11/3/00
7:25:45 PM
Contamination at Russian nuke weapons plant 'staggering'
By IAN TRAYNOR The Guardian November 02, 2000
MOSCOW - Radioactive contamination of rivers around a top-secret nuclear weapons complex in Siberia has reached "staggering" levels, the worst ever monitored, and is out of "rational control," a joint team of Russian and U.S. radiation monitors said Thursday.
Following a monitoring expedition in July and August to the area around the closed complex at Seversk, near Tomsk in western Siberia, the Russian and U.S. nuclear watchdogs said they had registered alarming levels of radioactivity in tributaries of the River Ob, a key Siberian waterway.
"We've never encountered such radiation. It's the worst contamination we've found," said Sergei Pashchenko, an atmospheric pollution expert who headed the Russian side of the survey carried out by Siberian Scientists for Global Responsibility and Government Accountability Project.
The director of the U.S. adjunct group, Tom Carpenter, said: "We were shocked at the levels of contamination."
The environmentalists said they found levels of cesium and strontium-90 vastly exceeding safety levels in the rivers Tom and Romashka close to the Siberian Chemical Complex, a sprawling facility established by the former Soviet Union in the 1950s to make weapons-grade plutonium for warheads.
Even more disturbingly, said Pashchenko, plant life in the rivers contained high levels of phosphorus-32, which decays within a couple of weeks, meaning the radioactive effluent was of very recent origin whereas the strontium and the cesium could date back to the 1960s.
Seversk, a closed town, is effectively a suburb of Tomsk, a city with a population of half a million in western Siberia. Seversk was established in 1949, at the very onset of the superpowers' nuclear arms race. It ranked among the top three sites for the manufacturing of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium enrichment for the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal throughout the Cold War.
The plutonium was manufactured from five nuclear reactors commissioned between 1955 and 1967. The three oldest reactors were closed between 1990 and 1992. Under a 1992 U.S.-Russian agreement aimed at halting plutonium production, all five reactors should have been closed down by this year.
But two reactors are still operating, providing heating and electricity to Tomsk. "The authorities have no intention of closing them," Igor Forofontov, a radiation specialist with the group Greenpeace in Moscow.Forofontov said.
Forofontov said lethal amounts of radioactivity were leaking into the soil and the water in the region because of the practice of storing waste from the reactors in liquid form, which is then pumped deep below ground.
"The nuclear waste is being piped straight into the environment," said Norm Buske, an American oceanographer and physicist who was among the monitors. "This has not been done anywhere in the world since the Cold War."
11/3/00
7:18:59 PM
EcoNet Alerts: November 3, 2000
Another Biologist Comes Out Against Snog Timber Sale
On the heels of the Forest Service admitting they accidentally clearcut the riparian reserves of the Pinestrip timber sale, new information has shown they are finding even more errors in Snog, a sister sale to Pinestrip, in the same watershed and linked by a 1995 lawsuit we lost due to the salvage logging rider. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/972961953/index_html
Close Radioactive Waste Loophole
Last year, Congress passed the Superfund Recycling Equity Act (SREA) that exempted certain recyclers from Superfund liability. Generators and recyclers of radioactive material could use this exemption to escape liability derived from "recycling" of radioactive waste into consumer products, our cars and homes. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/972961880/index_html
EPA Announces Scientific & Public Participation In Starlink Review
Today EPA is announcing steps it will take to ensure a rigorous scientific and public review of new information submitted by Aventis and the food industry on StarLink corn. EPA is making available the new information and starting a 30-day public comment period. After that, a formal scientific peer review begins. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/972961823/index_html
EcoNet Headlines: November 3, 2000
Environmentalists Decry Army Plan
The Army may allot 2,500 acres of public land to the threatened [5]desert tortoise in exchange for 131,000 acres to expand artillery training in a land pact brokered by two California lawmakers. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961720/index_html
GREEN/Defenders: Humans Make Animals Sick
HUMANS MAKE ANIMALS SICK: According to scientists "many rare species are being pushed towards extinction by exposure to human illnesses" says BBC News 10/19. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961632/index_html
Wild Salmon Vulnerable To Climate Change
As if overfishing and habitat loss weren't threats enough for wild salmon, the imperiled fish are also vulnerable to climate change, suggests a new study in the 27 October issue of the international journal, Science. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961514/index_html
Petrol Formula - a State Secret In Mexico
MEXICO CITY, Oct 27 (IPS) - Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex keeps the formula for its petrol secret, while publicly defending the quality of its fuel, which environmentalists have fingered for years as a major threat to health and the environment. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961431/index_html
Local Folk Best Bet for Marine Protection
BALI, Indonesia, Oct 25 (IPS) - If marine reserve areas are going to be a safe harbour for sea life, they have to be protected by local communities themselves. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961351/index_html
Oil Exploration Ends in Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve
Tropical Verde and Global Response report success in their letter campaign to stop oil exploration and development in Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve. In mid-2000 many hundreds of letters and emails, some undoubtedly generated from this email list, demanded that Guatemalan authorities retract their plan to open the Maya Biosphere Reserve to oil development. It is reported that "the government recognized the severe social and environmental impacts that oil development could provoke, and made a decision without precedent in our country: oil development will not proceed as long as the people of Guatemala oppose it." Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961276/index_html
UK Nuclear Sub Was Hours From Meltdown
Only now, more than five months after the Ministry of Defence assured Gibraltarians that it was only a "minor defect", are the full extent and dramatic consequences coming to light. HMS Tireless, which has been moored off the Rock since May, was close to a disaster, its nuclear reactor "at the very point of failure", sources have told the Guardian. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961183/index_html
Boise Cascade the "Dinosaur" of the Timber Industry
A coalition of environmental groups are putting renewed focus on Boise Cascade, calling it the "dinosaur" of the logging industry due to continued predatory logging practices and its role in global old- growth destruction. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972961083/index_html
Forest Service Accidentally Clearcuts Riparian Reserves
This September the Umpqua National Forest accidentally allowed Boise-Cascade to clearcut about 12 acres of old-growth forests in the streamside protection buffers of the Pinestrip timber sale, a sale closely associated with the Snog timber sale now being protested by tree-sitters. Other stream side buffers could also have been cut, though at this time, the Forest Service is only admitting to the one discovered by Umpqua Watersheds, a local forest-watch group. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972960971/index_html
StarLink Scandal Reveals EPA's Dangerous Deregulation of GE Crops
HOPE OR HORROR; Biotech food on our tables; Reaping what science sows; Recent problems have raised questions about biotechnology Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972960884/index_html
RACHEL: West Nile Virus - Part II
As we saw two weeks ago (REHW #709), West Nile virus (WNV) appeared in the U.S. for the first time in 1999.** WNV was previously unknown in the Western Hemisphere, but it has now spread to seven states, most recently North Carolina.[1] Carried by mosquitoes that can infect humans, this virus often produces no symptoms at all but can sometimes lead to serious illness. In some cities, public health authorities have responded by spraying entire neighborhoods with pesticides intended to kill mosquitoes. These mass pesticide sprayings pose threats to human health and do not necessarily reduce populations of disease-bearing mosquitoes. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972960786/index_html
Gore Supports Preservation of Old-Growth Forests
The U.S. government's next four years of environmental policy-making come at a critical juncture for planetary ecological sustainability. Urgent decisions regarding forest conservation, climate change and other issues must be made. Who will meet this challenge? Al Gore has a formidable and real record of environmental accomplishment. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972960697/index_html
11/3/00
7:15:28 PM
ACTION ALERT: Missing from Mideast Coverage: Occupied territories no longer "occupied" on TV news
November 3, 2000
The turmoil in the Middle East has been a top international story on television news since fighting broke out between Palestinians and Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza in late September. But amid the constant flow of footage showing violent confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, a central fact of the conflict has been missing from almost all network TV coverage: The West Bank and Gaza are occupied territory.
The three major networks' evening news broadcasts-- ABC's World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News and the CBS Evening News-- aired 99 stories mentioning the West Bank or the Gaza Strip from the outbreak of fighting on September 28 through November 2. But only four of these stories informed viewers that Israel occupies those lands.
Virtually the entire world, including the United States and the UN Security Council, regards Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian land seized in the 1967 war as a violation of international law. Even Israel does not contend that the West Bank and Gaza are part of its national territory, instead referring to them euphemistically as "administered territories."
Yet in a typical 90-second news story reporting on "Palestinian violence" (as it is routinely called) against Israeli occupation soldiers, viewers are not told that Palestinians are fighting against a military occupation. The right to use force to resist foreign occupation is universally recognized and enshrined in international law.
During Iraq's seven-month occupation of Kuwait in 1990-91, TV journalists had little difficulty recognizing this principle. On ABC, Peter Jennings forthrightly referred to the country as "Iraqi-occupied Kuwait." "Tell us about the resistance to the Iraqi occupation," Jennings asked in an interview with a Kuwaiti living under Iraqi rule (World News Tonight, 9/6/90).
On CBS, Dan Rather reported that Westerners who had left the emirate "are bringing back stories of an occupied but still unconquered nation" (CBS Evening News, 9/11/90), while his correspondent in the Persian Gulf reported on Kuwaitis who "have vowed to return to resist the Iraqi occupation" and reports of "attacks and ambushes on Iraqi soldiers by a fledgling Kuwaiti resistance" (CBS This Morning, 8/23/90).
Yet in the Israeli-occupied territories, CBS correspondents today talk of "Israeli soldiers under daily attack"; "Israel...again feeling isolated and under siege"; and, in one case where Israeli occupation troops abandoned a fortified position in the West Bank, "Israelis have surrendered territory to Palestinian violence" (CBS Evening News, 10/4/00, 10/8/00, 10/7/00).
About 164 people have died in the conflict so far, at least 152 of them Palestinians killed by Israeli settlers or occupation troops.
Some outlets have even taken the step of referring to occupied Palestinian land as part of Israel. Tom Brokaw (NBC Nightly News, 10/2/00) introduced a report about "the ever-widening eruptions of violence in Israel." He then went to NBC correspondent Martin Fletcher, who explained that Palestinians were "storming an Israeli army outpost in Gaza" and "setting siege to another army post in the West Bank."
When Israel's internationally uncontested status as an occupying power on Palestinian lands is omitted from the media's coverage, Palestinian rock-throwing is made to look like random aggression, and Israel's use of lethal weaponry can be portrayed as a legitimate response to provocation. The real status of Israel's presence was explained by the United Nations Security Council last month, when it unanimously called upon "Israel, the occupying power, to abide scrupulously by its legal obligations" under the Geneva Conventions to protect human rights in the occupied territories.
ACTION: Please contact the three networks and ask them to clearly identify the status of the West Bank and Gaza as occupied territories under international law when they report on the conflict in the Middle East.
CONTACT: NBC Nightly News Phone: 212-664-4971 or 202-885-4259 Fax: 202-362-2009 mailto:Nightly@nbc.com
ABC World News Tonight Phone: 212-456-4040 Fax: 212-456-2795 mailto:netaudr@abc.com
CBS Evening News Phone: 212-975-3691, 202 457-4385 Fax: 212-975-1893 mailto:audsvcs@cbs.com
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
11/3/00
7:12:56 PM
Nov. 3, 2000
FERC Fails to Protect Californians; States Should Reregulate
Statement of Charlie Higley, Energy Research Director, Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rightly concluded that California's summer-time electricity rates were higher than they should be and that California electricity rates were not "just and reasonable," as required by federal law. The conclusion came this week after FERC investigated whether power suppliers took advantage of California's poorly written utility deregulation law.
We are extremely disappointed that FERC, which oversees the progress of deregulation throughout the country and is supposed to ensure that electricity suppliers don't gouge consumers, couldn't figure out who was responsible for jacking up electricity prices in California to sky-high levels. In its report, FERC said time limitations and insufficient data prevented it from making this determination. We are also disappointed that FERC has concluded that it doesn't have the statutory authority to order a refund. A refund is what people badly need, and it is only fair to California's beleaguered consumers.
In short, FERC found that California consumers were robbed of billions of dollars - reportedly more than $5 billion. But the agency can't find the robber, and thus it can't protect the victims of the crime.
FERC's inability to protect consumers from unlawful price gouging reveals that state electricity deregulation has created unregulated monopolies and cartels that are free to fleece consumers for billions without fear of retribution.
Although FERC has made some cosmetic recommendations for the debacle in California, their suggestions will do little to change what is a fundamentally flawed system. It is for this reason that we urge states that have deregulated their power industries to promptly reregulate them. States considering deregulation should avoid it.
We also call on U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to immediately launch an investigation to determine who is responsible for the unlawful abuse of California ratepayers by greedy power suppliers. These suppliers clearly violated the Federal Power Act of 1935, which says that wholesale electricity rates must be just and reasonable.
For more information, please visit www.citizen.org/CMEP/restructuring/utilityderegulation1.html
11/3/00
4:08:14 PM
World Environment News - November 3rd, 2000 from Planet Ark
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
Bush and Gore positions on top issues - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8792
Anger in Iowa over gene-altered corn controversy - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8794
US Marines seek families in Lejeune water case - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8796
UPDATE - EBRD mulls Ukraine nuke loans but no announcment due - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8786
UK green groups urge fuel tax protestors to quit - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8789
Indian desert state to set up solar power project - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8787
German power consumers attack costly energy laws - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8788
UPDATE - France says Channel pollution tests reassuring - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8790
French navy offers alliance to Greenpeace foes - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8791
WRAPUP - French beef fears spread to Germany - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8795
UPDATE - Malaysian container ship hits Australian reef - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8793
11/3/00
2:32:23 PM
We need to stop using petroleum & mineral based fuels where we can use the wind, I don't mean hot air from politians.
11/2/00
11:02:49 PM
From: Ralph Nader To: Nader/LaDuke supporters nationwide
Dear Friends:
We're now in the home stretch of our historic run to establish the Green Party as a permanent and prominent pro-democracy force on the national political stage.
I'm writing to you with an appeal for support to make sure we accomplish all that we can, and must.
While the dominant party cartel through its puppet debate commission locked us out of the televised debates, and while the media continue to under-report our campaign, the signs of a grassroots surge in support for the Nader/LaDuke candidacy are everywhere.
Our super-rallies across the country -- in Seattle, Boston, New York, Portland, Minneapolis and Chicago -- have attracted more than 10,000 paying attendees each. That's way beyond anything the Gore or Bush campaigns have generated. Our crowds are far more charged up than those at the staged events of the corporate candidates -- precisely because our supporters are determined to engage in a sustained effort to rescue our democracy from corporate plutocrats, and they understand the importance of the Green Party challenge. This grassroots surge is registering in the national polls, where our support is growing fast.
We stand on the precipice of an electoral showing that will shock the corporate and political establishment. Together, we will send a message that:
* We must provide public financing for public elections and other basic democratic tools for citizens to de-concentrate the power of the few over the many;
* Health care is a human right, and our country must join the rest of the industrialized world in providing universal health care, so that tens of millions of our citizens no longer go without coverage in times of medical need;
* The citizenry reject the corporate globalization model of the World Trade Organization and NAFTA, which subordinates health, safety and environmental protections to commercial imperatives;
* The richest nation in the history of the world must immediately commit itself to eradicate poverty within our borders, by launching a Marshall Plan against poverty, providing all workers with a living wage and removing the legal constraints on unionization drives; and
* We can no longer delay addressing global warming and other environmental crises to pacify the interests of corporate polluters and those who plunder our natural resources.
Together, we will work to show that the Green Party program and values are the program and values of an American majority -- and that the majority now have a powerful vehicle to advance their interests.
Achieving these goals, however, will require us all to redouble our efforts in the final week of this campaign. We need all supporters to talk to their friends, colleagues and neighbors, to continue spreading the message of our campaign and to make sure everyone votes on election day. Word of mouth is credible and fast.
And for the campaign to make history this week, we need your financial support. Your contribution will enable us to coordinate and expand our grassroots mobilization, to make sure we use every tool available to circumvent the debate/media blackout and reach millions of voters and non-voters.
Please make a pledge right now to restore our democracy by contributing $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can afford to our campaign.
We need $500,000 in the next few days for "get-out-the-vote" efforts nationwide.
You can make the contribution over the Internet by clicking on http://votenader.org/donate.html.
Thank you for your energy and support for this campaign to deepen our democracy.
Sincerely, Ralph Nader
To subscribe, unsubscribe, and change options: http://votenader.org/newsletter.html
Through this weekly newsletter you will get updates about the latest happenings in the Nader 2000 campaign: you can find out how you can volunteer (http://votenader.org/volunteer.html), how you and your friends can make contributions (http://votenader.org/donate.html) and how to ENCOURAGE OTHERS to VOLUNTEER and WORK to TRANSFORM THIS YEAR'S RACE INTO AN OPEN DEBATE ON CORPORATE CONTROL OF OUR DEMOCRACY AND OUR LIVES. Please forward this message to all of your friends and encourage them to sign up!
Paid for by the Nader 2000 General Committee, Inc. P.O. Box 18002, Washington, D.C. 20036 campaign@votenader.org
11/2/00
9:19:30 PM
From: "michael mariotte" <nirsnet@nirs.org> To: <nirsnet@nirs.org> Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 5:02 PM Subject: sign-on: help stop Russian waste imports
Dear Friends, Please sign on to the letter below to help stop the import of high-level radioactive waste to Russia. This is a major campaign by Russian environmentalists and they need and deserve our support. It is mportant to note, as described in the letter, that the U.S. can effectively stop the Russian nuclear agency's desire to import the waste and use the money garnered to build dozens of new nuclear reactors. Please sign by November 13. Please circulate this letter widely.
Thank you Michael Mariotte NIRS
Hon. Madeleine Albright Secretary of State United States of America
Hon. Bill Richardson Secretary of Energy United States of America
Dear Secretaries Albright and Richardson:
We are writing to urge you to deny any request by Russia to allow the storage and/or disposition of irradiated nuclear fuel, or high-level atomic waste, of U.S. origin in that country, whether in a program led by Minatom, or by any other entity.
It is no secret that Minatom, the Russian nuclear agency, has been actively seeking to change Russia's laws to allow it to import rradiated nuclear fuel from various countries around the globe. Indeed, a December 1998 letter from Yevgeny Adamov to Energy Secretary William Richardson even suggested the possibility of importing U.S. high-level nuclear waste to Russia on a commercial basis. Although the U.S. appropriately rejected that possibility, Mr. Adamov has reportedly engaged in negotiations with other countries, including Switzerland and Germany, for similar ends.
In a May 2000 document, "Strategy for nuclear development in 2000-2050" Minatom proposed, overly ambitiously, the construction of some three dozen or more new commercial atomic reactors in Russia and linked commercial reactor construction to nuclear weapons program development. This document was "principally approved" by the Russian government on May 25. Minatom clearly does not currently have the funds to carry out such a massive, and environmentally destructive, program. Instead, Minatom is relying upon the funds that may accrue should the U.S. allow high-level atomic waste to be shipped to Russia for storage.
Such a program would be folly for numerous reasons. First, Minatom is unable to effectively care for its own atomic high-level waste; adding to the volume of waste Minatom would control would create more environmental difficulties in a country already suffering from massive radiation contamination from both the military and commercial nuclear ndustries.
Second, Russian environmental and citizens groups will actively and successfully oppose any effort to construct a repository that includes the added complication of foreign high-level nuclear waste, effectively ending the possibility of building a national repository for Russia's own waste.
Third, Minatom's record is one that does not encourage trust in either ts ability to protect the environment, nor in its willingness to assure that high-level nuclear waste will not be reprocessed into reactor fuel or, worse, nuclear weapons components. Minatom refuses to accept a basic cornerstone of U.S. non-proliferation policy: that commercial spent nuclear fuel must never be reprocessed. There is no reason to believe that Minatom will behave any differently if granted U.S. approval to store nuclear fuel upon its land.
Fourth, the U.S. and other countries should not be encouraging the construction of new nuclear power reactors in Russia, Minatom's stated goal. With the calamity of Chernobyl still haunting the region, it would be terrible if the huge economic and human losses suffered as a result of that accident were to be compounded by another accident that ndirectly resulted from a failure of the United States to act in controlling spent fuel of U.S. origin. Moreover, the economic distress n Russia is high and the problems with the technical infrastructure are acute, as demonstrated recently by the tragic accidental sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk. The United States should be collaborating with Russia on renewable energy sources instead of directly or indirectly promoting its nuclear power and plutonium programs.
The United States and Russia also have been presented with a different proposal, by a non-profit corporation called the Non-Proliferation Trust (NPT), that would create the same kinds of problems.
The NPT proposal would allow Minatom to import some 10,000 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste from across the globe, which would not only result in serious concern about radioactive waste transportation, but which would be sure to receive substantial and active resistance from environmental and other groups in every country. Such shipments could be a highly expensive and risky endeavor. If transportation of spent fuel on a large scale has aroused very serious concerns around the United States, one can easily understand the far greater insecurity and concerns that the people of Russia along the vast transportation corridor would feel, given Russia's relatively poor and accident-prone nfrastructure.
The complicated NPT proposal is aimed at preventing Minatom from any reprocessing of nuclear fuel the agency may import. To NPT's backers, this is an effective non-proliferation measure. However, we believe that t cannot succeed in stopping reprocessing in Russia, given Minatom's stated determination to proceeding in that direction. On the contrary, t could become a recipe not only for more plutonium accumulation in Russia, but also for serious diplomatic conflict.
The simple fact is that Russians, as might be expected, do not want their country to import high-level atomic waste under any condition. We hope that you will agree with the Russian people and that the U.S. government will play its role in supporting that desire.
For either Minatom's or NPT's proposal to be authorized, the United States Government must make a positive authorization (a "so-called" MB-10 authorization), which must be approved by the U.S. State Department, the Department of Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The U.S. Congress may also play a role in this process.
However, if Minatom is prevented, by U.S. action, from importing any nuclear fuel at all, then there is no reason to fear that Minatom would reprocess this fuel. We urge you to adopt such a course now, before the Russian waste law is changed to allow for spent fuel imports.
The environmental, consumer, religious, and citizens groups listed below, from across the globe, urge you, in no uncertain terms, to reject any proposal to allow the import of U.S.-origin fuel into Russia. As you can readily see, this issue is of global concern. Please feel free to contact Michael Mariotte of NIRS, (202-328-0002) or Arjun Makhijani of IEER (301-270-5500) if you have any questions or need any further nformation.
Signed,
Michael Mariotte Executive Director Nuclear Information and Resource Service Washington, DC
Arjun Makhijani Executive Director Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Takoma Park, MD
Vladimir Sliviak Executive Director ECODEFENSE! Kaliningrad, Russia
11/2/00
4:34:50 PM
ACTIVISM UPDATE: AP's Inadequate Investigation Bolivia reporter's conflicts glossed over
November 2, 2000
In an October 26 Action Alert, FAIR reported that the Associated Press' Bolivia correspondent, Peter McFarren, was resigning amid revelations of clear conflicts of interest. (See http://www.fair.org/activism/ap-bolivia.html .)
McFarren had long had a significant involvement in Bolivian politics-- a situation that went unnoticed even after an expose by Narco News Bulletin, until FAIR called the wire service to request comment on McFarren's status. In our Alert, FAIR urged readers to ask AP for a full investigation of these conflicts and how they may have impacted McFarren's reporting.
The same day that the FAIR alert went out, AP released a story on McFarren's resignation. However, the report glossed over key aspects of the case. (The full text appears at the end of this message.)
AP acknowledged that McFarren had publicly promoted a private water project that would financially benefit the reporter's foundation. But, AP wrote, McFarren has "never written about the water project for AP."
While technically true, the claim is more an indictment of McFarren and the wire service than a defense. Since last April, when the intense struggle over water rights became one of Bolivia's biggest news stories, McFarren has filed several reports about water policy, including three such stories in the last six weeks. The privatization of water-- one of the key issues at the root of large-scale protests-- was a necessary precondition for the project McFarren was promoting. To report on the water protests without disclosing his personal stake in the issue is a gross violation of journalistic standards.
The AP reports McFarren's claim that a speech he gave on the water project was delivered not to the Bolivian legislature, but to "an organization of community leaders" who happened to be "in a Bolivian congressional building." The AP does not, however, note McFarren's admission to Narco News that he works "pro bono" as a "promoter of the water export law," nor does it note that McFarren's presentation explicitly called for passage of "a specific law." These details are relevant to any assessment of whether or not McFarren was in fact lobbying the legislature, and should have been included in the AP's story.
In addition, the AP story says nothing about how McFarren's supervisors could have been, as they claim, unaware of his activities. Narco News reports that McFarren is "a near mythical player in the highest levels of Bolivian society," often covered in the La Paz press' society pages "as he rubs elbows socially with... the foreign diplomatic corps, the commander of the Bolivian armed forces and other officials."
AP fails to report on additional McFarren projects that may have compromised his, and thus AP's, reporting. A simple search of the Nexis news database and a look at McFarren's Quipus Foundation website reveal that McFarren has for years been involved in projects dependent on numerous government agencies and corporations. A favorable 1997 profile in the publication Americas (11/21/97) stated McFarren "is perched on the pinnacle of a cultural-publishing-media-philanthropic conglomerate, perhaps the only one of its kind in the world." According to the profile, McFarren is also "a founder and board member of the Bolivian Export Foundation."
Quipus, another foundation that McFarren created and presides over, boasts $6 million in support from the city government of La Paz, Bolivia's capital, and also receives funds from the country's national government. Other contributors acknowledged on the foundation's website include the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Germany, Mexico, the World Bank, USAID, USIA, IBM-Bolivia and American Airlines.
A reporter whose projects are so dependent on the good will and largesse of so many powerful governments, agencies and corporations necessarily undermines his independence and impartiality.
All of this information was easily available to AP when it published its brief, inadequate report on McFarren on October 26. The public deserves to know the truth-- that AP's Bolivia correspondent was, for all practical purposes, a conflict of interest disguised as a journalist. And the public deserves total disclosure, including a report on how McFarren's financial and political involvements may have compromised AP reporting from Bolivia.
AP's Code of Ethics advises subscribing media outlets to "report matters regarding itself or its personnel with the same vigor and candor as it would other institutions or individuals." One would hope AP does not claim that its piece on McFarren meets that standard.
ACTION: Urge the Associated Press to conduct and publish a more rigorous investigation into McFarren's conflicts of interest, and explain how they were overlooked by the wire service.
CONTACT: You can reach the AP at the following addresses: mailto:intdesk@ap.org mailto:feedback@thewire.ap.org mailto:JCeppos@knightRidder.com (Jerry Ceppos is an officer of the Associated Press Managing Editors group.)
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
Read the original Narco News story at: http://www.narconews.com
Read the Washington Post story at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A690-2000Oct24.html
***** ASSOCIATED PRESS, 10/26/00
AP correspondent in Bolivia resigns amid conflict of interest
NEW YORK (AP) A reporter for The Associated Press in Bolivia has resigned after it emerged that he made a speaking appearance in favor of a water project in that South American country.
Peter McFarren, a Bolivian native who also holds U.S. citizenship, has worked for the AP in Bolivia since 1983.
In September, McFarren made a presentation in the capital La Paz in favor of a proposal to export water from Bolivia to copper mining companies in Chile.
The Web site NarcoNews.com reported that McFarren spoke before the Bolivian Senate on behalf of the Bolivian Hydro-Resources Corp. McFarren said his speech was to an organization of community leaders, although delivered in a Bolivian congressional building.
McFarren said he was not paid and said he didn't have any connection to the corporation, but acknowledged that the project would financially benefit a foundation he has set up to build children's cultural museums in Bolivia. As proposed, money from the water project would go to a national fund for culture, education and environment.
"As soon as we were aware of the facts in this matter, we moved immediately to cure a conflict of interest," said James M. Donna, the AP's vice president for human resources. "He resigned on the spot. AP rules make very clear that it is unacceptable for staff members to endorse or give the appearance of endorsing causes or political points of view."
McFarren, who had never written about the water project for AP, said he had told his supervisor of his involvement with the project and that he was planning to resign from the AP if any money came in to benefit his foundation. His supervisor, Eduardo Gallardo, the chief of bureau for Chile who oversees coverage in Bolivia, said, however, that he was not aware of McFarren's efforts on behalf of the water project.
11/2/00
1:59:57 PM
Nov. 1, 2000
Congress Should Fix Weak Auto Safety Law
Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook
Despite what proponents claim, the new auto safety law signed today by President Clinton will not help consumers as much as it should, and we strongly urge Congress to amend it. Touted as both a safety-enhancing measure and a cure-all for the ills affecting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the new law is merely a first step in this direction. It still needs work.
We need a law that will ensure a free flow of safety information to consumers. We have previously opposed the information provision in this measure because it would allow for critical safety data to be withheld from consumers. We appreciate DOT's new interpretation that this safety data should be public, and we are pleased that the president emphasized this point. Still, the law needs to be clarified to reflect DOT's interpretation, and we urge Congress to promptly make the needed changes.
The bottom line is that if you walk around this law and kick its tires, you'll find that it has flashy fenders and shiny paint but is plagued with engine troubles. The measure provides no new criminal enforcement authority. Instead, it has a meaningless provision that references existing criminal law and is unlikely to be invoked. Further, one of its provisions will actually undermine any attempt at criminal enforcement because it grants immunity to corporate executives who lie to government regulators if they later recant. What kind of consumer protection is that? None at all. We need a criminal penalty provision that will hold auto industry executives responsible for making a knowing and conscious decision to keep on the market a vehicle with safety defects that can kill or injure. This law lets the top brass off the hook. Lawmakers should write a meaningful criminal penalties provision immediately.
Also, the bill repeals a requirement that manufacturers evaluate their accident, component failure and complaint data to learn if there is a safety defect. This kind of analysis is essential for us to avoid future Ford/Firestone tragedies, and it should be the manufacturers' responsibility to provide it. Without it, we will be forced to relive history.
After details of the Ford/Firestone tragedy came to light, lawmakers sprang to action. Unfortunately, in their haste, they passed a watered-down bill masquerading as a consumer safety measure. We call on Congress to get under the hood of this law and take care of its engine troubles now.
For more information, please visit www.citizen.org/fireweb/index7.htm
11/2/00
1:54:52 PM
Science Panel Says Nuclear Test Ban Is Verifiable
Updated 11:44 AM ET October 30, 2000
By Paul Taylor, Diplomatic Editor
LONDON (Reuters) - A global nuclear test ban can be reliably verified with existing technology, creating a powerful deterrent against any attempt to cheat, an international panel of scientists said in a report issued Monday.
The commission was established by VERTIC, an independent arms control pressure group, after the U.S. Senate last year refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, partly due to concerns over possible cheating.
The multinational panel, including experts from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Japan, Germany and Israel, found that a combination of international and national, public and non-governmental resources made it virtually impossible to evade detection of an underground nuclear test.
"When fully in place, these resources will be capable of meeting the international community's expectation that relevant events will be detected, located and identified with high probability," the report concluded.
VERTIC director Trevor Findlay, who chaired the panel, said he hoped the study would contribute to a better-informed, less polemical, new debate on ratifying the treaty after next week's U.S. presidential and congressional elections.
More than 150 countries have signed the CTBT but it can only come into force when 44 potentially nuclear-capable countries ratify it, including India, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
Democratic Vice President Al Gore is committed to working for ratification while Republican candidate George W. Bush backs a continued U.S. national moratorium on nuclear testing but opposes ratifying the CTBT.
"VERIFICATION GAUNTLET"
The panel said a dense global network of verification assets, including seismography, hydroacoustic and infrasound monitoring, satellite imaging and radionuclide detectors created a "verification gauntlet" which any potential violator would be reluctant to run.
"Together they will serve as a powerful deterrent," the Independent Commission on the Verifiability of the CTBT said.
Findlay said critics of the treaty had failed to take into account the wealth of national intelligence and scientific resources available to detect nuclear explosions in addition to an international monitoring system being established by the CTBT and based in Vienna.
"Together, these resources in total provide a very good basis for verifying the treaty," he said.
"There is no 100 percent guarantee, but the treaty provides a high level of confidence, that acts as a powerful deterrent against any attempt to violate," Findlay said.
Commission secretary Oliver Meier said that while the panel had not included irreconcilable U.S. opponents of the treaty, it had involved two respected American scientists familiar with both classified and public evidence on verification techniques -- Gregory van der Vink and Terry Wallace.
Several other studies are under way aimed at reopening the U.S. ratification debate on a more scientific and less partisan basis.
Among them is one by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili, commissioned by outgoing President Clinton, aimed at taking account of concerns raised during the Senate debate in October 1999.
11/2/00
1:49:23 PM
ACTION ALERT!
Your Presence Will Count!
This Thursday, November 2, at 8:30 EST (7:30 CST; 6:30 MST; and 5:30 PST) CNN Interactive (www.cnn.com/chat) will include "Women's Issues" as an integral part of their special, week-long, live chats following and promoted by their TV Program "Crossfire."
Your questions and comments will be responded to by Martha Burk, Chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations in Washington, D.C., and by Aileen Hernandez, President of the California Women's Agenda. (Bio's and Outline of Issues are below.)
It is CRUCIAL for members of all women's organizations, as well as friends and family, to be on the Web at that time. Every visitor -- regardless of how long they stay on the site -- is counted. With a large surge of usage, the media will be more responsive to women's voices!
Please do tune in: www.cnn.com/chat this Thursday, November 2nd (West Coast: 5:30pm/East Coast: 8:30pm)
With my personal thanks,
Pat Lynch Barrett
Founder and CEO
W.O.M.E.N.
Producers of
WomensRadio.com
Co-Chair, Media Task Force, CAWA
5568 Fremont Street
Oakland, CA 94608
Phone: 510.547.4689
Fax: 510.658.7051
Email: GoLadies@WomensRadio.com
Bio's
Aileen C. Hernandez is Chair of the California Women's Agenda (CAWA). Educated at Howard University, she has also won national recognition, awards, and honorary academic degrees. Aileen held key positions in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union prior to 1962, was assistant Chief of the Division of Fair Employment Practices for the State of California from 1962 through 1965, and was appointed as a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by President Johnson. Active in both the civil rights and the women's rights movements, she was the second National President of NOW, founder of several Black women's organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and serves on the boards of many organizations dedicated to furthering the cause of women and people of color. She is President and Founder of Aileen C. Hernandez Associates, an urban consulting firm in San Francisco.
The California Women's Agenda (CAWA) emerged from the enthusiasm of thousands of women who returned from the U.N. Beijing Conference of 1995, women who wanted to make certain that the "Beijing Initiatives" were incorporated into the fabric of the law of the land here in America. CAWA is a coordinating organization of hundreds of women's organizations throughout the State of California and many national organizations based in California. It has provided the blueprint for action to incorporate the 12 action areas outlined in Beijing and been the model for similar organizations throughout the United States.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS
Chair's Biography
Dr. Martha Burk is a political psychologist and women’s equity expert who is co-founder and President of the Center for Advancement of Public Policy, a research and policy analysis organization in Washington, D.C. Dr. Burk is currently serving as Chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, a network of over 110 national women’s groups collectively representing six million women.
Dr. Burk has long been active in public debate and political analysis. She holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington. Her background includes experience as a university research director, management professor, and advisor to political campaigns and organizations. Dr. Burk has served on the Commission for Responsive Democracy, the Advisory Committee of Americans for Workplace Fairness, the Sex Equity Caucus of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the board of directors of the National Organization for Women. She currently serves on the boards of Wider Opportunities for Women and the National Woman’s Party, and chairs the Legislative Task Force for The National Committee on Pay Equity. She serves as an advisory board member to several other national organizations.
Institutional consulting clients have included the University of Texas, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the Kansas House of Representatives, the Smithsonian Institution, Women's International News Gathering Service, National Education Association, Search for Common Ground, the United States Information Agency, and the U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Burk is a syndicated columnist and regular guest on the PBS public affairs program Debates, Debates. She also appears regularly on national and international radio and television, and is a frequent contributor to major newspapers and print outlets on public policy, including USA Today, The Nation, Knight-Ridder wire services, Scripps Howard news services, Louisville Courier Journal, Los Angeles Daily News, Ms. Magazine, Working Woman, and Executive Female. Dr. Burk is the editor of the Washington Feminist Faxnet, a national fax newsletter on issues of importance to women. The Washington Feminist Faxnet is cited often by news outlets nationwide, and has been featured in many, including Entertainment Tonight, America's Talking, Glamour Magazine, Ms. Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Counterspin, and a host of others.
Issues
Promote Economic Equity
Eliminate wage discrimination.
Ensure the same pay for the same work, as well as equal pay for comparable jobs.
Preserve women’s right to choose
Increase education about, funding of, and options for reproductive health care services to enable women to make choices about their health and economic well-being.
Modernize and stabilize Social Security
Rectify existing inequities without jeopardizing the guaranteed benefits currently in place.
Implement a universal, comprehensive and accessible health care system
Readily address the needs of women and children.
Ensure equal access to quality, culturally appropriate, basic, andpreventative care.
Ratify the Convention to End Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
Provide the legal basis for local, state, and national policies and legislation that support women’s equal access to education, employment, and the political process.
11/2/00
12:58:05 PM
From: "Cheryl A. Magill" <window@manyrooms.com> Subject: Stop LFAS Worldwide Network Summary
We are of course very appreciative of those who would help others to understand the complex needs of those beings in the marine environment which are being routinely targeted by harmful sonic devices. Most typically, these the test subjects are dolphins and whales but they are not the only marine life affected.
Low Frequency Active Sonar is one technology which is among the most potentially powerful of these vibrational underwater devices, and it is just one player on an acoustic stage across which many invasive technologies will soon parade. While we continue to concentrate our efforts on the whales and dolphins, the impact of these damaging sonars is felt on all marine life.
Each technology when viewed separately is described by those who seek legislative approval as being harmless in and of itself. This is called creative marketing. In my opinion, this pigeon-holing is a sales technique which is designed to keep the combined influence of complimenting technologies from influencing the concerns of leaders who without help or direction, often lack any form of technical expertise. For instance, there are many different types of LFA Sonar. It is the SURTASS LFA Sonar which uses 18 speakers and which the Navy wishes to deploy in 80 percent of the world's oceans. That is not to say that other forms of LFAS are not already being used globally.
I have attempted to describe some of the latest concerns & new developments in a summar which I have posted on the Internet. It's a good page to bookmark as we will be updating some of this information in future postings at this location:
http://manyrooms.com/LFAS/networksummary.html
This is not an outline of our on-going concerns but it is just showing what's new. If you consider the fact that this summary simply brushes a few paragraphs past each of the most recent developments, then you'll soon agree that we're caught in a firestorm of acoustic bombardment. Each topic is specific with legal and technical details. Combined you see one fast play matched by another as technology seeks to gain ground over, beneath, and through our humanity - transofrming us and transforming our oceans in the process.
Recently, I was touched to read of a dream wherein pe dolphins were asking for help. Of course, this was posted by one of your readers and you know the touching message it contained. We are deeply reliant on somnambulistic assurances about the safety of our world. I sense that it is a dream from which we must soon awaken.
Thank you. Cheryl A. Magill Stop LFAS Worldwide!
11/2/00
12:28:28 PM
World Environment News
November 2nd, 2000 from Planet Ark
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
US senator says Alaska drilling will cut oil price - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8777
DaimlerChrysler to test drive new fuel - cell vehicle - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8772
UPDATE - FAA proposes fining USAir for cargo episode - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8784
Colorado, Wyoming hunters warned on brain disease - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8785
FEATURE - Wolf fight inspires two Alaska ballot measures - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8778
Ford plans $2 billion greening of old Rouge complex - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8781
International union to aid Ukraine on Chernobyl - UKRAINE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8773
Ballast water carries microbes around globe - study - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8769
GM maize seed introduction to Britain looking shaky - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8770
Inside Track-Fuel cell investment boom echoes Web heyday - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8771
Climate change poses new challenges for EU - report - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8768
UPDATE - Pressure grows to tighten Europe BSE feed controls - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8783
Mexico deputies moot amnesty for jailed ecologists - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8780
Aventis yet to apply to sell StarLink feed in Japan - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8779
UPDATE - France vigilant amid toxic tanker crisis - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8782
UPDATE - Czech, Austrian PMs meet to ease nuclear dispute - CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8776
Czech N - plant operator says begins to raise output - CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8774
Australia govt seeks fast renewable energy deal - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8775
This service is brought to you thanks to sponsorship from Reuters - check them out at www.reuters.com
11/2/00
12:23:01 PM
“States Petition for Right to Grow Industrial Hemp”
By Kyra Phillips
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Maryland and Hawaii are among the states trying to find a crop to plant in fields once dedicated to tobacco and sugar. Their answer? Hemp. Although hailed for its many uses, hemp was banned in the U.S. many years ago. As Kathleen Koch reports, the hemp debate is growing.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It grows like a weed, industrial hemp, a cousin of marijuana, but without its narcotic kick. Canadian farmers have planted 100,000 acres of the hardy crop since Canada lifted its ban two years ago.
RICK PLOTNIKOV, CANADIAN HEMP FARMER: It grows two inches a day. It requires no irrigation. We didn't even use any fertilizer in this crop.
KOCH: The lure is the heap of hemp products starting to crowd store shelves. It has 25,000 commercial uses, including clothing, bracelets, wallets, food, fiberboard, even entire lines of beauty products.
SEAN DONOHUE, THE BODY SHOP: We have products that take care of your hair. We have products that take care of your skin. We have a hand protector.
KOCH: But under U.S. drug laws, growing hemp and marijuana remains illegal.
UNIDENTIFIED FARMER: We're harvesting seed where you see this plot right here..
KOCH: Still, Hawaii last year got federal permission to plant hemp experimentally under tight security.
CYNTHIA THIELEN, HAWAII STATE LEGISLATOR: We have sugar plantations that have gone belly up. We've got a lot of vacant agricultural land. Hemp is a real answer for Hawaii.
KOCH: Maryland, North Dakota and Minnesota are also vying for approval to grow hemp legally.
THOMAS MCLAIN, MARYLAND STATE LEGISLATOR: It could be an alternative crop, especially for those of us in southern Maryland whose principal cash crop here is tobacco. We're looking for alternative crops.
KOCH: Hemp has a colorful history. It was grown by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Early drafts of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. Henry Ford even made auto body panels for early cars using hemp fibers. But marijuana and hemp were banned in the United States in 1937.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Hemp for mooring ships. Hemp for tow lines.
KOCH: But when W.W.II broke out, farmers were given temporary permits to grow hemp for the military.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Hemp for victory.
KOCH: Drug officials insist allowing hemp to be cultivated again would create confusion for law officers who couldn't distinguish hemp from marijuana.
BARRY MCCAFFREY, U.S. DRUG CZAR: Indeed, in many cases they can only be determined by chemical assessment. I think what's going on is an attempt to make widespread growing of hemp products almost impossible for U.S. law enforcement to deal with.
KOCH: While the two plants look similar, hemp was bred to have strong fibers. It has only a fraction of marijuana's mind-altering compound, THC. Hemp plants are planted close to grow tall, marijuana plants farther apart to grow more leaves.
ANDY KERR, ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT: Supposedly American cops can't tell the difference between hemp and marijuana. But gendarmes, bobbies and Mounties all can tell the difference and tell us there isn't a problem.
KOCH (on camera): While U.S. drug enforcement officials are said to be reviewing their policy, there's no indication hemp will get the green light any time soon.
11/1/00
11:50:27 AM
Nov. 1, 2000
Drug Companies Spend Record Amount This Election Cycle
Lobbying and Campaign Contributions Total Nearly $230 Million
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The prescription drug industry will spend about $230 million this election cycle on lobbying, campaign contributions and issue ads - an amount that will shatter the industry's previous records, according to a new Public Citizen investigation. This spending comes as the industry tries to shape public policy in the face of increasing public hostility.
"Most of that money will go toward protecting the drug industry's extraordinary profits and preventing consumers from obtaining affordable prescriptions," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "Moreover, the industry's campaign cash is heavily favoring Republicans who are opposed to providing prescription drug coverage directly through Medicare."
The new Public Citizen study, "Rx Industry Goes for KO," found that:
· The drug industry's political spending spree easily could top $230 million for the 1999-2000 election cycle. That figure includes approximately $170 million for lobbying ($82 million in 1999 and a projected $86-$90 million in 2000), almost $15 million in direct campaign contributions to Republicans and Democrats, at least $35 million in campaign ads by the drug industry front group Citizens for Better Medicare, and $10 million funneled to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for pro-drug industry campaign ads.
· Drug company lobbying for the first half of 2000 reached $42.9 million, according to lobby disclosure reports analyzed by Public Citizen. It is on a pace to break the industry record of $82 million, set last year, when the industry employed 297 lobbyists - or more than one lobbyist for every two members of Congress.
· Drug company campaign contributions already stand at $13.8 million this election cycle (Jan. 1, 1999 through Sept. 30, 2000). That's 2.5 times what the industry gave in 1992 and 52 percent more than the industry spent in the entire 1996 election cycle.
· The drug industry's soft money contributions have exploded this election cycle. Drug companies have contributed $8.8 million in soft money, which is 74 percent more than the amount of soft money they contributed in the entire 1996 election cycle and almost seven times more than the industry's soft money contributions in 1992. Overall, 64 percent of industry contributions have been in soft money.
· Drug companies increasingly are writing checks to Republicans, which has helped ensure that the Republican-controlled Congress blocks legislation that would provide prescription drug coverage through Medicare. In 1992, 52 percent of the industry's contributions went to GOP candidates and committees. In 1996, the Republican share of drug industry contributions climbed to 71 percent. In the 2000 cycle, 78 percent of industry contributions have gone to Republicans.
· Citizens for Better Medicare, the drug industry's front group, spent $8.5 million from July 1 to September 30, according to the group's first disclosure report filed on Oct. 15 pursuant to a new law that requires "section 527 groups" to reveal their expenditures and funding sources. (The new law passed this summer required previously secretive "527" groups, which are formed to influence elections, to make such disclosures.) The CBM filing reveals that 98 percent of the money went to ad producer Alex Castellanos, who also works for George W. Bush and the Republican National Committee. Castellanos' threesome of clients raises questions about campaign coordination between the drug industry and Republican candidates.
"The drug industry has gone on such a political spending binge because there's so much at stake," said Frank Clemente, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. "Drug companies are supporting their Republican allies and punishing their Democratic critics in order to protect high prices and high profits."
To view a copy of the report, please visit http://www.citizen.org/congress/drugs/factshts/campaign$.htm
11/1/00
11:46:02 AM
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
US carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.3 pct in 1999-EIA - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8757
US voters feel pinch of high energy costs - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8764
UPDATE - EPA sets Nov meeting on StarLink bio-corn - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8750
TXU to buy power from AEP 130-MW West Texas wind project - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8752
Ford shows fuel-cell prototype car - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8754
US top court considers federal regulation of ponds - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8748
Environmentalists say UK should not cut fuel levy - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8760
UK's Prescott to curb building in flood areas - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8759
UPDATE - Britain faces flood risk after storms - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8758
SMHI warns of high water levels in central Sweden - SWEDEN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8749
Typhoon kills 26 in Philippines, new threat looms - PHILIPPINES http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8762
NZ grants permission for GMO sheep field trial - NEW ZEALAND http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8763
UK group uncovers "cruel" trade in endangered baboons - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8765
Residents protest against Japan nuclear project - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8753
US hopes Japan will approve StarLink corn for feed - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8761
UPDATE - Italian toxic tanker cargo sinks in Channel - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8756
UPDATE - Czechs approve output boost at nuclear plant - CZECH REPUBLIC http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8751
Ballard Power unites with Millennium Cell - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8755
BP Australia says clean fuels to help profit - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8767
UPDATE - Australia shoots 600 wild horses in scorched park - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8766
10/31/00
2:10:24 PM
Oct. 31, 2000
Auto Industry Used Trunkloads of Cash to Weaken Auto Safety Legislation
In the Wake of the Ford/Firestone Fiasco, the Auto Industry Used Its Clout in Congress to Thwart Consumer-Friendly Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Tens of millions of dollars showered on lawmakers by the auto industry in recent years enabled the industry last month to thwart consumer-friendly auto safety legislation and successfully push through Congress a far weaker measure that is potentially harmful to consumers, a Public Citizen investigation has found.
In the newly released report, "Auto Safety Legislation Rolled by Special Interests," Public Citizen concludes that the auto industry's success in persuading Congress to pass a measure that keeps key safety data secret from the public and provides no new criminal penalties demonstrates the influence-peddling that controls our political system. It is what a frustrated Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) referred to on the Senate floor when he stated that "the fix is in by the special interests." The report analyzed Federal Election Commission data from the Center for Responsive Politics and lobby disclosure reports filed with Congress.
"This new law is a face-saving bill for lawmakers, who wanted some kind of legislation to boast about to voters back home, and not a real life-saving bill for the public," Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said. "It is a sad testament to the need for campaign finance reform that the powers of persuasion marshaled by the families victimized by Ford and Firestone who came to Washington to lobby lawmakers could not match the influence of the auto industry and its allies."
The auto industry drew on its special-interest clout to scuttle a good Senate bill and promote a bad House version, Public Citizen's report shows. Auto industry interests gained that clout because they have spent huge sums to influence lawmakers -- particularly Republicans who run Congress. The study found that:
- The auto industry has contributed $37.8 million to lawmakers since 1995, with 77 percent going to Republicans;
- The top 15 auto industry contributors have given $4 million in soft money to political parties since 1995, with 90 percent going to Republicans;
- The top 15 auto industry hard money contributors (PACs and individuals) have given $13.9 million since 1995, 74 percent of which went to Republican candidates and committees;
- Leading companies and groups in the auto industry have spent more than $112.6 million to lobby Congress and the Clinton administration from 1997 through June 2000;
- Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) received the second-highest amount of auto industry contributions in the House, and, as the ranking Democrat on the Commerce Committee with jurisdiction over the bill, played a leading role in developing the weaker House bill;
- Rep. W.J. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), while not among the top 30 recipients of industry money in the House, was the manager of the House bill and has received $35,750 from the auto industry since 1995;
- The auto industry contributed to highly visible party activities such as election-year political conventions. For instance, General Motors supplied vehicles and other donations worth more than $1 million to the Democratic and Republican national conventions this summer. DaimlerChrysler contributed $250,000 to each convention, while both GM and DaimlerChrysler sponsored lavish parties at both conventions, complete with a performance in Philadelphia by the Motown group the Temptations;
- While the House Republican leadership, which includes such major recipients of industry money as majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) and Minority Whip Tom Delay (R-Texas), initially opposed the development of any auto safety legislation, their opposition evaporated when it became apparent that the stronger Senate bill was stalled and the House bill was acceptable to industry;
- The auto industry holds such sway in Congress that some senators who supported the stronger McCain bill early in the process later followed the Republican leadership's cues and worked against the bill when it was pending on the Senate floor.
The idea behind the legislation, which was introduced in the wake of the Ford/Firestone safety defect coverup, was to give more enforcement authority to federal auto safety regulators and inform consumers of safety defects. The Senate measure contained strong consumer protection provisions, while the House version -- which passed both houses and awaits the president's signature -- does not. McCain attempted numerous times to bring the Senate bill to the floor but was blocked by senators who anonymously placed holds on it, preventing it from coming to a vote. In an end-of-the-session rush, senators instead took up and passed the weaker House bill -- just 18 hours after its 12:30 a.m. passage by the House.
The pending law is potentially harmful because it contains a secrecy provision that authorizes federal regulators to withhold early information about safety defects from the public. It also repeals a recently enacted measure that imposed a duty on manufacturers to analyze their own information to learn whether a defect poses a safety hazard. Further, the new law calls for prosecutors to grant immunity to anyone who intentionally lies to the government about defects if they later recant. In addition, auto dealers successfully lobbied Congress to remove from the measure any obligation to inform used car buyers of dangerous defects or to inform buyers of a vehicle's tendency to roll over.
The report is available on the Web at http://www.citizen.org/congress/reform/autoindustry$.html
10/30/00
8:42:53 PM
Subject: FW: EI: Secret Dolphin Meetings
PRESS RELEASE Oct. 17, 2000
Contacts:Earth Island Institute
David Phillips (415) 788-3666
Mark J. Palmer (415) 788-3666
Clinton/Gore State Department Undermines Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox by Meeting with Lame-duck PRI Government Officials!
(San Francisco) Clinton/Gore State Department officials recently held two days of secret meetings with Mexican government officials and the Mexican tuna industry in Washington DC, excluding representatives of President-elect Vicente Fox of Mexico, environmental groups, U.S. tuna companies, and members of Congress. The Mexican Embassy claims that the meeting resulted in an agreement for the State Department to improperly make future decisions on awarding the "dolphin safe" tuna label to Mexican fishermen, who chase, harass, injure, and net dolphins, on the basis of politics rather than science.
David Phillips, Director of Earth Island Institute's International Marine Mammal Project, charged: "Once again, the Clinton/Gore Administration is working secretly with Mexican officials to mislead U.S. consumers and harm dolphins with a phony 'dolphin safe' tuna label, all to placate a handful of Mexican tuna millionaires in the dubious name of free trade."
The meetings occurred without public notice on Sept. 28th and 29th at the U.S. State Department, presided over by Undersecretary of State Frank Loy. Requests from the Dolphin Safe/Fair Trade Campaign, a coalition of 85 environmental and animal welfare organizations dedicated to preventing dolphins from dying in tuna nets, to attend as observers were ignored.(Members of the Dolphin Safe/Fair Trade Campaign include Earth Island Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, Humane Society of the U.S., American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Friends of the Earth, Animal Welfare Institute, and Ralph Nader's Citizens Trade Campaign.) The Mexican news service Notimex reported that the Mexican delegation included representatives of the Mexican tuna industry, who demanded that U.S. dolphin protection laws be ignored in order to sell their tuna in the U.S. with a phony "dolphin safe" label.
Furthermore, Notimex reported that the Mexican delegation was not coordinating the meeting with staff of President-elect Vicente Fox, who takes office in December.
"This is a major diplomatic blunder for the State Department to be undermining President-elect Fox by working with lame-duck PRI party bureaucrats to set U.S./Mexican policy on tuna into the future,"stated Phillips. "It all comes down to secret trade deals with lame-duck foreign officials and their industry cronies trumping environmental laws and democratic processes. This is State Department trade arrogance, sacrificing dolphins and U.S. environmental laws!"
According to the Mexican embassy, the U.S. State Department agreed that decisions on whether to weaken the standards for the "dolphin safe" tuna label would be made at "higher political" levels in the U.S. government and not through the National Marine Fisheries Service scientists studying the impacts on dolphins. The Mexican government and industry seek weakening of the "dolphin safe" label so that Mexican fishermen can continue to chase and net dolphins in order to catch the tuna which swim beneath. More than 7 million dolphins have been killed by this cruel method of deliberately chasing and netting dolphins.
"The tuna embargo has been lifted against Mexico," explains Phillips, "and Mexico can sell its tuna in the U.S. at this time. They can still use the 'dolphin safe' label, if they meet the same strong standards that the U.S. tuna fleet and other fleets do - no chasing and netting of any dolphins. But that is evidently not good enough."
CLIP
Earth Island Institute is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to protecting the diversity of life on Earth.The International Marine Mammal Project works to protect whales, dolphins and other marine mammals around the world.
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Read also from http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20001022a2.htm Antiwhaling lawmakers urge Clinton to oppose Japan's UNSC seat bid
Visit also http://www.ifaw.org for info on the international campaign to stop Japanese whaling now and what you can do about it.
10/29/00
12:26:04 PM
October 27, 2000
Study: Levels Of Nuclear Waste Unknown
The Associated Press LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — A Department of Energy study suggests the amount of plutonium and other radioactive contaminants buried at sites around the nation's nuclear weapons complex could be 10 times greater than previously believed. The DOE listed Los Alamos National Laboratory as having the third-most waste buried or dumped into the soil. However, estimates for the northern New Mexico lab did not increase much from previous numbers, and lab spokesman John Gustafson said officials believe they have a better idea than officials at some other nuclear sites of what was dumped where and when before 1970. The Energy Department conducted a two-year inventory in response to a 1997 complaint from environmentalists that the DOE had no idea how much material had been dumped into the soil or buried in flimsy containers near nuclear sites. Environmentalists say the DOE now should commit to cleaning up that waste because it could leach into water supplies and because there could be so much more of it than scientists had believed. "Protecting the purity of water is essential," said Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, which asked the DOE to look into the issue. "Development in the West is defined by water resources. It would be irresponsible of DOE not to begin looking at ways this waste can be retrieved and stored." The report, released this summer, estimates 126,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste from weapons work were buried or dumped into the soil across the nuclear complex. The material studied is radioactive waste with a long half-life, meaning it would take a long time to decay. The study looked at material buried or dumped before 1970, when the federal government required nuclear sites to package and segregate such waste. The buried waste has generally been left where it is. "Historically, with some possible exceptions, these wastes have been considered irretrievable except by extraordinary means," wrote Carolyn Huntoon, assistant secretary for environmental management. Makhijani believes the department should put a priority on cleaning up contaminated dirt and old radioactive dumps.
Otherwise, he says, the nation's water could end up contaminated with radioactivity, which has been shown to cause cancer. James Bearzi, chief of the state Environment Department's radioactive and hazardous waste bureau, said it's not clear whether cleaning up some disposal areas from the early days of Los Alamos' nuclear work is the best idea. Many DOE and lab workers say it would be more dangerous to dig extremely contaminated material out of the soil or old waste dumps because it would disturb the material and expose workers and the public to the contamination. Many of the old disposal areas at Los Alamos are on dry mesa tops and are unlikely to leach in to the aquifer or the water supply, experts say. Previous DOE estimates said radioactivity in retrievable waste, which would be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, constituted about 97 percent of the nation's contamination and the waste dumped or buried made up about 3 percent. The new DOE study says buried waste makes up about 30 percent of the nation's radioactivity. The study looked at Hanford in Washington state, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Los Alamos, the Nevada Test Site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
10/28/00
5:47:48 PM
Oct. 29, 2000
Nader Ad Misleading, Should Be Pulled
Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook
NOTE: On Monday, an ad paid for with $100,000 of soft money collected by the Republican Leadership Council is scheduled to begin running in three key swing states -- Wisconsin, Oregon and Washington. The ad features Green Party candidate Ralph Nader speaking recently at the National Press Club critiquing Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore. The council is continuing to collect money to air the ad.
The presidential campaign will hit a new low on Monday with the airing of a Republican Party ad paid for by special interest money featuring Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader criticizing Al Gore. The ad was prepared and paid for by the Republican Leadership Council. It is masquerading as an effort to promote the candidacy of Nader but in fact is solely an effort to promote the candidacy of George W. Bush.
The ad is designed to mislead voters. In the same statement featured in the ad, Nader criticized Bush and his slavish devotion to corporate interests. By airing just one side of Nader's critique, the council is practicing dirty politics, using dirty tricks and paying for it with dirty money. Because Nader is not buying any ads, his views on both candidates will not be aired. Voters deserve to know that Mr. Nader has also been quite critical of Bush and his failed performance in Texas.
The ad is paid for with $100,000 in soft money (unlimited donations funneled through political parties and used for purposes that don't expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate). Nader and his allies -- including Public Citizen -- have been vociferous opponents of soft money in elections. The council's ad is a betrayal of everything Nader represents and reveals the pernicious abuse of soft money. It is yet another example of why we need campaign finance reform.
We call on the Republican Leadership Council to disclose the backers of the ad, because voters have a right to know who is funding such misleading gimmicks. We also call for the ad to be withdrawn because it perpetuates a fraud on the voters.
Note: Public Citizen was founded by Ralph Nader. It is a non-profit organization that does not endorse candidates.
10/28/00
5:38:09 PM
National Groups Urge Clinton to Veto Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill
Rider Would Invalidate State Food and Dietary Supplement Safeguards and Labeling Requirements
WASHINGTON, D.C -- Nineteen national consumer, food safety, labor and environmental organizations wrote to President Clinton today urging him to veto the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations conference report because it is expected to contain a special interest rider that would nullify dozens of state and local safety and labeling requirements relating to the regulation of food and dietary supplements.
The rider that key Senate staff have said has been added to the conference report by Republican leaders is the "National Food Uniformity Act of 2000" (S. 1155), which was approved on June 29 by the Senate Agriculture Committee without any hearings. The bill is a top priority of the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the dietary supplement lobby.
Among the letter's signers are Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, Natural Resources Defense Council, Consumers Union, Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE!), American Public Health Association, and Environmental Defense.
"For years, consumers have relied on state and local labeling requirements and safety standards to fill regulatory gaps left by the FDA," the letter to Clinton stated. "Now, the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the dietary supplement industry are pressuring Congress to exempt them from these important consumer safeguards. Their goal is to avoid complying with any state and local consumer protections that are stronger or more protective of consumers than what the FDA requires -- even in areas, such as dietary supplements, where the FDA has very limited authority to regulate and very few resources to enforce existing protections."
If enacted, the rider could:
--Leave the dietary supplement industry almost entirely unregulated. The FDA has little regulatory authority over dietary supplements, and several states have attempted to fill this gap. However, S. 1155/H.R. 2129 could invalidate measures such as Texas' warning label requirement for ephedrine -- a supplement that has been associated with hundreds of serious illnesses and several deaths.
- Nullify California's popular Proposition 65, a voter initiative that requires carcinogens and agents that may cause birth defects to be disclosed on product labels.
- Imperil crucial state requirements for warning labels on shellfish, which frequently contain pathogens that can cause illness and death.
- Thwart state attempts to require labeling of genetically engineered foods and foods that contain ingredients that have undergone irradiation, even though consumers overwhelmingly support such requirements.
For a copy of the letter to President Clinton go to: http://www.citizen.org/congress/fda/clinton102700.htm
For more information about S. 1155 go to: http://www.citizen.org/congress/fda/rollback/ephedrine.htm
10/27/00
9:32:20 AM
From heavenly hand did stars like sand celestial beach fall.
Whose chaos particles randomly ordered placed? Exquisite patterns chance make.
Choice reunion, moment witness light so deep the mind needs time not space to think.
Origins whispered shadows call; in darkness think we know it all.
History not written yet lest we forget our place in this
For our kind there is the mind so this is where we stay.
It’s not a crime to take the time to change your minds. It begs for me to say.
quote:philip clarkson:-"it's where we belong out there with the stars"
philipclarkson@yahoo.co.uk