Issue 12 – March 2000

NoSprayNewz #12
(March 2000)
Contents:

• Memorial for Saylor Creswell, founding member of the Lower Manhattan Greens
• In the Next Issue…challenging the existence of the so-called encephalitis „epidemic&permil
• Brooklyn Community Forum on Pesticide Spraying
• Pro Se Workshop by Sarah Seeds, from the Seeds of Peace Collective in Berkeley, CA
• Biodevastation 4: genetic engineering teach-in
• KEEP THE DIALOGUE GOING – forum in New Paltz
• Important anti-spray hearings in Queens, with Congr. Representative Ackerman.
• Daily News 2/22/2000: Ferrer Cautions Mosquito Spray May Cause Cancer
• Draft Environmental Impact Statement status (response to letter from Dr. Simon)
• Comments needed on NY State Department of Health draft report for controlling West Nile virus
• Dr. Simon’s Comments on State Dept. of Health Plan
• Seattle Tear Gas
• NY Daily News, 3/1/00: Pols Focus on Use Of Malathion
• Excerpt: Malathion Label
• Feeback to Part One of NoSpray Newz #12
• Public meeting about what Dutchess County will do this spring regarding mosquito abatement
• Letter to NY Dept. of Health from organic farmer about spraying
• UPDATE ON LAWSUIT – Joel Kupferman, attorney
• Florida Dept. of Health fires Dr. who exposed cover up of malathion spraying
• Associate Press article on Florida DOH cover up
• Antelope Valley Press: Los Angeles County residents forced to flee their homes after pesticide malathion accidently spilled
• PRESIDENT CLINTON’S PLAN TO VACCINATE AFRICA
• Environment News Service: People of Color Battle Toxics in Communities Across the U.S.
• Robert Lederman: about An open letter to Congress from the Air Force Sergeants Association
• Biodevastation 2000, the largest gathering to date of anti-genetic engineering activists in the U.S. is only a few weeks away.
• The Western Producer: Triple-resistant canola weeds found in Alberta
• The Oregonian: Saboteurs target high-tech crops; Foes of genetic research are leaving a trail of vandalism across the country
• LONDON (Reuters) – British police on Saturday arrested five activists from the environmental group Greenpeace who had boarded a U.S. ship carrying genetically modified soya off Wales.
• Rainforest Activists Disrupt Democratic Presidential Debate, Urge Vice President to Stop Occidental Petroleum from Drilling on U’wa Land in Colombia
• Excerpts from the Democratic presidential debate involving Vice President Al Gore and former Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey regarding Genetic Engineering
• Sam Walters, Spanish Civil War/Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran, died today
• Beware of Canola Oil + Canola oil poison + Plastics As A Food Group? + Fluoride: The Silent Killer
• Canola oil poison, #2
• Cannibis Ingredient Does Relieve MS, Says Researchers
• Michael Moore on school shooting in Flint, MI

Hotline: (718) 670-7110 call for daily updates.

NoSpray Coalition NYC: mitchelcohen@mindspring.com
NoSpray Coalition Upstate: JWill52739@aol.com

Our events are now listed on http://freemumia.com/upcomingevents (it was a surprise to us, too! Right on, somebody!)

In Loving Memory:
Sam Walters
Lares Tresjan
Rod Thurton
Saylor Creswell

****************************************************** Memorial for Saylor Creswell, founding member of the Lower Manhattan Greens, Wednesday March 8, 7 pm, JASA, 200 E. 5th St. (and Bowery) — apartment building conference room. ******************************************************

The Next NoSpray Newz will feature a SPECIAL essay challenging the existence of the so-called encephalitis „epidemic‰ in New York. It will also question the validity of the scientific methods used to identify West Nile virus as the cause of the outbreak of encephalitis last Fall, leading to the likelihood that, under scrutiny, the entire paradigm pushed on us by the Giuliani administration and the Centers for Disease Control in Washington will turn out to be invalid.

So stay tuned. Our crack investigators are ON THE JOB! (If you‚d like to join the research team, contact me (Mitchel) and we‚ll plug you in.

****************************************************** March 19 2pm – 4pm
Brooklyn Community Forum on Pesticide Spraying
Speakers include:
Joel Popson, MD;
Steve Greenspan, certified pesticide application trainer;
Lori Evans, Safe Alternatives for the Environment;
Aton Edwards, Nat‚l Preparedness Network;
Mitchel Cohen, No Spray Coalition
Joel Kupferman, New York Law & Environmental Justice Project
Elizabeth Shanklin, Riverdale Greens.

This forum will take palce at the Brooklyn Union Temple, 17 Eastern Parkway (at Grand Army Plaza) — 2,3,4,5 train to Grand Army Plaza, or D train to 7th Ave.

****************************************************** NOTICE
Sarah Seeds, from the Seeds of Peace Collective in Berkeley, CA & Flagstaff, AZ, is offering a workshop on representing yourself in court, forming affinity groups, building trust in AGs, compassionate communication, how to empower yourself in court, going pro se, etc. She’ll tell how she arranged for her fine to be paid to the victims crime fund. Program can be set according to the needs of the group. It will be Wednesday, March 22 at the 6th St. Community Center, 638 E. 6 St. Manhattan. Time: 6:30 pm.

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March 24 thru March 28
Come to Boston for Biodevastation 4, a terrific two-day-long teach-in on genetic engineering, featuring top speakers and activists from around the world. Followed by 2 days of various debate and action against the biggest pro-genetic-engineering gathering in the world. (See flyer below). Contact NERAGE, via Andy Zimmerman at turtle@westnet.com or Howard Brandstein at sixthstreet@juno.com

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March 28, Tues., 7 PM (snow date – Thurs. Mar. 30) “KEEP THE DIALOGUE GOING”: Malathion…Deet…Cancer Mapping…Breast / Prostate Cancer…and the Environment…to be discussed by Rose Marie Williams, president Cancer Awareness Coalition, Inc. at the Elting Memorial Library, 93 Main St., New Paltz, NY. Open to the public. For more information call 914-255-5030.

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March 31
Important anti-spray hearings in Queens, with Congr. Representative Ackerman. See story below.

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Daily News 2/22/2000
Ferrer Cautions Mosquito Spray May Cause Cancer

By RALPH R. ORTEGA
Daily News Staff Writer
Feb. 22, 2000

All the mosquito spraying last summer really bugged Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Ferrer wants to quash any future use of malathion, a low-level toxic pesticide that may also prove to be a cancer-causing agent.

Malathion spray was used to kill mosquitoes during last summer’s outbreak of West Nile fever, which left four New Yorkers dead.

“There now exists an urgent need to revisit the continued use of malathion to control mosquitoes,” Ferrer said in a letter to Mayor Giuliani this month.

Ferrer noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing malathion’s potential as a low-level carcinogen, a cancer-causing substance.

EPA spokeswoman Nina Sabib confirmed that the pesticide was under review as part of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996.

Currently, Sabib said, malathion is rated as “slightly toxic,” and any other conclusions were premature.

Ferrer’s stand against the pesticide has been joined by others who have criticized the city’s mosquito-spraying methods.

When asked about malathion during a recent news conference, the mayor expressed no worries.

“Malathion spraying is done so often, and in so many places, and was approved by the state and federal authorities,” he said. “I have no real problem with it.”

Some Bronxites did express concern when city officials began spraying mosquitoes to combat West Nile fever. …

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Dear Dr. Simon:

Thank you for your letter of inquiry on the status of the Annual and Plant Health Inspection Service’s revision of the “Fruit Fly Cooperative Control Program, Draft Environmental Impact Statement- 1999.” Preparation of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) is on indefinite hold at this time because of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ongoing review of one of the proposed program pesticides, malathion.

Preliminary information received from the EPA indicates that the EPA is considering changing the registration status of malathion because of studies that suggest that it could be a low-level human carcinogen. Such a change would result in a change in the risk analysis, would require review of protection and mitigation measures, would result in the need to inform and involve the public about the change, and could require the preparation of a supplemental draft EIS.

I regret the delay and that I cannot be more specific about the date of the expected revision, but we believe it is in the best interests of all concerned to wait until EPA’s findings are confirmed and made public before we continue. I am placing your name on the distribution list for documents and updates. …

Sincerely yours,

Harold T. Smith
Senior Project Leader
Environmental Analysis and Documentation
Policy and Program Development

*******************************************************
The NY State Department of Health has issued a draft report for controlling West Nile virus. Please submit comments to DOH by Monday, March 6, on the West Nile spraying issue.

The e-mail address for comments is westnile@health.state.ny.us
You can read the report at:
http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/westnile/index.htm

From Laura Haight, New York Public Interest Research Group

Hope you guys will be e-mailing comments to the Health Department on the west nile virus response plan. We’re still working on ours and simply didn’t have enough time to get a decent alert out. An activist from Rockland took some of our stuff and turned it into the following alert. Bottom line is, even if people can’t read the plan, or the all-important decision matrix, they should still e-mail the DOH, and cc: their local government and health officials, with their concerns about the spraying and so forth. Unfortunately the pitifully short public comment period ends March 6th – but people should still continue to bombard the Health Dept. with comments after that.

ACTION ALERT!
Let’s Avoid a Repeat of Last Fall’s Aerial Spraying!

The Draft Plan is available on the DOH web site:
www.health.state.ny.us.

The plan is lengthy and a little hard to download. The most worrisome part of the plan (if you want to look at it and only have a little time) is the Decision Matrix, as mentioned in point 2 below — it gives the thresholds for various actions and the ones for both ground spraying and aerial spraying (two forms of adulticiding) are very low. A single infected mosquito pool, combined with historical evidence, is enough to lead to ground spraying. Several infected pools in separate locations are enough to consider aerial spraying. Multiple (2 or more?) WNV positive birds are also enough to consider ground or aerial spraying, as is one human case.

The individual health departments make the final decision. However, as we saw last year, they can come under considerable pressure from the State DOH and the CDC. Therefore it is important that we get our comments in!

Here are the main “talking points”:

1) There needs to be more inclusion of and emphasis on alternative, nontoxic mosquito control methods.

2) Although the plan lists aerial spraying as a control method of last resort, the thresholds triggering such a response are too low, without fully implementing more targeted approaches. Under this plan, a single case of West Nile Virus occurring in a human, or two or more West Nile Virus positive birds in an area, is enough to justify consideration of aerial spraying! Furthermore, there is no analysis of whether last fall’s aerial spraying was even effective.

3) The information about health effects of pesticides included in the plan is completely inadequate. The public needs to be properly informed of the risks associated with pesticide exposure.

The Health Department needs to hear from all concerned members of the public on this issue. PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE COUNT!

Even if all you get across is your opposition to aerial spraying, use of adulticides, etc., that would be good too. The important thing is for them to hear from large numbers of concerned citizens.

******************************************************
Here’s what Dr. Robert Simon wrote to the State Dept. of Health, commenting on their plan:

Dear NYSDOH:

After all of the uproar over aerial spraying in 1999 your draft plan is a major disappointment. You have a zero environmental monitoring plan, a poor to near zero medical response plan, no plan to notify doctors about the proper tests to run, and an informational plan that seems like a sewing bee or bingo game.

1. You never mention the word isomalathion.

2. Your information about malaoxon is so wrong it is laughable.

3. Your tox information is not even 1988 vintage. You should look up the NAS 1977 Drinking Water Health Profile which is more accurate about malathion than your data.

4. You do not mention synergism once, not even with PBO.

5. You have zero provisions to collect a wipe sample, an air sample, a water sample, a soil sample, an air conditioning filter.

6. Your information on malathion is not what Cheminova has published in its bulletin. I suggest you read the bulletin which says that malaoxon is TOXIC and that Fyfanon ULV has a pH = 5.3 and will take the paint off of cars.

7. Why would you spray Naled which contains CCl4, a carcinogen, and methyl bromide, a highly toxic cpd?

8. Where is the analysis of products for impurities? You still use the “inerts” when Fyfanon ULV contains O,O,S- impurity with an LD50 = 68 mg/kg? I am shocked at this.

9. Where is the requirement that Poison Control Centers MUST take all calls about pesticide exposure, not refuse to accept calls like they did in 1999 because “you cannot get sick from pesticide spraying”?

10. Where is the provision to tell humans who to call and where to get a cholinesterase test? You are the NYSDOH and you have not even provided a list of hospitals and clinics which offer this service?

11. Where is the information about the use of insect repellents and when are you going to call the NYS Attorney General to learn about the restrictions on the use of these agents?

12. Are you aware that pyrethrins kill lobsters and fish? This has been reported in the literature since 1977. Are you aware that resmethrin and sumithrin have been found in AC filters in NYC four months after their use in 1999?

13. How do you plan to have aerial spraying avoid water in NYC? On Long Island?

14. How do you plan to control aerial drift? The Spray Drift Task Force (industry + EPA only were members) could not. How will you?

15. You should eliminate aerial spraying. It is unnecessary and highly dangerous to humans, animals, fish, etc. It cannot be controlled in NYC.

16. You must analyze all products used. How much isomalathion is in Fyfanon ULV?

17. You must stop using grossly misleading and highly inaccurate talk about “everything breaking down quickly”. Your own table of data states that malathion stays around for 147 days at pH 5, yet you then state that it breaks down quickly. Who is writing this?

16. I oppose this plan as a license to continue spraying NYS. This plan needs loud and clear protest on Long Island, at the NCAMP meeting on April 7-9 in NYC and in the newspapers throughout NYS.

I am shocked that after 4 months you list FOUR (4) references on malathion? Four? Is this some type of joke. This is not science. You have not apparently kept up with the literature. Have you read Dr. Blasiak’s two studies that prove that malaoxon is genotoxic and this genotoxicity if irreversible? Where is your reference to the Pakistan 5 deaths due to isomalathion. Your entire report is pabulum for the pesticide industry so that they can sell more pesticide that you can spray over NYS when you manufacture another “crisis”. There was no crisis in 1999 as proven by the CDC report “Outbreak of West-Nile-Like Viral Encephalitis– New York, 1999”, MMWR 10/01/99/ 48 (38) 845-9, see figure 1. One (1) case of WNLV was found after 08/29/99. If there had been zero spraying there would have been one more case of WNLV. Wow. What a need for spraying.

R. K. Simon, Ph.D., RPIH, DABB, CEC

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NoSpray Newz has printed several stories by Mitchel Cohen concerning the government’s possible use of nerve-agents in portions of the tear-gas and/or mace sprayed on demonstrators non-violently blockading the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Nov. 30 & Dec. 1-3. In a previous NoSpray Newz we printed reports from doctors and other medical personnel in the field who reported patients with symptoms similar to being sprayed with heavy doses of organophosphates such as Malathion, and other nerve gasses. Here’s the latest news, based on a chemical analysis of ONE of the sprays used.
– Mitchel

Carcinogen Added to Seattle Tear Gas
Paul Cienfuegos <cienfuegos@igc.org>

The Washington Toxics Coalition recently requested and received Material Safety Data Sheets from the Seattle Police Department for all chemicals used in crowd control during WTO protests the week of November 29. The Department reported the use of an OC gas (active ingredient is oleoresin of capsicum), Pyrotechnic CS agent (o-chlorobenzalmalononitrile) and Liquid Agent CN (chlorolactetophenone).

One disturbing find was the solvent used in the CN agent. The MSDS indicated that the agent is 50% active ingredient and 50% methylene chloride as a solvent. Methylene chloride is a possible/anticipated carcinogen as reported by the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The National Library of Medicine’s Toxnet website reports it to be an experimental carcinogen, tumorigen, teratogen (causes birth defects when it reaches egg or sperm cells of the parents, or the developing fetus) with experimental reproductive effects. The site also indicates that human mutagen (causes mutations in cells) data exists.

In addition to these serious effects, central nervous system depression is reported. Many of the nervous system effects given on the Toxnet site are similar to those experienced by protesters. Some of the symptoms listed by Toxnet are lethargy, mental confusion, headache, tingling of the limbs, acoustical and optical delusions, liver and kidney damage, increased risk of spontaneous abortion, coma, and death.

Another dangerous effect of methylene chloride is described in Gosselin’s Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products. The compound is metabolized to carbon monoxide in humans, which could be dangerous to persons with asthma or cardiovascular problems.

In short, methylene chloride is a dangerous solvent suspected of causing cancer, tumor growth, birth defects, reproductive system effects, cell mutations and central nervous system depression.

[Thanx to Beth Burrows at The Edmonds Institute beb@igc.org for forwarding this.]

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The press claims that window-breakers in Seattle are “anarchists”. Actually, a good portion of the non-violent direct action blockaders would define themselves as “anarchists” as well.

To help those facing felonies in Seattle, a fund has been set up through the Mutual Aid Legal which is working closely with those facing felonies from the Nov. 30 actions.

Their address is:

Mutual Aid Legal Fund POB 95616 Seattle, WA 98145-2616

MISSION STATEMENT: “Mutual Aid Legal Fund is organized to raise money for legal defense costs for anarchists and similar radicals who are facing trial on politically motivated acts.”

**************************************************
NY Daily News, 3/1/00
Pols Focus on Use Of Malathion

By MICHAEL FINNEGAN and LISA L. COLANGELO

Frustrated by a lack of response from city officials, a group of Queens lawmakers will conduct its own investigation into the city’s controversial use of the insecticide Malathion during last summer’s outbreak of West Nile-like virus.

The panel will interview experts and residents along with city, state and federal officials during a March 31 hearing at the Flushing branch of the Queens Borough Public Library. The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to determine whether Malathion is a cancer-causing agent.

The group includes two Democrats: Rep. Gary Ackerman (Bayside) and Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin (Flushing); and two Republicans: state Sen. Frank Padavan (Bellerose) and Councilman Mike Abel (Bayside).

“Although the city contends it acted appropriately to combat the outbreak, we have received many complaints that they botched it,” Ackerman said.

The congressman further charged that he had been given “the duplicitous runaround” in his efforts to obtain information on the city’s pesticide spraying campaign from the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management.

Yesterday, city Health Commissioner Neal Cohen appeared at a meeting of the Queens Borough cabinet and the Queens Chamber of Commerce and outlined an aggressive plan of action to stave off another outbreak of the virus this summer.

Last year, 46 city residents contracted the virus from mosquitoes. Four died.

Malathion was one of several pesticides used by the city last year in its helicopter and truck spraying blitz. Cohen said he isn’t sure whether it would be used in the event of another outbreak.

The commissioner said the department is currently collecting hibernating adult mosquitoes to test them for the virus. Officials also have set up a system to test “sentinel” birds throughout the city, to determine if the virus has been passed from mosquitoes to birds.

There will be a citywide effort to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching into adult mosquitoes.

The department is mounting a public education campaign asking New Yorkers to eliminate standing water, a rich breeding ground for mosquitoes, from their property.

**************************************************
Excerpt: Malathion Label

“Fyfanon ULV Ultra Low Volume Concentrate Insecticide Active ingredient….Malathion 95% …inert ingredients .05%. One gallon contains 9.7 lbs. of Malathion.”

“Harmful by swallowing, inhalation or skin contact. Avoid breathing spray mist. Avoid contact with skin. Do not contaminate food or feed products.”

“Before using read the directions contained in this leaflet for the proper methods and procedures which must be followed to achieve effective insect control and avoid permanent damage to automobiles and other paint finishes”.

“This product is toxic to fish. Keep out of lakes, streams, ponds, tidal marshes and estuaries. Do not apply when weather conditions favor drift from areas treated. This pesticide is highly toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment or to residues remaining on the treated area.”

“It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.”

“Storage: Fyfanon ULV should be stored at temperatures not exceeding 25 degrees C or 77 degrees F”.

“Do not apply this product in a way that will contact workers or other persons either directly or through drift. Do not enter or allow worker entry into treated areas during the restricted entry interval [RTI] of 12 hours. Personal Protective Equipment {PPI] required for early entry into treated areas that is permitted under the [OSHA] Worker Protection Standard and that involves contact with anything that has been treated such as plants, soil or water is: Coveralls and Chemical resistant gloves such as barrier laminate or Butyl rubber or Nitrile.”

******************************************************
Feeback to Part One of NoSpray Newz #12:

A.
Only one minor correction. The current Fyfanon ULV label has 96.5% malathion and 3.5% inerts. The inerts include isomalathion, malaoxon, various esters of malathion and the O,O-S-trimethylthio(dithio)phosphate impurity. R. K. Simon

B.
Here finally seems to be some solid information on the toxic elements of the tear gas used in Seattle. It is OUTRAGEOUS, but not surprising, given the early symptoms that were coming in from the medical staff at the time. While the police had admitted to OC and CS gas before, this was not the case with the CN gas, containing methylene chloride.

Appended is the technical information on methylene chloride. Note under the last point in the second message, under point #5: “PERMISSIBLE EXPOSURE LIMIT (PEL): MG/M3 (500 PPM)” means that the permissible limit is 0.

This should keep a bunch of them doing a whole mess of damage control for a while.

But it also means a whole whack of us got hit with massive amounts of deadly toxins in the chemical warfare that the state unleashed on us in Seattle. And we will have to live with that posioning for the rest of our lives. It was chemical warfare against internal dissent using chemicals of mass destruction. Is this not a crime against humanity? Was that not whythe governments said they bombed (and continue to silently bomb) Iraq? Cuz Iraq allegedly had weapons of mass destruction (ie nerve gas). Well, not only does the USA government have such weapons but it uses them AGAINST THEIR PEOPLE. And it does so when its people are engaged in non-violent civil disobedience.

Any lawyers out there who want to take this one as far as it’ll go? It’ll go quite a ways! How about human rights organizations? Surely we get to at least complain about them killing us! Never mind dreaming about making them actually ACCOUNTABLE for these crimes.

– Bob

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Weds., March 22 Dutchess County EMC will hold a public meeting about what Dutchess County will do this spring regarding mosquito abatement. NYS Dept. of Health released its West Nile Virus Response Plan on Friday, Feb. 18. DOH officials at the NYC note that counties are not required to follow NYS guidelines and may develop their own local response plans. Contact: Mannajo@aol.com for time and place.

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Dear Dept. of Health of New York State,

I am a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) certified organic farmer, farming for the mid-Hudson region in Saugerties New York. I must express to you my utmost concern regarding the possible insecticidal spraying of our area. Should this happen, it would put us out of business. We have been working very hard to develop a healthy balanced ecosytem on our farm, to provide the local community with fresh organic produce.

Any form of aerial spraying or its inevitable drift from toxic insecticides will result in an immediate suspension of our certification and thereby our livelihood. We feel quite strongly about this issue and hope that through education and alternatives like Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis — a target specific bacterium-based, microbial insecticide) the situation could be lessened. Perhaps by identifying all the areas wetlands and calculating Bt dosages on the grand scale (by county personal) and making Bt available to the public with education about its use, for them to use on their properties, the local communites could help in the control.

I would prefer helping create my destiny to having it forced upon me and my children and their children.

Vivian Beatrice
Cody Creek Farm

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UPDATE ON LAWSUIT – Joel Kupferman, attorney

Under the Citizen Suit Provision of Clean Water Act (“CWA”) and Resource Conservation Recovery Act (“RCRA”), citizens are required to give 60 days notice to the EPA and DEC before a formal lawsuit can be initiated. The purpose is to goad either agency into meaningful action (real substantial enforcement or stipulation with violating party (NYC)). The DEC and EPA asked us (the plaintiffs) for the proof we had that NYC violated the Aquatic pesticide permit (spraying over the water and violation of the malathion & other pesticide label). We all know that NYC did — but have only garnered three affidavits stating so.

NBC should be providing footage of helicopters over water in its imminent story. The decision to meet with EPA (& DEC) was based on the following reasons:

1. To make EPA a pro-active party — to take a supervisory role in this whole matter as federal law mandates. Several EPA officials (in the Enforcement and Compliance division of the region) seem to be earnest in their response to our allegations and concerns.

2. The evidence presented at this stage is less likely to be discounted and attacked as it would in court (the court does not accept newspaper articles and unsubstantiated evidence).

3. It is unlikely that we will garner the resources to enable us to win in court against three levels of government combined.

4. Resource accumulation is still lacking to bring suit (financial and testimony), although we are getting much closer.

But on a more positive note: DEC’s and NYC’s failure to provide mandated info will work against them. We have asked the EPA to procure such info, which they have. We have yet to receive a response.

Future compliance with all environmental laws requires an EPA presence and role. We need witnesses to spraying over or near water.

***********************************************************
From: Joyce Shepard
Subject: Fla. DOH Fires a Good Guy

This message is from Omar Shafey. Mr. Shafey was the epidemiologist for the Florida DOH. He exposed the cover up of the malathion spraying for medflies two years ago and wrote a memo about the dangers. The DOH found the memo, altered it and sent it out. However, the original memo was retrieved through FOIL. This is the exact cover up we endured in NY and Mr. Shafey will certainly tell us about the relationship between NY and Fla. when it is time.

Hello friends:

Recent events bring to my mind the warden scene in Cool Hand Luke: “What we have here is a failure to communicate!” And another casualty of pesticide politics.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement. I’m heartened that so many people appreciate what we have accomplished in two short years despite the hostile environment.

There are many issues that led to this and I have documentation of the administrative malfeasance that passes for government service in Tallahassee.

Some of the issues: I was trying to get Workers Comp data for surveillance that the department has been stonewalling and covering-up since 11/98.

I pushed for the department to take a position on FS 593.21 regarding the acceptable level of adverse health effects in emergency pesticide programs.

I was pursuing TruGreen ChemLawn for their illegal conduct in running clinical laboratory tests on workers without providing medical supervision.

I produced a manual called “Guidelines for physicians monitoring workers exposed to cholinesterase inhibiting pesticides” that Dow AgroSciences objected to and subsequently DOH refused to release.

I funded farmworkers association pesticide programs, giving tax dollars to a minority labor organization. Industry and government are hostile to these unions for farmworkers.

I raised legal questions about the lethal injection poisonings of Florida’s prisoners with unregistered chemicals. Etc. Etc.

Mainly, it was about the medfly report. I exposed their lack of integrity in denying Medfly program-related adverse health effects.

Sharon is still fuming over this: http://www.polkonline.com/stories/011899/sta_warning.shtml and she has a history of abusing employees: http://www.jou.ufl.edu/brechner/pros99.htm scroll down to “May 1999” on page 2.

They hate having their cover-ups exposed by a higher authority like CDC. They were just waiting for the right time to drop the axe on me.

I hope that the news media will pick up on some of these stories in a way that shakes up the corrupt bureaucracy so that there is some change for the better. They are so entrenched and arrogant that they think they can silence anyone they choose. I hope Dave Johnson, Sharon Heber and Rick Hunter get fired for their lack of integrity, their greedy politically-motivated manipulation of the sacred public health mission, and their vicious intolerance for dissenting scientific opinion. It’s just revoltingly undemocratic.

I plan to move to Atlanta in the next couple of weeks and work with an internet company called karnak.com. I’d hope to serve as a public health epidemiologist again someday, hopefully somewhere less corrupt. I don’t know if such a place exists!

Thank you so much for your support. I’ll keep you updated when I get a new address.

Omar

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Associated Press

TAMPA — A draft report by the state Department of Health warned that Florida agriculture officials should stop spraying against the Mediterranean fruit fly, but the recommendation was dropped from the final version.

Memoranda, e-mail and other documents indicate the changes may have been made because of objections by the state Department of Agriculture, The Tampa Tribune reported Sunday.

The newspaper cited a memo written by Omar Shafey, the epidemiologist who wrote the report, in which he alluded to “political realities” behind the revisions.

The changes were based on “the need to avoid” making health recommendations that agriculture officials find “problematic,” Shafey wrote Jan. 4 to Brian Hughes, head of environmental epidemiology at the Department of Health.

Shafey wrote he could not “in good conscience” remove recommendations needed to prevent a recurrence of hundreds of health complaints received in 1998 and 1997, when fly fighters conducted a 10-week aerial malathion campaign in Hillsborough County.

Hughes said Friday he has “no actual knowledge” of political pressures to change the report.

The Medfly can damage more than 250 kinds of fruit and vegetables. Failure to defeat it risks severe economic impact because of restrictions on the state’s produce.

The Health Department documented cases in which people became sick and were sometimes hospitalized after malathion bait spray was showered on four counties last year, the newspaper reported.

If the state Department of Agriculture continues spraying urban Florida, the state should be prepared to compensate people who are hurt and to provide public shelters outside spray zones for those who wish to leave their homes, according to the draft report dated Sept. 30.

But those recommendations — and many more — were stripped from the final report on malathion-related complaints in Miami-Dade, Lake, Manatee and Highlands counties.

The amended report, made public last week, instead calls for further studies, saying “the findings … do not allow an association between malathion/bait applications and reported adverse health effects to be established.”

The original draft, however, recommended an end to aerial spraying “in light of documented adverse health affects attributable to 1998 Medfly Program operations.”

Of the 230 Medfly spray-related reports that health officials received between April 30 and Sept. 30, 123 were classified as probable or possible cases of acute pesticide-related illness.

That represents an average rate of about nine out of 10,000 residents in the spray zones. Most suffered respiratory problems or rashes and had pre-existing conditions such as asthma, lung disorders or chemical sensitivities.

Agriculture officials “categorically reject” suggestions that they applied pressure on the health agency to change the report, said department spokesman Terry McElroy.

“Our only role here was to provide our technical assistance,” McElroy said Friday.

Health officials also denied the draft’s drastic alterations resulted from outside pressures.

Sharon Heber, who leads the health department’s environmental health division, said she and Hughes were primarily responsible for what was or was not included in the final report.

“We felt the science wasn’t there to do anything at this time,” Heber said.

But a senior medical officer for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who reviewed the original draft, wrote in an October memo to state health officials that Shafey’s recommendations “appear reasonable and appropriate.”

The CDC’s Geoffrey Calvart said he has not seen the final report but stands by his opinion of the draft, which he called “excellent and thorough.”

All case histories, which provided anonymous accounts of spray-related illness, were removed from the final report. Hughes said that was to protect confidentiality.

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This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press October 21, 1999

By BART WEITZEL Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – Residents of a west Lancaster neighborhood were forced into the city streets for more than four hours Tuesday night after being evacuated from their homes.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies evacuated families after a strong stench of pesticide permeated the air and residents began feeling ill.

Deputies initially responded to the neighborhood around 7:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a suspicious odor in the 700 block of West Avenue H-4.

The odor was originally thought to be a gas leak, but a Southern California Gas Co. repairman tested the area and told law enforcement officials the odor was not gas.

As a precaution, deputies evacuated six houses surrounding the odor-permeated area.

The residents were moved to a park adjacent to the nearby Mariposa Elementary School while deputies and hazardous materials crews investigated the smell.

Deputies also blocked off streets surrounding the elementary school. Only area residents were allowed into the neighborhood. Residents who were not evacuated were asked to stay inside with the doors and windows closed until the problem was resolved.

Some children from the six evacuated families took refuge at neighbors’ houses, where they could spend the night and escape the cold fall temperatures, which dipped into the mid-30s.

The evacuated adults huddled on park benches wrapped in blankets for more than four hours while the scene was probed and determined free from causing any harm.

A garage where the odor was strongest was searched several times by Los Angeles County Fire Department and Health Department hazardous materials crews before they discovered the stench’s source.

Apparently a jar of malathion, a pesticide used for agricultural purposes, fell off a shelf in the garage, possibly during Saturday’s earthquake. The pesticide spilled on the floor and dried up in Tuesday’s afternoon heat.

For some reason, a water purifying system installed in the garage began leaking and got the dried malathion wet. The pesticide mixed with the water, caused a chemical reaction, and created the odor that reportedly caused some residents’ nausea.

Hazardous materials crews cleaned up the spill and returned the evacuees to their homes at about 11:30 p.m.

[Thanks to Ellen Hickey, Director, Research and Communications, Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), for passing this on. Email: ehickey@panna.org]

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March 2, 2000
Curtis Cost
(718) 231-9683

PRESIDENT CLINTON’S PLAN TO VACCINATE AFRICA

As I listened to President Bill Clinton today on CNN describe the massive vaccine campaign planned for Africa, I was filled with horror and dismay! Having spent years researching the subject of vaccines, I know that vaccines are totally unnecessary, they don’t work, they create the same diseases that they are suppose to prevent and they have caused tremendous suffering and death to millions of people around the world.

I documented this information in my book Vaccines Are Dangerous – A Warning to the Black Community. My book was endorsed by doctors, scientists, scholars, holistic practitioners, and vaccination organizations. Mine was just one of many books and countless articles that have been written condemning the practice of vaccination using scientific studies and case histories of perfectly healthy babies being crippled and killed by vaccines. On the Internet there is a wealth of information systematically refuting the entire vaccine scam.

The things that they have put into vaccines are like a witch’s brew. They include monkey kidneys, cow pus, mercury, formaldehyde and genetically engineered (Frankenstein) organisms to name a few. Vaccines have been linked to cancer, brain damage, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, polio, learning disabilities, the appearance of new diseases, death and the list goes on and on and on! Billions of dollars in lawsuits have been filed as a result of vaccine injuries. All of the old lies about vaccines saving lives all crumble in the light of the actual facts. All such claims are easily shot down upon close inspection.

In light of all of the data available, how can they continue to get away with pushing this stuff onto the public? It is madness! Africa needs a lot of things like forgiveness of all foreign debts, fair foreign prices for its products, clean water, greater access to fresh organic fruits and vegetables for the average person and many other things, but what Africa does not need is more toxic chemicals from the west.

I predict that if the planned vaccine drive for Africa goes through, a new necklace of death will sweep across the continent. Africans have been experimented on many times in the past like guinea pigs. It is about to happen again.

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Environment News Service
February 11, 2000

People of Color Battle Toxics in Communities Across the U.S.

By Cat Lazaroff

WASHINGTON, DC, February 11, 2000 (ENS) — Ten African American children are visiting Washington, D.C. this week, but they did not come to see the usual tourist attractions. They are here to illustrate the dangerous legacy of hazardous wastes, contaminated manufacturing sites, and polluting industries, placed predominantly in poor, non-White communities.

The children, from Memphis, Tennessee and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, are here to draw attention to the sixth anniversary of President Bill Clinton’s executive order on environmental justice.

The order, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations,” was intended to focus federal attention on the environmental and human health conditions in minority communities and low-income communities.

These children, environmental justice activists say, starkly demonstrate how that order has failed.

“They have major tumors, respiratory diseases, endometriosis from toxins, nervous disorders,” says Dr. Mildred McClain, executive director of the People of Color and Disenfranchised Communities Environmental Health Network (PCDCEHN). “The young man from Arkansas went into a coma.”

These illnesses were due to exposure to toxic chemicals in the children’s homes, schools and playgrounds, McClain says. In the early 1990s, Memphis became infamous as the city with the most uncontrolled hazardous waste sites in the nation. Rates of cancer, chronic respiratory illness, as well as neurological disorders are significantly higher among non-White Memphis residents than among Whites.

Pine Bluff is the site of the Pine Bluff Arsenal, a Cold War era chemical weapons production and storage facility that now holds about 12 percent of the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile. A proposed $200 million incinerator under construction in Pine Bluff would be the nation’s second chemical weapons incinerator.

Pine Bluff is 53 percent African American, a proportion 341 percent higher than the national average. The town is also very poor, with 28 percent of its residents living below the poverty level, according to the 1990 Census. It is a classic example of the communities that environmental justice advocates say are burdened by the bulk of the nation’s polluters.

On Thursday, the children visited Howard University Hospital, one of the nation’s first teaching hospitals serving African American doctors. Their meeting with physicians and scientists, organized by Dr. Rueben Warren, associate administrator for Urban Affairs at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, was as much to increase knowledge of environmental illnesses as it was to help the children themselves.

Today, the children were at a press conference hosted by People of Color and Disenfranchised Communities Environmental Health Network (PCDCEHN) and the Interim National Black Environmental and Economic Justice Coordinating Committee (INBEEJCC). These mouthfuls of acronyms spell out a sea change in how people of color are tackling the pollution in their own backyards.

A new force for environmental protection is emerging in the United States, gaining strength from a broad network of church groups and citizens groups from the nation’s poorest regions. The nation’s environmental justice movement has set itself the ambitious agenda of ending decades of environmental racism stemming from the concentration of toxic industries and hazardous wastes located in communities of color.

“We are trying to really get national attention to the critical crisis of health in communities contaminated by toxic pollution,” says Ka Flewellen of the Preamble Center. The Center, an independent research and public educations organization based in Washington, DC, is one of dozens of groups cooperating to form the INBEEJCC.

The fledgling coalition was created to harness the combined power of local groups that have been battling pollution and toxic wastes in their communities. In exchange, the coalition offers a unified, national voice against the disproportionate placement of polluting industries in communities of color.

“It’s the first time that an effort like this is being launched under the leadership of people of color,” said McClain.

Damu Smith of Greenpeace is the interim coordinator for the INBEEJCC, and was instrumental in organizing the coalition’s first meeting last December. “I was looking at what was happening nationally,” Smith says. “When I looked at what was happening around the country, it became clearer that the forces behind the movement to undermine environmental justice are very organized, very powerful, and are part of a nationally organized strategy to take away protections for people of color.”

To battle the “sinister forces in the nation, out to totally dismantle the environmental justice framework that we have worked so hard to achieve,” people of color must unite in opposition of environmental racism, Smith said. At a Washington, DC press conference in January, Smith, McClain and other environmental justice advocates issued a Declaration of a National State of Emergency on Environmental Racism and Economic Injustice.

“We come this day, in this place, in the seat of this nation’s government to declare that toxic terrorism is being waged against the descendants of African people,” McClain said.

(Forwarded by “Noquisi” (Day Starr), <1daystar@worldnet.att.net

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From: Robert Lederman <ARTISTpres@aol.com

Here’s an approach we should keep in mind for the Spring when the Giuliani administration/CDC/OEM start spraying the City again or if they demand that everyone submit to a West Nile Virus vaccine-RL

DESERT STORM WAR CRIMES COMMISSION US Leadership MUST be protected by Vaccines An open letter to Congress from the Air Force Sergeants Association

This association has received numerous communications from enlisted and commissioned members of the Air Force who are concerned about the mandatory Department of Defense anthrax vaccination program.

It is impossible for this association, based upon the data presented, to totally support this program or to fully join with those who oppose it.

However, we do join with those-hopefully you are in that group-that recognize that what is happening is not good for our Armed Forces.

I’m suggesting that it is time for congressional action sponsoring legislation urging ALL congressional members to step forward and voluntarily take the anthrax inoculations-as a sign of moral leadership on this issue and, perhaps of greater importance, to promote the well-being of this nation.

As you know, the mandatory anthrax inoculation issue has, to some degree, impacted the morale of our Armed Forces and is threatening to our military’s readiness, especially the reserve forces. However, the anthrax threat should clearly be viewed as a national security concern as well. I believe that the likelihood of the use of anthrax as a weapon would most likely occur in the context of terrorist action. Terrorists are far more likely to target the leaders of this nation at all levels, including the members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. Such an attack could occur at home or as our leaders and ambassadors travel abroad. Safeguarding our national leaders is extremely important to this nation; we need to be prepared. If the anthrax vaccine being mandated by the defense department is safe and effective, it is clearly in the nation’s security interests for all national leaders to receive these inoculations.

Further, your stepping forward to voluntarily subscribe to this medical regimen would demonstrate that our government is not subjecting our servicemen and women to unnecessary, non-battlefield risks that they themselves would not be willing to take. If Congress and the administration is not willing to undergo these shots due to concern about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, morality would dictate that the program should immediately stop for servicemembers.

Therefore, I ask you to set the right tone of national leadership by sponsoring a resolution urging that our national leaders, including yourself, are protected just as are our military members. The potential for an anthrax attack is not limited to the battlefields of this world. I ask you to move now, not only to demonstrate to all military members that those who lead this nation and send them to war also believe in this anthrax vaccine program and its importance, but also to protect our congressional leaders. The logic that dictates implementation of a program for force protection also applies to the protection of those who lead our nation.

We appreciate the difficult job you do. I urgently request your commitment and a positive response which we will share with our members. As always, the members of this association are ready to support you on matters of mutual interest.

JAMES D. STATON / Executive Director _____________________________________ By Peter Kawaja : I wholeheartedly support this open letter, and encourage everyone who receives this document to forward it to EVERYONE, to all veterans organizations, and all Law Enforcement.

I am very concerned for people like President Clinton, FBI Director Louis Freeh, Janet Reno, Madeleine Albright, Cohen, ALL the doctors, staff, and head of the VA across this nation, the head of FEMA, all their staff, the National Guard, ALL civilian doctors, nurses and staff at EVERY hospital across America, Red Cross Management and all volunteers, ALL Police Officers, Fire Department personnel and so many many more. THEY ALL NEED TO VOLUNTEER to take this vaccine to ensure a SAFE America.

THOSE WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR – LET THEM HEAR THOSE WHO HAVE EYES TO SEE – LET THEM SEE Lloyd Miller, Research Director for A-albionic Research (POB 20273, Ferndale, MI 48220), a ruling class/conspiracy research resource for the entire political-ideological spectrum. Quarterly journal, book sales, rare/out-of-print searches, New Paradigms Discussion List, Weekly Up-date Lists & E-text Archive of research, intelligence, catalogs, & resources. To Discuss Ideas: mailto:lloyd@a-albionic.com http://msen.com/~lloyd/

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March 24th – 28th, Boston. Stop Genetic Engineering!

Biodevastation 2000, the largest gathering to date of anti-genetic engineering activists in the U.S. is only a few weeks away. In order to facilitate planning for workshop rooms, housing, meals, and other needs, we are urging people to register in advance. We are trying to find housing in the Boston area for those who need it, plan to provide meals for only a small donation, and are working to arrange child care. For all these reasons, we want to know if you’re coming! Housing and child care will only be available to those who register before March 10th.

Please print out the form below and return it with your registration fee sliding scale, $10 to $100; no one will be turned away) to the postal address below. For more up-to-date information, see http://www.biodev.org.

***** Biodevastation 2000 – Registration *****

The Fourth International Grassroots Gathering on Genetic Engineering: Resistance and Solutions to the Corporate Monopoly on Power, Food and Life

Please return completed form to: NERAGE, Institute for Social Ecology, 1118 Maple Hill Rd, Plainfield, VT 05667 or call (802)454-9957 for more information.

Welcome and Check-in will begin at 8:00 AM, Friday March 24 at Northeastern University’s Blackman Auditorium (a map will be provided if needed). The opening session will begin at 9:00 AM on Friday, also at Blackman Auditorium. Panels and workshops will be held throughout the day on March 24 and 25, and the morning of March 26, with evening keynote speakers and entertainment. Conference schedules and other details are available on-line at http://www.biodev.org.

**Please pre-register by March 10, 2000**

The gathering, “Biodevastation 2000,” is planned to coincide with the upcoming convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization at the Hynes Convention Center.

“Biodevastation 2000 will highlight biotechnology’s growing threat to our health, the environment and the future of our farms,” said Jessica Hayes, spokesperson for Biodevastation 2000, “Following last November’s events in Seattle, we also hope to bring the resistance against corporate globalization back to the center of public attention, as we bring diverse organizations and individuals together to express the growing rejection of genetic engineering.”

Biodevastation 2000 is the fourth in a series of international grassroots gatherings on genetic engineering that began in St. Louis in July of 1998. The theme of this year’s gathering is “Resistance and solutions to the corporate monopoly on power, food, and life.” The Biodevastation conference, to be held at Northeastern University on March 24-26th, will bring together scientists, activists, students, farmers, consumers and community leaders from around the world to explore the facts, questions, and myths behind genetic engineering and its partner, corporate globalization.

Workshops and speakers at Biodevastation 2000 will take an intensive look into the impacts of genetic engineering on human health, the environment, food and farms, and communities. Presenters will also explore ways for communities to organize and create community-centered solutions to avoid the dangerous impacts of genetic engineering. Biodevastation 2000 speakers include Vandana Shiva of India’s Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology; long time biotechnology critic Ruth Hubbard of Harvard University; and Steve Wilson and Jane Akre, former Fox TV reporters fired for their expose of Monsanto’s Bovine Growth Hormone, a genetically engineered drug used on dairy cows.

“Consumers and farmers in Europe and Asia have voiced loud objection to the life-threatening technologies of genetic engineering,” said Heather Albert-Knopp, one of the organizers from the Institute for Social Ecology’s Biotechnology Project, “While resistance against genetic engineering has been slower to materialize in the U.S., it appears the tides are beginning to turn.”

An estimated 60% of processed food contains genetically engineered ingredients, and with export markets refusing these products it is likely that U.S. consumers will be ingesting more genetically engineered food. “As people learn about the broader implications of these technologies, their reactions are often very strong. It’s not that folks in the U.S. don’t care about these issues, it’s that they don’t understand or know it is happening and that the products of genetic engineering affect them daily,” said Heather Albert-Knopp.

Biodevastation 2000 is a collaborative project of Northeast Resistance Against Genetic Engineering, Institute for Social Ecology, and People’s Earth Network; Co-sponsors include Clean Water Action, the Council for Responsible Genetics, Boston Global Action Network, Greenpeace USA, Native Forest Network, Mass PIRG, the NY State Greens, and many others.

The counter-conference will take place March 24 – 26 at Northeastern University, and will be followed by other public events including a rally and parade on Sunday, March 26th, featuring international speakers and a colorful display of larger-than-life puppets.

For more information on Biodevastation 2000 contact:

Northeast Resistance Against Genetic Engineering 802.454.9957 nerage@sover,net

Boston Biodevastation Clearinghouse 1.877.9RESIST (toll free) biod2000@jamaicaplain.com

For media related questions contact: Jessica Hayes 617.623.4715 biodevmedia@yahoo.com

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The first superweed is created.

The Western Producer, February 10, 2000

Triple-resistant canola weeds found in Alberta

By Mary MacArthur
Camrose bureau

Scientists have long said the use of herbicide-tolerant canola would eventually result in super-resistant plants.

Now they’ve been proven right.

Volunteer canola resistant to three herbicide-tolerant canola systems has been found in a field in northern Alberta.

“We knew it was going to happen,” said Alberta Agriculture canola specialist Phil Thomas.

“It was only a matter of when.”

A series of chemical and DNA tests confirm the weeds in Tony Huether’s field near Sexsmith are resistant to Roundup, Liberty and Pursuit chemicals.

It’s the first official case of natural gene stacking in canola since genetically modified canola was adopted by farmers five years ago, said Denise Maurice, agronomy manager with Westco Fertilizers, a fertilizer sales company. Stacking is the transfer of multiple genetic traits, in this case herbicide tolerance.

The discovery comes at a time when GM crops are under fire worldwide. Despite assurances from scientists, environmental groups have raised concerns about the safety of eating products made from GM crops and have expressed fears of producing a so-called superweed.

Canola scientist Keith Downey, who created modern canola, said the triple-resistant canola isn’t a great problem.

“We haven’t created a superweed or anything like that.”

Adding 2,4-D or a similar herbicide to a chemical mix will kill any wayward weeds, he added.

“I don’t think it means anything to consumers.”

Jenny Hillard, vice-president of the Consumer Association of Canada, said this will just be another “horror story” tossed about to frighten consumers.

“The backlash now is so little based on fact, I know it won’t make it any worse,” said Hillard.

“The general public hasn’t a clue of what’s going on. They’re frightened with so little science behind their fears. They need to get a handle on this or we’ll lose the whole damn technology.”

Still, farmers like Huether have begun to question the technology that led to the canola stew in his field.

The gene crossings have prompted him to stop growing genetically modified canola.

“I wouldn’t say I’d never do it again, but the way I feel, it’s for the best interest of the consumer that I don’t.”

Huether seeded two fields of canola in 1997. On the west side of a county road he planted Quest, a canola tolerant of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. On the east side of the road he planted 20 acres of Innovator, a canola tolerant of Aventis’s Liberty herbicide. The rest of the 140-acre field was planted to 45A71, a Smart canola tolerant to Cyanamid’s Pursuit and Odyssey herbicides. All are Argentine types. The two fields are about 30 metres apart.

The year after he planted the field, he discovered volunteer weeds resistant to Roundup where none had been planted. Double resistance was confirmed the first year. The next year, triple resistance was confirmed. Triple resistance can’t happen in one year, said Downey.

The mixing of all three herbicide-tolerant types has been blamed on a combination of bees and wind that carry pollen between plants in fields too close together.

Researchers now recommend at least 200 metres between genetically modified canola varieties and any other canola field to prevent gene crossing.

It’s been two years since Alberta Agriculture officials suspected there might be a chance the volunteer canola weeds are resistant to all three canola-herbicide systems, Huether said. Yet few farmers, including him, have been made aware of potential problems and results of the tests, he said.

Huether is bothered by the secrecy surrounding the field tests.

“Many plants were taken and a lot of seeds taken and grown out in the lab and sprayed with herbicide, and DNA tests done on it, and the results are not being made public. I feel that should be made public.”

Huether points his finger at the close relationship between chemical companies and government scientists.

“It’s hush hush because research is funded to a large extent by big business. I’m losing more and more confidence in the whole system of research and how things are approved.”

Carman Read, with Monsanto, said the company had nothing to do with the Alberta Agriculture study and hasn’t influenced Alberta Agriculture to withhold the results.

John Huffman, an Alberta Agriculture crop specialist who worked with Huether to identify the problems, said the report will likely be released in two weeks.

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The Oregonian

Saboteurs target high-tech crops
Foes of genetic research are leaving a trail of vandalism across the country

Thursday, February 10, 2000

By Bryan Denson of The Oregonian staff

Environmental saboteurs are vandalizing experimental crops across North America in a mounting revolt against high-tech agriculture.

The saboteurs have struck at least 20 times since July, mostly against genetically engineered fruit and vegetable plots on the West Coast. No one has been arrested. They have set back research by universities and high-tech agriculture companies from coastal California to mid-state Maine.

Mysteriously, the vandals have skipped Oregon, where hundreds of genetic researchers are at work, and serious eco-terrorist strikes have escalated in recent years.

Researchers worry that crop sabotage — and the growing international campaign against genetically modified organisms — could derail their experimentation, setting back world food production and increasing the cost of groceries. But critics say modifying the genes of plants and trees threatens the planet, potentially creating pesticide-resistant bugs and contaminating crops. They argue that world hunger can be solved with better food distribution.

Until recently, the sabotage against experimental agriculture in North America looked more like college pranks than serious crimes. Using such noms de plume as the Seeds of Resistance, vandals had slipped onto research plots to smash watermelons, flatten cornstalks, hack down walnut trees and uproot potatoes, sugar beets and strawberry plants.

But on New Year’s Eve, an FBI-recognized eco-terrorist group entered the picture.

The underground Earth Liberation Front, with strong ties to Oregon, set fire to offices in the Agriculture Hall at Michigan State University, a landmark on the East Lansing campus. In an anonymous note to its spokesman, Portland’s Craig Rosebraugh, the ELF called genetic engineering “one of the many threats to the natural world as we know it.”

The MSU fire was the first violent crime attributed to genetic engineering foes in North America.

“When I found out that the Earth Liberation Front burned down that office, I was tremendously excited,” said Dylan King, a 25-year-old San Francisco activist who publicizes the anti-genetic engineering strikes. “You know that when there’s one action, it tends to domino.”

The $400,000 Michigan blaze followed seven others set by ELF since late 1996 in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. Those earlier arsons, according to ELF’s anonymous communiqus, were to denounce logging, destruction of wilderness habitat and slaughter of wild animals.

The ELF strike at MSU put agricultural scientists on guard across the continent and spotlighted their technology. On Jan. 29, delegates from 130 nations signed an agreement in Montreal that requires nations to label export food or seeds that might include genetically modified organisms.

With foes of genetically modified foods gaining ground, some West Coast researchers are readying for this year’s growing season by purchasing motion sensors and other security devices.

Much would be lost if saboteurs hit the work of Oregon genetic researchers at the same pace of their counterparts in California, Washington and British Columbia. Oregon State University researchers are studying genetically modified tomatoes, potatoes, barley, oats, tobacco and other crops.

“I think it’s just a matter of time before Oregon is hit,” said David Barbarash, a spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, an underground group with ties to ELF.

WTO protests spotlight issue Many Americans hadn’t heard about genetically engineered crops until late last year in Seattle, where biotech foes joined riotous protests of World Trade Organization meetings. Aside from TV images of tear gas and broken windows, they saw people wearing cardboard butterfly wings — a protest against transgenic corn that kills some insects.

The debate about genetically modified foods has grown so rancorous among farmers, environmentalists, scientists and agri-tech companies that it has influenced international trade. Some viewed the recent Montreal accord as a victory for nature. The pact lets nations refuse to import genetically modified organisms they deem harmful, whether or not science supports their decision.

The backlash against genetically engineered foods went global several years ago in England, Korea, India, New Zealand and other nations. In England alone, activists have pulled up at least 110 crops since 1998, many in daylight acts of civil disobedience, said Brian Tokar, a Vermont author and environmentalist.

Some observers have concluded that recent strikes against experimental plots in the United States and Canada are merely copycat actions. But vandalism against genetically modified crops actually began in the United States at least 12 years ago.

On April 24, 1987, a biotech company prepared to spray a strawberry patch in Brentwood, Calif., with genetically engineered bacteria. The microorganisms, trade-named Frostban, were expected to reduce frost formation to extend the growing season.

The spraying was billed as the world’s first federally approved outdoor test of a genetically engineered microorganism. Environmentalists worried the microorganisms might escape the test site and harm nature.

On the morning of the field trial, the spray crew found most of the strawberry plants uprooted, the work of a group calling itself the Strawberry Liberation Front. The following month, vandals uprooted about 3,000 potato plants that were part of a Frostban field trial in Tulelake, Calif.

Vandalism escalates

Radical environmentalists turned to other issues in the late 1980s, preoccupied with campaigns to save wild lands from logging, mining and development.

Then in October 1996, Greenpeace drew national attention to genetically modified crops. The activist group sprayed an enormous pink, nontoxic “X” on an Iowa field planted with genetically engineered soybeans.

On Nov. 23, 1998, the University of California at Berkeley announced it had signed a five-year, $25 million research partnership with Novartis Agricultural Discovery Institute Inc. The Swiss pharmaceutical company would support research by the school’s department of plant and microbial biology in exchange for first rights to negotiate for a fraction of the school’s discoveries.

Three days later, a group calling itself the California Croppers played football in the school’s genetically engineered corn, knocking down stalks as a tongue-in-cheek welcome to Novartis.

“The security of the world’s food supply is at stake,” the Croppers wrote in a claim of responsibility. “Giant corporations have set mad scientists loose upon the world, and as responsible citizens and farmers, we have no choice but to stop them.”

The vandalism began anew last July. The Croppers and Reclaim the Seeds struck cornfields studied by University of California researchers. Then a group called Seeds of Resistance damaged a half-acre plot of experimental corn in Maine, and vandals cut down a small patch of insect-resistant corn in Vermont, leaving a calling card: three colorful cutouts of butterflies. In early September, the Bolt Weevils struck two seed companies in Minnesota.

Activists cheered the strikes but were dismayed when news accounts ignored or criticized them. On Sept. 12, some California environmentalists launched GenetiX Alert to promote the crimes. The project, partly financed by a Canadian anarchist group, encouraged vandals to write in so their accounts could be posted on the Internet.

Within weeks, Reclaim the Seeds struck five times at University of California research sites.

Some attacks off-target

As WTO delegates from more than 135 nations prepared to meet in Seattle on Nov. 30 to set the agenda for future talks, biotech vandals struck twice in British Columbia, damaging 4,500 experimental evergreens they said would create “Frankenforests.”

The strikes wiped out six to 15 years of scientific research, a $600,000 loss, and the trees weren’t even genetically engineered, officials said.

“The research was to reduce the need for clear-cuts and improve reforestation,” said David Goold, affiliated with Silvagen Inc., one of the victims.

Three days before the WTO opening, the Washington Tree Improvement Association struck experimental tree research sites at the University of Washington in Seattle and Washington State University’s facility in Puyallup. The vandals smashed 180 plant pots at the WSU site — ordinary raspberry plants — and hacked up 200 poplars and alders at UW in a failed attempt to disrupt research.

The miscues weren’t unusual. One in three of the 23 strikes against genetic engineering enterprises since 1987 missed the mark, The Oregonian found.

But the actual target hardly matters, said J. Scott Cameron, assistant dean of WSU’s agricultural school. Although some praise the saboteurs as modern Robin Hoods, destroying corporate crops to save the planet, Cameron sees a more sinister motive: abandonment of technology and its conveniences.

“They are speaking out against an entire lifestyle that we’ve adopted allowing other people to grow and sell us food,” said Cameron. “If people are going to choose between subsistence agriculture and iceberg lettuce and chardonnay, I think they’re going to go for the iceberg lettuce and chardonnay most of the time.”

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February 25, 2000
Five Arrested After Greenpeace Storms U.S. Ship
Filed at 10:00 p.m. ET
By Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) – British police on Saturday arrested five activists from the environmental group Greenpeace who had boarded a U.S. ship carrying genetically modified soya off Wales.

A spokesman for North Wales police said the campaigners, who stormed the ship early on Friday, would be detained overnight and questioned. Any decision on charges would be made later.

The ship, carrying 60,000 tons of soya belonging to U.S. grain giant Cargill Inc, was bound for a processing plant in Liverpool owned by the same firm.

The soya was destined to be processed into animal feed, Greenpeace said.

Cargill confirmed that the vessel, the Iolcos Grace, had a cargo of U.S. soybeans, some of which were genetically modified.

Greenpeace GM campaigner Charlie Kronick said police had used bolt cutters to remove three activists who were chained into the ship’s anchor chamber and arrested them along with two others positioned on the anchor chain on the hull.

The campaigners had blocked the anchor to stop the ship pulling it up and moving on to Anglesey to unload.

Police said there had been no struggle.

“Our concern throughout was the safety of individuals involved in this incident and we are pleased that so far no injury has been sustained to anyone,” they said in a statement.

Kronick said Greenpeace was disappointed the action had ended so quickly, but vowed to keep fighting imports of GM foods into Britain: “This is by no means the end of the story.”

Earlier Greenpeace had said it would cling onto the ship until Cargill agreed to take the soya back to the United States.

“This ship is carrying a cargo that nobody wants and most people would like to see sent home,” spokesman Jim Thomas said.

In its statement, Cargill argued that imports of genetically modified soybeans were fully regulated and had been approved as safe for use in food and feed in Britain and the rest of the European Union since 1996.

Greenpeace said it had written to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown questioning the legality of imports of GM animal feed.

Many supermarkets in Britain have pledged to label foods which contain GM elements but there is no way of knowing if products such as milk and meat have come from animals that have eaten GM feed.

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Rainforest Activists Disrupt Democratic Presidential Debate, Urge Vice President to Stop Occidental Petroleum from Drilling on U’wa Land in Colombia

Contact: Adam Weissman (212) 966-4831

New York, NY -At approximately 9:45 PM, two environmental and indigenous rights activists disrupted the democratic Presidential debate at the Apollo Theater to expose Vice-President Al Gore’s investment in Occidental Petroleum, charged with causing the genocide of the indigenous U’wa people and destroying Colombia’s rainforests. When Gore was asked a question on challenging environmental threats to communities of color, the activists rose from their seats in the Apollo balcony, interrupted Gore’s response, and challenged him to intervene to stop impending drilling on the homelands of the indigenous U’wa people in the Colombian rainforests by the oil giant Occidental Petroleum, in which Gore is a major shareholder. The debate came to a halt until the activists, Adam Weissman and Cassandra Diaz, were forcibly removed by Secret Service agents. They were ejected from the theater and released following a brief interrogation.

The disruption follows the recent deaths of three U’wa children and disappearance of 15 others during a brutal police and military raid of a nonviolent U’wa blockade of a road approaching Occidental’s controversial oil drilling site. A general strike is now in effect in the U’wa region, as rural workers respond to the Colombian National Police’s brutality to the U’wa.

The controversy stems from Occidental’s intention to drill on land traditionally used by the indigenous U’wa people, a forest-dwelling group of about 5,000 that have vowed to commit collective suicide should drilling proceed on their land. It is no idle threat, as a group of U’wa reportedly committed mass suicide 500 years ago rather than be assimilated by Spanish Conquistadors.

“Cash from Occidental investors like Gore will be used to drill on U’wa land against the tribe’s will and to pollute tropical rainforests,” said Colombian citizen Maria Gallon of Wetlands Preserve Activism Center. “As a major shareholder of Occidental Petroleum, Al Gore can influence the company to cease drilling on U’wa land.”

Gore has $500,000 invested in the company, and the company has made signficant contributions to his campaign. Gore’s father was a former board member and vice president of Occidental and much of the family’s money has come from involvement with the company, according to the protestors.

In recent weeks the U’wa occupied a drilling site adjacent to an U’wa village. On January 25, the Columbian military raided the occupied site and forcibly evicted the U’wa. Three people remain missing after the eviction action.

The U’wa consider the area in which Oxy is set to drill to be sacred. The area includes intact, endangered Andean cloud forests. The U’wa have been fighting Occidental for eight years because they fear the project will bring the same environmental destruction and violence that Occidental’s oil drilling has brought to other oil regions in Colombia, including Caño Limon, which runs just north of the U’wa’s territory and has spilled an estimated 1.7 million barrels of crude oil into nearby soil, rivers, and lakes since it was completed in 1986. The pipeline has been attacked over 500 times by leftist guerillas. Government records for 1996 show that in addition to the bombings there were 38 assassinations, 18 massacres, 31 incidents of torture, 44 kidnappings, 151 illegal detentions, 2,360 incidents of harassment, and 150 displacements of people in the region

The U’wa, who have lived in the cloud forests of Columbia for generations, have made it clear that they do not want oil drilling on what they consider to be their traditional lands. “Occidental and the government of Columbia refuse to respect the U’wa’s rights to their lands and their knowledge of their rainforests. If the vice-president intends to maintain his pro-environment reputation, he must speak out in defense of the U’wa.” stated Adam Weissman, one of the activists who interrupted Gore.

“With oil operations comes destruction,” said Roberto Afanador Cobaria, National and International Coordinator of the U’wa people. “Each area of the forest that has been developed for oil has paved the way for civil war battles, causing great violence against people and our Mother Earth.”

Occidental expects to extract 1.5 billion barrels of oil — accounting for only a little over three months of US oil consumption by the US — drilling in the contested area. The drill area is adjacent to and crosses over into a U’wa reserve legalized by the Colombian government last year. According to the tribe, the entire Samore block to which Occidental holds a contract falls within their larger ancestral territory. The U’wa were evicted from the site, known as Gibraltar 1, by army helicopters. Occidental has since brought in large trucks and roadbuilding equipment.

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Following are excerpts from the Democratic presidential debate 1/9 in Johnston, Iowa, involving Vice President Al Gore and former Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, as recorded by The New York Times:

Q. Genetically engineered products meet heavy resistance in European countries and in Japan. . . . What can we do today?

MR. BRADLEY I think the most important thing we can do is to use our authority under the World Trade Organization in order to petition to get access to markets. When, for example, Europe blocked our beef because of beef hormones, we went to the W.T.O. We formed a dispute settlement mechanism, we presented our case and they ruled in our favor. . . .

But we all know that the problem of agriculture in this country is serious. In Iowa, it’s dead serious. I’ve talked to thousands of family farmers over the last year. And it means we have to change policy.

It means we have to get the antitrust division to get after these large packers that are discriminating against family farmers. It means that we have to have a conservation reserve program expanded. It means that we have to provide income supplement to farmers based upon the relationship between price and their costs and it has to go to them with a cap so it only goes to family farmers and not to big corporate farmers.

MR. GORE The question is about genetically modified organisms, and you know the key point is we can’t let Europe and Japan determine our farm policy. The decisions . . . really ought to be based on sound science, not science controlled by people working for the companies that profit from these new technologies, but neutral, dispassionate experts who will give us the best and most accurate conclusions about their safety. If they’re safe and if they enhance productivity at no risk, then we ought to be able to use them.

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Thanks for the calendar of activist activities. Did you go to Seattle? Hey, hey, ho, ho, the WTO has got to go.

Aramintha Grant

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Can’t Come to Meeting

With gas prices as high as they are (can you believe it?) and with our having to go into the city once per week as it is, we must decline to come. You certainly have our support though. My fear is that the company or those companies which manufacture malathion will want to market it around the world also; that’s why we must stop it now here. Otherwise, it will come into the realm of True Democracy because it would be world news.

All the best,
Arlene Johnson, editor
True Democracy

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Greetings!

I am a busy, overcommitted person, but if you could keep me posted on meetings and demonstrations over this ridiculous downstream solution to a disease problem, I would really appreciate it. I am a bird watcher and a Brooklyn resident, and for both reasons I oppose my own house and all bird food in Brooklyn being coated with malathion, when some testing and precautions are really what’s called for.

Carmela M. Federico
Program Coordinator,
Sustainability Education Center
American Forum for Global Education

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Look at this! he he he! (Biljana)

(TASS) Russian timbermen and geologists will now wear NATO uniforms.

TROITSK (Chelyabinsk Region), February 25 (Itar-Tass) – Local timbermen, geologists and watchmen will now wear confiscated NATO uniforms, worth one million U.S. dollars.

Of course, these brand-new garments were not intended for Russians. They were confiscated during an attempt to smuggle them on heavy duty trucks over the Russo-Kazakh border as “humanitarian aid” for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Troitsk customs officials opened some of the cases and arrested the freight. The State Customs Committee decided to confiscate the uniforms. Now these sturdy garments and footwear will be handed over to several Russian services.

http://www.tass.ru/english/template3.htmls?id=508156&p=0

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Sam Walters, Presente

Sam Walters, Spanish Civil War/Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran, died today in Havana following a long illness. He was 82 years old.

Sam was known to many activists in New York and showed up regularly at demonstrations and on picket lines to support people’s struggles, international working class solidarity, and social justice. He never wavered in his commitment to building a communist world, and remained active until the end.

His last act of civil disobedience was to break the blockade in order to die and be buried in Cuba.

Several years ago, the Brecht Forum exhibited photographs Sam had taken in Spain during the Civil War. Most of these had been badly damaged but were restored by Diane Greene Lent. A few of them can be viewed at the Brecht Forum website:

<http://www.brechtforum.org

A memorial tribute will be planned for a future date.

Nobody knows yet what Sam died from. Doctors (Cuban and American) called it “geriatric wasting disease”, a term as ambiguous as the “common cold.” For quite a while Sam _was_ wasting away, unable to eat, yet no one was able to determine any specific etiology. We saw him several times before they went to Havana; Sam looked terrible– like a person dying of AIDS or cancer, emaciated and gaunt. Weak as he was, though, he always had been able to come out of the bedroom to say hello for a few seconds.

One visit took place the day Perez Roque (the Cuban Foreign Minister) spoke at 1199. Sam came out of the bedroom to hear about this event. Although he was barely able to speak Sam nonetheless was happy and excited to hear about it. You could see it in his face. A fighter to the end!

Anyway, the Cuban doctors are going to perform an autopsy (Tibby’s request) to see if a cause can be established more definitively.

I should have mentioned before…Sam had seen 22 different doctors, holistic and conventional, and none could figure out exactly what he had. According to various lab results Sam had the body of a healthy middle-aged man. Yet he had withered away to nothing. (By the time they left for Cuba only 2% of his body was muscle mass.) Preliminary autopsy studies show that there was no cancer or tumors; Cuban doctors think there might have been a parasitic liver condition of long standing, but nothing is final until the autopsy is complete.

Sad. Sam wuz just a beautiful, beautiful person. Always inquiring mind, never stopped thinking.

Absolutely. I remember when he discovered Meszeros’ book, Beyond Capital–not exactly coffee table reading. He was like an excited school kid, showing me underlined passages, quoting long sections, talking about points raised, analyzed, dissected. He got through that entire book, was even active in a reading group around it. Lesser types–like myself–could not have gotten through such a work with the ease Sam did (and that’s exactly what happened: I started it and put it down).

Saludos! –Bill

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DON’T EAT CANOLA OIL!

Beware of Canola Oil + Canola oil poison + Plastics As A Food Group? + Fluoride: The Silent Killer

As part of my continued interest for the safety of our food supply, I found the following particularly alarming. As a result, I’m trying to phase out all products containing canola oil from what I eat – certainly not an easy task because it is now part of so many products! As for plastic wrapping in polyvinyl chloride (PVC), this is another thing that is hard to avoid today. But no problem with the fluoride in water as I drink only spring water.

Eating healthy, organic and truly natural food more and more appears to be the only sensible alternative to playing Russian roulette with unsafe food. This is what more and more people also understand. For instance, I heard on the news this week that so many people now want to buy organically grown food in Switzerland (a 25% annual increase!) that the organic growers there cannot keep up with the demand and the supermarkets that now sell organic food must import it from France where the Agricultural Minister, following the Mad Cow Disease crisis, has pledged that his country will soon be a world leader in organic food production!…

Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000

Beware of Canola Oil By Jim Lynn – Editor EOO

Canola Oil is an Industrial Oil Not Fit For Human Consumption.

(Reprinted from Essential Oils Online)

It’s amazing to me…The more research I do, the more I see a relationship between the food we eat and fatal diseases. Canola oil is no exception. Readers of EOO are familiar with the meat industry practice of feeding rendered meat “by-products” to cattle and poultry (EOO #015), and the suspected relationship of Mad Cow Disease to CJD and Alzheimer’s Disease (EOO #016). Now comes information that Canola Oil is the suspected causative agent for Scrapie, a viral disease transmitted to cattle who were fed rendered sheep infected with Scrapie. Both Scrapie and Mad Cow Disease destroy the brain’s ability to function. They literally eat the brain away, causing blindness, loss of mind and erratic behaviour.

Canola oil’s real name is “LEAR” oil (Low Erucic Acid Rape). it is more commonly known as “rape oil,” a semi-drying oil that is used as a lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base, and as an illuminant to give color pages in magazines their slick look. In short it is an industrial oil that does not belong in the human body. It is typically referred to in light industry as a penetrating oil.

Back in the 1980’s, rape oil was widely used in animal feeds in England and throughout Europe. It was banned in 1991. Since then, Scrapie in sheep has totally disappeared.

While that’s good for Europeans, it is bad for Americans because the problem is now ours. Rape seed oil (Canola oil) is widely used in thousands of processed foods…with the blessings of our own government.

Canola oil was first developed in Canada. Its proponents claim that due to genetic engineering and irradiation, it is no longer rape oil, but “canola” (Canadian oil). They also claim it is completely safe, pointing to its unsaturated structure and digestibility. Although I could not verify it, it is claimed the Canadian government paid the FDA the sum of $50 million dollars to have canola oil placed on the GRAS list (Generally Recognized As Safe). However it was done, a new industry was created.

The truth is, however, that rape is the most toxic of all food oil plants. Not even insects will eat it. No wonder farmers like growing it. It turns out that rape is a member of the mustard family of plants, and is the source for the chemical agent, mustard gas, which causes blistering on skin and lungs when inhaled. Mustard Gas was banned after WWI for this very reason.

Studies of canola oil done on rats indicate many problems. Rats developed fatty degeneration of heart, kidney, adrenals and thyroid gland. When the canola oil was withdrawn from their diet, the deposits dissolved, but scar tissue remained on the organs. Why were no studies done on humans before the FDA placed it on the GRAS list?

Consumed in food, Canola oil depresses the immune system, causing it to “go to sleep.” Canola oil is high in glycosides which cause health problems by blocking (inhibiting) enzyme function. Its effects are accumulative, taking years to show up. One possible effect of long term use is the destruction of the protective coating surrounding nerves called the mylin [myelin?] sheath. When this protective sheath is gone, our nerves short-circuit causing erratic, uncontrollable movements.

To test the industrial penetrating strength of canola oil, soak a towel in both canola oil and regular vegetable oil. Pre-treat and wash the towel in your clothes washer and compare the area the two oils occupied…you will notice an oil stain remains on the area soaked in canola oil. It is so durable, it could take several washings to completely remove. Now if this is how canola oil penetrates the fabric of a towel, what damage can it do in our body?

Because canola oil is so cheap, it is now widely used in the food industry. If you are curious, just read a few food labels the next time you are in the grocery store. A good example can be found with commercially prepared peanut butter. In order to give peanut butter its spreadability, Jiffy, Peter Pan and Skippy brands remove ALL of the natural peanut oil and replace it with canola oil. Natural peanut butter should only have peanuts and salt listed in the ingredients.

If you want to use natural peanut butter, it’s available in most stores next to the canola peanut butter. Stir the contents to mix the oil and peanuts together then store in the refrigerator. The cold temperature will prevent the peanut oil from separating. Best of all, you will have eliminated at least one source of a potential food hazard.

Food consumers have headaches enough, without worrying about a toxic plant oil being added to their food. The problem is you will find canola oil in bread, margarines, and all manner of processed foods. But the consumer is king. Be informed and make it a practice to read what goes into your food. Avoid using canola as a cooking oil and salad oil. It is not a healthy oil.

Resources:

http://www.1999.com/canola/ http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/1158/UPDATE.HTM

Perceptions, Aug/Sep 96 issue, The Great Canola Debate Perceptions, Nov/Dec 95 issue, The Devil’s Bargain Book, Fats That Heal and Fats That Kill, by Udo Erasmus

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Canola oil poison, #2

Millions of people have suffered the loss of thelr vision from glaucoma, a disease involving atrophy (deterioration) of the optic nerve. For years, “experts” have been telling us that glaucoma results from fluid-pressure buildup in the eye that causes the optic nerve to deteriorate. This theory was based on an incorrect medical model: They were wrong!

Now, the experts have admitted that this is not true and have given birth to a new theory. According to it, glaucoma is instead caused by a deficiency of of oxygen and blood flow. Finally they are on the right trail. In the end, they will discover that glaucoma is the result of insufficient blood flow due to agglutination (clumping together) of the red blood cells and waste buildup in the cells and intercellular fluids.

These blood-corpuscle clusters cannot squeeze through the extremely tiny capillaries in the posterior of the eye, so cannot deliver oxygen to the mitochondria (1). This is what the problem has been all along, and if people continue to eat soy (2) and canola oils, a lot more of them are going to experience vision irregularities – like retinitis and macula lutea (3) degeneration.

Death of the mitochondria in the cells in the posterior of the eye is due to oxygen starvation, sodium toxicity and waste accumulation. When the mitochondria die, the cells die and the posterior eye tissues atrophy. In this respect, glaucoma has much in common with hair loss, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and hearing problems.

There are several things a person can do to reverse these debilitating conditions. Biologically friendly water (4) is basic to all rejuvenation, as is fresh, viable food. Detoxification of the tissues and body fluids is accomplished with yucca extract, Kombucha tea,(5) PACs (6) and colon therapy.

Rape Seed Oil or “Canola”?

Canola is a coined word. It appeared out of nowhere and is not listed in any but the most recent reference sources.

The flip side of the canola coin reads: “rape”! You must admit that canola sounds better than rape. The name canola disguised the introduction of rape oil to America.

Canola oil comes from the rape seed, which is part of the mustard family of plants. Rape is the most toxic of all food-oil plants. Like soy, rape is a weed. Insects will not eat it; it is deadly poisonous! The oil from the rape seed is a hundred times more toxic than soy oil.

Canola is a semi-drying oil that is used as lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base, and as an illuminant for the slick color pages you see in magazines. It is an industrial oil and does not belong in the body!

Canola oil has some very interesting characteristics and effects on living systems. For example, it forms latex-like substances that agglutinate the red blood corpuscles, as does soy, but much more pronounced. Loss of vision is a known, characteristic side effect of rape oil which antagonizes the central and peripheral nervous systems – again like soy oil, again worse. The deterioration takes years, however. Rape (canola) oil causes emphysema respiratory distress, anemia, constipation, irritability and blindness in animals – and humans. Rape oil was widely used in animal feeds in England and Europe between 1986 and 1991 when it was thrown out. You may remember reading about the cows, pigs and sheep that went blind, lost their minds, attacked people and had to be shot.

A woman called me from Chicago to tell me that she had been in England when the “Mad Cow Disease” had been at its peak. She said that she had seen a television news report that told people not to panic if they had been using rape oil in their diet and were over 65 years of age. The “experts” added that the effects of rape oil ingestion takes at least 10 years to manifest, and in all likelihood, most of these people would be dead by then anyway. Comforting!

In the reports I read, the “experts” blamed the behavior on a viral disease called scrapie. However, when rape oil was removed from animal feed, “scrapie” disappeared.

No longer a European livestock problem; now it is ours. U.S. farmers grow rape seed, and manufacturers use its oil (canola) in thousands of processed foods, with the blessings of government watchdog agencies, of course.

Officially, canola oil is known as LEAR oil – Low Erucic Acid, Rape. Industry experts love to tell how canola was developed in Canada and that it is safe to use. They admit it was developed from the rape seed, but that through genetic engineering, i.e. irradiation [sic], it is no longer rape seed, but “canola” instead. [“Canadian oil”, get it?] They love to talk about canola’s qualities – its unsaturated structure (Omega 3, 6, 12), its wonderful digestibility and its fatty acid makeup. They turn us against naturally saturated oils and fats, while they come to the rescue with canola oil. They even tell us how Asia has warmly embraced canola due to its distinctive flavor. Isn’t it wonderful how internationalists brokers “help” third-world peoples? Reminds me of the introduction of the microwave oven.

An earthly expression from the Old West sums up the flimflam accompanying rape oil’s rebirth and promotion worldwide: “horseshit and gun smoke!”. Its new name provided the perfect cover for commercial interests wanting to make billions in the United States. The euphemism is still very much in use, but is no longer needed. Look at the ingredients list on peanut butter labels. The peanut oil has been removed and replaced with rape oil.

Chemical Warfare

Rape oil is also the source of the infamous chemical-warfare agent, mustard gas, which was banned after blistering the lungs and skin of hundreds of thousands of solders and civilians during WWI. Recent French reports indicate that it was again used during the gulf war.

Between 1950 and 1953, white mustard(rape) seed was irradiated in Sweden to increase seed production and oil content. Irradiation is the process the experts want use to make our food “safe” to eat. Genetically engineered fruits and vegetables – which will soon have innocent things like hepatitis-B spliced into their DNA – are another example of man’s misuses of technology and abuse of public trust by powerful interests and “head-in-the-sand” watchdog agencies.(8)

Canola oil contains large amounts of *isothiocyanates* – cyanide-containing compounds. Cyanide inhibits mitochondrial production of adenosine triphosphate(ATP), which is the energy molecule that fuels the mitochondria. ATP energy powers the body and keeps us healthy and young!

Canola Oil and the Metabolism

Many substances can bind metabolic enzymes and block their activity in the body. In biochemistry, theses substances are called inhibitors.

Toxic substances in canola and soy oils encourage the formation of molecules with covalent bonds which are normally irreversible: They cannot be broken by the body once they have formed.

For example, consider the pesticide malathion.*9* It binds to the active site of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase and stops this enzyme from doing its job, which is to divide acetylcholine into choline andacetate.

Nerve Function

Organophosphates

Acetylcholine is critical to nerve-impulse transmission. When acetylcholinesterase is inhibited, as by pesticide residues, nerve fibers do not function normally, and muscles do not respond.

For example, think of a garage door opener: If its signal is not received, the door does not open. worth one’s body, the hand or leg is ordered to move, but does not respond. Recently there has been a tremendous increase in disorders like systemic lupus, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, “Myelinoma” (10) pulmonary hypertension and neuropathy. Soy and canola oils are players in the outbreak of these disease conditions. So are the organophosphates, insecticides such as malathion used in food production in the name of efficiency.

Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors cause paralysis of the striated(skeletal) muscles and spasms of the respiratory system. That is why malathion is the pesticide of choice by the experts; it kills insects by paralysis – just like rotenone from soy beans does! It inhibits the insect’s enzymes and those of humans, too!

Agents Orange and Blue that were used in Viet Nam to defoliate jungle cover are also organophosphorus compounds. The Viet Nam vets and the Vietnamese people know about them firsthand. Government experts who okayed their use and chemical companies that manufactured them have finally owned up to their toxic effects on people and the environment. Nonetheless, present-day experts in academia and government continue to bamboozle the public with stories of “safe” science and cheap food through the use of poisons.

Canola oil is also high in glycosides that cause serious problems by blocking enzyme function and deprive us of our life force – chi, qi, prana, call it what you like.

Glycosides interfere with the biochemistry of humans and animals. Their presence in rattlesnake venom inhibits muscle enzymes and causes instant immobilization of the victim.

Canola Oil, HIV, AIDS

Soy canola oil glycosides also depress the immune system – the T cells- to go into a stupor and fall asleep on the job. These oils alter the bioelectric *terrain* and promote disease.

The Cancer/Trans-Fatty Acid Connection – Known in 1949!

In orthodox cancer research, renowned cancer researchers, among them, Nobel Prize winner, V. Euler of Stockholm, wrote and published a book in 1949 in which they concluded that if the numerous and diverse symptoms associated with various types of cancer were reduced to one common denominator, it would be that “the fat lacks the ability to integrate in the living tissue”. “Trans-Fatty acid is the name of the fat that lacks this ability – it is bad fat.

Non-Spoiling, “Spreadable” Oils Are Destroying Our Health

Since 1902, Western countries have resorted to chemical process to destroy the “unsaturatedness” of vegetable oils. It is done to make them easier to handle; easier to market; and to preserve them so they will not spoil so quickly. In the early 1900s, clever advertisements hailed its “spreadability” – exclaiming that what everyone was waiting for was “a spreadable fat”! Although the destruction of the essential elements of the fat was originally well intended – to prevent it from spoiling – the methods of processing fats are destroying our health. Avoid any vegetable oil that is labeled “hydrogenated”, or “partially hydrogenated”, as this oil contains 100% Trans-fatty acid!

Why Are We Still Being “Sold” Trans-Fatty Acid?

Food manufacturing is a big, profitable business and employs many highly skilled lobbyists. The new U.S. labeling laws do not list “Trans-Fatty acid” because the large food manufacturers spent billions of dollars to pay for lobbyists to keep “Trans-fatty acid” off the labels.

“Cold Pressed” labeling means nothing in the U.S. All commercial oils and nut butters sold in U.S. Supermarkets contain Trans-fatty acid – this is because the U.S. government allows heat treated and high pressure squeezed vegetable oil to be used and even labeled “Cold Processed”. The Italian government passed a law that olive oil must be protected from heat and high pressure.

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CANNABIS INGREDIENT DOES RELIEVE MS, SAY RESEARCHERS
By John von Radowitz, Science Correspondent, PA News

Scientists have shown for the first time that an active ingredient in cannabis dramatically reduces some of the most distressing symptoms of multiple sclerosis, it was disclosed today.

For more than a decade there have been anecdotal reports from MS sufferers who have taken cannabis illegally that the drug has a therapeutic effect. But until now scientific evidence for the claims has been absent. Today a team of British scientists reported findings which show that a psychoactive compound in cannabis can prevent muscle tremor and spasticity caused by MS.

They also demonstrated that synthetic chemicals mimicking the compound have a similar effect, pointing the way to the development of new pharmaceutical drugs. On Monday a separate team of Spanish scientists showed that the same active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), destroys malignant brain tumours in laboratory rats.

The new results will add to growing calls to legalise cannabis for medical use – although the scientists say the most significant outcome may be a move away from cannabis to designing artificial drugs. The researchers used mice given an animal equivalent of MS which produces the same disease pattern and symptoms seen in humans.

Typically someone with MS suffers a series of episodes of paralysis, with periods of remission in between. As the disease progresses symptoms of spasticity, or muscle rigidity, and severe tremors may appear which can have a devastating effect on the sufferer’s quality of life.

In the study, carried out at the Institute of Neurology at University College London, mice were injected with the cannabinoid THC as well as three synthetic compounds. One, methanandamide, was similar to a cannabinoid produced naturally in the body. All had a significant ability to reduce both tremor and spasticity. A synthetic compound called WIN55 proved the most effective against tremors, halting uncontrolled limb movements in as little as one minute. Dr David Baker, one of the UCL scientists, said: “The effect was really startling. It was a question of now you see the tremor, now you don’t.” The targets for the compounds were two cannabinoid receptors – docking points where molecules of the right shape interlock and produce biological effects – found in the brain and spinal cord. Blocking the receptors with other chemicals not only prevented the therapeutic action of the compounds, but made the existing symptoms much worse.

The scientists concluded that a natural control mechanism was being interfered with as well as the effect of the compounds. This suggested that the purpose of the receptors — and the natural cannabinoid which bound on to them — was to maintain motor control.

Dr Baker said: “We believe one of their functions is to provide a protective filter mechanism to limit excess neuroexcitation. In a normal animal or human being it provides fine control over motor function.”

One implication is that it may prove possible to boost levels of the natural cannabinoid, in the same way that anti-depressant drugs lift levels of chemicals in the brain associated with mood. The same receptors are also found in the pain centres of the spinal cord.

One of the claimed health benefits cannabis is said to have is pain relief.

Co-author Dr Lorna Layward, from the Multiple Sclerosis Society, said: “This is the first time that we have had any objective scientific evidence that cannabinoid-like compounds have a therapeutic effect on some of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.”

She said there was a “crying need” for new drugs because current treatments were either not very effective or caused severe side-effects. Tremor was particularly difficult to treat and could be severely disabling. “I’ve seen people with tremor so severe that they have to lie with their arms behind their backs,” said Dr Layward. “The symptoms may be so violent that they can actually break limbs. People cannot feed themselves or get dressed by themselves. It affects their whole lives.”

She said it would probably be several years before the current research could be translated into pharmaceutical products. A Medical Research Council clinical trial is currently looking at the effect of cannabis and THC on spasticity in 600 MS patients. The trial will not produce results for about two more years.

About 85,000 people in the UK have MS. The highest incidence in the world is in Scotland, where one in 500 people have the disease. The reason is thought to be partly genetic.

***************************************************** Dear friends,

I tried to write this letter to you last night, but the level of sadness in me would not allow me to sit at this keyboard and compose these words.

How much more can my hometown take? How much more do the people we love have to suffer? How much? How much?? HOW MUCH!

Isn’t it enough that tens of thousands of lives in Flint have been wrecked, destroyed by the greed of General Motors? Isn’t it enough that my wife and I and tens of thousands of others who love our home — love it more than any of you will ever know — have had to leave Flint in the past 20 years to find work far from family and friends? Isn’t it enough that Flint suffers the highest or near-highest per capita rates of murder, rape and theft in the nation?

What else do the people of Flint have to go through while the rest of country mouths the propaganda of the evening news claiming “the economy is the best ever!”? The top 10 percent just get richer and richer and the next 30 percent of you keep the CNBC stock ticker on your screens all day and toss out all sections of the daily paper but the pages that tell you how well your portfolio did yesterday.

I thought there was nothing else left for Flint to go through. Like Job, it seemed that every imaginable sorrow had been visited upon its people. I guess I was wrong.

I look up at the TV and a helicopter is hovering over a school while the words “Buell Elementary” flash on the screen.

Buell? Buell! At the end of “The Big One,” when I twisted Nike chairman Phil Knight’s arm to match my $10,000 contribution to the kids of Flint — that $20,000 went to Buell Elementary.

Yesterday, a 6-year old boy brought a semi-automatic gun to that very school in Flint and killed a 6-year old girl in their first grade classroom.

Six years old.

A little girl whose name was Kayla Rolland.

That’s about the only thing the national media got right about the story. Twenty satellite trucks now ring the school, but with all that technology, they cannot find the way to bring you the truth. Of course, they have been spun and snookered by the local officials in Flint who try to hide from the responsibility they share in Flint’s destruction any time a tragedy like this happens.

You have probably heard that this school shooting took place out in the “suburbs,” in a place called “Mount Morris Township”… “somewhere near Flint.”

There is no such place.

Buell Elementary, where the shooting took place, is in the Flint Beecher school district, the poorest school district in Genesee County, Michigan, and perhaps the poorest in the entire state. Eighty-two percent of its children, according to the federal government, live below the “official” poverty level (meaning the number of kids in total poverty is even higher).

Beecher is Flint’s dump. It is where you go when you have nothing left to your name. 60 percent black, 40 percent white. No municipality in Genesee County wants to govern Beecher, so it exists as a No Man’s Land on the northern city limits of Flint. It covers a small portion of two different townships (one of which is where my wife Kathleen is from). But folks, when you hear the word “township” used in the case of Beecher, those of us from Flint mean it in the way the word was used in South Africa. Buell Elementary in the Flint Beecher school district has a Flint address and a Flint phone number, but the black officials from Flint on the news yesterday tried to point out that “this school really isn’t in Flint!” It is amazing how deep oppression takes its roots when even black leaders find themselves in bed with General Motors and, like Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, repeatedly deny that people of their own race have anything to do with them.

Poor, poor Flint. The media blowhards babble on about how “this is the youngest child to kill another child in a school shooting” and the few anchors who started to look at their own helicopter shots showing the school sitting in the middle of a bombed-out neighborhood commented that “this is actually the first of all these school shootings we’ve had lately that has taken place in an ‘urban’ school.” Wow. Two records for Flint in one day.

When I was a senior in high school, the assistant principal of Beecher High — the first black man in the area to hold such a position — became despondent over his inability to quell the racial disturbances in the school, so one night he went home, wrote a heartfelt letter to the kids in the district, then put a gun in his mouth and blew his brains out. As my friend, Jeff Gibbs, who went to Beecher, told me last night, it’s sad that the only two times that Beecher receives the attention of the nation is because of a gun. (Jeff’s letter to me can be read in full by going to http://www.michaelmoore.com/jgibbs.html).

I heard from relatives last night that the family of the little boy who killed the girl had been evicted from their home just last week. Evicted, I wonder, by Deputy Fred, who 10 years after “Roger & Me,” still spends his day at the behest of Flint’s landlords.

Homeless and fatherless (his dad is in jail as 30 percent of all black men in America will be at some point in their lives), the boy was staying at his uncle’s. In the house were guns, as there are in virtually every home in this devastated and desperate area. The gun, that the boy found and took to school, was not some “junk gun,” the kind that Al Gore promises to get rid of. It was a gun with a brand name bought initially at a sporting goods store (I wonder, were the bullets bought at K-Mart, as they were at Columbine?).

How do Mr. McCain and Mr. Bush feel this morning? Just seven days prior, John McCain’s “Straight Talk Express” bus rolled past Beecher on I-75, but it didn’t stop. It rolled on down near Ann Arbor where McCain blasted those who seek gun control, saying that he opposes ANY ban on ANY assault weapon, and opposes ANY waiting period for a background check when one purchases a gun. Mr. Bush never stopped in Flint either.

I guess we all feel sorta proud that they both avoid us like the plague. There is not — and has not for nearly thirty years — been a single Republican state or federal representative elected from Flint. Another reason, I suppose, for our neglect and punishment. But we’re proud of how we’ve made it almost a crime to support a Republican in Flint, proud of the fact we elected the country’s first black mayor in the ’60s, proud that we voted for Jesse Jackson 9 to 1 over Michael Dukakis in 1988 (and 4 to 1 for Jesse in Flint’s all-white suburbs). So I guess the gun crazy presidential candidates made the right decision to take their hate-filled campaigns elsewhere. And, in the end, I was proud to see that the people of Michigan, like the people in Minnesota, have kept their sense of humor intact as a way to express their sense of outrage. 51 percent of those who showed up to vote in the Republican primary were Democrats and Independents! They took the time to go the polls to plunk down for McCain just to, in good ol’ working class fashion, stick it to the Bush with the silver spoon in his mouth.

I’ll end by repeating what I have said many times before — the handguns have to go. 16,000 gun murders last year in the US and 15,500 were killed by someone they knew (husband, boyfriend, neighbor) or by someone at work. Approximately 500 were killed by a stranger who broke into their home and 300 of those were killed by their OWN gun. Those are the facts. Easy access to guns by a species that often responds irrationally and with intense emotions is a lethal combination. Great Britain, a nation of 60 million people with a violent history of conquering the world at the barrel of a gun and now full of drunks and hotheads who eat up violent American movies and TV shows — last year they killed a grand total of 12 — that’s TWELVE! — of their own citizens with handguns. That’s because handguns are TOTALLY banned. Let the hunters keep their rifles after a serious background check, but the handguns, whose only purpose is to take a human life, must go. The Brits have done it, the Australians have done it, the Canadians have done it. Even New York City mostly did it — and the number of murders there has dropped from 2,200 a year to 600.

We look like a bunch of idiots. Let’s do something about it and about the poverty in which so many kids still dwell. We have never been in a better place to make it happen than right now.

What are we waiting for? Another Kayla Rolland? God help you if you ever have to live in a township that no town will claim and is forgotten by everyone else as soon as the next gun nut enters a McDonald’s and a Burger king on the same day. Fried or flame-broiled, it’s all our own unique American Hell.

On behalf of the six of us from Flint who work on The Awful Truth, Michael Moore

MMFlint@aol.com http://www.michaelmoore.com/

P.S. — If you would like to contribute to the Kayla Rolland Memorial Fund please send donations to:
Kayla Rolland Memorial Fund,
c/o Calvary Assembley of God
2518 Delaware Avenue
Flint, MI 48506