3/16/01
4:27:12 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. SHERRY, SHERRY QUITE CONTRARY A group of Republican moderates stuck with Democratic lawmakers yesterday and submitted bills in the U.S. House and Senate to cap carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, only two days after President Bush broke a campaign promise and said he wouldn't support such legislation. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Me.) and James Jeffords (R-Vt.) and Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) cosponsored the bills, which would also place limits on emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. When Bush went back on his promise, he expressed concern that energy costs could skyrocket if power plants were required to drop their CO2 emissions. Boehlert said that Bush "took the right stand" during the campaign last September and that "none of the information" cited as reasons for the president's reversal on Tuesday was unknown last fall.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Miguel Llanos, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/543793.asp>

do good: Take action and tell Bush to live up to his CO2 promise <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.stm#promise>

2. BUSH TAKES ISSUE WITH MENTALITY President Bush said this week that he's all for allowing drilling rigs to enter parts of America's national monuments, "where we can explore without affecting the overall environment." Bush took issue with the "mentality that says you can't explore and protect land," explaining that "it all depends upon the cost-benefit ratio." Environmentalists, needless to say, are alarmed at the president's plans. The Sierra Club's Melanie Griffin said, "Cost-benefit analysis? That's not what national parks and monuments are about." Meanwhile, Michigan is leading a charge to explore the possibility of drilling for oil and gas beneath the Great Lakes; Ohio and New York might not be far behind. However, four Michigan Democrats in Congress have introduced a bill to ban such drilling.

straight to the source: Denver Post, Mike Soraghan, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0315d.htm>

straight to the source: Chicago Tribune, Jeff Long, 14 Mar 2001 <http://www.chicago.tribune.com/news/nationworld/article/0,2669,ART-50 487,FF.html>

straight to the source: Detroit News, David Miller, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.detnews.com/2001/metro/0103/15/a03-199811.htm>

3. A LEFT BANK France's Green Party is expected to play a major role in what political analysts say will be a victory for the Socialist candidate in the race for mayor of Paris this Sunday. Taking lessons from the German Green Party, the French Greens in recent years have dropped their former hippie image to curry favor with more voters. In the process, they have won more seats across the country and become influential dealmakers, helping to tip top-level races in favor of Socialists over right-wing candidates. The Greens have brokered their support of Socialists to win backing for public transportation, car-free Saturdays in parts of the country, and even the idea of serving only organic food in some schools.

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Peter Ford, 16 Mar 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/03/16/p6s1.htm>

4. KENYA BELIEVE THIS? A court in Kenya granted environmentalists an injunction yesterday to prevent the government from clearing 167,000 acres of forestland around Mount Kenya. The decision will allow time for the enviros to file a formal case against the minister of environment. Yesterday, the enviros presented a petition to the minister signed by more than 28,000 people opposed to clearing the land. The Kenya Forests Working Group says the decision to clear the forest is in conflict with the country's Environment Act, while the minister says the government merely wants to formalize settlement of land that has already been cleared.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 16 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10125>

Climbing mountains of paperwork -- a day in the life of Al Thieme, Cascadia Wild! <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/thieme031501.stm>

Whale of a time -- a review of A Whale Hunt -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books030701.stm>

3/16/01
4:20:36 PM

Preserve The Estate Tax

Without your help, one of the most dangerous and destructive elements of the Bush tax plan may pass with little notice -- the repeal of the estate tax. This repeal is not just a boon for the very rich, it is a knife at the throat of our nation's charities. To help stop it, sign our petition at:

http://www.moveon.org/savecharity/index.html

Today, wealthy people often leave their legacy through the creation and support of charities. They give to charity rather than to Uncle Sam. Schools, research institutions, hospitals, colleges, public service charities and churches will all suffer if the estate tax is repealed.

I'm helping launch an Internet petition campaign to tell our representatives to preserve the estate tax. Addressed to your members of Congress, the petition simply says, "Preserve the estate tax on the very rich, and defend our country's proud legacy of charitable giving."

Even the Bush administration's own director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, John J. DiIulio Jr., says repeal could undercut private contributions to charities, religious and nonreligious alike, that help the poor. "I don't want to be the skunk at the picnic," Mr. DiIulio said in an interview. "But no, I don't think the estate tax should be eliminated -- modified, maybe, but not eliminated." (source NY Times, Feb 10)

We need your help now. This repeal could literally extinguish the "thousand points of light." Nothing could be less compassionate. Speak out at:

http://www.moveon.org/savecharity/index.html

A repeal of the estate tax would be a pure act of greed over charity. We cannot let it happen.

P.S. We have a real chance to win this fight. The repeal is facing substantial opposition from other sectors. Prominent ultra-rich-guy Warren Buffet says, "Repealing the estate tax would be a terrible mistake, the equivalent of choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics... Without the estate tax, you in effect will have an aristocracy of wealth, which means you pass down the ability to command the resources of the nation based on heredity rather than merit."

The right-wing tactic of positioning the estate tax as a "death tax" on small family farms and businesses is beginning to wear thin. In reality, just six of every 10,000 estates are family-owned businesses or farms; these groups pay less than 1% of all estate taxes. In just a few years, the estate tax exemption for a married couple will rise to $2 million estates, and the law already contains many allowances for farms and small businesses.

3/16/01
11:17:57 AM

Earth Action Network

This message is to inform you that March letters have been posted on Earth Action Network's web site,

http://www.eanetwork.org

Once again, thanks for your continued efforts to help make a better world! Please be sure to check out our very encouraging latest "wins" at

http://www.eanetwork.org/success_stories/feedback.html.

Also, we are is now listed on http://www.theEcoISP.com

This means that you can choose Earth Action Network as your charity if you sign up for their great service. This, in turn, means that half of your already inexpensive membership fees to this ISP will be donated to us every month to help us grow! You can also "change your charity" to Earth Action Network in case you are already an ecoisp member. By the way, our webmaster says that he is very very happy with their eco-friendly dial-up service!

Sincerely,

Earth Action Network Project

3/16/01
11:14:56 AM

IGC EcoNews

Protest Police Attack on Indian Dam Protestors

According to the information received, the police made no announcement or warnings before it started shooting at the crowd. The firing is said to have last for over one hour, with over 150 rounds shot and tear-gas being fired in the midst of this. It is reported that 8 persons have been killed and 22 injured.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/984717847/index_html

Help Stop New Reactor in Finland

This is an appeal against the building of a fifth nuclear power plant in Finland.... Please return the appeal before March 31st, 2001.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/984718152/index_html

Domenici Bill a Nuke Industry Wish List

Nuclear industry watchdog groups blasted Senator Pete Domenici's (R-NM) introduction of the "Nuclear Energy Electricity Assurance Act of 2001" as nothing more than an invitation to legislate the nuclear industry's wish list.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/984718800/index_html

Say NO to Oil Development on Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast

Harken Energy from Houston, Texas is now poised to drill for oil in a region known as Talamanca - an extremely biologically rich area that is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The indigenous peoples that live in the area, and support themselves largely from eco-tourism, are opposed to oil development.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/984719126/index_html

Dam Threatens Critically Endangered Iberian Lynx in Portugal

A huge deforestation programme has begun to clear the way for Europe's largest dam in the Vale do Guadiana region of Portugal, considered to be the third most important nucleus for the country's tiny Iberian lynx population (between 43 to 53 individuals).

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/984719600/index_html

Boise Cascade Joins Suit to Stop Road Building Ban

A federal judge set a March 30 hearing on the state's move to block implementation of the Clinton administration's ban on road-building and most logging on about a third of the country's national forest land.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/984719752/index_html

Join Peace Team of Anti-Nuclear Activists in Germany

As the confrontation between large scale nonviolent resistance and police forces in the past led to severe challenges for civil rights and citizens' liberties, this year we are appealing again for the formation of a Gorleben International Peace Team.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/984719950/index_html

U.S. Trade Representative Sued for Hiding Documents

At the same moment the new U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, was urging Congress to grant President Bush new international trade powers, a lawsuit was filed against him down the street in U.S. District Court.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984713690/index_html

Colombian Governors Protest U.S.-Funded Fumigation of Coca

Four Colombian governors, here in Washington this week, are charging that the US-funded fumigation of illicit coca crops is destroying food crops, causing harmful health impacts, and displacing thousands of small farmers.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984713826/index_html

Yellowstone Wild Buffalo Await Slaughter

By two thirty this afternoon seven wild and free-roaming bison were captured by the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) and cooperating agencies, while several others were still being chased in an effort to capture them as well.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984714091/index_html

Ecological Decline, Industrial Farming, and Livestock-Borne Disease

Recent outbreaks of livestock borne disease are symptomatic of deteriorating global ecological systems. Agro-industrial farming practices have grotesquely transformed relatively sustainable agricultural ecosystems and traditional animal husbandry, into over-intensive factory farming that is ripe for transmission of disease vectors.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984714307/index_html

Allegations That New Deforestation Estimates Are Flawed

The Committee on Forestry of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is poised to triumphantly proclaim that deforestation is slowing around the world...leading environmental groups including Forests.org believe FAO's analysis is fatally flawed.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984715176/index_html

World's Forests Depend upon Just Ten Companies

WWF states that if well managed, one fifth of the World's forests could meet global demand for wood and fiber, and that just 10 companies could make this a reality.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984715337/index_html

Wildlife Preserve Shows Effect of Global Warming

Anyone who questions the potential impact of global warming should visit the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, where rising waters are rapidly destroying a precious marsh habitat.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984715476/index_html

Dam Protesters Occupy Brazil's Ministry of Mines

The Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy was occupied this morning by 1,500 people who came from all across the country to protest the negative effects of large dams.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984715621/index_html

Terminator and Traitor Seed Patents Are Still Being Granted

'Syngenta's newest Terminator patent should set off alarm bells for governments concerned about biodiversity and Farmers' Rights,' said Julie Delahanty of RAFI. 'Some governments and civil society organizations (CSOs) mistakenly assume that the threat of Terminator is diminished. The reality is that the Gene Giants are winning new patents, and Terminator seeds are moving closer to commercialization,' warns Delahanty.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984716015/index_html

Mosquito Pesticide Takes Toll on Birds in Florida

Thousands of birds are dropping dead in Florida, and conservation groups are citing fenthion, a pesticide used to control mosquitoes, as the cause.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984716159/index_html

U.S. Timber Workers, Greens Unite Against Canadian Subsidies

US environmentalists and lumber mill workers do not usually find themselves on the same side of many issues. But now both groups are working together to urge the government to renegotiate a lumber trade agreement with Canada that they say is hurting US jobs and harming ancient forests.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984716318/index_html

Three West African Nations to Ban EU Fishing Fleets

Three West African nations are expected this week to announce drastic action to save one of the world's richest marine environments from overfishing by European Union (EU) and other fishing fleets.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984716453/index_html

RACHEL: Biotech--The Basics, Final Part

Biotechnology corporations want people in the U.S. and around the world to believe that the U.S. government has fully tested genetically engineered crops for ecological and human health hazards...but there is no guarantee that a genetically engineered food sold in the U.S. has been tested for ecological or human health effects.

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984716851/index_html

GREEN: No Money to Save Cerulean Warbler

Their numbers have dropped 70% since 1966 and scientists are now warning that unless something is done soon "the tiny cerulean warbler's song may fall silent forever."

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/984717039/index_html

IGC http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/join.html

3/16/01
10:58:04 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

GREENHOUSE EFFECT CONFIRMED OVER 27 YEARS

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 15, 2001 (ENS) - While the political fight is heating up in Washington and Brussels over how to limit the emissions of greenhouse gases linked to climate change, scientists have published new evidence that global warming is really occurring.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-15-02.html

BIPARTISAN EMISSIONS BILL COUNTERS BUSH'S BROKEN PROMISE

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, March 15, 2001 (ENS) - A bipartisan group of U.S. Congress members introduced a bill today that would set emissions limits for carbon dioxide and other power plant pollutants that contribute to global warming and pose a risk to public health. The bill was released two days after President George W. Bush's controversial decision not to support limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-15-06.html

SEVEN ARRESTED DEFENDING YELLOWSTONE BUFFALO

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana, March 15, 2001 (ENS) - The buffalo battle on the edge of Yellowstone National Park heated up again this week. For the first time this winter, buffalo, also known as bison, were captured and killed by Montana officials.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-15-01.html

U.S.-CANADA TRADE WAR LOOMS OVER SOFTWOOD LUMBER

VANCOUVER, Canada, March 14, 2001 (ENS) - The end of an agreement this month governing softwood lumber exports between Canada and the United States could be the beginning of a trade war with significant implications for the environment.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-15-11.html

TEN COMPANIES CONTROL FATE OF WORLD'S FORESTS

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 15, 2001 - Just 10 companies could halt logging old growth forests and still meet the world's industrial wood and wood fiber needs, according to a report published Wednesday by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-15-10.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS AMERISCAN: MARCH 15, 2001

DC Area Landlord Lied About Lead Paint Hazards

Arizona Historic Officer Defaces Historic Site

Stabilize Population to Curb Sprawl

Clean Coal Technology Burner Sales Top $1 Billion

Bill Would Help Cleaners Protect the Environment

Tucson Hosts Desert Tortoise Conference

Wildlife Enthusiasts Asked to Participate in Survey

Nickelodeon Teams Up to Teach Kids About Wildlife

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-15-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

Fund for Animals Releases New Report on Unfair, Unsporting, And Unhealthy 'Canned Hunts'

SILVER SPRING, MD, Mar. 15 -/E-Wire/-- The Fund for Animals, a national animal protection organization founded by author Cleveland Amory, has released a new report on the practice of "canned hunts," the trophy shooting of tame, captive animals within fenced enclosures. The 64-page report, "Canned Hunts: Unfair at Any Price," documents the ethical and biological aspects of canned hunts, offers a legal analysis of the statutes and regulations pertaining to the shooting of captive mammals in all 50 states, and proposes model ordinances for legislation to ban canned hunts.

/CONTACT: Heidi Prescott, 301-585-2591, ext. 213, or Michael Markarian, 301-585-2591, ext. 216, both of The Fund for Animals/

/Web site: http://www.fund.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/15Mar0101.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

3/16/01
10:53:06 AM

TO YOUR HEALTH 'TRADE SECRETS: A MOYERS REPORT" MARCH 26

PBS will air "Trade Secrets: A Moyers Report" March 26th at 9 pm (be sure to check your local listings for the exact air date and time on your PBS station). Now any time Bill Moyers looks into something it's worth our time. But in this case, it's worth more than that because he's investigating the very thing I've been waiting for years for a journalist of his caliber to investigate: the chemical industry and its hidden toxic legacy.

It promises to be a ground breaking program, one that at long last gives the chemical industry the glaring attention it so richly deserves. And I think even people like us, people who are already generally aware of the deadly practices and products foisted upon us by chemical companies, will be stunned by Moyer's revelations.

I say this because the program is based on interviews with historians, scientists and physicians, and on a massive uncovered archive of secret industry documents that Moyers and producer Sherry Jones say rivals the now legendary "Tobacco Papers" for sheer, appalling shock value. What those papers apparently reveal is an industry that has put our health and safety at very dangerous risk and marshaled powerful forces in a largely successful effort to hide the truth at any cost.

I urge you to watch this program. And more importantly, I urge you to gather others to watch it with you. While you and I will most likely tune in (I definitely will), we're already aware of the problem and its seriousness. But that's not the case with the majority of Americans. Indeed, research shows that most believe they're being quite adequately protected from chemical hazards by industry and government alike.

That's hardly the case, and a respected journalist like Bill Moyers is just the person to make the point. That's why it's so important that the program be seen by more than the "converted". I want it to be seen by everyone, especially those who are largely or wholly unaware of the situation. It might be a tough sell, but I think it's worth every effort each of us can make to make sure that all our friends and neighbors, no matter how politically uninvolved or environmentally unaware they might be, tune in and watch this historic broadcast.

To that end, the Environmental Health Fund, the Environmental Working Group, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, and Women's Voices For the Earth are launching Coming Clean, an effort dedicated to organizing community viewings of the upcoming Moyers Report and doing whatever we can to ensure that after March 26, there are more people in more communities working to stop the chemical contamination of our food, bodies and environment.

Make sure you're watching PBS on or about March 26th. And make sure everyone you know is watching with you. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Thanks to Bill Moyers, we're about to get one of our biggest and best weapons yet in the fight against a poisoned planet.

3/16/01
10:48:19 AM

JOIN THE ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION IN PROTESTS AT STARBUCKS COFFEE SHOPS IN OVER 100 US AND CANADIAN CITES ON TUESDAY, MARCH 20

CHECK THE LIST BELOW FOR THE CITY NEAREST YOU

Food, environmental, and social justice activists will hold press conferences and stage protests at Starbucks coffee shops in over 100 cities on March 20.

The Organic Consumers Association and allied groups are demanding that Starbucks remove bovine growth hormone (rBGH) and other genetically engineered ingredients from the company's brand-name products, start brewing and seriously promoting Fair Trade (shade- grown and organic] coffee, and improve the wages and working conditions of coffee plantation workers around the world.

These protests and press conferences across the USA and Canada are the beginning of a US and Global campaign to drive genetically engineered foods and beverages off the market and to promote sustainable, equitable, and organic farming practices.

"This is the beginning of the largest consumer the largest the largest consumer campaign ever mounted against a major US and transnational food and beverage company around the issues of genetic engineering and Fair Trade. Unless Starbucks gives in to all of our demands, they run a significant risk of damaging their worldwide reputation and profitability," stated Ronnie Cummins, national OCA director.

Check our website

http://www.organicconsumers.org

for printable materials and updates to campaign locations and times. If you can help us leaflet at a Starbucks café on March 20 or in the following weeks

please contact us at <simon@organicconsumers.org

Protests and press conferences are now scheduled for the following cities on March 20. Please join us if you can and bring your family members and friends along too. Spread the word and thanks for your support. Stay tuned to BioDemocracy News for the latest news and developments on genetic engineering, factory farming and organics.

3/16/01
10:44:32 AM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

UPDATE - Democrats seek to reverse Bush emissions decision - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10115

Washington state governor declares drought - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10116

Past winter colder, drier than normal - US agency - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10117

UPDATE - US Senators weigh moving parts of Bush tax cut - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10119

Rare animals at risk in UK from foot-and-mouth - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10121

Spain's Aznar turns up heat on Gibraltar - SPAIN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10122

Green-backed NZ govt redfaced over African timber - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10114

Kenyan High Court blocks forest destruction - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10125

FEATURE - Japan tests its mettle with recycling plan - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10118

Think global, eat local, says German farm minister - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10113

French rebel Bove convicted for GM food assault - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10123

EU parliament voices support for biotechnology - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10124

French court bars Australian nuclear waste - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10126

Shark's fin soup sparks row in Hong Kong - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10120

3/16/01
10:42:59 AM

Nuclear power sustainable? No way! Sign our petition at

http://www.antenna.nl/wise/csd/

From 16-27 April 2001 the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) will hold its Ninth Session (CSD 9) in New York. The Commission was established in 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of the Rio Earth Summit held that year. One of CSD's tasks is to elaborate policy guidance and options for future activities to follow up the Rio Earth Summit and achieve sustainable development.

Energy is one of the issues on the agenda for CSD 9. As the Commission puts it: 'The challenge is how to meet the growing demand for energy while mitigating the impact of energy supply and use on the environment and thus guarantee the long term quality of our habitat'

However, it seems that the Commission is of the opinion that nuclear energy could be part of a sustainable future. As we all know, nuclear energy involves enormous pollution, throughout its production cycle from uranium mining and enrichment, through the operation of nuclear power plants to the disposal of radioactive waste.

Nuclear energy is definitely not sustainable, and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development should be the last to pretend that it is. Any indications of support for nuclear technologies by the Commission on Sustainable Development will be used by the nuclear industry to create an image of itself being clean, safe, and a legitimate tool to combat climate change.

Wise Amsterdam therefore urges all organisations active in development, environmental, disarmament and human rights issues to sign the petition addressing CSD. The petition demands that Commission ensures that any indications of support for nuclear energy are excluded from CSD debates, exhibitions and other activities.

SIGN OUR PETITION AT: www.antenna.nl/wise/csd

Petition Against the Support of Nuclear Technologies

TO THE CHAIR AND MEMBER STATES OF THE U.N. COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Dear Sirs and Madams,

We, the undersigned NGOs, active in environment, development, disarmament and human rights issues, express our deepest regret and extreme concern that nuclear energy has been included in the draft agenda of the ninth session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development, and that this dangerous and unsustainable technology might, in effect, be given a fresh start by the actions of the CSD.

We consider any focus which seems to validate nuclear energy to be against both the spirit of Agenda 21 and the mandate of the CSD. Moreover, it is contrary to the interests of developing countries which require sustainable, mostly decentralized, low-cost energy systems, adapted both to their needs and the availability of their capital, labor, and natural resources. Nuclear power will not fulfill those requirements.

Nuclear power is not a clean, safe or sustainable energy source. Worldwide, nuclear power has been plagued by high cost, erratic performance, endemic technical problems, the risk of catastrophic accidents, and environmental problems such as routine radiation releases, radioactive waste management and the high cost of decommissioning.

However, financially-pressed nuclear vendors are eyeing the developing world as a 'last gasp' market for their products, and are stepping up their lobbying efforts at U.N. conferences, including the Climate Change negotiations and the CSD.

Over the past decade in most countries the overwhelming momentum of energy policy has moved towards phasing out, or not developing nuclear energy in the first place. Virtually all countries agreed in November at The Hague, during the discussions on the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), not to include nuclear energy in projects of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) that will be established under the Kyoto Protocol.

At their last meeting, the governments of the G8 stated their commitment to "encourage and facilitate investment in the development and use of sustainable energy, underpinned by enabling domestic environments, (which) will assist in mitigating the problems of climate change and air pollution. To this end, the increased use of renewable energy sources in particular will improve the quality of life, especially in developing countries."

Non-G8 countries are taking similar positions. Turkey cancelled plans for a nuclear plant at Akkuyu, with its Prime Minister stating that, "the world is abandoning nuclear power." The countries of AOSIS (the Alliance of Small Island States) have "reaffirmed (their) position that nuclear energy should not be included in the CDM". (Apia, August 2000). And, a group of twelve Latin American nations made clear, in discussions on the Convention, that they "do not accept the use of nuclear power as an energy source alternative in project-based activities." (FCCC/SB/2000/4, 1 August, 2000)

Therefore, we urge you to preserve the integrity of the CSD process by ensuring that any indications of support for non-sustainable energy technologies, particularly nuclear energy, are excluded from CSD 9 debates, exhibitions and other activities. The CSD should focus on promoting clean, secure and sustainable forms of energy for the welfare of present and future generations, as per the aim of Agenda 21.

To sign on, go to: www.antenna.nl/wise/csd/

Further distribution among your networks in encouraged! The petition is also available in french, spanish, german, italian and dutch.

3/16/01
10:37:40 AM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

KNOW SOMEONE WHO'S TOO CHEERFUL? A daily dose of Grist will sober them right up. Send a note to your family and friends recommending they sign up to get Grist by Email at <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/signup/tell_pal.asp>

1. AND LAME-O WAS HIS NAME-O The papers today are full of the news of just how much of a lame-o President Bush is for going back on his promise to regulate power plants' emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas contributing to global warming. Defending his decision yesterday, Bush insisted that "an energy crisis" threatening the country's economic health had caused him to back away from his pledge. Yeah, right. Even many of his supporters acknowledge that it was last-minute lobbying by the conservative Republicans and stooges of the coal industry that swayed the president's mind. Pity U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman, who had her legs cut out from under her on this one. Read more on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: Bush's climate reversal -- in our Heat Beat section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/thisjustin031501.stm>

do good: Take action and tell Bush to live up to his CO2 promise <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.stm#promise>

2. UNDERMINED BY THE UNDER MIND The European Union yesterday expressed disappointment with President Bush's decision not to regulate carbon dioxide, and Japan said the decision could undermine the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Germany went so far as to say the rest of the world might have to leave the U.S. behind and begin implementing the treaty alone. E.U. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said she was especially concerned about Bush's "remarks that more research is needed into the causes of climate change before we know what the solutions are." In the view of the great majority of the world's climate scientists and governments, the facts are clear that humans are helping to cause global warming by spitting greenhouse gases like CO2 into the atmosphere. Indeed, a study published today in the journal Nature adds to the evidence that humans are changing the atmosphere.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10107>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 15 Mar 200l <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10104>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10096>

straight to the source: San Francisco Chronicle, Keay Davidson, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/200 1/03/15/MN229499.DTL>

3. THE FIN-AL COUNTDOWN Environmentalists launched a yearlong campaign this week to persuade Singapore diners to stop eating shark's fin soup, a popular delicacy in the country. To meet market demand, fishers slice fins off live sharks and then toss the helpless creatures back into the sea to die. As a result, shark populations are being devastated and traders supplying the Asian market are having to go to such faraway places as the Galapagos Islands and South African coast to find the fish, says Michael Aw, organizer of the Save Our Sharks campaign. The conservation group WildAid says that shark fin trade more than doubled between 1980 and 1997. Similar campaigns are planned for Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Australia.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Amy Tan, 14 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10082>

4. ONUS ON US U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked world leaders yesterday to pick up the pace on protecting the environment. "We may be moving in the right direction, but we are moving too slowly. We are failing in our responsibility to future generations and even this one," said Annan, speaking at a conference in Bangladesh. He said that the burden to act on problems like global warming should fall on the European Union, Japan, and the U.S. because they were responsible for causing the problems in the first place. He suggested that the industrialized nations step up to the plate in preparation for next year's Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Nizam Ahmed, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10110>

5. HUGE GRANT In what would be its largest grant to date, Ted Turner's U.N. Foundation is proposing to give $10 million to preserve the world's coral reefs. The foundation's board is meeting tomorrow to vote on the grant, which would go to the International Coral Reef Action Network, a coalition of academic, private, and intergovernmental groups led by the U.N. Environment Programme. The money would be spent over four years to address such threats to coral reefs as overfishing, coastal development, and marine pollution. Projects in the Caribbean and the eastern coast of Africa would receive the first attention.

straight to the source: New York Times, Barbara Crossette, 15 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/15/science/15NATI.html>

Driving us in circles -- Grist readers talk about cars and Mama Earth -- in our letters section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/letters/letters031301.stm>

Off the beaten track -- a day in the life of Al Thieme, Cascadia Wild! <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/thieme031401.stm>

How low can you go? -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha031201.stm>

3/16/01
10:33:05 AM

Asteroids, The Real Threat

by Mitch Battros

Research is coming in fast regarding estimations of possible asteroid impact to earth. It appears most scientist in the field of astrophysicist, astronomers and paleontologist disagree with NASA's statement last month suggesting we are at least 30,000 years away from any real danger of an asteroid collision.

The general consensus is we simply don't know 'when' it will hit. Everyone agrees it is not 'if' but 'when'. Several believe we are ripe for impact in our lifetime. I was curious if the sharp increase in fireballs we have witnessed in the last year could be a sign. I could not get a definitive answer, but I can't help but think it is part of a cycle which may be just beginning to reach our orbit. Another unknown is 'how big'. Again, no definitive answer, but it was stated by many that there is a good chance it will be an asteroid we are not tracking, or off our radar screen. Let us not forget NASA themselves stated "we are only tracking about 10% of what we think is out there". They went on to plead to have more telescopes pointed to the sky. Related to this issue, it is known that the vast majority of asteroids found, are recorded by amateur astronomers with their telescopes pointed up.

Below you will find statements from noted scientist, some of which were in a PBS Nova interview.

Dr. Victor Clube: "Essentially, there are two catastrophic machines in the solar system which are directing missiles at us. One of them is the asteroid belt, which is regularly perturbed by Jupiter in its orbit close to the asteroid belt, and the other one is the so-called Oort Cloud, which is perturbed by the galactic environment. We're a kind of target amongst all these bodies milling around which have come from places further out in the solar system."

Peter Thomas: "Every now and then, a passing star disrupts this icy reservoir in the far reaches of the solar system, sending comets inward towards the planets. Comets orbiting in a newly-discovered reservoir known as the Kuiper belt occasionally dislodge themselves, as well. Eventually, any of these comets may wind up perilously close to the earth. So far, scientists have found only a small percentage of the total number. They estimate that there are a few hundred thousand earth-crossing asteroids bigger than the one that exploded above Tunguska, and about two thousand larger than half a mile. If any of these larger rocks were to hit us, it would cause a global catastrophe."

Gene Shoemaker (deceased): "Paleontologists, of course, are accustomed to think in terms of long-term geologic processes affecting the evolution of life. And if you now suddenly tell them, "Well, occasionally, a stone the size of a mountain falls out of the sky and produces a global catastrophe," they just don't like that. It's against their scientific religion, if you will."

David Raup: "We didn't know anything about what had been learned through the '60s and '70s about meteorite impact and the impact rates, because we had grown up with our textbooks, which said that there indeed were bombarding asteroids and comets, but this was all in the early days, the so-called "early bombardment" of the earth, and it was all over. And sure, a meteor crater was probably an impact crater, but that's only one. It couldn't affect geologic history." Duncan Steel: "If we're going to take the case of a global catastrophe, those only occur something like once every one hundred thousand years, maybe at the outside, once every two hundred thousand years. So, that's a very long time scale compared to the human lifetime. However, for these smaller objects, the maybe hundred-meter fragments of asteroids which mostly blow up in the atmosphere but nevertheless cause widespread devastation underneath, those occur much more frequently. We certainly should be expecting at least one of those to occur over the fifty or a hundred years. If we continue at our present rate, it will take us another five or six hundred years before we discover ninety-nine percent of them. However, the total number of astronomers involved in looking for earth-threatening asteroids is, in fact, than the staff of something like a High Street McDonald's restaurant. That is the number of people, worldwide, that we're talking about looking for asteroids."

Clark Chapman: "It happens like a game of cosmic darts. It happens at random. It could happen just as likely tomorrow as it could during some particular day three hundred thousand years from now, and a big one could come in at any time. Particularly, I can say that because we have not searched for them all. We only know a small fraction of the ones that exist, and we happen to know from calculating their orbits that those particular ones are not going to hit any time in the next hundred years or so, which is about as far as we can reliably calculate the orbits. But the other ninety percent that we haven't found yet could hit any time.

Steve Ostro: "Imagine, for a moment, if instead of these objects being tiny and not visible to the naked eye, they were suddenly made visible. Suppose that there was a button you could push and you could light up all the earth-crossing asteroids larger than about ten meters. There would be over a hundred million of these objects in the sky, and you'd go outside at night, and instead of being able to see a few thousand bright stars, the sky would be filled with millions of these objects, all of which are capable of colliding with the earth, and all of which are moving on slightly different courses through the sky at slightly different rates."

Victor Clube: "I hate the thought of us behaving us like ostriches and stuffing our heads in the ground pretending that there are no potential dangers around the corner. The reality is that these fireball increases will happen fairly suddenly, when they happen. We have no means at the moment for predicting them. They may happen tomorrow. They may happen a hundred years hence. Who knows? The fact is, we do not, as a society, as a world society, have the means of handling this situation at the moment."

Peter Thomas: "Astronomers now recognize that the universe is not the tranquil place we once thought. Our home within it, the earth, is vulnerable. The only thing we know for sure is that someday, the earth will once again be hit by a devastating rock. But unlike most other natural disasters, a cosmic impact may be avoidable. At the very least, we have the means to search the sky, to see whether we or our children face this risk in the next century."

As always, the information provide if for you to make your on conclusions as to facts and data provided. Remember, follow your truth, not mine or anyone else. From my perspective, I believe NASA was careless in their intention to calm the publics inquisition regarding asteroids and comets. Disinformation only causes distrust and broadens the gap between control and empowerment. I continued to emphasis Nasa's dismal "Public Relations" policy, and I am hopeful the apparent old style 'good ole boys' will rotate out sooner rather than later. I remain convinced the most effective method to reduce harm is through being informed.

Here is another must read article:

http://www.earthchangestv.com/breaking/March2001/0315asteroids_close.htm

Mitch Battros

Producer - Earth Changes TV

http://www.earthchangesTV.com

3/16/01
10:29:04 AM

The Nation

Election 2000 showed the U.S. electoral system to be deeply flawed and still rife with racial iniquities thirty-six years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Some of the problems - voter disenfranchisment, the influence of big money on politics, and the exclusion of alternative political voices - are ones that citizens's movements have been working on for years.

To help energize the forces of change, The Nation has teamed up with the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank likely familiar to many Nation readers, to create an Electoral Reform website. The idea is to provide a clearinghouse for information, a resource for education and a springboard for action and interaction. You'll find essays, reports, investigative articles, legal briefs, legislative updates, activist resources and an events calendar - even a Voters Bill of Rights. And the site will be updated constantly. So check it out at:

http://www.ips-dc.org/electoral

http://wwwTheNation.com

3/15/01
2:01:33 PM

Public Citizen

Casinos Paid Politicians Big Bucks to Keep Gambling on College Sports Legal

Bill Bradley, Gary Bauer Endorse Public Citizen's Investigation; Report Reinforces Need for McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A direct link exists between large soft money contributions the casino industry gave both major political parties last year and efforts by party leaders in Congress to stop an overwhelmingly popular bill that would have extended the federal ban on gambling on college sports to Nevada, a Public Citizen investigation shows.

Public Citizen released its report, called Folding to the Casino Industry, on the first day of NCAA March Madness and on the eve of a historic U.S. Senate debate on the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. The bill would ban "soft money," those unlimited contributions to political parties from corporations, unions and wealthy individuals. A copy of the report is available at http://www.citizen.org/congress/reform/sportsgambling.htm

"The casino industry's success in keeping college gambling legal is some of the most transparent and shameless influence-buying that we have ever seen," said Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen's president. "It's exhibit A in the case explaining why Congress should pass the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill to ban such legalized bribery."

Liberal Bill Bradley and conservative Gary Bauer, presidential candidates in 2000, both endorsed Public Citizen's report and called for campaign finance reform.

"Public Citizen has performed a remarkable service by digging into the interaction between political money and gambling on college sports," Bradley said. "I don't think college athletics should be the equivalent of roulette chips. Most Americans agree. This report is a good reason for those who care about college sports to support campaign finance reform."

Said Bauer, "This report is a must-read for every person who has wondered where the gambling industry money is going and what happens to public policy when it gets there." Bauer called the report "riveting and profoundly sad" because "it shows that our political system has been infected by an industry that leaves broken lives in its wake."

Debate on the McCain-Feingold Bill (S. 27) is set to begin in the U.S. Senate on March 19. The bill had majority support in the Senate last Congress but was blocked by a Republican-led filibuster. Twice the House has passed companion legislation - the Shays-Meehan bill (H.R. 380).

A 1999 study showed that one in 20 college players had either shaved points, wagered on their own games or leaked insider information about players to gamblers.

Gambling on college sports is legal only in Nevada due to a loophole in federal law. Friends and foes agree that legislation to close the loophole would pass both chambers of Congress overwhelmingly if it was ever brought to the floor - which party leaders, eager for the casino industry's soft money, made sure never happened in 2000. The report shows that:

· Republican and Democratic Party committees received $3.9 million in soft money ($2.3 million to Republicans and $1.6 million to Democrats) from the Nevada casino industry for the 2000 election. Nevada casino interests gave the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee eight times more soft money than in 1996. The National Republican Congressional Committee collected almost four times more than in 1996. The parties' Senate fundraising committees both saw threefold increases.

· As this anti-gambling legislation became the casino industry's top concern in Congress, industry leaders reportedly encouraged the congressional party leaders to compete for soft money by blocking the bill. Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), vigorously competed to raise casino soft money. Republican leaders blocked the bill from being voted on, and Democrats were compliant in opposing it.

· Davis, the chief House Republican fundraiser, said the bill wouldn't pass because, "If we do it, we are going to expose our guys to a barrage of casino dollars. . . . we've been told point blank that they are going to open the spigots [to the Democrats]."

· Chief Senate Republican fundraiser McConnell reportedly told senators the gambling lobby would allocate a $1 million-dollar "kitty" to congressional committees depending on what the parties did on the college gambling bill.

· Gephardt and Rangel, the top Democrat on the House tax-writing committee, spent years cultivating the casino industry. Gephardt pronounced the college gambling bill dead at the same time as the House Republican leadership. Rangel is co-sponsoring legislation promoted by the casino industry, also supported by Gephardt, that is designed to kill the college gambling bill.

"This report documents the lengths that both parties go to outbid each other for special interest support," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. "As March Madness begins, the public deserves to know the sort of 'games' the casino industry is playing. After all, these aren't $5 and $10 dollar chips in their pockets. These are our senators and representatives."

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit

www.citizen.org

3/15/01
1:54:05 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BUSH BLAMES ENERGY SHORTAGE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ROLLBACKS

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, March 14, 2001 (ENS) - President George W. Bush did an abrupt about face Tuesday, reversing a previous pledge to legislate limits on carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants. Bush said such a rule would prove too costly - another in a slew of recent federal and state government attempts to roll back environmental protections in favor of controlling energy prices.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-14-06.html

TWO RIVERS TOP BRITISH COLUMBIA'S MOST ENDANGERED LIST

VANCOUVER, Canada, March 14, 2001 (ENS) - Britannia Creek, the mountain waterway running through one of the most polluted abandoned mines in North America, is British Columbia's most endangered river.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-14-11.html

PORTUGUESE DAM CREATES EUROPE'S LARGEST ARTIFICIAL LAKE

LISBON, Portugal, March 14, 2001 (ENS) - Logging has begun on one million old growth oak trees that are being cleared for construction of Europe's largest dam. The Alqueva dam on the River Guadiana in southern Portugal will result in the largest artifical lake in Europe.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-14-03.html

DAM PROTESTERS OCCUPY BRAZIL'S MINISTRY OF ENERGY

BRASILIA, Brazil, March 14, 2001 (ENS) - The Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy was occupied this morning by 1,500 people who came from all across the country to protest the negative effects of large dams.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-14-02.html

BLACK PEARL DEVELOPERS THREATEN PACIFIC SEABIRDS

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, March 14, 2001 (ENS) - A tiny coral atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that is one of the world's most important seabird breeding areas might fall prey to the development of commercial black pearl farming.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-14-01.html

MALAYSIA WINS A BATTLE IN REPTILE SMUGGLING WAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, March 14, 2001 (ENS) - Malaysian authorities have intercepted wildlife smugglers in two large seizures of rare and endangered reptiles.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-14-10.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 14, 2001

Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Clean Water

House Bill Would Open Monument to Hunting

BP Amoco Agrees to Clean Up Pennsylvania Sites

Scientists Use Native Plants as Cleanup Tools

Hardware Stores Team Up to Fight Lead Poisoning

Washington State Buys Land to Aid Salmon

Fisheries' Dalton Sticks With Ocean Issues

Peregrine Falcon Egg Watch Goes Online

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-14-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

ADVISORY/Allied Pilots Association Announces In-Flight Environmental Issues Forum

FORT WORTH, TX, Mar. 14 -/E-Wire/-- Who: Co-sponsored by American Airlines' Corporate Medical Department and the Allied Pilots Association

/CONTACT: Allied Pilots Association, Gregg Overman, 817/302-2250/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/14Mar0106.html

First American and Honeywell to explore potential to form a strategic alliance offering turnkey energy conservation solutions

VANCOUVER, Canada, Mar. 14 -/E-Wire/-- C.L. Kantonen, Chairman of FASC is pleased to announce that, after preliminary discussions and successful meetings in Toronto, FASC and Honeywell have decided to commence a formal 9 step process to assess the potential of the two companies forming a strategic alliance to include the KDS MicronexT in Honeywell's product offering.

/CONTACT: Call Corporate Communications toll free at (877) 778 - 7101 or (800) 561- 8656

/Web site: http://www.fasc.net/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/14Mar0104.html

ThermoEnergy's Advanced Wastewater Treatment Project A Success

LITTLE ROCK, AR, Mar. 14 -/E-Wire/-- ThermoEnergy Corporation (OTC BB:TMEN) announced the successful conclusion of the STORS 2000 Advanced Wastewater Demonstration Project sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This $3 million dollar project, located in Colton, California (greater Los Angeles area), confirmed the ability of the Sludge-To-Oil Reactor System (STORS) process to convert raw sewage sludge (biosolids) into a high energy fuel - known as `bio-fuel'. Bio-fuel can either be used on-site to power the STORS/ARP plant or sold to the local electricity power market.

/CONTACT: ThermoEnergy Corporation, Dennis C. Cossey, 501/376-6477, E-mail: dcossey@thermoenergy.com or Alex G. Fassbender P.E., 509/375-0847, E-mail: afassbender@thermoenergy.com/

/Web site: http://www.thermoenergy.com/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/14Mar0103.html

Audubon of Florida Invites Birders to Participate in a Statewide Bird-a-thon Saturday, March 24th & 31st 2001

MIAMI, FL, Feb. 28 -/E-Wire/-- Mark your calendars for fun in the great outdoors during Audubon of Florida's Birdathon 2001, Saturdays, March 24th & 31st. Not only will you be participating in guided tours of natural areas across the state, but you will also be assisting in protecting Florida's natural treasures.

/CONTACT: Irela M. Bagué or Erin Petra at (305) 371-6399/

/Web site: http://www.audubon.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/14Mar0101.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

3/15/01
1:48:30 PM

Sewage And Fish Waste Keep Buses On The Road in Norway

NORWAY - The 12 buses in Trollhattan, Norway, a town of 50,000 inhabitants, run on a mixture of the residents' own sewage and wastes from a nearby fish processing factory.

At the local sewage treatment plant, the wastes are mixed in a reactor to produce a rich biogas (95 per cent methane) which is then sent through a 3km pipeline to the bus station in the town centre. Here, a bus will have its tanks filled - the tanks are built in under the roof and run its full length. A full tank is enough for 300 km or a normal full day's driving.

Compared to diesel oil, biogas is a very environmentally friendly fuel, giving no net emissions of CO2, less than half the emissions of NOx and minimal emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulates.

Participants in the biogas project, which began in 1996, include the municipality of Trollhattan, the largest Swedish energy company, Vattenfall, the local energy utility, the regional bus company and the national Communications Research Committee. Along with the buses, two rubbish collecting vehicles and a few private cars run on biogas.

The municipality is planning to expand the project by doubling biogas production and has launched a campaign to get more private car owners to convert to biogas. A public biogas filling station has been opened and several local companies have recently acquired biogas-driven cars.

The investment has cost about 3.5 million Euros, 50 per cent of which has come from national rather than local sources.

http://www.savesite.net/gvnr/articles/021501_3.html

For More Information: Ann-Cathrin Erlandsson and Ronald Svensson, Trollhättan municipality, S-461 83 Trollhättan, Norway (tel 00 46 520 870 00; fax 00 46 520 41 10 41; e-mail: trollhattans.kommun@trollhattan.se;

web: www.trollhattan.se

From an article which first appeared in the Norwegian Ideas Bank Stiftelsen Idebanken, PO Box 2126 Grünnerlokka, Norway, tel 00 47 2203 4010; fax 00 47 2236 4060; e-mail: idebanken@online.no;

web: www.idebanken.no

http://www.globalideasbank.org/

3/15/01
1:44:36 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

Bush slammed for abandoning pollution pledge - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10103

FEATURE - Wildlife preserve shows effect of global warming - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10098

US lawmakers move to ban slant drilling in Great Lakes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10099

UPDATE - Calif. Gov. sets rebates to spur conservation - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10106

Kellogg's unit recalls corn dogs with genetically modified corn - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10105

Increase in greenhouse gases seen from space - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10095

UPDATE - Garden of Eden back in world's largest greenhouse - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10111

Britain close to outlining emissions market rules - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10109

Two million English homes at risk of flooding - report - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10108

Court upholds Germany's renewable energy program - LUXEMBOURG http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10100

UPDATE - EU wants Lithuanian N-plant decision in 2002 - LITHUANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10102

Japan Lead-Smelters increasingly dependent on recycling - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10097

Japan regrets Bush stance on pollution - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10104

Germany unveils new climate protection joint venture - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10112

Kyoto accord may be ratified without US - Germany - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10096

MEPs vote to tighten pollution laws on power plants - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10094

UPDATE - EU "concerned" over Bush's CO2 and climate stance - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10107

Finnish nuke plans could hit foreign trade - lobby - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10101

UN's Annan calls for effective environment policy - BANGLADESH http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10110

3/15/01
1:33:27 PM

5-cents per E-mail Sent - Vote NO on Bill 602P

I guess the warnings were true. Federal Bill 602P gets ya for 5-cents per E-mail Sent. It figures! No more free E-mail! We knew this was coming! Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent charge on every delivered E-mail.

Please read the following carefully if you intend to stay online, and continue using E-mail. The last few months have revealed an alarming trend in the Government of the United States attempting to quietly push through legislation that will affect our use of the Internet.

Under proposed legislation, the US Postal Service will be attempting to bill E-mail users out of "alternative postage fees." Bill 602P will permit the Federal Government to charge a 5-cent surcharge on every E-mail delivered, by billing Internet Service Providers at source. The consumer would then be billed in turn by the ISP. Washington, DC lawyer Richard Stepp is working without pay to prevent this legislation from becoming law. The US Postal Service is claiming lost revenue, due to the proliferation of E-mail, is costing nearly $230,000,000 in revenue per year. You may have noticed their recent ad campaign: "There is nothing like a letter."

Since the average person received about 10 pieces of E-mail per day in 1998, the cost of the typical individual would be an additional 50 cents a day-or over $180 per year-above and beyond their regular Internet costs. Note that this would be money paid directly to the US Postal Service for a service they do not even provide.

The whole point of the Internet is democracy and noninterference. You are already paying an exorbitant price for snail mail because of bureaucratic efficiency. It currently takes up to 6 days for a letter to be delivered from coast to coast. If the US Postal Service is allowed to tinker with E-mail, it will mark the end of the "free" Internet in the United States. Congressional representative, Tony Schnell has even suggested a "$20-$40 per month surcharge on all Internet service" above and beyond the governments proposed E-mail charges Note that most of the major newspapers have ignored the story-the only exception being the Washingtonian - which called the idea of E-mail surcharge "a useful concept who's time has come" (March 6th, 1999 Editorial).

Do not sit by and watch your freedom erode away! Send this E-mail to EVERYONE on your list, and tell all your friends and relatives write their congressional representative and say "NO" to Bill 602P. It will only take a few moments of your time and could very well be instrumental in killing a bill we do not want.

3/14/01
7:22:57 PM

G.A.T.S... PRIVATISING ALL SERVICES!

In secret, governments are negotiating the end to all not-for profit public services. In less than 2 years, 130 plus governments expect to quietly sign an agreement called GATS, General Agreement on Trade in Services. This binding and irreversible treaty will lay all government services open for international tender, and no doubt international labour, that is, foreign, lower paid nurses, teachers, builders, water technicians, posties, media, maintenance, childcare and transport workers.

Public services are next in line for the WTO's corporate battering ram. Global corporations have been so successful in persuading governments everywhere that their agendas are the same - that the pursuit of corporate profit and the good of society are one and the same - that their access to many areas of public life has already been improved. Quality of service and democratic access has not necessarily improved.

Services is the fastest growing sector in international trade, and employs 72% of Australians. Services offer rich pickings for canny corporations. And of all public services, health, education and water are shaping up to be the most lucrative. Global expenditures on water services now exceed $1 trillion every year; on education, they exceed $2 trillion; and on health care, they exceed $3.5 trillion. Since multinationals pay little tax, these services are becoming increasingly hard for governments to provide. The USA might suggest a model for the dismantling of public services which GATS will unleash all over the world. In fact, much of the GATS policies and the World Trade Organization policies are designed to increase USA mega corporation domination of world markets.

In America, health care has already become a huge business, with giant healthcare corporations registered on the New York Stock Exchange. Rick Scott, the president of Columbia, the world's largest for-profit hospital corporation, is clear that health care is a business, no different to any widget manufacturer. He has publicly vowed to destroy every public hospital in North America - doctors, he says, are not 'good corporate citizens'. Americans spend twice as much on Health as a percent of their bloated GNP as Australia, yet over-service the rich, and cannot really care for 40 million of their own increasingly large poor segment of society.

Meanwhile, investment houses like Merrill Lynch are already predicting that public education will be globally privatised over the next decade the way public health has been. They say there is an untold amount of profit to be made when this happens. The European Union recently announced that every publicly- run school in Europe must be twinned with a corporation by the end of the decade. The conquest of foreign market and support of big business has now become a key common strategy among universities around the world. So much for academic freedom!

Disturbingly, GATS also includes authority over 'environmental services' and natural resource protection. Our parks, wildlife, river systems, and forests could all become contested areas as global transnational 'environmental service' corporations demand the competitive model. The fate of our sacred and essential soil and water is at great risk.

Many parts of the 'Third World' have been forced to dismantle their public infrastructures in recent decades under International Monetary Fund - imposed structural adjustment programs. In order to be eligible for debt relief, for example, dozens of 'developing' countries have been forced to abandon public social programs over the last 20 years. Foreign corporations have come in and sold their health and education 'products' to wealthy elites ''consumers'. Billions are now without basic social services, with a lower standard of living than 20 years ago in 100 countries! Latin American countries are currently experiencing an invasion of US healthcare corporations.

Asian countries allow branch plants of foreign-based university and health care chains. Recently, the World Bank has been forcing the same countries to privatise their water services and are openly working with corporate water giants like Vivendi and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux, to establish their 'rights' to profiteer in the Third World. Bolivian people have been shot protesting water charges that cost a third of their wages. Water may be bought and internationally shipped according to WTO rules. When the market rules, the rich get most of whatever is valuable!

Now, through the GATS negotiations, these corporations want binding and irreversible rules guaranteeing them access to government service contracts everywhere in the world. And they are succeeding. Already, over 40 countries, including all of Europe, have listed education within the realm of the GATS, opening up their public education sectors of foreign based corporate competition. Almost 100 countries have done the same with healthcare. As the new talks progress, it will be very hard for any country to swim against the tide - even if any are brave enough to try.

Frighteningly, there can be no local restrictions on quality of graduates and service standards, this would be seen as a "barrier to free trade". Does the WTO want us all to live and shop like Americans? Or die if we're too poor to do so? If we all lived like Americans we'd need three planets!! How will 72% of Australian workers in health, environment, childcare, transport, tourist, broadcast, social work, dentist, teaching, office staff feel if cheap foreign labour can come in? How can we complain when, like Australian refugee / prison workers are controlled by a USA corporation like Wackenhut, which is brutal to staff and refugees and prisoners in its "care". And to whom can you complain if governments have given away all their serious roles; perhaps we will just have a branch office of the WTO; secret, undemocratic and only interested in money.

We better start spreading the word soon!! While we still have shreds of democracy and objective media and unions. Ask your cowardly pollies why they are silent on this issue!! Remember Beasley and Howard wanted us to sign the MAI Treaty, later shown not to be in Australia's interests!! Perhaps some of the 700 billion dollars that has come into Australia in the last three decades to buy our industry and land, the profits of which leave Australia untaxed, has influenced Canberra. Perhaps its their superannuation (retirement package)! What do you think? What will your children think?

Dr E. Elliott with Maud Barlow

catcher@norex.com.au

http://www.communitycauldron.com

3/14/01
7:21:00 PM

"THE CASE AGAINST HENRY KISSINGER Parts I & II:

Crimes against humanity" or read some reviews at

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a6f0a39219e.htm

Note: Kissinger is THE key mentor and "controller" of George W. Bush

From: http://www.theconnection.org/archive/2001/01/0123a.shtml

We find:

"If Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet can be indicted in Spain and arrested in London on charges of torture and other crimes against humanity in his public career-is it safe for Henry Kissinger to travel abroad? The writer Christopher Hitchens says: it shouldn't be. Pinochet's arrest two years ago signaled a new era: when chiefs of state would have to defend their records in world courts.

3/14/01
7:19:38 PM

What happened to free press in America under George Bush Senior - most certainly a blueprint for more lies and propaganda to come under Bush Junior, which is all perfectly in line with the entirely corrupted way he snatched the presidency:

"Second Front: While the United States government made noisy preparations to go to war against Saddam Hussein, it was also purposefully planning another war. But this enemy, unlike Hussein, was strangely passive in the face of these threatening maneuvers.

The government's other enemy was the American media, and the quiet assaults on its constitutional freedoms during Operation Desert Storm was unprecedented in American history. Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda and the Gulf War documents in vivid detail the behind-the-scenes activities by the U.S. and Kuwaiti governments, as well as the media's own cooperation when its rights to observe, question, and report were increasingly limited.

In frank and startling interviews with, among others, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, Ben Bradlee, Katharine Graham, Robert Wright, and Pete Williams, author John R. MacArthur shows how the press corps was treated more like a fifth column than as representatives of a free people. MacArthur demonstrates how, despite the torrent of words and images from the Persian Gulf, Americans were systematically and deliberately kept in the dark about events, politics, and simple facts during the Gulf crisis.

With a reporter's critical eye and historian's sensibility, he traces decades of press-government relations-during Vietnam, Grenada, and Panama-which helped set the stage for restrictions on Gulf War reporting and for a public-relations triumph by the government. His analysis of the issues that confronted the media in this war is frightening testimony to what happens when the government goes unchallenged and when questions go unasked."

http://www.harpers.org/freetrade/about.html

http://www.harpers.org/harpers-index/listing.php3

Number of articles published since 1998 containing the words "George W. Bush" and "aura of inevitability" : 350

3/14/01
7:00:40 PM

Echelon

The newly released documents verify Ekstra Bladet's previous exposés of the fact that the NSA and Echelon are by no means solely occupied with military intelligence, counter-espionage and the surveillance of presumed terrorists and other criminal elements.

In a long series of articles, Ekstra Bladet has documented that the system is being used for industrial espionage, and for monitoring and registering politically active persons and organizations, ranging from Greenpeace and Amnesty International to high-ranking politicians, ministers and government officials.

http://www.ekstrabladet.dk/visartikel.iasp?pageid=106434

More about about Echelon at:

http://www.ekstrabladet.dk/netdetect/echelon/default_en.iasp

3/14/01
6:57:40 PM

Just Say Know! The CIA's War on Democracy

By Richard Sanders

Coordinator Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)

For many, the recent U.S. elections raised serious doubts about the American system of democracy. However, millions of others around the world long ago abandoned any notion that the U.S. is a bastion of democracy, either at home or abroad.

The U.S. government has, in fact, been a major opponent for millions of people around the world who have struggled to create and maintain democratic systems of governance. Since WWII, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has played a pivotal role in this history of subverting political systems. It has been active in virtually every country of the world and has conducted thousands of secret operations. As a tool of the U.S. president, the CIA has been used to manipulate, undermine and blatantly overthrow countless governments including dozens of functioning democracies.

This issue of Press for Conversion! contains only a glimpse into the CIA's largely overlooked history. It is a shameful history which has plumbed the depths of depravity, greed, deception, hypocrisy and ultraviolence.

The CIA's history is filled with rigged elections, fraud, bribery, sabotage and economic warfare. CIA officials have masterminded psychological warfare, extensive propaganda and the spreading of lies and misinformation through the media. Hatred has been instilled towards those who threaten corporate power, while public support has been engineered for countless wars fought to maintain unjust economic systems that benefit America's ruling business elite.

The CIA has planned, armed and financed many military coups that installed regimes to allow the pillaging of resources by U.S. business. In time, some of these dictatorships also become liabilities and must be replaced with new, more pliable client states.

The CIA emerged from the U.S. Office of Strategic Services which, before the end of WWII, began close collaborations with the German "intelligence community" on the unfinished war against communism.

Since then, literally millions of people have been massacred in a U.S. holocaust that has gone unnoticed and is commonly denied. The first to be assassinated, in these CIA-fostered campaigns of terror and mass murder, have usually been progressive politicians, labour leaders, human rights activists, priests, nuns and other 'subversives.'

There are three compelling reasons why the CIA's horrific history should be of interest to Canadians.

Canadian Complicity

Canada continues to aid and abet ongoing U.S. wars against democracy, peace and human rights by allowing U.S. military and intelligence gathering stations in Canada, and the testing of U.S. weapons systems. And, our government is increasingly sending troops and equipment to help the U.S. in its invasions and interventions.

More than half of Canada's arms exports are sold to the U.S. Our government puts such blind trust in the U.S. that no restrictions are placed on these exports. Canadian arms producers must obtain government permits for military sales to every country in the world, except the U.S.

Our government also funds numerous programs to subsidise these lucrative contracts.

But Canadian profitmaking doesn't end with arms sales to the U.S. That's just the beginning. After the CIA uses its dirty tricks to install investor-friendly puppet regimes in faraway lands, the Canadian government encourages military exports to those governments. This is, of course, invaluable help in their struggle to wield power. They, in turn, ensure that Canadian investors are given access to profitable ventures in mining, deforestry and manufacturing. Canadian companies clamour to join the feeding frenzy that bleeds these countries dry of their wealth and resources.

CIA Fingerprints in Canada

Canadians should also be on the look out for the telltale signs of CIA activities in Canada. Being right next door, we are certainly not beyond their grasp. Besides the CIA-backed brainwashing experiments conducted on unwilling Canadian prisoners and psychiatric patients, CIA fingerprints have also appeared on our political landscape. In 1963, top-ranking U.S. diplomats in Ottawa, along with officials from the Pentagon, the State Department - several with close ties to the CIA - were involved in a successful campaign to oust John Diefenbaker from office. Among other things, Dief would not allow U.S. nuclear weapons to be deployed in Canada. U.S. officials colluded with the high-ranking Canadian military officers, journalists and politicians to install a Liberal government that agreed to station U.S. nuclear warheads in Canada (see pages 23-25).

It is safe to assume that any relatively progressive government that somehow manages to get elected in Canada, will likely fall prey to covert U.S. activities. After all, the CIA has created, controlled and disposed of governments all over the world. Why would we think that they'd hesitate to extend their tentacles of power here?

Challenging the Cheerleaders

For too long, the CIA has operated under a cloak of secrecy without even the knowledge or consent of elected U.S. officials, let alone the U.S. public or the billions of people around the world who have suffered from CIA activities. Anything that we can do to shed light on this dark history will be an invaluable gift to future generations.

In this era of a 'free media' eager to cover controversies, the CIA's history and its countless scandals have largely been ignored. An awareness of this history is invaluable in understanding the contexts of so many wars that are now raging. Hopefully, it will only be a matter of time before the CIA's real legacy becomes part of our society's common knowledge.

The next time the U.S. wants Canadian support or participation in a "humanitarian war," let's hope we have the wherewithal to just say no! Knowing the CIA's history will equip us with the knowledge to challenge anyone who is naïve enough to want Canada to join in as a cheerleader or fellow warmonger. As the marble inscription in the main lobby at CIA headquarters reads: "And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free."

http://www.ncf.ca/coat/articles/links/just_say_know.htm

3/14/01
6:52:00 PM

Secret Government

The U.S. Constitution failed to prevent the rise of a large and powerful secret government mechanism over which the people at-large had no direct control, resulting in "taxation without representation", the same grievance lodged by American revolutionaries in 1776.

Secret Government is defined here as unelected persons holding powers of the United States that directly or indirectly affected millions of people, and who operated in ways intentionally kept hidden from the people paying for it. The mechanism included a far-flung labyrinth of tens-of-thousands of secret people operating in unknown numbers of secret places under many secret programs through numerous cooperating secret agencies both domestic and foreign. It included the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, Naval Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence, State Department Intelligence, and National Security Council in the U.S., with cooperation from British Intelligence, Israeli Mossad, and Russian KGB "moles" among others. Its power to control and manipulate conditions around the world was fully documented.

Secret Government worked to extend, consolidate and centralize economic, political and military power appropriate to a World Empire of controllers and manipulators, as shown in this and other grievances to a candid world.

The U.S. Congress funded Secret Government with a virtual blank check, and could only estimate in the mid-1990's that American taxpayers paid for it at the rate of about $1 trillion over 20 years. So far reaching and free spending was it that the NSA gathered l,056 pages of information about Britain's Princess Diana and refused to disclose why the information was obtained, or why it was kept secret long after her death in a car crash in 1997.

The nearest thing to being a public figure representing Secret Government in the Washington administration was the appointed "National Security Adviser" to the President. But the position was more than advisory as observed by Edward N. Luttwak, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a report October 11, 1998:

"President Clinton's national security adviser, Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, last week issued an ultimatum to President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia by giving a background briefing to reporters."

The President, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, and Chairman of the Joint Military Chiefs of Staff normally followed plans provided by Secret Government.

Secret Government operated outside the "rule of law" of the United Nations Charter and international agreements. With Presdential approval, missile "sneak attacks" were launched by the Navy September 20, 1998, on what Secret Government alleged were "terrorist" sites in the sovereign nations of Sudan and Afghanistan. Congress was caught by surprise, and insiders said even most Chiefs of the armed forces were not informed;

"The planning cell was very small."

The names of those in the conspiratorial group were kept hidden from the American taxpayers, who spent $1 million for each of the 75 missiles used in the military aggression.

What was learned about Secret Government and its army of operatives came largely from "insider" leaks and some who resigned to become "whistleblowers". Mainstream mass media, once claiming itself as a "watchdog" of government, grew impotent as Secret Government held up a shield of "national security" to protect itself from exposure. An important defense tactic of Secret Government was to label its critics and challengers as "conspiracy kooks".

Major media feared loss of advertising income if it probed too deeply into Secret Government and was never creatively bold enough to develop alternative financial resources such as listener sponsorship and advertisers opposed to the secrecy.

Vanderbilt University political science professor Harry Howe Ransom wrote a classic understatement in his 1988 book "The Intelligence Establishment";

"As a source of great influence, intelligence and covert operational systems demand the close attention of students of government and politics..."

Secret Government was the greatest challenge that Americans ever had to their Constitution and "representative democracy".

Secret Government was directly involved with most means of mass communication, including broadcasters, reporters, newspapers, publishing houses, writers, magazines, news services, think tanks, researchers, political activities, labor unions, and financial and educational institutions. It infiltrated and subverted groups exercising constitutional rights for peaceful change

In foreign lands, Secret Government distributed false information, instigated unrest and was involved in warmaking, all documented by former participants. It was instrumental in dividing Korea and Vietnam into north-south warring nations. It helped overthrow popularly-supported governments including Greece, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazi, Uraguay, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, and supported repressive military regimes in Indonesia, Turkey, Haiti, Kuwait, Morocco, Chad and Zaire. It trained Afghanistan forces fighting Soviet communism and who later turned against the U.S. Former Assistant Secretary of State and Council on Foreign Relations member Richard Murphy acknowledged "we did spawn a monster in Afghanistan".

American taxpayers paid over $200 billion to train, equip, and subsidize over 200 million foreign troops and Secret Government "security" forces in over 80 countries in the last half of the 20th century.

Congressional committees obtained minimal information about Secret Governments' worldwide activities but made no challenge. In 1998, a secret memo was declassified revealing that in 1975 Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (MORE ON KISSINGER BELOW) told President Gerald Ford that the CIA was threatened by a "scandal" that was "just the tip of the iceberg" and could wreck the agency.

Among the earliest published insiders who quit after feeling remorse was Victor Marchetti who was with the CIA for 14 years and rose to be Executive Assistant to the Deputy Director. Together with John D. Marks, who was analyst and staff assistant to the Intelligence Director of the State Department, they wrote "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" which was published in 1974;

"The cult of intelligence is a secret fraternity of the American political aristocracy...to foster a world order in which America would reign supreme."

A World Empire of controllers and manipulators could come into existence by means that most people would regard as wrong, the authors said...

"...overthrowing foreign governments, subverting elections, bribing officials, and waging `secret' wars."

In reviewing the book, Walter Clemons of Newsweek Magazine said it was "devastating", but Secret Government was never slowed. It employed an array of control tactics that included "pre-emptive surgical strikes" by military, paramilitary or special forces, terrorism, assassination/murder, bombings, riots, torture, robbery, abduction, and street crime and violence, creating fear in the populace and setting the stage for martial law.

Another former insider was Colonel Fletcher Prouty who had worked in White House national security operations. Publishing "The Secret Team" in 1973, Prouty pointed to the reality of its power;

"The CIA and its allies (are) in control of the U.S. and the world."

From: http://www.globalvisions.org/cl/swn/grievances/02-secretgov.html

Many more such texts at http://www.globalvisions.org/cl/swn/grievances

3/14/01
6:50:45 PM

To see some of the damaging effects of the existing North American Free Trade Agreement, between the USA, Canada and Mexico, make sure to check what is said about the book The Selling of "Free Trade" NAFTA, Washington, and the subversion of American democracy at

http://www.harpers.org/freetrade/

Give also a good long look at the accompanying news and review at: http://www.harpers.org/freetrade/news.html

Here is a brief excerpt:

Los Angeles Times - August 13, 2000

The United States and other democracies are actually collaborating in the triumph of economics over politics, in the denuding of the global arena of its potential regulatory institutions. How this came to be is the story told in riveting detail by John R. MacArthur in his deeply troubling account of The Selling of "Free Trade."

And from http://www.harpers.org/freetrade/about.html

"The ongoing decline of American democracy chronicled and predicted by writers as diverse as Joe McGinniss and C. Wright Mills came vividly true, MacArthur shows, when the American people were sold on what they thought was free-trade but was actually a subversion of their political system. His book is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of the American republic."

Summit of the Americas

Summit of the Americas scheduled on April 20-22 in Quebec City. Here are a couple resources on the Web if you want to look into this right now. Much more to come on this "Sequel to Seattle" summit in a forthcoming compilation.

Quebec Centre for Independent Media website

http://www.cmaq.net

and

Anti "Summit of the Americas" website at

http://www.quebec2001.net

Welcome to www.quebec2001.net, the webpage of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence of Montreal. On this site, you'll find basic information about organizing activites against the upcoming Summit of the Americas gathering in Quebec City (April 2001).

The Summit, which has previously met in Miami (1994) and Santiago (1998) will bring together all the heads of state of North, South and Central America and the Caribbean (except Cuba), as well as an entourage of big business leaders, technocrats and corporate media. Besides the usual talk about security and terrorism, and empty rhetoric about democracy and human rights, the main goal of the Summit will be to discuss and implement the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which is the extension of NAFTA to the entire hemisphere by no later than 2005. The Summit will be accompanied by the largest security and police operation in Canadian history.

This webpage is one of many ways the Anti-Capitalist Convergence is mobilizing and sharing information about organizing efforts against the FTAA and the Summit. The activities next April -- which include a Carnival Against Capitalism involving conferences, teach-ins, workshops, cabarets, concerts, protests and direct actions -- promise to be historic. www.quebec2001.net will be one way to stay informed, as well as to access analysis, news reports and opinions on the FTAA and capitalist globalization.

"It didn't start in Seattle ... and it's not going to stop with Quebec City!"

'Active Denial System'

Pentagon Unveils Plans for a New Crowd-Dispersal Weapon

The Pentagon announced a new "active denial system" that fires electromagnetic energy at people and creattes a burning sensation on the surface of their skin. The weapon is meant to "influence motivational behavior"; the Pentagon hopes to use the weapon, which Human Rights Watch described as a "high-powered microwave antipersonnel weapon," for crowd control, instead of tear gas and rubber bullets.

"As envisioned by its Pentagon designers, the weapon would fire bursts of electromagnetic energy capable of causing burning sensations on the skin of people standing as far as 700 yards away - without actually burning them, officials said. CLIP The officials said that the weapon could be adjusted to heat the skin to temperatures of 130 degrees or higher."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/02/national/02MARI.html?searchpv=site07

3/14/01
6:27:31 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. "READ MY LIPS" After conservatives and industry raised a fuss, President Bush reversed a campaign pledge for the first time yesterday and said he would not seek reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. A statement by his campaign last September promised Bush would set "mandatory reduction targets" for emissions of CO2, the main gas contributing to global warming, and in recent weeks, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman has pledged that Bush would stick by the promise. But in a letter yesterday to four Republican senators, Bush said that he wouldn't keep his word out of concern that mandatory limits would lead to higher electricity prices. While industry folks cheered the news, enviros and others cried betrayal. A group led by moderate Republicans had been preparing to introduce a bill later this week to follow through on the campaign promise.

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl and Andrew C. Revkin, 14 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/14/politics/14EMIT.html>

straight to the source: Wall Street Journal, Jeanne Cummings, 14 Mar 2001 (access ain't free) <http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB98453396323524910.htm>

do good: Take action and tell Bush to live up to his CO2 promise <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/climate.stm#promise>

2. THIS LEAVES A LOTT TO BE DESIRED U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said this week that he's prepared to take on Sen. John Kerry if the Democrat from Massachusetts follows through on a threat to filibuster legislation permitting oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Lott said he would use the occasion to blame Democrats and environmentalists for energy shortages and the rising cost of energy bills. "I don't think a filibuster on national energy policy legislation is a responsible thing to do," Lott said. Meanwhile, the Alaska state Senate is moving quickly on a budget bill that would boost funding for a private group lobbying to open the Arctic Refuge to drilling, while shortchanging a nursing home in the state.

straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Martha Bellisle, 13 Mar 2001 <http://www.adn.com/nation/story/0,2360,247993,00.html>

do good: Take action to save the Arctic Refuge <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/mining.stm#arctic>

3. BUTTER FLY-CICLES The deaths of millions of monarch butterflies this month in Mexico may have been caused by a winter freeze, not pesticide-spraying by loggers, as one environmental group alleged last week. Mexico's environmental agency said on Monday that it had tested 300 butterfly corpses and found no traces of toxic substances from pesticides, leading it to conclude that cold temperatures caused the die-off. The World Wildlife Fund, which has been helping preserve the monarchs' winter habitat in Mexico, also said the freeze was the more likely cause of the deaths.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 13 Mar 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/540501.asp>

4. ONE BIG HAPPY NUCLEAR FAMILY The U.S. nuclear power industry said yesterday that it produced more power in the year 2000 than ever before. The announcement came just one week after Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) introduced a bill to spur more use of nuclear energy in the U.S., celebrating what he termed a "safe and environmentally clean fuel." In other nuke news, Russia gave the thumbs up yesterday to a plan to build a floating nuclear power plant on the White Sea. And China said it would move forward with plans to build several new nuclear power plants in its coastal provinces.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 14 March 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10088>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 09 March 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10033>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 14 March 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10081>

5. WHOAH, CORN DOGGY A vegetarian-foods subsidiary of Kellogg's announced a recall in the U.S. on Tuesday of all its meatless corn dogs after tests confirmed that some of them contained a genetically engineered corn variety not approved for human consumption. Greenpeace first spotted that the corn variety, StarLink, was showing up in the dogs, and went public with the problem last week. StarLink prompted other recalls last year when it was found in Taco Bell shells sold in supermarkets and other food products.

straight to the source: San Jose Mercury News, Associated Press, 14 Mar 2001 <http://cgi.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/recall14.htm>

do good: Take action and tell Kellogg's you don't want Frankenfoods <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/food.stm#frankenfoods>

I love lodgepoll pines -- a day in the life of Al Thieme, Cascadia Wild! <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/thieme031301.stm>

They paved pears and rice and put up a parking lot -- pavement is replacing the world's croplands -- by Lester R. Brown <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/brown030101.stm>

What would Costas Christ do? -- a believer preaches the gospel of ecotourism -- in our Out on a Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb030300.stm>

3/14/01
1:32:06 PM

REINFORCING THE RICH The consequences of raising hard money limits, from Public Citizen. http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/03/13/index.html

SUPREME DISTORTIONS

by Joshua Rosenkranz, The Brennan Center for Justice In 1974, the Supreme Court helped create the money in politics mess we have today. The current Court could help clean it up.

A TomPaine.commentary -- audio and text -- produced by Sharon Basco.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/03/07/index.html

THE PERFECT STORM

by David Helvarg

Scientists warn about a coming a wave of mega-storms that will likely hit the U.S. in coming years, but we are ill-prepared for them, and our policymakers seem oblivious.

http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/03/12/index.html

SYMBOLIC APPEASEMENT IS NOT REFORM

by Stephanie Wilson and Heidi Becker

More and more people are saying, in the words of voting-rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, that they are "sick and tired of being sick and tired" of this pay-to-play campaign finance system. They seek real change. A TomPaine.commentary -- audio and text -- produced by Sharon Basco.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/03/07/1.html

CHOOSING ECONOMICS OR EARTH

by Donella Meadows

We can't choose which laws, those of the economy or those of the Earth, will ultimately prevail. We can choose whether to make our economic laws consistent with planetary ones, or to find out what happens if we don't.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/03/13/index.html

FEC COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST JOHN ASHCROFT

Several campaign reform groups and some Missouri voters have filed a complaint alleging that Ashcroft's U.S. Senate re-election campaign committee and PAC violated federal election law.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/03/12/3.html

3/14/01
12:56:53 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS) http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

SENATE BILL OFFERS BOOST TO NUCLEAR POWER

WASHINGTON, DC, March 13, 2001 (ENS) - U.S. Senator Pete Domenici has introduced a bill promoting nuclear power as the best solution for a host of problems, ranging from energy shortages to global warming. But environmental groups and nuclear watchdog groups say that nuclear energy is still a risky proposition - far more so than renewable alternatives such as solar power.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-13-06.html

FLORIDA CREATES RHODE ISLAND SIZE WILDLIFE CORRIDOR

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, March 13, 2001 (ENS) - A swamp that is the source of drinking water for the city of Jacksonville and critical habitat for threatened Florida black bears was today approved for purchase by the state.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-13-02.html

JAWS OF JUSTICE CLOSE ON EUROPEAN ECO-CRIMINALS

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 13, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission today called for breaches of European Union environmental laws in seven key policy areas to be classed as criminal rather than administrative offences throughout the bloc.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-13-03.html

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE SPREAD TO MAINLAND EUROPE

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 13, 2001 (ENS) - France's agriculture ministry said today that foot and mouth disease, currently sweeping the United Kingdom, has reached French shores.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-13-11.html

DEPLETED URANIUM LEFT IN KOSOVO COULD CONTAMINATE WATER

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 13, 2001 (ENS) - Remnants of depleted uranium ammunition used during the 1999 Kosovo conflict were found in eight of 11 sites investigated by a United Nations fact finding mission. Their report, released today, warns that depleted uranium ordnance remaining in Kosovo presents a risk of future contamination of groundwater and drinking water.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-13-01.html

CANADA LOSES APPEAL AS WTO BACKS FRENCH BAN ON ASBESTOS

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 13, 2001 (ENS) - The World Trade Organization has ruled that France did not violate international trade rules when it banned asbestos.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-13-10.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 13, 2001

Bush Administration Chipping Away At Forest Protection

Cruise Ship Bill Strengthens Alaskan Regulation

Geologists Learning Uranium Containment From Nature

New Process Cleans Up Hexavalent Chromium, Trichloroethylene

NASA's Kennedy Team Cleans Up With Fertile Invention

Water Rally Visits Los Angeles

Paper or Plastic? New Choices in Mulch

Colorado Biologists Tracking 50 Lynx

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-13-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

A Song of Creation: An Interfaith Earth Day Celebration at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Featuring Mickey Hart, April 22, 2001

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Mar. 13 -/E-Wire/-- Earth Day in San Francisco will never be the same after experiencing this once in a lifetime celebration. Come and revel in music, dance, and spirit this Earth Day featuring special guest, former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, plus many other spectacular performers. The celebration, will begin at 3:00 with an Environmental Fair in the Cathedral Plaza and at 4:30 the live musical and dance performances will take place in the Cathedral (Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St. at Taylor, 415-749-6300).

/CONTACT: McKenzie Ward, Publicist, GraceCom/Grace Cathedral, 415.749.6364/

http://www.gracecathedral.org/earthday/index.shtml/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/13Mar0104.html

TO BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

Break-Through Technology Makes Plastics Biodegradable

PAINESVILLE, OH, Mar. 13 -/E-Wire/-- The technology is an additive which, when combined in small quantities with any of the popular plastic resins, renders the end products biodegradable while maintaining their other desired characteristics. It is sold as ECM MasterBatch Pellets and the Company has developed the technology to the point where most plastic products manufacturers can use the additive without having to modify their existing methods of production any more than if they were changing the product's color.

/CONTACT: Patrick Riley, president of ECM BioFilm, 440-975-1645/

http://www.ecmbiofilms.com/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/13Mar0103.html

TO NATIONAL, BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS:

GEMI Releases First of Its Kind Publication: New Paths to Business Value: Strategic Sourcing - Environment, Health, and Safety

WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar. 13 -/E-Wire/-- The Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) today released a new publication, New Paths to Business Value: Strategic Sourcing-Environment, Health, and Safety. The guidance document was designed to address the business value of managing Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) in Procurement and was chaired by three GEMI companies.

/CONTACT: Amy Goldman of the Global Environmental Management Initiative, 202-296-7449/

http://www.gemi.org/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/13Mar0101.html

-- NEWS ADVISORY -- TO ENVIRONMENTAL, ENERGY AND BUSINESS EDITORS:

EPA Administrator, Christie Todd Whitman, Recognizes 34 Leading Organizations for Outstanding Energy Efficiency

/CONTACT: Krista Martin, 202-944-5179, or email: kmartin@hillandknowlton.com, or Molly McMahon, 202-944-5171, or email: mmcmahon@hillandknowlton.com; both for Energy Star./

http://www.epa.gov/

http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Mar01/13Mar0102.html

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE ON E-WIRE -- 1-888-764-NEWS

3/13/01
11:46:35 PM

MIR TUMBLE TO EARTH

WARNS AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER IN SPACE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Michio Kaku

Professor Karl Grossman

Two leading experts on the space program are warning that the impending Russian MIR space station reentry to Earth orbit should cause global concern about launching nuclear power into space.

Dr. Michio Kaku (Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Graduate Center, CUNY) and Karl Grossman (Professor of Journalism, SUNY) both have years of experience monitoring and writing about the space program and working to stop the use of nuclear power in space. Both Kaku and Grossman serve on the Board of Directors of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

According to Dr. Kaku, "No one knows precisely where the MIR space station, like a fiery meteorite, will crash into the earth around March 20, shattering into 1,500 fragments. Forty tons of debris will survive re-entry but no one knows where it will land."

"This is a grim reminder that we are playing Russian roulette with the cities of the Earth. Back in 1978 the Russian Cosmos 954 nuclear-powered satellite also plunged to Earth, releasing 100 pounds of highly enriched uranium. If Cosmos 954 had sprayed debris over populated land, it would have created a catastrophe of nightmarish proportions. Fortunately, it landed in the tundra of northwest Canada."

Said Karl Grossman, "Isaac Newton remains correct: what goes up, usually comes down. We can't continue to willy-nilly send space nuclear devices up, and then cross-our-fingers and hope they don't land on a population center."

Since the creation of the space age the U.S. and Russia have launched 68 known nuclear devices. To date nine have fallen back to Earth. Thirty-four of these nuclear reactor cores are still orbiting Earth and are expected to eventually fall back, burning up on reentry.

Grossman reminds us that, "In 1996 the Russian Mars space probe, with plutonium onboard, fell to Earth. First the U.S. Space Command said it would fall on Australia. Finally, the probe broke apart over the Chile - Bolivia border."

NASA and the Department of Energy (DoE) are now embarking on an expansion of plutonium production for space nuclear power. DoE recently announced that they will build new space plutonium production facilities at Oak Ridge labs (Tennessee) and INEL (Idaho) to meet the "growing demand for space nuclear power."

NASA plans call for nuclear powered rovers on Mars, nuclear powered mining colonies on the Moon and Mars, and nuclear powered rockets to Mars. The Air Force is considering the use of nuclear power for the space-based laser, now under development as part of the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program. The next NASA nuclear mission is set for 2003.

Grossman and Kaku call for a global ban on launching nuclear power into space. The MIR space station reentry, they remind us, is a warning that nuclear powered space accidents will happen and that they will spread deadly radioactive poisons globally and could create hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Grossman and Kaku will be featured speakers at the Global Network's National Space Organizing Conference in Huntsville, Alabama on March 16-18. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville is now developing the nuclear rocket.

Grossman is author of "The Wrong Stuff" and Kaku wrote the best selling "Hyperspace" and "Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century."

Check the Global Network website for more information:

http://www.space4peace.org

3/13/01
11:37:58 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

FEATURE - Wildlife preserve shows effect of global warming - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10092

NY agencies sponsor energy conservation conference - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10090

US nuclear industry says 2000 a record-setting power year - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10088

Sainsbury to use wind power at Scots depot - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10089

UPDATE - "No cause for alarm" on Kosovo uranium, UN says - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10084

Shark lovers hope to wean Singapore off fin soup - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10082

Cold killed the butterflies, says Mexico - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10083

Lithuanian Mazeikiu says 2.9 tonnes oil leaked - LITHUANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10091

Indian wildlife group seeks end to turtle killing - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10093

EU seeks criminal penalties for environmental harm - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10087

UPDATE - EU court approves German green power subsidies - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10085

Estonian minister says mad cow presence possible - ESTONIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10086

FEATURE - Chinese planners look to mega-cities - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10078

China plans new coastal nuclear power plants - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10081

Macau plans wetlands for endangered spoonbills - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10080

Australia bars unloading UK cargo for disease fear - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10079

3/13/01
11:18:18 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

FEATURE - Wildlife preserve shows effect of global warming - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10092

NY agencies sponsor energy conservation conference - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10090

US nuclear industry says 2000 a record-setting power year - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10088

Sainsbury to use wind power at Scots depot - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10089

UPDATE - "No cause for alarm" on Kosovo uranium, UN says - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10084

Shark lovers hope to wean Singapore off fin soup - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10082

Cold killed the butterflies, says Mexico - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10083

Lithuanian Mazeikiu says 2.9 tonnes oil leaked - LITHUANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10091

Indian wildlife group seeks end to turtle killing - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10093

EU seeks criminal penalties for environmental harm - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10087

UPDATE - EU court approves German green power subsidies - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10085

Estonian minister says mad cow presence possible - ESTONIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10086

FEATURE - Chinese planners look to mega-cities - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10078

China plans new coastal nuclear power plants - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10081

Macau plans wetlands for endangered spoonbills - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10080

Australia bars unloading UK cargo for disease fear - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10079

3/13/01
5:16:30 PM

Nukewatch

MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

Published Sunday, May 7, 2000

Chernobyl: For 14 years, the industry has downplayed the damage to humans and the planet

John M. LaForge

With a heavy dose of half-truth, the commercial press works overtime to reduce the results of the April 26, 1986, Chernobyl catastrophe to a "nervous disorder" confined to the former Soviet Union and Europe. Understated anniversary reports of the worldwide radiation disaster help the nuclear industry hold on against overwhelming opposition, in spite of what should have been the final insult from nuclear power.

Efforts at psychological "cleanup" often sound like Peter Crane, a lawyer at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), who says that "the explosion . . . sent a radioactive cloud into the atmosphere of Eastern Europe." This is a true statement. It merely neglects to mention the rest of planet Earth.

Journalist Michael Specter reports, "The fire, which burned out of control for five days, spewed more than 50 tons of radioactive fallout across Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia." This loaded sentence is true, in a limited sense. That the fire burned uncontrolled for two weeks after a series of three explosions; that perhaps 190 tons of reactor fuel was catapulted into the atmosphere; or that the radioactive fallout spread worldwide, reaching Minnesota's milk, for example, doesn't make Specter a liar, only a miser with the truth.

The Associated Press' Dave Carpenter's description that "deadly reactor fuel shot into the atmosphere, contaminating some 10,000 square miles and reaching as far as Western Europe" is likewise "correct," but Reuters reported on Nov. 28, 1995, that the contaminated areas include about 61,780 square miles. What is it to understate the total of irradiated territory by a factor of six? It isn't the pot calling the kettle black; it's the cesium calling the strontium a cancer agent.

Carpenter's AP lullaby was published widely and included the comment that "those living in the shadow of Chernobyl will be living with its deadly health and environmental legacy for years."

For years? The word "centuries" would have been more accurate, if conservative, since radiation's health effects are multigenerational and not limited in time. Indeed, some genetic effects appear to be increasing with each successive generation.

The AP's Angela Charlson reported that the explosions sent "a radioactive cloud across parts of Europe." Understatement was practiced as well by the New York Times, which said the disaster "spewed radiation across much of Europe" and that "a plume of toxic gases and dust . . . spread across the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia." While this uncomfortable fact is nowadays passe, the contamination of the whole world was hinted at when the Times reported that the radiation spread across western Russia "and beyond."

'Irrational fears'?

While Chernobyl's long-lived carcinogens -- primarily cesium, plutonium, strontium and iodine -- are well known to be deadly for decades or centuries, Soviet officials, the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and U.S. editors have all ridiculed the common-sense fear of Chernobyl's radioactive fallout.

The official Soviet paper Izvestia said in 1988 that doctors in the Ukraine were "spending more time on trying to dispel irrational fears than on treating the effects of radiation."

The IAEA, which at first refused to conduct a post-Chernobyl health study, claiming that all the accident's effects were confined within Soviet borders, dared to say in a 1991 study that Chernobyl's health effects were mainly "psychological." The heavily criticized report did not consider the health of the emergency-response workers or of the evacuees from the 18-mile exclusion zone, 8,000 of whom are now known to have died from radiation-related diseases.

The IAEA study failed to mention the lengthy latency period for observed cancer incidence. This cavalier whitewash of the disaster's inevitable results came from a nominal nuclear watchdog. "After all, the IAEA is in the business of promoting nuclear energy, not discouraging it. For 10 years the agency has attempted to downplay the consequences of the accident," wrote Alexander R. Sich in a cover story for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The IAEA, still downplaying in 1995, said any increase in cancer caused by Chernobyl would be "undetectable."

Editors across the country have embraced the IAEA's dismissive attitude, distracting readers with headlines like "Citizens still suffering radiation phobia" and "The legacy of Chernobyl: Fear is the deeper wound." A dread of radiation doesn't appear irrational in view of 1995's report that "A second catastrophic explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine could happen 'at any time,' Western scientists have warned."

A short review of Chernobyl's fallout pattern shows how irresponsible the reporting has become.

AP, May 15, 1986: "Airborne radioactivity from the Chernobyl nuclear accident is now so widespread that it is likely to fall to the ground wherever it rains in the United States, the EPA said."

AP, May 14, 1986: "An invisible cloud of radioactivity spewed over the Soviet Union and Europe, and has worked its way gradually around the world."

AP, May 15, 1986: "State authorities in Oregon have warned residents dependent solely on rainwater for drinking that they should arrange other supplies for the time being."

Star Tribune, May 17, 1986: "Since radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear accident began floating over Minnesota last week, low levels of radiation have been discovered in . . . the raw milk from a Minnesota dairy."

AP, April 4, 1996: "Plutonium and other dangerous particles released in the accident . . . have now found their way to Ukraine's major waterways . . . . 'We have billions of tons of radiated earth that can't be dumped anywhere, and which will pour plutonium, cesium and strontium into Europe for decades,' the chief consultant to the Ukrainian Parliament's Chernobyl commission said."

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 1996: "radiation contamination was detectable over the entire Northern Hemisphere."

Well beyond "Belarus, Ukraine and Western Russia," and further than "parts of Europe," Chernobyl's contamination doused at least half the world. But with so much disparity among estimates, we may never know the true biological, ecological, psychological and economic dimensions of Chernobyl's radiation bomb.

John M. LaForge is codirector of Nukewatch, a peace group based in Wisconsin, and editor of its quarterly newsletter, the Pathfinder.

Nukewatch

P.O. Box 649

Luck, WI 54853

Phone (715) 472-4185

Fax (715) 472-4184

Web http://www.nukewatch.com

3/13/01
4:58:16 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. PREPARE TO MEET YOUR MAKAH When the Makah Indians in 1997 commenced preparations to hunt a whale for the first time in 70 years, writer Robert Sullivan packed his bags and traveled to the northwestern corner of the Pacific Northwest to see what all the fuss was about. What began as a short trip to write a magazine article grew into a two-year, book-length undertaking during which Sullivan camped for weeks in one of the continent's wettest spots, followed the gray whale migration to Mexico, and spent innumerable hours with the Makah whaling crew as they worked to relearn an ancient practice. Read more about it on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: Whale of a time -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books030701.stm>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Whale tricks -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha011601.stm>

2. FRANCO, MY DEAR, I DON'T WANT A DAM More than 100,000 protesters gathered in the streets of Madrid on Sunday in the latest of a series of protests against a massive $23 billion water diversion project in Spain. The plan, which is now before the country's parliament, would divert the Ebro River in the northeast and involve the construction of 120 dams to bring water to the dry southeastern parts of the country. Ecologists say water shortages in the south could be better solved through conservation and small-scale projects. And they fear that the proposed project would destroy the habitat of the Iberian lynx, a species nearing extinction. Organizers of the demonstration, including farmer organizations, labor unions, and environmental groups, estimate that 400,000 attended the rally, while police say 120,000 attended.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 13 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10074>

straight to the source: USA Today, Associated Press, 12 Mar 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-03-11-water.htm>

3. RIGHT ON! Northern right whale births are at the highest level on record, according to researchers flying over calving grounds off the coasts of Florida and Georgia. The researchers have spotted 24 surviving newborns this calving season, a big jump over last year, when they only saw one. They think the rise might relate to the increased availability of plankton, the whale's main food source. Northern right whales were driven close to extinction by whaling, and fewer than 350 now exist. Their number one cause of death now is collisions with ships.

straight to the source: CNN.com, Natalie Pawelski, 12 Mar 2001 <http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/science/03/12/baby.whales/index.html>

4. CANNON BAWL The Interior Department under Gale Norton is quietly getting behind congressional efforts to roll back former President Clinton's legacy of national monuments. Today, for instance, the National Park Service is set to come out in support of legislation to restore hunting at the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. The bill is expected to be the first of many to rework how monuments will be managed. Norton's staff has signaled that the Interior Department will also support changes to withdraw protections for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. "The word we got, essentially, is that they want us to come up with a plan, and they'll support it," said a spokesperson for Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), an ardent opponent of the monument.

straight to the source: Denver Post, Mike Soraghan, 13 Mar 2001 <http://www.denverpost.com/news/election/pol0313a.htm>

straight to the source: Salt Lake Deseret News, Lee Davidson, 12 Mar 2001 <http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,255011992,00.html?>

5. GREENS' DAY Germany's Greens emerged unusually unified this week from their party congress in Stuttgart, just a few weeks before two key state elections. The Greens, a partner in Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's coalition government, made steps to end longstanding divisions between radicals and moderates. Moderates were appeased when the party voted not to support blockades of nuclear waste shipments from France into Germany, throwing its weight behind a gradual nuclear phase-out negotiated last year by the country's environment minister, Juergen Trittin, who is a Green. Radicals were pleased that the party overwhelmingly elected a left-wing candidate to its leadership team.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Mark John, Reuters, 13 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10075>

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Mark John, Reuters, 12 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10054&newsDate=12-Mar-2001>

On the right track -- a day in the life of Al Thieme, Cascadia Wild! <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/thieme031201.stm>

As the worm turns -- or: how I learned to start vermicomposting and love the worm -- in our Main Dish column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/ness101100.stm>

This Georgia riverkeeper has a red neck and a green heart -- in our Out on a Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb072700.stm>

3/13/01
4:06:54 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE (ENS)

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SPLINTER UN FOREST ASSESSMENT

ROME, Italy, March 12, 2001 (ENS) - A United Nations analysis that shows the global rate of deforestation is slowing was challenged today by two influential environmental groups. They claim the rate of deforestation may not be slowing at all and may have even increased in the tropics.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-12-01.html

LOW STANDARDS HEIGHTEN RISK POSED BY PESTICIDES

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 12, 2001 (ENS) - Two UN agencies are warning of the dangers posed by pesticides developed below internationally accepted quality standards.

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-12-11.html

WHOOPING CRANES SEEKING NEW ROOST

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, March 12, 2001 (ENS) - The world's most endangered crane may once again take to the skies over the eastern United States. Working in partnership with a variety of state wildlife agencies, conservation groups and other private organizations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to reintroduce a wild population of whooping cranes that would migrate each year between Wisconsin and Florida.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-12-06.html

TINY BUT DEADLY, INVASIVE PESTS RAMPANT WORLDWIDE

MONTREAL, Canada, March 12, 2001 (ENS) - Invasive alien species might sound like science fiction but to officials from 180 countries meeting in Montreal today, they are real and deadly serious.

For full text and graphics visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-12-10.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 12, 2001

Semiconductor Industry Cuts Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Bush Administration Urged to Cut Carbon Emissions

New York Reactor Sale Goes to Court

Geologic Record Offers Clues to Climate, Fuels

Uranium Mill Reclaimed for Tribal Use

Sea Lamprey Controls Proposed for Lake Champlain

Federal Agencies Spill Water to Help Fish

Elephants Sense Vibrations Through Their Feet

For full text and graphics, visit: http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-12-09.html

SEND NEWS STORY TIPS TO news@ens-news.com

TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATIONAL EDITORS:

Have Environmental Groups Sold Their Souls for Grants?

WARRENTON, VA, Mar. 12 -/E-Wire/-- If you look at the US Fish & Wildlife agency as a major corporation whose clients are the hunters of America, many things become clear. It's "franchises," the DNR and DEPs in states across the country, sign on to programs many ordinary citizens either don't realize are put into place or if they do, hate.

/CONTACT: Kathryn Burton P.O.Box 759, SaveOurSwans East Lyme, CT 06333,(860)739-7791/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/12Mar0104.html

TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND STATE EDITORS:

DRBC Announces PCB Meeting in Philadelphia

WEST TRENTON, N.J., Mar. 12 -/E-Wire/-- The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will co-host a meeting on Wednesday (March 14) in Philadelphia to educate the public about the presence of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the Delaware Estuary and to explore ways to reduce the amount of this toxic substance.

/CONTACT: Christopher Roberts, 609-883-9500, ext. 205, or croberts@drbc.state.nj.us; or Clarke Rupert, 609-883-9500, ext. 260, or crupert@drbc.state.nj.us, both of Delaware River Basin Commission/

/Web site: http://www.delep.org

http://www.drbc.net/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/12Mar0103.html

TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATIONAL EDITORS:

IFAW and Cornell University Deploy High-Tech Acoustic Buoys in Cape Cod Bay to Protect Highly Endangered Right Whales

CAPE COD, MA, Mar. 12 -/E-Wire/-- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) today continued with its highly successful, $150,000 right whale acoustic buoy project, when 5 buoys were deployed into Cape Cod Bay, with the assistance of Cornell University and the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS).

/CONTACT: Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell, 508-744-2076, jfm@ifaw.org/

/Web site: http://www.rightwhales.org

http://www.ifaw.org/

For Full Text Visit: http://ens-news.com/e-wire/Mar01/12Mar0102.html

3/13/01
3:57:07 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

US paper recycling nears 50 percent, industry says - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10065

DOE sets up institute to study climate change - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10070

Alaska governor proposes new cruise - ship controls - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10076

UPDATE - Ukraine floods leave 11,000 homeless - UKRAINE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10067

UPDATE - WTO upholds France's ban on asbestos - SWITZERLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10066

Protesters urge Spain to scrap water plan - SPAIN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10074

Save endangered Kiwis? - Eat them, Australian says - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10068

FAO warns of "bushmeat" crisis caused by hunting - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10072

ANALYSIS - German Greens see vote boost from show of unity - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10075

Spain may be open to discussing EU energy tax law - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10064

EU's Byrne sees alternative to permanent MBM ban - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10077

Ecuador coastal floods kill 5, displaces hundreds - ECUADOR http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10071

INTERVIEW - Go green for both growth and climate, expert says - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10069

Two dead as floods swamp eastern Australia - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10073

3/13/01
3:55:05 PM

Jay M. Gould,

Director of Radiation and Public Health Project

Dear Friend

I enclose an exchange of letters carried in a recent issue of The Nation magazine, which describes the remarkable success of our Tooth Fairy study. We have to date analyzed the radioactive strontium levels (called Sr90) in 2500 baby teeth of children, mainly born in recent years near nuclear reactors, and have found that about half have levels far above the expected trace levels, in some cases 30 or 40 times higher! When we have about 10,000 baby teeth we hope then to collect medical histories of each child to ascertain the degree to which children with high levels have had such childhood illnesses as asthma, learning disabilities, infections etc. We already know that a disproportionate number have cancer, extremely rare for children.

We think that our findings may eventually replicate the success of the first baby teeth study started by Dr. Barry Commoner in St. Louis in 1958, which found , after collecting 60,000 teeth, that Sr90 levels rose one-hundred fold from 1948 to 1963. In that year President Kennedy asked Dr. Ernest Sternglass to testify to Congress on radiation-induced childhood cancer, to accelerate the ratification of the ban on above-ground nuclear bomb tests. Dr. Sternglass is the scientific director of our current baby teeth study.

We are however now facing an embarrassment of riches. The number of baby teeth that we are now collecting from our web site

(www.radiation.org)

and from appeals by Alec Baldwin and Christie Brinkley as concerned parents, is rising so rapidly that we may reach our goal of 10,000 teeth within the nextyear or two. But since the cost of testing each tooth cannot fall below $50, we will need to raise far more funds for testing than the one million dollars raised so far from a small number of family foundation and individuals.

So we are turning to all our friends and teeth donors, who generally cannot afford more than $50--the cost of testing one tooth.. If you feel that our study merits support, please send a check for $50, (or more) to the above address as a tax-deductible contribution . At the same time copy this letter and enclosure to send to all your friends who you believe may also respond positively, by again copying this letter for their friends. (This letter will also be available on our web site). We believe in this way we will have enough small donations to move the big foundations to help complete our study.

The enclosed letter exchange illustrates the irony that our study is opposed by the federal government which has been measuring Sr90 levels in adult vertebra each year since 1954 but inexplicably terminated these efforts in 1982. Passionate appeals from Baldwin and Brinkley moved the New Jersey Legislature to approve a grant of $ 75,000 to analyze baby teeth from children living near the notoriously malfunctioning Oyster Creek reactor, but Governor Christie Whitman (now EPA administrator) vetoed this tiny grant from a multi- billion dollar state budget. Similar grants of $60,000 from the legislatures of Suffolk and Westchester counties have been blocked by the New York State Department of Health, so that it is clear that our only resource is the potential support of the millions of persons who are learning that our health is threatened by nuclear reactor emissions, the only possible source of the ominous Sr90 levels we are finding in baby teeth.

Sincerely

Jay M. Gould,

Director of Radiation and Public Health Project

P.O. Box 330, Unionville NY 10988

JayMGould@aol.com

Jay M. Gould Letters to the Nation March 26,2001 NUCLEAR POWER &US New York City

I would like to provide an update on some remarkable events that followed Joseph Mangano's epidemiological discovery that closing the Rancho Seco reactor in 1989 was followed by an enormous improvement in infant mortality and childhood cancer (Harvey Wasserman, "No Nukes--Better Health" Jan.29). Mangano has now found that mortality rates for all age groups in these areas have, since 1989, improved for all diseases mediated by the immune response. San Francisco, for example (only 70 miles from Rancho Seco) had in 1998 the lowest age-adjusted mortality rate of any large US county, with extraordinary declines since 1990 in all cancers, including breast and prostate, and in all infectious diseases. Even AIDS death rates by1998 have declined to the level of 1979 .

As a result of local grassroots dissemination of these facts and a generous grant from the CEO of a large San Francisco company, Mangano may soon be able to offer clinical as well as epidemiological proof of the benefits of closing reactors. As national coordinator of our Tooth Fairy Project, which has been finding ominously high levels of bone-seeking radioactive strontium (Sr90) in the baby teeth of about 2000 children born in recent years that could not be the result of past superpower above-ground nuclear bomb tests, he may soon be able to ascertain the change, if any, in the ratios of Sr90 to calcium in the baby teeth of children born before and after reactor closings. Nation readers can give us invaluable support by collecting baby teeth from anyone born in recent years, or even from baby boomers born as far back as the bomb test years of the 1950s, for we have found that they have the same incredibly high levels, after correction for the 29 year half life of Sr90, that prompted President Kennedy to terminate such above-ground tests in 1963.

Please visit our website,

www.radiation.org,

and/or call 800 582 3716 for envelopes for baby teeth.

JAY M. G0ULD Radiation and Public HealthProject Inc Oak Ridge,Tenn

Harvey Wasserman has shown again how adept he is at picking out a tidbit of bad science to support his views, while ignoring the vast storehouse of real science. He claims nuclear power is causing cancers and other health effects, based on a largely debunked study sponsored by an anti-nuclear group. Not mentioned is the National Cancer Institute study that examined 90,000 cancer deaths near nuclear plants spanning 34 years and found no connection between the operation of reactors and cancer. This is only one of several highly reputable studies that have come to the same conclusion. Ironically. The Nation recently published Ross Gelbspan's editorial on the seriousness of global warming. Any plan to deal effectively with this potentially devastating problem must contain signifiacnt levels of nuclear energy, which produces no greenhouse gases. Even the Clinton Administration's strategy to meet the Kyoto goals required substantial electricity production from nuclear plants.

The fair-minded observer must agree that US nuclear plants have been a safe source of electricity. And as we try to find our way out of the increasingly frequent power crisis, it will probably be an important component for the foreseeable future. Dr. THEODORE M. BRESMANN Oak RidgeNational Laboratory

Wasserman replies Columbus Ohio

It's great fun when pro-nukers confirm the realities of global warming even while denying the devastating health and environmental impacts of their brand of radiation poisoning. No government or industry-funded will admit to the connection between nuclear power and cancer. But hidden in virtually all of them is damning hard evidence to the contrary. The cure for global warming lies in wind, solar and efficiency, not in an economically catastrophic technology that kills people and the planet. And kudos as always to Jay Gould and the vital work done by him and his colleagues in searching out the health impacts of this failed technology. See-no-evil doesn't cut it when radiation is being dumped into our bodies--and those of our children. HARVY WASSERNAN

Gould rejoinder to Besmann (to be published later) As explained in my book The Enemy Within: The High Cost of Living Near Nuclear Reactors, reviewed by Blanche Cook in the Dec.7, 1997 issue of The Nation, the National Cancer Institute study that found no connection between reactor emissions and cancer, compared cancer deaths in counties with reactors with cancer deaths in adjoining counties with the bizarre assumption that reactor emissions would stop at the county border! JAY M. GOULD

As an aside, please read this to see why the concept of nuclear power as a "solution" to global warming is a pathetic joke:

http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/globalwarming2.html

3/13/01
3:45:44 PM

A GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION

EARTH DAY - MARCH 20, 2001

By John McConnell, Founder of Earth Day

In this new millennium it is imperative the whole human family mobilize for a moral equivalent of World War II. Every thinking individual who receives this message is urged to quickly choose what they will do. Think about it, talk about it -- and then act.

Be aware that today global institutions induce individuals to accept as truth what is forced upon them by their propaganda and keep them from thinking for themselves. Don't let powerful people in political and social institutions make your choices for you or take away your self-confidence.

The Earth Trustee idea of the original Earth Day (March 21, 1970) provides the key: Every individual and institution must now seek to eliminate pollution, poverty and injustice by Earth Trustee choices in ecology, economics and ethics.

Thousands of group projects are already helping people and planet. Their impact can increase dramatically by uniting in a global Earth Trustee Campaign with one common cause -- the REJUVENATION of Earth.

Human greed, injustice and folly have almost ruined our planet. But with the aid of new technology a vigorous global effort can repair the damage.

Until now, Earth Caretakers have been a sad minority. The most powerful institutions (global corporations and rich governments) have usually put financial profit first. The resulting social and environmental damage is disastrous. But Earth Trustee vision and action can change that. It provides a way for you to tap the best in your thinking and in your faith.

MASS MEDIA

Press, Radio, TV and Internet play a vital role. Actions, good or bad, begin in the mind. Those able to command media attention have a special obligation to speak out about the crisis and its solution -- the Earth Trustee vision and agenda.

www.earthsite.org

Earth Day provides an opportunity for Pope John Paul II, Billy Graham, The Dali Lama, and ALL world leaders to call for prayer and heartfelt dedication to the care of Earth -- to think and act as Trustees of Earth. Leaders in other areas of public trust should do the same. The March 20 Earth Day is the day to focus attention on what can be done.

Mass media has a sacred obligation as the eyes and ears of the public to:

Feature solutions as well as problems

Headline cases of peaceful progress in the human adventure that replace hate, fear, greed and lust.

Give recognition and attention to people and projects that eliminate pollution and poverty and foster peace, justice and the care of Earth.

With the media's cooperation, each year's Earth Day -- on nature's historic annual event, the March Equinox, will provide a great global holiday with world wide participation by people of every creed and culture. This will inspire actions for Earth's rejuvenation in the new millennium -- with peace, justice and prosperity for all.

When people think and act as Earth Trustees they will show a reverence for life - and for holy places. Earth Day helped move toward conciliation when it had Sharon Perez of Israel ring the United Nations Peace Bell -- and persuaded Yaser Arafat of Palestine to add his name to the Earth Day Proclamation. Jerusalem is a holy place to Christian, Muslim and Jew and its role in history is important to people of every religion.

Earth Day and its Earth Trustee agenda, puts The Golden Rule to work - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Here is a chance for people of all religions to show their ethical values by recognizing and practicing reverence for life.

The following example shows how our money and greed-driven culture is ripping apart the last strands that still hold the planetary Web of Life together. But we have a choice. What will we do? What will you do?

DOOMSDAY -- OR OPPORTUNITY

Will the new millennium bring the doom of civilization -- or a new beginning for our planet?

Evidence compiled by experts points to global disaster. The facts are succinct in PARADISE FOR SALE, a new book by Carl M. McDaniel and John M. Gowdy.

This parable of Nature documents how the quest for money and the misuse of science and technology exhausted the natural wealth of Nauru, a tiny island in the Pacific. The profit-first-mentality rendered Nauru a "Paradise Lost" for its natives and habitat. The authors compare the devastation of the small island to what is happening world wide. But while Naura has become a Charity case, to whom will the world turn for Charity?

Nauru is a microcosm of the rest of the world. The only chance for civilization's survival is a rapid change of attitudes and actions that will rejuvenate our planet.

A CALL TO ACTION!

John McConnell

Founder of Earth Day

1933 Woodbine Street

Ridgewood, NY 11385

www.earthsite.org

3/12/01
10:14:41 PM

The Prophets Conference

New York City, May 18-20, 2001, brings together an unprecedented group of today's most remarkable leaders, teachers and authors to explore and bridge science with spirituality. The thematic variation for this New York City gathering is Techniques of Discovery - an investigation of the powerful and profound pre-existent place of deep transcendent and transformative commonality found through shamanic practices, spiritual paths, entheogens, religious trance, out-of-body experiences and other revolutionary and revelatory tools.

(Note: Register before March 21 to receive a substantial tuition savings with early registration –

http://www.greatmystery.org/nyregister.html)

Ram Dass, Huston Smith, Gregg Braden, Gabrielle Roth, Ralph Metzner, Stanislav Grof, Riane Eisler, Michio Kaku, John Mack, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Robert Anton Wilson, and Russell Targ will be looking at, and in some instances, taking us to expanded states of consciousness and the uncommon knowledge and heightened awareness often obtained from them. We will look at the magnitude of the implications fostered by acknowledging this journey as true Gnosis. Together, we will explore the relevance of this experience into every area of our lives.

The Prophets Conference also envisions a Deeper Sense of Destiny at what is clearly showing itself to be a highly critical juncture in history and assesses avenues for imagining and reconfiguring Reality.

The Conference is being presented in the Synod Hall of The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, the world's largest cathedral, which is located at 112th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. Built in 1892, this magnificent edifice today is a leading voice in the exploration of sacred arts and liturgical expression and in the work of building community in an otherwise fragmented world. The beautiful woods and glorious stained glass in the Synod Hall create a truly wonderful and inspirational setting for the talks, panels, and experientials such as Gabrielle Roth's presentation including our ecstatic dance to drums Saturday evening, Ralph Metzner's shamanic journeying, and Russell Targ's remote viewing techniques.

For the many delegates coming from outside New York City, be assured that Manhattan has improved greatly, becoming a much cleaner, hospitable and safer experience with an extensive public transportation system to help you get around easily. Lodging can be a bit of a challenge; so in order to assist you, we have compiled an extensive list of hotels and hostels in a variety of price ranges for your consideration

(http://www.greatmystery.org/nylodging.html)

Our office is also available to assist delegates connect with roommates - 1-888-777-5981 or

axiom@greatmystery.org.

There are many restaurants and cafes in the surrounding area from which to select a wide variety of cuisines - a list will be available.

The capacity of the Synod Hall is 800 persons and at this time, two months before the event, we are 35% full with weekend passes indicating that a full house is a distinct possibility. In order to accommodate local delegates who are able to attend only parts of the weekend, as of April 1, we are making available a limited number of individual presentation tickets for a fee of $35 each. These will be available on-line or by calling 1-888-777-5981. To help select the individual presentations, we have the final schedule posted at

http://www.greatmystery.org/nyschedule.html

There are no overlaps, so you may select any of the presentations. Call for a brochure at 1-888-777-5981.

The Prophets Conference - New York City has taken on such international significance that the Mystic Fire Video organization has arranged for it to become a television broadcast series in nine European countries, and WorldPuja will be conducting a worldwide interactive webcast. Never before has such a gathering of these powerful greats been held. This is unprecendented.

As we join with our kindred spirits in this powerful place, we learn to become the needed leaders and beings of expanded understanding, the New Prophets creating the New Reality.

Thank you for posting this message to your personal email list and to your member lists and groups.

3/12/01
10:11:58 PM

Wilderness

In January, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed a new policy to keep the "wild" in wilderness. It would supersede the current, antiquated policy that fails to reflect the agency's duty to protect wilderness character. Your comments are needed by March 19 to support and strengthen this policy, and to turn back internal and external assaults from wilderness opponents. Take action at

http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/refuges/wildpolicy.htm

BACKGROUND The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) manages nearly 21 million acres of wilderness on 70 wildlife refuges in 26 states. These wilderness areas protect a range of wildlife habitat and wilderness character, from the rugged coastal islands of the Alaska Maritime Refuge, to the stark beauty of the Sonoran Desert at Cabeza Prieta, the lush, steamy swamps of Okefenokee, and the forests of the Maine coast.

A STRONG, NEW POLICY Across the board, the FWS's policy is a vast improvement over the existing agency manual. It is rare in the way it eloquently and poetically captures the meaning of wilderness character. The draft policy also emphasizes that humility and restraint must guide the management of wilderness. It correctly emphasizes that wilderness is a place where nature is permitted to take its natural course, stating that FWS wilderness will be managed to "maintain components of natural biological diversity such as wildlife populations with natural densities, social structures, and dynamics."

The policy also contains an excellent description of and mandate to protect solitude in wilderness. And it provides for sound mechanisms to inventory and protect the wilderness character of wildlands that Congress has not yet designated as wilderness. All of these improvements deserve strong support.

SOME STRENGTHENING NEEDED Some improvements could be made to strengthen the policy. For example, nearly 90% of all FWS wilderness is in Alaska, and special provisions related to Alaska must not be permitted to degrade wilderness character there. By law, snowmachines, motorboats, and airplanes are allowed as *transportation methods* in Alaska wilderness, but only for "traditional activities."

Further, such access may be subject to agency regulation. FWS's policy should provide a narrow definition of "traditional activities" that is modeled on the National Park Service's definition. The policy should omit language suggesting that motorized entry could be routinely allowed for almost any general public access within Alaska wilderness.

The policy should also be strengthened to ensure that alteration of habitat, biological resources, or ecological processes is not allowed within FWS wilderness except in extremely limited circumstances, such as to protect or recover threatened or endangered species or to alleviate negative impacts to wilderness character caused by human influence.

TAKE ACTION Please tell the Fish and Wildlife Service BY MARCH 19 that you support the agency's draft stewardship policy with some modifications. Send your comments from

http://www.wilderness.org/standbylands/refuges/wildpolicy.htm

or write, fax, or e-mail the agency directly.

Tell FWS you SUPPORT the draft policy's:

- definition of wilderness character, its emphasis that humility and restraint must guide the wilderness stewardship, and its description of and mandate to protect solitude in wilderness.

- direction for managing wilderness so that components of natural biological diversity are maintained and natural processes can take their course.

- requirements concerning inventorying and protecting the wilderness character of wildlands that Congress has not yet designated as wilderness.

Ask the agency to make the following MODIFICATIONS to the policy:

- provide for a narrow definition of "traditional activities" -- modeled on the National Park Service's definition -- allowing for the use of certain motorized equipment in Alaska wilderness which does not include recreational snowmobiling.

- ensure that alteration of habitat or ecological processes is not allowed within wilderness except in extremely limited circumstances, such as to protect or recover threatened or endangered species or to alleviate negative impacts to wilderness character caused by human influence.

Send your message to:

National Wildlife Refuge System U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 4401 North Fairfax, Room 670 Arlington, VA 22203 Fax: 703-358-2248 eMail: Wilderness_Policy_Comments@fws.gov

For a full list of Action Items, visit

http://www.wilderness.org/whatcan/takeaction.htm

An archive of past WildAlerts can be found at

http://www.wilderness.org/wildalert/wildalerts.htm

3/12/01
10:08:51 PM

Public Citizen

Industry Hired Gun, Hostile to Health and Environmental Safeguards, Up for Key Regulatory Post in Bush Administration

Harvard Center Director Tapped for White House Office of Management and Budget . WASHINGTON, D.C. - The man nominated to be the Bush administration's regulatory gatekeeper is a prominent, industry-backed academic who is hostile to basic health, safety and environmental standards.

His appointment would give industry a back door to the White House and enable it to step up its campaign to dismantle basic consumer protections under the pretense of applying "sound science," according to an investigative report released today by Public Citizen. The report is available at

http://www.citizen.org/Press/pr-grahamreport.pdf.

The report details how the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, which Graham runs, has been funded by industry groups that fight enforcement of health, safety and environmental safeguards. The report also outlines the regulatory rollback crusade Graham has embarked on in recent years to dismantle these standards. Graham, whose work is heavily funded by chemical companies and industrial interests, has been tapped to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). His appointment is subject to congressional confirmation.

The OMB is expected to play as critical a regulatory role in the Bush II administration as it did during the Reagan and Bush I administrations. During the Reagan-Bush I years, political appointees within OMB were given broad discretion to review and block new standards created by federal agencies, often at the direct request of chemical companies, polluters and manufacturers.

"The president has nominated someone intent on eradicating basic government safeguards to head the very office charged with overseeing them," Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said. "The public may never have heard of John Graham, but he could dramatically affect the quality of the air they breathe, the wholesomeness of the food they eat and the safety of the cars they drive. This is an obscure but powerful office."

"The Senate must see the danger in confirming Mr. Graham to this spot. Doing so would have profound and troubling implications. Rather than being a fair-minded assessor, Graham would continue to conspire with the chemical polluters, the tobacco industry, automakers, the oil and gas industries and others to stop the issuance of safety protections. The Senate must delve into the many conflicts he would bring to the job and reject this nomination."

A primary function of OIRA is to review regulatory analyses and calculations produced by federal agencies. It can use them to slow or stall new rules unfavorable to corporate interests. Virtually all significant new rules must be reviewed by this office. These include agency actions on industrial chemicals, fuel economy standards, air and water pollution levels, and virtually every other issue that is critical to human and environmental health.

Graham has devoted years to discrediting government regulators and shooting down safety standards using pseudo-science, Public Citizen's report says.

Public Citizen's study has been endorsed by Center for Science in the Public Interest, Health Care Without Harm, the Science and Environmental Health Network and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. Public Citizen has sent letters to members of the Senate Government Affairs Committee who will be voting on Graham's nomination.

Graham is a key player in a network of industry-funded hired guns who for years have produced bogus studies to disparage the methods of government regulators, Public Citizen found. Graham frequently is quoted in the media as a neutral expert without any mention of the fact that his Center is heavily funded by the very same industries whose damaging behavior is under discussion. His center has received grants from more than 100 major corporations, according to information on its Web site.

Public Citizen found that:

Graham solicited money from tobacco giant Philip Morris in 1991 to help fund his center, and five months later invited the company to review a chapter of his book on second-hand smoke. Internal company memos show that Big Tobacco relied on Graham's work to discredit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to undermine an upcoming EPA assessment of the cancer-causing effects of second-hand smoke;

Graham's center published a study in July 2000 concluding that a ban on using cell phones while driving is unwarranted, even though the federal government has recommended that drivers pull over before using a cell phone. The $300,000 study was funded by AT&T Wireless Communications; and

Graham frequently advocates industry positions to journalists, yet he often wildly distorts the facts. In 1997, he wrongly told the Associated Press that "most" of the 38 children killed by air bags had been decapitated, when in fact, they had not. He told ABC's Good Morning America that a Center study had found that passenger side air bags cost $399,000 for each year of life saved. After harsh consumer criticism the study was peer-reviewed. When it was later published, the cost had been revised to $61,000, and the study concluded that air bags were a worthwhile investment, even though earlier he told Good Morning America they were not.

"A person with such disdain for public priorities should not be given a last-ditch veto over the will of the public," Claybrook said. "Installing an industry-funded flack in such a crucial position would harm the public for generations."

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit

www.citizen.org

3/12/01
10:06:54 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. KISS MY ARSENIC Pressure-treated wood used to build playgrounds, decks, and docks is leaking arsenic at unsafe levels, according to an investigation by the St. Petersburg Times. The arsenic comes from a pesticide applied to the lumber to protect it from termites and rot. Florida officials say the arsenic is leaking at levels dozens to hundreds of times higher than those considered safe, and in some cases, they are concerned that arsenic may be seeping into drinking water. Although the pressure-treated wood is banned in Switzerland, Vietnam, and Indonesia, and heavily regulated in other countries, Scott Ramminger, president of the American Wood Preservers Institute, says the product is "perfectly safe."

straight to the source: St. Petersburg Times, Julie Hauserman, 11 Mar 2001 <http://www.sptimes.com/News/031101/State/The_poison_in_your_ba.shtml>

2. IS THIS BUSH GREEN? Loud cries to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge aside, the Bush administration has taken some steps to make industry edgy, and some right-wingers are growing nervous that Dubya's environmental policies will differ very little from former President Clinton's. Said one anonymous industry lobbyist, commenting on the Bush administration, "If their goal is to keep sticking it in the eye of business, they've done a good job." For example, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman has pledged to move forward with a campaign promise by President Bush to seek a bill to control power-plant emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury.

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 11 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/politics/11ENVI.html>

straight to the source: New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 10 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/10/politics/10GAS.html>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Bush whacked -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha110200.stm>

3. FOR THE LOVE OF THE LAMB What's a conservationist to do when the biggest threat to the survival of a species is another rare species? In California's eastern Sierra Nevada, endangered bighorn sheep could be pushed to extinction by the threatened mountain lions that like to eat them. Not all mountain lions have a taste for mutton -- champions of the bighorns advocate tracking and killing those that do. But defenders of the big cats are outraged at this suggestion; they counter that humans should stand back and let nature take its course. Others argue that humans have already messed with the natural state of things -- for example, removing the grizzly, the lions' natural predator -- and now's no time to stop.

straight to the source: Sierra, Paul Rauber, Mar 2001 <http://www.sierramagazine.com/sierra/200103/sheep.asp>

4. SONGBIRD SINGS THE BLUES Some animals facing extinction aren't being helped by the Endangered Species Act thanks to a decision last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place a moratorium on protecting new species. The service said it had to impose the freeze because it was too busy and short on cash from dealing with lawsuits filed by enviros over already-protected species. Thirty-nine species that were on the verge of being listed for protection under the act may now be in danger of extinction, and 236 species that were candidates for listing are also in jeopardy. The population of the Mississippi gopher frog, which once ranged throughout the pine forests of the Gulf Coast, has now dwindled to only 100. The cerulean warbler, a songbird once found in Eastern forests, has declined by 70 percent since 1966.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Michael Grunwald, 12 Mar 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54894-2001Mar11.html>

straight to the source: Christian Science Monitor, Warren Richey, 09 Mar 2001 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/03/09/fp2s2-csm.shtml>

do good: Take action to lift the freeze on species protections <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/species.stm>

5. SPILLING ME SOFTLY Salmon are suffering as the West feels the squeeze of California's energy crisis and the second-worst drought since 1929. Operators of federal dams are being forced to choose between using water to generate hydropower or spilling it downstream to support salmon. The Bonneville Power Administration announced last week that salmon recovery programs on the Columbia River will be cut back to meet electricity demands and debt payments to the U.S. Treasury. The BPA did spill $2.1 million worth of water last weekend to help migrating salmon, but the spill was only one-tenth of its normal size for this time of year.

straight to the source: Vancouver Columbian, Erik Robinson, 10 Mar 2001 <http://www.columbian.com/03102001/clark_co/183098.html>

straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Associated Press, Steven Dubois, 08 Mar 2001 <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/hydro08.shtml>

6. GETTING INTO CHIP SHAPE Semiconductor manufacturers have reached a voluntary agreement with the U.S. EPA to reduce the use of chemicals that contribute to global warming. The industry cleans equipment and makes silicon wafers using perfluorocompounds, which are 10,000 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping heat and last in the atmosphere for 2,000 to 50,000 years. Under the agreement, members of the Semiconductor Industry Association, including Intel, will reduce their use of the chemicals 10 percent from 1995 levels by 2010. The EPA's Sally Rand says the manufacturers are the only industry working globally to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Gary Polakovic, 10 Mar 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010310/t000021034.html>

When is a caribou an albatross? -- the Arctic Refuge could become Bush's gays-in-the-military -- by David Helvarg <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho030901.stm>

Truth or consequences -- a day in the life of Owen Lammers, Glen Canyon Action Network <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/lammers030901.stm>

Bright lights, dark city -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, the last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed030901.stm>

3/12/01
10:03:47 PM

Russia Won't Dump ABM if U.S. Deploys Missile Shield

By Andrei Shukshin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A senior Russian general ruled out Monday any hasty reaction by Moscow if the United States started deploying the national missile shield Russia opposes.

Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov, head of the Defense Ministry's international cooperation department, said Russia would not immediately abandon the key 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty even if it saw Washington violating it.

"Russia will not precipitate the collapse of ABM. We will consult with European and other states and try to stop the process even after the United States clearly begins to deploy the system," Ivashov told a news conference.

"On this road, there is such thing as a point of no return."

Ivashov repeated Russia's opposition to Washington's proposal to create a National Missile Defense (NMD) umbrella to protect its territory from a surprise rocket attack by "rogue states," such as Iran or North Korea.

He also dismissed as meaningless President George W. Bush's suggestion to drop the term "national" to make the scheme more palatable for west European countries still suspicious of it.

Russia says NMD is primarily aimed against its own nuclear arsenal and would amount to tearing up ABM, which it sees as the cornerstone of nuclear deterrence. The treaty limits the anti-missile systems the United States and Russia can deploy.

The comments by Ivashov, a hawk within Russia's military establishment, appeared to suggest that cash-strapped Moscow would have to live with the system since Bush appears determined to proceed with it. His Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has called the ABM treaty "ancient history."

Ivashov said that even if U.S. workers started pouring the concrete foundations of missile launch pads in Alaska for the shield Moscow would keep using political means to try to persuade Washington to change its mind.

Last year, President Vladimir Putin threatened Russian withdrawal from all disarmament agreements if Washington proceeded with the anti-missile shield.

The United States has offered to extend NMD to cover Europe to encourage its NATO allies to back the plan.

Moscow has tried to rally European support behind an alternative scheme, submitted to NATO, which stresses diplomatic efforts to defuse any crisis but could ultimately involve stationing missiles close to countries causing concern.

A senior Russian arms control diplomat dismissed what he said were suggestions in the West that Moscow's plan amounted to an acknowledgement that "rogue states" posed a real missile threat which had to be tackled by military means.

"I tell you, this absolutely does not correspond to our view," Yuri Kapralov, director of the Foreign Ministry's Security Affairs and Disarmament Department, told Reuters in an interview. "It's wishful thinking."

http://news.excite.com/news/r/010312/13/politics-usa-russia-dc

3/12/01
10:01:49 PM

BIOTECH - THE BASICS, FINAL PART

by Rachel Massey

Biotechnology corporations want people in the U.S. and around the world to believe that the U.S. government has fully tested genetically engineered crops for ecological and human health hazards. Three federal agencies -- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- have responsibility for genetically engineered foods, but there is no guarantee that a genetically engineered food sold in the U.S. has been tested for ecological or human health effects. In the rush to promote genetic engineering, safety testing has fallen through the cracks.

Biotechnology corporations also want us to believe that genetically engineered foods have been embraced by the public. In fact, genetically engineered foods are not labeled, so the public has no knowledge -- and no choice -- about purchasing and eating them.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its basic policy statement on genetically engineered foods in 1992. Under this policy, FDA considers genetically engineered foods to be "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), unless in the judgment of the manufacturer there is some reason for concern.[2, pg. 22990] Foods considered GRAS are not subject to pre-market safety testing.

FDA states that the need for safety testing depends on the characteristics of a food, not on the methods used to produce it. In other words, the fact that a food was produced using genetic engineering is not sufficient to trigger safety tests.[2, pgs. 22984-5]

FDA's 1992 policy says that a genetically engineered food must be labeled if it "differs from its traditional counterpart such that the common or usual name no longer applies to the new food, or if a safety or usage issue exists to which consumers must be alerted."[2, pg. 22991] For example, it says a tomato containing peanut genes might need to be labeled so that people with peanut allergies could avoid it.[2, pg. 22991] But FDA allows biotechnology corporations to decide whether a hazard of this sort exists. Under FDA's no-labels policy, we can find out the fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, carbohydrate, and protein content of our breakfast cereal but we can't find out whether it contains antibiotic-resistance genes, viral promoters, or proteins normally produced only by bacteria. (See REHN #716, #717, #718.)

In 1998 a coalition of non-governmental organizations, scientists, and others filed a lawsuit against FDA for failing to fulfill its regulatory duties. During the suit, FDA was forced to release internal documents that showed FDA staff scientists had strongly opposed the 1992 policy.[3] (See REHN #685.)

The lawsuit also forced FDA to release details of its safety evaluation of the first genetically engineered food that entered U.S. supermarkets, the Flavr Savr tomato. Calgene, the company that developed the Flavr Savr, submitted three safety tests to FDA in which rats were fed engineered tomatoes. After twenty-eight days of the Flavr Savr tomato diet, researchers examined the rats' stomachs. The three studies produced inconsistent results that Calgene was unable to explain. The first study showed no unusual effects. In the second study, some of the rats fed genetically engineered tomatoes developed gastric erosions (damage to the lining of the stomach). In the third study, gastric erosions appeared in some of the rats fed genetically engineered tomatoes AND in some of the rats fed ordinary tomatoes.[4]

Calgene concluded these stomach problems were unrelated to eating genetically engineered tomatoes, but it had no explanation for why they appeared. An FDA staff scientist who reviewed Calgene's data said there were "doubts as to the validity of any scientific conclusion(s) which may be drawn from the studies' findings," because Calgene could not explain the variations in results among the three tests.[4] In spite of the doubts expressed by its own staff, FDA categorized the Flavr Savr tomato as GRAS and approved it for sale. (The Flavr Savr did not sell well, so it has disappeared from stores.)[1, pgs. 83-84]

In January 2001, the FDA proposed new regulations on genetically engineered food. These proposed regulations still fail to require either pre-market safety testing or labeling of genetically engineered foods.[5] FDA says "there does not appear to be any new scientific information that raises questions about the safety of bioengineered food currently being marketed," and states once again that genetically engineered foods are "generally recognized as safe."[6, pgs. 4708-9]

To make this claim, FDA had to ignore scientific information that had been brought to its attention explicitly during the previous year. In March 2000, the Center for Food Safety and partner organizations filed a legal petition asking FDA to start requiring pre-market safety testing, environmental impact assessments, and labeling for all genetically engineered foods. The petition included a thorough review of new scientific evidence on safety concerns associated with genetic engineering.[7]

The main new requirement in FDA's proposed regulations is that producers of genetically engineered foods must notify FDA 120 days before bringing a new genetically engineered food to market. This notification, known as a pre-market biotechnology notice (PBN), would include various information, such as whether the product contains antibiotic-resistance marker genes and whether it is likely to produce allergic reactions. FDA says it will make a list of PBNs available to the public, but the list may not be complete. In some cases, FDA says, the existence of a PBN could be considered "confidential commercial information."[6, pg. 4723] As a result, under the proposed regulations a company could market a genetically engineered food without any public notification. FDA's proposed regulations are open for public comment until April 3, 2001.[5]

FDA has also proposed to create non-binding guidance for voluntary labeling. This guidance is clearly not intended for companies using genetically engineered crops, which have nothing to gain by telling consumers what is in their food. Instead, the guidance undermines consumers' right to know what they are buying and threatens to limit the free speech of organic and other food producers, by discouraging the use of labels with phrases such as "biotech free" or "no genetically engineered materials." FDA says these labels will be misleading on most foods, because ordinary food could be contaminated with the products of genetic engineering. In addition, FDA says these phrases could imply that non-engineered food is superior to engineered food, which, FDA says, would be misleading.[8, pg. 4840]

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Under the Federal Plant Pest Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for regulating "plant pests" -- organisms that could cause harm to a plant. USDA considers genetically engineered plants to be possible plant pests if they contain genetic material from organisms, such as some bacteria, included on an official list of plant pests.[1, pg. 109] Plants engineered without the use of genes from a recognized plant pest may escape USDA regulation entirely. Even when genes from a plant pest are involved, the manufacturer has discretion to decide whether the engineered plant is itself a plant pest. USDA does not tell manufacturers what data to take into account when they make this decision.[1, pgs. 110-111]

Under USDA's rules, genetically engineered crops that are considered plant pests must first be approved for field testing before they are approved for commercial planting. After conducting field tests, the developer of a genetically engineered crop can apply for "nonregulated status," under which the crop can be planted commercially with no further oversight from USDA. USDA leaves it up to the developer to decide what data to submit in support of its application for nonregulated status.[1, pg. 111] According to a recent article in AMERICAN SCIENTIST, many tests that companies submit to USDA are poorly designed, so they are unlikely to reveal any adverse effects that may occur.[9]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

As we saw in REHN #716, crops can be engineered to kill certain insects by adding a gene derived from the bacterium BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS (Bt). Under its authority to regulate pesticides, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for evaluating the health and environmental consequences of these engineered plants, which are, themselves, pesticidal.

EPA has registered pesticidal crops for five years, but the agency makes these registration decisions on a case-by-case basis; it does not have a standard testing system tailored to the hazards posed by genetically engineered crops.[1, pg. 176] EPA says it is reviewing existing registrations for Bt corn and cotton this year, in order to decide whether it is safe to continue growing them.[10]

When EPA registers a chemical pesticide for use on food crops, it establishes a tolerance level -- an amount of pesticide residue that is allowable on food. However, thus far EPA has exempted all pesticidal crops from this requirement.[1, pg. 106]

Pesticidal crops are likely to promote the development of Bt- resistant pest populations. (See REHN #637, #718.) Despite ample scientific knowledge about this danger, EPA waited until December 1999 to issue requirements for resistance management. Under these requirements, companies selling Bt corn are responsible for making sure that farmers grow "refuges" of ordinary corn alongside their pesticidal crops. The idea is that some pest insects will eat only the ordinary corn, so they will be sheltered from the evolutionary pressure that promotes the development of resistant pest populations.[1, pgs. 106-7]

In the past five years, corporations have introduced a powerful new technology into our food system without understanding the basics of how this technology works. Government agencies have refused to gather crucial data on how this technology can affect ecosystems and human health. Once again, we are flying blind.

Environmental Research Foundation

P.O. Box 5036

Annapolis, MD 21403

Fax (410) 263-8944

eMmail: erf@rachel.org

http://wwwRachel.org

3/12/01
9:58:00 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

UDPATE - Silicon Valley group supports local power plant - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10057

Green groups push Bush for utility plant cleanups - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10058

Queen Noor urges US to lead on landmine ban - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10062

Floods kill six in western Ukraine - UKRAINE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10060

FEATURE - Thai farmer's coconuts fuel green hopes - THAILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10061

Amsterdam zoo urges British visitors to stay away - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10055

UPDATE - US seeks neighborhood help amid energy crisis - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10059

UPDATE - German Greens accept nuclear waste transports - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10054

Monarch butterfly said in danger in Canada, Mexico - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10063

Chevron denies Angolan oil spill responsibility - ANGOLA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10056

3/12/01
9:53:52 PM

Sacred Sites

Martin Gray is an anthropologist and photographer specializing in the study of sacred sites and pilgrimage traditions around the world. During the past eighteen years, he has visited and photographed over 1000 sacred sites in seventy countries. This web site features his incredible photography with his writings.

http://www.sacredsites.com

Working Assets Congressional Directory

This website makes it easy for you to find contact information for your federal elected officials simply by entering your zip code. You can also find committee information, key staff and more. An excellent source of information for those who wish to contact their elected representatives.

http://congress.nw.dc.us/wa/congdir.html

HomePlanet

Supporting a culture of Peace Promoting common core ideas, community development and ecological integrity through education for world citizenship. HP is a project of the international association of educators for world peace.

http://Homeplanet.org

Real Abundance

According to this website, anyone can experience real abundance. It's both simple and easy. Here you will discover how your mind affects your experiences, and how to make plans for your future, and create your vision.

http://www.realabundance.com

Where The People Lead, The Leaders Will Follow

CANADA - No where has the above statement been truer than in the field of health care. As people in Europe and the USA have been turning to alternative health care by the millions, the medical establishment has slowly moved from complete resistance, to grudging acknowledgement to acceptance and embracement - or is moving in that direction.

http://www.savesite.net/gvnr/articles/030101_1.html

Dolphin "Midwives" Assist Russian Births

RUSSIA - You may have heard of underwater births, but Dolphins as Midwives? According to Igor Charkovsky, a Russian male midwife, 'Dolphins have an affinity with the baby in the womb and are automatically attracted to pregnant women. They sense when a woman is about to give birth and gather round. They give both the mother and child a sense of protection and safety." Sometimes, he says, the dolphins actually muzzle the newborn to the surface to help it breath.

http://www.savesite.net/gvnr/articles/030101_2.html

Romance Radar Give Japanese Techy Edge

JAPAN - The Japanese have scored another technological first with the creation of a "love detector" which sets off a high- pitched beeper when a possible romantic partner comes within 4.5 metres.

http://www.savesite.net/gvnr/articles/030101_3.html

3/12/01
9:42:45 PM

Gore Won

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A ballot design that confused voters into chosing two candidates cost Democrat Al Gore 6,607 votes in Palm Beach County, The Palm Beach Post reported in its Sunday editions.

The newspaper counted more than 19,000 overvotes, or ballots on which more than one vote was recorded for a presidential candidate. It concluded the net gain of votes for Gore would have been 10 times more than he needed to erase Republican George W. Bush's slim margin of 537 votes in the state.

Many voters had complained that the butterfly ballot was confusing because candidates' names appeared on both sides of the punchcard with holes in the middle. They expected the holes to select Bush and Gore to be the first two choices as required by Florida statutes, but instead found Buchanan, on a facing page, located between them.

According to the newspaper's review, 5,330 ballots were thrown out because voters punched chads for Gore and Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan, whose name appeared just above Gore's.

Another 2,908 voters punched Gore's name and Socialist David McReynolds, the candidate whose name appeared just below Gore's.

Bush lost 1,631 votes because people selected both Bush and Buchanan. Buchanan's name appeared just below Bush on the ballot.

The two Gore combinations, minus the Bush-Buchanan votes, add up to 6,607 lost votes for Gore.

``What it shows is what we've been saying all along there is no question that the majority of people on Election Day believed they left the booth voting for Al Gore,'' said Ron Klain, Gore's former chief of staff and his lead legal strategist in Florida.

Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, a vocal Bush supporter, dismissed the findings.

``You're trying too hard to find a correlation here,'' Racicot said. ``You don't know these people, you don't know what they intended.''

The Post reported that even if 1 percent of the 6,607 votes were intended for Buchanan or McReynolds - more than their combined percent of Palm Beach County's total vote - Gore would still have received 6,541 votes.

Three-fourths of the overvotes had punches for two candidates, most of which experts said can be attributed to the ballot design. The rest were for three or more candidates, which experts called voter error, not a design problem.

There were 5,062 voters who punched three or more choices for president. Twenty-eight voters selected all 10 presidential candidates.

The newspaper's review of overvotes was conducted between Jan. 17 and Jan. 29.

In a story published Saturday, The Post reported that Gore would have gained 784 votes in Palm Beach County if every ballot that had a hanging chad, pinhole or dimple was counted.

Had The Post's standard been used and its tally applied without any changes in counting procedures in Florida's 66 other counties, the tally also would have erased Bush's victory margin in the state.

In Palm Beach County's official 10-day manual recount, Gore gained 174 votes. Those were not counted in the statewide tally because the county canvassing board missed the deadline by two hours.

The newspaper looked at the 9,150 ballots that county officials said had no vote for president - commonly called ``undervotes'' - and found that 5,736 had a mark for either Bush or Gore. There were 462,350 ballots cast in the county, which Gore carried by an almost two-to-one margin.

During its manual recount, the Palm Beach canvassing board members - who were all Democrats - struggled over which ballots should be counted, so board Chairman Charles Burton went to court in hopes of having a firm standard set.

But Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga ruled that the board should judge every ballot on its own merit and count those where the voter's intent could be determined. The board counted very few dimpled ballots.

The newspaper's examination of ballots the board rejected broke them into three categories.

The paper found that Bush would have had a net gain of 14 votes if the canvassing board had counted the 62 undervotes that had a hanging chad. That's where a candidate's square is partially detached or is hanging from the ballot.

But, the newspaper found, Gore would have had a net gain of 25 votes if the canvassing board had also counted the 313 ballots where light could be seen through the perforations or through a pinhole in the square. None of the corners of these chads were detached.

Finally, the paper found that Gore would have had a net gain of 784 votes if the board had also counted the 5,361 ballots that had a dimpled chad, which means the chad had an indentation but no light could be seen through a pinhole or its edges.

Burton pointed out a problem with The Post's method. If the canvassing board had counted dimpled chads as votes, it would have had to reject the ballots where voters made a clear punch for one candidate and made a dimple for another because that would have reflected an overvote. It is unknown how many ballots would have been disqualified if that had been done.

The Post is not the only newspaper reviewing Florida ballots. Two groups are conducting examinations in all 67 counties.

The first group, which consists of The Miami Herald, its parent company Knight Ridder, and USA Today, had completed its examination in 65 of 67 counties as of Wednesday.

The other group consists of The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Palm Beach Post, St. Petersburg Times, The Wall Street Journal and Tribune Publishing, which owns the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. As of Tuesday, it still had 20 counties remaining.

Palm Beach Post: http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/