Rachel's News #847
rudkla - 24. Mär, 16:38
News & Views
Freitag, 24. März 2006
DANGEROUS CHEMICALS IN FOODS
https://www.askmen.com/sports/foodcourt_100/141_eating_well.html
Editor's Note: Perhaps some may want to write Sabrina that illness claims about aspartame are true. Wonder if she knows that in 1993, the FDA was forced to reveal under the Freedom of Information Act, 92 symptoms caused by aspartame from headache to seizure to blindness to coma to death (No. 77 on the list)!
Dangerous Chemicals In Foods
By Sabrina Rogers
For thousands of years, humans ate only fresh food; fruits, vegetables, grains, and meat went straight from the wilderness or the field to our plates. Today, a majority of foods found on supermarket shelves in North America are loaded with potentially harmful chemical additives, preservatives and other dangerous substances.
But just how dangerous are artificial sweeteners? How about antioxidant preservatives? And what's the deal with all those weird-sounding ingredients you can't even pronounce? Some food additives aren't necessarily dangerous for everyone and others need more testing before a definite verdict can be established, but some can without a doubt pose serious health risks. Read on to find out which additives you shouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole.
Note: The following additives are all legal in the United States.
preservatives
Propyl gallate An antioxidant preservative that prolongs the life of fats and oils -- such as in vegetable oil, chewing gum, meat products, and chicken soup base
--
propyl gallate may cause cancer. It is often used with BHA and BHT (see below).
BHA & BHT Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) also delay rancidity in fats, oils, and foods that contain oils, such as cereals, chewing gum, vegetable oil, and potato chips. Some studies have shown that both BHA and BHT cause cancer in rats. Since they can easily be replaced by safer alternatives like vitamin E or packing under nitrogen instead of air, or even be completely left out, there is no reason to take the chance; avoid these chemicals as much as possible.
Sodium nitrite & sodium nitrate Sodium nitrite is added to cured meat like cold cuts and hot dogs to keep their color and to give them flavor; sodium nitrate can be used for the same purpose, as it breaks down into sodium nitrite. In addition to their preservative functions, they are used to prevent botulism, a deadly disease transmitted through food.
Unfortunately, during the digestive process, they form cancer-causing nitrosamines in our intestines. Given this fact, most foods that contain sodium nitrite are also pumped with vitamin C derivatives like ascorbate or sodium erythrobate, as vitamin C prevents nitrosamines from forming. However, if you're still worried, avoid food containing sodium nitrite or eat vitamin C-rich foods -- such as oranges, broccoli, green peppers, and Brussels sprouts -- at the same time.
artificial sweeteners
Saccharin This sweetener, commercially known as Sweet'N Low, is 350 times sweeter than sugar; it is used in many diet foods and soft drinks, and as a tabletop sugar substitute. Several animal studies have shown that it causes cancer of the bladder, uterus, ovaries, blood vessels, skin, and various other organs. Even a significant study conducted by the National Cancer Institute found that it does indeed cause bladder cancer.
Although there was much pressure from different groups for further studies to explore the potential dangers of aspartame, it wasn't until 2005 that a new study was released. It found that even small doses of the sweetener increased the occurrence of lymphoma and leukemia, and occasionally caused brain tumors in rats. Although more research is still needed, avoid it to stay on the safe side.
There has been an ongoing battle between the FDA and the diet-food industry over the past 10 years regarding the ban or use of warning labels on products containing saccharin, but as of 2000, all warnings were removed. However, evidence shows that it is probably safer to stay away from it.
Acesulfame-K Acesulfame-K is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used around the world in baked goods, soft drinks, chewing gum, and gelatin desserts. Although early studies showed no health risks, they were not the most reliable experiments. Since then, two separate studies on rats have shown that it may cause cancer. Although further tests are needed, it is recommended to avoid acesulfame-K altogether.
An added concern is that the breakdown product of acesulfame-K known as acetoacetamide affects the thyroid in rats, dogs and rabbits when administered in large amounts; however, there is no proof that the amounts found in food are dangerous.
Aspartame Aspartame is found in the name brands Equal and NutraSweet; it is composed of methanol and two amino acids. Although originally believed to be the perfect artificial sweetener, it caused brain tumors in rats in certain studies conducted in the 1970s.
Although there was much pressure from different groups for further studies to explore the potential dangers of aspartame, it wasn't until 2005 that a new study was released. It found that even small doses of the sweetener increased the occurrence of lymphoma and leukemia, and occasionally caused brain tumors in rats. Although more research is still needed, avoid it to stay on the safe side.
However, do not believe the claims that can be found all over the Internet regarding the wide variety of illnesses caused by aspartame; most of them have never been proven.
artificial colorings
Blue 1 & Blue 2 Blue 1 is a coloring used in candy, beverages and baked goods. Although more research is needed, some studies have shown a small cancer risk, so it is wise to steer clear of it.
Blue 2 can be found in pet food, candy and beverages. It hasn't been proven without a doubt, but studies have suggested that it causes brain tumors in mice.
Red 3 Used in fruit cocktail cherries, baked goods and candy, there is some evidence that Red 3 causes thyroid tumors in rats. Although it is unclear if this could also be the case in humans, it is a possibility.
Yellow 6 Found in beverages, baked goods, sausages, candy, and gelatin, Yellow 6 is the third most widely used of all food colorings. It has been shown to cause adrenal gland and kidney tumors, and it contains small amounts of many carcinogens. However, after review, the FDA concluded that it isn't a significant cancer risk for humans, but it may still be wise to avoid it.
eat fresh
Although most of these additives have not been proven without a doubt to be dangerous, and there are many more that could be added to this list, it is safer to stay away from the aforementioned chemicals as much as possible. Read the labels; if you have a choice between a bag of potato chips that contains BHA and BHT, and one that doesn't, choose the latter. Or better yet, why don't you just go for some fresh veggies and dip, and you'll avoid the processed ingredients altogether.
and
Chemical toxicity and its affect on YOU
https://www.indybay.org/news/2006/03/1810514.php
Informant: Scott Munson
--------
Pill-Popping Society Fouling Our Water, Official Says
https://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0324-01.htm
Benzene in Some Soft Drinks Prompts Call for Halt on Sales in Schools
https://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0323-04.htm
Polluters Contaminating America’s Waters: 62 Percent Exceed Pollution Limits in Recent 18-Month Period
https://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0323-09.htm
Editor's Note: Perhaps some may want to write Sabrina that illness claims about aspartame are true. Wonder if she knows that in 1993, the FDA was forced to reveal under the Freedom of Information Act, 92 symptoms caused by aspartame from headache to seizure to blindness to coma to death (No. 77 on the list)!
Dangerous Chemicals In Foods
By Sabrina Rogers
For thousands of years, humans ate only fresh food; fruits, vegetables, grains, and meat went straight from the wilderness or the field to our plates. Today, a majority of foods found on supermarket shelves in North America are loaded with potentially harmful chemical additives, preservatives and other dangerous substances.
But just how dangerous are artificial sweeteners? How about antioxidant preservatives? And what's the deal with all those weird-sounding ingredients you can't even pronounce? Some food additives aren't necessarily dangerous for everyone and others need more testing before a definite verdict can be established, but some can without a doubt pose serious health risks. Read on to find out which additives you shouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole.
Note: The following additives are all legal in the United States.
preservatives
Propyl gallate An antioxidant preservative that prolongs the life of fats and oils -- such as in vegetable oil, chewing gum, meat products, and chicken soup base
--
propyl gallate may cause cancer. It is often used with BHA and BHT (see below).
BHA & BHT Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) also delay rancidity in fats, oils, and foods that contain oils, such as cereals, chewing gum, vegetable oil, and potato chips. Some studies have shown that both BHA and BHT cause cancer in rats. Since they can easily be replaced by safer alternatives like vitamin E or packing under nitrogen instead of air, or even be completely left out, there is no reason to take the chance; avoid these chemicals as much as possible.
Sodium nitrite & sodium nitrate Sodium nitrite is added to cured meat like cold cuts and hot dogs to keep their color and to give them flavor; sodium nitrate can be used for the same purpose, as it breaks down into sodium nitrite. In addition to their preservative functions, they are used to prevent botulism, a deadly disease transmitted through food.
Unfortunately, during the digestive process, they form cancer-causing nitrosamines in our intestines. Given this fact, most foods that contain sodium nitrite are also pumped with vitamin C derivatives like ascorbate or sodium erythrobate, as vitamin C prevents nitrosamines from forming. However, if you're still worried, avoid food containing sodium nitrite or eat vitamin C-rich foods -- such as oranges, broccoli, green peppers, and Brussels sprouts -- at the same time.
artificial sweeteners
Saccharin This sweetener, commercially known as Sweet'N Low, is 350 times sweeter than sugar; it is used in many diet foods and soft drinks, and as a tabletop sugar substitute. Several animal studies have shown that it causes cancer of the bladder, uterus, ovaries, blood vessels, skin, and various other organs. Even a significant study conducted by the National Cancer Institute found that it does indeed cause bladder cancer.
Although there was much pressure from different groups for further studies to explore the potential dangers of aspartame, it wasn't until 2005 that a new study was released. It found that even small doses of the sweetener increased the occurrence of lymphoma and leukemia, and occasionally caused brain tumors in rats. Although more research is still needed, avoid it to stay on the safe side.
There has been an ongoing battle between the FDA and the diet-food industry over the past 10 years regarding the ban or use of warning labels on products containing saccharin, but as of 2000, all warnings were removed. However, evidence shows that it is probably safer to stay away from it.
Acesulfame-K Acesulfame-K is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used around the world in baked goods, soft drinks, chewing gum, and gelatin desserts. Although early studies showed no health risks, they were not the most reliable experiments. Since then, two separate studies on rats have shown that it may cause cancer. Although further tests are needed, it is recommended to avoid acesulfame-K altogether.
An added concern is that the breakdown product of acesulfame-K known as acetoacetamide affects the thyroid in rats, dogs and rabbits when administered in large amounts; however, there is no proof that the amounts found in food are dangerous.
Aspartame Aspartame is found in the name brands Equal and NutraSweet; it is composed of methanol and two amino acids. Although originally believed to be the perfect artificial sweetener, it caused brain tumors in rats in certain studies conducted in the 1970s.
Although there was much pressure from different groups for further studies to explore the potential dangers of aspartame, it wasn't until 2005 that a new study was released. It found that even small doses of the sweetener increased the occurrence of lymphoma and leukemia, and occasionally caused brain tumors in rats. Although more research is still needed, avoid it to stay on the safe side.
However, do not believe the claims that can be found all over the Internet regarding the wide variety of illnesses caused by aspartame; most of them have never been proven.
artificial colorings
Blue 1 & Blue 2 Blue 1 is a coloring used in candy, beverages and baked goods. Although more research is needed, some studies have shown a small cancer risk, so it is wise to steer clear of it.
Blue 2 can be found in pet food, candy and beverages. It hasn't been proven without a doubt, but studies have suggested that it causes brain tumors in mice.
Red 3 Used in fruit cocktail cherries, baked goods and candy, there is some evidence that Red 3 causes thyroid tumors in rats. Although it is unclear if this could also be the case in humans, it is a possibility.
Yellow 6 Found in beverages, baked goods, sausages, candy, and gelatin, Yellow 6 is the third most widely used of all food colorings. It has been shown to cause adrenal gland and kidney tumors, and it contains small amounts of many carcinogens. However, after review, the FDA concluded that it isn't a significant cancer risk for humans, but it may still be wise to avoid it.
eat fresh
Although most of these additives have not been proven without a doubt to be dangerous, and there are many more that could be added to this list, it is safer to stay away from the aforementioned chemicals as much as possible. Read the labels; if you have a choice between a bag of potato chips that contains BHA and BHT, and one that doesn't, choose the latter. Or better yet, why don't you just go for some fresh veggies and dip, and you'll avoid the processed ingredients altogether.
and
Chemical toxicity and its affect on YOU
https://www.indybay.org/news/2006/03/1810514.php
Informant: Scott Munson
--------
Pill-Popping Society Fouling Our Water, Official Says
https://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0324-01.htm
Benzene in Some Soft Drinks Prompts Call for Halt on Sales in Schools
https://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0323-04.htm
Polluters Contaminating America’s Waters: 62 Percent Exceed Pollution Limits in Recent 18-Month Period
https://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0323-09.htm
rudkla - 24. Mär, 11:13
Donnerstag, 23. März 2006
Kabinett verspielt beim Entwurf zum Urheberrecht die Weichenstellung für die Zukunft und kriminalisiert die Schulhöfe
Zum gestrigen Kabinettsentwurf des sogenannten “zweiten Korbs” der Urheberrechtsnovelle drückt der Chaos Computer Club e.V. (CCC) seine tiefe Enttäuschung über das kurzsichtige Handeln der Bundesregierung und ihre weitgehende Ignoranz gegenüber Verbraucherinteressen aus. Nach Ansicht des CCC führt insbesondere die Streichung der Bagatellklausel aus dem Entwurf zu einer Kriminalisierung breiter Bevölkerungsschichten. Den Buchstaben des Entwurfes folgend müsste es nach Inkrafttreten des Gesetzes zu einer Verhaftungswelle auf den Schulhöfen kommen.
Mit dem Kabinettsentwurf wird deutlich, dass die Lobbymacht der Rechteverwerter am Ende stark genug war, um Jusitizministerin Brigitte Zypries (SPD) einknicken zu lassen. Die von ihr selbst als Kompromiss in die Debatte eingebrachte Bagatellklausel für das geringfügige Anbieten und Herunterladen von Medien in Dateitauschdiensten fehlt nun vollständig. Weitere Verbraucherrechte werden in dem Entwurf ebenfalls nicht beachtet, das Papier liest sich streckenweise wie eine Wunschliste der Unterhaltungsindustrie. Weiterhin bleibt das Lippenbekenntnis zur Privatkopie bestehen, die Verbraucherrechte laufen allerdings sofort ins Leere, wenn die Industrie ihre Produkte mit Digitalem Rechtemanagement (DRM) ausstattet und das Anfertigen von Kopien somit zur strafbaren “Umgehung von Kopierschutzmechanismen” macht.
Auf weitere Probleme mit DRM für die Verbraucher geht der Entwurf ebenfalls nicht ein. Nach Ansicht des CCC fehlt das klare Bekenntnis zu Interoperabilität und Datenschutz. So schreibt der Entwurf – anders als im Nachbarland Frankreich kürzlich beschlossen – nicht vor, dass beim Einsatz von DRM Hersteller auch Schnittstellen bereitstellen müssen, um DRM-behaftete Medien zu sichern. Der Verbraucher muss in Kauf nehmen, dass er seine digitale Musiksammlung mit DRM verliert, wenn sein Abspielgerät kaputt geht. Auch dem Streben der Industrie, DRM zum Ausspähen von Kunden einzusetzen, muss ein Riegel vorgeschoben werden. Informationen aus DRM dürfen nicht benutzt werden, die Art und Weise sowie die Intensität des privaten Werkgenusses aufzuzeichnen oder an eine zentrale Stelle zu übermitteln. Dabei handelt es sich nicht um Gedankenspiele. Ende 2005 brachte die Firma Sony mehrere DRM-behaftete CDs auf den Markt, die auf den Computern von nichtsahnenden Verbrauchern virenähnliche Schadprogramme einnisteten. Eine generelle Kennzeichnungspflicht für mit DRM versehene Medien ist dringend geboten. In Form und Gestaltung sollte sich diese an den Warnhinweisen auf Zigarettenpackungen orientieren.
Der Chaos Computer Club fordert die verantwortlichen Politiker in den Ausschüssen und in Bundestag und Bundesrat auf, dem vorliegenden Gesetzesentwurf nicht zuzustimmen. Die Folgen für die Zukunft der digitalen Gesellschaft wären fatal. Verbraucherrechte wie Datenschutz und das Recht auf Privatkopie dürfen nicht hinter Industrieinteressen zurückstehen. Ein in sich widersprüchlicher Gesetzentwurf, der einerseits ein bisschen Privatkopie erlaubt, andererseits jede “Umgehung” kriminalisiert und den Rechteverwertern einen Blankoscheck in Sachen DRM ausstellt, ist nicht hinnehmbar. Anstatt den Startschuss zu geben zu einer zu erwartenden Überlastung der Gerichte durch die massenhafte Verfolgung meist jugendlicher Filesharer, muss die Politik in erster Linie den Verbraucher vor einer immer hemmungsloser werdenden Rechteverwerterlobby schützen.
Mit dem Kabinettsentwurf wird deutlich, dass die Lobbymacht der Rechteverwerter am Ende stark genug war, um Jusitizministerin Brigitte Zypries (SPD) einknicken zu lassen. Die von ihr selbst als Kompromiss in die Debatte eingebrachte Bagatellklausel für das geringfügige Anbieten und Herunterladen von Medien in Dateitauschdiensten fehlt nun vollständig. Weitere Verbraucherrechte werden in dem Entwurf ebenfalls nicht beachtet, das Papier liest sich streckenweise wie eine Wunschliste der Unterhaltungsindustrie. Weiterhin bleibt das Lippenbekenntnis zur Privatkopie bestehen, die Verbraucherrechte laufen allerdings sofort ins Leere, wenn die Industrie ihre Produkte mit Digitalem Rechtemanagement (DRM) ausstattet und das Anfertigen von Kopien somit zur strafbaren “Umgehung von Kopierschutzmechanismen” macht.
Auf weitere Probleme mit DRM für die Verbraucher geht der Entwurf ebenfalls nicht ein. Nach Ansicht des CCC fehlt das klare Bekenntnis zu Interoperabilität und Datenschutz. So schreibt der Entwurf – anders als im Nachbarland Frankreich kürzlich beschlossen – nicht vor, dass beim Einsatz von DRM Hersteller auch Schnittstellen bereitstellen müssen, um DRM-behaftete Medien zu sichern. Der Verbraucher muss in Kauf nehmen, dass er seine digitale Musiksammlung mit DRM verliert, wenn sein Abspielgerät kaputt geht. Auch dem Streben der Industrie, DRM zum Ausspähen von Kunden einzusetzen, muss ein Riegel vorgeschoben werden. Informationen aus DRM dürfen nicht benutzt werden, die Art und Weise sowie die Intensität des privaten Werkgenusses aufzuzeichnen oder an eine zentrale Stelle zu übermitteln. Dabei handelt es sich nicht um Gedankenspiele. Ende 2005 brachte die Firma Sony mehrere DRM-behaftete CDs auf den Markt, die auf den Computern von nichtsahnenden Verbrauchern virenähnliche Schadprogramme einnisteten. Eine generelle Kennzeichnungspflicht für mit DRM versehene Medien ist dringend geboten. In Form und Gestaltung sollte sich diese an den Warnhinweisen auf Zigarettenpackungen orientieren.
Der Chaos Computer Club fordert die verantwortlichen Politiker in den Ausschüssen und in Bundestag und Bundesrat auf, dem vorliegenden Gesetzesentwurf nicht zuzustimmen. Die Folgen für die Zukunft der digitalen Gesellschaft wären fatal. Verbraucherrechte wie Datenschutz und das Recht auf Privatkopie dürfen nicht hinter Industrieinteressen zurückstehen. Ein in sich widersprüchlicher Gesetzentwurf, der einerseits ein bisschen Privatkopie erlaubt, andererseits jede “Umgehung” kriminalisiert und den Rechteverwertern einen Blankoscheck in Sachen DRM ausstellt, ist nicht hinnehmbar. Anstatt den Startschuss zu geben zu einer zu erwartenden Überlastung der Gerichte durch die massenhafte Verfolgung meist jugendlicher Filesharer, muss die Politik in erster Linie den Verbraucher vor einer immer hemmungsloser werdenden Rechteverwerterlobby schützen.
rudkla - 23. Mär, 15:20
Campact-Newsletter 6/06
Auszug:
Donnerstag, 23. März 2006
Es schreibt: Christoph Bautz
In 10 Tagen lädt Angela Merkel zum Energiegipfel ins Kanzleramt. Wirtschaftsminister Glos macht Druck, dass dort das Thema Atomausstieg diskutiert wird. Dabei ist klar: Wir müssen aussteigen und zwar schnell.
Anti-Atom-Aktion: Tempos an die Atomlobby!
Abschied nehmen kostet Tränen! Wir verschicken in Ihrem Auftrag Postkarten mit Tempo-Taschentüchern an Merkel, Glos und die Chefs der Atomkonzerne. Mit denen können sie ihre Tränen beim Abschied von der Atomkraft trocknen. Unser Signal: Macht mehr Tempo beim Atomausstieg!
Machen Sie mit: https://www.campact.de/atom/mehrtempo
Atom: Die Gipfelspiele - unfairer geht es kaum
Frau Merkel hat 22 Gäste zum Energiegipfel geladen - fast nur Vertreter der Atom- und Energiekonzerne sowie der energieverbrauchenden Industrie. Ausgerechnet sie sollen ein zukunftsfähiges Energiekonzept entwickeln. Fair play ist out. Wir zeigen mit einer Animation, wer beim Energiegipfel gegen wen antritt: Endliche gegen Erneuerbare Energien, Dezentrale gegen zentrale Energieversorgung, Konzerne gegen Verbraucherinteressen, Atomlobby gegen Umweltverbände. Die unfairen Mannschaftsaufstellungen der Gipfelspiele finden Sie unter:
https://www.campact.de/atom/mannschaftsaufstellung
Schicken Sie die Mannschaftsaufstellungen als E-Card an Freunde und Bekannte und weisen Sie diese auf unsere Kampagne hin.
1. > Nebeneinkünfte: Nach der Lammert-Aktion
Es war ein eindrucksvolles Zeichen. Innerhalb von 3 Tagen haben sich mehr als 2.100 Teilnehmer/innen per E-Mail beim Bundestagspräsidenten über die angekündigte Verschiebung der Veröffentlichungspflicht für Politiker-Nebeneinkünfte beschwert. Viele haben ihm zudem Faxe geschickt oder ihn angerufen. Nach diesem Einstieg müssen wir den Druck verstärken!
Haben Sie schon Ihre Wahlkreisabgeordneten um Unterstützung gebeten? https://www.campact.de/nebenekft/abg1/abgmail
Der Abgeordnete Florian Pronold (SPD) ist der Aufforderung von Campact-Aktiven aus seinem Wahlkreis gefolgt und schrieb Lammert: 'Ich habe für Ihr Vorgehen keinerlei Verständnis. Der Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung der Angaben steht nicht im Ermessen des Bundestagspräsidenten, vielmehr sind Sie an geltendes Recht und Gesetz gebunden.'
Lesen Sie selbst: https://www.campact.de/nebenekft/home
2. > Nebeneinkünfte: 'Verschiebung ist offener Gesetzesbruch'
Der Staatsrechtler Prof. Hans Herbert von Arnim nennt die Entscheidung Lammerts, die Veröffentlichung der Nebeneinkünfte auszusetzen bis Klagen dagegen beim Verfassungsgericht entschieden sind, die 'Ankündigung eines offenen Gesetzesbruchs'. Von Arnim gegenüber Campact: 'Der Bundestagspräsident ist nicht befugt, die Anwendung des Gesetzes auszusetzen.'
Lesen Sie das Interview unter: https://www.campact.de/nebenekft/infos/interv
3. > Atom: Interview mit Gudrun Pausewang, Autorin von 'Die Wolke'
Gudrun Pausewang hat vor 20 Jahren kurz nach der Katastrophe von Tschernobyl den Roman 'Die Wolke' geschrieben. Jetzt ist die Verfilmung in die Kinos gekommen. Im Campact-Interview gibt Pausewang Auskunft wie ihr der Film gefällt, wie Menschen für den Widerstand gegen Atomkraft zu motivieren sind und welche Menschen ihr Hoffnung machen.
Zum Interview: https://www.campact.de/atom/pausewang
4. > Atom: Infoaktion zum Spielfilm 'Die Wolke'
Zehntausende sehen in diesen Tagen den Spielfilm. In 50 Städten erwarten sie Campact- und ausgestrahlt-Aktive, die sie mit Postkarten auffordern, bei Campact aktiv zu werden gegen Atomkraft. Verteilen auch Sie Postkarten vor einem Kino in Ihrer Nähe.
Nähere Infos finden Sie unter https://www.campact.de/atom/wolke
5. > Mehrwertsteuer: Viele Abgeordnete antworten auf E-Mails von
Campact-Aktiven
Am 27. März wird die Erhöhung der Mehrwertsteuer im Rahmen des Haushaltsbegleitgesetzes in den Bundestag eingebracht. Dann müssen die Parlamentarier darüber entscheiden. In den letzten zwei Wochen haben weitere 1.000 E-Mails Abgeordnete von Campact-Aktiven aus ihrem Wahlkreis erreicht.
Wir haben eine Übersicht erstellt: https://www.campact.de/mwst/infos/antworten
Wenn auch Sie Antworten erhalten haben, schicken Sie diese uns doch bitte: info@campact.de
6. > Neue Mitarbeiter/innen für das Campact-Team in Verden gesucht
Weitere Infos: https://www.campact.de/campact/help/stellen
Empfehlen Sie Campact weiter!
Wir wollen noch bekannter werden. Helfen Sie uns dabei, in dem Sie Campact Freund/innen, Bekannten und Kolleg/innen empfehlen. Gemeinsam können wir noch mehr erreichen. https://www.campact.de/campact/help/recommend
Campact e.V. Artilleriestr. 6
27283 Verden info@campact.de
Donnerstag, 23. März 2006
Es schreibt: Christoph Bautz
In 10 Tagen lädt Angela Merkel zum Energiegipfel ins Kanzleramt. Wirtschaftsminister Glos macht Druck, dass dort das Thema Atomausstieg diskutiert wird. Dabei ist klar: Wir müssen aussteigen und zwar schnell.
Anti-Atom-Aktion: Tempos an die Atomlobby!
Abschied nehmen kostet Tränen! Wir verschicken in Ihrem Auftrag Postkarten mit Tempo-Taschentüchern an Merkel, Glos und die Chefs der Atomkonzerne. Mit denen können sie ihre Tränen beim Abschied von der Atomkraft trocknen. Unser Signal: Macht mehr Tempo beim Atomausstieg!
Machen Sie mit: https://www.campact.de/atom/mehrtempo
Atom: Die Gipfelspiele - unfairer geht es kaum
Frau Merkel hat 22 Gäste zum Energiegipfel geladen - fast nur Vertreter der Atom- und Energiekonzerne sowie der energieverbrauchenden Industrie. Ausgerechnet sie sollen ein zukunftsfähiges Energiekonzept entwickeln. Fair play ist out. Wir zeigen mit einer Animation, wer beim Energiegipfel gegen wen antritt: Endliche gegen Erneuerbare Energien, Dezentrale gegen zentrale Energieversorgung, Konzerne gegen Verbraucherinteressen, Atomlobby gegen Umweltverbände. Die unfairen Mannschaftsaufstellungen der Gipfelspiele finden Sie unter:
https://www.campact.de/atom/mannschaftsaufstellung
Schicken Sie die Mannschaftsaufstellungen als E-Card an Freunde und Bekannte und weisen Sie diese auf unsere Kampagne hin.
1. > Nebeneinkünfte: Nach der Lammert-Aktion
Es war ein eindrucksvolles Zeichen. Innerhalb von 3 Tagen haben sich mehr als 2.100 Teilnehmer/innen per E-Mail beim Bundestagspräsidenten über die angekündigte Verschiebung der Veröffentlichungspflicht für Politiker-Nebeneinkünfte beschwert. Viele haben ihm zudem Faxe geschickt oder ihn angerufen. Nach diesem Einstieg müssen wir den Druck verstärken!
Haben Sie schon Ihre Wahlkreisabgeordneten um Unterstützung gebeten? https://www.campact.de/nebenekft/abg1/abgmail
Der Abgeordnete Florian Pronold (SPD) ist der Aufforderung von Campact-Aktiven aus seinem Wahlkreis gefolgt und schrieb Lammert: 'Ich habe für Ihr Vorgehen keinerlei Verständnis. Der Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung der Angaben steht nicht im Ermessen des Bundestagspräsidenten, vielmehr sind Sie an geltendes Recht und Gesetz gebunden.'
Lesen Sie selbst: https://www.campact.de/nebenekft/home
2. > Nebeneinkünfte: 'Verschiebung ist offener Gesetzesbruch'
Der Staatsrechtler Prof. Hans Herbert von Arnim nennt die Entscheidung Lammerts, die Veröffentlichung der Nebeneinkünfte auszusetzen bis Klagen dagegen beim Verfassungsgericht entschieden sind, die 'Ankündigung eines offenen Gesetzesbruchs'. Von Arnim gegenüber Campact: 'Der Bundestagspräsident ist nicht befugt, die Anwendung des Gesetzes auszusetzen.'
Lesen Sie das Interview unter: https://www.campact.de/nebenekft/infos/interv
3. > Atom: Interview mit Gudrun Pausewang, Autorin von 'Die Wolke'
Gudrun Pausewang hat vor 20 Jahren kurz nach der Katastrophe von Tschernobyl den Roman 'Die Wolke' geschrieben. Jetzt ist die Verfilmung in die Kinos gekommen. Im Campact-Interview gibt Pausewang Auskunft wie ihr der Film gefällt, wie Menschen für den Widerstand gegen Atomkraft zu motivieren sind und welche Menschen ihr Hoffnung machen.
Zum Interview: https://www.campact.de/atom/pausewang
4. > Atom: Infoaktion zum Spielfilm 'Die Wolke'
Zehntausende sehen in diesen Tagen den Spielfilm. In 50 Städten erwarten sie Campact- und ausgestrahlt-Aktive, die sie mit Postkarten auffordern, bei Campact aktiv zu werden gegen Atomkraft. Verteilen auch Sie Postkarten vor einem Kino in Ihrer Nähe.
Nähere Infos finden Sie unter https://www.campact.de/atom/wolke
5. > Mehrwertsteuer: Viele Abgeordnete antworten auf E-Mails von
Campact-Aktiven
Am 27. März wird die Erhöhung der Mehrwertsteuer im Rahmen des Haushaltsbegleitgesetzes in den Bundestag eingebracht. Dann müssen die Parlamentarier darüber entscheiden. In den letzten zwei Wochen haben weitere 1.000 E-Mails Abgeordnete von Campact-Aktiven aus ihrem Wahlkreis erreicht.
Wir haben eine Übersicht erstellt: https://www.campact.de/mwst/infos/antworten
Wenn auch Sie Antworten erhalten haben, schicken Sie diese uns doch bitte: info@campact.de
6. > Neue Mitarbeiter/innen für das Campact-Team in Verden gesucht
Weitere Infos: https://www.campact.de/campact/help/stellen
Empfehlen Sie Campact weiter!
Wir wollen noch bekannter werden. Helfen Sie uns dabei, in dem Sie Campact Freund/innen, Bekannten und Kolleg/innen empfehlen. Gemeinsam können wir noch mehr erreichen. https://www.campact.de/campact/help/recommend
Campact e.V. Artilleriestr. 6
27283 Verden info@campact.de
rudkla - 23. Mär, 14:13
Dienstag, 21. März 2006
The Meatrix - How factory farms undercut public health
https://www.themeatrix.com/
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FACTORY FARMS
The Meatrix film highlighted four ways in which factory farms affect us – animal welfare, antibiotic resistant bacteria, pollution and destroyed communities. Factory farms also affect us in many other ways – find out information on the wide range of factors that contribute to the devastating impacts of industrial agriculture.
https://www.themeatrix.com/information/
--------
MEAT-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HOW FACTORY FARMS UNDERCUT PUBLIC HEALTH
By Mark Winne
In These Times
March 22, 2006
https://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2525/
How factory farms undercut public health
By Mark Winne
The sorry gaze of a factory farm commodity.
Drive through Don Oppliger’s Feed Yard in Clovis, New Mexico, and you’ll see 35,000 head of beef cattle confined to pens that stretch across the flat, barren landscape.
The constant shuffling of hooves raises a bacteria-laden dust cloud that’s carried by the prevailing winds into west Texas, where it joins the plumes of hundreds of other feedlots. At one end of the complex sits a giant lagoon that catches the operation’s chemicals, urine, antibiotics and other effluvia. In the narrow strip of land that separates the fencing from the road lie the carcasses of dead cows (a.k.a. “downers”), eyes bugged out, tongues dangling and bellies bloated in the summer heat.
Moving from bovine to porcine, factory hog farms generate an odor so intense it would knock a buzzard off a shit-wagon. In cramped warehouse structures, as many as 20,000 hogs are confined for their entire lives. After five months, the mature hogs are sent off to the slaughterhouse to have their throats slit and carcasses dipped in chemical vats to loosen their skins. According to Anita Poole, legal counsel for the Oklahoma-based Kerr Center, which has fought that state’s takeover by the hog industry, “The average Joe Blow who might stumble into a hog facility would never want to eat pork again.”
U.S. shoppers spend less on food as a percentage of their total annual expenditures than anyone else in the world. But this is because factory livestock farms—labeled “concentrated animal feeding operations” (CAFOs) by government agencies—don’t pay for the natural resources they have squandered, the farm labor they have maltreated, the declining health of residents who live near their operations, or the animals that have been exploited far beyond their biological capabilities.
Texas County is in Oklahoma’s Panhandle region. In 1990 it had 11,000 hogs. Today, according to the Kerr Center, the number has swollen to more than one million. For a region that was in economic decline, the offer by Seaboard Farms to locate an industrial-style hog operation held out the promise of reinvigorating the flagging economy, creating desperately needed jobs and re-filling the empty school desks.
But it came with a price. Seaboard demanded and received $60 million in local and state government assistance. This worked out to $27,552 per new job, a tolerable sum if the jobs paid $20 per hour, but the average hourly Seaboard wage was less than $8. In spite of the low wages, the deal might have been justified if the community received a commensurate growth in tax revenues. But by the time the county completed the financing deal with Seaboard, they had agreed to taxes of $9,700 per year until 2017 on a business site valued at $100 million. Even after Seaboard agreed to pay $175,000 annually to the district’s school board for the next 25 years, this still amounted to the county forgoing $120,000 per year.
Factory hog operations not only pay a meager return on a community’s investment, they also extract a high price from the surrounding region. With Seaboard’s influx of jobs came an increase in population, which in turn brought about a sharp rise in crime. From 1990 to 1997, crime in Texas County increased by 74 percent compared to a 12 percent decline in other rural Oklahoma counties. And factory farm workers in the West and Midwest are increasingly Mexican immigrants, only about half of whom are legally documented. They bring with them a host of needs that these rural communities are unequipped to handle.
But the worst problems are created by the ungodly amount of manure—an estimated 15 million pounds per day in Texas County. Because of water run-off from factory farms, both groundwater and surface water quality have declined. Even worse, the Ogallala Aquifer upon which the region depends for its water is being depleted at a rapid rate. The Oklahoma Water Resource Board reported that water levels in many Texas County wells have dropped 50 to 100 feet over the last 30 years, due in large part to the high water demand of factory hog operations and the irrigated farmland that supports them.
Across the nation, factory farms of all types are wreaking environmental havoc. A 1995 North Carolina manure spill killed 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal shellfish beds. In 2004 the Iowa Department of Natural Resources recorded ammonia levels near a hog factory that were six times the recommended health standard. In California’s San Joaquin Valley, air pollution from factory dairy farms is a major reason that the region’s children have asthma rates three times the national average. In eastern New Mexico—the state’s factory dairy farm belt—recent research discovered antibiotic-resistant bacteria in dairy yards. For these reasons, the American Public Health Association has urged all levels of government to impose a moratorium on new CAFOs until a comprehensive environmental and health assessment can be conducted.
Herein lies the rub. The same government and private industry partnership that brought CAFOs to America’s marginalized rural communities is highly invested in not just keeping them there, but in seeing them metastasize. Through lax environmental regulations or the under-funding of agencies charged with regulating CAFOs, state governments have fostered CAFO-friendly policies at the public’s expense. To further protect their flank, factory farm interests have worked aggressively in state legislatures to restrict the ability of local government to keep CAFOs out of their communities. And just to be sure, New Mexico’s dairy industry considers it an act of “civic duty” for its farmer members to “serve” on local commissions and boards.
The halls of academe have likewise been compromised by CAFO industry “donations” to universities. Rather than use their scientific talents to assess the impact of CAFOs, research faculty are required to solve the industry’s problems (e.g., disposing of Himalayan mountains of manure). In 1998, New Mexico State University researcher Stephen Arnold found serious air and water quality problems near dairy operations in southern New Mexico. When the results were released through professional journals and conferences, the dairy industry complained so vehemently to the university that Arnold abandoned his research. And the Kerr Center’s Poole reports, “Oklahoma State University won’t do community impact research because of all the money they get from the pork industry.”
Barely 5 percent of U.S. farms now raise 54 percent of the country’s beef and dairy cattle. Corporations now produce 98 percent of all poultry. Small to mid-size family livestock farms are going the way of the dodo. While “local food movements” and a resurgent interest in grass-fed and free-range animal production are gaining traction and deserve our full support, they will never be enough to stem the “blood-dimmed tide” of the livestock industry.
Are the research reports, the scientific studies, and the occasional manure spill only isolated “factoids” in an otherwise benign landscape of inevitable agricultural modernization? Or is the increasing flow of data and the growing number of incident reports the proverbial canary in a coal mine? A recent World Watch Institute paper pronounced, “Factory Farms are breaking the cycle between small farmers, their animals and the environment, with collateral damage to human health and local communities.” And the Washington Post reported on North Carolina State University professor C.M. “Mike” Williams, who has spent five years researching how to treat manure from the state’s 10 million hogs. He concluded, “I do not feel that system [of factory hog farms] is long-term sustainable.”
Dr. Charles Benbrook, a former executive director of the Board of Agriculture for the National Academy of Science, shares Williams’ assessment. After years spent studying the dairy industry, Benbrook says he is “perplexed” by the growth of gargantuan dairy farms west of the Mississippi where subsidized water supplies in an otherwise dry landscape have made the expansion of dairy herds feasible—in the short term. In the long term, says Benbrook, further expansion of factory dairy farms “doesn’t make sense and is patently unsustainable because water will become too costly, and in not less than five years, but surely no more than 20, the dairy waste stream will overwhelm the absorptive capacity of the local environment.”
In other words, our food system may be looking at a doomsday denouement before the middle of this century. It is becoming increasingly certain that the water will run out, the land will no longer absorb the torrent of nutrient waste spread upon it, and the over-bred, antibiotic and hormone-injected animals will eventually succumb to their natural limitations. Poole puts it this way, “The factory system of food production will simply implode.” Until the citizens of the heartland rise up in sufficient numbers to hold their government and the corporations accountable, this is both the best and worst we can hope for.
THE MEATRIX 2
The Meatrix 2 has Launched!!!
It's been two years since Free Range produced the runaway hit and winner of the Webby award, "The Meatrix." Now, the action packed sequel is here!
Follow Moopheus, Leo and Chickity as they dive deeper into the Meatrix to uncover the the truth about factory farming.
Suggested: first watch: The Meatrix (1) https://www.themeatrix.com
and then see part two right afterwards!
The Meatrix 2: Revolted https://www.meatrix2.com
OLD BIG BROTHER HAD A FARM
https://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/33967/
Informant: NHNE
--------
LOVE OF NATURE, OUTDOOR SPORTS, & THE GRIM FUTURE
https://www.newswithviews.com/Levant/nancy33.htm
--------
Life's diversity 'being depleted'
https://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4826262.stm
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FACTORY FARMS
The Meatrix film highlighted four ways in which factory farms affect us – animal welfare, antibiotic resistant bacteria, pollution and destroyed communities. Factory farms also affect us in many other ways – find out information on the wide range of factors that contribute to the devastating impacts of industrial agriculture.
https://www.themeatrix.com/information/
--------
MEAT-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX HOW FACTORY FARMS UNDERCUT PUBLIC HEALTH
By Mark Winne
In These Times
March 22, 2006
https://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2525/
How factory farms undercut public health
By Mark Winne
The sorry gaze of a factory farm commodity.
Drive through Don Oppliger’s Feed Yard in Clovis, New Mexico, and you’ll see 35,000 head of beef cattle confined to pens that stretch across the flat, barren landscape.
The constant shuffling of hooves raises a bacteria-laden dust cloud that’s carried by the prevailing winds into west Texas, where it joins the plumes of hundreds of other feedlots. At one end of the complex sits a giant lagoon that catches the operation’s chemicals, urine, antibiotics and other effluvia. In the narrow strip of land that separates the fencing from the road lie the carcasses of dead cows (a.k.a. “downers”), eyes bugged out, tongues dangling and bellies bloated in the summer heat.
Moving from bovine to porcine, factory hog farms generate an odor so intense it would knock a buzzard off a shit-wagon. In cramped warehouse structures, as many as 20,000 hogs are confined for their entire lives. After five months, the mature hogs are sent off to the slaughterhouse to have their throats slit and carcasses dipped in chemical vats to loosen their skins. According to Anita Poole, legal counsel for the Oklahoma-based Kerr Center, which has fought that state’s takeover by the hog industry, “The average Joe Blow who might stumble into a hog facility would never want to eat pork again.”
U.S. shoppers spend less on food as a percentage of their total annual expenditures than anyone else in the world. But this is because factory livestock farms—labeled “concentrated animal feeding operations” (CAFOs) by government agencies—don’t pay for the natural resources they have squandered, the farm labor they have maltreated, the declining health of residents who live near their operations, or the animals that have been exploited far beyond their biological capabilities.
Texas County is in Oklahoma’s Panhandle region. In 1990 it had 11,000 hogs. Today, according to the Kerr Center, the number has swollen to more than one million. For a region that was in economic decline, the offer by Seaboard Farms to locate an industrial-style hog operation held out the promise of reinvigorating the flagging economy, creating desperately needed jobs and re-filling the empty school desks.
But it came with a price. Seaboard demanded and received $60 million in local and state government assistance. This worked out to $27,552 per new job, a tolerable sum if the jobs paid $20 per hour, but the average hourly Seaboard wage was less than $8. In spite of the low wages, the deal might have been justified if the community received a commensurate growth in tax revenues. But by the time the county completed the financing deal with Seaboard, they had agreed to taxes of $9,700 per year until 2017 on a business site valued at $100 million. Even after Seaboard agreed to pay $175,000 annually to the district’s school board for the next 25 years, this still amounted to the county forgoing $120,000 per year.
Factory hog operations not only pay a meager return on a community’s investment, they also extract a high price from the surrounding region. With Seaboard’s influx of jobs came an increase in population, which in turn brought about a sharp rise in crime. From 1990 to 1997, crime in Texas County increased by 74 percent compared to a 12 percent decline in other rural Oklahoma counties. And factory farm workers in the West and Midwest are increasingly Mexican immigrants, only about half of whom are legally documented. They bring with them a host of needs that these rural communities are unequipped to handle.
But the worst problems are created by the ungodly amount of manure—an estimated 15 million pounds per day in Texas County. Because of water run-off from factory farms, both groundwater and surface water quality have declined. Even worse, the Ogallala Aquifer upon which the region depends for its water is being depleted at a rapid rate. The Oklahoma Water Resource Board reported that water levels in many Texas County wells have dropped 50 to 100 feet over the last 30 years, due in large part to the high water demand of factory hog operations and the irrigated farmland that supports them.
Across the nation, factory farms of all types are wreaking environmental havoc. A 1995 North Carolina manure spill killed 10 million fish and closed 364,000 acres of coastal shellfish beds. In 2004 the Iowa Department of Natural Resources recorded ammonia levels near a hog factory that were six times the recommended health standard. In California’s San Joaquin Valley, air pollution from factory dairy farms is a major reason that the region’s children have asthma rates three times the national average. In eastern New Mexico—the state’s factory dairy farm belt—recent research discovered antibiotic-resistant bacteria in dairy yards. For these reasons, the American Public Health Association has urged all levels of government to impose a moratorium on new CAFOs until a comprehensive environmental and health assessment can be conducted.
Herein lies the rub. The same government and private industry partnership that brought CAFOs to America’s marginalized rural communities is highly invested in not just keeping them there, but in seeing them metastasize. Through lax environmental regulations or the under-funding of agencies charged with regulating CAFOs, state governments have fostered CAFO-friendly policies at the public’s expense. To further protect their flank, factory farm interests have worked aggressively in state legislatures to restrict the ability of local government to keep CAFOs out of their communities. And just to be sure, New Mexico’s dairy industry considers it an act of “civic duty” for its farmer members to “serve” on local commissions and boards.
The halls of academe have likewise been compromised by CAFO industry “donations” to universities. Rather than use their scientific talents to assess the impact of CAFOs, research faculty are required to solve the industry’s problems (e.g., disposing of Himalayan mountains of manure). In 1998, New Mexico State University researcher Stephen Arnold found serious air and water quality problems near dairy operations in southern New Mexico. When the results were released through professional journals and conferences, the dairy industry complained so vehemently to the university that Arnold abandoned his research. And the Kerr Center’s Poole reports, “Oklahoma State University won’t do community impact research because of all the money they get from the pork industry.”
Barely 5 percent of U.S. farms now raise 54 percent of the country’s beef and dairy cattle. Corporations now produce 98 percent of all poultry. Small to mid-size family livestock farms are going the way of the dodo. While “local food movements” and a resurgent interest in grass-fed and free-range animal production are gaining traction and deserve our full support, they will never be enough to stem the “blood-dimmed tide” of the livestock industry.
Are the research reports, the scientific studies, and the occasional manure spill only isolated “factoids” in an otherwise benign landscape of inevitable agricultural modernization? Or is the increasing flow of data and the growing number of incident reports the proverbial canary in a coal mine? A recent World Watch Institute paper pronounced, “Factory Farms are breaking the cycle between small farmers, their animals and the environment, with collateral damage to human health and local communities.” And the Washington Post reported on North Carolina State University professor C.M. “Mike” Williams, who has spent five years researching how to treat manure from the state’s 10 million hogs. He concluded, “I do not feel that system [of factory hog farms] is long-term sustainable.”
Dr. Charles Benbrook, a former executive director of the Board of Agriculture for the National Academy of Science, shares Williams’ assessment. After years spent studying the dairy industry, Benbrook says he is “perplexed” by the growth of gargantuan dairy farms west of the Mississippi where subsidized water supplies in an otherwise dry landscape have made the expansion of dairy herds feasible—in the short term. In the long term, says Benbrook, further expansion of factory dairy farms “doesn’t make sense and is patently unsustainable because water will become too costly, and in not less than five years, but surely no more than 20, the dairy waste stream will overwhelm the absorptive capacity of the local environment.”
In other words, our food system may be looking at a doomsday denouement before the middle of this century. It is becoming increasingly certain that the water will run out, the land will no longer absorb the torrent of nutrient waste spread upon it, and the over-bred, antibiotic and hormone-injected animals will eventually succumb to their natural limitations. Poole puts it this way, “The factory system of food production will simply implode.” Until the citizens of the heartland rise up in sufficient numbers to hold their government and the corporations accountable, this is both the best and worst we can hope for.
THE MEATRIX 2
The Meatrix 2 has Launched!!!
It's been two years since Free Range produced the runaway hit and winner of the Webby award, "The Meatrix." Now, the action packed sequel is here!
Follow Moopheus, Leo and Chickity as they dive deeper into the Meatrix to uncover the the truth about factory farming.
Suggested: first watch: The Meatrix (1) https://www.themeatrix.com
and then see part two right afterwards!
The Meatrix 2: Revolted https://www.meatrix2.com
OLD BIG BROTHER HAD A FARM
https://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/33967/
Informant: NHNE
--------
LOVE OF NATURE, OUTDOOR SPORTS, & THE GRIM FUTURE
https://www.newswithviews.com/Levant/nancy33.htm
--------
Life's diversity 'being depleted'
https://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4826262.stm
rudkla - 21. Mär, 17:56
Montag, 20. März 2006
Activists Pledge to Fight for Their Water - Tribunal Declares Governments, Companies Guilty
World Water Forum: Activists Pledge to Fight for Their Water
https://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0318-06.htm
--------
Tribunal Declares Governments, Companies Guilty
Diego Cevallos https://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32583
*MEXICO CITY, Mar 21 (IPS) - The companies and governments declared guilty by the Latin American Water Tribunal (TLA) at a "trial" held in Mexico will not be fined or otherwise punished, but the plaintiffs hope that they will "at least" admit responsibility and take appropriate action. *
Among the verdicts it handed down in cases from 10 countries, the non-governmental TLA blamed a paper pulp factory in Chile for polluting a protected wetlands system, and censured the national authorities for failing to prevent the disaster. It also called for the immediate suspension of construction work on a huge hydroelectric dam in Mexico, which would displace 25,000 small farmers.
"The Tribunal resolutions are a real moral triumph, and we would like governments to feel somewhat ashamed," Bidulfo Rosales, legal adviser to a group of small farmers from the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, told IPS. Rosales presented the case against the construction of the La Parota dam.
The verdict stated that work on the dam, being built at a cost of 850 million dollars, "should be suspended, since there is no evidence of any benefit to the local population, nor any contribution to regional development or the protection of the environment and natural resources."
Furthermore, the decision indicated that, in their zeal to carry out the project, authorities in Mexico have committed deliberate acts to divide the small farmers' communities.
The TLA found for the plaintiffs - environmentalists, activists, or affected community organisations - in all of the cases it heard between Mar. 13 and Mar. 20
In the Chilean case, the Tribunal requested that in the "light of the Precautionary Principle," operations at the pulp mill "be suspended immediately and indefinitely, until new environmental impact studies have been carried out which lead to granting a new, appropriate environmental permit."
The Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (Celco) company opened its Valdivia pulp mill on the Cruces River in southern Chile in February 2004. The plant was located 32 kilometres southwest of a wetland, which was home to the largest colony of black-necked swans in Latin America - between
4,000 and 6,000. Starting in 2004, around 500 swans died, and the rest migrated.
A study by the Austral University in Valdivia concluded that waste from the pulp mill destroyed a waterweed, known locally as luchecillo, which is the swans' main food source.
The TLA held Celco directly responsible "for inappropriate use of water resources, polluting the surrounding area, loss of biodiversity, damages and risks to public health, and damages to other human activities."
It also censured "national and regional authorities for a lack of commitment to their duties and for taking contradictory decisions to the detriment of life, health, nature and traditional communities."
The Costa Rica-based Tribunal was expected to hand down guilty verdicts, which were supported by "very powerful arguments" and evidence, TLA spokesman Gilberto López told IPS.
The work of the Tribunal should be seen not only as passing judgements, but "as cooperating to reach solutions," he commented.
The TLA is a non-compulsory ethical tribunal created in Central America in 1998, which expanded to the rest of Latin America in 2004.
According to López, "the verdicts have significant political weight, so their consequences are unforeseeable, and they will be followed up, with the aim of finding solutions."
Of the 13 cases before the Tribunal, the defendants in the cases of the La Parota dam and the Chilean pulp factory were the only ones not to have responded to the TLA's summons to present arguments in their defence.
In the other cases there were reactions from the accused parties, who generally responded by letter, although two appeared personally at the hearings involving cases of river pollution in Mexico.
The "trials", which have moral force only, have taken about a year, including presentation of the charges, evaluation of the cases and sentencing.
The cases reviewed in the Mexican capital were from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.
The Brazilian case involved a plan to fill in part of a lagoon in the southern state of Sao Paulo with contaminating sludge. In Bolivia, the complaint focused on seven years of poor service from a private water company in the working-class city of El Alto, near La Paz.
Denunciations in Ecuador were against the construction of dams on the Pacific coast, and the cases from El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua complained about pollution and diversion of rivers due to mining activities. In addition to La Parota, Mexico had five water pollution cases.
The Peruvian case involved the environmental impact of mining, and Panama's suit was against the transport of radioactive materials through the canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The "judges" who passed sentence were Alexandre Camanho de Assis, a regional prosecutor from Brazil, Argentine architect Alfredo Valladares, Mexican political scientist Patricia Ávila, and Philippe Texier, a Supreme Court magistrate from France.
Also on the bench were Cuban architect and sociologist Selma Díaz, Guatemalan human rights lawyer Augusto Willemsen, Mexican social scientist David Barkin, and Oscar González, former president of the non-governmental Mexican Academy for Human Rights.
As TLA director Javier Bogantes explained to IPS, the "judges" were chosen for their proven track record and moral prestige, and were advised by a committee of experts.
The trials took place in the context of the 4th World Water Forum, which has brought together 13,000 delegates from governments, non-governmental organisations and business from Mar. 16 to Mar. 22. (END/2006)
*Send your comments to the editor* editors@ipsnews.net?Subject=IPS%20Story%20WATER:%20Tribunal%20Declares%20Governments,%20Companies%20Guilty
Informant: Teresa Binstock
https://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0318-06.htm
--------
Tribunal Declares Governments, Companies Guilty
Diego Cevallos https://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32583
*MEXICO CITY, Mar 21 (IPS) - The companies and governments declared guilty by the Latin American Water Tribunal (TLA) at a "trial" held in Mexico will not be fined or otherwise punished, but the plaintiffs hope that they will "at least" admit responsibility and take appropriate action. *
Among the verdicts it handed down in cases from 10 countries, the non-governmental TLA blamed a paper pulp factory in Chile for polluting a protected wetlands system, and censured the national authorities for failing to prevent the disaster. It also called for the immediate suspension of construction work on a huge hydroelectric dam in Mexico, which would displace 25,000 small farmers.
"The Tribunal resolutions are a real moral triumph, and we would like governments to feel somewhat ashamed," Bidulfo Rosales, legal adviser to a group of small farmers from the southern Mexican state of Guerrero, told IPS. Rosales presented the case against the construction of the La Parota dam.
The verdict stated that work on the dam, being built at a cost of 850 million dollars, "should be suspended, since there is no evidence of any benefit to the local population, nor any contribution to regional development or the protection of the environment and natural resources."
Furthermore, the decision indicated that, in their zeal to carry out the project, authorities in Mexico have committed deliberate acts to divide the small farmers' communities.
The TLA found for the plaintiffs - environmentalists, activists, or affected community organisations - in all of the cases it heard between Mar. 13 and Mar. 20
In the Chilean case, the Tribunal requested that in the "light of the Precautionary Principle," operations at the pulp mill "be suspended immediately and indefinitely, until new environmental impact studies have been carried out which lead to granting a new, appropriate environmental permit."
The Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (Celco) company opened its Valdivia pulp mill on the Cruces River in southern Chile in February 2004. The plant was located 32 kilometres southwest of a wetland, which was home to the largest colony of black-necked swans in Latin America - between
4,000 and 6,000. Starting in 2004, around 500 swans died, and the rest migrated.
A study by the Austral University in Valdivia concluded that waste from the pulp mill destroyed a waterweed, known locally as luchecillo, which is the swans' main food source.
The TLA held Celco directly responsible "for inappropriate use of water resources, polluting the surrounding area, loss of biodiversity, damages and risks to public health, and damages to other human activities."
It also censured "national and regional authorities for a lack of commitment to their duties and for taking contradictory decisions to the detriment of life, health, nature and traditional communities."
The Costa Rica-based Tribunal was expected to hand down guilty verdicts, which were supported by "very powerful arguments" and evidence, TLA spokesman Gilberto López told IPS.
The work of the Tribunal should be seen not only as passing judgements, but "as cooperating to reach solutions," he commented.
The TLA is a non-compulsory ethical tribunal created in Central America in 1998, which expanded to the rest of Latin America in 2004.
According to López, "the verdicts have significant political weight, so their consequences are unforeseeable, and they will be followed up, with the aim of finding solutions."
Of the 13 cases before the Tribunal, the defendants in the cases of the La Parota dam and the Chilean pulp factory were the only ones not to have responded to the TLA's summons to present arguments in their defence.
In the other cases there were reactions from the accused parties, who generally responded by letter, although two appeared personally at the hearings involving cases of river pollution in Mexico.
The "trials", which have moral force only, have taken about a year, including presentation of the charges, evaluation of the cases and sentencing.
The cases reviewed in the Mexican capital were from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.
The Brazilian case involved a plan to fill in part of a lagoon in the southern state of Sao Paulo with contaminating sludge. In Bolivia, the complaint focused on seven years of poor service from a private water company in the working-class city of El Alto, near La Paz.
Denunciations in Ecuador were against the construction of dams on the Pacific coast, and the cases from El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua complained about pollution and diversion of rivers due to mining activities. In addition to La Parota, Mexico had five water pollution cases.
The Peruvian case involved the environmental impact of mining, and Panama's suit was against the transport of radioactive materials through the canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The "judges" who passed sentence were Alexandre Camanho de Assis, a regional prosecutor from Brazil, Argentine architect Alfredo Valladares, Mexican political scientist Patricia Ávila, and Philippe Texier, a Supreme Court magistrate from France.
Also on the bench were Cuban architect and sociologist Selma Díaz, Guatemalan human rights lawyer Augusto Willemsen, Mexican social scientist David Barkin, and Oscar González, former president of the non-governmental Mexican Academy for Human Rights.
As TLA director Javier Bogantes explained to IPS, the "judges" were chosen for their proven track record and moral prestige, and were advised by a committee of experts.
The trials took place in the context of the 4th World Water Forum, which has brought together 13,000 delegates from governments, non-governmental organisations and business from Mar. 16 to Mar. 22. (END/2006)
*Send your comments to the editor* editors@ipsnews.net?Subject=IPS%20Story%20WATER:%20Tribunal%20Declares%20Governments,%20Companies%20Guilty
Informant: Teresa Binstock
rudkla - 20. Mär, 13:11
Sonntag, 19. März 2006
STROKE IDENTIFICATION
Thanks Jim
STROKE IDENTIFICATION: (Remember those first three letters of the word, STRoke)
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics)?? she said she just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.
It only takes a minute to read this-
----- A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR. Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK. to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
BE A FRIEND AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH AS MANY FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE. You could save someone's life.
Informant: DrRevLynn
STROKE IDENTIFICATION: (Remember those first three letters of the word, STRoke)
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics)?? she said she just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.
It only takes a minute to read this-
----- A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR. Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK. to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
BE A FRIEND AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH AS MANY FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE. You could save someone's life.
Informant: DrRevLynn
rudkla - 19. Mär, 09:04
„Echte“ Flüsse sterben aus
18.03.2006
Die Nutzung von Flüssen als Energielieferant und Transportweg wird immer weiter vorangetrieben. Einzigartige Ökosysteme bleiben dabei auf der Strecke.
https://www.sonnenseite.com/index.php?pageID=6&news:oid=n4817
Die Nutzung von Flüssen als Energielieferant und Transportweg wird immer weiter vorangetrieben. Einzigartige Ökosysteme bleiben dabei auf der Strecke.
https://www.sonnenseite.com/index.php?pageID=6&news:oid=n4817
rudkla - 19. Mär, 08:41
König Kunde ruiniert sein Land
Wie der Verbraucherschutz am Verbraucher scheitert. Und was dagegen zu tun ist. Ein Buch zum Europäischen Verbrauchertag am 15. März
2006. König Kunde hat die Macht - und nutzt sie, um den Preis zu drücken. Das geht nicht selten auf Kosten der Umwelt, der Produktqualität und der Sozialleistungen. Dabei lassen sich durch kleine Verhaltensänderungen große Wirkung erzielen - damit aus Schnäppchenjägern verantwortungsvolle Konsument(inn)en werden. Denn: König Kunde ruiniert sein Land.
https://www.sonnenseite.com/index.php?pageID=34&article:oid=a4751
2006. König Kunde hat die Macht - und nutzt sie, um den Preis zu drücken. Das geht nicht selten auf Kosten der Umwelt, der Produktqualität und der Sozialleistungen. Dabei lassen sich durch kleine Verhaltensänderungen große Wirkung erzielen - damit aus Schnäppchenjägern verantwortungsvolle Konsument(inn)en werden. Denn: König Kunde ruiniert sein Land.
https://www.sonnenseite.com/index.php?pageID=34&article:oid=a4751
rudkla - 19. Mär, 08:40
Wasser ist gefährdet, und mit ihm wir alle
Präsident des Welt-Wasser-Rates: "Wasser ist gefährdet, und mit ihm wir alle"
Das Weltwasserforum in Mexiko-Stadt ist mit Appellen für eine saubere Wasserversorgung auch für die arme Bevölkerung in den Elendsvierteln der Welt eröffnet worden. Der mexikanische Präsident Vicente Fox bezeichnete Wasser in seiner Eröffnungsrede am Donnerstag als ein öffentliches Gut, das alle Regierungen ihrer Bevölkerung garantieren müssten.
https://www.sonnenseite.com/index.php?pageID=18&article:oid=a4860
Das Weltwasserforum in Mexiko-Stadt ist mit Appellen für eine saubere Wasserversorgung auch für die arme Bevölkerung in den Elendsvierteln der Welt eröffnet worden. Der mexikanische Präsident Vicente Fox bezeichnete Wasser in seiner Eröffnungsrede am Donnerstag als ein öffentliches Gut, das alle Regierungen ihrer Bevölkerung garantieren müssten.
https://www.sonnenseite.com/index.php?pageID=18&article:oid=a4860
rudkla - 19. Mär, 08:38
