10/12/00
6:11:38 PM

RALLY FOR JOHN HAGELIN IN NEW YORK ON SUNDAY

On Sunday, October 15, presidential candidate John Hagelin will give a special address at the historic Cooper Union Grand Hall in New York City (see details below). He will be joined by leaders of the New York Independence Party, including Dr. Lenora Fulani, Fred Newman, state chair Frank MacKay, and U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Graham, who will speak in support of Dr. Hagelin's coalition candidacy for President.

The event will also feature entertainment by well-known local artists, including Pat Dinizio, leader of the Smithereens; rap artist MC Browneyes; and the band Channeling Owen.

(Pat Dinizio, in addition to his musical talents, is the Independent candidate for U.S. Senate in New Jersey and has been endorsed by the Independence Party, the Natural Law Party, and the Reform Party of New Jersey.)

We urge all John Hagelin's supporters in the greater New York area to attend. And if you have friends or family in the area, please ask them to come as well. We look forward to seeing you there!

Event: RALLY FOR JOHN HAGELIN Location: New York City, New York Date: Sunday, October 15, 2000 Time: 6:00 p.m. Place: Cooper Union Great Hall New York City at Astor Place 7 East Seventh Street at Third Avenue Speakers: Dr. John Hagelin, Dr. Lenora Fulani, Fred Newman, Frank MacKay, Jeff Graham Performers: Pat Dinizio, leader of the Smithereens MC Browneyes, rap artist Channeling Owen, local band Cost: Free admission Contact: Lesley Goldman at 516-623-5465 Hagelin/Goldhaber headquarters at 877-Hagelin Directions: Via public transportation: Take the N or R subway to 8th Street and NYU (New York University), or take the #6 train to Astor Place. Other subways stops are within blocks; just walk to Astor Place at Third Avenue. Notes: This event is cosponsored by the Cooper Union Department of Adult Education (212-353-4195). John Hagelin may be joined onstage by other leaders of the Independent political movement. The Great Hall seats 1,000 people, so we would like a very strong showing of supporters for John Hagelin. Please join us!

10/12/00
6:09:09 PM

THE HERALD-LEADER

Lexington, Kentucky

October 12, 2000

Fletcher, Baesler: OK to study hemp

By Peter Baniak Political Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky - The major-party candidates for the 6th Congressional District last night expressed cautious support for studying whether Kentucky farmers should be allowed to grow industrial hemp.

And Reform Party nominee Gatewood Galbraith said he's been right on the issue all along.

At a forum sponsored by the Kentucky Farm Bureau, Republican Ernie Fletcher and Democrat Scotty Baesler said they would support further study of industrial hemp as a possible supplemental crop, though both said it couldn't replace the economic value of tobacco for farmers.

Speaking by phone from Washington, Fletcher said it's especially important to conduct a law enforcement study of hemp because police often object to the crop, saying it can be mistaken for marijuana.

“It will be difficult to do anything without law enforcement on board,” said Fletcher, the incumbent.

Baesler, a former three-term congressman and tobacco farmer, said its OK to study hemp, but that it wouldn't be a silver bullet for the troubled farm economy.

“I don't think anyone should go around the state of Kentucky and say this is going to replace tobacco,” Baesler said. “Because its not.”

Galbraith has long advocated legalization of medicinal marijuana and industrial hemp for fiber and fuel. He pointed out that four former Kentucky governors recently agreed with his position on hemp as an alternative crop.

He also said that law enforcement shouldn't have to give permission about whether farmers can grow a crop. Hemp and marijuana aren't the same, he said.

“Hemp and marijuana are to cannabis as Dennis Rodman and Danny DeVito are to being adult males,” Galbraith said.

The candidates covered a wide range of farm-related issues during the forum. Much of the talk was about tobacco, and whom to blame for farmers’ woes. (END)

10/12/00
11:32:09 AM

EcoNet Headlines: October 11, 2000

IMF: Failures Of The 20th Century

An internal study reveals the price 'rescued' nations pay: dearer essentials, worse poverty and shorter lives. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971150713/index_html

Greenpeace Denouces Int'l Failure To Curb Illegal Fishing

Rome, 7th October 2000 --- Governments from over 40 countries participating in an international conference this week failed to adopt a plan to effectively stop the plundering of ocean resources by pirate fishing vessels - denounced Greenpeace. Instead, most countries fought to protect their political and economic interests, even when that meant perpetuating the very problems they had committed to stop. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971150840/index_html

Australia Promotes Native Old-Growth Woodchipping as Renewable Energy

There is an unbelievably stupid move afoot down under as the Australian government is debating a scheme that promotes electricity generation by chipping old growth forests, a supposed "renewable energy source", to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Aussie government must be a bit punch drunk still after the Olympics to think that liquidating ancient forest ecosystems is sustainable or renewable. Given the relatively small forested land base in Australia, and real concerns regarding continental ecosystem sustainability, the attempted action would be laughable, if it were not likely to prove so tragic for the long-term well being of Australians. It is time for Australia to practice what it preaches, and commit to real policy to sustain their ancient forests and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971150938/index_html

NV Wilderness, CA Monument, Wood Pesticides & More

WASHINGTON, DC, October 5, 2000 (ENS) - The Senate has passed a bill to protect almost 800,000 acres in Nevada's Black Rock Desert and High Rock Canyon regions. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971151069/index_html

GE Feed Ban By EU Grocers Threatens US Grain Exports

"The supermarkets are stampeding to get out before the public cottons on to what is going on." --- Independent on Sunday Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971151234/index_html

EarthWINS Daily: 10 Ton Cyanide Spill In China

CHINA: 10 ton of cyanide into spill into Chinese river Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971151615/index_html

Bill to Fell More Northwest Trees

It is an ugly day when Republicans and Democrats on the Hill work together to give the Forest Service $35 million more than they asked for to cut down our forests. Also note the Oregonian included quotes from Slade, Dicks and West, but no actual commentary from the environmental community. Its time to empower ourselves... Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971151753/index_html

More Than Half of Asian Freshwater Turtles Are Endangered

WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (IPS) - With most of Asia's freshwater turtles now considered threatened or endangered by scientists, conservation groups are calling for increased international protection measures to stop the trade in these animals. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971151862/index_html

Mahogany Tree's Survival in Doubt Due to U.S. Demand

Commercial logging of mahogany is a major catalyst for increased neo- tropical deforestation, and threatens the existence of the magnificent mahogany tree. If mahogany is cut at its current rate without efforts to harvest the wood sustainably, big-leafed mahogany is likely to become endangered with a high risk of extinction. The United States accounts for 60 percent of the global mahogany trade, driving the unsustainable harvest of lucrative mahogany trees. The desire for conspicuous consumption of luxury goods, such as those made from mahogany timbers, must not be allowed to endanger the world's species and ecosystems upon which all live depends. Mahogany and the ecosystems it occupies must be granted immediate strict protection, and financial resources made available to offset incurred economic losses by developing countries. g.b. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971151952/index_html

Pollution in Arctic Linked to Specific Sites In No America

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (IPS) - Toxic pollution that has mysteriously entered Canadas pristine Arctic region has now been linked to air emissions from specific municipal waste incinerators, cement kilns and industrial plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico, according to a new study released Tuesday. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/971152356/index_html

10/12/00
11:31:27 AM

EcoNet Alerts: October 11, 2000

Huge Canadian Clearcuts Planned

10/06/00 OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) in Canada is seeking to enact new legislation which endorses massive new clearcuts as large as 10,000 hectares each, arguing that forest fires can reach this size too (10,000 ha is approximately the size of 20,000 football fields). This is being done on the false justification that clearcutting as an ecological disturbance emulates the effects of forest fire disturbances. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/971152505/index_html

Anti-Salmon Rider Defeated

Due in large part to your fast and effective grassroots email response, the Anti-Salmon Rider that Senator Gorton (R-WA) attached to an Interior Spending Bill last week has been permanently removed. Under strong pressure from the Clinton Administration and leaders in Congress, Sen. Gorton was forced to remove his last-minute rider that would have eliminated options for the recovery of wild Snake River salmon and for possible aid to affected communities if it is determined that the 4 lower Snake River dams are to be removed to restore this endangered national treasure. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/971152607/index_html

Call Gore, Save Eagle Creek

It's time for the final push to cancel the Eagle Creek (and other destructive) timber sales. Our best bet in the next month is to continue to make it an issue in the presidential campaign. Last week, Katie McGinty, Gore's chief environmental advisor was in the Northwest to shore up support for Gore from environmentalists. She got an earful from a lot of people about cancelling the Eagle Creek and Snog timber sales and having Al Gore pledge to end old growth logging. She had heard a lot about Eagle due to all the hard work of so many of us, and we were able to clear up misconceptions generated by the Forest Service. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/971152680/index_html

Endangered Red-Legged Frog habitat

Habitat destruction is the main reason for the frog's decline - thus critical habitat designation is vitally important to ensure its survival. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/971152766/index_html

Pennsylvania Places Moratorium on New ATV Trails

The Pennsylvania Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary announced last week that the state will not build any more all terrain vehicle (ATV) trails in state forests until it can effectively enforce existing restrictions on ATV use (Harrisburg Patriot 9/20/00). Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/971152857/index_html

10/11/00
4:13:23 PM

AUTOMOTIVE NEWSWIRE October 2, 2000

MATERIALS SECTION: Meet marijuana's cousin, Hemp

You won't get high on marijuana's cousin, hemp, but the Johnson Controls auto unit got pretty excited about its natural fibers, which are both inexpensive and constantly renewed with each year's crop.

Hemp, used in rope, paper, and textiles, is now part of the Eco-Cor biocomposite plastic that JCI is using as a substrate in door trim panels for DaimlerChrysler AG's 2001 Sebring convertible. The panels are made of a blend of 50% polypropylene, 25% hemp and 25% kenaf. It is one of a growing number of substrates made with biocomposites, a mix that also features natural fibers such as flax and jute, developed to improve strength and decrease weight in structural plastic parts.

Because of hemp's cousin, marijuana, you won't find many fields of hemp in the USA, so most of JCI's hemp comes from Canada.

According to Rob Springer, lead process engineer for JCI, " Industrial hemp offers increased strength in a plastic blend, and it has a longer fiber than kenaf, which helps the panel stand up to deep cavities in a mold, such as an armrest in a door panel."

Springer also noted that the blend in the plastic door panels is formulated for fire resistance. "It's self-extinguishing,” he said. (END)

10/11/00
4:08:56 PM

WORLD POLICY INSTITUTE For Immediate Release

Contacts: William D. Hartung 212-229-5808, ext. 106 Kathy Guthrie 202-547-6000, ext. 144

PASSAGE OF "MINI-NUKE" PROVISION COULD LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND THE RESUMPTION OF NUCLEAR TESTING

New York, October 10th - The Pentagon's FY 2001 authorization bill (H.R. 5408) contains a short section (Sec. 1044) that calls for the Departments of Defense and Energy to conduct a study on how to defeat hardened and deeply buried targets such as underground command bunkers or buried weapons caches. The weapon of choice of some war planners for burrowing into the ground and destroying such a target would be a low-yield nuclear warhead.

The provision, introduced by Senators John Warner (R-VA) and Wayne Allard (R-CO), does not explicitly mention nuclear weapons. But their clear intention is to lay the groundwork for a resumption of nuclear testing for the purpose of developing new, low-yield nuclear warheads, or "mini-nukes." Officials at the US nuclear weapons laboratories have argued for years for the development of low-yield nuclear warheads, which they claim would be able to destroy a bunker built into solid rock, a hundred yards or more underground, without harming the surrounding population. "The essential argument coming from the laboratories and supporters of this provision is let's build a nuclear weapon we can actually use," says William D. Hartung, President's Fellow at the World Policy Institute.

The idea that the US could build a usable or "safe" nuclear weapon will have catastrophic consequences internationally. Joe Volk, Executive Secretary for the Friends Committee on National Legislation points out that, "Senators Warner and Allard's mini-nukes, if deployed, will probably fail in defeating hidden weapons of mass destruction, but will certainly succeed in killing the current worldwide nuclear test moratorium and future prospects for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty." It would encourage other nations to resume nuclear weapons programs, opening the floodgates to a new nuclear arms race. Moreover, it would starkly contradict the United States' recent reaffirmation of its obligation under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to "pursue negotiations in good faith" for the reduction and eventual abolition of nuclear weapons.

"More than a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the US continues to possess more than 10,000 nuclear warheads at an annual price of $35 billion. Clearly, the US government is having a difficult time weaning itself from its nuclear-weapons addiction," adds Hartung. From the Senate's failure to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, to the Clinton administration's reluctance in pursuing arms-reduction talks with Russia, to the current bi-partisan push for a National Missile Defense system, US policymakers are endangering world security by continuing to push nuclear weapons as a key element of US military strategy.

For more information please consult the Friends Committee on National Legislation website at: www.fcnl.org/issues/arm/minnukeindx.htm

10/10/00
2:52:45 PM

October 17th - International Day of Action against the Citibank Empire

Citibank is the largest financial corporation in America and the worst. How are we to dispose of the victims in Citibank's Imperial War against humanity and the environment?

How big a body bag will it take to dispose of the Headwaters Forest in California where Citibank financed the destruction of the redwoods?

How big a body bag will it take to dispose of the Rainforests in Indonesia where Citibank financed the burning of the 42 million acres?

How big a body bag will it take to dispose of the lives Citibank has ruined with their discrimination against minorities and their predatory lending - deny people low-interst home loans and operating loan companies that make high interest loans and charge outrageous loan fees?

How big a body bag will it take to dispose of communities where Citibanks closes bank branches, takes money from people and small business and reinvesting in rich communities, rich corporations and in the stock market -reducing those communities to slums and ghettos?

How big a body bag will it take for the fired employees, the bankrolling strike breaking, and financing of sweatshop industries?

How big a body bag will it take for the victims of Corporate Globalization that the Citibank Empire is behind?

Where should we put the mass gravesites for the victims of Citibank's Imperial War against our people, our communities and our environment?

On October 17th lets all make a 15 minute FREE phone call and shutdown Citibank stockbrokers Smith Barney!

Call Citibank's stock brokerage firm Smith Barney at 1-888-SERIOUS ask the stock broker for information about their 2 billion dollar mutual fund and stay on the phone for 15 minutes. That costs Smith Barney $1.50 for the phone call and a small fortune for the stockbroker's time.

When as many as 5,000 people call for 15 minutes it costs Smith Barney $7,500 for the day.

When as few as 500 people call for 15 minutes a day, it ties up the stock brokers all day long and overloads the phones and suspends trading for the day.

Call on October 17th, and shut the Citibank Empire down for the day.

www.Citibanksucks.org

10/10/00
11:48:39 AM

www.1xl.co.uk

10/10/00
11:43:01 AM

SS INTERNET

BY PHILIP CLARKSON

YEAR 2 thousand

All aboard our Worldwide Hoard, on SS Internet.

At zero2 the chosen few, to boldly go as times gone past we strike our colors to the mast with universal web we cast.

Depleted dwindling fewer still, now and deeper still, stranger look for the kill.

This time we deceive, this path not set for us to weave through seas of global warning icebergs froth.

To cut in haste and in our wake we see them hunger our nations younger.

Depleted shrinking fewer still, now and deeper still, this IT is now our bitter pill.

To come about in cycles doubt if plus or minus will allow.

And if by chance we should flounder We look to captains all to counter.

With virus writing on the wall, Encrypted script is now our call.

To find at last, that message there,

I love you. Do you love me too?

PS This poem compares the start of 1900 when we thought we had an unsinkable technology “THE TITANIC”

Are we about to make the same mistake?

Kindest Regards

Philip Clarkson

10/10/00
11:27:12 AM

“The Internet affords a few people growing inimitable wealth, at a time when the greater wealth of people witness growing environmental change.”

Quote –Philip Clarkson

10/6/00
5:42:47 PM

Ancient City Found In India Irradiated By Nuclear Blast 8,000 Years Ago

Radiation still so intense, the area is highly dangerous

A heavy layer of radioactive ash in Rajasthan, India, covers a three-square mile area, ten miles west of Jodhpur. Scientists are investigating the site, where a housing development was being built.

Scientists have unearthed an ancient city where evidence shows an atomic blast dating back thousands of years, from 8,000 to 12,000 years, destroyed most of the buildings and probably a half-million people. One researcher estimates that the nuclear bomb used was about the size of the ones dropped on Japan in 1945.

The Mahabharata clearly describes a catastrophic blast that rocked the continent. 'A single projectile charged with all the power in the Universe -- An incandescent column of smoke and flame as bright as 10,000 suns, rose in all its splendour -- it was an unknown weapon, an iron thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes an entire race.

'The corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable. Their hair and nails fell out, pottery broke without any apparent cause, and the birds turned white.

'After a few hours, all food-stuffs were infected. To escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves into the river.'

Historian Kisari Mohan Ganguli says that Indian sacred writings are full of such descriptions, which sound like an atomic blast as experienced in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He says references mention fighting sky chariots and final weapons. An ancient battle is described in the Drona Parva, a section of the Mahabharata. 'The passage tells of combat where explosions of final weapons decimate entire armies, causing crowds of warriors with steeds and elephants and weapons to be carried away as if they were dry leaves of trees,' says Ganguli.

'Instead of mushroom clouds, the writer describes a perpendicular explosion with its billowing smoke clouds as consecutive openings of giant parasols. There are comments about the contamination of food and people's hair falling out.'

Archaeologist Francis Taylor says that etchings in some nearby temples he has managed to translate suggest that they prayed to be spared from the great light that was coming to lay ruin to the city. 'It's so mid-boggling to imagine that some civilization had nuclear technology before we did. The radioactive ash adds credibility to the ancient Indian records that describe atomic warfare.'

Construction has halted while the five member team conducts the investigation. The foreman of the project is Lee Hundley, who pioneered the investigation after the high level of radiation was discovered.

10/6/00
1:09:53 PM

We should do 2 things To Stop The Commission on Presidential Debates

1. Seriously look into legal action vs. CPD Possibly through the New York based Center for Constitutional Rights [Phone:212-614-6464 I believe]

2. Have Nader & The Green Party SERIOUSLY & consistently raise the issue of the airwaves, both TV and radio being made truely public. This should be an institutionalized theme of the Greens LONG after the election is over. Removing and prosecuting General Electric [NBC], Westinghouse/Viacom [CBS], Murdoch/Foxx, Disney/ABC, & the collection of other allegedly public media venues such as PBS & NPR from the air and initiating the PERMANANT Democratic media as the law is already written & as simple decency & sanity call for.

Bill Smirnow

We rocked at the Statehouse yesterday, and it is showing in the polls. If someone could post the editorial and projo article it would be great. Our work is having success, now lets get brochures into the hands of every Rhode Islander.

Here's the editorial from Projo today:

Kill the debate commission

The Commission on Presidential Debates has no business using taxpayer-funded, uniformed police officers to block a peaceful citizen bearing a ticket from attending a debate, simply because it does not approve of the political ideas of that person.

But that is what happened Tuesday night at the Gore-Bush debate. Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, bearing a ticket that had been given to him by a Northeastern University student, was ordered away by a commission employee, who was accompanied by police.

"This is the kind of creeping tyranny that has turned away so many voters from the electoral process," Mr. Nader complained. He is absolutely right! In our view, Mr. Nader and the other top minor-party candidates – Pat Buchanan, John Hagelin and Harry Browne -- should be allowed to do more than watch; they should share the stage with Messrs. Bush and Gore in at least one of the debates. But the commission, which is sponsored by large corporations seeking government favors and run as an arrogant monopoly by the two major parties, said no.

Blocking Mr. Nader from even sitting in the audience makes it all too clear that the commission views itself as precisely what it is: a private club beholden to the most powerful political parties and corporations, not an entity serving the public's interest in a robust and open democracy. Citizens should make it clear to Democratic and Republican politicians that, in the future, they want a more open and less abusive approach to presidential debates.

This arrogant commission should be disbanded.

10/5/00
5:21:26 PM

Im a student at whitworth college and i need to find the statistics on hunger related dearths that occur in ethiopia. thanks zach w

10/5/00
3:04:13 PM

AS A FUTURE GENERATIONS' PRAYER, the Global Peace Walk 2000 is humbled and honored to be both holding and calling for Spiritual Environmental Summit during the Year 2000 AD on the United Nation's 55th Anniversary. The time has come to Develop Spiritually United Nations. For the Tree of Life, for the Way of Life: The time has come for "Global Peace Now!" as a universal human resolve.

A major aim of these summits is for indigenous spiritual leaders to expand and empower the growing "deep ecology" consciousness amongst regular people, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations, and even state and national and international governments. A major theme is how the loss of Indigenous traditional culture and spirituality relates to the devastion of the natural environment.

The Spiritual Environmental Summit will take place in six locations up the East Coast Corridor between Washington, D.C. and New York City during October 11-24th. Please stay posted on the constantly evolving schedule!

October 11th, American University Amphitheater, Wash D.C., 7-10pm (Massachusetts and Nebraska Av). Native American Spiritual Leaders: Singing, Drumming, Ceremonies, and Speeches. Special Guests: Rev. Chief Leonard Crow Dog, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Rev. Yusen Yamato, Chief Jacob Sanderson, Chief Oscar Marino, Chief Luciano Perez, Rev. Chief John Crow Dog, Carter Camp, Casey Camp. Invited: Chief Billy Tayac. Live Music: Roots Rock Reggae/Soldiers of Jah, Global Peace Orchestra Rapping for Peace, Native Drummers.

October 17th, Swarthmore College, PA: Traditional Buddhist and Native American Ceremony in Amphitheater, 4-6pm; Lecture in Lang Performing Arts Cinema, 7-10pm: Rev. Yamato, Dr. Ashok Gangadean of Global Dialogue Institute, Keith Curley Dine'h Sun Dancer, Alice Yeager with Inner Peace Treaty, Marie Tucker of Taos Pueblo, Professor Mark Creekwater from the School of Life.

October 19th, Princeton University, NJ. Afternoon traditional peace tree planting ceremony. Evening Lecture 7-11pm: Rev. Yamato; Selo Black Crow of Oglala Lakota; Jose Adalberto Silva and Desmano de Souza of Maxuci Tribe, Brazil; Sammy Blackbear of Skull Valley Goshutes Utah; Rose Romero and Marie Tucker of Taos Pueblo; Dine'h Navajo representative from Big Mountain. Invited: Tibetan Monks, Greenpeace, Sierra Club.

October 22nd, NYC begin: TBA.

October 23rd, St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery, 12am-9am. Music by Miho Hatori and Nina Siegenthaler; Global Peace Orchestra.

October 24th, UN Day. Baha'i Center Auditorium, 7-11pm. Speakers: Rev. Yamato, Jose Adalberto Silva and Desmano de Souza, Selo Black Crow, Ben Romero of Taos Pueblo, Big Mountain representative, Sammy Blackbear. Invited: Tibetan monks, Qi Energy masters, Ed Nakawatse of AFSC, Rainforest Action Network, Dr. Brent Blackwelder, President of the Friends of the Earth, Nature Conservancy representative.

Last week, during the 8th Annual Prayer Vigil for the Earth on the Washington Monument grounds, the Eskimo people of Greenland sent a message: "last year there was a stream in the ice...this year it is a river." Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Carrier of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota Dakota Nation, speaking with the historical memory of his ancestors, told that only within the last 15 years has the sun burnt their skin during the Sun Dance. The examples are countless and increasing: Today is a Global Emergency. The earth is suffering, the water is polluted, the fire has become all gas and electricity, the air is becoming polluted, and spirituality is becoming all noise. As a global community, we must cooperate beyond race, gender, religion, ideology, and class in order to Protect our Life and Land. In the name of Global Peace we emphasize that we must do whatever we can to restore the spiritual relationship between the human being and the elements: the earth, the water, the fire, and the air. Many people these days are talking about creating a global culture of peace; we suggest that if we all sincerely want to create a culture of peace that we look to the historical precedents set by traditional cultures of peace and that we listen closely to those few bearers of traditional knowledge still alive today to guide us back to harmony and balance and sustainability.

As a prayer for "All our relations" and "Living on the Globe with all our friends" Respectfully, Global Peace Walkers

For More Info Call 202 244 3407 or 718 624 2611

10/4/00
6:23:18 PM

EcoNet Headlines: October 4, 2000

Mass Extinction Intensifies as Rates of Species Loss Grow Worldwide

The current mass extinction crisis is intensifying and moving closer to a climax. The most recent "red list" of endangered plants and animals indicates that 11,046 species face a high risk of extinction, almost all due to human activities. Habitat loss -- mostly caused by deforestation and urban sprawl -- is a factor in roughly 90 percent of the endangered listings. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970543916/index_html

Physicians Condemn GOP Rejection of Nuke Workers Compensation

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) condemns the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives for rejecting a package to aid workers made ill during their employment in the nuclear weapons complex. The plan, which was part of the Fiscal Year 2001 Defense Authorization Bill, would have provided compensation and medical care for workers with illnesses from exposure to radiation, beryllium and silica. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544015/index_html

Environmentalists Fear Oil Drilling Could Harm ANWR Habitat

Los Angeles, Sept. 29 (UPI) - Shortly after George W. Bush announced that his energy platform would include opening part of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, critics fired back with their side of what has become a long-running political debate between environmentalists and the energy industry. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544098/index_html

United Nations Report Endorses Organic Agriculture

While GM proponents continue to smear organic farming, a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report in July of this year concluded that organic practices can actually reduce e-coli infection that causes food poisoning (the exact opposite of GM proponent claims) and also reduce the levels of contaminants in foods. The Food and Agriculture Organisation is the largest autonomous agency within the United Nations. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544182/index_html

Countries Must Learn Lessons From Annual Flooding

BANGKOK, Sep 28 (IPS) - The worst floods to hit South-east Asia in decades have receded, but experts say countries in the region should not ignore the lessons which the annual natural disaster have taught them. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544244/index_html

Minneapolis Passes Strong Anti-GE Resolution

Minneapolis City Council Passes Resolution in Support of Federal Legislation to Require Safety Testing and Labeling for GE Foods & to Give Preference to Organic Products for City Contracts Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544311/index_html

OPEC Summit - Beyond Markets to Environment and Development

CARACAS, Sep 28 (IPS) - The final declaration of the OPEC summit signed Thursday in the Venezuelan capital goes beyond the international petroleum market to express concern about climate change and the situation of impoverished nations. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544417/index_html

Humans Have Voracious Appetite

HUMANS HAVE VORACIOUS APPETITE: The London Guardian says "humans have destroyed more than 30% of the natural world since 1970," according to "The Living Planet Report" from the World Wide Fund for Nature, New Economics Foundation and World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544520/index_html

Three Gorges: Anger at Dam Corruption Growing

Organised resistance among peasants protesting against corruption by government officials in charge of the Three Gorges Dam resettlement project is increasing and residents have repeatedly clashed with police in recent months, peasant representatives say. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/970544588/index_html

10/4/00
6:14:44 PM

EcoNet Alerts: October 4, 2000

Oct 3rd Seattle Rally For Whales

U.S. Citizens Against Whaling, Northwest Animal Rights Network, Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales, Ocean Defense International, and the Progressive Animal Welfare Society are among the groups staging "Blood on the Sun," a protest and memorial service at the Seattle Federal Building on Tuesday, October 3, to mark Japan's expanding war on whales and dolphins and the need for the U.S. government to impose trade sanctions in response. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/970544655/index_html

Interior Bill Threatens Massive Increase in Logging

An apparent agreement has been reached on the Interior Appropriations bill between Congress and the Clinton Administration that would substantially increase logging on public lands. The deal includes a $40 million funding increase for timber sales above the Forest Service request. The timber targets rider that requires the agency to log 3.6 billion board feet next year has been watered down to advisory language, but it remains in the bill. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/970544818/index_html

Keep Calling Re San Rafael Rider

Wilderness Warriors, you are moving the mountain! We are now hearing that the San Rafael Rider is the most controversial rider on the Hill right now because people are getting lots of calls from you!! Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/970544918/index_html

Oppose Umpqua Land Exchange

Over the last few years, many of you have been aware of the Umpqua Land Exchange Project, conceived by timber interests in the checkerboards of Oregon's Umpqua Basin. The underlying goal of the project is for timber companies to get out of riparian areas and other lands where their logging is restricted and to get public land where more timber would be available to them. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/970544979/index_html

Protect World's Largest Mangrove Forest in Bangladesh

Impoverished and ecologically damaged countries will rarely achieve the material development that they desire by overexploiting the few remaining intact ecosystems they still possess. Such is the case in Bangladesh, where the World's largest mangrove forest, a declared World Heritage Area and the world's largest tiger reserve, is to be severely impacted upon by widespread oil production. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/970545061/index_html

Protect CA Siskiyou Roadless Area

Fruit Growers' Supply Co. of Hilt, California plans to clearcut a 240-acre parcel of ancient forest at the heart of the 20,000-acre Condrey Mountain roadless area in 2001. Activists are working with the U.S. Forest Service to acquire the private inholding, which is surrounded on all sides by the Rogue River National Forest. Your help is needed to save the forest from certain destruction. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/970545114/index_html

Great Smoky Mountains NP under attack

The northern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be converted into a five-lane highway with construction starting Jan 2001 without your help. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/970545161/index_html

10/4/00
1:30:03 PM

Finding the Mother in Each of Us

Out of multitudes of choices, we chose to arrive in this place and time to bring our unique gifts to bear on a world often dominated by fear and hatred. While these emotions can sometimes serve the survival and safety of the ego, the transformation of fear and all its cousins (hate, greed, etc.) into more positive, loving energies must be an important goal for all of us. As long as we allow such emotions to dominate us, we are locked into the dead-end job of being only minimally human. What if it were possible to rise up and come away from all of that? What if the main things keeping us from claiming our legacy of being a co-creator of our world were our remaining fears? The release of negative emotions need not be an arduous task. They can be transformed in the fire of the Love coming to us in every moment from the Spirit of Life. As we maintain our focus in alignment with Love, all these negativities can be burned away.

Our focus can and should remain on the positive aspects of creating a new awareness. As we all know, we perpetuate and accentuate that which we give our energy to. So, our intentions must be focused on the other side of the emotional coin. If we face our fellow pilgrims with an attitude of "What can I do to help? What does Life need from me in order for it to flourish?", then we are part of the solution not the problem. Whatever our individual gut feelings about what it means to "love" are, we need to focus our meditations on creating an environment, physically and spiritually, that allows love to flourish.

Before all else, we want to feel safe. The warmth and safety of the womb are some of our earliest memories. The enfoldment of a mother's loving hug allows us to feel safe enough to take that first step, to start down our path. With a haven of loving arms at our back, we find the courage to venture into the often terrifying unknown. While we cannot mother everyone in a physical sense, we can enfold each other in a womb of compassionate concern, patience and a knowing that each of us shares this one LIFE.

Of course, no one can actually create that snug, warm place called home for us. We must connect, individually with the real SOURCE of belonging. There is no real substitute for the one-on-one relationship with the mother/father within. However, for those of us whose connection feels tenuous at times, the enfolding hug of our peers who care can make all the difference. Reassurance that she/he is accepted and included is a teenager's only real priority. We never really lose that need to know that our peers value our presence and want us to be a part of what is going on. I need the approval and validation implicit in the simple act of being accepted as an equal partner in our shared LIFE, and maybe all of us do. Coming of age as a spiritual being means sharing the job of "mothering".

We begin to know what it means to focus on what LIFE wants now, as we become more open to being a transmitter/receiver rather than an isolated computer. When we can get our ego out of the driver's seat, we discover that the Spirit of Life is constantly transmitting data that we need to hear. We learn that we can listen better when we let go of the reins and enjoy the ride. We can be active, passionate listeners even when it seems like we are being passive. Sometimes the patience to hear the whole story before we act on it allows us to then move decisively and accurately, to let LOVE have a body to use as her own.

As we consider the needs of our "psychic ecosystem", our "unified field", in an unfolding process of awakening, we might ask: "What would Love do now?" Can we get quiet and still enough to hear that small voice that tells us what the Spirit of Life needs to happen? That we want and need to know is not enough. Unless we have the support system in place that creates a warm, safe feeling of home, we may not be able to respond to Love's request. Without the agreement of kindred spirits to support and enhance our effort, we are whistling into the wind.

The synergistic effect of true agreement creates the safe, inclusive environment that allows a fertile field to sprout new partners in our quest. When we meditate to heal the Earth and awaken the dormant spiritual giants, we should remember to take the time to warm the bottle and change the diaper of the frightened child in each of us.

10/4/00
1:26:55 PM

This is a forwarded message to all activists and media lists from Dr. Brian O'Leary who was science and energy policy advisor and speechwriter on science and energy policy issues for four previous US Presidential Candidates.

More info on Dr. O'Leary is at http://www.independence.net/oleary

From: "Brian O'Leary"

To: "David Crockett Williams" <gear2000@lightspeed.net> Subject: Why we must vote for Nader Date: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 12:08 PM

Hi, David,

Because my cyberabilities are severely limited (I've never done a mass-mailing for example) and my computer is busted most of the time, I wonder if you could circulate this as widely as possible within your network, including Steve Kaplan, Remy Chevalier and all the rest. The only bit I'm not sure of substantiating is the Gore/Occidental Petroleum deal, which I had learned of from only one source.

Suffice to say, that if we are to have the proper revolution we desire (clean energy, hemp, etc.), we absolutely will need to put our support behind Mr. Nader. It almost sickens me the number of e-mails I'm getting to vote for Gore, and yet my cyberlimitations seem to be unable for my voice to be heard. The following statement, I want shouted from the mountaintops, given to all our friends such as Steve, Remy Chevalier, etc. Perhaps you could make the following statement available to all whom you wish to hear it; it's a counterpoint that must be heard, and it's my only trump card in this strangest of years. Thanks for helping.

Why I'm Voting for Nader Brian O'Leary, Ph.D., copyright 2000

I've been deeply disturbed, dismayed and sometimes depressed with the recent movement of folks I admire and respect with their plea to vote for Mr. Gore, which is spreading like wildfire on the internet. Therefore, as never before in my limited cyberpresence, I must protest and offer some of my reasons for voting for Mr. Nader.

What I hear primarily is a fear of "the burning Bush", that oilman and his golden-parachute henchman, Mr. Cheney, master of smart bombs that kill people, and could kill more. Let me say at the outset that I don't want those gentlemen (?) in there any more than the rest of you. They're spoiled fraternity boys aggrandized by the silliest most superficial media I have seen in my sixty years here (Sorry, Mr. Gore isn't much better). But I also see fear and ignorance in the anti-Nader, pro-Gore statements that are full of shallow myths ("A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush") ("Nader has no credentials besides being a consumer advocate") (etc). I wish to not only dispel these myths, but to also point outfrom my own considerable Washington experience, that not only is Mr. Nader superbly qualified, but we have a clear choice independent of the unprecedently inordinate influence of big money interests that are destroying our environment and individual freedom. Mr. Nader therefore needs our support. We are in a revolution of human affairs, a paradigm shift, where defensive voting has no place...sorry, it's too late for that.

A week ago I keynoted a Forum to Convert to a Hydrogen Economy in Ft. Collins. We discussed what it would take to get off our life-destroying fossil fuel economy. The only standing ovation I got was when I said I'd vote for Ralph Nader. These were professors, technical people, no dummies. The support came only because of the simple fact that Mr. Nader is the only candidate who supports the rapid conversion to a clean energy economy.

Recently my colleague Dennis Weaver and I heard Nader speak here in Montrose. Nader epitomizes honesty, intellectual rigor, compassion, the desire to get off fossil fuels, universal health care, legalizing commercial hemp in order to save our forests, and busting the awesome power of international corporatations. Gore has been bought out. This is important stuff, the essence of my entire research over the past two years, Over the past four decades, I have advised and written speeches for McGovern, Kennedy, Mondale, Udall and Jackson.The Gore people also asked me to help, but I refused the oppportunity for the following reasons: he has all but abandoned the precepts of "The Earth in Balance", has accepted campaign contributions from the likes of Occidental Petroleum, who won the bid for the pipeline to the pristine Arctic Wildlife Refuge, advocates the largest peacetime military budget in American history, oversees the largest incarceration rate in the world for victimless crimes, and is basically bought out. So what if Gore has the support of the Sierra Club and other "environmental" groups? My new book in progress well documents how those groups have sold out too. Those endorsements mean absoloutely nothing to me.

Perhaps most importantly, I cannot vote for someone defensively. I'd rather live with four years of Bush, then switch to Nader (whom I'll be heartily supporting in future years, if he has the courage to run again) than to buy into the lesser evil of the unprecedently money-ridden neopolik of America; I feel we need to expose this outrageous corruption and cooption of the media, and not vote defensively. A 10-15 % showing could go a long way in hearing Nader's voice, so far considered a joke by the media of the likes of Pat Buchanan..

We need a revolution here, not more of the same; I shocked at how the fear of Bush would have created so much defensiveness and pretty much a guarantee of the same shameful American "prosperity" which is leading the world down the tubes. Whatever has happened to democracy, where we vote our consciences? We're collectively crazy!!!

I told an audience of 4000 in Houston last week that the next time I would have a temper tantrum is when someone tells me that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush. No, a vote for Nader is a vote for Nader. Nader happens to be en excellently qualified candidate who refuses to be bought out, and could make a big difference. Gore is just another mish-mash of decadent (although admittedlly morally better) of Clintonism, of Blairism, etc.

So you have a choice to join the revolutionary team, or sell out again! Being a revolutionary might take another four years but will be much better on the other side.

I've also heard from various quarters that Nader doesn't have the credentials. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Nader is a much misunderstood man. In fact, he is more of a Washington insider than the insiders themselves, but he's incorruptable. He has maintained the same modest studio apartment for decades. I worked with him briefly on nuclear power issues during the 1970s while I was consultant to the U.S. House subcommittee on energy and the environment headed by Mo Udall who was running for president. Nader tirelessly drafted legislation, worked endlessly with the committee congressmen (and myself) day and night creating a leveling off of nuclear power plant new starts. More than any "lobbyist" he was always in the public interest and against the corporate, big money interest, an interest which has totally corrupted our culture, including Mr. Gore himself. The fat cats have taken over Washington, it's so obvious, and Mr. Nader is one of a handful of public interest advocates (much, much more than just a consumer advocate). He will be remembered in history as a great selfless American hero, well-versed in Washington affairs, while Nero fiddles as Rome burns, and as the current Administration or a truly awful Bush administration figure out ways of rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic, taking their oil profits (the analogue to the iceberg awaiting) and figuring out ways to get to the first lifeboat.

If you or some of your subscribers vote for Nader, it will be clean, honest, incorruptable, and essential for the environment. I have seen the process of Mr. Gore selling out. Don't trust he'll return to his "environmentalism" any more than existing "environmental" groups allow SUVs to pollute the air, for global warming/climate change to change a la Kyoto celebrated by Mr. Gore, which is way too little too late, or for one acre of forests per second to be irrevokably destroyed, while the Clinton/Gore administration raids and arrests native Americans for growing commercial hemp in South Dakota (Nader's words for these actions: "medieval")

Please vote for Nader, or we're in big trouble. Thanks.

Best, Brian

10/3/00
6:57:49 PM

To the NRC,

I am writing/faxing to state my strong opposition to your intentions to extend the operating life of most reactors in the USA by 20 years. Or for that matter for any years. I am also writing/faxing to express my strong displeasure and opposition to NRC's totally UNDEMOCRATIC approach of only holding public hearings at NRC headquarters not at reactor sites around the country where people will be most directly affected by continued reactor functioning. And where they will both know that such actions are being considered and be able to Democratically express their views on proposed license extensions.

First, NO consideration now or ever should be given to extending the operating life of any reactor anywhere. They are much too dangerous with their continous "creating" of nuclear waste, "low-level" radiation, potential for terrorism, meltdown and proliferation. "Low-level" radiation has been implicated in infant mortality. See: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/infant.html This should be enough to have reactors shut down as close to immediately as possible. NRC has by their own admission before Congress stated that there's a 45% chance of a core meltdown over a 20 year period- precisely the period of time that NRC wants to extend the operating license of most reactors in the country. This MUST NOT BE ALLOWED to happen!

Lastly, NRC is suppossed to act as a public watchdog. They are doing exactly the opposite. NRC as an alleged public watchdog should do an immediate 180 and call for a national program of solar, wind and conservation and massive governmental subsidies to insure the success of these programs and the safety and health of the public and environment.

I look forward to your response to my letter and implementation of said public hearings at reactor sites around the country.

Most Sincerely, Mr. William Smirnow 168 Maple Hill Road Huntington, NY 11743

Call, write, fax the NRC see http://www.nrc.gov and tell them this is wrong, this is dangerous, this is stupid and we won't let them experiment with us, our genetic pool and the environment for an additional 20 years. Also tell them that by their own testimony before Congress that there's a 45% chance of a core meltdown over exactly this period- 20 years http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html

And that by their own commissioned report, while grossly an underestimate, this is how many dead, cancers, injuries & economic damage we can expect: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html

How Democratic of them to try and sneak this by everyone in the entire United States and Northern Hemisphere with most of the world's population[India,China, all of Asia & most of Africa are in the Northern Hemisphere]. If you live outside the USA please contact NRC and tell them that fallout from a meltdown will probably affect you as Chernobyl fallout affected the entire Northern Hemisphere and pass this along to friends/contacts of yours within the USA.

Remember- please give NRC a piece of your mind- NOW, before it's too late. Please share/spread this to anyone that will do anything about it. http://www.nrc.gov

10/3/00
6:55:17 PM

from AlterNet.org

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=9836

Patching Nuclear Power

J.A. Savage, Albion Monitor

September 25, 2000

In a hushed quest to allow an expected 85 percent of the nation's nuclear reactors to live beyond mandatory retirement, the nuclear industry talked the federal government into allowing a generic 20-year extension on the life of reactors. The public only has until October 16 to let the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) know what it thinks of the government's plan to allow license renewal instead of decommissioning.

According to the NRC, the only public meeting on the re-licensing plan has been held at its Maryland headquarters. The government's process effectively shuts out any public input on extending plant licenses, said Public Citizen senior policy analyst Jim Riccio. "Most of the public is not aware of the issues until they land in their laps, by way of their local nuclear plant."

Here's where the "generic" part of re-licensing comes in. Instead of having an "in my backyard" approach for concerned citizens, the generic license extension puts the onus in a generic somewhere-else land. "By making something generic, they don't have to deal with the public," Riccio added.

What few nuclear critics are hip to the industry/government move, are focusing on safety issues. "During the early stage of life and the late stage, the failure rate for both man and machines is generally higher than during middle age; the reliability of both man and machines is generally lower during the early and late stages. The prudent and proper course of action is to retire aging nuclear plants before they reach the point where reliability drops off markedly," notes Dave Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists' nuclear safety engineer. The nuclear industry claims it deserves generic safety rules for re-licensing because its safety track record has only gotten better over the years, now that its reactors are in middle age.

In a fortunate acronym for nuclear critics, the generic re-licensing program is called "GALL"- -for Nuclear Power Plant Generic Aging Lessons Learned. The "generic" part appears most important to both industry and government.

"Aging is the same no matter if the [reactor] maker is GE, Westinghouse or Combustion Engineering," said Electric Power Research Institute manager of life-cycle management, John Carey, who added that the weather surrounding a particular reactor is the only difference.

Long known as an aging problem is the brittleness of the metal enclosing the reactor core. The reactor gets bombarded with electrons for years and the metal becomes brittle. EPRI, for one, believes that brittleness is not a problem. "Many plants even at 60 years won't reach that [threshold] level of embrittlement. There's probably none that will at 40," said Carey.

While most of the government's and critics' attention is focused on reactor safety during aging, the industry's impetus admittedly has to do with short-term financial gains that come with a second license and the value added to a plant for resale.

"In a deregulated, competitive business, a fully depreciated nuclear plant (beyond its original 40-year license) is a tremendous asset. It can sell its power at marginal cost, which is very competitive. Such a plant would have significant profit potential," notes the industry group Nuclear Energy Institute. In other words, once ratepayers have paid off the construction investment, the primary expense of nuclear plants disappears and the only ongoing costs to owners are fuel, safety expenditures and staffing. Less tangible opportunity costs like guaranteed ecological preservation are not a part of the calculations.

The NRC's attempt at generic guidelines for license renewal had been sitting around in various stages since the early 1990s. It was goosed into action, though, when Baltimore Gas & Electric's (Constellation) Calvert Cliffs became the first facility to ask for a 20-year extension. Calvert Cliffs (in the NRC's back yard) was approved this March. Duke's Oconee plant in North Carolina followed suit in May.

License renewal does not come without a price, however, as keeping that license means an owner has to invest in anti-aging technology - a.k.a. capital investments.

Like plastic surgery fixes the fissures and sags in an aging body, keeping a past-prime nuke in shape "depends on how much money you have," Carey.

For instance, replacing a steam generator, a typical aging problem, costs about $150 million. Shareholders might be loath to invest that kind of capital in an old plant. But, the beauty of re-licensing is that any such investment can be amortized over an extra 20 years, even if the plant owners do not plan to run the plant that long. Thus, license renewal tucks in the short-term operating costs of nuclear plants.

Public Citizen's Riccio, says that the 20 year extension "shifts the risk of future operation from the stockholder to the ratepayer." Riccio believes that the specter of early shutdowns with their attendant stranded asset risk is driving re-licensing. Fitch ICBA analyst Ellen Lapson explained the early shutdown scenario, "Towards the end of the life of a plant, if there's no re-licensing then there's less reason to invest capital."

Using the medical metaphor again, that means there's a choice between euthanasia (decommissioning) because the patient is too expensive to keep up and take the risk of having to pay all those exorbitant hospital bills, or pump more money into the patient--say an aging pop singer, a la Diana Ross--in the expectation the survival will allow payback when the star makes a comeback tour.

A 20-year extension also "enhances the value of the plant if [owners] decide to get out of the business," said Bob Wood, NRC senior licensing financial policy advisor. He added that no owner had confessed that intent directly.

But the industry's unstated intent appears known to the NRC. "GenCos are snatching up economically uncompetitive facilities," noted Christopher Grimes, NRC chief of license renewal and standardization.

But economics can also kill a re-license. Yankee Rowe, a poster-child nuclear facility, scrapped its plans to live beyond middle age because it would have cost too much money just to prove to the NRC that it could do the repairs needed for re-licensing. EPRI's Carey blamed it on the small size of the plant and the economics of energy in New England.

The other economic benefit to plant owners is that when a plant gets a 20-year life extension, payments into its decommissioning fund also gets drawn out another 20 years, allowing another decrease in short-term operating expenses, noted Fitch's Lapson.

Like a boomer turning 40, the limit for what constitutes old-age in a nuke was "arbitrary," said the NRC's Grimes.

"In the Atomic Energy Act of 1956, everybody said 40 years ought to be enough," said Grimes, adding that the arbitrary number was based on financing available to owners. "We looked into what might be life-limiting aging effects. In 1991 the first rule was issued on aging effects. It concluded Mother Nature doesn't care how long the NRC's license term is."

10/3/00
6:38:09 PM

DO THE WORLD BANK, IMF AND WTO HELP THE POOR?

The Reality Of Poverty Today: Some Conventional Indicators

THE ECOLOGIST Sept.2000 www.theecologist.org

1.3 billion people (over a fifth of the world’s population) live below the international poverty line of $1/day and a further 1.6 billion (another quarter of the world’s population) survive on between one and two dollars In the latter half of the 1990s, one third of the world’s willing to work population was either unemployed or underemployed, the worse situation since the 1930s.

In 1960 the combined incomes of the richest fifth of the world’s population were 30 times greater than the poorest fifth. By 1991 it was over 60 times and in 1998, 78 times as high.

In 1997, the under 5 mortality rate in industrialised countries was 8/1000 live births. In 1997, the under 5 mortality rate in developing countries was 169/1000 live births In 1993 there were 244 doctors per 100,000 people in the first world In 1993 there were 13 doctors per 100,000 people in the third world In 1997, 41% of the total Third World population had no access to safe water.

In 1997, 57% of the people living in the Third World had no access to sanitation In 1997, 40% of all Third World children under the age of 5 were underweight or starving. In 1996 the average daily intake of calories in the Third World was 2090 cal, unchanged since 1970. About 840 million people worldwide are now malnourished. One in seven children of primary school age is out of school globally. In 1997, external debt payments made-up 92.3% of the GDP of countries of low development Source: United Nations Development Programme,

Were the protests against the World Bank and IMF demonstrators anti-poor? “I, for one, support the demonstrators. The policies of the international financial institutions are having a debilitating effect on the countries of the South.” Chief Arthur C.I.Mbanefo, Chairs of the G77 in New York this year and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

“We believe consciousness is rising, including in the north, about the inequality and insecurity globalization has brought about the plight of the poor countries. The protests against the WTO, World Bank and IMF were a sign of a changing atmosphere which a more coherent Third World voice can take advantage of.” Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa Who are the real winners?

“The United States has been at the forefront of every one of the eight trade rounds launched since 1948.”. Mike Moore, WTO Director General

“The same businesses that are the most aggressive WTO supporters are also the biggest beneficiaries.” Laura D’Andrea Tyson, former Clinton official

“The world’s 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth in the four years to 1998, to more than $1 trillion. The assets of the top three billionaires are more than the combined GNP of all least developed countries and their 600 million people.” United Nations Development Programme, ‘Human Development Report 1999,’

Views from the North and South

“I’m being confronted with people telling me that because of the World Bank children are dying. After working for this organisation for 5 years, that’s very painful. I do not understand how you can protest against an organisation that aims to combat poverty… If we are doing something wrong, I ’d like to know.” James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank

“We do not have any direct estimate of how many of the poor have been lifted out of poverty as a result of World Bank loans.” Michael Walton, the World Bank’s Director of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management “At the entrance of the World Bank’s headquarters in Washington D.C., a large sign reads: ‘Our dream is a world without poverty.’ Unfortunately neither the World Bank nor the regional development banks are moving rapidly towards that objective or the lesser but more fully achievable goal of raising living standards and the quality of life; particularly for the people in the poorest nations of the world.” The Metzler Report to the US Congress

The World Bank has claimed that Zambia’s reformed healthcare system is a model for the rest of Africa. “It’s true that there are no queues,” says Dickson Jere of the Zambian Post, “But that’s because people are simply dying at home.”

“We, at the Bank, have tried to fully understand this idea over the past few years. We discovered that the poor used the same reasoning as all of us; they have the same human needs.” James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank

The Human Cost of World Bank User Fees: “Illness forced 43 year old Okoso to leave his job at a Ghanaian gold-mining company. Just three months later, his family’s funds exhausted, he stopped going to the local clinic. “If I went to the clinic,” he said, they would make me pay this new fee which, frankly, my family and I cannot afford. I have no work, no salary. We live day to day on what my wife can make selling vegetables in the local market or what my sons can bring home from selling things on the streets. Some days we eat only one meal and we often go to bed hungry.” ‘Dying for Growth,’ 2000, Common Courage Press

“Globalization can now be seen in a positive light, as the best means of improving the human condition throughout the world.” Michael Camdessus, Former Managing Director of the IMF

The IMF practises “an economic totalitarianism which kills not with bullets but with famine.” Carlos Andres Perez, former Venezuelan President

“The Reforms that IMF asked Zambia to undertake have brought unemployment and a rise in poverty levels.” Frederick Chiluba, President of Zambia

“The IMF… has presided over, and fostered, a crisis-prone system.” The Metzler Report to the US Congress “Our programs are like medicine. Some of the medicine has harmful side-effects, and there are real questions about what the dosage ought to be. The best that can be hoped for is that we are prescribing more or less the right medicine in more or less the right dosage.” Michael Mussa, Chief Economist, IMF

“The costs of adjusting to greater openness are borne exclusively by the poor, regardless of how long the adjustment takes. In addition, the consequences of terms of trade changes are far greater for the poor than for the middle or wealthy classes. The poor are far more vulnerable to shifts in relative international prices, and this vulnerability is magnified by the country’s openness to trade.” Matthias Lundberg & Lynn Squire, ‘The Simultaneous Evolution of Growth and Inequality,’ 1999, World Bank

“Globalisation appears to increase poverty and inequality.” Lundberg & Squire

“Since liberalisation began in Russia in 1989, inequality has doubled, wages fell by almost half, and male life expectancy has declined by more than four years to 60 years.” UNDP, 1999

“Liberalisation of the economy, including trade reform ‘hindered the growth of employment’ [in nine Latin American countries], and in addition led to ‘a widening gap in wages based on skill level, which is the opposite of what the proponents of the reforms expected.” Barbara Stallings & Wilson Peres, ‘Growth, Employment and Equity: The Impact of the Economic Reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC,’ 2000.

“In early 2000 the Brazilian government announced a plan to spend more than $22 billion over 10 years to fight poverty. Despite the IMF’s recently proclaimed commitment to eradicating poverty, Fund officials were sharply critical of the plan. The New York Times quoted the IMF representative in Brazil as saying that ‘the government plan established a precedent that could become dangerous…’”. John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies

“Although the WTO is not a development organization, it does a lot to alleviate poverty.” Mike Moore, Director General of the WTO

“The global economy governed by international financial institutions, the World Trade Organization and Multinational Corporations proposes structural adjustment for countries in the South in the name of fiscal health: the result is increasing poverty, debt, and unemployment. NGO declaration at the UN Conference on Women

“We need to reassure people that globalization is generally a force for good.” Mike Moore, Director General of the WTO

“Attempts to respond to the demands of the western-driven market-based globalisation process have only served to atomise the developing world whilst making countries ever more vulnerable to pressures from the most powerful players in the international order, whether these be states or Transnational Corporations. The current global agenda is almost bereft of the concerns of the South.”Clement Rohee, Foreign Minister of Guyana and Chairman of the G77

“It is poor people in poor countries who are grasping the opportunities provided by trade and technology to try to better their lives. Mexican farm hands who pick fruit in California, Bangladeshi seamstresses who make clothes for Europeans, and South African phone-shop owners who hawk time on mobile phones to their fellow township dwellers. They and countless other real people everywhere are the human face of globalization. Mike Moore, Director General of the WTO

“Globalisation has failed to spur economic recovery, faster growth, greater employment and poverty eradication in developing countries.” Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria

“The last two decades have produced few gains for the South. Consensus, withall its intimations of Southern participation and agreement, heralded an era of exclusion and dictation – nowhere more so than at the WTO.” P.J.Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica

“For developing countries as a whole (excluding China), the average trade deficit in the 1990s is higher than in the 1970s by almost 3 percentage points of GDP, while the average growth rate is lower by 2 percent per annum.”United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, ‘Trade and Development Report,’ 1999

“The top fifth of the world’s people in the richest countries enjoy 82 percent of the expanding export trade and 68 percent of FDI – the bottom fifth, barely more than 1 percent.” The UNDP’s Human Development Report, 1999

“Wealth that goes to large companies does not ‘trickle down’ to the poor via employment opportunities: though the top 100 TNCs control around 14% of all the world’s wealth, they employ less than half of one percent of the world’s workforce.” Christian Aid, ‘Fair Shares? Transnational companies; The WTO and the world’s poorest communities’

“Globalisation is bad for health… The world Health Organization (WHO) andthe International Labour Organisation (ILO) said the continuing shift of industrial production to low-cost sites in developing countries where worker protection is lower is likely to increase the global incidence of occupational disease and injury (which already kills an estimated 1.1m people worldwide each year). Frances Williams, Financial Times

10/3/00
6:06:40 PM

Tuesday October 3 4:50 PM ET Lennon's Killer Denied Parole

By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer

ATTICA, N.Y. (AP) - State parole officials rejected a bid for freedom Tuesday for ex-Beatle John Lennon's killer, saying Mark David Chapman hadn't lost his need for publicity, a drive that fueled his ``most vicious and violent act.''

It was Chapman's first attempt for parole stemming from the December 1980 shooting death. Chapman won't be eligible for parole for two more years.

Chapman was interviewed for 50 minutes Tuesday morning at a closed hearing at the maximum-security Attica state prison by three parole board members, said Tom Grant, a spokesman for the state Division of Parole.

About four hours later, Chapman was given the board's one-page determination beginning: ``Parole is denied.''

The board called Chapman's killing of Lennon ``calculated and unprovoked.'' In addition to being one of the most famous musicians in the world, Lennon was also a ``husband and a father of two young children,'' the board said.

``Your most vicious and violent act was apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged,'' the board said. ``During your parole hearing, this panel noted your continued interest in maintaining your notoriety.''

In a recent interview, Chapman said he believed that Lennon would have approved of his release.

But the board concluded that releasing Chapman at this time would ``deprecate the seriousness of the crime and serve to undermine respect for the law.''

The parole board did note that Chapman has an ``exemplary disciplinary record'' while in prison. But it added that because he has served his time in special protective housing, ``you have been unable to avail yourself of anti-violence and/or anti-aggression programming.''

Chapman, 45, is serving 20 years to life in Attica. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June 1981 for fatally shooting Lennon as the rock star and his wife, Yoko Ono, were entering their Manhattan apartment following a recording session.

Immediately after Tuesday's decision, Ono spokesman Eliot Mintz released to The Associated Press a letter Ono wrote to the parole board about Chapman's hearing. In it, Ono refers to Chapman's name only once, and on subsequent references simple calls him ``the subject.''

Ono described the pain of losing Lennon and how Chapman's release from prison would unravel her life.

``I am afraid it will bring back the nightmare, the chaos and confusion once again. Myself and John's two sons, would not feel safe for the rest of our lives,'' she wrote.

She also said releasing Chapman might spark violence against him by angry Lennon fans.

``They would feel that it is unfair that the 'subject' is rewarded with a normal life while John lost his,'' she wrote. ``Violence begets violence. If it is at all possible, I would like us to not create a situation which may bring further madness and tragedy to the world.''

State Sen. Michael F. Nozzolio, chairman of the Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee, had asked parole authorities to deny Chapman's bid.

``John Lennon represented a vision of hope, peace and love,'' Nozzolio wrote to Parole Board Chairman Brion Travis.

``Tragically, his positive message and his life were fatally ended by Mark David Chapman,'' Nozzolio wrote. ``It is the responsibility of the New York State Parole Board to ensure that public safety is protected from the release of dangerous criminals like Mark David Chapman.''

Parole board hearings with inmates are closed to the public. The Associated Press and 85 other media organizations filed a Freedom of Information Law request to get the board's determination. A transcript of Tuesday's interview with Chapman by the board will be available late in the week.

In Central Park, near where Lennon was slain, some fans who gathered Tuesday at the Strawberry Fields garden dedicated to Lennon said they did not want Chapman to be granted parole.

``I don't think they should ever let the guy out,'' said Rod Hanson. ``It was a tragic loss to everybody, not just Beatles fans.''

10/2/00
10:38:26 PM

Associated Press

LONDON (AP) - Stephen Hawking says he fears the human race will not survive another millennium.

``I am afraid the atmosphere might get hotter and hotter until it will be like Venus with boiling sulfuric acid,'' the physicist told Britain's Press Association. ``I am worried about the greenhouse effect.''

To ensure the survival of humans, he adds, efforts must be made to colonize other planets. Space travel would not solve every problem, but at least it would ensure that people don't become extinct.

``It takes too many resources to send each person into space,'' he said. ``But unless the human race spreads into space, I doubt it will survive the next thousand years.''

Hawking holds the Cambridge University post once held by Sir Isaac Newton and is the author of the best-selling ``A Brief History of Time.'' Now 58, he has suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, since his 20s, and uses a wheelchair.

10/2/00
8:44:51 PM

ACTION ALERT:

San Francisco Chronicle Gives Short Shrift to NAB Protests

October 2, 2000

In what amounts to a news blackout, the September 21 - 23 demonstrations at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in San Francisco received no coverage in any major mainstream press or broadcast outlets outside the Bay Area.

Given that the protests were meant to spotlight the undemocratic activities of the NAB and of corporate media in general, the lack of coverage is deplorable but perhaps not a surprise. What's more remarkable is that even the city's major hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, ran no news stories focusing on the demonstrations.

The Chronicle's coverage consisted of one news article detailing the arrest of three National Lawyers Guild representatives who were attempting to gain access to jailed protesters (9/23/00) and one item reporting (incorrectly, as it turns out) that all charges against the nine arrested protesters had been dropped (9/26/00). Before the protests, the paper also ran an op-ed addressing the local impact of the NAB's lobbying (9/18/00).

While the opinion piece was welcome, the Chronicle's news pages have devoted only half a sentence to activists' political concerns (9/23/00), noting that the arrests had occurred while protesters were attempting "to call attention to what they contend is government sanctioning of monopolization of the airwaves."

In contrast, San Francisco's alternative weekly, the Bay Guardian, featured extensive coverage of the NAB protests and the issues behind them. The San Francisco Examiner's coverage was less in-depth, but still outpaced the Chronicle's, with three news articles about the issues behind the protests (9/20/00, 9/21/00, 9/24/00), one noting the four earliest arrests (9/22/00) and one examining the NAB's revocation of the press credentials held by Bay Guardian reporter Steve Rhodes and other independent journalists (9/26/00).

The NAB's expulsion of Rhodes and other independent media from the Moscone Center, the site of the convention, is itself newsworthy and should alarm journalists everywhere. A credentialed reporter for the Bay Guardian, Rhodes had his press credentials seized while he was photographing four activists who had locked themselves together in the Moscone Center entranceway.

When Rhodes requested an explanation, the NAB's Jack Knebel told him "You are part of the problem." "I told him again that I was a reporter for the Bay Guardian," writes Rhodes, "and he repeated that I was part of the problem." Police escorted him out of the building under threat of arrest.

An NAB PR official has since apologized for the incident, as has San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau. The Society of Professional Journalists has spoken out strongly against the NAB's actions (Bay Guardian, 9/27/00), noting that when a group "whose members control the vast majority of broadcast news outlets nationwide considers working journalists to be part of the problem, then the American media has reached a sad and scary state of affairs indeed." But no mainstream media other than the San Francisco Examiner have covered the NAB's decision to ban selected members of the press.

Another underreported story is the fate of those activists arrested during the demonstrations. FAIR's September 26 update on the protests reported that all charges against the demonstrators had been dropped; unfortunately, that information was based on false statements made by the San Francisco district attorney's office to the Lawyers Guild.

In fact, the DA is pressing misdemeanor vandalism charges against two activists arrested during the September 22 demonstration outside the building housing Clear Channel radio stations KYLD and KMEL. The glass pane of a door to the station was cracked-- it is unclear by whom-- during a confrontation in which KYLD "Doghouse" morning show crew members Dan "Elvis" Lay and Joseph "Big Joe" Lopez shoved and verbally abused demonstrators, apparently broadcasting the incident on their morning radio show. (See FAIR's September 26 Activism Update.) Lopez and one other crew member have recently been charged by police for another, unrelated "prank." Charges are not being pressed, however, against Lay and Lopez for their actions during the Clear Channel protests.

The Chronicle has not followed up or corrected its September 26 story, "City Drops Charges Against NAB Protesters."

ACTION: Please contact the San Francisco Chronicle and ask why its news coverage ignored the substance of the media democracy protests against the NAB. You might also urge them to follow up continuing stories emerging from the protests, such as the NAB's press credentials policy and the DA's prosecution of the activists arrested at Clear Channel.

CONTACT: Matthew Wilson, Executive Editor

San Francisco Chronicle

mfw@sfgate.com

Phone: 415-777-1111

Fax: 415-896-1107

10/2/00
3:36:10 PM

check out this site

http://www.webreleaf.com/forest.asp it 's another "click and save" site that is not yet on the main page.

9/30/00
12:27:42 AM

Call, write, fax the NRC see http://www.nrc.gov and tell them this is wrong, this is dangerous, this is stupid and we won't let them experiemnt with us, our genetic pool and the environment for an additional 20 years. Also tell them that by their own testimony before Congress that there's a 45% chance of a core meltdown over exactly this period- 20 years http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html . Are they INSANE????

And that by their own commissioned report, while grossly an underestimate, this is how many dead, cancers, injuries & economic damage we can expect: http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html

How Democratic of them to try and sneak this by everyone in the entire United States and Northern Hemisphere with most of the world's population[India,China, all of Asia & most of Africa are in the Northern Hemisphere]. If you live outside the USA please contact NRC and tell them that fallout from a meltdown will probably affect you as Chernobyl fallout affected the entire Northern Hemisphere and pass this along to friends/contacts of yours within the USA.

Remember- please give NRC a piece of your mind- NOW, before it's too late. Please share/spread this to anyone that will do anything about it. http://www.nrc.gov

9/29/00
6:36:20 PM

Issaku Uono

Toyama

More research necessary

After studying as much as we could about GM food in our Environmental Issues class of 15 students, we came to the following conclusions:

-- More research is necessary before allowing widespread proliferation of GM products, as we still do not know the long- term effects on the environment, or on human health.

-- Consumers should demand the right to know what they are eating, and this should be reflected in clear product labeling.

-- Laws should be enacted to force companies to label their products so that consumers can know what they are eating.

Reiki Fukawa

Tokyo

GM food can feed world

I am all for GM food. It will help ease the serious food shortages the world is experiencing. The Earth's population continues to increase at an alarming rate. People are starving to death or suffering from malnutrition in Africa, South America and parts of Asia. As a member of one big family living in a global village, we urgently need to take action.

Conventional agricultural methods are insufficient to tackle this problem. Our entire ecosystem is being destroyed by global warming, deforestation and other strains humans have placed on the environment. We need bold new ways to efficiently feed every mouth. This is where GM food can help. GM agricultural products enable quality control in ways that conventional methods cannot. It makes it possible to secure a stable food supply and help to protect against sudden price hikes due to disaster-induced shortages.

I realize that people are deeply concerned about the safety of GM foods and acknowledge that there remain several unresolved issues. However, I am not convinced that conventional agriculture is entirely safe either. Such concerns have led to the popularity of organic agriculture, but crops are still susceptible to pests, natural disasters and diseases. Feeding the world requires that we set aside idealism and take realistic action.

Nobuko Tanazawa

Higashi Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

Govts must be responsible

An increase in the supply of food to areas around the world where people are starving due to food shortages is an urgent matter. Furthermore, world population growth will continue to increase demand for food. Therefore, finding ways to increase food supply should be one of the main priorities for humankind.

Fortunately, the development of GM food products will, to a large extent, make this increase possible since genetic modification can protect crops from harmful insects, disease, drought, and increase harvest yields.

On the down side, questions over the safety of GM products remain unanswered. European leaders at the Okinawa Summit pointed out that the safety for consumers of GM foods has yet to be proven, while the United States continues to assert the opposite--that any danger posed to humans has not been scientifically determined. Safety is of course an important issue, but confirming the effects of GM foods will require a great deal more time and research by international organizations and scientific institutions.

For these reasons, I believe that each government needs to take responsibility for the safety of GM products. The Japanese government, for example, is planning to introduce compulsory labeling to enable consumers to identify GM products and make informed choices.

Junichiro Kitano

Kawachi-Nagano, Osaka Prefecture

A modern-day witch-hunt

Centuries ago Socrates, Galileo, Copernicus and other men of vision were vilified, ostracized and worse. The battle over GM food is proving that nothing has changed since those early years. Purveyors of fear, ignorance and selfishness are trying to bury science, knowledge and human progress.

I have absolutely no objection to compulsory labeling of GM foods. However, if you read the mass of mandated labeling over past decades, the fine print may necessitate the services of a doctor and chemist to interpret.

Extensive scientific tests have proved that GM products are resistant to herbicides, pests and diseases, resulting in much higher and cleaner crop yields. At the same time, exhaustive scientific tests cannot find any evidence that GM foods are dangerous or life threatening.

Yet the three specters of fear, ignorance and selfishness dispensed by "Chicken Little the Sky is Falling" types are trying to bury science and sanity. The European Union and France in particular are opposed to GM foods to protect their farmers, who are potent political forces. Other groups want 50 years of extended testing to ensure that GM foods will not produce a race of brain-damaged cyclopes.

A gentle reminder--the Earth is not flat and the Sun does not rotate around the Earth. Eating GM food has not and will not produce a world of Frankensteinian monsters. Time will vindicate GM food just as the ancient scientists are now considered to have been correct. Sadly, when rumors run wild, truth is the first casualty.

Matt Lonac

Soka, Saitama Prefecture

Food shortage a political issue

The reason GM crops must be developed is quite simple--to feed the exploding world population. However, food shortages are not only due to the lack of food, but also to the defects in its circulation.

The United States spends a large amount of money on tackling obesity. In Japan, on the other hand, the government is trying to reduce the amount of rice the nation produces. These are sure signs that there is ample food in some countries and that they have the potential to help starving nations. It is essentially politics that is hampering the smooth circulation of food resources.

Furthermore I would like to point out the vast amount of money spent on arms annually. Why not redirect this futile waste of money toward saving starving people.

I am not opposed to the development of GM food. But first we must consider the smooth and expeditious circulation of food resources and a reduction in excessive military spending.

Finally, a proposal to affluent people both at home and abroad: Let's do away with the Guinness Book of World Records type challenges that extravagantly waste precious food. I wonder if the people participating in such events ever consider the innumerable number of people worldwide who are dying of starvation?

Yoshito Hayashi

Fukuoka

Let's debate GM food

Takashi Tachibana, a famous journalist and professor at Tokyo University, wrote in the Bungei Syunjyu magazine that protesters against GM food are complete idiots. He claimed that GM food is proof of the greatness of science and technology. Technology has progressed, and GM food is absolutely safe. Anxiety about GM food results from the ignorance of science, according to Tachibana.

I was surprised to read his article, as I initially assumed that he would be cautious about GM products. I then began to think GM food must be safe after all, because such a wise and respected person as Tachibana supports it.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people who warn us not to buy or eat GM food. The Japanese government calls on GM food to be labeled as such. I am confused between ordinary people's concerns and the opinion of an influential individual.

Let me suggest that we hold a televised debate between Tachibana and the protesters. If GM food is really safe, it is scientists' duty and responsibility to explain clearly and provide more information to ordinary citizens.

Hirozo Kono

Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture

9/29/00
6:36:06 PM

Readers' Forum:

What do you think about genetically modified (GM) food?

Yomiuri Shimbun

Is GM food as safe as DDT? I am a high school English teacher, and my class has recently been studying some theories by the renowned American biologist Rachel Carson. About 40 years ago she wrote that scientists could not adequately research the effects of their new products, as the variety and number of new products were increasing too fast. The situation does not seem to have changed.

Some people herald genetically modified (GM) food as a "dream" product--as DDT was once considered. We hear a lot of good news about GM products: Some are weather resistant, others have delicious flavors, and some are said to be the answer to feeding the world's exploding population. However, I have heard virtually nothing about what effect these "dream" products will have on our ecosystem.

I have been wondering if GM products are really safe for consumers, or if their danger will only be realized by future generations. What is the likelihood that a small change in our genetic code will lead to a catastrophe later?

As Rachel Carson said, it is unrealistic to ban the use of pesticide. Pesticide has its own raison d'etre and its own merits. It is unrealistic to ban GM food production for the same reasons.

I am a cautious person, but I am also aware of my rights. Without compulsory labeling, people like me are forced to eat whatever is laid on the table before us. If this is to be the case, then we will all go down together.

Yoichi Motai,

Makimachi, Niigata Prefecture

Compulsory labeling wise

"Is it safe?" is the bottom line for GM food. To be virtually certain that it does not pose a health threat is not good enough. The certainty should be absolute. A report was recently released on a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for the treatment of diabetes that was found to be harmful to the liver--over 60 people died after using the drug. The drug had passed tests to determine its efficacy and safety, and yet it proved at times dangerous and even lethal to people who used it. Are GM foods really safe? It is too early to say--compulsory labeling is, therefore, a wise and pragmatic requirement. Even when a consensus is reached on the safety of such products, mandatory labeling will give consumers the opportunity to decide for themselves. Consumers should have the necessary information to make rational choices for themselves.

Michael Driver

Chiba

Let the market decide

Many people think there is nothing wrong with GM foods, because humans have, after all, been artificially altering food products since about 8,000 years ago, when our ancestors started domesticating wild plants and animals and breeding crops to produce tastier, bigger, faster-growing species.

GM food is said to have the potential to produce cheaper food and reduce food-shortages in the developing world, by creating higher-yielding, more weather- and disease-resistant crop varieties, and more nutritious grains.

Other people do not agree and are willing to pay more for non-GM food. They are unwilling to risk eating plants that kill insects, whose effect on human health is little understood and that has had little long-term, independent testing.

There is no conclusive evidence yet of which side is right and which is wrong.

So who cares?

Let the market, not the International Trade and Industry Ministry bureaucrats, decide. Let the people have freedom of choice and allow them to assume responsibility for themselves based on what they believe and on how much they want to pay. However, for that to happen, they must have full and accurate information. I think GM food producers should be required to label their products.

If the first group of people become the majority, GM products manufactures will make good profits, and so be it. If the second group becomes the majority then the GM food producers will not be able to recover the billions of dollars they have invested in research and development and perhaps go bankrupt, and so be it.

Alfredo Quintero

Yokohama

Apply technology cautiously

GM foods and crops, which have been created by breakthroughs in genetic agricultural technology that will "rival the technological developments of Silicon Valley," are expected to be the beginning of a new age in agricultural production.

However, questions remain as to the safety of the food over a long period of consumption, after a Scottish researcher and others reported last year that GM foods are harmful to the immune systems and several major organs of rats, and the Earth's ecology and biodiversity.

The major proponents of GM products are large corporations in the United States and Canada, which dominate the production and exportation of GM products. Their corporate strategies do not include labeling GM food--they assume that consumers know what will happen when GM organisms are put into the human food chain and released into the natural environment.

If GM products are labeled, as suggested by the government and others, the consumption of the products will be decided at the grocery stores by informed consumers. However, labeling may not provide a solution to the problem, as GM food could turn out to be harmful. In that scenario, consumers may be held responsible for the legal, financial and medial consequences of their choices.

The possible harmful effects of GM products on humans makes it all the more necessary to use caution when applying genetic technology to the creation of safe and new food products in the quest to feed the world in the 21st century.

9/29/00
3:26:45 PM

Forwarded from a US activist in Prague..

On September 26, 2000, about twelve thousand people gathered in Prague to protest the policies of the IMF and the World Bank, demanding that the two institutions be shut down. It was a success - their meeting was seriously disrupted and their blatently exploitative policies were further brought to public attention.

On the morning of Sept. 26, people from all over the world attempted to approach the conference to bring their views directly to the delegates, but were blocked by an army of police. Clashes ensued, and many were arrested. Throughout the following night police retaliation took place. Anyone suspected of being a protester was stopped, arrested, and often beaten. By morning 422 people had been arrested, often for nothing more than walking down the street. Police were assisted in their persecution by Czech nazis, who chased and attacked anyone who looked like a protester, and helped to beat demonstrators while they were held in jail.

Today, Thursday Sept. 28, massive arrests are continuing. A non-violent demonstration took place in front of the Ministry of Interior against the police brutality and in solidarity with those arrested. Another 70 people were dragged away. Official police sources report 892 arrests so far. Many have been released, and their reports are horrifying. They activists are systematically beaten, denied access to phone, food, water, and bedding, and in at least at one police station nazis have been allowed into the cells to brutalize those being held. Often those released have been so traumatized that they try to get out of the country as soon as possible, preventing the recording of their evidence. The mainstream media, as always, are focusing on the property destruction, creating support for the police, shrouding the real issues, and increasing repression. They report "angry youth" attacking police instead of a more accurate picture of concerned citizens of the world standing up for an end to the IMF and World Bank's deliberate undermining of social and environmental justice. And so we need your help. The situation here is critical. The arrested need international solidarity. We beg you to send faxes and E-mails protesting the treatment of those arrested. Keep in mind that the vast majority of those arrested were incarcerated only because of their political conviction. The police must stop their brutality and release them immediately.If possible, organize a protest in front of the Embassies of the Czech Republic, the sooner the better. If there4s no Embassy in your town, there may be a Czech cultural center.

We thank you very much on behalf of the arrested activists, and on behalf of all of us here who are fighting for truth and justice.

Please send faxes and/or emails to -

Office of Vaclav Havel, the President of the Czech Republic: 011 4202 24310855 (phone) - 011 4202 24373196 fax - <mailto:president@hrad.cz>

Ministry of the Interior 011 4202 61421115 (phone), 011-4202/6143 3552-3 (fax) - Press + PR dep <mailto:ssi1@mvcr.cz>

Ministry of Foreign Affaires / fax 0042/2/24182041 <mailto:ministr@mzv.cz>

Office of Government <mailto:posta@vlada.cz>

US Embassy in Czech Republic: 011 4202 57530663 (phone) - 011 4202 57532059 (fax) Please send (e-)copies to mailto:th_fr@gmx.net (coordinator) (enquiries also) and fax 0042/2/6970395

- Yours, Initiative Against Economic Globalisation

- Shocking Human Rights Abuses Faced by Protestors in Jail Police Brutality Widespread, most severe for Czechs & Israelis

PRAGUE - In addition to the mass denial of the legal rights, individuals have faced extreme brutality in Czech Jails. Paul Rosenthal from Seattle Washington who was released this morning from the Olsanska jail in Prague after forty hours states, "What is happening inside the Czech jails is more than frightening. People have no rights,they are being beaten severely, they are disappearing. Women are being forced to strip in front of male guards and perform exercises. People with serious medical problems have been denied help." The following are accounts confirmed by people that have been released from jail:

· Women have been strip searched by male officers and have been forced to perform physical exercises for their enjoyment

· Many individuals are being denied water, food, and sleep; some are able to get food only if they pay guards, women and fascists are more likely to get water

· Many people released have reported that before reaching police stations, officers took individuals to isolated areas and beat them severely.

· Two Norwegians that went to a police station on Trisparni Street near Vlatavska to report a stolen mobile phone witnessed behind briefly opened doors that a number of people were handcuffed to the wall and being beaten severely. This has also been confirmed by many reports from released persons that in the processing rooms groups of 40 to 60 people were asked to spread eagle while they were beaten, heads were knocked back, legs were kicked in, and numbers of men had their groins twisted or punched. Additionally people handcuffed were tossed down stairs.

· There is one report that 22 people were crammed into a 4 square meter cell.

· 30 People were detained at the Olsanska jail in an outdoor courtyard overnight with no blankets or food. They were later moved to Balkova near Pilsen.

· Two Germans that were detained in Lupacova, Praha 3 on Wednesday for approximately eight hours were held with an Israeli, an American, a German, and an Italian. The Israeli had been beaten severely, had difficulty walking, a black eye, and likely had a broken rib. He has been denied medical attention

· People with diabetes were not fed, people that needed medication were not given it, the British Embassy had to intervene to get medication into the jail.

· A Norwegian woman held in jail with 30 other women witnessed a German woman with a badly injured leg where medics were denied.

· Right to legal representation and advice, right to interpreters, right to food and water, right to basic medical attention, and the right to a phone call have all been ignored on a widespread scale.

· Czechs and Israelis are being beaten more drastically and are being detained longer

· Many internationals are being moved from local stations to Balkova near Pilsen which has one of the worst human rights records in the Czech Republic.

Attention News and Assignment Editors FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 2000

Contact: Chelsea Mozen 420 604 384452 or 02 6272349 To arrange interviews with witnesses recently released, contact Cyan IMMEDIATELY: 0605 879 504

INPEG International Press Agent -

http://www.inpeg.org

Office: 4202 2320830

Mobile: 420 604 384452

Press Center: Parizska 9, Praha 1

(202) 777-2646 x2570 - US voicemail/fax

[Sender: SEAC-Announce@envirolink.org]

9/28/00
7:14:57 PM

Thursday September 28 2:33 PM ET

Extinction Risk Grows Around Globe

By MARA D. BELLABY, Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - A wild cat that roams the Iberian Peninsula, a dolphin off the New Zealand coast, a caviar-producing sturgeon and a red-flowered shrub clinging to the mountains of Mauritius - all are teetering on the edge of extinction.

Some 11,046 plants and animals risk disappearing forever, according to the most comprehensive analysis of global conservation ever undertaken, the World Conservation Union's 2000 Red List of Threatened Species. The report, released Thursday, examined some 18,000 species and subspecies around the globe.

But scientists acknowledge that even a study of this magnitude only scratches the surface. Earth is home to an estimated 14 million species - and only 1.75 million have been documented.

Many may become extinct before they are even identified, much less assessed by scientists.

``Global society would be horrified if someone set fire to the Louvre in Paris or the Metropolitan Museum in New York, or if someone blew up the Pyramids or the Taj Mahal,'' said Russell Mittermeier, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Conservation International.

``Yet every time a forest is burned to the ground in Madagascar or the P