Earths.net

3/31/01
11:10:08 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BALTIC SEA SHIP COLLISION SPILLS TONS OF OIL

HELSINKI, Finland, March 30, 2001 (ENS) - The collision of a cargo ship with an oil tanker in the Baltic Sea late Wednesday night has spilled about 1,900 tonnes (2,090 tons) of heavy fuel oil into the water. The oil has formed a slick 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) long between the German peninsula Darss and the Danish island of Moen.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-30-01.html

FLORIDA RADIO SHOCK JOCK CHARGED WITH ANIMAL CRUELTY

By Steve Wilson

TAMPA, Florida, March 30, 2001 (ENS) - A popular Florida radio disc jockey known as Bubba the Love Sponge is soaking up nothing but trouble in wake of what prosecutors charge was an illegal act of animal cruelty disguised as a publicity stunt to boost ratings. The WXTB radio personality was charged with felony animal cruelty last night and booked at the county jail.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-30-05.html

TURKISH ENVIRONMENTALIST JAILED UPHOLDING SUPREME COURT RULING

By Jon Gorvett

ISTANBUL, Turkey, March 30, 2001 (ENS) - The leader of one of Turkey's longest running environmental campaigns was jailed for a year and a half this week under the country's tough anti-protest laws written by the Turkish military.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-30-02.html

DROUGHT STRICKEN PAKISTAN TURNS TO NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 30, 2001 (ENS) - A three year drought has prompted Pakistan to consider new and unorthodox ways of obtaining water. Melting glaciers with charcoal and using nuclear technology to cultivate salt tolerant crops are two of the options under consideration.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-30-10.html

LONDON TO TAKE DELIVERY OF LOW EMISSION BUSES

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 30, 2001 (ENS) - Londoners will soon be using hydrogen powered fuel cell buses, after an announcement this week. A fuel cell combines hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, heat and water. The fuel cell uses this electricity to power the vehicle. Because the only emission from fuel cell vehicles fueled with hydrogen is water vapor, they are significantly cleaner than existing petrol and diesel vehicles.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-30-11.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 30, 2001

Corps Reform Act Introduced in Congress

First Chapter of Earth's "Biological Record" Documented

Stimulating Environment Protects Brain Against Lead

Caviar Smuggler Pleads Guilty

Growing Energy, Environmental Benefits Could Aid Farmers

Historical Studies of Recycled Uranium Released

Wildlife Refuge System Faces Maintenance Backlog

At Tax Time, Remember the Toads

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-30-09.html

HEALING OUR WORLD: WEEKLY COMMENT

By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

Killing Tomorrow for a Few Megawatts Today

We have a beautiful mother

Her green lap immense

Her brown embrace eternal

Her blue body everything we know.

Alice Walker

The modern American system of governance has an attribute that the founding fathers of our country may not have anticipated. Today, the primary qualifications for assuming public office seem to be personal wealth and a vested interest in major industries. So, the people making life or death decisions for the American people, their children, and the children of tomorrow, are increasingly becoming the least qualified to be making those judgments.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-30g.html

3/31/01
11:02:34 AM

TomPaine.com

THE DEMS GO FLAT?

by David Corn

Instead of targetting tax cuts to those who need it most, the Democrats propose sending a check to every U.S. household. Have they caved under Bush's rhetoric of "relief"?

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/03/30/2.html

DOUBLE TROUBLE AT D.O.T.

by Brenda R. Mayrack,

Public-i (www.Public-i.org)

Lockheed Martin Corp., the nation's largest defense contractor, could wield substantial political clout in the Bush administration with the appointment of Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and his chief deputy.

http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/03/29/index.html

TYRANNY ON THE AIRWAVES

by Norman Solomon

The media industry -- no less than the campaign system -- is awash in oceans of dollars. Yet no one on the Senate floor has demanded the taming of the nation's media giants.

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/03/30/1.html

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Your feedback: Bill Shutkin made some of you ANGRY!... Granny D inspires a mom and her kids... and reader vs. reader.

http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/03/30/index.html

http://www.TomPaine.com

3/31/01
10:58:22 AM

US Election Activates The Activisits

USA - On January 20th, advocates of democracy around the world were scratching their heads while they watched in disbelief as the candidate with the fewest votes was installed as the new American President. However strange and illegitimate it may have seemed to most, it only served as a wakeup call to social activists and the visionaries who are committed to a positive viable future rather than a rerun of the disfunctional past.

With the advent of the internet and instant communication, the "playing field" of politics and social change is gradually being leveled. Grassroots organizations such as 'Act For Change', 'Give For Change', and Working Assets' are mobilizing to make a big difference in America. It's just a matter of time.

'Act For Change' makes it easy for people to become online activists and speak out on behalf of progressive issues. By combining progressive news with opportunities for citizen action, 'Act For Change' has become a powerful and far-reaching catalyst for social innovation. Not only does the online organization give visitors news and updates on important issues, but also a direct link to the decision-makers who can make a difference on these issues. The AFC website makes it easy for visitors to contact their federal elected officials, find legislative committee information, key staff and more.

And for those who are ready to financially support social change, the website links with 'Give For Change', a URL which lets visitors make online donations to hundreds of progressive nonprofit groups in one convenient location. Access is provided to more than 300 groups working in 11 categories.

Both sites are working in cooperation with Working Assets, a long distance, credit card, Internet services and broadcasting company that was created in 1985 to build a world that is more just, humane and environmentally sustainable. Since its creation, the company has been helping people make a difference in the world through progressive philanthropy and political activism, and by donating a portion of its revenue to nonprofit groups working for peace, human rights, equality, education and the environment. The company also serves as a strong political force, dedicated to giving its customers the opportunity to speak out on critical public issues.

Since 1985, Working Assets Funding Service has donated more than $20 million to progressive nonprofits, including Greenpeace, Oxfam America, Rainforest Action Network, Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Ms. Foundation, Children's Defense Fund, AIDS Action Council and Amnesty International, among many others. In 1999 alone, Working Assets Funding Service generated nearly $4 million for 60 nonprofit groups. The organizations fall into five categories: Economic & Social Justice, Environment, Civil Rights, Peace & International Freedom and Education & Freedom of Expression.

Customers can nominate nonprofit groups to receive funding each year. After an independent foundation evaluates the effectiveness of the hundreds of nominees, Working Assets Funding Service employees and board of directors select 60 groups for the annual donations ballot. At the end of the year, customers vote on how to distribute the donations among the 60 groups.

In 1991 Working Assets Funding Service created the Citizen Action program to provide customers with timely information and easy ways to speak out on important issues. Each month the company highlights two crucial national issues under debate, explaining what's at stake and whom to contact. Working Assets Long Distance customers can call the targeted decision-maker free of charge every day of the week, or have a low-cost, well-argued advocacy letter sent on their behalf. Online customers can send an instant e-mail with personal comments to targeted corporate leaders.

Working Assets is one of the most powerful progressive citizen-action groups in the USA today. Each month, approximately 40,000 Working Assets customers make their voices heard for each national action. In 1998 alone, Working Assets customers generated nearly one million calls and letters to Congress, the White House and business leaders on issues of critical public concern. Some of the Citizen Action victories in 1998 include: protecting the organic food label; winning compensation from Daimler Chrysler for WWII slave laborers; and securing increased government funding for family planning and civil rights enforcement.

Created in 1995, Working Assets' Flash Activist Network (FAN) is a rapid response program designed to give customers a chance to speak out on fast-moving issues before all is said and done. Throughout the year FAN monitors critical events as they unfold and notifies members by phone, fax or e-mail when it's time for action. Members can call a toll-free number for details on the issues at hand, then be transferred directly to the targeted decision-maker, or send a personalized fax. For a low monthly fee, FAN members can influence public policy before it's too late.

Working Assets is a telephone long distance company which offers everything that one expects from a phone company: crystal-clear sound, top-quality service and competitive rates, plus they connect their customers.

How do they do all of this? By simply allowing customers to donate1% of their long distance charges to positive social change.

In seeking a positive spin on the results of the US election, one activist suggested that perhaps the outcome was like pulling back on a sling shot in order to get enough momentum to shoot forward. If this is the case, then the results of the recent US presidential election have certainly activated the activists and there may be dramatic changes in store for 2004.

You can learn more my clicking here: ActForChange or going to

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/aboutactivism.cfm

3/31/01
10:55:11 AM

US City Issues Its Own Currency

USA - Ithaca, NY - Here is how it works: The Ithaca "HOUR" is Ithaca's $10 bill, because ten dollars per hour is the average of wage in Tompkins County, NY. These HOUR notes, in five denominations, buy plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, roofing, nursing, chiropractic, child care, car and bike repair, food, eyeglasses, firewood, gifts, and thousands of other goods and services.

The credit union accepts them for mortgage and loan fees. People pay rent with HOURS. The best restaurants in town take them, as do movie theaters, bowling alleys, two large locally-owned grocery stores, many garage sales, forty farmer's market vendors, the Chamber of Commerce, and 250 other businesses. Hundreds more have earned and spent HOURS who are not on the Ithaca Money list.

Some claim that they are better than US dollars. As one participant says: "We printed our own money because we watched Federal dollars come to town, shake a few hands, then leave to buy rainforest lumber and fight wars. Ithaca's HOURS, by contrast, stay in our region to help us hire each other. While dollars make us increasingly dependent on multinational corporations and bankers, HOURS reinforce community trading and expand commerce which is more accountable to our concerns for ecology and social justice.

The local currency program, which has been operating successfully since 1991, now has over 1,400 participating businesses with a directory rivaling the Yellow Pages. According to organizers it is bringing into the marketplace time and skills not employed by the conventional market. Some even suggest that part of its success is the difference in perspective. As one participant says: "We encounter each other as fellow Ithacans, rather than as winners and losers scrambling for dollars. We're making a community while making a living. As we do so, we relieve the social desperation which has led to compulsive shopping and wasted resources." The published success stories of some 300 participants certainly testify to the generosity and sense of community which have come out of the program.

Everyone who agrees to accept HOURS is paid one HOUR ($10.00) or two HOURS ($20.00) for being listed in the newsletter "HOUR Town." Every eight months they may apply to be paid an additional HOUR, as reward for continuing participation. This is how the system gradually and carefully increases the per capita supply of money. Once issued, anyone may earn and spend HOURS, whether signed up or not, and hundreds have done so.

At the same time Ithaca's locally-owned stores, which keep more wealth local, make sales and get spending power they otherwise would not have. And over $5,500 of local currency has been donated to 25 community organizations so far, by the Barter Potluck, the systems wide-open governing body. As they discover new ways to provide for each other, they are letting go of their dependence on imports. They believe that this greater self-reliance, rather than isolating Ithaca, gives them more potential to reach outward with ecological export industry.

They are capitalizing new businesses with loans of their own cash. HOUR loans are made without interest charges. Participants consider the HOURS as real money, backed by real people, real time, real skills and tools. Federal dollars, they say, are funny money, backed no longer by gold or silver but by less than nothing - $5 trillion of national debt!

Following their theme of equity, they note that their commemorative HOUR currency is the first paper money in the U.S. to honor an African-American. Multi-colored HOURS, some printed on locally-made watermarked cattail (marsh reed) paper, all with serial numbers, are harder to counterfeit than dollars.

Participants enthusiastically point out that the use of local currency is a lot of fun, it's legal, and HOURS are taxable income when traded for professional goods or services.

They also note that a local currency system is lots of work and responsibility. To give other communities a boost, they have been providing a Hometown Money Starter Kit. The kit explains step-by-step start-up, and maintenance of an HOURS system, and includes forms, laws, articles, procedures, insights, samples of Ithaca's HOURS, and issues of Ithaca Money. So far they have sent the kit to over 600 communities in 47 states. Kits are available for $25 dollars (2.5 HOURS option in NY or $35 from abroad.) from Ithaca Money, Box 6578, Ithaca, NY 14851 USA. A 17-minute video is also available for $17, or $15 if bought with the kit. ($40 for Kit and video).

Also see the website:

http://www.cfg.com/timedollars

Source: An article by Paul Glover at Global Ideas Bank:

http://www.globalideasbank.org/

3/30/01
5:57:59 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. HOGWASH! In a blow to environmentalists' efforts to stop pollution from large hog farms, a North Carolina judge has thrown out two lawsuits against Smithfield Foods, the nation's biggest pork producer. The superior court judge ruled that the plaintiffs -- environmental groups and river users -- lacked standing in the case and had not shown that the alleged wrongdoing damaged them directly enough to warrant a court challenge. The plaintiffs, who said they would appeal the ruling, counter that pollution-free rivers are a birthright for citizens. They hope to force Smithfield to clean up pollution in three rivers and stop using open pits to store hog waste. The company faces similar lawsuits in three other states in federal court.

straight to the source: Raleigh News and Observer, James Eli Shiffer, 30 Mar 2001 <http://www.newsobserver.com/friday/news/Story/414510p-411323c.html>

2. I'M A LOSER, BABY, SO WHY DON'T YOU DRILL ME President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that he may lose the fight to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling. In a press conference, the president said he will push to exploit oil and gas resources elsewhere in the nation if Congress doesn't sanction drilling in the refuge. Bush also defended his move to rescind a rule approved by former President Clinton to lower the amount of arsenic allowable in drinking water to the same level adopted by the World Heath Organization and European Union. He suggested that the level wasn't based on sound science. Responding to criticism about his decisions not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and to back out of the Kyoto treaty on climate change, Bush said, "The idea of placing caps on CO2 does not make economic sense for America."

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, James Gerstenzang, 30 Mar 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010330/t000027314.html>

straight to the source: New York Times, Katharine Q. Seelye, 30 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/30/politics/30BUSH.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: 10 reasons to drill-- the case for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho032201.stm>

3. THE BUSH WITHDRAWAL METHOD Loud international criticism of President Bush's decision to withdraw from the Kyoto treaty on climate change continued yesterday, and a broad coalition of U.S. religious groups urged Bush to revisit the decision. At a meeting in Montreal, environmental ministers from North and South America canceled a long-planned statement on how to proceed with implementing Kyoto and instead pressed U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman to explain the U.S. position. "Kyoto clearly is not perfect, but Kyoto is what we've got," said a top Canadian negotiator, Paul Fauteux. Whitman tried to reassure the officials, but had no alternative plan on global warming to offer them. She left the two-day conference a day early, citing "other commitments."

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 30 Mar 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14005-2001Mar29.html>

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 30 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/30/national/30WARM.html>

4. SURLY, WITH INFRINGE ON TOP A federal judge in Canada ruled yesterday that a Canadian farmer had infringed on Monsanto's patent rights because plants from the company's genetically engineered canola seed had been found on his property, apparently after pollen from modified plants on farms nearby had drifted onto his land. The farmer, Percy Schmeiser, was ordered to pay thousands of dollars to Monsanto, which filed the suit as part of an aggressive campaign to ensure that farmers purchase the genetically engineered seed each year, instead of saving their seed. Schmeiser argued that he had been saving his own seed for years and shouldn't be held accountable for pollen blown in from neighboring farms. In related news, the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects that U.S. farmers this year will plant more genetically engineered soy and cotton crops than ever before.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Marc Kaufman, 30 Mar 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12927-2001Mar29.html>

5. TAKING A CHARGE IN THE PAINT In an effort to force Rhode Island to abandon its lawsuit against the country's biggest lead paint manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has requested that state and Providence city officials produce 50 years of public records that have anything to do with lead poisoning. The chamber hopes the documents reveal mistakes and liabilities created by public officials dealing with the lead problem. State Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse (D) called the chamber "shills for the paint industry" and said the state won't be intimidated by the request. Meanwhile, the paint industry has asked a superior court judge to throw out the state's case, which accuses the industry of knowing that lead paint was dangerous before it was banned in the U.S in 1978 and covering up the risk; a decision from the judge is expected soon.

straight to the source: Providence Journal, Peter B. Lord, 29 Mar 2001 <http://projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/news/05210691.htm>

6. SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF DENMARK A 550,000-gallon oil spill caused by the collision of a tanker and a freighter in the Baltic Sea reached the shores of Denmark yesterday. Strong winds broke the spill into dozens of separate slicks and high waves complicated clean-up efforts by the Danish, German, and Swedish governments. The tanker, which was carrying 9.7 million gallons of oil, has been stabilized and the leak has been stopped.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, 30 Mar 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010330/t000027333.html>

Fear and loathing in D.C. -- the Bush administration is smoking out enviros left and right -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck032901.stm>

Getting that sinking feeling -- a day in the life of Noelle Barger, San Diego Oceans Foundation <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/barger032901.stm>

Desert storm -- Utah residents fight back against toxic contamination -- in our Books Unbound section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/books/books100400.stm>

3/30/01
12:44:43 PM

EcoNet News

This Week's Headlines and Alerts from EcoNet

http://www.igc.org/igc/gateway/enindex.html

Do you have environmental news or action alerts to share? Visit

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

for action alerts or

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

for short news items, and select "post article" from the upper left corner of the page. Simply fill in the form, and we'll review and approve your submission for posting to the EcoNet site and inclusion in this news digest.

EcoNet Alerts: March 30, 2001

World Bank Plans to Legitimize Forcible Relocation of Indigenous People

The Forest Peoples Programme has examined the latest draft of the IR policy dated March 2001. We are dismayed to see that the policy is severely weakened and discriminates against indigenous peoples and other ethnic minorities without formal legal rights (rights recognized by National law). The policy permits forcible relocation of indigenous peoples even when it will result in "significant adverse effects" on their "cultural survival." Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/985912145/index_html

Huge Dam/Forest Clearance Threatens Lynx

Please help us to stop one of the biggest deforestation and dam-building projects ever seen. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/985912426/index_html

Codex Irradiation Standard Threatens Food Safety

A proposed international food irradiation standard wending its way through legal channels in Europe could jeopardize the quality and safety of food sold to United States consumers. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/985912593/index_html

Utah Wilderness Update: Canyonlands NP Considers Opening Salt Creek to Vehicles

In this update, you'll find that the only perennial stream in Canyonlands National Park, besides the Colorado River, needs your voice and your letter. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/985913108/index_html

NRDC Earth Action: Speak Out Against Navy LFA Sonar

The National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed issuing a permit that would allow the Navy to move ahead with plans to flood as much as 80 percent of the world's oceans with intense noise -- harassing, injuring, or even killing marine mammals in the process. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/985913741/index_html

EcoNet Headlines: March 30, 2001

GREEN: Ground Squirrel Ghost Towns in Washington State

Biologists now have "fears for the survival" of another ESA candidate species after finding Washington "ground squirrel ghost towns" in much of the Columbia River Basin sagebrush habitat that supports the imperiled species. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985922953/index_html

EU Elevates Role of Biodiversity in Its Policies

The European Commission says a series of action plans adopted today will put protection of biological diversity at the heart of European Union agricultural, fishery and development policies. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985922585/index_html

Vietnamese and Philippine Agriculture Fall Prey to Globalization of Land Rights

While foreigners are not allowed to own land in Vietnam, an impending new law will effectively transfer the control of local land from farmers to foreign agro-investors, under agricultural joint venture agreements. A similar scheme in the Philippines has been criticised for driving many farmers to bankruptcy and perpetuating unfair labour practices against farmhands and agricultural workers. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985922388/index_html

Brick Kilns Threaten Forests and Health in Bangladesh

There are estimated to be about 5,000 brick kilns in the Bangladesh countryside. On average, each brick kiln produces one million bricks every year. As many as half a million people work in the country's brick making industry. However, the brick manufacturing business is also said to have become one of the country's biggest environmental threats, damaging cultivable land, forest and human health. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985922230/index_html

U.S. Northeast Still Damaged by Acid Rain

Lakes, streams, soil and trees in the Northeast continue to suffer the effects of acid rain despite cuts in power plant emissions, an environmental research group says Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985922086/index_html

Greens Tell EU Not to Call Garbage "Renewable"

Greenpeace warned the European Union yesterday that plans to classify some forms of waste incineration as "renewable" energy would lead to a proliferation of unpopular new incineration plants. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985921946/index_html

Winds of Hope for Alternative Energy in Argentina

The winds seem to be blowing in favour of alternative energy in Argentina, a country with great potential for developing "aeolian" technology, which is clean and increasingly competitive with fossil fuel energy sources. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985921818/index_html

Latin America Solidarity Conference Prioritizes Confronting FTAA and Militarization

Over 200 representatives of local committees and national organizations attended the second Latin America Solidarity Conference on March 17th and 18th at the International Conference Center in Chicago. They agreed to prioritize as their work for the next period: 1) confronting the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would be a NAFTA treaty for the entire Western Hemisphere; and 2) opposing militarization of the hemisphere (including opposing Plan Colombia; stopping the bombing of Vieques, Puerto Rico; closing the successor to the School of the Americas; and stopping the so-called "drug war" including the placing of bases in Latin American countries). Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985921594/index_html

WTO Talks in Chiang Mai a Trojan Horse, Activists Warn

Civil rights groups and activists have urged the public to closely monitor the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks to he held in Chiang Mai this week. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985921351/index_html

Genetically Engineered Fish Threaten World's Oceans

GE fish have the potential to cause irreversible damage to wild fish stocks and to the wider marine environment. Leading marine biologists have expressed grave reservations and warned that even a small number of GE fishes released into the wild can have potentially devastating effects. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985921007/index_html

A Million Farmers Protest Against the WTO in India

Just 12 days before the WTO deadline for opening up markets, farmers came together in the Capital on Monday to fight a last-ditch battle against globalization and the government's "anti-farmer and reform policies". Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985920763/index_html

Biotech Company Admits StarLink Contamination Is Forever

A top Aventis CropScience executive said Sunday that the food supply will never be rid of the new strain of corn that the company genetically engineered at Research Triangle Park. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985920399/index_html

Protesters Destroy GE Trees in Oregon

In mid-March, 2001 concerned OSU students and alumni targeted three GE test sites where Poplar and Cottonwood trees are being grown by Steve Strauss, a forestry professor at Oregon State University and the founder of the Tree Genetic Engineering research Cooperative. According to the communiqué the test plots "at these places were independently assessed and found to be a dangerous experiment of unknown genetic consequences. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985920288/index_html

Renewal of German Atomic Waste Shipment Spawns Massive Protests

The United States could see protests similar to those now occurring in Germany if the federal government approves a plan to transport high-level nuclear waste across the country to a Nevada storage site, two U.S. public interest groups said today. Read More...

http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/985920098/index_html

3/30/01
11:47:34 AM

GREENPEACE CALLS ON EU TO STOP GREENWASHING WASTE ISSUE:

New Report Confirms Health Concerns over Incineration

Brussels - 27th March 2001: Greenpeace accused the EU Council of greenwash today for attempting to classify an established health hazard as a source of renewable energy in the Draft EC Directive on Renewables. The EU is advocating the use of incineration of biodegradable waste, despite clear evidence that it produces virtually no useful energy. In addition a new Greenpeace report points to independent scientific research which identifies links between incineration and a variety of human health impacts.

"To promote these toxic incinerators as a source of renewable energy is shameful. This report points to clear evidence that incinerators release toxic substances and that workers at incinerator plants and people living in nearby communities are exposed to a wide range of potential health impacts," said Dr. Paul Johnston, one of the authors of the report. "The EU Council should not be advocating the use of incineration, they should be demanding a total phase out," he added.

The report, "Incineration and Human Health", cites numerous scientific studies carried out in the UK, Italy, the US and Sweden amongst other countries. It reveals that, where studies into health impacts of incinerators have been conducted, waste incineration is associated with definite hazards to human health such as lung, throat, liver and stomach cancers as well as respiratory problems and heart disease.

"The limited number of tests that have been done have produced deeply worrying evidence of the potential links between incineration and serious illnesses. But it is only the tip of the iceberg. Far more research needs to be carried out to establish the true extent of the problem and to establish exact patterns of illness. For the EU to push for incineration without examining all the facts is grossly irresponsible," Johnston added.

The scientific data also reveal that, despite reduction in some chemicals in the stack emissions, even modern incinerators release numerous toxic substances into the atmosphere and into residues such as fly ash and bottom ash, often at increased concentrations.

Greenpeace also released a letter sent to the EC Energy Commissioner, Loyola de Palacio, criticising the EU for its "common position" on the draft Directive on renewable energy sources, just formalised by the Council, in which EU ministers included the biodegradable content of municipal wastes in the definition of renewables, caving in to the pressures from Italy, the Netherlands and the UK.

Greenpeace warned that it is technically incorrect to consider the burning of green waste (biodegradable waste without paper) an energy source. Green waste makes up more than half of the biodegradable waste. Its heat value is far too low to consider it a possible energy source, given the energy needed to make it burn, to clean the resulting flue gases, and to dispose of the residues (1). Greenpeace is calling on the EU Commission and the European Parliament to advocate paper recycling and composting - the best, cheapest and healthiest ways to manage biodegradable waste - instead of incineration.

"There is no place for incineration of wastes in a sustainable society," said Juan Lopez de Uralde, Greenpeace International Toxics campaign coordinator. "To suggest that the incineration of biowastes as a renewable source of energy undermines society's move towards genuine sources of renewable energy, hampers the effort to minimise the production of municipal waste and discourages the development of composting. EU member states and the European Commission must stop this cynical greenwash and start working right now on plans to phase out incineration," he concluded.

For more information, contact Juan Lopez de Uralde, Mobile: + 34 609 42 09 07

or Paul Johnston, Head of Greenpeace Science Unit, Mobile + 44 788 798 38 20

or Lorenzo Consoli, Media officer, Greenpeace EU Unit Bruxelles 02/ 280.14.00 Mobile 0496/12 2112

Notes for the Editor:

1) Green waste has a very low heat value, around 3-5 MJ/kg. This makes it virtually impossible to burn without adding paper.

2) In a recent report (March 21, 2001), the UK House of Common's Select Committee on the Environment, Transport and Regions explains: "We do not accept that energy from waste incineration is a renewable form of energy. Even if one considers that it meets the technical definition of renewable energy, it utterly fails to meet what might be called a 'common- sense' interpretation. A sustainable waste management has as its cornerstone in the minimisation of waste, and the explicit maintenance of waste streams for the purposes of incineration is in complete contradiction of this principle. By classifying energy from waste as renewable energy, a signal is sent to the public and business that it is acceptable to continue producing waste because 'renewable energy' is generated from it".

Full copies of the Greenpeace report are available on:

http://www.greenpeace.org/~toxics/reports/euincin.pdf

3/30/01
11:34:16 AM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

BUSH SAYS ECONOMY OVERRIDES ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

WASHINGTON, DC, March 29, 2001 (ENS) - President George W. Bush has no intention of supporting any environmental initiatives that could harm the American economy, he said today. During a press conference this morning, the President was asked about the environmental initiatives his administration has already rolled back, and what programs he may overturn in the future.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-07.html

NORTON OPENS DOOR TO OVERTURNING MONUMENTS

WASHINGTON, DC, March 29, 2001 (ENS) - In a letter sent Wednesday to local officials of all political affiliations, Interior Secretary Gale Norton asked for their ideas regarding land use plans for national monuments that were set aside by the Clinton administration. The news was greeted with concern by conservation groups who fear the Bush administration will seek to dismantle the monuments.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-08.html

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS CONFRONT BUSH OVER CLIMATE RETREAT

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 29, 2001 (ENS) - The European Union will next week send a high level delegation to Washington in a bid to "clarify" the USA's position on the Kyoto climate protocol. The move was announced by Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom as European condemnations of the Bush administration's apparent rejection of the Kyoto Protocol multiplied.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-02.html

WORLD ENERGY USE WILL MORE THAN DOUBLE BY 2020

WASHINGTON, DC, March 29, 2001 (ENS) - Worldwide energy consumption will grow by 59 percent over the next 20 years, according to an annual forecast released today by the U.S. Department of Energy. Carbon dioxide emissions linked to global climate change are expected to nearly double by the year 2020.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-01.html

CONTESTED GERMAN NUCLEAR WASTE REACHES STORAGE DEPOT

GORLEBEN, Germany, March 29, 2001 (ENS) - A shipment of reprocessed nuclear waste from France arrived at an underground storage depot at Gorleben in northern Germany early this morning, but not until nearly 700 people were arrested in violent clashes with police.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-03.html

WILD CALIFORNIA CONDORS LAY FIRST EGG IN 15 YEARS

GRAND CANYON, Arizona, March 29, 2001 (ENS) - For the first time in 15 years, a California condor has laid an egg in the wild. Although the egg was found broken, biologists say this first nesting attempt illustrates the success of the captive breeding program that removed the last California condor from the wild in 1986. Meanwhile, five more young California condors are scheduled to be released into the wild next week.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-06.html

CLAM DISCOVERY AS GOOD AS GOLD TO ARCTIC HAMLET

IQALUIT, Nunavut, Canada, March 29, 2001 (ENS) - The remote Arctic community of Qikiqtarjuaq might never be the same again. Deep beneath the ice on the ocean floor lie clams the size and texture of the geoduck clams prized on Asian markets.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-11.html

AUSTRALIA TACKLES EMISSIONS WITH COGENERATION BOOST

MELBOURNE, Australia, March 28, 2001 (ENS) - Two new projects expected to reduce greenhouse emissions by more than three million tonnes over five years have won A $26 million (US$12.84 million) in support from the Australian government's Greenhouse Gas Abatement Program.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-10.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 29, 2001

Bush Administration May Overturn Snowmobile Ban

Bipartisan Bills Promote Fuel Cells

BLM Charged With Contempt Over Desert Tortoise Plan

Groups Seek ESA Listing for Gray Whales

Roadless Protection Not Damaging Idaho's Timber Industry

Giant Banner Challenges Boise Cascade

Three Miles of Florida Gulf Coastline Protected

Radioactive Tumbleweeds, Birds Worry INEEL Managers

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-29-09.html

3/29/01
11:42:17 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

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

UPDATE - Bush, Schroeder disagree on Kyoto pact - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10311

US EPA releases 2001 acid rain auction report - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10319

US senators want rules lightened for oil refineries - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10318

Ozone-eating clouds form in cold polar rings - study - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10317

INTERVIEW - Clinton climate change czar slams Bush - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10316

UPDATE - Facing defeat on Alaska drilling, Bush looks beyond - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10313

Campaigners fail to block UK nuclear waste dumping - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10310

FEATURE - Mass butterfly death alarms Mexican ecologists - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10312

Japan's TEPCO says likely won't use MOX for now - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10309

UPDATE - Italy to ban single hull tankers in several areas - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10314

UPDATE - German atomic waste ends controversial odyssey - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10305

Tanker leaks fuel oil after collision in Baltic - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10303

France's La Hague plant no stranger to protests - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10321

Vedrine says US must help reduce greenhouse gases - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10315

EU to take Germany to court over packaging law - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10308

ANALYSIS - EU may have to go it alone on climate change - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10306

UPDATE - US defends Kyoto move, Canada defends pact - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10307

Pacific atolls could "drown" without climate pact - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10302

Bush move on climate pact "regrettable" - IPCC - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10304

Rising salt levels devour Australian farmland - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10320

3/29/01
10:28:01 PM

March 29, 2001

http://members.home.net/theroyprocess

THE ROY PROCESS FOR NEUTRALIZING (TRANSMUTING) NUCLEAR WASTE

The nuclear industry is pushing hard to open the proposed high level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada and looking at Skull Valley, Utah as a temporary dump site. Both are on Native American land. But Yucca Mountain can not pass muster as a stable dump site and it is a scientific impossibility to securely bury high level nuclear waste for 486,000 years, 20 half-lives of plutonium 239. Yet in only the first 50 years of the atomic age, nuclear waste has already leaked out of its containment into our precious ground waters and is irretrievable. Nuclear power was forced on the utility companies to make electric rate payers, pay for the high cost of plutonium production, the element needed the atom bombs. Now we have more than enough plutonium for national security so there is no need for nuclear power plants which only boils water to make steam that powers the generators.

Regardless of the future of nuclear power worldwide, we must do something now about nuclear waste. Russia was first to try dry cask storage (vitrification) at their Ural Mountain nuclear dump. It exploded in the 1950's and heavily contaminated the area. France also found dry cask burial a failed technology and is shipping France's nuclear waste to Germany for burial, under citizens protest! Dry cask burial is planned for Yucca Mountain.

In 1979 after the Three Mile Island reactor partial meltdown. The late Dr. Radha R. Roy, professor of physics emeritus, at Arizona State University, released to the press that he had invented new science which will render all nuclear waste into non-radioactive elements using existing infrastructure, commerically available machinery and current supporting technology. Dr. Roy then estimated cost at $80 Million dollars to build the Roy Process pilot treatment facilities and should take three years to construct. (see the Roy Process web site above)

In addition, treated by the Roy Process the nuclear waste rapidly decays producing heat which can be used to make steam and power the existing generators at each reactor where the waste is now stored in cooling ponds. So moving and burying nuclear waste would be a colossal mistake!

Solving the nuclear waste disposal problem DOES NOT make nuclear power a 'clean' technology, far from it. Dr. Roy was outspokenly against nuclear power for scientific and health reasons. For info on health effects of radiation see: www.radiation.org

In 1982 the U.S. Congress passed a new nuclear waste policy act, making (burial) government policy and putting viable alternatives in scientific limbo. But burial IS NOT a safe solution and will threaten the gene pool of thousands of future generations,

A radio talk show segment on the Roy Process will aire April 7th @ 9 AM California time on 99.3 FM and can be heard on the Internet at: www.kclafm.com

Sincerely Yours, Dennis F. Nester 4510 E. Willow Ave Phoenix,AZ 85032

3/29/01
7:34:25 PM

Public Citizen

Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook

On Anticipated Passage of McCain-Feingold Bill

The key votes have been taken, and the McCain-Feingold bill is headed for Senate approval. This hard- fought legislation takes three giant steps forward in campaign finance reform. It will ban soft money, stop corporate and union financing of sham "issue ads" and require broadcasters to lower the cost of candidate and party ads. These reforms will help the American people recapture their government.

Unfortunately, the price of these reforms takes us one major step backward: it increases the maximum limits on hard money contributions to candidates and parties. The doubling of the $1,000 limit on individual contributions to candidates is an insult to democracy. It will fuel, not lessen, candidates' race for big money and discourage people from challenging incumbents. Along with other hard money increases, it will likely bring more than $200 million in new large donor money into political campaigns. With almost half the cost of these campaigns already paid by $1,000-plus donors, this is not good news for the average American.

Despite this cost, the bill on the whole is progressive. It will outlaw the biggest contributions from special interests -- soft money that goes to national parties, state parties and interest groups to influence federal elections -- which added up to as much as $750 million in the 2000 election. This legislation is a necessary first step toward fully reforming our campaign finance system. Unfortunately, the "millionaires amendment," which permits opponents of millionaires to take contributions up to six times the limits for other candidates, is misguided. It would allow wealthy contributors to combat wealthy candidates by corrupting his or her opponent.

Public Citizen is proud to have participated with other groups in a nationwide grassroots movement for the McCain-Feingold bill. And we are proud of the two dedicated leaders, John McCain and Russ Feingold, who have led this fight for so many years. Many others deserve praise, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who worked hard against anti-reform amendments; Senator Chuck Schumer, who successfully sponsored an amendment to encourage continuation of existing limits on party spending for candidates; Democratic Senators Paul Wellstone, Tom Harkin and John Kerry who strongly opposed increased hard money limits and put forth proposals favoring public financing; and Republican Senators Thad Cochran, Jim Jeffords, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Fred Thompson and Arlen Specter, whose support was critical for the success of the bill.

We are achingly near enacting the most important campaign finance legislation in 25 years and closing, at long last, the loophole that has made a mockery of existing campaign law. We sincerely hope the House passes and the president signs this bill.

Public Citizen is a consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit www.citizen.org

3/29/01
7:09:18 PM

Dear Sir/Madam - at Beech-Nut

Further to our recent series of emails, I know you will make all the difference you can by getting a 'recycle' label onto your glass baby-food jars. Especially as the very same babies who eat your baby-food today, will be the adults who inherit the Earth tomorrow...

And let's face it, we could have done a better job of recycling over the years...We could have handed over a much cleaner 'blue pearl'...all it takes is one-jar-at-a-time. All it takes is for each and every person to be Aware, to care, to write that letter, and to look for a better way.

The new paradigm is: How can I win, without it costing the Earth? Because I'll tell you, thousands upon thousands of glass jars in landfills costs the Earth! One small step, Sir, Madam, to put "Please recycle this glass jar - help keep a greener planet for your baby."

Do you have any idea what kind of effect that could have upon thousands of people? They would take recycling more seriously in general, and what a great advertising campaign. I dare you to step forward with this by passing this email onto the decision makers...if not let me know, and I will write directly to them. I eagerly await your reply...

Best wishes

JaDe ;-)

http://www.worldtrans.org/whole/warning.html

3/29/01
4:29:41 PM

MAKE THE PIE HIGHER

by George W. Bush

I think we all agree,

the past is over.

This is still a dangerous world.

It's a world of madmen

And uncertainty

And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked

Is our children learning?

Will the highways of

the Internet

Become more few?

How many hands

Have I shaked?

They misunderestimate me.

I am a pitbull on the pantleg

of opportunity.

I know that the human being

and the fish

Can coexist.

Families is where our nation

Finds hope,

Where our wings take dream.

Put food on you family!

Knock down the tollbooth!

Vulcanize Society!

Make the pie higher!

Major league asshole!

3/29/01
4:25:18 PM

Re-mineralizing soil and using organics

Regarding the post about Re-Mineralizing the soil & organic healthy food production. A few resources for Australia were provided too. Worldwide, soils are depleted, unhealthy, diseased & poisoned.

Being totally drawn to healing the planet I am deeply involved in bringing knowledge and products to people who want to do organics at home or professionally. Organics de-toxify soil and promote health. I teach, manufacture and sell organic products (including Mineral Rock Dust) in the USA for both consumer and commercial horticulture & agriculture markets, as well as other organic growing & earth healing products.

With any encouragement I would contribute additional information on organics.

Sincerely,

Glenn Battin

http://www.MotherEarthOrganics.com

3/29/01
4:22:45 PM

Insight: They're Spying On Us

Our government spied on the Soviet Union for decades, but now that the cold war is over, they're aiming their sights on us. The April 2001 issue of Popular Mechanics reveals that two powerful intelligence gathering tools the U.S. created to eavesdrop on the Soviets are now being used to monitor Americans. One system, known as Echelon, intercepts and analyzes our phone calls, faxes and e-mail, looking for "key" words.

The other system, Tempest, can secretly read the displays on personal computers, cash registers and automatic teller machines. Whitley Strieber was personally warned by a government agent 15 years ago that the data on his computer was being read in this way.

Full article at http://www.unknowncountry.com/mindframe/opinion/

3/29/01
4:17:12 PM

Trust Us, We're Experts:

How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future

by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber

"If you want to know how the world wags, and who's wagging it, here's your answer. Read, get mad, roll up your sleeves, and fight back. Rampton and Stauber have issued a wake-up call we can't ignore."

Bill Moyers

We count on the experts. We count on them to tell us who to vote for, what to eat, how to raise our children. We watch them on TV, listen to them on the radio, read their opinions in magazine and newspaper articles and letters to the editor. We trust them to tell us what to think, because there's too much information out there and not enough hours in a day to sort it all out.

We should stop trusting them right this second.

In their new book, Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber offer a chilling exposÈ on the manufacturing of "independent experts." Public relations firms and corporations have seized upon a slick new way of getting you to buy what they have to sell: Let you hear it from a neutral "third party," like a professor or a pediatrician or a soccer mom or a watchdog group. The problem is, these third parties are usually anything but neutral. They have been handpicked, cultivated, and meticulously packaged to make you believe what they have to say--preferably in an "objective" format like a news show or a letter to the editor. And in some cases, they have been paid handsomely for their "opinions."

For example:

* You think that nonprofit organizations just give away their stamps of approval on products? Bristol-Myers Squibb paid $600,000 to the American Heart Association for the right to display AHA's name and logo in ads for its cholesterol-lowering drug Pravachol. Smith Kline Beecham paid the American Cancer Society $1 million for the right to use its logo in ads for Beecham's Nicoderm CQ and Nicorette anti-smoking ads.

* You think that you're witnessing a spontaneous public debate over a national issue? When the Justice Department began antitrust investigations of the Microsoft Corporation in 1998, Microsoft's public relations firm countered with a plan to plant pro-Microsoft articles, letters to the editor, and opinion pieces all across the nation, crafted by professional media handlers but meant to be perceived as off-the-cuff, heart-felt testimonials by "people out there."

* You think that a study out of a prestigious university is completely unbiased? In 1997, Georgetown University's Credit Research Center issued a study which concluded that many debtors are using bankruptcy as an excuse to wriggle out of their obligations to creditors. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen cited the study in a Washington Times column and advocated for changes in federal law to make it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy relief. What Bentsen failed to mention was that the Credit Research Center is funded in its entirety by credit card companies, banks, retailers, and others in the credit industry; that the study itself was produced with a $100,000 grant from Visa USA and MasterCard International Inc.; and that Bentsen himself had been hired to work as a credit-industry lobbyist.

* You think that all grassroots organizations are truly grassroots? In 1993, a group called Mothers Opposing Pollution (MOP) appeared, calling itself "the largest women's environmental group in Australia, with thousands of supporters across the country." Their cause: A campaign against plastic milk bottles. It turned out that the group's spokesperson, Alana Maloney, was in truth a woman named Janet Rundle, the business partner of a man who did P.R. for the Association of Liquidpaperboard Carton Manufacturers-the makers of paper milk cartons.

* You think that if a scientist says so, it must be true? In the early 1990s, tobacco companies secretly paid thirteen scientists a total of $156,000 to write a few letters to influential medical journals. One biostatistician received $10,000 for writing a single, eight-paragraph letter that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A cancer researcher received $20,137 for writing four letters and an opinion piece to the Lancet, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and the Wall Street Journal. Nice work if you can get it, especially since the scientists didn't even have to write the letters themselves. Two tobacco-industry law firms were available to do the actual drafting and editing.

Rampton and Stauber reveal many more such examples of "perception management"--all of them orchestrated to make us buy or believe whatever the "independent expert" is pushing. They also explore the underlying assumptions about human psychology--e.g., "the public must be manipulated for its own good"--that make this kind of subliminal hard-sell possible.

Destined to be hated by P.R. firms and corporations everywhere, Trust Us, We're Experts is an eye-opening account of how these entities reshape our reality, manufacture our consent, get us to part with our money, even change our lives. A whole new spin on spin, it will forever alter the way we look at news, information, and the people who serve it up to us.

WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING

"Stauber and Rampton have once again exposed the ugly underbelly of corporate America's psychological war on our citizens. Trust Us, We're Experts shows how giant corporations employ sophisticated psychiatric techniques, unscrupulous public figures, junk science, tainted studies and clever PR mercenaries in a relentless effort to market products that routinely kill, maim, deform and poison consumers and our environment."

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President, Water Keeper Alliance

"Trust Us, We're Experts is a brilliant piece of investigative journalism and a powerful vaccine against the stupefying effects of the corporate PR machine. Spread it around!"

Barbara Ehrenreich

"If you've ever wanted to see a TV spin doctor hog-tied and dragged through the streets, Rampton and Stauber do the next best thing. This book is modern muckraking of the best variety, skewering hype and showing us how to separate real experts from snake oil salesmen and hired corporate know-it-alls."

Jim Hightower

"Finally, a long-overdue expose of the shenanigans and subterfuge that lie behind the making of experts in America. Stauber and Rampton take us behind the scenes, inside corporate boardrooms, where marketing chiefs literally manufacture their own 'independent experts' to defend their products and practices. This groundbreaking book gives us a first look into the seamy side of corporate public relations, where academic experts of every stripe and kind are bought in various ways. An eye-opener."

Jeremy Rifkin

http://goods.perfectvision.ca/ViewMediaFile.cfm?REF=26

3/29/01
4:04:16 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. SHELL GAME More than 15,000 green sea turtles are slaughtered in Bali each year, even though they are considered endangered in most of the world and a law in Indonesia prohibits catching, possessing, or eating the animal. Environmentalists say more sea turtles are killed in Bali than any other place in the world. Eating turtle meat is an integral part of Balinese celebrations, however, and catching one turtle can bring hunters the equivalent of more than two-month's pay for an average worker.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Richard C. Paddock, 28 Mar 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010328/t000026632.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: Saving sea turtles in Georgia -- in our Out on a Limb column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/limb/limb120100.stm>

do good: Take action to help green sea turtles in Mexico <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/oceans.stm#golf>

2. KYO-TOAD European and Japanese governments reacted angrily yesterday to the Bush administration's decision to abandon the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Japan's ambassador for global environmental affairs, Kazuo Asakai, said that "Japan will be dismayed and deeply disappointed" if the U.S. rejects the agreement. Today, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is expected to appeal to Bush on behalf of European Union countries to reconsider his decision, arguing that the U.S. has a responsibility to act on climate change because it is the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. E.U. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom indicated she will continue to push for ratification and enforcement of the treaty by 2002, with or without U.S. participation. Meanwhile, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman is entering a meeting today with environmental ministers from around the Western Hemisphere with no alternative policy on global warming to discuss.

straight to the source: Washington Post, William Drozdiak and Eric Pianin, 29 Mar 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5959-2001Mar28.html>

straight to the source: BBC News, Alex Kirby, 29 Mar 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1249000/1249446.stm>

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 29 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/29/science/29WARM.html>

3. ANNIE OF GREEN FABLES It appears that Anne Petsonk, a lawyer with Environmental Defense and supporter of the Kyoto treaty, will be chosen as an advisor on climate change to President Bush, half with the White House Council on Environmental Quality and half with the National Security Council. And probably more than half worthless. Who out there believes Petsonk will get a lot of West Wing face time? Still, Myron Ebell of the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, who has lobbied heavily against several moderate appointments, fears that Petsonk could get together with other environmental "moles and burrowers" in the Bush administration and "create mischief." Read more on the Grist Magazine website.

read it only in Grist Magazine: The administration is smoking out enviros left and right -- in our Muckraker column <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/muck/muck032901.stm>

4. COD IS DEAD Once upon a time, Atlantic cod ran so thick in the icy waters off the coast of Newfoundland that explorer John Cabot was able to catch the fish by hanging wicker baskets over the side of his ship. More than 400 years after Cabot first visited the remote northeastern corner of North America, Newfoundland's waters were still ripe with cod. Today, the fish are gone. Gargantuan factory trawlers started to strip-mine the seas in the 1950s; only decades later, the Canadian government was forced to close what had once been the world's greatest fishery for lack of fish. The trawlers may have made it impossible for the species to fully recover.

straight to the source: E Magazine, Colin Woodard, March-April 2001 <http://www.emagazine.com/march-april_2001/0301feat2.html>

5. WHOSE LAND IS IT ANYWAY? U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton took steps yesterday that could lead to commercial development in some of the national monuments designated by former President Clinton. She sent letters to state and local officials to get their feedback on how the lands should be managed and whether the boundaries of the monuments should be adjusted. Norton claims that the Clinton administration failed to get local input before setting aside the lands. Meanwhile, the House Resources Committee voted unanimously yesterday to change the status of land protected by Clinton in Idaho from a monument to a preserve to allow hunting to continue. And a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey, prepared at the request of House Republicans, identified six of the monuments designated by Clinton as areas that might contain large amounts of oil, gas, or coal.

straight to the source: USA Today, Tom Kenworthy, 29 Mar 2001 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010329/3186498s.htm>

straight to the source: Denver Post, Bill McAllister, 27 Mar 2001 <http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0327h.htm>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: The art of monument making with Julia Child -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha063000.stm>

Get a free book and help out Grist! <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/signup/book_signup.asp>

A fish story -- a day in the life of Noelle Barger, San Diego Oceans Foundation <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/barger032801.stm>

Monarchs for a day -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha032601.stm>

3/29/01
3:42:03 PM

Public Citizen

Public Citizen Files False Advertising Complaint Against Omaha Steaks for Irradiated Beef Ads

Catalog and Web Site Fail to Tell Consumers That Ground Beef Has Been Irradiated

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Public Citizen today filed a false advertising complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Omaha Steaks Inc., because the company's catalog and Internet advertisements fail to tell consumers that its ground beef products have been irradiated.

Deceptive advertising is illegal under the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Act and is punishable by criminal and civil penalties, including fines, injunctions and corrective advertising.

Earlier this month, Public Citizen filed a false advertising complaint with the FTC against Huisken Meats Inc. of Chandler, Minn. Huisken's Web site told consumers that its ground beef products have been "electronically pasteurized" instead of irradiated.

"These companies know full well that most Americans do not want to eat food that's been exposed to huge doses of ionizing radiation. That's why they are twisting their advertising messages," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "This hoodwinking must stop immediately."

Omaha Steaks complies with federal law by placing the phrase "treated by irradiation" on its ground beef packages. But because this information is not disclosed in the company's printed catalog or its Internet advertisements, customers may not be aware that the beef has been irradiated until it arrives in the mail. The company's Web site receives about 250,000 "hits" per month, according the company.

Omaha Steaks has publicly acknowledged its desire to avoid the disclosure. Omaha Steaks marketing director Vickie Hagen was quoted in The New York Times on Feb. 28, saying that the company is "a little nervous about the word 'irradiation' as far as consumers' perception. . . . People hear it and start thinking something more negative."

In addition to filing the FTC complaint, Public Citizen has written a letter to Omaha Steaks chair/CEO Alan Simon, asking him to include in all of the company's advertisements the fact that it is irradiating ground beef products. Public Citizen also asked Simon to inform consumers if the company irradiates any other products in the future.

Based in Omaha, Neb., Omaha Steaks annually sells about $200 million worth of high-end meat and other food products through the mail and at retail stores. It irradiates all its ground beef products, according to the company. Those products are irradiated at a facility in Sioux City, Iowa, owned by the Titan Corporation, a San Diego-based defense contractor that uses linear accelerators originally designed for the "Star Wars" program to irradiate food.

Research indicates that irradiation can destroy vitamins, essential fatty acids and amino acids in food, while corrupting flavor, texture and odor. In addition, studies show that irradiation results in the formation of hundreds of new chemicals, few of which have been studied for their potential toxicity.

For a copy of Public Citizen's FTC complaint, go to

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/rad-food/ltrfalseadOmahaSteaks.htm.

For a copy of Public Citizen's letter to Omaha Steaks, go to

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/rad-food/LtrfalseadtoOmahaSteaks.htm.

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

For more information, visit www.citizen.org

3/29/01
3:40:39 PM

Public Citizen

Public Citizen Files False Advertising Complaint Against Omaha Steaks for Irradiated Beef Ads

Catalog and Web Site Fail to Tell Consumers That Ground Beef Has Been Irradiated

Deceptive advertising is illegal under the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Act and is punishable by criminal and civil penalties, including fines, injunctions and corrective advertising.

For a copy of Public Citizen's FTC complaint, go to

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/rad-food/ltrfalseadOmahaSteaks.htm.

For a copy of Public Citizen's letter to Omaha Steaks, go to

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/rad-food/LtrfalseadtoOmahaSteaks.htm.

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

For more information, visit www.citizen.org

3/29/01
2:11:57 PM

World Reknown Energy Expert, Analyst Dr Amory Lovins:

http://www.ccnr.org/Lovins_figure_4.html

http://www.ccnr.org/amory.html#acc

3/29/01
2:04:37 PM

To All Fans Of The Beatles

Please see to it that this does not happen.

Curtain Call For The Beatles Stage

March 27 2001 Exclusive By Joe Riley, Liverpool Echo

IT'S the place where the greatest musical partnership of the 20th Century was formed.

The humble church hall in Woolton saw the earliest performances of John Lennon and the setting for his legendary first meeting with Paul McCartney.

But now a unique piece of Liverpool's pop music history faces demolition.

The hall's stage on which John Lennon played with his pre-Beatle band, The Quarrymen, could be lost forever.

The vicar of St Peter's Church, Canon John Roberts, wants it removed to create "a design of parish centre suited to modern needs."

But Beatles fans are up in arms at the proposed £m refit, due to start in three weeks time.

Liverpool Beatles fan club president Jean Catherall said: "This stage pre-dates the Cavern in Beatles' history. I think it should be preserved.

"If John Lennon hadn't been playing there when Paul McCartney first met him, then the entire phenomenon of the Beatles may never have happened."

And she added: "I think the stage should stay exactly where it is. It is in the original venue, which is also part of the story."

That story began on when John Lennon and his group the Quarrymen were appearing at the St Peter's garden fete on July 6, 1957.

They were watched by a lad who had first picked up a guitar while a pupil at Liverpool Institute school.

He was Paul McCartney, from Speke, and he agreed to audition for Lennon, sitting on the edge of the church hall stage to strum a few chords.

It was the first musical encounter of a songwriging duo who would go on to front the biggest sensation in showbiz history.

Despite this, Canon Roberts said: "We are not here to run a museum. The present interior is not designed to fit the present day activity of a lively parish."

Canon Roberts said Beatles fans had only ever been able to offer up to £800 to rescue the stage, whereas parishioners had raised the £m needed for the refit.

Mike Storey, Liverpool city council leader Mike Storey, a member of the St Peter's congregation, said: "I don't see why the stage cannot be reconstructed somewhere else.

"It could be carefully dismantled to allow this to happen. But it should not just be chopped up."

The last performance on the stage is a production of Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters by the St Peter's Amateur Dramatic Society from April 5 to 7.

Mark Elsis

Executive Director: http://www.Lovearth.net

Forming A Unity Of One Percent To Stop Our Extinction Connecting Through 1000 EcoHumanePoltical Websites

http://www.The-Beatles.net

http://www.John-Lennon.com

http://www.Paul-McCartney.com

http://www.GeorgeHarrison.com

http://www.Ringo-Starr.net

3/29/01
12:50:19 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

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

US POWER - crisis seen hitting Calif. gasoline prices - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10290

UPDATE - US abandons Kyoto climate pact, a blow to Europe - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10297

UPDATE - US lawmakers see resurgence in nuclear power - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10298

Democrats seek to reverse Bush environment acts - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10299

FACTBOX - Japan's new rules for biotech crop imports - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10300

UPDATE - Italy minister asks for Monsanto licence suspended - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10301

UPDATE - German nuclear waste train back on move - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10288

Nuclear waste shipments a must - German industry - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10291

New age vs brave new world in German nuke showdown - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10292

CHRONOLOGY - History of nuclear power in Germany - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10293

FACTBOX - Key facts on German nuclear waste shipments - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10294

Umweltkontor says 2000 sales rise 5-fold - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10296

Britain's eco-tax exemptions pass EU state aid test - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10287

EU clears Siemens, Shell, E.ON solar power JV - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10295

Origin says A$16 mln grant fires generation - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10289

3/29/01
12:46:34 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

U.S. PULLS OUT OF KYOTO PROTOCOL

WASHINGTON, DC, March 28, 2001 (ENS) - Christie Todd Whitman, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, confirmed today that the country will not implement the Kyoto Protocol. "We have no interest in implementing that treaty," Whitman told reporters.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-28-11.html

U.S. COURT BLOCKS REVIEWS OF CONTROVERSIAL NUCLEAR RESEARCH SITE

WASHINGTON, DC, March 28, 2001 (ENS) - A federal district court ruling today halted government reviews of the $4 billion National Ignition Facility Project at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The Natural Resources Defense Council, which has been calling for an open and unbiased review of the project since its inception in 1996, called the decision a major victory.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-28-06.html

ASIAN NATIONS LAY QUARRELS ASIDE TO SAVE SOUTH CHINA SEA

BANGKOK, Thailand, March 28, 2001 (ENS) - For the first time, the seven nations bordering the South China Sea have overlooked competing territorial claims and signed a joint agreement to protect the environment of the sea.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-28-02.html

RUSSIA REPLACES CORRUPT MINISTER OF NUCLEAR POWER

MOSCOW, Russia, March 28, 2001 (ENS) - In the first cabinet shuffle since he was elected a year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed a new man to head the Ministry of Atomic Power (Minatom).

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-28-01.html

EU ELEVATES ROLE OF BIODIVERSITY IN POLICY MAKING

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 28, 2001 (ENS) - The European Commission says a series of action plans adopted today will put protection of biological diversity at the heart of European Union agricultural, fishery and development policies. For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-28-10.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 28, 2001

Bush Likely to Get Fast Track Trade Authority

Scientists Network to Help Parks Manage Climate Change

Breakthroughs Reached on Foot and Mouth Disease

Forest Service Grazing Decision Reversed

Ford Foundation Gives $5 Million for Forest Stewardship

Change in Farming Practice Makes For Cleaner Waterways

Trumpeter Swans Get a Break from Hunting

Website Lets Classrooms Explore Ocean Depths

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-28-09.html

3/29/01
12:37:29 PM

Quebec continues the fine tradition of Seattle...

http://www.soaw-ne.org/FTAAGuide.html

3/29/01
12:34:43 PM

World Bank Plans to Set Indigenous Peoples' Rights Back 50 Years

Dear Friends: we recognise that everyone is very busy, but please take the time to send a modified version of the attached model letter (copied below) *separately* to:

1) President James Wolfensohn Fax Numbers: 202 522 1677 and 202 522 3433

2) Executive Director at the World Bank (SEE list of Directors and their fax and Email attached which details who represents your country on the Bank Board).

RED ALERT:

The Bank is clear that no further public comment will be received so the only chance of influencing this process and blocking this retrograde and offensive policy is by putting pressure on BOTH the World Bank President AND your Executive Director who will soon be asked to approve the policy. This is our last chance to affect this process.

It essential that the international community makes it clear that development standards that do not meet international human rights are not acceptable. Please lend your support by sending this letter and continue to urge the World Bank to adhere to international human rights law and to adopt the standards recommended by the World Commission on Dams. Please *copy* your letters to President Wolfensohn and your ED to Mr. Ian Johnson at:

Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development The World Bank1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433

Email: ijohnson@worldbank.org

Fax: 202.522.7122;

ALSO copy to Ms Joanne Salop, OPC, jsalop@worldbank.org

Thanks you for your support. Sincerely, Tom Griffiths

Forest Peoples Programme, UK

Please send copies of your letters to FPP at: info@fppwrm.gn.apc.org

President James Wolfensohn

The World Bank

1818 H Street, NW

Washington, DC 20433

March 2001

Dear Mr Wolfensohn,

Concerns over draft Involuntary Resettlement Policy (OP/BP 4.12)

We write to express our serious concerns that the current "conversion" of the World Bank's Involuntary Resettlement Policy (OD4.30) will result in a severely weakened policy that is substantially inconsistent with fundamental human rights guarantees. The purpose of this letter is to urge you to ensure that the new Involuntary Resettlement Policy constitutes a strengthened instrument to protect the rights of people displaced by World Bank-assisted operations. We appeal to you to take every step possible to guarantee that the revised policy is consistent with international human rights law and international standards on resettlement like those set by the World Commission on Dams.

Negative changes to the policy: On examining the latest draft of OP4.12 dated March 6 2001, we are alarmed that the proposed policy:

§ makes less secure provisions for people who lack recognised rights to land than the previous policy (compare OD4.30 paras 3b and 17 versus OP4.12 paras. 14a, 14b).

§ enables a procedure that will allow the borrower to exclude from compensation "persons engaged in illegal use of natural resources." (OP4.12 para 7: fn 14). This provision risks excluding the millions of indigenous peoples in borrowing countries whose customary use of natural resources is not recognised by domestic legislation and is thus deemed to be "illegal".

§ permits the involuntary resettlement of indigenous people even in situations where such resettlement would have "significant adverse effects" on their "cultural survival" of those people (OP4.12 para 8:fn 15).

§ applies a discriminatory approach to people and communities adversely affected by parks and protected areas who, according to the policy, do not have to be consulted until project implementation (OP4.12: paras. 3b and 7). Such affected communities are consequently excluded from the provisions of paragraph 6 that requires a resettlement plan that ensures access to information, prior consultation and prompt and effective compensation for displaced persons. They are also excluded from paragraph 12 that requires the provision of timely and relevant information and infrastructure and public services in ways that respect the patterns of community organization of displaced communities.

§ does not require improvements to the livelihoods or standards of living of those displaced (see OP4.12 para.2(b)).

§ makes a questionable distinction between voluntary and involuntary resettlement.

§ introduces new terms and concepts which lack definition. These include "resettlement assistance," "direct impacts", "illegal use of natural resources," "reasonable price" and "process framework."

§ falls far below the standards set by the World Commission on Dams, notably with respect to the right of indigenous peoples to prior informed consent.

Our analysis above shows that major substantive changes have been made to the policy that will result in lower standards for resettlement in Bank operations. Our evaluation demonstrates that while the draft policy mentions indigenous peoples' customary rights to land and resources in a number of places, in practice it still contains loopholes that will seriously undermine the rights of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities. In short, the policy allows a wide margin of discretion to exclude the holders of traditional and customary rights from proper consultation and compensation under the policy. We therefore note that the policy widens the gap between Bank requirements on staff and clients and agreed international human rights and sustainable development standards. Consequently, we find the latest draft policy unacceptable on both moral and legal grounds. This is especially the case for indigenous peoples. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, International Labour Organisation Convention 169 and the draft UN and OAS Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous peoples all prohibit relocation of indigenous peoples' without their prior, free and informed consent. These instruments also require that indigenous peoples' rights to the lands and resources which they traditionally occupied and used be recognized and respected, not the least because they are fundamentally related to indigenous peoples' cultural integrity and survival. Draft OP 4.12 is not only inconsistent with these standards, it is also retrograde - containing thinking about indigenous peoples' rights dating from the 1950s.

That the draft policy permits forcible relocation even in cases where this will have "significant adverse effects" on Indigenous peoples' "cultural survival" is a flagrant violation of the right to cultural integrity, a human right protected as part of customary international law and therefore binding on all states. In this respect, the policy legitimates practices categorized by the international community as ethnocide.

Recommendations:

In view of the serious shortcomings of the draft OP4.12, we urge you to ensure that the policy is corrected at the earliest opportunity and subjected to further external review prior to its finalisation and approval. In particular, we urge that the policy:

§ is consistent with international human rights standards.

§ applies equal standards to all displaced persons (especially those affected by parks and protected areas, and people involved in "voluntary" relocation).

§ treats customary and formal legal rights as equal to protect all vulnerable peoples and communities affected by resettlement.

§ requires resettlement plans to address the indirect impacts of resettlement.

§ requires a poverty-risk assessment for all Bank operations likely to cause resettlement.

§ requires that displaced persons are provided with an improved life quality after relocation.

§ properly defines voluntary resettlement and sets clear standards for such operations.

§ properly defines new terms and concepts not found in the existing policy.

§ incorporates established principles on sustainable development like those contained in the recommendations made by the World Commission on Dams.

We look forward to your response to our concerns and recommendations.

Yours sincerely,

cc. Ian Johnson, Vice President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development

Ms. Joanne Salop, Operational Policy Strategy (OPS)

3/29/01
12:25:15 PM

WILD ALERT

Only two months into the new administration, President Bush has begun a systematic rollback of an alarming number of environmental protections that are important to, and supported by, the vast majority of American citizens. In the past twelve days alone, President Bush renounced a campaign promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants; rescinded a new standard that would have reduced arsenic in drinking water; suspended new cleanup requirements for mining companies; failed to defend a logging ban that would protect nearly 60 million acres of our most pristine national forests; and threatened to open all public lands -- including national monuments and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- to oil and gas exploration.

At the U.S. Capitol earlier today, William Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society, called on all Americans to protest President Bush's anti-environmental agenda. He was joined as a speaker by Senator Joe Lieberman, Representative Richard Gephardt, and concerned citizens who will be directly and personally affected by the environmental rollbacks. Also attending were other members of Congress and leaders of the environmental community.

"The safeguards they're dismantling are the results of years of open public process, involving millions and millions of people," Meadows said. "Our message to President George W. Bush is this: Americans demand an end to the assault. Stop the rollbacks. Protect our environment."

Every concerned citizen should be aware of the administration's assault on America's heritage and speak out to stop it.

Take action at:

<http://www.wilderness.org/eyewash/bush0328.htm>

President Bush's environmental laws and policies are hazardous your health! Please make a contribution to The Wilderness

Society TODAY to help defend the important environmental laws that keep Americans safe and healthy, and our wild lands and natural resources free from wasteful exploitation.

Make a donation to The Wilderness Society today at:

<https://secure5.nmpinc.com/twslink/forms/join.htm>

BACKGROUND

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

One of President Bush's most controversial campaign proposals was to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, inevitably despoiling a national treasure, threatening wildlife, and polluting the environment. Last week, President Bush and members of his cabinet seized on California's rolling blackouts and higher natural gas prices as further justification for opening the refuge to drilling.

However, this thinly disguised industry initiative would do virtually nothing to satisfy America's energy needs. First, less than one percent of California's electricity is generated from burning oil, and the refuge is thought to contain relatively little natural gas. Second, the amount of oil that could be recovered from the refuge if drilling were permitted is relatively small. The U.S. Geological Survey believes that only 3.2 billion barrels -- less than a six-month supply for the U.S. at current consumption rates -- could be recovered in an economically feasible manner. In contrast, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that if the fuel efficiency of America's cars, minivans, and sport utility vehicles were increased by just three miles per gallon, we'd save more oil in ten years than would come from the refuge.

NATIONAL FORESTS - ROADLESS AREA CONSERVATION RULE

In January 2001, President Clinton issued the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, ending virtually all logging, road building, and mineral leasing on roughly 58 million acres of national forest lands. The rule was the direct result of a tremendous outpouring of public support. Over 600 public hearings were held around the nation, and the public provided more than 1.6 million comments on the rule -- more than any other rule in the nation's history.

The Roadless Area Conservation Rule would provide valuable long-term protection for the last few remaining wild areas. These precious lands provide habitat for threatened and endangered species, supply opportunities for recreation, protect against the invasion of non-native species, and ensure clean drinking water. As we detailed in last week's WildAlert, the Bush administration is refusing to defend the Roadless Area Conservation Rule from industry-sponsored lawsuits in hopes that it will be overturned.

HARD-ROCK MINING

In January 2001, after a comment period lasting several years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) adopted new rules governing hard-rock mining on public lands. The new regulations strengthen environmental standards for water quality and mine reclamation and allow the BLM to deny permits for mines that would threaten environmental or cultural resources.

On March 21, the Bush administration announced it would seek to suspend the new hard-rock mining regulations. The BLM has asked for public comment on whether to adopt the new rules or return to the older, weaker standards. The current rules will remain in effect until the 45-day comment period ends on May 7.

NATIONAL MONUMENTS

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton recently stated that the Bush administration would be looking at "all public lands" for new sources of energy, including the new national monuments designated by President Clinton. This echoes a March 13 statement made by President Bush: "there are parts of the monument lands where we can explore without affecting the overall environment." According to The Denver Post, Norton and Bush "have stopped short of trying to directly repeal monument designations. Instead, they are looking at ways to pare them back and allow more uses, such as off-roading and mining."

TAKE ACTION

Please tell President Bush that these rollbacks of environmental standards and egregious proposals for development and exploitation of America's wild lands will not be tolerated. Send your comments from:

<http://www.wilderness.org/eyewash/bush0328.htm>

or write or e-mail the White House directly.

President George W. Bush

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, DC 20500

202-456-1414 phone business hours only

email:president@whitehouse.gov

3/29/01
12:22:07 PM

"The Chemical Papers: Secrets of the Chemical Industry Exposed"

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10600

3/29/01
2:15:31 AM

I am interested in the transfer of resources like water and natural gas via airships. i would like to develop a north -south exchange of water in british columbia for fresh fruit and vegetables from mexico and countries further south. I have built 3 large model airships in the past and will probably just have to do it myself vs. without government or german companies. I have many aces to play though. People, consider the minimal environmental damage that airships will cause in the development of remote resources. I forsee an international fleet of airships that will buffer extreme conditions on the planet and help in the distribution of goods and services. I also think that fruit is poorly distributed, even to people who have the money for it. I invented a concept that will improve this.

3/28/01
8:01:29 PM

Supreme Court to Tackle Medical Marijuana Issue

By Andrew Quinn

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - America's long battle over medical marijuana heads to the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) this week, with advocates and opponents ready to make the case that the cannabis plant is an exceptionally effective drug -- for good or for ill.

For proponents like Angel McClary, a 35-year-old Oakland, Calif., mother of two, marijuana is seen as an essential part of the medical arsenal keeping her alive despite a brain tumor, seizures and partial paralysis that has confined her to a wheelchair.

``I became a cannabis patient out of sheer desperation,'' McClary said. ``It got me up out of my wheelchair. I feel very grateful that I have this medication that sustains my life.''

But opponents, led by the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites), argue that marijuana is seductive and potentially dangerous narcotic that must remain banned under the Controlled Substances Act.

These two opposing viewpoints will be put before the Supreme Court on Wednesday when the high court hears a federal government's appeal of a ruling that would allow California marijuana clubs resume service for patients who can prove that cannabis is a medical necessity.

A Pot Watershed

The Supreme Court hearing -- and its decision, expected sometime in June -- mark a watershed for the U.S. medical marijuana movement, which has been mired in legal battles ever since California passed a first-in-the-nation state initiative in 1996 legalizing medicinal use of the drug.

The California initiative, known as Proposition 215, allows seriously ill patients to grow and use marijuana for pain relief as long as they have a doctor's recommendation.

Similar measures have been adopted in at least eight other states ranging from Hawaii to Maine.

The case before the Supreme Court involves the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, one of a number of local clubs that sprang up after the 1996 state law.

Federal officials, determined to enforce ``zero-tolerance'' toward banned drugs, moved to close the California clubs down, and in 1998 won an injunction from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco prohibiting the Oakland group and other similar medicinal marijuana clubs from distributing the drug.

The clubs, saying they provide essential medicine to treat people suffering from everything from AIDS (news - web sites) to glaucoma, went to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled last year that Breyer should amend the injunction to allow the clubs to resume service for those who can prove that cannabis was a medical necessity.

Robert Raich, an attorney representing the Oakland cooperative, said he was hopeful that the Supreme Court would side with the patients. But he noted the court's justices had voted 7-1 last summer to stay Breyer's ruling pending its review of the case.

Uphill Battle

``I would say certainly we are facing an uphill battle here against a skeptical Supreme Court,'' Raich said.

Jeffrey Jones, 26, who co-founded the Oakland cooperative after his father died of cancer, said that even if the Supreme Court rules against the group the fight to provide medical marijuana to sick people would continue.

``Any time any issue goes before the high court it is make or break, but we're not going to give up if it's a negative (result). We are representing people with no alternative.''

The Justice Department, saying it is fighting over ``an issue of exceptional and continuing importance,'' is expected to argue that California and other state laws permitting medicinal use of marijuana are trumped by federal law banning marijuana distribution outside strictly controlled circumstances. It also contends this undermines enforcement of federal drug laws.

While the Oakland cooperative's lawyers said the federal case will have no effect on California's state law, a negative ruling could prevent efforts to arrange an above-ground method for distributing marijuana. This could force patients like McClary to turn to potentially dangerous street deals for the drug.

``I would really like for people to understand that this is not about cannabis, it is not about marijuana, it is not about pot. It is about patients, it is about ending suffering,'' McClary said.

``Without cannabis my life would be a death sentence, and death is not an option. I have two children, a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old. I am choosing life.''

3/28/01
5:12:54 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. WHILE YOU'RE AT IT, COULD YOU REPEAL THE GENEVA CONVENTION? U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said yesterday that the Kyoto treaty on climate change was dead and that the European Union and Japan would have to take a new approach if they wanted to reach an agreement on the issue. She said, "No, we have no interest in implementing that treaty." The White House has been exploring how the U.S. can legally withdraw its signature from the landmark international agreement reached in 1997. Former President Clinton signed the treaty, but never submitted it to the Senate for ratification, where it almost certainly would have been killed. Under the treaty's terms, the U.S. would have to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Whitman's comments will likely stun European officials, who in the last week have practically begged President Bush to restart talks on implementing Kyoto. Earlier this month, Whitman signed a formal declaration with environmental ministers from other industrialized nations pledging to move forward on the treaty.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 28 Mar 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2354-2001Mar27.html>

straight to the source: BBC News, Alex Kirby, 28 Mar 2001 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1247000/1247518.stm>

2. DE TRAIN, DE TRAIN Activists eluded thousands of police last night and halted a train carrying nuclear waste in northern Germany by cementing themselves to the tracks. The incident was one of many protests against the transport of the waste, which originated from German nuclear reactors and was sent to a French reprocessing center in the 1990s. Officials from the two countries suspended shipments back to Germany in 1998 because of concerns about leaks, but resumed them this week, promising to tighten safety precautions. Activists at other points along the train's route last night fired flares and threw stones at police, who tried to disperse the crowds with water cannons.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 28 Mar 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/550094.asp>

3. RESIGN YOURSELF U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck resigned yesterday, expressing concerns that the Bush administration was shifting the agency's priorities back toward logging and away from conservation. Chris Wood, a former top aide, said Dombeck decided to resign after administration officials told him they wanted to move "in a different direction." In his resignation letter, Dombeck defended rules approved by former President Clinton to ban road-building on 58.5 million acres of national forestland and a plan to protect old-growth forests. He urged Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to "withstand political pressure" and stand by the agency's conservation initiatives.

straight to the source: New York Times, Douglas Jehl, 28 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/28/politics/28FORE.html>

4. BUS-TED! India's Supreme Court this week stuck by its 1998 decision to force buses in Delhi to convert from diesel to natural gas, but extended the deadline for the switchover by six months, until the end of September. The court added a caveat, however: Bus operators can only take advantage of the extension if they can prove by Saturday that they intend to meet the new deadline. The court's moves came in response to complaints by the Delhi government, which said it would not be able to convert its 2,000 buses by the original deadline of the end of this week. The Tata Energy Research Institute said that it is unlikely that the city or private bus owners, who operate about 10,000 of the vehicles, will be able to convert all the buses by September.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, 28 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10265>

Swimming in sewage -- a day in the life of Noelle Barger, San Diego Oceans Foundation <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/barger032701.stm>

Show business is my life -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, the last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed032601.stm>

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

3/28/01
3:18:15 PM

Rainforests

The Brazilian congress is now voting on a project that will reduce the Amazon forest to 50% of its size. It will take 1 MINUTE to read this, but PLEASE put your names on the list and forward this on. The area to be deforested is 4 times the size of Portugal and would be mainly used for agriculture and pastures for livestock. All the wood is to be sold to international markets in the form of wood chips, by large multinational companies. The truth is that the soil in the Amazon forest is useless without the forest itself. Its quality is very acidic and the region is prone to constant floods.

At this time more than 160,000 square kilometers deforested with the same purpose are abandoned and in the process of becoming deserts. Deforestation (and the subsequent processing of the woodchips) on this scale will also release huge amounts of carbon (which is currently locked up in the wood) back into the atmosphere worsening the problem of climate change. We just cannot let this happen.

3/28/01
3:12:46 PM

Public Citizen

Food Irradiation Dose Limit Would Be Removed, Health and Safety Regulations Discarded Under New Plan

Substandard Food Could Be "Treated" With High-Dose Radiation in Unlicensed and Dirty Facilities

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A proposed international food irradiation standard wending its way through legal channels in Europe could jeopardize the quality and safety of food sold to United States consumers.

Under an international plan endorsed March 16, virtually every assurance that irradiated food will be of good quality, be handled by trained workers, and be processed under safe and clean conditions in government-inspected facilities would disappear. The proposal also would remove the international dose limit for food irradiation.

The proposal was endorsed in The Hague, Netherlands, by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC), which advises the Codex Alimentarius ("Food Code") Commission. Operating under the auspices of the United Nations and World Health Organization (WHO), the Codex sets global food safety standards for more than 160 nations, representing about 97 percent of the world's population. The United States is one of the 160 nations.

Under international trade rules, countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) can challenge the standards of other countries by claiming the standards are trade barriers. If the WTO agrees, countries whose standards are challenged must amend the standard or face trade sanctions.

U.S. standards governing irradiated food are much stricter than what Codex is proposing. That means that if the Codex measure is approved, other countries could challenge U.S. standards through the WTO. A successful challenge could pressure the U.S. to weaken its standards.

The proposal would amend the Codex's 22-year-old food irradiation standard by stating that food companies "should" rather than "shall" comply with the standards. Many of the changes were proposed without any advance notice and approved at meetings that were closed to the public.

Under the looser standards, irradiated food would no longer have to be "of suitable quality," in "acceptable hygienic condition," or "handled ... according to good manufacturing practices." Additionally, food irradiation facilities would no longer have to comply with "safety" and "good hygiene practices," or be staffed by "adequate, trained and competent personnel." Nor would they have to be licensed or inspected by government officials, or maintain certain records on radioactive activities.

Also, food irradiation would no longer have to be carried out "commensurate with . . . technological and public health purposes" or conducted "in accordance with good radiation processing practice."

The changes could place numerous U.S. food and nuclear safety regulations at risk. Among them are Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules requiring all irradiation facilities using radioactive material to be licensed and regularly inspected; Department of Agriculture rules requiring beef, pork and poultry products to meet certain quality standards; and USDA and Food and Drug Administration rules requiring food to be processed under hygienic conditions.

"This proposal confirms that irradiation will be used to mask filthy slaughtering and food processing practices," said Wenonah Hauter, director of the Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "These antiquated ideas set back food safety more than 100 years, to a time when people routinely died from eating contaminated food. It is an outrage to the highest order. People throughout the world have cause for great worry."

CCFAC also endorsed removing the current irradiation Codex dose limit of 10 kiloGray, which is the equivalent of about 330 million chest X-rays. When food is exposed to such doses of ionizing radiation, the flavor, texture, odor, nutritional integrity and chemical composition of food can change significantly. Very few of the new chemicals that are formed in irradiated food have been studied for toxicity. Most U.S. foods are dosed with between 1 and 7.5 kiloGray.

One chemical that is a byproduct of the irradiation process, called 2-DCB, was found in 1998 to cause cellular and genetic damage in human and rat cells. The WHO is continuing to research the potential toxicity and mutagenicity of the chemical, which is a radiation byproduct of a certain fatty acid found in beef, chicken, pork, lamb, duck, eggs, mangoes, papayas, peanuts, seafood and many other foods. The 2-DCB studies were conducted in Germany, one of several European Union countries that is skeptical of the purported benefits of irradiation. At the recent meeting in The Hague, the German delegation objected to the CCFAC proposal.

The proposal is about halfway through the approval process. It next will be debated by the full Codex Commission, which meets July 2-7 in Geneva.

Public Citizen has been vigorously opposing efforts to weaken international food irradiation standards by organizing nongovernmental organizations and writing letters to Codex delegates. In February, Public Citizen sent letters of concern to all U.S. delegates to CCFAC, all international delegates to the full Codex Commission, and to CCFAC Chair S.P.J. Hagenstein. Public Citizen also has challenged the WHO's assertion that irradiated food is safe to eat by sending letters to top officials within the organization.

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit www.citizen.org

3/28/01
3:02:11 PM

22nd anniversary of the 3 Mile Island nuclear power plant accident

Below is Dr Rosalie Bertell's signed, notorized statement concerning former US President Jimmy Carter's ONGOING cover up of the 3 Mile Island nuclear power plant accident.

This is part 2 of a 3 part post disclosing nuclear secrets of IMMENSE importance to every human being on Earth. Please act on this information and dissemenate this data as widely as possible to other lists, NGOs, media and interested parties.

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the beginning of the 3 Mile Island nuclear power plant accident of March 28, 1979. This accident led to former President Jimmy Carter, at the request of his long time friend and mentor Admiral Hyman Rickover, to cover up much of the accident for fear that full disclosure of the facts would end the ENTIRE COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY [http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/rickover.html] in the USA. What ramifications it might have for reactors throughout the rest of the world, possibly including military and research reactors is something we have the right to know as well. We'll only have that right if we DEMAND it N-O-W. People in ALL countries should fax former President Carter RIGHT NOW demanding full disclosure of ALL the facts.

Please FAX former President Carter in Atlanta at: 404-331-0283 asking him to hold a newsconference and finally come clean with ALL the facts. We the people have the right to know what dangers we face and why they've been and continue to be hidden from us 22 years after the onset of the TMI accident.

Dr. Bertell:

You don't know me but may have read about me in the Time magazine cover story in February 1996 and also the front page of the Wall Street Journal in March 1998. I am a prominent whistleblower who uncovered major corruption within the NRC and my employer Northeast Utilities. As a result of events I uncovered at Millstone, Northeast Utilities was almost bankrupted, and the NRC extremely embarrassed.

I was one of the expert witnesses at the TMI litigation and agree with you there was a major cover-up of vital information. The presidential commissions, the NRC and the DOE are all aware of this cover-up. As an expert witness, I had access to the all the original records. I have documented evidence, which I have given to the NRC, that the primary containment was breached shortly after the hydrogen explosion that occurred on March 30, 1979. This breach occurred at a time when the radioactivity in the containment was close to its peak. Preliminary estimates indicate that as many as 40 million curies may have been released during the following hours. The NRC and the licensee estimated the maximum of 10 million curies of releases. Not one of the studies ever even questioned the data that was readily available as it could have alarmed members of the general public. Contact me if you have any questions.

Paul M. Blanch 135 Hyde Rd. West Hartford, CT 06117

Bill Smirnow

E-mail: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com

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

3 MILE ISLAND COVER-UP, DR. ROSALIE BERTELL'S SIGNED, NOTARIZED STATEMENT

3/28/01
2:57:31 PM

CUTTING EDGE ACTIVIST WEBSITE COMES OF AGE

http://www.corpwatch.org

Yes folks, that's us. Check out our new look, designed to make the information on the site's 2,500 pages (and growing) more accessible. New and updated features include:

Highlighted campaign information on the: Climate Justice Initiative

http://www.corpwatch.org/climate/

Alliance for a Corporate Free UN

http://www.corpwatch.org/un/

Greenwash Awards

http://www.corpwatch.org/greenwash/

An updated Hands on Guide to On-line Corporate Research

http://www.corpwatch.org/research/

A Press Room for journalists

http://www.corpwatch.org/press/

An Issue Library

http://www.corpwatch.org/issues/

with great information on globalization, the WTO, sweatshops and other issues.

A new Bulletin Board

http://www.corpwatch.org/bulletin/

for press releases from activist groups, announcements of events and more.

And there's another change: we've shortened our name from Corporate Watch to CorpWatch. Now our name matches our web address. Besides, many people were already calling us CorpWatch.

We've also simplified things and our whole organization (formerly known as TRAC) is under the CorpWatch umbrella: one name, one logo, one web address. We'll still be working to hold corporations accountable on human rights, labor rights and environmental justice locally and globally. And we'll be doing it better!

Our site redesign is very much a work in progress. We aim to have it finalized, along with some exciting behind the scenes "back end" technological changes, by the summer. Let us know what you think of the new design by sending us an email: corpwatch@corpwatch.org

3/28/01
2:52:01 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

GERMAN NUCLEAR CARGO MOVES THOUSANDS TO PROTEST

HAMBURG, Germany, March 27, 2001 (ENS) - In the biggest operation of its kind since World War II, Germany has deployed more than 15,000 police to prevent protesters from blocking the path of a nuclear waste shipment travelling from France to Gorleben in Germany.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-27-10.html

HALT TO TRASHING OF ALASKA FISHERIES SOUGHT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 27, 2001 (ENS) - Each year in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, over 3O0 million pounds of fish and other marine creatures are caught and thrown overboard by large scale industrial fishing operations.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-27-01.html

UN AGENCY TELLS FARMERS, PREPARE FOR THE WORST

ROME, Italy, March 27, 2001 (ENS) - The billions of dollars of crops lost in floods and storms over the last decade could have been minimized if countries had developed disaster management strategies that included early warning storm forecasting systems, says a United Nations agency.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-27-11.html

LIABILITY SET FOR SPILLS OF SHIPS' FUEL OIL

LONDON, UK, March 27, 2001 (ENS) - At a meeting last week in London, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved a convention that it says will close "a significant gap" in global oil spill compensation rules.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-27-02.html

CAVING'S BIG SCREEN DEBUT RAISES AWARENESS

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, March 27, 2001 (ENS) - Most people will never see them, or even think about them. But caves - those dark, slightly scary underground habitats - deserve credit for the vast variety of ecosystem services they provide. A new large format film released this month offers an armchair tour of the geology, biology and ecology of caves.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-27-06.html

UK HOUSE OF LORDS VOTES TO KEEP FOX HUNTING

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 27, 2001 (ENS) - The debate over hunting with dogs, particularly fox hunting, took another twist last night as the UK's House of Lords overturned the proposed ban on the centuries old practice.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-27-12.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 27, 2001

Dombeck Resigns Over Bush Environmental Policies

Factory Farm Rules Delayed

Additional Funds Sought to Compensate Uranium Victims

Secret Chemical Industry Documents Posted Online

EPA to Study Children's Exposure to Pollutants

Resources Available to Help Protect Children from Chemicals

Writers, Environmentalists Promote Protecting Arctic Wildlife Refuge

Mermaid, Protest Banner Greet International Seafood Show

Giant Sequoia Nominated as America's National Tree

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-27-09.html

3/28/01
2:48:58 PM

22nd anniversary of of the 3 Mile Island nuclear power plant accident

This is part 1 of a 2 part post disclosing nuclear secrets of IMMENSE importance to every human being on Earth. Please act on this information and dissemenate this data as widely as possible to other lists, NGOs, media and interested parties.

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the beginning of the 3 Mile Island nuclear power plant accident of March 28, 1979. This accident led to former President Jimmy Carter, at the request of his long time friend and mentor Admiral Hyman Rickover, to cover up much of the accident for fear that full disclosure of the facts would end the ENTIRE COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY in the USA. What ramifications it might have for reactors throughout the rest of the world, possibly including military and research reactors is something we have the right to know as well. We'll only have that right if we DEMAND it N-O-W. People in ALL countries should fax former President Carter RIGHT NOW demanding full disclosure of ALL the facts.

-Bill Smirnow

E-mail: smirnowb@ix.netcom.com

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

Admiral Rickover's Statement

The following statement was signed by Jane Rickover, daughter-in-law of Admiral Hyman Rickover, "father" of the nuclear navy. It was notorized by William Lamson July 18, 1986. Jane Rickover has verified the authenticity of the document and the events described in it.

3/28/01
2:39:10 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm

EPA extends animal manure rule comment period until July 30 - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10264

US Congressman calls for energy exploration at monuments - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10285

Collaring program suspended after wolves die - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10268

Long Island oil spill clean-up seen complete by weekend - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10282

US House Commerce head sees resurgence in US nuclear power - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10271

FEATURE - Villain or hero, Monsanto moving GM food forward - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10281

UPDATE - Whitman denies undercut on global climate change - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10284

Friends Ivory adds to socially responsible team - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10280

Rampant tree-felling shrinks Nepal's forest cover - NEPAL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10266

FEATURE - Scientists, fishermen fear Sea of Japan slowly dying - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10269

Japan govt admits dangers of nuclear power - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10274

UPDATE - Japan set to open controversial sluice gates - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10279

Japan's new GM check guide seen short on detail - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10277

UPDATE - Indian court asked to reconsider clean fuel order - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10265

UPDATE - Protests slow German nuclear waste train - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10278

German police use water cannon on nuke activists - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10286

Schroeder won't shy from disputes in Bush talks - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10283

German nuke activists to lose battle, may win war - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10273

UPDATE - German minister slammed by Greens party colleagues - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10270

Greens tell EU not to call garbage renewable power - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10272

Greenpeace seeks curbs on genetically modified fish - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10276

Brazil in deep water as power sector lacks water - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10275

FEATURE - Europe's power firms see the green light - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10267

3/28/01
6:29:41 AM

Netizens/Entertainment Industry:

I've created a multimedia extravaganza called, "TIME TRAVELERS: IN THE CELESTIAL AGE (copr. 2001)," based on H.G. Well's, "The Time Machine." The story is updated for the 21st century and offers a positive vision of the future.

Way back In 1895 Herbert George Well's took a journey on a time machine...before there were cars. His vision of the future sent warning signals about human kind's fate long before words like pollution, ecosystem, sustainability and Carrying Capacity were introduced.

TIME TRAVELERS IN THE CELESTIAL AGE takes Well's vision into the 21st century.

I unabashedly apologize for using this forum as a not-so-subtle marketing ploy on my part to seek production of this multi-format vehicle. The positive influence TIME TRAVELERS will have on a wide variety of audiences I believe warrants the risk.

I'm a writer and musician, but also a grad student at the U of Minnesota. I've written papers on such subjects as Global Ethics and as an ops/ed editor for the Minnesota Daily wrote a column on how the Soybean is a solution to the world's hunger problem...and I've been a vegetarian ever since they invented vegetables.

If it's commercialism that is destroying the environment, then perhaps it's commercialism that could turn around and help clean things up...and earn a living at the same time. So it would be damn cool if I could sell TIME TRAVELERS and save the world at the same time!

Jerry Flattum flat0027@umn.edu www.soulstargalaxy.com (not a website)

3/27/01
6:28:56 PM

Public Citizen

California Rate Hike Punishes Consumers for Illegal Corporate Behavior

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The 40 percent rate hike approved today by California's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will unfairly force consumers to subsidize price gouging by power generators, Public Citizen said today. Rather than boost rates and further harm already beleaguered consumers, the federal government should cap the wholesale price of power.

The PUC approved the rate hike after claiming it was necessary to send price signals to consumers to conserve and to give the state and the utilities more room to cover escalating bills from purchasing increasingly expensive wholesale electricity. The rate hike will be in addition to a 9-15 percent rate increase the PUC approved in January and a 10 percent increase already scheduled for next year. Before January's and today's rate hikes, California had the ninth highest residential electric rates in the nation, according to the Energy Information Agency.

But raising rates to force consumers to conserve won't work when wholesale prices do not reflect free market prices, because the effectiveness of price signals depends upon a functioning market, said Tyson Slocum, senior researcher at Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. Citing the lack of competition in the wholesale market, the California Independent System Operator and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have both accused power producers of manipulating supplies to keep wholesale market prices artificially high. As long as a handful of corporations illegally manipulate the system, price signals can never be an effective tool to entice consumers to conserve, Slocum said. Further, the proposal is at odds with that of administrative law judge Christine Walwyn, who recently advised the PUC that rate increases were not necessary.

In addition, it is important to remember that the price freeze was enacted as a compromise in the 1996 deregulation legislation: Consumers would pay 100 percent of the utilities' mortgage payments, and their electric rates would be frozen until they finished paying off the utilities' bills. Abandoning the rate freeze without providing consumers a refund for their past overpayments allows the utilities to get off scot-free.

"Once again, politicians and regulators abandon consumers in favor of their corporate campaign contributors," Slocum, said. "Approving a rate hike will result in consumers subsidizing the power generators' price gouging. The proper way to restore order is for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to impose region-wide wholesale price caps and to assess heavy fines on the thirteen power generators who are intentionally overcharging and therefore creating this crisis."

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit www.citizen.org

3/27/01
4:58:51 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. BURMA SHAVED Hundreds of square miles of Burma's ancient tropical forests have been stripped bare in recent years to fuel the increasing demand for wood products in China. China's growing economy and a logging ban to protect the remaining forests in 18 Chinese provinces have led the country to look to neighboring countries to meet its need for more wood. Jim Harkness, director of the China office of World Wildlife Fund, said, "You have a situation where an environmentally beneficial policy in China created incentives to destroy forests in other parts of the world." A bit of good news: The president of the 1,000-member Chinese group Friends of Nature recently became the first environmental activist elected to the standing committee of the Communist Party in China.

straight to the source: Washington Post, John Pomfret, 26 Mar 2001 <http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56327-2001Mar25.html>

straight to the source: South China Morning Post, Vivien Pik-Kwan Chan, 17 Mar 2001 (free registration required) <http://china.scmp.com/today/ZZZYWANJDKC.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: A week of environmental activism in China <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/ramanathan081400.stm>

2. WALLED WHITMAN A week before President Bush broke his campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman wrote a confidential memo urging him to stand by the promise or risk damaging the U.S.'s standing among international allies. Since Whitman lost the battle, both conservatives and environmentalists say that her stature has been reduced, at least temporarily -- the perception now is that EPA policy is being set by the White House, not by Whitman. Some agency staffers say Whitman has lost so much credibility that they expect her to resign.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 27 Mar 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62038-2001Mar26.html>

straight to the source: Salt Lake Tribune, Knight Ridder, Chris Mondics, 25 Mar 2001 <http://www.sltrib.com/2001/mar/03252001/nation_w/82784.htm>

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

3. AXE-A-DUNCE Yesterday brought news of another rollback on environmental protections by the Bush administration. The U.S. EPA announced that it would rescind a proposal by the Clinton administration to increase public access to information about the potential consequences of chemical plant accidents. Environmental groups say that communities could better plan for disasters if they had access to the worst-case scenarios drawn up by plant operators. But industry officials, some members of Congress, and law enforcement officials argue that the information is too sensitive and could help terrorists hatch attacks.

straight to the source: New York Times, Carl Hulse, 27 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/27/politics/27ACCI.html>

4. LABEL ME BADD Three-fourths of Americans want to know if their food contains genetically engineered ingredients, according to a poll released yesterday by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. Fifty-eight percent of the respondents did not want such ingredients in the food supply, period. However, when they were told that the ingredients were already in many food products on grocery store shelves, nearly half of the respondents said the products must therefore be safe. Despite pressure from environmental and consumer groups, the U.S. has said it won't require labeling of genetically engineered foods. Labeling is already required in Japan, South Korea, Australia, and most of Europe.

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, 27 Mar 2001 <http://www.msnbc.com/news/550142.asp>

straight to the source: Houston Chronicle, Associated Press, 27 Mar 2001 <http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/860106>

do good: Take action against genetically engineered food <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/food.stm>

5. LIGHTS, CAMERA, TRACTION The cast of "Global Warming Survivor" get ready to throw their backs out as the game begins. See Zed, last of his species, set the rules of engagement in "Show Business is My Life."

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Show business is my life -- the latest in the comic adventures of Zed, last of his species <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed032601.stm>

catch it only in Grist Magazine: Play the Zed Eggplant Hunt game! <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/zed/zed-fun.stm>

6. A TRADING BLOCK Environmental and labor groups are gearing up for a new battle over trade next month in Buenos Aires and Quebec City, where countries are meeting to discuss the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The pact, which would create a 34-nation trading bloc in the Western Hemisphere, is a priority for the Bush administration. The administration and Latin American governments think the pact could lead to big bucks for all countries involved, but they oppose including environmental and labor standards in the agreement. Environmentalists and labor supporters, however, fear a race-to-the-bottom, with multinationals settling in countries that have the lowest standards or no standards at all. They are planning Seattle-like protests in Buenos Aires and Quebec City, hoping to turn out tens of thousands of demonstrators.

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Gary Polakovic, 25 Mar 2001 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environ/20010325/t000025759.html>

Diving in feet first -- a day in the life of Noelle Barger, San Diego Oceans Foundation <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/barger032601.stm>

Cabin fever -- development runs wild in the upper Midwest -- by Erik Ness in our Main Dish section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/maindish/ness090800.stm>

How's the weather? -- taking the Earth's temperature -- in our Heat Beat section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/heatbeat/weather031501.stm>

3/27/01
4:53:43 PM

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE

http://ens-news.com

"We Cover the Earth For You"

EU: BUSH NEEDS POLITICAL COURAGE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 26, 2001 (ENS) - The European Union has written to United States President George W. Bush, insisting that the U.S. commit to combating climate change. The letter calls on the U.S. to find the "political courage" to finalize the small print of the Kyoto Protocol.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-26-10.html

ACID RAIN CONTINUES TO DAMAGE NORTHEASTERN FORESTS

WASHINGTON, DC, March 26, 2001 (ENS) - A new study by 10 leading acid rain researchers finds that despite emissions cuts required by 1990 changes to the Clean Air Act, northeast lakes, forests and streams are not recovering from the effects of acid rain. In fact, years of exposure to acid rain have made these ecosystems even more sensitive to additional pollution.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-26-06.html

NORWEGIAN ANGER RISING AT SELLAFIELD RADIOACTIVE POLLUTION

OSLO, Norway, March 26, 2001 (ENS) - Norway's environment minister has reiterated calls for Britain to close its nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield after a report that levels of Sellafield derived radioactivity along the Norwegian coast have increased six-fold since 1996.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-26-02.html

SPECIES PROTECTION EFFORT RACES COLOMBIAN CHAINSAWS

WASHINGTON, DC, March 26, 2001 (ENS) - Colombia is home to the largest number of species of birds and amphibians of any country in the world, but their habitat is shrinking before the advancing agricultural frontier, with its accompanying deforestation and soil erosion. Rural poverty soon follows.

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens-news.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-26-01.html

UK SETS SIGHTS ON SOLAR POWERED FUTURE

LONDON, United Kingdom, March 26, 2001 (ENS) - Photovoltaics technology, which harnesses the sun's energy to provide electricity, could soon power 70,000 homes and several hundred other buildings in the UK.

For full text and graphics, visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-26-11.html

ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MARCH 26, 2001

Labor Secretary Seeks to Shift Nuclear Compensation Program

Forest Service Settles Suit Over Grizzly Habitat

Bill Would Overturn Limits on Park Snowmobile Use

Mine Waste Contamination May Persist for Centuries

North Dakota Considers Banning Biotech Wheat

Amazon Forests Make Excellent Carbon Sinks

Boise Cascade Target of National Markets Campaign

Genetic Evidence Shows Some Animals Use Corridors

For full text and graphics visit:

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2001/2001L-03-26-09.html

3/27/01
4:25:57 PM

Public Citizen

Renewal of German Atomic Waste Shipment Spawns Massive Protests

U.S. Groups Say Similar Protests Could Happen Here

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The United States could see protests similar to those now occurring in Germany if the federal government approves a plan to transport high-level nuclear waste across the country to a Nevada storage site, two U.S. public interest groups said today.

Thousands of protesters are demonstrating throughout Germany as the first high-level radioactive waste is transported through that country since 1998. Approximately 15,000 people demonstrated peacefully in Leuneberg, Germany, on Saturday, while others are protesting at the French-German border and all along the 300-mile transport route. Tens of thousands of police have been mobilized to protect the lethally radioactive shipment.

"The protests in Germany are so large and the people so determined because they know these transports are not necessary," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) who has been present for previous transports in Germany. "They are being done simply for the convenience of the nuclear power industry."

Lisa Gue, policy analyst with Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, agreed. "The nuclear industry should not be permitted to evade liability for its most dangerous byproduct," she said. "Around the world, concerned citizens are mobilizing to protest this unacceptable trade-off and the serious risks that transporting high-level nuclear waste imposes on their health and safety. I predict Americans will do the same."

Mariotte and Gue drew parallels between the well-organized protests in Germany and mounting citizen opposition to proposed nuclear transport schemes in the United States. The U.S. Department of Energy is preparing to recommend Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, as a permanent repository for high-level radioactive waste. If this proposal is approved, 77,000 tons of nuclear waste from the nation's commercial reactors and weapon's sites would be transported through 43 states en route to Nevada starting in 2010.

Another proposal by a consortium of nuclear utilities known as Private Fuel Storage would involve transporting 44,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste to an interim storage facility on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah. Under this scheme, cross-country shipments could begin as early as 2003.

Opponents of the Yucca Mountain repository and Private Fuel Storage proposals have concerns about both the suitability of the sites and the safety of transporting high-level radioactive waste. Containers that would be used to ship the waste have not been subjected to full-scale physical testing, and an accident involving a release of radiation could have catastrophic consequences.

"Transporting high-level nuclear waste is inherently dangerous because it increases the risk of radioactive release and disperses this risk along transportation routes where emergency responders may lack the capacity to respond effectively to a radiological emergency," Gue said.

Even without an accident, high-level nuclear waste shipping containers routinely emit low doses of radiation, which could elevate the risk of cancer among vulnerable aspects of the population. Also, property values would decline along nuclear transportation routes.

"High-level waste should never be transported to inappropriate sites, and neither Yucca Mountain nor Skull Valley are scientifically or publicly acceptable," Mariotte said. "We can expect similar protests-over much longer transport routes-if high-level atomic waste is attempted to be moved to such sites."

The German shipment left a reprocessing center in Valognes, France early Monday morning. It is expected to arrive at a relay center in Dannenburg in northern Germany on Tuesday. There, the 100-ton waste casks will be transferred from train cars to large trucks. On Wednesday, the trucks are to drive the final nine miles to an "interim" storage facility at Gorleben. Thousands of protestors are expected to block the trucks' departure from Dannenburg.

The protests this year are particularly significant, since the ruling Social Democrat/Green Party coalition has endorsed the transports as part of an agreement to close the country's nuclear power plants within the next 30 years. That endorsement, however, does not seem to resonate with the grassroots activists, farmers, and people from all walks of life who have consistently opposed the transports and radioactive waste storage at Gorleben.

Many Germans remain strongly opposed to transporting high-level nuclear waste, citing risks to the environment and human health and safety. In 1997, similar demonstrations at the same location brought out more than 20,000 protestors and more than 30,000 police. Again in 1998, well-organized demonstrations disrupted a nuclear shipment to the Ahaus storage site in northern Germany.

Updates on the protests at Gorleben can be found at

http://www.greenpeace.de/castor

and

http://www.x1000malquer.de

While most of the information will be in German, some will be in English. First person accounts of the 1997 and 1998 German transports, with photos, can be found in the International News section of NIRS' Web site,

www.nirs.org

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

http://www.Citizen.org

3/27/01
3:57:15 PM

Watchdog Group To Post 50 Years of Internal Chemical Industry Documents On Internet

Thousands Of Industry Meeting Minutes, Memos, and Letters Will Be Searchable In "Chemical Industry Archives"

Washington - A nonprofit environmental research group known for its hard-hitting computer investigations will post a vast trove of internal chemical industry documents on the Internet on Tuesday, March 27.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG.org) will launch the website - the Chemical Industry Archives - with an initial collection of more than 35,000 pages of chemical industry insider documents spanning five decades.

"These Archives will do for public understanding of the chemical industry what the 'tobacco papers' did for the tobacco industry," said Kenneth Cook, president of EWG.

The Chemical Industry Archives will be accessed through the group's web site:

www.ewg.org

3/26/01
4:26:37 PM

RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS

http://www.Rachel.org

ENGINEERING HUMANS, PART 1

by Rachel Massey*

Inheritable characteristics are passed from one generation to the next through DNA, a molecule that is present in all of our cells. Scientists think of DNA as being divided into genes, or units of genetic information. In the past three decades, scientists have learned how to mix and match characteristics among unrelated creatures by moving genes from one creature to another. This is called "genetic engineering."

As we saw in our series on genetic engineering of food crops, genetic "engineers" are now moving genes around among plants, animals, and bacteria on a regular basis, but with very little understanding of the possible consequences, and almost no safety testing. Now genetic engineers are starting to modify the genes of humans, using three approaches: 1) cloning, 2) somatic cell manipulation, and 3) human germline manipulation.

Cloning: Cloning uses the DNA of an existing individual to create a new individual. The best-known example is Dolly, a sheep that was cloned using DNA from a sheep that had been dead for six years. A human has not yet been cloned, but a team of researchers including an American and an Italian recently announced they are going to attempt it.[1]

Somatic cell manipulation: Somatic cells are all the cells of the body that do not pass DNA on to the next generation. Somatic cell manipulation is currently practiced in some medical research centers under the name "gene therapy." For example, researchers are experimenting with ways to introduce genes into the blood cells of patients with hemophilia (a blood disorder), and into cells of the immune system in patients with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID), a rare inherited disorder of the immune system. The idea is to "correct" the genetic component of the disease instead of, or in addition to, treating the disease with drugs. Hundreds of trials have been carried out, but in most cases the patients have not been cured.[2]

Germline manipulation: Germ cells (sperm and eggs) do pass DNA from one generation to the next. Germline manipulation refers to changes in the germ cells changes which will be inherited by successive generations. Designing future generations through germline manipulation is still in the realm of science fiction, but just barely: some influential scientists are arguing that it should be attempted.

Why are scientists pursuing these techniques? Some researchers see somatic cell manipulation as a promising way to treat serious diseases, such as cystic fibrosis. Other genetic engineers may have less idealistic motives. Engineering human cells is technically appealing, and the mere fact that we possess this technology is, for some people, sufficient reason to use it. Some technological optimists are fascinated by the idea of germline engineering as a way to "take evolution into our own hands" by redesigning the genetic information in our children's cells.

Engineering human cells could also be a big money-maker. For example, one company hopes to create a market in "organ repair" generating cloned cells and tissues to insert into existing people's organs.[3, pg. 18] Other companies and researchers simply want to keep open the option to engineer human cells because it could be profitable in the future, even if they have not made investments in doing it right now.[3]

Cloning

There are two main applications of cloning. One is "embryo cloning," which could be used to create new human parts. For example, some scientists are working on methods to produce a new embryo from an existing person's cells and then use the cells from that embryo to produce replacements for failing body parts in the original person.[4] An embryo develops about a week after conception, and in its early stages consists of a few identical cells.

"Reproductive cloning" would produce complete cloned individuals, like Dolly the sheep. Genetic engineers are now able to clone mice and cattle as well as sheep.[5, pg. 45] Human cloning would produce a new person who is a near genetic copy of another person. He or she would, however, be different from the original person because he or she would develop in a different environment and have different experiences.

Many people think both "reproductive cloning" and "embryo cloning" are repugnant and unethical. Other people think embryo cloning could be acceptable in some cases to treat disease but think reproductive cloning is wholly unnecessary and never justifiable.

In the U.S., federal funds cannot be used for reproductive cloning experiments and some states have outlawed it, but there is no federal law against it.[5, pg. 4] A team of researchers recently announced they are going to attempt human cloning in an "unidentified Mediterranean country."[1] These researchers have been widely condemned, but some of their colleagues are primarily concerned that this early attempt at cloning could give the technology a bad name and reduce the public's willingness to allow further cloning research.

Somatic cell manipulation

Somatic cell manipulation adds genes to existing cells in some part of the human body, such as the lungs or the blood. Somatic cell manipulation is only supposed to affect the DNA of the person undergoing the treatment. In theory, it does not produce changes that could be passed on to that person's children and grandchildren.

Somatic cell manipulation was first attempted on humans in 1990.[6, pg. 110] The mechanisms of somatic cell manipulation are poorly understood, and the effects can be lethal. In one case, a teenager died after researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tried to introduce genes into his liver cells, using a modified virus to carry the genes to their destination. The idea was that the virus would "infect" the target cells and insert the desired genes, without being dangerous itself. The researchers are still not certain how they killed their patient, but evidence suggests the virus invaded many organs besides the liver and triggered a severe immune reaction.[7]

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), somatic cell manipulation also poses the threat of insertional mutagenesis, in which inserting new DNA changes or disrupts the functioning of existing DNA. (See REHN #716. ) FDA also says researchers attempting to alter somatic cells could inadvertently introduce foreign genes into the patient's sperm or egg cells.[8, pg. 4689] If this happened, researchers could accidentally change the genetic information passed from parent to child.

Researchers are required to submit data to FDA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on any adverse effects that occur during somatic cell manipulation trials. After the teenager's death at the University of Pennsylvania, an investigation revealed that many researchers were not reporting adverse effects to NIH, which can make the information public. Some researchers say it would "confuse people" to report every death that occurs during these trials because many participants are seriously ill and could die for reasons unrelated to the treatment.[9]

Right now, most information that researchers submit to FDA on somatic cell manipulation experiments is kept secret.[8, pg. 4688] The agency has issued proposed regulations under which information about somatic cell manipulation trials will be made available to the public, and is accepting comments on the proposed regulations until April 18, 2001.[10]

Germline manipulation

Germline manipulation permanently changes the inheritable characteristics passed from one generation to the next. This can be done by altering sperm or egg cells or by altering an embryo. If an engineered embryo survives and develops into a baby, the changes introduced by germline manipulation will be present in every cell of that baby. If the baby survives to adulthood and has children, the changes will be passed on to future generations, through that person's sperm or egg cells.

Some researchers try to justify germline manipulation by saying it could remove or replace DNA associated with an inherited disease. This is a far-fetched idea and unnecessary; even if both members of a couple have the genes for a hereditary disease, there are other ways to produce a child without the disease, including using donated sperm or eggs. Other researchers say they want to use germline engineering to give a baby new genetic features it could not have gotten from its parents. This goal cannot be achieved through any other technology. It is also a goal that, by definition, could never be medically necessary because it would not serve to relieve sickness in an existing person. Instead, it would aim to "improve" future generations of human beings.[6, pg. 113]

The attempt to "improve" the human race genetically -- as one might create a specialized breed of horses or dogs -- is known as eugenics. In the early decades of the 20th century, eugenics projects in the U.S. led to forced sterilization of some people who were considered to have undesirable traits. This included prison inmates who were considered to be "hereditary criminals." One forced sterilization was justified by describing a man as "subnormal mentally," with "every appearance and indication of immorality."[6, pgs. 20-21] In Nazi Germany, the systematic extermination of Jews and other people was one part of a eugenic project to breed a "superior race."[6, pg. 17]

Some prominent scientists hope to achieve eugenic goals through genetic engineering instead of through breeding. Molecular biologist Daniel Koshland, formerly the editor of SCIENCE magazine, argues that "if a child destined to have a permanently low IQ could be cured by replacing a gene, would anyone really argue against that?" He continues, "It is a short step from that decision to improving a normal IQ. Is there an argument against making superior individuals?... As society gets more complex, perhaps it must select for individuals more capable of coping with its complex problems."[4, pgs. 115-116]

To be continued.

*Rachel Massey is a consultant to Environmental Research Foundation.

3/26/01
4:20:49 PM

Environmental news from GRIST MAGAZINE

<http://www.gristmagazine.com>

1. VINYL JEOPARDY A PBS documentary tonight by Bill Moyers focuses on the dangers of exposure to vinyl chloride, asserting that the chemical industry has gone to great lengths to cover up the risks of the chemical, which is used for making plastic products. For example, a 1984 industry document outlines how the industry created the illusion of grassroots support for its positions by establishing a group with a misleading name -- the Citizens for Effective Environmental Action Now -- and spending $150,000 to pressure members of Congress to act in the industry's interest. The American Chemistry Council, the industry trade association, has accused Moyers of "journalistic malpractice" for not including interviews with its spokespeople in the documentary. Moyers responded, "I consider myself in good company to be attacked by the industry that tried to smear Rachel Carson."

straight to the source: New York Times, John H. Cushman, Jr., 26 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/26/national/26CHEM.html>

do good: Take action and voice your concerns to chemical producers in your neighborhood <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/toxic.stm#scorecard>

2. WASTE WATCHERS More than 10,000 demonstrators protested in the German town of Lueneburg on Saturday in anticipation of shipments of reprocessed nuclear waste from France to Germany that begin today. Transport of the waste, which originated from German nuclear reactors and was sent to a French reprocessing center in the 1990s, was suspended in 1998 when officials detected leaks in some containers. Officials from the two countries approved resumption of the shipments this year, promising to tighten safety precautions. Protesters are expected to occupy sites along the route; 15,000 German police are on alert to avoid a repeat of violent clashes that occurred in the '90s.

straight to the source: Planet Ark, Reuters, Andreas Moeser, 26 Mar 2001 <http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10240>

3. BOXER REBELLION Democrats say that President Bush's recent moves to roll back environmental protections have given them their first rallying point since Bush took office. "We believe that George W. Bush has declared war on the environment," said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) last week. Mark Mellman, a leading Democratic pollster, said, "I think Bush is in the process of creating a political disaster for himself." Environmental groups are beginning to run radio and TV ads around the country criticizing Bush's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and calling attention to the president's broken promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions and his decision to rescind a rule lowering the allowable amount of arsenic in drinking water. For his part, Bush seems to be betting that he can successfully portray environmentalists as extremists, responsible in part for the country's current energy problems.

straight to the source: Washington Post, Mike Allen and Eric Pianin, 24 Mar 2001 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51148-2001Mar23.html>

straight to the source: New York Times, Joseph Kahn, 25 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/25/weekinreview/25KAHN.html>

read it only in Grist Magazine: Anti-environmentalism as a way of life -- Dubya's pro-industry policies aren't only about the money -- by Jon Margolis in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho022101.stm>

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

4. DREADED WHEAT Some farmers in the U.S. are joining environmental and consumer groups in opposing genetically engineered crops, adding strength to campaigns to have the crops regulated more tightly. More than 40 state bills have been introduced this year to regulate the crops or the labeling of foods made from them. In North Dakota, a bill to ban the planting of genetically modified wheat for two years has already passed the state House and is now before the Senate. Although many farmers favor genetically modified crops because they have traits like strong pest resistance, some farmers fear they won't be able to sell the crops abroad. Europe and Japan are strictly regulating such crops and consumers outside the U.S. are avoiding foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients.

straight to the source: New York Times, Andrew Pollack, 24 Mar 2001 <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/24/health/24DAKO.html>

do good: Take action against genetically engineered food <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/food.stm>

10 reasons to drill -- the case for oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- satire in our opinions section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho032201.stm>

The customer-is-always-right whale -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/ha/ha031901.stm>

An offer you can't refuse -- a day in the life of Eric Britton, Earth Car Free Day <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/britton032301.stm>

3/26/01
4:05:13 PM

Public Citizen

Biased Process Promotes Forced Exposure to Nuclear Waste; Radioactive Materials Could be Released Into Consumer Goods, Building Supplies

119 Groups and Individuals Protest Lopsided Agenda of NAS Committee Meeting

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The process used by a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee to determine how to dispose of radioactive waste is skewed toward reaching one recommendation: use the waste to make common household goods and building materials, according to a "Statement of Concern about Balance and Perspective" issued today by 119 public interest groups and individuals.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee, enlisted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to provide recommendations for the dispersal of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, is biased and designed to lend legitimacy to releasing the waste into regular commerce, the groups said. The NAS committee holds its second meeting today through Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The groups and individuals include singer Bonnie Raitt, the Sierra Club and the Committee for Nuclear Responsibility.

The groups are concerned that radioactively contaminated materials could be widely distributed throughout the environment and end up in a wide array of consumer goods. Should such releases be allowed to continue and increase, the radioactive legacy of America's nuclear power and weapons industry could end up in everything from cooking utensils and bicycles to homebuilding materials such as concrete, wood, metal and glass, the groups say. They are also concerned that radioactive soil could be used in landscaping or school playgrounds. In short, our overall environment could see a dramatic increase in radioactive contamination, according to David Ritter, a policy analyst for Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. A copy of the statement is located at

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/radmetal/StatementtoNASrecycling.htm.

Radioactive materials have been released from Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons and commercial sites for some time, but no coherent policy or consistent standards govern such releases. Last year, as a result of pressure from citizen groups, unions and the steel industry, then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson placed a moratorium on the release of radioactive metals from DOE sites. However, the moratorium didn't apply to commercial sites. Also, contaminated materials that aren't metals still may be released from DOE sites, providing that the DOE believes that releases will result in "authorized doses" of radiation to the population. The NRC now is proceeding to set a standard for the amount of radiation that the public can be exposed to from products containing recycled materials from government and commercial plants.

The NAS committee (called the Committee on Alternatives for Controlling the Release of Solid Materials From Nuclear Regulatory Commission Licensed Facilities) was formed in September and has 18 months to issue recommendations about how the NRC should deal with radioactively contaminated waste. The committee has invited "stakeholders" to present their views on the release, reuse or recycling of the materials from NRC-licensed facilities. The statement of concern issued today protests the composition of the speakers and the agenda for the meeting.

The groups' statement reminds the committee that "the public's right to protection from unnecessary radiation exposure should be the pre-eminent concern" and that the signatories are "disappointed that the stakeholder presentations are so heavily skewed towards the nuclear industry." Not a single public interest organization will have the chance to address the whole committee.

"This is blatantly unfair and biased," said Diane D'Arrigo, project director at Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). "It discredits the supposedly scientific process that should be independent of powerful business interests."

The first day of presentations, which will be made to the full committee, has been allotted solely to nuclear industry representatives. On the second day, the committee will split into two sections and hold simultaneous sessions. Only three of the 18 scheduled speakers will represent the general public, and just one organization - representing a nuclear industry - has been given two time slots for presentations.

The public interest sector wanted better representation at the meeting. According to D'Arrigo, "numerous others requested the opportunity to present, but were refused, some with unique and comprehensive knowledge of the very issues with which this committee must contend."

The nuclear industry stands to reap great benefits from selling radioactive waste to be recycled into consumer goods. Selling, dumping or donating radioactive materials under the green-washed guise of "recycling" would be much more cost-effective for the companies that own and operate nuclear power plants than responsibly isolating and maintaining the waste for the many years they will be hazardous.

"What's good for the bottom line of the nuclear companies is bad news for the public," Ritter said. "The entire country could become a laboratory where people would be the guinea pigs for an experiment to discover the long-term health effects of repeated and unavoidable exposures to radiation."

The protest letter urges that "this bias be corrected in all future sessions and that the expertise of this committee focus seriously on practical mechanisms to isolate radioactively contaminated materials from the public and the environment."

The impact of any decision by the committee, which will influence the NRC's rulemaking process, could set a precedent that would affect the release of similarly contaminated materials from nuclear weapons and other fuel chain sites within the Departments of Defense and Energy.

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is hoping that the National Academy of Sciences will give them much-needed credibility for letting nuclear power wastes into our daily lives," D'Arrigo said. "We are calling on the NAS Committee to really listen to critics and public sentiment and to reject this dangerous plan."

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit www.citizen.org

3/26/01
12:44:42 PM

The Nation

There are lots of new articles, columns and editorials available currently on a wide range of subjects from the April 9 issue of The Nation at

http://www.thenation.com

AL GIORDANO: Zapatistas on the March

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010409&s=giordano

JONAH PERETTI: My Nike Media Adventure

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010409&s=peretti

ERIC ALTERMAN: Tweedledee, Indeed

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010409&s=alterman

ERIC BOEHLERT: The Pardons & The Press

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010409&s=boehlert

DOUG HENWOOD: Wealth Report

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010409&s=henwood

JOHN LEONARD: The Drowned and the Unsaved

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010409&s=leonard

DROP THE ROCK DAY:

Tomorrow, March 27, a coalition of New York-based community groups and non-profits will stage a day of public protest in Albany, New York, to call upon elected officials to repeal the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. For information on inexpensive bus transportation from all five boroughs and DROP THE ROCK's efforts generally go to:

http://www.droptherock.org/

And, for background, read "The Worst Drug Laws," from the most recent issue of The Nation at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010409&s=editors2

NAME THE PRESIDENT CONTEST:

We've winnowed the field of more than 750 entries down to eight finalists. Please use our online ballot to vote for your favorite title before the April 2 deadline. You can even monitor the results by viewing running, up-to-the-minute tallies. Cast your ballot at:

http://www.thenation.com/special/namepres

MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT:

The Nation has teamed up with the Institute for Policy Studies 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

RECENT NATION ARTICLES:

You can also still read recent articles of interest from the pages of The Nation, including Marc Cooper on Plan Columbia; William Greider on Reaganomics redux; Ellen Willis on The Sopranos; Robert Dallek on presidential libraries; Naomi Klein on the World Social Forum; Eben Moglen on Napster; JoAnn Wypijewski on General Electric; Robert Sherrill on death-penalty politics and Vincent Bugliosi on Bush vs. Gore. All available at:

http://www.thenation.com

ALFRED W:

The Nation's celebrated November 13, 2000 cover illustration of "Alfred W. Bush" drew immediate and sustained attention. Now we've turned it into full color t-shirts and glossy posters. Available now! Find ordering and other information at:

http://www.thenation.com/special/alfredw.mhtml

3/26/01
12:40:57 PM

General Lumintang Trained by the U.S.

by Allan Nairn

Months after helping to design and implement a campaign of violence against East Timor, Indonesian General Johny Lumintang is in the United States.

Lumintang, who last summer issued a secret Red Beret (Kopassus) terror manual, is a US trainee who has long been favored by Washington policy makers.

In 1989 Lumintang was brought to the United States for an International Defense Management course under the Pentagon's IMET (International Military Education and Training) program (Lumintang was IMET student #23294). In following years Lumintang assumed command of two military campaigns -- occupied East Timor and West Papua [Irian Jaya] -- based on the systematic torture, killing, and abduction of civilians.

Under Lumintang's command in West Papua (1996), Kopassus massacred civilians after descending from a helicopter illegally painted with international Red Cross markings.

In May of 1998 Lumintang shared command of "security" in Jakarta during anti-Chinese riots that -- according to diplomats and human rights groups -- the army itself helped to organize.

On June 30, 1999 Lumintang personally authorized and signed a secret Kopassus covert action manual ("Buku Petunjuk Pembinaan Sandhi Yudha") that calls for preparing Kopassus forces in the "tactic and technique" of "terror," "kidnapping," "sabotage," "undercover," "infiltration," "wiretapping," and similar measures.

The handbook is, according to senior Indonesian armed forces officials, still in use in Indonesia and is at this moment being applied in the Kopassus terror campaigns in West Papua and Aceh, and in undercover provocateur operations in Ambon and Kalimantan.

The terror handbook has come to light because of its use in occupied East Timor during the 1999 armed forces/militia campaign of arson, murder, rape, abduction, and assassination ( A copy of the book was found in an abandoned army base by Yayasan Hak, an East Timorese human rights and legal aid group).

Lumintang has long been a close protege of US military intelligence, and has been promoted by the Pentagon and State Department as a leading Indonesian "moderate."

Kopassus itself has received extensive training under the Pentagon's JCET (Joint Combined Exchange and Training) program in tactics including demolitions, surveillance, "advanced sniper technique," air, sea, and ground assault and "psychological operations." The JCET training was suspended in 1998 after a public and Congressional outcry, but the Pentagon is pushing to renew it on the grounds that under leaders like Lumintang, the armed forces are reforming themselves and deserve new US weapons and know-how.

In fact, it is popular pressure that has forced Jakarta's army into slow retreat, and as the Lumintang case illustrates, armed forces repression is systematic. The use of terror against civilians is written deep into TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) doctrine and is assumed by senior commanders as their basic tactic and technique.

If it is true in some sense that Lumintang really is a "moderate" in TNI, then that only illustrates the extent to which this is a truly terrorist organization.

As Vice Chief of Staff for the Army -- and also as a former on-the-ground East Timor commander -- Lumintang played a leading role in the shaping of Timor militia policy. On the day that the UN agreement for the Timor referendum was finalized (May 5, 1999), Lumintang sent a telegraphed order to commanders for the Timor zone directing them to prepare a "security plan" including "repressive/coercive measures," as well as a military-planned "exodus" if the Timorese voted for independence. As an army personnel chief he also helped send his former aide -- Gen. Kiki Syhanakrie -- to Timor to assume command of the final stage of the scorched earth operation.

When I was a prisoner in Gen. Kiki's Dili headquarters (his command had been re-named The Committee for the Restoration of Peace and Stability), I could see the Aitarak militias on-base, going out to stage their raids. They were directed by Kopassus officers, some uniformed, some plainclothes, as well as by intelligence and operations officers from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police.

Gen. Lumintang was one of the senior officers who gave them their marching orders. Those officers -- and their foreign accomplices -- should be prosecuted for their crimes. The civil suit by victims of the Timor terror cannot put Lumintang in prison. But it can help the US public begin to catch up with a discussion already underway in today's Indonesia and in newly liberated East Timor. The question is whether senior public officials should be allowed to sponsor murder.

Award-winning journalist and human rights activist Allan Nairn was the last foreign reporter in Dili, East Timor, prior to the arrival of the international peace-keeping force. On September 14, as the Indonesian destruction of Dili was culminating, Indonesian military forces arrested him on the streets of Dili. He was held in detention for six days and threatened with charges that could have landed him in jail for 10 years. The Indonesian government finally deported him to Singapore. On a previous trip to East Timor while on assignment for The New Yorker magazine, Nairn had his skull fractured by Indonesian troops while covering the November 12, 1991 Santa Cruz massacre. He is currently writing a book on U.S.-Indonesia military relations.

http://www.etan.org/news/2000a/suit/nairn.htm

3/26/01
12:36:16 PM

UTNE WEB WATCH

The Best of the Alternative Web

http://www.utne.com/webwatch

TODAY'S PICKS:

http://www.utne.com/webwatch/archive.tpl?d=03/26/2001

THE OTHER CANCUN

by John Ross, Now Magazine (Toronto)

-- While corporate heads met at a recent World Economic Forum gathering in Cancun, activists took journalists on a "reality tour," giving them a snapshot of how corporate globalization operates in the underdeveloped world.

THE INELUCTABLE MODALITY OF THE MARGINAL: WHEN HE'S HOT, RICK MOODY GIVES US A WOODY

by Cornel Bonca, Orange County Weekly

-- Author Rick Moody hasn't figured out what kind of writer he wants to be. Is he the son of old establishment types like John Updike and John Cheever, or does he belong to the faster literary crowd that includes hipsters David Foster Wallace and Dave Eggers?

A RUN ON THE BANKS

by Colin Woodard, E Magazine

-- Once the supply was thought to be inexhaustible, but the once-great cod fishery of Newfoundland's Grand Banks demonstrates how greed and willful ignorance of basic ecology can destroy entire ecosystems.

Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch

The links are also in our archive at:

http://www.utne.com/webwatch/archive.tpl?d=03/26/2001

3/26/01
12:33:12 PM

Planet Ark World Environment News

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

US environmentalists say Arctic refuge must be off limits - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10239

FACTBOX - Democrat, Republican energy plans detailed - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10247

Democrats seek answers on Bush environmental moves - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10257

Small generators seen fleeing Calif. utilities - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10242

New York closes vast garbage dump ahead of time - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10254

Arctic refuge could provide 25 pct US energy needs - expert - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10238

Enviro groups dreading more Bush clean air rollbacks - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10235

US senators ask Bush to deny Calif. oxygen fuel waiver - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10256

WRAPUP - Calif power strategy floats in limbo - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10241

World's largest wind farm gets Swedish approval - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10245

UK opens the door to 100 more green energy projects - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10250

UPDATE - Britain wants new power stations to consider CHP - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10236

Britain poised to switch on new electricity market - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10243

IRRI says more research required on golden rice - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10251

Greenpeace sprays Canadian embassy with wood chips - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10255

Protestors gather against fifth Schiphol runway - NETHERLANDS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10253

Lithuania could close nuclear plant in 2009 - LITHUANIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10246

UPDATE - Two dead, 148 hurt in strong Japan quake - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10233

UPDATE - Greenpeace co-founder dies in car crash - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10234

UPDATE - 10,000 Germans protest against nuclear waste - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10240

France to return German nuclear waste on Monday - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10248

UPM backs nuclear plant, defies green activists - FINLAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10249

EU says on track for alternative energy sources - EUROPE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10244

Disembowelled rare pink dolphin washes up in Macau - CHINA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10237

EU tells Bush climate is key to Europe-US ties - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10252

3/26/01
12:07:20 PM

Renewable Energy And Anti-Nuke Expert Harvey Wassermann, senior consultant to Greenpeace & NIRS [http://www.nirs.org] will be on the Art Bell radio show this Monday night/Tuesday morning 3/26 - 27 discussing alternative energy, nukes and industry rip-offs. The show begins at 1:06 AM and Harvey will probably be on from 2:06AM to 6AM. For those that are interested & that can't listen live, the show will be downloadable via real audio almost immediately afterwards.

http://www.artbell.com