6/1/01
2:21:02 PM
The Nation
Today marks the eightieth anniversary of the Tulsa race riots of 1921 -- one of the most brutal instances of racial violence in the U.S. in the last century.
The violence began on Memorial Day 1921, in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, a boomtown flush with oil money, and by the time the three-day massacre was complete, a well-armed white mob, some of them deputized by the police department, had trashed Tulsa's prosperous black neighborhood, Greenwood ("the black Wall Street"), had razed thirty-six square blocks, had burned more than 3,000 homes to the ground and had killed as many as 300 people, many of whom were buried in mass graves or simply dumped anonymously into the Arkansas River.
The Nation sent Walter White to Tulsa to report on the aftermath of the riots in 1921. An acclaimed journalist and the future director of the NAACP, White came back with an essay that came to be considered one of the seminal accounts of the riots and which still makes for searing reading today.
To commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the Tulsa riots, we've collected White's article, a shorter editorial that the magazine published at the time, and a set of links to some of the scarce Internet-based resources devoted to forging a collective memory of the destruction of the black community in Tulsa in 1921. All available at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=1921tulsa
You can also find a selection of new articles, editorials and columns from the June 18 issue of The Nation:
MOLLY IVINS: Shrub Flubs His Dub http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010618&s=ivins
ERIC FONER: Italy's "House of Freedoms" http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010618&s=foner
ERIC ALTERMAN: The Vandals Repeat Did Not Take The Handles http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010618&s=alterman
HILLARY FREY AND MIRANDA KENNEDY: Abortion On Trial http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010618&s=frey
LUCY KOMISAR: "After Dirty Air, Dirty Money" http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010618&s=komisar
ADAM SHATZ: The Battle of Algiers http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010618&s=shatz
MICAH L. SIFRY: Clean Elections at Stake (WEB ONLY) http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=sifry20010529
REMEMBERING JOE MOAKLEY:
In the latest installment of The Online Beat, John Nichols tells an instructive story about how a good congressman got the best of a bad system and was instrumental in the the fight to shut down the U.S. Army's notorious School of the Americas -- where generations of military thugs from El Salvador and other Latin American countries received their training in torture, er,"counter-insurgency" techniques.
Read this fascinating story currently at:
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat
NO RUSH TO JUDGES:
With the Bush Administration's conservative court-packing scheme clearly on the table, The Nation is urging people to launch a missive attack on majority leader Tom Daschle and the nine judiciary committee Democrats, demanding that they stand firm and block Bush's attempts to impose an overwhelming right-wing agenda on the nation's appellate bench for years to come.
Read "No Rush To Judges" for the full story on Bush's new US Circuit Court nominees at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010604&s=editors2
And please take a moment to blast off an informed letter imploring the appropriate Democrats to stiffen their resolve against Bush's appointments. You can choose a pre-written note that we've assembled or personalize your own missive to any or all of the committee members. You can find the letter and contact info at:
http://www.thenation.com/alert/actnow/
THE PACIFICA CRISIS:
Check out The Nation's collection of editorials, columns, articles and web-only features on the continuing troubles at the Pacifica Radio Network. With contributions from Robert McChesney, Lyn Gerry and Edward Herman, John Dinges, Marc Cooper and Mumia Abu-Jamal, and letters from Mary Frances Berry, Dennis Bernstein and Bill Mandel, among many others.
http://www.thenation.com/special/2001pacifica.mhtml
RECENT NATION ARTICLES:
And also still available are numerous recent articles of interest, including David Corn on James Jeffords; Bruce Shapiro on Timothy McVeigh; Jason Vest on the State Department's secret Andean war; Christopher Hitchens and Jonathan Schell on Bob Kerrey's war crimes; Maude Barlow on the FTAA protests; Eileen Stillwaggon on AIDS and poverty in Africa; Amy Bach on problems with indigent defense; William Greider on global sweatshops; and Eric Alterman, Alec Dubro and Peter Kornbluh on tainted Bush appointee Otto Reich. All accessible at:
6/1/01
2:14:18 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Bush picks "pariah of Marcus," Iowa for ag post - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11033
FEATURE - Skyscrapers turn out lights to save migrating birds - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11027
Judge dismisses Indians suits against Texaco - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11029
New Hampshire proposes MTBE-free RFG alternative - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11030
UK warned of nuclear terror threat at new plant - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11039
Environmentalists say UK parties ignore them - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11036
UK shops mistaken to drop GM food - industrialist - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11034
IEA says spray can propellant could be future fuel - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11025
FEATURE - Thai king promotes home-grown green palm fuels - THAILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11040
FEATURE - Tough Swaziland laws deter rhino poachers - SWAZILAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11042
North Atlantic wild salmon on brink of extinction - WWF - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11028
India's electric vehicle makers seek govt help - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11026
UPDATE - E.ON says to end power deal with CEZ - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11031
French minister proposes EU - wide "eco-tax" - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11038
Italy wavering on climate change - EU diplomats - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11035
Estonia looks to close environment on road to EU - ESTONIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11037
CORRECTED - Denmark to ratify Kyoto global warming treaty - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11041
Radioactive water leaks in Czech n-plant - CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11032
6/1/01
2:07:50 PM
Rachel.org
FLUORIDATION: TIME FOR A SECOND LOOK?
by Paul, Ellen and Michael Connett
In 1997 the union representing scientists, engineers and lawyers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D.C., voted to support a California citizen initiative to stop fluoridation of public drinking water. In 1999 the union's vice-president released a paper explaining the union's opposition to fluoridation.[1]
Fluoridation is the practice of adding fluoride to the public water supply to reduce dental decay. U.S. fluoridation trials began in 1945 and by 1992 approximately 56% of the U.S. public received its water from fluoridated systems.[2]
Typically, fluoride-containing (or -generating) compounds are added to water to bring the level up to 1 milligram of fluoride ion per liter (1 part per million). In 1986 EPA set a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for fluoride in drinking water at 4 ppm.[3] The MCL was based on only one adverse health effect: skeletal fluorosis, a crippling bone disease.
Fluoridation of public water supplies has stirred passionate debate for over 50 years. Now new data is refining the debate. It appears that some of the early claims for fluoridation's benefits were inflated. In recent years tooth decay has declined in both fluoridated and non-fluoridated communities. In fact, the largest U.S. survey indicates that the benefit to fluoridated communities amounts to 0.6 fewer decayed tooth surfaces per child, which is less than one percent of the tooth surfaces in a child's mouth.[4]
The public health community justified medicating whole communities via public drinking water using certain arguments that recent research has now shown to be false. For example, in 1945 scientists believed that fluoride had to be swallowed to be effective. However, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recently acknowledged that fluoride's mechanism of action is primarily topical, not systemic.[5] This means that you don't need to swallow fluoride to reap its tiny benefits.
A second early belief, now known to be false, is that fluoride is an essential nutrient. There is no evidence of any disease related to fluoride deficiency. Natural levels of fluoride in human milk (0.01 ppm) are approximately a hundred times less than baby formula reconstituted with fluoridated water.[6]
A third early belief was that dental fluorosis (a defect of the tooth enamel caused by fluoride's interference with the growing tooth) would occur in only about 10% of the children drinking water fluoridated at 1 ppm and would occur only in its mildest form. Today fluorosis occurs on two or more teeth in 30% of children in areas where the water is fluoridated, and not all in its mildest form.[7]
A fourth early belief was that 1 ppm fluoride in drinking water provided an ample margin of safety against toxic effects. Not only is there no safety margin for dental fluorosis but there is growing evidence that there may be no safety margin for changes to bone structure and impacts on the brain, thyroid, and other soft tissues, especially when it is coupled with nutrient deficiencies, particularly iodide.
THE EVIDENCE
1) In 1998 the results of a long-term, low-dose rat study were published.[8] Two groups of rats were exposed to two different kinds of fluoride at 1 ppm in distilled water. A third group received only distilled water. Amyloid deposits (associated with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia) were elevated in the brains of both fluoridated groups compared to the control group. The authors speculate that fluoride enables aluminum to cross the blood-brain barrier.
2) Millions of people in India and China suffer a crippling bone disease called skeletal fluorosis, caused by moderate to high natural levels of fluoride (1.5 to 9 ppm) in their water.[9] Skeletal fluorosis has several stages of severity, with the less severe being chronic joint pain. "Because some of the clinical symptoms mimic arthritis, the first two clinical phases of skeletal fluorosis could be easily misdiagnosed."[3] Arthritis is now at epidemic levels in the U.S. Fluoride's plausible contribution has been ignored, but needs to be taken seriously.
3) Since fluoridation began in 1945 our exposure to other sources of fluoride has increased substantially. These include processing food and beverages with fluoridated water; air pollution from fluoride emitting industries; pesticide residues; vitamins; and dental products. If 1 ppm in drinking water were the only source of fluoride, the average person would ingest 2 milligrams (mg) of fluoride each day, though some may get less because they use bottled water, or they drink less water than the average adult. In 1991, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) estimated that the range of exposure in communities with approximately 1 ppm fluoride in the water was 1.58 to 6.6 mg per day.[10]
4) The dose of 1.58 to 6.6 mg per day overlaps the dose found to depress the functioning of the human thyroid gland. At 2.27 to 4.54 mg/day, fluoride has been found to "completely relieve" the symptoms of hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid).[11] With fluoride's known capacity to depress thyroid activity, it seems that there may be a link between current fluoride consumption and the prevalence of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). More than twenty million people in the U.S. receive treatment for thyroid problems and many others are thought to go undiagnosed.[12]
5) Fluoride is a hormone disrupter. It mimics the action of many water-soluble hormones by interacting with G proteins, which transmit hormonal messages across cell membranes.[13] Additionally, fluoride accumulates in the pineal gland and may reduce melatonin production.[14]
6) Fluoride (50-75 mg per day) given to osteoporosis patients to strengthen bones has actually increased their rate of hip fractures.[15,16] Of 18 studies conducted since 1990, 10 have found an association between water fluoridation and hip fractures in the elderly.[17] According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR): "If this effect is confirmed, it would mean that hip fracture in the elderly replaces dental fluorosis in children as the most sensitive endpoint of fluoride exposure."[18] Hip fracture is not a minor problem: in the U.S. up to 50,000 people die each year of osteoporosis-related hip fractures.[19]
7) Some evidence suggests that fluoride causes bone cancer in male rats and perhaps in young men.[20, 21]
8) A recent report by the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility reviews studies showing that fluoride interferes with brain function in young animals and in children, reducing IQ.[22]
Most European countries have rejected fluoridation. Recognizing that there are simple and effective alternatives, they have applied the precautionary principle. Their children's teeth have not suffered as a consequence. Parents willing to expose their children to fluoride can simply purchase fluoridated toothpaste (which contains 1000 to 1500 ppm fluoride -- read the warning label on the package).[23] The American policy of giving fluoride to children by medicating whole communities with a potent drug that may harm some people seems a dubious practice at best. At worst it violates the primary principle of medical ethics: First do no harm. Furthermore, it violates the ethical principle of informed consent.
In May 2000 the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) was formed by a coalition of activists and scientists from 12 countries (see: http://www.fluoridealert.org). FAN's goal is to end fluoridation and minimize exposure to fluoride. FAN's founding members include the late David Brower; Teddy Goldsmith; Michael Colby; Gar Smith; Terri Swearingen; the union representing professional employees at EPA headquarters; and Dr. Hardy Limeback, Canada's leading dental authority on fluoridation who in 1999 apologized for having promoted fluoridation for 15 years.
We urge our colleagues working on public health and environmental issues to become involved and take a second look at fluoridation.
* Paul Connett is professor of chemistry at St. Lawrence University in Canton N.Y.; Ellen Connett is editor of WASTE NOT , 82 Judson, Canton N.Y. 13617; Michael Connett is FAN's webmaster <http://www.fluoridealert.org>
[1] J. William Hirzy, "Why the union representing U.S. EPA's professionals in Washington D.C. opposes fluoridation," WASTE NOT #448 ( May 1, 1999), pgs. 1-4. And see http://- www.fluoridation.com/epa2.htm.
[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Prevention Services, Division of Oral Health, "Water Supply Statistics" (Atlanta, Georgia: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1993). Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nohss/-FSSupplyStats.htm.
[3] Bette Hileman, "Fluoridation of water. Questions about health risks and benefits remain after more than 40 years," CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS Vol. 66 (August 1, 1988), pgs. 26-42. Available at http://www.fluoridealert.org/hileman.htm.
[4] J.A. Brunelle and J.P. Carlos, "Recent Trends in Dental Caries in U.S. Children and the Effect of Water Fluoridation," JOURNAL OF DENTAL RESEARCH Vol. 69, Special Issue (February 1990), pgs. 723-727 and discussion pgs. 820-823.
[5] Centers for Disease Control, "Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Fluoridation of Drinking Water to Prevent Dental Caries," MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT Vol. 48, No. 41 (October 22, 1999), pgs. 933-940.
[6] C.J. Spak and others, "Fluoride in Human Milk," ACTA PAEDIATRICA SCANDINAVICA Vol. 72, No. 5 (September 1983), pgs. 699-701.
[7] Keith E. Heller and others, "Dental Caries and Dental Fluorosis at Varying Water Fluoride Concentrations," JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY Vol. 57, No. 3 (Summer 1997), pgs. 136-143.
[8] Julie A. Varner and others, "Chronic administration of aluminum-fluoride and sodium-fluoride to rats in drinking water: alterations in neuronal and cerebrovascular integrity," BRAIN RESEARCH Vol. 784, No. 1-2 (February 1998), pgs. 284-298.
[9] S.S. Jolly and others, "Human Fluoride Intoxication in Punjab," Fluoride Vol, 4, No. 2 (1971), pgs. 64-79.
[10] Ad Hoc Subcommitttee on Fluoride of the Committee to Coordinate Environmental Health and Related Programs, Public Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services. REVIEW OF FLUORIDE: BENEFITS AND RISKS, REPORT OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE ON FLUORIDE OF THE COMMITTEE TO COORDINATE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND RELATED PROGRAMS (February 1991), pg. 17.
[11] Pierre-M. Galletti and Gustave Joyet, "Effect of fluorine on thyroidal iodine metabolism in hyperthyroidism," JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ENDOCRINOLOGY Vol. 18 (October 1958), pgs. 1102-1110.
[12] Beth Ann Ditkoff and Paul Lo Gerfo, THE THYROID GUIDE [ISBN 0060952601] (New York: Harper, 2000), cover notes.
[13] Anna Strunecka and J. Patocka, "Pharmacological and toxicological effects of aluminofluoride complexes." FLUORIDE Vol. 32, No. 4 (November 1999), pgs. 230-242.
[14] Jennifer Anne Luke, THE EFFECT OF FLUORIDE ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE PINEAL GLAND , Ph.D Thesis, University of Surrey, United Kingdom (1997). See also Jennifer Luke, "Fluoride Deposition in the Aged Human Pineal Gland," CARIES RESEARCH Vol. 35 (2001), pgs. 125-128.
[15] L.R. Hedlund and J.C. Gallagher, "Increased incidence of hip fracture in osteoporotic women treated with sodium fluoride," JOURNAL OF BONE MINERAL RESEARCH Vol. 4, No. 2 (April 1989), pgs. 223-225.
[16] B.L. Riggs and others, "Effect of fluoride treatment on the fracture rates in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis," NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Vol. 322, No. 12 (March 22 1990), pgs. 802-809.
[17] Paul Connett and Michael Connett, "The Emperor Has No Clothes: A Critique of the CDC's Promotion of Fluoridation," WASTE NOT #468 (October 2000), pgs. 27-28. Available at http://- www.fluoridealert.org/cdc.htm.
[18] Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR FLUORIDES, HYDROGEN FLUORIDE, AND FLUORINE (F) [ATSDR/TP-91/17]. (Atlanta, Ga.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, April 1993), pg. 57.
[19] K. Phipps, "Fluoride and bone health," JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY Vol. 55, No. 1 (Winter 1995), pgs. 53-56.
[20] National Toxicology Program, TOXICOLOGY AND CARCINOGENESIS (December 1990). This NTP study is summarized in reference 10, pgs. 71-73.
[21] Perry D. Cohn, A BRIEF REPORT ON THE ASSOCIATION OF DRINKING WATER FLUORIDATION AND THE INCIDENCE OF OSTEOSARCOMA AMONG YOUNG MALES. (Trenton, N.J.: New Jersey Department of Health, November 8, 1992).
[22] Ted Schettler and others, IN HARM'S WAY: TOXIC THREATS TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT (Cambridge, Mass.: Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility [GBPSR] , May 2000). Available at http://www.igc.org/psr/ or from GBPSR in Cambridge, Mass.; telephone (617) 497-7440.
[23] Paul Connett and Ellen Connett, "The Fluoridation of Drinking Water: a house of cards waiting to fall. Part 1: The Science," WASTE NOT #373 (November 1996). See Table 2 pgs. 6-7.
Peter Montague, Editor
6/1/01
2:04:15 PM
Guayana's Rainforests Wilderness Threatened by Major Road Project
by IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer
WOWETA, Guyana (AP) - The breeze rustles through a lone inga tree alongside the dirt road that crosses the savannah. Women hike past carrying baskets filled with cassava. Several times a day, a four-wheel-drive rumbles by, stirring a cloud of dust.
To the north are Guyana's immense rain forests. To the south are the vast grasslands of the Rupununi Savannah, stretching to the border with Brazil.
Soon all of this may become a blur outside the windows of passing cars and trucks.
Guyana is planning to pave the dirt road, building a two-lane highway to link its coastal city of Georgetown with northern Brazil. When the road is completed, it will open up the forested interior of Guyana and change the face of the region forever.
The prospect of a new road into some of South America's least spoiled wilderness has brought the global debate of progress-versus- protection to the sparsely populated region. The governments of Guyana and Brazil support the highway as a way to boost their economies by linking the Amazon with the Caribbean, while some environmentalists warn that the costs may be high.
Indigenous people living along the road have grown used to isolation, and some worry a new road could bring new problems. But many also say the highway could hold the key to their future.
In Woweta, a roadside village of 250 people where the grasslands meet the rain forest, 28-year-old Paulette Torres says she hopes the road might bring more customers to her mother, who sells Colgate toothpaste, Busta cola and other packaged goods from shelves set on her home's earthen floor.
"I want to make sure that mommy is in a better home," Torres said. "With the road completed, she might be able to expand her business."
The people of the savannah have grown accustomed to the inconvenience of remoteness.
When Torres gave birth to a daughter earlier this year, she had no choice but to endure the bumpy ride on the back of a motorcycle for two hours from the forest to the nearest medical clinic. With a new highway, she might have made the trip in half the time.
Guyana, with about 700,000 inhabitants living mainly along its coast, is the size of Idaho but has little more than half its population.
Some people in southern Guyana ride their bicycles for miles, spending as long as a day to travel to Brazil to buy supplies. The region's people, most of whom are indigenous, have been talking about the need for a highway for years.
But some environmentalists warn of problems, including a new influx of Brazilian gold miners, whose numbers in Guyana are already estimated at 12,000.
"Throughout the Amazon, roads have brought cultural degradation and land conflict," said Atossa Soltani of the group Amazon Watch, based in Topanga, Calif. "Those impacts can be devastating."
Nevertheless, powerful forces are uniting to support the road. Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo made its completion a cornerstone of his re-election campaign this year, saying the project will bring economic progress.
Brazil is finishing a paved road to the Takatu River, which forms the border between the two countries, and plans a bridge across to Guyana.
Brazil also has offered to raise much of the estimated $100 million needed to pave the 280-mile road from the border village of Lethem to Linden, a town south of Georgetown where the pavement now ends.
The highway would link Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon, to a Caribbean port and would offer a shorter route for exporting cattle, lumber and other goods. The road also would help Brazilians set up businesses in Guyana to take advantage of preferential trade deals enjoyed within the Caribbean Community, and officials say it could benefit eight northern Brazilian states by bringing down retail prices.
A decade ago, Brazil loaned the former British colony $15 million to turn the old cattle trail into a graded dirt road. The improved road, finished by 1992, allows jeeps and heavy-duty trucks to travel from Lethem to Georgetown in less than 12 hours.
But in the rainy season, some stretches still turn to mud and become virtually impassable.
Goods brought to the savannah by truck can cost several times more than in Georgetown, while the average annual income in the region is only about $1,300. When people travel to the capital, they often go by truck and arrive covered in dust.
In the 1960s, before there was a passable road, regular flights brought food to the Rupununi from the coast. The sugar, flour and other goods were expensive due to high transportation costs, and people complained the government was neglecting their regionation and hardware store in Lethem.
Community leader Sydney Allicock said a new road is crucial for the region, where more than one in five is unemployed. With the road, the savannah could export cattle, cashews and mangoes and bring in more tourists, he said.
There is little economic activity now on the dry Rupununi Savannah, which extends for miles in a golden plain dotted with colossal ant hills and rough-leaved sandpaper trees. At dusk, giant anteaters can be seen foraging for food, and cattle roam across the largely fenceless range.
To the north, the road bisects the 890,000-acre Iwokrama Forest, a conservation area where jaguars are regularly spotted. David Cassells, Iwokrama's director general, said a plan is being prepared to manage the road's development and protect the forest.
But Patrick Williams, a program officer for the World Wildlife Fund, said he is concerned about what will happen if the government doesn't plan adequately.
"The road will open up vast areas of virgin forests to increased logging, mining, trapping and sport hunting," he said.
In 1995, the World Bank commissioned an assessment by a British consulting firm, Environmental Resources Management, which recommended some road work but said other improvements should be delayed until the government can "ensure orderly and sustainable development of the region's resources, protection of its inhabitants from exploitation, crime and other negative impacts."
Guyanese Works Minister Anthony Xavier said the government may ask the European Union for help in carrying out a new study of the road's impact on communities of Amerindians, as indigenous people are known here.
"They all said they can't wait to have it," Xavier said. "It will open up tremendous opportunities for us all."
But Jean La Rose, a leader of the Amerindian Peoples Association, said the government isn't listening to Amerindians' concerns - including crime, drugs, poaching and the potential loss of their lands as more people move into remote areas.
In the impoverished village of Toka, for instance, Amerindian leaders are worried outsiders may try to take away part of their land because the community's title doesn't include all of its 35-square-mile traditional area.
Villager Eugene Isaac said people agree they need the highway. But the government seems to be planning the road primarily for the benefit of "coastlanders," he said. "They're the ones who have the money."
6/1/01
2:03:07 PM
EcoNet News
Protect Tierra Del Fuego's Ancient Gondwana Forests
We are very eager to help environmental organizations in Chile and Argentina prevent the destruction of a unique, ancient forest in Tierra del Fuego. Please take a few moments to understand the significance of this forest, and then help convince Trillium Corporation to abandon its logging plan. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/991352066/index_html
Write to Stop Six Rivers / Trinity Timber Sale
The alert below, developed by Citizens for Better Forestry, addresses what I believe could be the most damaging timber sale to come along in Northwest California in a decade. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/991352191/index_html
Utah Wilderness Update 5/29
The Bush Administration's energy plan, released on May 17, is a grave threat to Utah wilderness and wild lands all over the West. It won't help consumers or reduce high energy prices, but will open up some of America's best wilderness areas, needlessly, to oil and gas drilling. We're asking folks to write to President George W. Bush and tell him NO WAY -- DON'T DRILL UTAH WILDERNESS! Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/991352493/index_html
Eagle Creek Timber Sales Hike and Alert!
Join us June 2 for a hike along the Old Baldy Trail between the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness and the Eagle Creek Roadless Area, currently threatened by logging. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/991352650/index_html
EcoNet Headlines: June 1, 2001
Global Dismay over U.S. Energy Plan
On 18 May, US President George Bush unveiled his energy plan, which was immediately condemned by friends and foes alike for being harmful to the global environment. Specifically, it will lead to further emissions of the polluting gases that cause global warming, as well as encourage nuclear energy. Coming so soon after the US pullout from the Kyoto Protocol, this marks a disaster for global efforts to reverse climate change. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/991352947/index_html
British Wind Farm Projects under Threat
The future of Britain's £4bn ($5.7bn) wind farm development programme is being threatened by Ministry of Defence concerns about the impact on radar and low flying aircraft, according to developers. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/991353085/index_html
Guayana's Rainforests Wilderness Threatened by Major Road Project
Guyana's government is pursuing construction of a sealed road that will open up one of the World's four remaining rainforest wildernesses - the vast areas of virgin forests in South America's southern Guianas - to increased logging, mining, and hunting. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/991353279/index_html
Activists for Rooting Out GM Crops in India
"Keep our agriculture free of genetic modification," demanded more than a hundred activists who recently joined hands to demand that genetically modified crop technology be rooted out from India. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/991353400/index_html
Latest on Pesticides in Britain's Foods
The Government's Pesticide Residues Committee today published its quarterly monitoring report, for July to September 2000. The results make depressing reading for anyone who wants to buy food free of risky chemicals. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/991353751/index_html
RACHEL: Time for a Second Look at Fluoridation?
The American policy of giving fluoride to children by medicating whole communities with a potent drug that may harm some people seems a dubious practice at best. At worst it violates the primary principle of medical ethics: First do no harm. Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/991354133/index_html
GREEN: Idaho Leads ESA State Devolution
According to conservationists, "all the Western states" are "planning to develop endangered species offices and then ask Interior Secretary Gale Norton to devolve endangered species management to the states." Read More...
http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/991354275/index_html
6/1/01
1:08:30 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
MICHIGAN SEEMS LIKE A SCHEME TO ME NOW.
By Keith Schneider, Grist Magazine
Bush's buddy, Michigan Governor John Engler, may well be the president's avatar in terms of the country's twisted new environmental aims.
CULTURES OF CREATIVITY: CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF NOBEL PRIZES
The Kenyon Review and Stand
Looking for some certifiably good reading? Check out the latest issue of the Kenyon Review -- it's a compendium of essays, poetry and dialog of and about Nobel laureates.
CLUCK YOU: THE CHEMICALS IN YOUR POULTRY
by Janet Reynolds, Fairfax County Weekly
The antibiotics that farmers feed chickens to keep them healthy may hinder the effectiveness of the drugs you take to combat your next cold.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
6/1/01
1:03:44 PM
Radioactive Waste "Recycling" Into the Free Market
by NIRS.org
Radioactive waste from the nuclear power industry and nuclear weapons contractors is being released into the general materials recycling stream and used to make everyday household items, building materials, and more. Standards are being developed which stand to dramatically increase the amount of radioactive material recycled into the marketplace. The U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, the European Commission and other nuclear nation’s governments and industries all have a role in radioactive "recycling."
The materials being "recycled" range from contaminated metals, concrete and plastic to asphalt and fill dirt. Once these materials enter the general recycling stream they are no longer traceable to their sources. In the absence of sophisticated, expensive detection capabilities and equipment, consumers will have no way of knowing which items may be contaminated; producers and workers will also be unaware if the materials they are working with are contaminated.
The potential impact on public health is enormous because there is no safe level of exposure to ionizing radiation. Low-level radiation damages tissues, cells, DNA and other vital molecules, causing programmed cell death (apoptosis), genetic mutations, cancers, leukemia, birth defects, and reproductive, immune and endocrine system disorders. Studies show that long-term exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation can be more dangerous than short-term exposures to high levels. The practice of releasing and reusing radioactively contaminated materials into general commerce will result in random poisoning.
Congressional interest in the practice has focused on setting standards to legitimize and facilitate the release of contaminated materials, rather than preventing radioactive release and "recycling." Government agencies are busy voluntarily codifying reuse of radiation-contaminated material and setting "acceptable" levels of radioactivity. This may be good for public relations, but it does not help public safety. Safe levels of ionizing radiation simply do not exist.
In 1992, Congress revoked similar policies that attempted to declare that certain levels of potential radiation exposure were "below regulatory concern." Current government efforts are dressing up the rejected "below regulatory concern" concept by applying the environmentally friendly sounding term "recycling."
Radioactive "Recycling" Update - from the Nuclear Monitor, Vol. 16 No. 1
DOT sneaks in codification of "BRC" or radioactive "release and recycling" levels, denying importance…
The US Department of Transportation published on February 1, 2001, its final rule on international radioactive transport, which exempts quantities and concentrations of hundreds of radionuclides from DOT regulatory control. The upshot is that DOT will no longer regulate international shipments into, out of or through the U.S. (if any leg of the journey is via waterway), if the shipper claims that the radioactive materials are less concentrated or in amounts less than those listed in the new rule. The exempt concentrations are the same as those that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants to use to "clear" or "release" radioactive wastes and materials into general commerce and recycling. Existing uniform international nuclear transport regulations that require labeling and regulation of radioactive materials are being changed around the world (with the US leading the way), to allow deregulated radioactive waste to move through commerce unimpeded and without public knowledge. The new regulations introduce the concept of exempt amounts of radioactivity per ‘consignment’ and increase exempt concentrations for most of the hundreds of radionuclides. In a few months the US DOT and US NRC plan to adopt the same or similar regulations for all domestic nuclear materials transportation and for international air transport. Internationally, the IAEA, through its affiliation with the United Nations and its transport organizations (International Maritime Organization and International Civil Aeronautics Organization), is working to get all UN member nations to adopt the standard (referred to as TS-R-1 or ST-1), which will open the doors between nations for international commerce in contaminated materials and consumer goods. If the exemption tables in the IAEA recommendations are adopted internationally, preventing the spread of contaminated household items and raw materials will be more difficult than it is now.
DOE still releasing contaminated materials but keeps moratorium on metals; begins EIS scoping
Although the Department of Energy (DOE) quietly continues to release and recycle some radioactive materials into general commerce, there has been a temporary halt, since 2000, on the release of potentially contaminated radioactive metal. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is reportedly being developed by DOE’s Environmental Management Office to review some aspects of the DOE radioactive "release" and "recycling" policy. The scope of the EIS has not been announced yet. The DOE’s internal orders allow radioactive materials, including metals, to be released into regular garbage or recycled into commerce without public knowledge and/or meaningful record-keeping. Draft proposed changes to those orders would further codify the release of radioactive materials. DOE has a "Center for Excellence" in radioactive recycling based in and funded through the DOE at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which has been facilitating the recycling into unrestricted commerce of "slightly contaminated" radioactive materials from throughout the DOE complex.
NRC hires National Academy of Sciences to provide "credibility" for radioactive materials release
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has hired the National Academy of Sciences to provide credibility and recommendations on streamlining the release of radioactive materials from regulatory control. The NRC currently allows radioactively contaminated materials to be released, reused, recycled, or otherwise treated as if they were not radioactive through provisions in licenses and case-by-case evaluations. States, like Tennessee, have given over a dozen permits to companies to "process" and release radioactive materials into regular commerce. So, as with DOE sites, commercial nuclear licensees can do either or both: 1) directly release some contaminated materials to commerce, recycling or unlicensed landfills; 2) send radioactive materials to processors to treat and then release into the marketplace. The NAS contract essentially has the NRC provide and summarize all documents and meet wice monthly to help NAS staff to put out the report. Since the public and environmental groups generally boycotted the NRC’s skewed process to set legal contamination levels, the National Academy of Sciences may need to hear directly from those parties over the next few months. – Diane D"Arrigo, February 2001
Contacts: --Hon. Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation
US Dept of Transportation, 400 Seventh St. SW, Washington, DC 20590
Hon. Spencer Abraham, Secretary of Energy, US Dept of Energy,
1000 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC, 20585 The.Secretary@hq.doe.gov
Bruce Alberts, President, National Academy of Sciences,
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington., DC, 20418 BAlberts@nas.edu
the public is invited to submit comments to NAS at the following url --
http://www4.nas.edu/webcr.nsf/ProjectScopeDisplay/BEES-J-00-02-A?OpenDocument
For more information contact Diane D’Arrigo, Nuclear Waste Project Director,
Nuclear Information & Resource Service (202)-328-0002 (x16)
6/1/01
12:46:23 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
CALIFORNIA POWERS UP AT WARP SPEED
SACRAMENTO, California, May 31, 2001 (ENS) - California Governor Gray Davis announced the licensing approval Wednesday for a 530-megawatt addition to the existing Contra Costa Power Project by the California Energy Commission.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-31-03.html
GRASS CUTTING BEATS DRIVING IN MAKING AIR POLLUTION
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, May 29, 2001 (ENS) - The air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100 mile automobile ride, according to a new study from Sweden. The report, which the authors say is the first to compare lawn mower pollution with auto mileage, recommends using catalytic converters on mowers.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-31-06.html
ILL WINDS CARRY TOXIC DUST
PHOENIX, Arizona, May 31, 2001 (ENS) - Most residents of the parched southwestern United States accept dust as an unavoidable fact of desert life. The silty powder that settles from the air on to desktops, beneath beds, and into noses is viewed by many as nothing worse than a common annoyance. But, in recent years, dust has gone from being a benign nuisance to major health hazard, as scientists have discovered harmful chemicals and microorganisms hitching a ride on the airborne particles.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-31-07.html
SEA SHEPHERD BRAZIL DRAGS FISHING COMPANY INTO COURT
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, May 31, 2001 (ENS) - For the first time in Brazil's history, a non-governmental organization is taking a fishing company to court to collect damages on behalf of the fish and the marine environment.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-31-04.html
TROUBLES PILE UP FOR CANADIAN TITANIUM MINE IN KENYA
By Tom Osanjo
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 31, 3001 (ENS) - A Canadian mining company may lose its operating license to mine titanium if Kenyan members of parliament pass a motion seeking to establish whether it is operating according to international and local environmental standards.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-31-02.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 31, 2001
Bush Budget's Endangers Endangered Species Act
Scientists Monitor Global Air Pollution From Space
Environmental Groups Sue for Sierra Amphibian Protection
BLM Closes Surprise Canyon to Off Road Vehicles
Students' Legislation Would Require Lead Testing For Children
Factory Hog Farming Called Inhumane
Concert Offers Songsters for Songbirds
Georgia Protects Chickasawhatchee Swamp
Green Mountain Energy Donates 10,000 Trees
Science on the Beach in North Carolina
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-31-09.html
6/1/01
12:42:34 PM
How To Save 3/4 of US Electricity Use
Amory Lovins (founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute) estimates that three quarters of the electricity currently used in the United States can be eliminated by efficiency improvements, at an average cost less than one cent per kilowatt-hour. This chart is taken from Amory's Keynote Address, entitled "The Negawatt Revolution", delivered at the 1989 Green Energy Conference in Montreal (organized by CCNR). For a more complete description of the categories of energy savings itemized in this chart, and the techniques available for achieving those savings, please consult Amory's text.
http://ccnr.org/Lovins_figure_4.html
Rocky Mountain Institute http://www.RMI.org
6/1/01
12:15:03 PM
OurForests.org
We at the Heritage Forests Campaign would like to update you on the latest developments of our efforts to defend the Roadless Area Conservation Policy, which protects the last 31% of America's unspoiled National Forests from logging, mining and drilling. Working together, over 35,000 people just like you sent messages to the White House urging President Bush to uphold this important forest conservation policy. Thank you for taking action!
In early May, the Bush administration announced the forest conservation policy would take effect. HOWEVER, it also said that in June, the US Forest Service would begin a NEW rule-making process, which would allow further exemptions to the policy on a "forest-by-forest" basis, giving the timber industry a "blank check" to log on these precious lands.
Get the Facts on the Roadless Area Conservation Rule:
http://www.ourforests.org/forestfacts.html
There is already overwhelming citizen support for forest protection -- 1.6 million comments were delivered to the U.S. Forest Service last year, 95% of which favored protecting our last wild National Forests from logging mining and drilling. The Heritage Forests Campaign is actively preparing to build upon this support and to make sure the will of the American people is expressed in the upcoming rule-making process.
We will be in touch with you soon with more details on how you can join us in this effort to protect America's last unspoiled National Forests. Because once our forests are gone, they're gone forever.
For more information, please vist our website at:
5/31/01
5:50:08 PM
Something to remember: "The Ark was built by an amateur, the Titanic was built and operated by professionals."
5/31/01
5:32:25 PM
Earth Policy Institute Alert
Wind Power: The Missing Link In The Bush Energy Plan
By Lester R. Brown, President
The eagerly awaited Bush energy plan released on May 17, 2001, disappointed many people because it largely overlooked the potential contribution of raising energy efficiency. It also overlooked the enormous potential of wind power, which is likely to add more to U.S. generating capacity over the next 20 years than coal.
In short, the authors of the plan appear to be out of touch with what is happening in the world energy economy, fashioning an energy plan more appropriate for the early twentieth century rather than the early twenty-first century. They emphasized the role of coal, but world coal use peaked in 1996 and has declined some 11 percent since then as countries have turned away from this climate-disrupting fuel. Even China, which rivals the United States as a coal burning country, has reduced its coal use by 24 percent since 1996.
Meanwhile, world wind power use has multiplied nearly fourfold over the last five years, a growth rate matched only by the computer industry. In the United States, the American Wind Energy Association projects a staggering 60 percent growth in wind-generating capacity this year.
Wind power was once confined to California, but during the last three years, wind farms coming online in Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have boosted U.S. capacity by half from 1,680 megawatts to 2,550 megawatts. The 1,500 or more megawatts to be added this year will be located in a dozen states. A 300-megawatt wind farm under construction on the Oregon/Washington border is currently the world's largest.
But this is only the beginning. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) indicated in February that it wanted to buy 1,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity and requested proposals. Much to its surprise, it received enough to build 2,600 megawatts of capacity in five states, with the potential of expanding these sites to over 4,000 megawatts. BPA, which may accept most of these proposals, expects to have at least one site online by the end of this year.
A 3,000-megawatt wind farm in the early planning stages in South Dakota, near the Iowa border, is 10 times the size of the Oregon/Washington wind farm. Named Rolling Thunder, this project, initiated by Dehlsen Associates and drawing on the leadership of Jim Dehlsen, a wind energy pioneer in California, is designed to feed power to the midwestern region around Chicago. This proposed project is not only large by wind power standards, it is one of the largest energy projects of any kind in the world today. Advances in wind turbine technology, drawing heavily from the aerospace industry, have lowered the cost of wind power from 38 cents per kilowatt hour in the early 1980s to 3 to 6 cents today depending on the wind site. Wind, now competitive with fossil fuels, is already cheaper in some locations than oil or gas-fired power. With major corporations, such as ABB, Shell International, and Enron plowing resources into this field, further cost cuts are in prospect.
Wind is a vast, worldwide source of energy. The U.S. Great Plains are the Saudi Arabia of wind power. Three wind-rich U.S. states-North Dakota, Kansas, and Texas-have enough harnessable wind to meet national electricity needs. China can double its existing generating capacity from wind alone. Densely populated Western Europe can supply all of its electricity needs from offshore wind power.
Today Denmark, the world leader in wind turbine technology and manufacture, is getting 15 percent of its electricity from wind power. For Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany, it is 19 percent and, for some parts of the state, 75 percent. Spain's industrial state of Navarra, starting from scratch six years ago, now gets 24 percent of its electricity from wind.
As wind generating costs fall and as concern about climate change escalates, more and more countries are climbing onto the wind energy bandwagon. In December, France announced it will develop 5,000 megawatts of wind power by 2010. Also in December, Argentina announced a plan to develop 3,000 megawatts of wind power in Patagonia by 2010. In April, the United Kingdom accepted offshore bids for 1,500 megawatts of wind power. In May, a report from Beijing indicated that China plans to develop some 2,500 megawatts of wind power by 2005.
The growth in wind power is consistently outrunning earlier estimates. The European Wind Energy Association, which in 1996 had set a target of 40,000 megawatts for Europe in 2010, recently upped it to 60,000 megawatts. The Bush plan to add 393,000 megawatts of electricity nationwide by 2020 could be satisfied from wind alone. Money spent on wind-generated electricity tends to remain in the community, providing income, jobs, and tax revenue, bolstering local economies. One large advanced design wind turbine, occupying a quarter acre of land, can easily yield a farmer or rancher $2,000 in royalties per year while providing the community with $100,000 of electricity. U.S. farmers and ranchers, who own most of the wind rights in the country, are now joining environmentalists to lobby for development of this abundant alternative to fossil fuel.
Once we get cheap electricity from wind, we can use it to electrolyze water, producing hydrogen. Hydrogen is the fuel of choice for the new, highly efficient, fuel cell engine that every major automobile manufacturer is now working on. Daimler Chrysler plans to be on the market with fuel cell-powered cars in 2003. Ford, Toyota, and Honda will probably not be far behind. William Ford, Chairman of Ford Motor Company, says he expects to preside over the demise of the internal combustion engine.
Surplus wind power can be stored as hydrogen and used in fuel cells or gas turbines to generate electricity, leveling supply when winds are variable. Wind, once seen as a cornerstone of the new energy economy, may turn out to be its foundation. The wind meteorologist who analyzes wind regimes and identifies the best sites for wind farms will play a role in the new energy economy comparable to that of the petroleum geologist in the old energy economy.
With the advancing technologies for harnessing wind and powering motor vehicles with hydrogen, we can now see a future where farmers and ranchers can supply not only much of the country's electricity, but much of the hydrogen to fuel its fleet of automobiles as well. For the first time, the United States has the technology and resources to divorce itself from Middle Eastern oil.
In addition to neglecting the potential of wind, the Bush energy strategy pays only lip service to climate stabilization. This is a high-risk strategy. With business as usual, the International Panel on Climate Change recently projected a global temperature rise during this century of up to 6 degrees Celsius (10 degrees Fahrenheit). If this rise occurs, the rest of the world may hold the United States, the leading CO2 emitter, responsible. What the United States needs now is an energy plan for this century, one that takes into account not only recent technological advances in wind power, fuel cells, and hydrogen generators, but also the need to stabilize climate. Perhaps Congress will bring the energy plan into the twenty-first century and restore U.S. leadership in the fast-changing world energy economy.
Additional data and information sources at http://www.Earth-Policy.org Or contact Shane Ratterman at
5/31/01
3:12:17 PM
Solar Festival in Vermont
SolarFest: Energy Education Through the Arts is a homegrown 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to sustainable living. SolarFest's Seventh Annual Solar-Powered Music Festival and Sustainable Future Fair -- July 14 and 15, 2001, is a weekend celebration of the performing arts, renewable energy, and sustainable living, featuring over 25 performers on two solar-powered stages, Chelsea Green's Convocation of the Invisible Universe (presentations by their authors and friends), and over 16 workshops on renewable energy topics. There will also be over 25 sustainable future exhibitors, a singer/songwriter competition, story tellers, open mic, Frank Asch's Theater-in-the-woods, children's activity tent, solar site tours, food and craft vendors, and more. For complete performer and workshop descriptions, directions and ticket prices, please visit the website at
5/31/01
3:07:24 PM
Britain used DU in 1950s 'nuclear guinea pig' tests
SUNDAY HERALD [Glasgow]
By Rob Edwards Environment Editor
Tonnes of depleted uranium (DU), the toxic radioactive metal blamed for causing cancers in the Gulf and Balkan wars, were blasted into the environment by Britain's nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific and Australia in the 1950s, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
The disclosure has shocked veterans of the nuclear tests, who now suspect that DU may be implicated in the illnesses that many of them have suffered in the years since. And scientists are calling for the government to reopen its inquiry into the health of the 21,000 British servicemen who took part in the tests on Christmas Island and at Maralinga in the Australian desert.
'It beggars belief,' said Sheila Gray, the secretary of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association. 'They gave us the impression that DU had never been used before the Gulf war and now it turns out it was used in the 1950s. It's yet another hazard our men had to face.'
Last week the Sunday Herald revealed that the government had a top-secret plan, code-named Operation Lighthouse, to put hundreds of British and Australian troops 'as close as possible' to nuclear explosions at Maralinga in 1959 to test the effects of the bomb. On Wednesday, that prompted the Australian federal government to launch an inquiry into whether servicemen had been used as radiation guinea pigs.
Bruce Scott, the veterans affairs minister, was seeking an urgent briefing on 50 classified documents posted on the internet which outlined the planned operation. He is also investigating another disclosure by the Sunday Herald in April that two dozen soldiers tested protective clothing by crawling, marching or driving through a fall-out zone three days after a nuclear test at Maralinga in 1956.
The first confirmation that DU was present in the Pacific tests came in a private letter last month from the Ministry of Defence to a Scottish veteran from Fraserburgh, Bob Brown. 'There were quantities of depleted uranium used in the weapons tested at Christmas Island,' wrote an MoD officialfrom Whitehall. The official said that much of the DU would have been consumed in the nuclear explosion, but that some would have been shot upwards in a fireball and contained in the mushroom cloud. Brown, who was at Christmas Island in 1957 and 1958 and now chairs a veterans' research group known as G2, feared that DU could turn out to be the cause of much illness.
The uranium was wrapped around the core of bombs to boost their yield because it was cheap and available, said Brown. 'But they have kept it under wraps until now. I believe the MoD knew about the effects of the weapons, including DU, long before the Gulf war but they kept it quiet.' Evidence that DU was also used at Maralinga came in an e-mail to an Australian veteran, Major Alan Batchelor, from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. The agency's Geoff Williams said that more than eight tonnes of uranium was 'dispersed' by explosions at Maralinga. The British government had admitted that this consisted of 7.4 tonnes at Kuli, 47.3kg at Taranaki and the rest at a series of 'minor trials'.
The uranium, which included both the 235 and 238 isotopes, 'formed very fine particles under implosion'. According to Batchelor, the British bombs contained up to 20 times as much uranium as plutonium. 'These materials, when vaporised in the fireball, would condense out as finely divided invisible oxides of these metals, potentially lethal or capable of causing cancer in the lung, liver, kidney or blood-forming bone marrow.'
The uranium from a bomb would form much smaller particles than the DU from a shell and would be easier to inhale, argued Batchelor. If DU had harmed soldiers in the Gulf, he said, 'this could have been worse for servicemen working in areas close to ground zeros (the sites of nuclear explosions), and with no follow-up action would have gone unnoticed.' However, last week the MoD argued that there was no comparison between the DU used in armour-piercing shells during the Gulf and Balkan wars in the past decade and that exploded in nuclear tests during the 1950s. Except in the most extreme circumstances, the metal posed no significant threat to human health, a spokeswoman claimed. But Malcolm Hooper, emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Sunderland, disagreed. 'You can't distribute small aerosol particles of DU and then deny there is a hazard,' he said. 'They are trying to belittle what is a serious problem.'
5/31/01
11:49:17 AM
MELTING GLACIERS SIGNAL GLOBAL WARMING
TEMPE, Arizona, May 29, 2001 (ENS) - New data on melting glaciers provides strong evidence that the global climate is warming.
For several years, evidence has been mounting that the global climate is getting warmer. But whether the unusual weather patterns - increasing temperatures, reduced snowfall and rising sea levels - are evidence of global warming or just passing blips in the earth's bumpy weather record continues to stir controversy.
Scientists studying climate change must be able to tease apart regional climate changes and short term weather fluctuations, such as El Niño, from permanent changes that are happening worldwide.
Geologist Rick Wessels of Arizona State University is part of an international team of scientists studying the climate of the entire earth with the Global Land Ice Measurement from Space (GLIMS) project. The team, led by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientist Hugh Kieffer, is monitoring climate change by tracking the melting of glaciers across the earth.
In just seven months of monitoring, Wessels has already seen melting in glaciers all over Earth, which provides some solid evidence for global warming. Thousands of glaciers are melting, getting thinner or even disappearing, he said.
The flooding caused by runoff from these melting glaciers could have disastrous consequences.
Because the melting and retreat is occurring at such a rapid pace, Wessels and his colleagues think global warming is the most likely explanation for the loss of glacial ice.
"The majority of these glaciers are receding," Wessels said. "There is definitely a global climate change."
Wessels and co-author Jeff Kargel, a USGS geologist, will present the first round of results from this project in a talk titled "GLIMS: Documenting the Demise of the Earth's Glaciers using ASTER," at the Spring Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Boston, May 29 to June 2.
5/31/01
11:47:06 AM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS TRADING MARKET EMERGES IN CHICAGO
CHICAGO, Illinois, May 30, 2001 (ENS) - The world's first emissions trading market for greenhouse gases is materializing in Chicago. A diverse group of 25 large corporations and nonprofit organizations has agreed to participate in the design phase of a voluntary pilot trading market, the Chicago Climate Exchange.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-30-02.html
BUSH SUPPORTS PROPOSAL TO CLEAR PARK AIR
WASHINGTON, DC, May 30, 2001 (ENS) - To clear the skies over American's national parks and wilderness areas, the Bush administration has decided to move forward with a proposed rule to help states take steps to control haze causing emissions from older power plants and industrial facilities. Environmental groups said they will wait to see what measures the administration proposes before offering their support.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-30-06.html
EUROPEAN LAWMAKERS WANT ELECTRONICS PRODUCERS TO HANDLE ORPHAN SCRAP
BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 30, 2001 (ENS) - Established electrical and electronic goods manufacturers will be forced to pay for recycling "orphan" waste equipment produced by untraceable companies under plans set to be agreed by environment ministers next month, an internal Council of Ministers document has revealed.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-30-03.html
SOUTH AFRICA LOOKS FOR HELP TO FUND MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR EARTH SUMMIT
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 30, 2001 (ENS) - The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development scheduled to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa next September will cost more than 400 million rand, the equivalent of 50 million US$, a joint meeting of Parliament's two environmental affairs committees heard on Tuesday.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-30-04.html
BRAZIL'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE RESIST LARGE RIVER MODIFICATIONS
BRASILIA, BRAZIL, May 30, 2001 (ENS) - Leaders of the Apinaje, Kraho, Xerente, Tapuia, and Karaja indigenous peoples gathered from May 24 to 28 at the Boto Velho village on the Bananal Island to discuss the impacts of large development projects on indigenous areas in the region.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-30-06.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 30, 2001
Energy Secretary Abraham Calls for Upgraded Electricity Grid
ExxonMobil Shareholders Hit with Giant Banner Drop
Kyoto's Global Warming Controls Could Harm Forests
Satellite Study Shows Vegetation Increases in North America
Satellites Help Map Urban Problems
Florida Nuke Plant Catches Dozens of Sea Turtles
Poaching Called Major Threat to Parrots
Fragmentation May Limit Songbird Sex Lives
Senator Daschle Recognized for River Protection
Washington State Taxpayers Pick Up Cleanup Tab
Pesticides, Pests Cut Back in Tempe School System
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-30-09.html
5/30/01
11:37:26 PM
This Week at TomPaine.com
ATOMIC BILL
O'Reilly Spins for Nuclear Power
Fox News Channel star Bill O'Reilly makes a big deal about sticking up for ordinary Americans. So how come he so strongly favors nuclear power?
O'Reilly says nuclear power is the cheapest energy for all of us - too bad he's using misleading numbers from the nuclear industry to "prove" his theory.
In fact, O'Reilly's estimate doesn't include the cost of building nuclear plants, which accounts for 60 percent of the total cost of nuclear power. Add this, and his cheapest-power theory crumbles. But O'Reilly also fails to tell his audience of the many other reasons nuclear power is a bad choice for ordinary Americans - the cost and risks are substantial, and ordinary Americans shoulder most of them.
READ THIS WEEK'S NEW YORK TIMES 'OP AD'
AND READ THESE OP AD FEATURES.
DON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN
Nuclear Power: Still Expensive, Still Dirty, Still Dangerous
By Karen Charman
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/29/8.html
THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S GROWING SAFETY PROBLEM
Beware of Aging Reactors, A Weak Regulator, and Vulnerability to Terrorists.
By David Lochbaum
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/29/7.html
NUCLEAR POWER: STILL A RAW DEAL
Why the Bush/Cheney Energy Plan Stinks
From the Nuclear Information and Resource Service
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/29/1.html
CLEAN, EFFICIENT, AND RADIATION FREE
Why Conservation and Renewable Energy are the Best Option
From the Safe Energy Communication Council
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/29/3.html
STILL A BAD IDEA
Poll Shows Americans Oppose Nuclear Power
From Safe Energy Communication Council
http://www.tompaine.com/features/2001/05/29/4.html
SILENCE OF THE MEDIA LAMBS
The Florida Election Story Never Told. by the U.S. Media.
By Greg Palast
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/05/24/index.html
SIMULATING DEMOCRACY
The World Bank Goes On Line, Using Cyberspace as a Refuge from Protestors.
By Norman Solomon
http://www.tompaine.com/news/2001/05/25/index.html
POVERTY COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET
The Mainstream Media Lacks the Appetite for Covering Poverty
By Naomi Klein
http://www.tompaine.com/opinion/2001/05/25/3.html
5/30/01
11:32:10 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
UPDATE - Amid California sequoias, Bush talks environment - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11014
Environmental groups wary of US fuel economy panel - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11007
Denmark ratifies Kyoto global warming treaty - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11009
Bush energy plan faulted for ignoring human rights - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11012
Exxon shareholders defeat green, gay proposals - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11013
UPDATE - Alleged smuggler charged in Mexico border deaths - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11022
Report questions success of wetland restoration programs - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11017
US Energy Dept reviewing renewable fuels programs - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11018
El Paso moving ahead with Michigan power plant - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11019
UK animal rights activists lock selves on roof - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11021
INTERVIEW - Bush to hear about Kyoto decision in Spain - SPAIN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11024
Cars fouling Asian air but high-tech offers hope - SINGAPORE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11011
Pesticide firms seek Ethiopia toxic dumps audit - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11010
INTERVIEW - Pesticide waste disposal too slow - UN's Diouf - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11023
Ten soccer fields of land a day lost to roads - EU - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11008
INTERVIEW - OCP confident it will build Ecuador pipeline - ECUADOR http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11016
Experts see long, tough birth for green certificates - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11015
INTERVIEW - Brazil energy cuts should aim at heavy power users - BRAZIL http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11020
Weather slows oil clean-up off Bahamas - BAHAMAS http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=11006
5/30/01
11:28:51 PM
This article is from the May 2001 issue of TOTAL WELLNESS, a monthly Newsletter by Dr. Sherry Rogers, M.D.
THE WORLD'S MOST VICIOUS MACC ATTACK
I started out nearly 30 years ago being poisoned by formaldehyde myself when we foam insulated the interior walls of our office. Little did I know how following recommendations for the latest advances in construction, superimposed on a lifetime of allergies and bad eating habits, would lead to the indescribable years of misery before I learned how to conquer and cure the resulting chemical sensitivities. Surprised to see that we were not alone, entire families who had been forced out of their homes into tents on their lawns in order to survive were coming in for treatment. Even household pets had rashes and vomiting. Because we were the first generation to suffer from urea foam formaldehyde insulation sensitivity, our ideas were often ostracized. Two decades later just about everybody knew that formaldehyde can mimic nearly every symptom as well as be a trigger for cancers. And by using up and depleting important detox nutrients, it and other chemicals potentiate the most common diseases like arteriosclerosis, cancer and premature aging. Now the only folks who deny the thousands of published scientific reports documenting the nightmare that chemicals have caused are those with a vested interest. The Gulf War veterans and those exposed to agent orange, and folks poisoned at work by pesticides and volatile hydrocarbons have been given a raw deal by those responsible who do not want to pay up. Even Government studies confirm that at least 90% of cancers are caused by diet and environment, and this statistic holds for all disease.
Up until now I never dreamed there could be anything worse than the chemical catastrophes we have experienced in this century, but I was wrong, for at least with chemical sensitivity you can find evidence for it's bioacumulation in the body, and get rid of it. On the other hand there is a newer plague that is nearly impossible to detect and it is irreversible. Worse, it causes an unmistakable, inescapable domino effect. GENETIC ENGINEERING is the culprit.
You probably were first aware of genetic engineering when I told you about Monsanto inserting genes from plants of unrelated species into the soybean plant to make it resistant to the potent herbicide, Roundup [glyphosate]. The Roundup resistant soybean seed can now be heavily sprayed with Roundup to kill weeds, and never damage the soybean. However, the beans do pack quite a wallop for those who ingest them because they are heavily contaminated with the toxic herbicide, Roundup. These genetically modified soybean products, which comprise about 80% of the beans available, have been found in most baby formulas including Carnation, Similac, Enfamil, Isomil, and Neocare as well as Doritos, Fritos, vegetable oils, soybean oil, margarine, and much more.
As well, one of the genes is from the petunia plant which is a nightshade.That means folks with nightshade-induced arthritis can now get arthritis from soybean products. When Monsanto inserted the Brazil nut gene into soy,folks allergic to Brazil nuts were suddenly anaphylaxis[serious life threatening reaction where one is not able to breathe] from soybean. They quickly removed the gene because the symptom was so dramatic.
Unfortunately, genetic engineering is not limited to a simple matter o trying to improve upon a few species of plant food. For when a gene from one species is placed in a wholly different animal or plant, you need a vector, or something that will carry that gene into the genetic factory of the unrelated organism. Oftentimes a VIRUS is used, since a virus is merely a piece of genetic material with a protein coat that is so small that it can easily "infect" other genetic material.
CANCER VIRUSES ARE DELIBERATELY INSERTED INTO YOUR FOOD
Cancer in chickens, often results from infection with the Rous Sarcoma virus. Hold your seat, for you'll probably find this as difficult to believe as I did. Scientists who make money for companies through genetic engineering have decided there is no problem with using this chicken cancer virus as a vector or carrier to implant the growth hormone gene into farmed fish so they will grow faster. The problem is that once inside the fish, this virus can persist and infect the next host, you, that eats that fish. Scientists glibly say that there is no danger here and can get away with it because the U.S Government does not require any testing or proof of the safety of genetically engineered foods. And the scary part is far from over.
LEUKEMIA virus in chicken has been used as a vector to carry genes, many of which are human, into developing poultry. In addition, a retrovirus was used as a virus vector in pigs to insert human fetal cells to grow aortas for transplantation into humans. These have led to infections in humans with the pig's retrovirus. Have they lost their minds and all ethics?
These viruses can also combine with one another to create new plant and animal diseases. And more important, foreign genetic material from these viruses can be absorbed through our intestines and become incorporated into the cells of our own bodies creating new diseases in us. Wow! What a sci-fi nightmare! Genes inserted into plants are put there to make them resistant to certain pests, pesticides, herbicides or antibiotics. But these vectors or gene transporters can also infect the bacteria and other organisms in our intestinal tracts. Creating a new antibiotic resistance in them. How would you like to be harboring Klebsiella or Candida in your gut that is resistant to all treatments? If that weren't enough of a problem, one of the most common genes inserted into plants is the Bt gene. Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, a particular bacteria that secretes a toxin that kills many types of pests that infect plants. The problem is that this toxin, once inside some people makes them extremely ill. It can mimic the symptoms of nightshade s where you seemingly overnight have to crawl to the bathroom for days because of such sore body muscles and joints. As with a nightshade attack [November 1999 issue] days or weeks later it can end as precipitously as it began, baffling every physician. The Bt gene has been put in potatoes, corn and not only have soybeans become Roundup resistant but so has the sugar beet from which vitamin C powder can be made.
Genes have been put into tomatoes to change their ripening time, into cotton [used in junk food oil called vegetable oil, as on roasted nuts given out on airlines] to make that plant resistant to pesticides. Canola oil is another product of genetic engineering and should never be ingested.
In 1994 the U.S FDA approved the genetically engineered hormone rBGH which is a growth hormone designed to increase milk production in cows. This growth hormone caused increased mastitis and need for antibiotics [which go into the milk] and as well over 800 farmers using it reported adverse health problems in their cows. Monsanto, the developer, tried to bribe Health Canada Govt. officials with several million dollars to approve this hormone which is used by about a third of U.S. farmers.
The prestigious medical journal, Lancet [May 9,1998], shows that breast cancer is SEVEN times higher in women with tiny increases in growth hormone, Insulin like Growth Factor [IGF-1], which comes from cows injected with BGH. In January 1996 the International Journal of Health Sciences reported that IGF-1 concentrations are ten times higher in BGH milk and can be absorbed through our intestines and increase our risk of cancer. As well there is evidence that it has caused abnormal cysts on the thyroid gland and in the prostate gland and a myriad of other symptoms. There is no turning back. By forcing genes from one species to another entirely unrelated species, we are creating new entities. This is another example of the arrogance and ignorance of man when he thinks that he can one-up God and create an improved organism.
There are so many fallacies with this reasoning that over a dozen books have already been written to begin to collate much of the evidence against genetically modified organisms. The difficulty is that there are not enough people even aware of the problem to make a significant impact. By the time the damage is done it will be to late. It's not like cleaning up a lake from decades of pollution. Once we have [1] lost thousands of species of plants, [2] driven all small farmers out of business, [3] created Frankenstein foods, [4] super weeds resistant to all herbicides, [5] plants resistant to pesticides, [6] new viruses and new illnesses in humans, there will be no turning back.
You might be surprised as I was to find that there is no testing required even after these and many more facts have come to light. Genetically modified foods are already unavoidable and there is absolutely no labeling required. We are already eating genetically modified foods, as 60% of processed foods now contain at least one genetically modified food. A common snack might be chips with firefly gene or potato chips with chicken gene [watch out for leukemia and sarcoma, muscle cancer, virus genes]. Or perhaps you like salsa with tomato having a flounder gene. A common meal might include creamy broccoli soup with a bacteria gene and a salad made with canola oil, vegetable oil or soybean oil, all GMO products.
People like myself who are nightshade sensitive are really out of luck because the tobacco gene is used in lettuce and cucumbers and the petunia gene is used in soybeans and carrots. Folks with celiac disease might be fooled because walnuts can have the barley gene in them. And some foods like strawberries have "undisclosed genes" so all bets are off. Would we expect anything different from an industry that has carte blanche regulation-free control over our total food supply? You might think cheese is a safe food but they've genetically engineered bacterial rennet. Apple juice can have the silkworm gene and grapes can contain a virus gene. Well including trout, salmon, catfish, bass and even shrimp. In May of 1999, three giant multinational food companies announced they would no longer market genetically engineered foods or their ingredients in England, because the Limeys were smart enough to protest, so guess who will get the leftovers? U.S.
Proponents of GMO foods say they will lessen the amount of pesticides that must be used, but that is not true. Didn't we already fall for this line with the promise that new pesticides would reduce the need for others? First of all many of the toxins that plants have been genetically manipulated or forced to produce also kill beneficial things like ladybugs so that even more pesticides are needed to do the job that they would have done.These genes can also spread from the crops to the weeds making the weeds more resistant and stronger than ever, creating an epidemic of super weeds.
Also disturbing is a report that Monsanto's Roundup ready resistant GE soybeans have higher than normal levels of estrogen. Is this something we want for male babies growing up on soybean formula? As well, some of the viruses used as vectors for genes and inserted into plants to make them virus resistant can be combined with genetic material from another invading virus [as from a cold] forming a brand new more virulent virus and creating a new fatal epidemic that has never before been seen.
Clearly NAFTA has allowed our illegal "recycled" pesticides access to us, while our FDA and USDA cannot police what they already have on their plates, much less handle the billion dollar graft associated with genetic engineering that is so carefully documented in BEYOND EVOLUTION. The FDA has allowed Olestra into your foods, which has no proven ability to decrease the rampant obesity. But it does decrease you absorption of priceless nutrients like vitamin E, D, and K that are absolutely crucial in inhibiting the top two most common causes of death and disease, arteriosclerosis and cancer.
In the past we have talked about how many people are not "Better Through Chemistry" as DuPont's old motto suggested. Because many have lost loved ones to cancer and other diseases caused by environmental chemicals, they have become "bitter through chemistry". These chemicals are allowed in our air, food and water so that multinational corporations can make huge profits. Now with the wildfire spread of genetic engineering, small farms will fade into extinction as multinational agriculture and chemical corporations [MACC] gain control over all of your food.
Are you ready for the greatest MACC attack in the history of the world? Worse than chemical pollution ever thought of being, genetic pollution has the irreversible potential and probability of changing the very nature of all of or food and even our own genetics. As veterinarian, Michael W Fox, warns in his excellent and highly recommended book, BEYOND EVOLUTION [which details and references the dangers of GMO foods], our only chance to save ourselves and the future is with people power.
But uninformed people are powerless. Multinational corporations are changing our food and animals and they have free reign. They're not accountable to anyone since they do not have to label their foods and they are not required to do any safety testing. It is irreversible, unstoppable and has the capability of snowballing us into a veritable Jurassic Park.
You vote with your shopping basket and can make your voice heard by letting your legislators know that you want all genetically engineered food labeled and all engineering stopped until there are appropriate studies done on the long range human side effects and safety.
Recommended reading: Fox, Michael W BEYOND EVOLUTION, the Lyons Press, 123 W 18th New York, N. Y. - 10011 - Phone 212 620 9580
Cummins R Lilliston B. GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS, A SELF DEFENSE GUIDE FOR CONSUMERS, available from Natural Lifestyles, 1 800 752 2775
5/30/01
11:25:58 PM
WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?
Here is a list of some of the biggest energy industry donors to the Republican party during Bush's campaign:
ENRON - $1,800,000.00
EXXON - $1,200,000.00
KOCH INDUSTRIES - $970,000.00
SOUTHERN POWER - $900,000.00
BP AMOCO - $800,000.00
LEHMAN BROTHERS - $808,000.00
EL PASO ENERGY - $787,000.00
CHEVRON OIL CORP - $780,000.00
RELIANT ENERGY - $642,000.00
TEXAS UTILITIES TXU - $635,000.00
Ever hear of Enron Corporation? They're America's Number One power trading team and they know you can't win the power game unless you play the political game and they're the champs. No one's given more money to the political campaigns of George W. Bush than Enron - let's go see if we can find their HQ... Oops! Houston, Texas!
Investigations are proceeding into profiteering by power traders during the California energy crisis and black-outs. The State of California has accused El Paso Corporation and Dynegy (both subsidaries of Enron Corp) of deliberately restricting the flow of natural gas through the pipeline from Texas CREATING an artificial shortage which caused prices to go up ten fold.
Who stands to profit from the artificially created "energy crisis" in the USA? Why has this "crisis" only occured since G W Bush took office? On December 14, 2000, President Clinton ordered an end to speculation in energy prices in California - which bit into the profits of El Paso and Dynegy... and Enron and Reliant too. But they were betting on another horse. Between them they gave $3.5 million to Bush and the Republicans.
Reliant told us "Frankly, we feel some candidate's philosophies will benefit the company, its stockholders, and its customers more than will others." Three days after his inauguation Bush swept away Clinton's anti-speculation orders. After Bush lifted controls Enron's profits jumped up by 87 million... not a bad return on political contributions of 1.8 million dollars.
Alcoa was facing a demand to cut emissions by 50%, that would have meant replacing the cheap and dirty lignite (the filthiest fuel you can burn) with clean but expensive natural gas. But within a month of passage of Bush's 'voluntary' pollution law, attorneys with the law firm pleading Alcoa's case to the regulators gave $170,000 to the Republican campaign.
Coincidence? Alcoa deny any link they told us they "exert no control over the legal and lobbying firms" they retain. According to Alcoa's own figures not switching to gas saved them $100 million.
Newsnight has discovered, deep in Bush's new budget, the million-dollar fund for civil enforcement to deter pollution will be axed. Law enforcement will be left to locals - and in Texas, the weak State watchdog is letting Alcoa open a new lignite pit 20 miles away.
Alcoa's former CEO Paul O'Neill is making new friends - Bush named him Secretary of the US Treasury - so O'Neill has to sell off his Alcoa shares - he'll get about $100 million. Alcoa made a $100,000 contribution to the Bush Cheney inaugural. They told us this was in honor of Paul O'Neill. He's also on Vice President Dick Cheney's "Energy Group."
Apart from Paul O'Neill, the committee includes Bush's Commerce Secretary Don Evans - he was CEO of Tom Brown Inc. a billion dollar oil and gas company, and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, a motor industry favorite - they gave him $700,000 last year... and of course Dick Cheney, the Vice President, former boss of Halliburton which builds nuclear power plants and is the world's largest oil services company. And what a coincidence.Today, the Cheney group recommended building more nukes, drilling more oil and burning more coal.
One of the first major pieces of legislation to go through Congress under President Bush is a bankruptcy bill that protects MBNA the largest manufacturer and seller of credit cards, citizens in this country can no longer write off credit card debt when they file for bankruptcy it was a key priority of Mr Cawley and his bank and he bet early and he bet often on our Governor would some day be in the White House and would some day be able to deliver on this favour. Wall Street analysts put MBNA's gain at $75 million PER YEAR!
I don't know what else to say. We'll keep digging, but this has to get out.
5/30/01
11:17:00 PM
For government to represent the interests of average citizens, politicians must first be liberated from having to depend on private interests to finance their electoral campaigns. Doing that means going far beyond anything envisioned in the watered-down McCain-Feingold bill currently sloshing its way through Congress, which closes the soft-money loophole while widening the hard-money pipeline. That's why a little-noticed storm going on right now in the state of Massachusetts is so important.
Read Micah Sifry's Nation web exclusive on the Massachusetts fight for Clean Money/Clean Elections, a referendum passed in 1998 by a margain of 2-1, calling for full public financing of candidates who agree to raise no public money. The problem is that funding still has to be appropriated by the Massachusetts Legislature, and that's where things are now bogged down. Still, this struggle raises hope for all those concerned about the corrupting power of money on politics.
For the full story, read:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=special&s=sifry20010529
STOP THE NEW ARMS RACE:
Project Abolition, a coalition of numerous groups including The Nation Institute was founded in 1999 to increase public awareness of nuclear danger and to build grassroots support in the United States for the eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons.
Energized by the increasing threats of the new administration, PA is staging a rally in Washington, DC, on Sunday, June 10. Among the many speakers will be Nation Institute Fellow and renowned anti-nuclear writer and activist, Jonathan Schell. Please consider coming out for what should be the start of sustained pressure on the government to stem U.S. nuclear adventurism.
Lafayette Park (across from the White House) Washington, DC Sunday, June 10, 2:00 pm
For more information, including details on special activist and lobbying training being conducted by PA, call 401-276-0377 or go to:
And check out these two Nation pieces for background info on the new incarnation of "Star Wars" and for an astute analysis of the proposed missile defense shield - just one layer of a much larger scheme to "control" space and "dominate" the earth:
KARL GROSSMAN AND JUDITH LONG: Lost In Space June 4, 2001 http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010604&s=grossman
WILLIAM HARTUNG and MICHELLE CIARROCCA: Star Wars II: Here We Go Again June 19, 2000 http://past.thenation.com/issue/000619/0619hartung.shtml
THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA:
The debacle of Election 2000 underscored for many people the urgency of fundamental electoral reform in the United States.
One of the most powerful voices making the case against the Supreme Court decision that put George W. Bush in the White House was a legendary prosecutor, previously known more for putting people behind bars than for progressive activism. But Vincent Bugliosi's explosive article "None Dare Call It Treason," published in the February 5, 2001 issue of The Nation, drew the largest outpouring of letters and e-mail in the magazine's 136-year history, tapping a deep reservoir of outrage.
The original essay has now been turned into a paperback book, backed by updates and amplifications and supplemented with introductory essays by famed attorney Gerry Spence and columnist Molly Ivins. Published by Nation Books, "The Betrayal of America" is very reasonably priced at $9.95. So buy a copy (or two or ten) today. They make great gifts and with Father's Day fast approaching, think about getting one for your outraged dad. You can order online via The Nation Books site at:
SHAPING THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA: FROM VOTER DISENFRANCHISEMENT TO A VOTERS' BILL OF RIGHTS
Also of interest is an upcoming "Pro-Democracy Convention" taking place from June 29 - July 1 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Organized by the New York based Center for Constitutional Rights and co-sponsored by The Nation Institute, among many other groups, the event is being organized in response to the disenfranchisement of thousands, if not millions, of voters in the recent Presidential election.
The convention features speeches by Lani Guinier, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Ron Daniels, Margaret Fung, Cheri Honkala and John Anderson, among many others, and includes a training institute for activists, informational sessions on a range of relevant issues and workshops for brainstorming and networking.
To register or for more information, go to:
RECENT NATION ARTICLES:
And also still available are numerous recent articles of interest, including The Nation editors on Bush's first 100 days; David Corn on James Jeffords; Jason Vest on the State Department's secret Andean war; Christopher Hitchens and Jonathan Schell on Bob Kerrey's alleged war crimes; Maude Barlow on the FTAA protests; Eileen Stillwaggon on AIDS and poverty in Africa; Amy Bach on problems with legal aid; William Greider on global sweatshops; and Eric Alterman, Alec Dubro and Peter Kornbluh on tainted Bush appointee Otto Reich. All accessible at:
5/30/01
4:29:36 PM
FBI misconduct in Peltier's case must be remembered in the interest of justice
The recent FBI boondoggle in Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's case is indicative of a pattern of prosecutorial abuse going back decades..
..But no one in the national media seems to have remembered Leonard Peltier. So we again wonder, what about the case of Leonard Peltier?
In McVeigh's case, the most horrific of terrorists gets a reprieve of 30 days while more than 3,000 pages of evidentiary information are belatedly handed over to his defense team to study.
But consider Peltier, who has served 25 years for the 1975 killing of two FBI agents. In his highly controversial case, the FBI continues to hold secret more than 6,000 pages of information, claiming national security reasons. This despite clear indications of misconduct, including falsification of evidence and intimidation of witnesses by various FBI officials, which forced the American Indian Movement activist's conviction.
This much is known. In the climate of violence against traditional American Indians that characterized Indian country in the 1970s, FBI agents were all over the place, en masse, often in combat gear, constantly raiding the remote home compounds of traditional people who sympathized with the issues raised by AIM.
The FBI's closest collaborators, the so-called Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONS), known for their night raids and drive-by shootings that left many wounded and some dead, were actually given arms by the federal agents. It was in that context that a young Leonard Peltier signed on to help defend elders at the Jumping Bull compound in Oglala district, where the FBI raid took place that would result in the deaths of one American Indian man and two federal agents.
Judge Heaney of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, who heard an appeal in Peltier's case (denied on a technicality) wrote in a 1991 letter to Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii: "The United States government overreacted at Wounded Knee. Instead of carefully considering the legitimate grievances of the Native Americans, the response was essentially a military one which culminated in the deadly firefight on June 26, 1975 ... The United States government must share responsibility with the Native Americans for the .. firefight ... the government's role can properly be considered a mitigating circumstance." Judge Heaney, in this letter, recommended clemency/commutation of sentence for Mr. Peltier as part of the healing process.
We know that Peltier was extradited from Canada, where he had fled, on the basis of an affidavit signed by Myrtle Poor Bear, who claimed to have witnessed Peltier shooting the agents. Poor Bear later recanted and testified to being intimidated by FBI agents, who confronted her with photographs of the murdered body of Anna Mae Aquash.
At Peltier's trial, FBI ballistic expert Evan Hodge testified he was unable to perform the best test, a firing-pin test, on certain casings found near the agents' car, because the rifle in question had been damaged in a fire. Instead, he stated that he conducted an extractor-mark test and found the casing and weapon to match. But years later, an FBI teletype obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showed that in October 1975, a firing-pin ballistic test had indeed been performed on the rifle said to have belonged to Peltier and that the results were clearly negative. The jury never heard this crucial information.
Considering the critical nature of the materials later disclosed, such as the ballistic tests, the approximately 6,000 FBI documents still being withheld in their entirety as well as 5,000 partial documents could very well contain evidence that would establish Peltier's position. A government attorney actually conceded in one appellate hearing that, "We had a murder, we had numerous shooters, we do not know who specifically fired what killing shots ... ." But Peltier, the government insisted, could still be guilty for aiding and abetting, a complete change of theory from that mounted at his trial.
It is a crucial moment to remember Peltier. The national media must be made to remember his case among the numerous other cases of FBI misconduct resulting in the incarceration of innocent people. Clearly, the FBI's culture of concealment and sense superior purpose, which have led the agency into such transgression, must be challenged.
Peltier's trial and subsequent intense campaigns by the FBI to deny him any relief must be reconsidered in light of the emerging pattern of abuse now revealed. Tell all the media; tell the U.S. Congress; Indian country demands justice for Leonard Peltier.
http://www.indiancountry.com/articles/editorial-2001-05-23-02.shtml
5/30/01
4:20:27 PM
MediaChannel.org
WORLD BANK GOES VIRTUAL
The World Bank recently rescheduled a meeting to occur online in order to thwart street demonstrations. What does this mean for activists, who see the Web as a tool of the people?
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#wb
BOMBING "PEARL HARBOR"
Bombastic, patriotic and irony-impaired, "Pearl Harbor" has more in common with World War II-era Japanese propaganda films than with traditional Hollywood war movies, says Ian Buruma.
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#pearlharbor
GAG RULE HARMS FREE SPEECH
The U.S. media neglected Congressional debate of the "gag rule," which restricts discussing reproductive health options abroad. Now free speech is being silenced, from Peru to Zimbabwe and beyond.
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#gag
THE CULTURE WAR AGAINST KIDS
Despite fears of "toxic teen culture" across the political spectrum, the real threats to young people are high rates of child poverty, domestic violence and family disarray, not movies and cigarettes.
http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml#toxic
5/30/01
1:40:21 PM
UTNE WEB WATCH
The Best of the Alternative Web
THE NEW AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
by Ronnie Dugger, Special to Utne Online
-- Ronnie Dugger, founder of the anti-corporate organization "Alliance for a New Democracy" disputes the legitimacy of Dubya's presidency and proposes to henceforth refer to him as Governor Bush.
JEWISH READINGS OF DYLAN LYRICS
web site review by Al Paulson
-- As the controversial bard turns 60, it might be fun and insightful to take a look at some of Bob Dylan's lyrics and how they relate to the ancient 13th century Hebrew Kabbalah. As any semi fan of Dylan's knows, the legendary songwriter grew up as Robert Allen Zimmerman, son of a Jewish businessman.
THE WORLD-WIDE SUSHI RESTAURANT REFERENCE
web site review by Al Paulson
-- Do you have a sushi addiction? Does your illness inhibit you from living a full life? Do you limit your travels to within a ten-mile radius of your favorite sushi bar? There's hope for you with a worldwide search engine dedicated to sushi restaurants.
Links to the above articles: http://www.utne.com/webwatch
5/30/01
1:37:16 PM
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE
"We Cover the Earth For You"
CALIFORNIA SALT MARSH MAY CONTRIBUTE TO OCEAN POLLUTION
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, May 29, 2001 (ENS) - A team of California researchers may rewrite environmental textbooks after uncovering evidence that a manmade saltwater marsh is a source of potentially hazardous fecal bacteria that is contaminating the swimming and surfing waters of one of the state's most popular beaches. The study suggests that environmental managers should take care in designing artificial wetlands.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-29-06.html
NORWAY TO STRENGTHEN MARINE CONSERVATION
OSLO, Norway, May 29, 2001 (ENS) - The Norwegian government has appointed an expert working group to draw up a first ever national marine conservation plan, the country's environment ministry announced today.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-29-01.html
AUSTRALIAN SENATE PANEL URGES HALT TO LUCAS HEIGHTS REACTOR
SYDNEY, Australia, May 29, 2001 (ENS) - Environmentalists are delighted with the finding of a new Senate inquiry that calls for a halt to plans for a controversial new nuclear research reactor in suburban Sydney. The proposed reactor would replace one built in 1958 at Lucas Heights just outside of Sydney.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-29-03.html
CLINTON FOREST CHIEF JOINS NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
RESTON, Virginia, May 29, 2001 (ENS) - Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck has become the second Clinton administration agency head to join the nation's largest conservation group, the National Wildlife Federation. Dombeck will fill the role of a senior fellow, an advisory position covering both domestic and international issues.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-29-03.html
EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY SIGNALS NATURAL RESOURCE STRESS
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 29 2001 (ENS) - Public policy must become more effective in influencing the growing scale and evolving patterns of production and consumption if Europe is to achieve its environmental and sustainable development goals.
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens-news.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-29-04.html
ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE AMERISCAN: MAY 29, 2001
Melting Glaciers Signal Global Warming
Vegetation Key to Accurate Climate Modeling
Bush Encounters Energy Controversy in California
Politics, Not Energy, Caused California Crisis, Group Argues
Sharpton Plans Hunger Strike Over Vieques
Bush Gets Failing Grade on Parks Issues
Forest Fragmentation Linked to Stress in Birds
Labor Department Meets First Deadline for Compensation Program
Humane Society Publishes State of Animals 2001
Symposium Builds Momentum for California Smart Growth
For full text and graphics visit:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/may2001/2001L-05-29-09.html
5/30/01
1:25:54 PM
FAIR
Fairness