When competitors and an advertising industry review group challenged Wal-Mart t

o justify its slogan , `` Always the low price , always , '' the nation 's large

st retailer blinked . Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to change the slogan , the

 National Advertising Review Board said Wednesday . The Bentonville , Ark. , ret

ailer acted after the review board , made up of 70 advertising professionals and

 public interest members , recommended that the slogan be changed to eliminate r

eferences to `` the low price . '' The board recommended that any modified sloga

n refrain from stating or implying that Wal-Mart 's prices are `` always the low

est . '' The panel has no power to enforce its recommendations , but if advertis

ers refuse to make changes the panel can refer the case to the Federal Trade Com

mission . One such case is now pending before the FTC . `` They are unable alway

s to have the low price , '' said Ron Graham , a Minnesota business executive an

d chairman of an ad hoc group of the advertising review board . `` It 's very di

fficult in this mass merchandise environment for any competitor to know that all

 of their prices are lower . '' Wal-Mart officials were not immediately availabl

e for comment . The company said in a statement filed with the review board that

 it disagreed with the panel 's decision , but would voluntarily modify its adve

rtising slogan over the next several months . `` We encourage our competitors to

 examine their own advertising claims and slogans with the same care and to act 

accordingly , '' Wal-Mart said in its statement . Lawyers for the New York-based

 review board , which was established in 1971 so that advertisers could police t

hemselves and keep government intervention to a minimum , said the Wal-Mart case

 is significant for the advertising and retailing industries . `` This wasn't ju

st a casual campaign . This was their corporate identifier , '' said Steve Cole 

, the review board 's general counsel . `` Maybe this will have a ripple effect 

. Retail advertising now is full of problems . There are an awful lot of claims 

out there that are exaggerated . Consumers are not believing retail advertising 

, which is a disaster for the advertising industry . Maybe this will be persuasi

ve to others to look at their claims . '' The complaints about Wal-Mart 's sloga

n were brought by three retail chains , Target Stores Inc. , Meijer Inc. and Vis

ion World Inc. , and the National Advertising Review Network , the board 's ad h

oc group chaired by Graham . `` All we want to do is make it a fair playing fiel

d , '' said Carolyn Brookter , a spokeswoman for Target Stores , a division of M

inneapolis-based Dayton Hudson . `` We think this ( review board decision ) shou

ld do that . ''

 WASHINGTON A haggard , sad-faced Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , put himself throug

h his official paces Wednesday , as uneasy House members awaited word of whether

 the House Ways and Means chairman would be indicted or negotiate a felony guilt

y plea that would end his long political career and possibly lead to a prison se

ntence . Widespread news media reports that Rostenkowski 's lawyers and the Just

ice Department were nearing the end of their discussions prompted a political de

ath watch of sorts on Capitol Hill , with House members , staff and press monito

ring Rostenkowski 's every move . Many members and aides wondered aloud how Rost

enkowski has managed to keep up appearances and continue to push the president '

s health care proposals while under intense scrutiny with his career in doubt . 

`` What alternative do I have ? '' Rostenkowski responded Wednesday when a repor

ter posed the question . `` I just don't have any alternatives . You just have t

o do what you have to do . '' The cloud of the three-year criminal investigation

 of alleged abuses of the House Post Office and of official funds has been hangi

ng over the 66-year-old Democrat for so long that it is difficult for many of hi

s allies on the committee to comprehend that Rostenkowski could be out as chairm

an as early as next week . `` It 's kind of eerie , '' said Rep. Sander M. Levin

 , D-Mich. , a committee member and Rostenkowski ally . Rep. Mike Kopetski , D-O

re. , another committee member , said , `` I want to keep thinking things will w

ork out and he 'll continue being chairman . '' Even House Minority Whip Newt Gi

ngrich , R-Ga. , who has warned of congressional inquiries if there is any indic

ation that Rostenkowski is receiving special treatment from the Justice Departme

nt , expressed sympathy . `` I 'm extraordinarily saddened about Rostenkowski , 

'' Gingrich said . `` Because he was a big man who did a big job . You hate to s

ee any human being go through this kind of agony . '' But committee members and 

the House Democratic leadership are bracing for the worst , and Rep. Sam Gibbons

 ( Fla. ) , 74 , the committee 's ranking Democrat , said he 's ready for the jo

b . Democratic caucus rules and precedents would have Gibbons step in as acting 

chairman if Rostenkowski were indicted , but that is subject to review by the ca

ucus . If he were to resign from Congress , the caucus would choose a new chairm

an . Two senior Democratic committee members , Reps. Charles B . Rangel ( N.Y. )

 and Fortney `` Pete '' Stark ( Calif. ) , Wednesday endorsed Gibbons for the po

st if Rostenkowski is forced to step aside . Rostenkowski , who has led the Ways

 and Means Committee since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 , was crucial to pa

ssage of President Clinton 's major economic package last year and has been cent

ral to Clinton 's efforts to pass a comprehensive health care plan this year . H

owever , Gibbons and other committee members Wednesday disputed that health care

 reform efforts would collapse in Rostenkowski 's absence . Even First Lady Hill

ary Rodham Clinton told reporters that while the loss of the chairman `` would b

e an obstacle Congress would have to figure out how to overcome . . . health car

e reform and the need for it is bigger than any one person in this country . '' 

`` Somebody told me about a crack somebody made on television last night that th

e graveyard is full of indispensable men , '' the jovial Gibbons told a reporter

 . `` I think all of us realize we 're mortal and that when we go , somebody ste

ps forward . That 's just life . '' `` Thirty-two years in this job , '' said Gi

bbons . `` I 'm ready . '' Rep. Harold E. Ford , D-Tenn. , a senior committee me

mber , suggested that Rostenkowski voluntarily step aside as chairman immediatel

y because the media attention to his legal troubles has distracted members from 

deliberations on health care legislation . `` We 're losing focus , really , on 

the issue that 's before the committee , '' Ford said . `` Everybody around here

 is focused on Rostenkowski , and that is not to be down on Danny . '' Ford spea

ks from experience . He stepped aside from a Ways and Means subcommittee chairma

nship for six years while he successfully fought an indictment . He was the last

 House member affected by the Democratic rule that compels indicted chairmen to 

step aside . Rostenkowski 's legal travail has become a preoccupation of House m

embers , many of whom fear it will provide fresh ammunition for critics of the i

nstitution and GOP challengers in the fall election . `` The mood is just so nas

ty out there in the countryside and this just makes us all the more beleaguered 

, '' said one politically vulnerable House Democrat . Wednesday Rostenkowski pre

sided for much of the morning over a tedious committee hearing on alternative he

alth care reform proposals , surrounded by reporters and television cameras . La

ter in the afternoon , he took part in a House and Senate Democratic leadership 

meeting with the president in the Capitol to discuss the prospects of his health

 care plan . Rostenkowski fended off questions about the status of his case , bu

t in an interview he sought to defend his record over a colorful career that spa

ns more than three decades : `` I think I 'm a committed legislator . I think my

 record as a legislator is worthwhile . I don't know too many problems that as a

 legislator I haven't tried to solve . ''

 WASHINGTON U.S. . Attorney Eric H . Holder Jr. has made a final plea bargain of

fer in negotiations with lawyers for Rep. Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , and set Tu

esday as the deadline for Rostenkowski to accept the proposal or risk almost cer

tain indictment on a wide range of charges , sources knowledgeable about the neg

otiations said Wednesday . If Rostenkowski refuses , the sources said , Holder '

s move for an indictment against the House Ways and Means Committee chairman wou

ld be swift , possibly as early as the Tuesday deadline . Rostenkowski declined 

to comment Wednesday on the negotiations and efforts to reach his attorney , Rob

ert S. Bennett , were unsuccessful . But Democrats on the committee said that Ro

stenkowski still hoped to avoid going to jail , and was leaning toward fighting 

the prosecution 's case that he conspired to defraud the government through misu

se of his congressional office funds . Throughout negotiations , federal prosecu

tors have insisted that Rostenkowski plead guilty to at least one felony charge 

and serve some time in jail . After haggling for days over the breadth of the ch

arges , sources said Holder has now made clear that the negotiating `` can't con

tinue forever . '' Holder is `` simply waiting to hear from Rostenkowski , '' sa

id a source close to the negotiations . This latest twist to the complex and flu

id negotiations over Rostenkowski 's legal future indicates that one of Congress

 's most influential members is all but certain to leave or be removed from the 

Ways and Means chairmanship , a position thought to be critical in the ongoing d

ebate over President Clinton 's plans for health and welfare reform . Rostenkows

ki is considered an invaluable ally on both fronts . Under normal procedures of 

the House Democratic Caucus , Rostenkowski would have to step down from the comm

ittee chairmanship if he were indicted on a felony punishable by at least two ye

ars in prison . Ironically , a guilty plea apparently would give him a small win

dow of opportunity to retain the chairmanship . The rules do not compel a member

 convicted of criminal charges to resign from office or leadership positions , a

lthough such members are likely to face an ethics investigation and disciplinary

 actions . Federal prosecutors have outlined a broad case against Rostenkowski o

f conspiracy to defraud the government . After a two-year investigation , prosec

utors have forwarded information to the Justice Department alleging that the vet

eran lawmaker paid employees for work not done and that he abused official accou

nts for leased cars , office supplies and office space . Sources said that the a

lleged illegal activity involves `` several hundred thousand dollars . '' Rosten

kowski is accused of trading office postage stamps for cash and assuming ownersh

ip of cars previously leased by the government , the sources said . He has since

 reimbursed the House Stationery Store $ 82,000 , according to individuals famil

iar with the case . Investigators also have looked into allegations of obstructi

on of justice , said sources , noting that Rostenkowski staff members in Chicago

 and Washington could face charges . Because of the scale of the charges outline

d , prosecutors are under pressure to exact a Rostenkowski guilty plea to a cons

piracy felony charge and not just a simple felony count , such as theft , source

s said . The plea , in this view , should clearly indicate the breadth of the pa

ttern of alleged illegal activity , sources said . Defense attorneys have argued

 for narrowing the scope and number of charges against the House veteran and hav

e sought to avoid a jail sentence , or to get as little jail time as possible . 

The gap between the two positions has blocked resolution of the issue in recent 

days . Another critical factor that both sides have considered is that U.S. . Di

strict Court Judge Norma H. Johnson is scheduled to oversee the case , the sourc

es said . Johnson has a tough sentencing record . Sources said that was likely a

 factor that led Rostenkowski 's attorneys to at least consider a possible plea 

bargain .

 WASHINGTON Pentagon officials have been concealing or ignoring evidence that te

ns of thousands of U.S. Persian Gulf War veterans were exposed to Iraqi chemical

 and biological weapons during the conflict , a Senate report released Wednesday

 contends . Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr. , D-Mich. , chairman of the Senate Banking

 , Housing and Urban Affairs Committee , which interviewed more than 600 veteran

s in preparing its report , demanded that the Pentagon declassify all informatio

n relating to the detection of chemical and biological agents . Riegle recalled 

the Pentagon 's reluctance to release information on Agent Orange after the Viet

nam War and raised doubts about the effectiveness of devices used in the field t

o detect the presence of chemical agents . In a letter sent to Persian Gulf War 

veterans Wednesday , Defense Secretary William J. Perry and Gen. John M. Shalika

shvili , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , said `` there is no information

 , classified or unclassified , that indicates that chemical or biological weapo

ns were used in the Persian Gulf . '' But veterans ' testimony in the Senate rep

ort suggests that chemical and biological contamination was widespread . Operati

on Desert Storm soldiers described 10 incidents of Iraqi rocket attacks that rel

eased noxious fumes or set off chemical agent alarms as well as several encounte

rs with irritating chemicals in the air . Some 12,000 veterans have reported sym

ptoms ranging from skin irritation to memory loss , claiming that they are victi

ms of `` Gulf War Syndrome . '' In one incident , eyewitnesses recounted their e

xperiences during the early hours of Jan. 19 , 1991 , when an explosion near the

 port of Jubayl in Saudi Arabia sent U.S. troops in a naval construction battali

on scurrying for cover . When soldiers emerged from their bomb shelter , some re

ported a numbness or a burning sensation on their skin . One soldier who tested 

the area for chemical agents that evening reported that two of three tests had p

ositive readings . At a hearing of Riegle 's committee Wednesday , Pentagon offi

cials said that Iraq did not deploy chemical or biological toxins , even though 

hundreds of chemical alarms were triggered during the war . In some cases , the 

sensors may have malfunctioned , the officials said , and in others the alarms w

ere discounted after further review . Defense Undersecretary Edwin Dorn said the

re is some concern , however , about the possibility that soldiers could have be

en exposed to low levels of chemical warfare agents or fallout in Kuwait and sou

thern Iraq as a result of Allied bombing of Iraqi military installations . Riegl

e accused the Pentagon of concealing or suppressing reports of toxic exposures d

uring the conflict , saying that the military establishment has an `` institutio

nal difficulty in coming to terms with grievous decision errors. .. . I 've seen

 our government lie to us before in other war situations . '' Army chemical data

 included in the Senate report indicates that U.S. chemical detectors may not ha

ve been sensitive enough to register very low levels of certain agents , such as

 the nerve gas Sarin , which can still be harmful if soldiers are exposed to it 

over long periods . Last July , Czechoslovakia 's minister of defense announced 

that a chemical decontamination unit from his country had detected low levels of

 Sarin in Saudi Arabia early in the Gulf War . Symptoms commonly associated with

 Sarin include respiratory problems and chest pain , which many veterans reporte

d . Dorn acknowledged that physicians have been unable to diagnose symptoms of a

t least 2,000 veterans , many of whom claim to have Gulf War Syndrome . ( Option

al add end ) One of those who has suffered since the war is Dean V. Lundholm Jr.

 of Live Oak , Calif. , who served with an Army National Guard unit . Since retu

rning from Saudi Arabia in 1991 , Lundholm has been so beset by respiratory and 

digestive problems that he has been unable to work . `` I served my country will

ingly and proudly , '' said Lundholm , who founded the California Association of

 Persian Gulf Veterans , at a National Institutes of Health hearing last month .

 `` But I now expect my country to treat me and other war vets with respect and 

concern . And that means we vets should get information , diagnosis and treatmen

t about our health status . '' Copies of Lundholm 's testimony were distributed 

at Wednesday 's hearing . Recently , the Pentagon also has considered the possib

ility that experimental vaccines administered to soldiers to combat chemical wea

pon attacks may have led to some veterans ' symptoms . A panel of experts led by

 Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg is re-examining evidence of chemical weapon exp

osure for the Defense Department and is expected to report its findings next mon

th , Dorn said .

 WASHINGTON An uncommon code of silence enveloped the House Wednesday as it conf

ronted the strong possibility that Rep. Dan Rostenkowski , D-Ill. , will step do

wn as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee as part of a plea bargain .

 The powerful lawmaker , an unparalleled master of arm-twisting and deal-cutting

 , is considered crucial to the fate of health care reform as well as the Democr

ats ' overall legislative record . And in corridors and cloakrooms on the House 

side of Capitol Hill , members of Congress wondered and worried about who would 

succeed him and the implications the succession would have both for them and Pre

sident Clinton . Yet congressional decorum prevented the members from talking op

enly about the looming crisis . Indeed , with Rostenkowski seemingly on the verg

e of indictment for financial abuse of his office , House Majority Leader Richar

d A . Gephardt , D-Mo. , called an extraordinary news conference to declare he h

as no interest in assuming the leadership of the committee to help secure the en

actment of health care reform . `` I think in a way it 's an insult to the chair

man and the members of the committee that I or someone else from the leadership 

would have to go to the committee so the committee could finish its work on heal

th care , '' Gephardt said . House Speaker Thomas S. Foley , D-Wash. , too , was

 unwilling to talk openly about the ramifications of the Rostenkowski matter . `

` I 'm not going to presume the resignation of Mr. Rostenkowski. That 's somethi

ng I have no knowledge about , '' he said . First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton wa

s less reticent , however , to discuss the effect Rostenkowski 's departure woul

d have on the administration 's health care proposal . `` I certainly hope that 

doesn't come to pass , but it would be an obstacle that Congress would have to f

igure out how to overcome , '' she said at an International Women 's Media Found

ation conference here . `` It would be a great loss to Congress , but health car

e reform and the need for it is bigger than any one person in this country , '' 

Mrs. Clinton later told reporters . ( Begin optional trim ) Meanwhile , Rep. Rob

ert T. Matsui , D-Calif. , a senior member of the panel and a Rostenkowski loyal

ist , remained uncharacteristically close-lipped about his own intentions . Some

 members of Congress and their aides have speculated that , if Matsui challenges

 ranking committee Democrat Sam Gibbons of Florida for the chairmanship , Rep. C

harles B . Rangel , D-N.Y. , and Rep. Fortney H. `` Pete '' Stark , D-Calif. bot

h of whom are senior to Matsui also would seek the job . The nervousness over th