Import

Penis enlargers and constricting rings to maintain erections have inadequate directions for use and can have harmful effects, from rupturing blood vessels to causing gangrene of the penis, the Food and Drug Administration said in guidance to import inspectors. "Basically, the labeling of these devices falsely states or implies they will treat impotence, prolong erection, and increase the dimensions of the penis," the FDA said.

We have Congress to thank for high unemployment in the engineering profession ["Slim Job Market Shocks Engineers," Aug. 20]. Congress passed a law allowing 200,000 foreign engineers (and their families) to immigrate to the U.S. each year. The majority of these will settle on the West Coast. This bill was passed under pressure from the dot-com industry to import foreign engineers willing to work for lower wages than American engineers, thus contributing to the unemployment situation we now find ourselves in. Ron Hart Palmdale

We attended the recent Fiesta Bowl hailed as "the National Championship." What we found was not a football game of national import, but a championship commercial promotion. For those of you lucky enough to be at home, you could turn off the ads or walk away. For those of us who paid admission, there was no escape. . . . It was a tacky event from beginning to end. Please keep the Rose Bowl unsponsored. Never take it for granted. COLLEEN SMOOT Balboa Island

The Auto Internacional Assn., a trade group representing U.S. businesses that import parts for foreign-built cars, said it asked Congress, the Justice Department, the Commerce Department and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the alleged dumping of auto parts by Japanese auto makers. The group said the Japanese yen has risen nearly 75% in value compared to the dollar since January, 1985, while the prices of auto parts from Japanese car manufacturers have risen 12% to 15%.

Regarding "Gasoline prices continue to surge" (March 6): I am confused regarding the dynamics of gasoline pricing. According to Automobile Club of Southern California spokesman Jeff Spring, our high gasoline prices are due to the fact that California does not have the refining capacity to meet demand and therefore must import. In the next paragraph Diane T. Miller of Oil Price Information Service states that one of the main reasons for California's tight gasoline supplies is that Los Angeles refineries had to increase their exports to Arizona because of a Texas refinery shutdown.

A Long Beach company has agreed to pay a $1-million fine after pleading guilty to smuggling ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons into the country, the U.S. attorney's office said Thursday. Allied Refrigeration Inc. admitted purchasing 18,000 30-pound cylinders of chlorofluorocarbons that were smuggled into the United States from India. The company entered its plea to the felony charge late Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall.

"Visa Cut Threatens Rural Clinics" (July 7) misses the real story. Migrant workers face a shortage of medical care because too few Spanish-speaking Americans have trained as physicians, not because too few physicians might emigrate from India. Congress could have trained minority citizens as physicians. Instead it imported foreign doctors through special visa programs. Why offer affirmative action to foreigners instead of our own people? We import physicians who struggle to learn not just one but two languages, both English and Spanish, in order to serve rural clinics.

Robert Curlender wonders why car buyers do not complain about the prices charged by Japanese car dealers ("Uproar Over Pricing by Some Domestic Car Dealers Is Unfair," Letters, Sept. 14). Curlender should understand that money is not always the reason for purchasing a vehicle. The attitude of both the American manufacturers and dealers is apparent in his comments. I have bought import cars since 1972. Why? Because they offer a superior product, and the dealers I have dealt with are concerned about their product and repeat customer business.