. >> reporter: t europeannion has called for tougher sanions against burm buthose are unlikely to make much difference. the regime tay explaining its "compaionate" decision to have suu kyi sentenced as wh it calls oad to democracy" and next years elections "demracy" in burma aning "convenient imprisonment" on "trumped up charges." >> andrew thomasf itn. >>> afghanistan, military officials said today tt three more amecans have been killed in separate insus in recent ds. so far this month at least7 foign troops including 18 americans have died in ghanistan. >>> "the wall stet journal" repos today that the afghan and u.s. govnments are borrowing a tactic thaworked in the w in iraq. enlisting local tribal fhters to fht the militants. it says, "inoming days, offials will ask tribal shuras, or councils,n participating ovinces to organize armed milias to guard polling places, roadand public gathering spaces. officials hope that the milias wi provide an additional layer of security to suppo the new amican strategy of trying to bett protect afghan civilians from taliban violence. members ofhe m

last year, a maive typhoon swe across the country, killing amany as 200,000 burmes in the face of the disasterthe government'seaction was to de the scope of the tragedy and refusenternational offs of assistce the mitary junta has been in control for nearly 50 yr. it took por in a 1962 coup. it has reatedly rebuffed ternational efforts that it libaeralize myanmar, once kwn as burma. trade sanctis have been effectiveldiminished by region trading partners including chin and efforts athe united nations tformally condemn the conviction yesterdayere stalled by both russ and china, which said t case of aung san suu kyi was an inteal, burmese matter. >> lrer: for more we go to two myanmar wchers: priscilla clapp was chief of the.s. missi there from 1999 to 2002; tom manowski is washington advocacy directofor human righ watch. mi clapp, what do you makeof the 18-month house-arrest senten? did you expec more? or were you lieved? >> th. y. she did -- her seence was thr years at hard labor, and i expected three toive years -- >> lehrer: you expted they would put her inprison? >i expected that's w

iad meetings the burm, qui frankly, that i never could have had in vietna if there would have beenn opposition litical party co and sit town to talk to me i vietnam the way that they did in burma, they'd have gone to jail. so we needo take whate can get andee. my view is that there are other dimensio to liftg sanctions and that is allowing people from western cuures to interactn a daily bas with the people of burma andhrough those sorts o interactionraising a level of consciouess so that you can have th rig sort of interest in terms of changing the stem. >> waer: but then that gets back to the question of wheter th regime is interesting in having western interactn w the people of burma. they didn't iicate that after the cyclone lastear. >> they're a ve isate red jet stream geographicly and otherwe because of the way that we have lost o contact with the people of burma, alrea very few people in this egime or in burma who ha d contact with the outside wod, o have studied in our country or in european countrie it's a process of breaki down a lot of burriers. the only way you'll know is if we list

now we turn to peter barton hutt, senior counsel in the law firm of covington and burming, specializing in food and drug law. he began his practice in 1960 and has been with the firm ever since. he's a lecturer at harvard law school where he has taught the last 16 years. from 1971 to '75, he was the chief counsel for the fda. mr. hutt is a graduate of yale university and harvard law school with a master of law degree in food and drug law from nyu school of law. mr. hutt, welcome to the committee. please proceed. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appear before you today at the invitation of the committee to present my own personal views on section 521 of the federal food, drug and cosmetic act which provides for national uniformity in the regulation of medical devices. section 521 was enacted, of course, as part of the medical device amendment of 1976. as i relayed in think prepared statement, the medical device amendments of 1976 and specifically section 721 were enacted or developed during my tenure as chief counsel for fda, and i was deeply involved in their development. the medical devic

now we turn to peter barton hutt, senior counsel in the law firm of covington and burming, specializing in food and drug law. he began his practice in 1960 and has been with the firm ever since. he's a lecturer at harvard law school where he has taught the last 16 years. from 1971 to '75, he was the chief counsel for the fda. mr. hutt is a graduate of yale university and harvard law school with a master of law degree in food and drug law from nyu school of law. mr. hutt, welcome to the committee. please proceed. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appear before you today at the invitation of the committee to present my own personal views on section 521 of the federal food, drug and cosmetic act which provides for national uniformity in the regulation of medical devices. section 521 was enacted, of course, as part of the medical device amendment of 1976. as i relayed in think prepared statement, the medical device amendments of 1976 and specifically section 721 were enacted or developed during my tenure as chief counsel for fda, and i was deeply involved in their development. the medical devic