Hallo liebe Leute,

bitte unterschreibt für einen Atomausstieg und leitet die mail möglichst in eurem Verteiler weiter. Lasst uns zeigen, dass wir viele sind, die endlich den Ausstieg aus dieser verantwortungslosen Technik und den wirklichen Einstieg in eine verantwortbare Energiepolitik wollen, die an oberster Stelle die Energieeinsparung haben muss.

Der untenstehende Abschnitt ist ein Auszug des IPPNW-Newsletters zum Kongress der IPPNW (internationale Ärzte zur Verhütung eines Atomkrieges, Ärzte in sozialer Verantwortung) in Berlin. Wer hier mehr wissen will, kann einen großen Teil der Vorträge unter http://www.atomkongress.de abrufen.

Die Unterschriftenaktion ist zu finden unter http://www.atomhaftpflicht.de

Die Informationen der IPPNW sind erhellend, was da abläuft und was die meisten nicht wissen. Jedenfalls rütteln sie viele aus dem süßen Dauerschlaf. Auch Euch?

Viele Grüße
Peter Borel

Nachricht von Manu Knapp

Heidelberg

19.05.04

Mit der Forderung, die Besatzung des Irak zu beenden findet am Mittwoch Abend ab 18 Uhr eine Kundgebung vor dem Hauptquartier der US-Streitkräfte in Deutschland statt. Initiator ist das Heidelberger Forum gegen Militarismus und Krieg. Anlaß seien zum einen, die nun in der breiteren Öffentlichkeit bekanntgewordenen Folterungen zum anderen natürlich auch die anderen Kriegsverbrechen, wie die Belagerung und Bombardierung irakischer Städte, die eine große Zahl ziviler Opfer forderten und noch fordern. Daran seien die in Heidelberg stationierten US-amerikanischen Einheiten direkt beteiligt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8493

19.05.04

Im UN-"Übereinkommen gegen Folter und andere grausame, unmenschliche oder erniedrigende Behandlung oder Strafe" vom 10.12.1984 heißt es in Artikel 2, Abs. 2: "Außergewöhnliche Umstände gleich welcher Art, sei es Krieg oder Kriegsgefahr, innenpolitische Instabilität oder ein sonstiger öffentlicher Notstand, dürfen nicht als Rechtfertigung für Folter geltend gemacht werden." Die aktuellen Versuche, das Folterverbot angesichts des "Krieges gegen den Terror" zu relativieren oder Folter sogar zu rechtfertigen (in den USA Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney; in Deutschland Wolfssohn), können nach ener Erklärung der IPPNW (Internationale Ärzte gegen den Atomkrieg) nicht hingenommen werden.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8495

EU Lebens- und Futtermittelrecht

19.05.04

Das Bundeskabinett beschloss am Mittwoch die Neuordnung des Lebensmittel- und Futtermittelrechts (LFBG). Der Gesetzesentwurf berücksichtigt verschiedene europäische Vorgaben, die im Gefolge der BSE-Krise entstanden sind. Für Deutschland ist erstmals ein einheitliches Lebens- und Futtermittelgesetzbuch vorgesehen. Die Grundsätze des Gesetzentwurfs hält foodwatch für sinnvoll. Aber bei der Konstruktion des Gesetzes sieht die Organisation erhebliche Gefahren für den Verbraucherschutz: "Die einflussreiche Wirtschaftslobby wird den Verbraucherschutz aushebeln", prognostiziert Wolfschmidt.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8498

19.05.04

Bereits seit dem 5.5.2004 ist bekannt, dass gentechnisch veränderter Mais in fünf Bundesländern auf Versuchsflächen angebaut wurde. Weder die Öffentlichkeit noch die Bauern wurden bislang informiert, wo die entsprechenden Felder liegen. Der Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW), in dem die Verbände von landwirtschaftlichen Erzeugern, Verarbeitern und Händlern von Öko-Produkten organisiert sind, wendet sich nun an alle Biobauern ebenso wie an alle ohne Gentechnik wirtschaftenden konventionellen Bauern. Er fordert sie auf, bei den zuständigen Landesbehörden Auskunft zu den Freisetzungsorten zu verlangen. Wird die Auskunft verweigert, sollen die Bauern ihre Kosten für prophylaktische Gen-Analysen der Ernten über die Staatshaftung geltend machen.

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:

http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8497

Internal documents made public this week reveal that the Bush Administration granted almost unbelievable influence to livestock industry lobbyists in a proposed amnesty deal for factory farm polluters. The favors included a series of secret meetings with government officials, and the opportunity to draft portions of the Environmental Protection Agency's power-point presentation on a proposed air pollution monitoring program. [1]

The documents formed the basis of a May 16 Chicago Tribune expose of the degree to which meat industry lobbyists controlled the direction and content of proposed federal air pollution regulations that would apply to them. According to the Tribune, industry was granted such an influential role over the development of air pollution controls that several EPA officials resigned. It also led state and local officials to walk out of EPA meetings on the subject. [2]

The meetings were closed to environmental groups or other opponents of the plan. What took place at these secret meetings – and in subsequent communications between meat industry lobbyists and EPA officials -- was unearthed largely as the result of a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club last September under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The Sierra Club requested the documents from EPA after word leaked out about the meetings and a sweetheart deal that would exempt factory farms from Clean Air Act and Superfund regulations. Under the deal, factory farms that agree to a two-year monitoring program become exempt from federal air pollution enforcement during that time. Furthermore, they are not held accountable for any previous violations of federal air pollution laws.

"They let everyone off the hook," said Barclay Rogers, an attorney with the Sierra Club, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "Everyone who signs up gets protection. It's a 'get out of jail free' card." [3]

Giant factory farms dominate the U.S. meat industry - packing thousands of hogs, cattle and chicken onto a few massive farms. As a result, they are a major source of air emissions of hazardous gases and particulate matter proven to cause lung ailments and even premature death.

The internal EPA documents reveal a relationship between EPA officials and meat industry lobbyists so cozy it involves the EPA advising lobbyists on how to make their case to the agency.

In turn, meat industry lobbyists were allowed to develop legal language for the monitoring program and power-point slides for the agency to use in presenting its plans. There was even discussion of industry footing the bill for EPA travel costs, an idea later rejected when one EPA official admitted it had been a "no-no" for EPA to even ask. [4]

This is not the first time the Bush administration has allowed industry to heavily influence environmental rules by which it is supposed to live. After discovering that portions of EPA's proposal to regulate mercury emissions had been copied verbatim from energy industry lobbying materials, Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Allen (D-ME) wrote to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt to complain that the agency’s rulemaking process had been "improperly influenced by industry at the potential cost of the health of future generations of children." [5]


SOURCES:
[1] Sierra Club press release, May 17, 2004
[2] "Livestock Industry Finds Friends in EPA," Chicago Tribune, May 16, 2004.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Sierra Club press release, op. cit.
[5] Waxman-Allen letter, Feb. 12, 2004.


Source: http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000121.php

Dear Friends

New international newsletter on EMR

I am happy to announce the launch of a new international newsletter on electromagnetic radiation.

Called "EMR Focus", the quarterly newsletter provides information about EMR and health, planning and design. It contains:
* the latest international news
* scientific research on the impact of EMR on health
* precautions for reducing exposure
* articles of interest.

As well as being an authoritative source of information about EMR, "EMR Focus" is also an enjoyable read. It is written in a style that is easy to understand, with cartoons, interesting snippets and humorous comment.

"EMR Focus" is unique in that it is available in either digital or print form. If you would like information about how to obtain this newsletter, please feel free to contact me at office@emraustralia.com.au.

I hope you will take the opportunity to explore "EMR Focus" and would appreciate any feedback you may have.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Lyn McLean
Editor

Lyn McLean
Director
EMR Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 738 Gymea 2227
(02)9501 2665
office@emraustralia.com.au
http://www.emraustralia.com.au

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/science/earth/18POLL.html

ASHINGTON - Breathing soot from factories or highways may cause genetic damage that can be passed to offspring, scientists have found in an experiment on mice.

It is unclear whether the pollution-damaged DNA harms health. But the discovery comes as scientists already are calling for more research into the dangers of particulates, microscopic soot particles linked to asthma, heart disease and other health problems.

"At the moment, we are grappling with the fact that even though the air is visibly cleaner, we're still finding adverse health effects," said Dr. Jonathan Samet of Johns Hopkins University, who led a recent National Academy of Sciences study of the issue. "The new work now adds another area of potential concern."

Until 2002, there was little evidence that any air pollutant might cause genetic damage that can be inherited.

That year, Canadian scientists placed mice downwind from steel mills and tested their offspring. The males passed on twice as many DNA mutations as did mice living in the cleaner countryside. Those same researchers, who are from McMaster University in Ontario, reported in the journal Science last week that the cause of the mutations was airborne particulate matter, or soot. It is emitted from factories, power plants and diesel-powered vehicles.

In the latest experiments, the scientists housed two groups of mice near the steel mills for 10 weeks. One group breathed outside air; the other was housed in a chamber equipped with high-efficiency air filters to catch microscopic particles.

Then, the mice were bred and scientists checked their offspring for specific DNA mutations that are passed through the father's sperm. The mice breathing filtered air had mutation rates 52 percent lower than those exposed to full-strength pollution, the scientists found.

The mutations measured are not linked to disease, but they are similar to a type of DNA damage that is. Dr. James Quinn, a McMaster biologist and the report's lead author, said more research was needed to determine whether these changes were a marker for potential health problems and whether the mutations could be inherited, too.

Dr. Quinn said the study's practical value might lie in what it showed about the effectiveness of air filtration. Because particulates adhere to tree leaves just as they do to filters, he said, the study may have implications for policy-makers who must decide on road-building and tree-cutting projects.

The Environmental Protection Agency already has ordered tougher limits on ultrafine particulate pollution because of concern about how it affects the elderly, children and people with respiratory illnesses. In December, the agency plans to announce which parts of the country are not in compliance with these rules.

Dr. Quinn said he did not know whether the particulates themselves or toxic chemicals that attach to them damaged the sperm. But one suspect is a group of particulate-clinging chemicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or P.A.H.'s, some of which are known to be cancer-causing. Air samples showed daily P.A.H. exposure near the steel mills was 33 times as high as in the countryside. But HEPA filtering of the urban air blocked most of those chemicals, the study concluded.


Informant: Teresa Binstock

LATimes editorial

May 18, 2004

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-forest18may18,1,1515499.story

The smallest national forest in California is also the most pressed, with three rapidly growing counties nipping at its mountain flanks. Like its bigger siblings, Cleveland National Forest is a "Land of Many Uses," but considering how little land must serve dense populations on all sides, its best uses are wilderness preservation and environmentally friendly recreation.

In its 15-year draft management plan for Southern California's national forests, the U.S. Forest Service has drawn up six options for the Cleveland. Two of them, Alternatives 3 and 6, adequately protect the oasis of fragrant pine and sage from proposals to blast tunnels through the mountains, carve highways into the wilderness, string high-voltage utility lines for 28 miles and push water up the eastern hillside from Lake Elsinore for a profitable power project.

The Forest Service, though, has tentatively conferred "preferred" status on Alternative 2, which would allow more intensive uses, including those listed above. That won't work for a forest this size, at the juncture of Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties, where the combined populations top 7.5 million and are growing.

Unless enough people protest, the preferred plan will be the default.

Alternative 2 and the government's preferred options for the other three national forests in the region would also dramatically increase off-roading, with 70,000 more acres set aside for such use, much of it in environmentally delicate areas. The Forest Service defends the proposed increase, saying it would protect the land by keeping vehicles on designated trails. That is no more than a hope. In fact, one possibility in this plan is for the Forest Service to legalize trails carved out illegally by off-road vehicles, providing reinforcement for more incursions. The Forest Service concedes that the vehicles increase the risk of wildfire and that it lacks the manpower to police them now, let alone on tens of thousands more acres.

Agency spokesmen stress that these are only drafts and vow to take public comments seriously. At a later point, they could switch to another alternative or modify any of the existing options, with the regional forester making the final decision. Southern California residents have only themselves to blame if they don't let government know what they want in their diminishing forests.


To Take Action: The forest plan website, http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/scfpr/ , has links to view the draft plans, find out about public meetings and send comments electronically. Public comments may also be mailed to Southern California Forest Plan Revisions, USDA Forest Service Content Analysis Center, P.O. Box 22777, Salt Lake City, Utah 84122.

Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times


Informant: Teresa Binstock

Could Bush administration officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4999734/

and

Chaos in Washington

http://www.nationinstitute.org/tomdispatch/index.mhtml?pid=1441


From Information Clearing House

The Wrong Direction
by Kim Petersen

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May2004/Petersen0518.htm

By Kim Petersen

Professor Norman Finkelstein identifies a gullibility and naivety among a significant sector of the American public that, if true, has disturbing ramifications -- not just for Americans but also for the rest of the world. The consequences are manifest in Iraq. Obviously the invasion of Iraq was never about liberation -- except the liberation of oil from Iraqis....

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May2004/Petersen0518-2.htm

May 13, 2004

By CAROLE MIGDEN

The latest attack on California's environment by big business is being waged right now in Humboldt County.

Five years ago, Pacific Lumber Company signed a historic agreement with the state of California and the federal government to preserve the Headwaters Forest in Humboldt. The core of this balanced agreement allowed the state to purchase 7,500 acres of ancient redwood groves from Pacific Lumber, and placed strong restrictions on logging for an additional 210,000 acres of Pacific Lumber's land.

I was proud to play a part in the original agreement when I authored the legislation to appropriate $240 million toward the purchase of the forest. It was a hard-fought win and a true victory for a national treasure.

Now, Pacific Lumber wants to renege on that agreement. After receiving a fair purchase price for Headwaters, Pacific Lumber is using its own scientists to support its claim that new methods of logging will allow the company to expand logging in sensitive areas beyond the limits agreed upon in the plan.

Pacific Lumber is now proposing to loosen restrictions on 30,000 acres to allow logging on steep slopes, during dangerous wet weather, and near streams and watersheds. It is also proposing changes to road improvement requirements, restrictions in streamside buffers, and to the cost and requirements of future scientific studies.

If adopted, these loosened rules would result in increased sediment runoff in streams, fewer environmental protections and greater danger for already threatened species

These changes come on the heels of four years of steady assault on California's natural resources by the Bush administration which have weakened clean air and clean water, opened up our national forests to expanded drilling and logging, rolled back rules banning mining next to streams and called for amending the historic Northwest Forest plan.

I'm very disappointed that Pacific Lumber wants to go back on its word. Back in 1998 and 1999, we forged the agreement in a way that allowed Pacific Lumber to keep its mills open in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner. It also put to bed years of sustained warfare over the divisive issue of how to preserve redwood forests while balancing the needs of our growing state. We had an agreement then, and we should keep it today.

While we should all be insulted by Pacific Lumber's attempt to break its word, our greatest responsibility is to the Headwaters Forest.

The 2,000-year-old trees at stake are far too precious and irreplaceable to be subject to the large-scale logging which Pacific Lumber desires. The Habitat Protection Plan preserved the native habitat for the endangered marbled murrelet, northern spotted owl and coho salmon.

It is important to have regular scientific review of remaining logging operations, which was a part of the original agreement. But any scientific analysis that occurs should be done by an independent, outside auditor, not by Pacific Lumber's own scientists. The Headwaters Forest is an environmental jewel that belongs to everyone and should be treated that way.

We held up our end of the bargain; now I hope Pacific Lumber will do the same.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinion/columns/13close.html


Informant: Nicholas Wilson

Forest Conservation Action Alerts @ Forests.org
http://forests.org/action/

May 18, 2004

Three extremely urgent alerts:

** President Putin - Russia must ratify Kyoto now **
http://forests.org/action/climate/
Decision widely expected by end of week on treaty's future - will a decade of negotiations be wasted?

** Protect Montana's Rocky Mountain Front from Drilling **
http://forests.org/action/america/
One of the most important American wildernesses to be trashed by drilling. Do you have anything to say about this?

** Demand World Bank Stop Subsidizing Industrial Logging in the Congo **
http://forests.org/action/africa/
As country is in anarchy, World Bank auctions off the second largest
rainforest for logging. Will we stand for this?

Already responded? Do it again, and forward to at least a dozen or more people. There are ten thousand people on this email list. Though we have generated hundreds of thousands of protest emails, still only about 25% are responding to any particular alert. Frankly, we can do better. Let's vigorously respond to these alerts, grow the action alert list, and continue to wage a peaceful Earth Revolution.

Networked by Forests.org, Inc., gbarry@forests.org

"What is perhaps most surprising about the abuses committed against civilians at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is the fact that they came as a surprise at all. The 'sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses' found by Major General Taguba has a long history within the tradition of US imperial policing of third world nations. The primary means for this policing had traditionally been counter-insurgency warfare which has always sought to contain and destroy social forces considered inimical to US interests."

http://www.counterpunch.org/stokes05182004.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

"The ill-named Patriot Act ramroded through Congress just days after 9-11 is costing the average American precious freedoms and allowing unwarranted expansion of government power. We are paying dearly for not taking a strong stand against this tyranny. We have only to look at the intent the Founding Fathers had in framing the U.S. Constitution to understand how much it is being trashed and circumvented today."

http://www.libertyforall.net/2004/may23/Dismantling.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

"From the evidence presented so far, it is clear that the footsoldiers in Rumsfeld's secret army are not alone in their responsibility for the war crimes committed at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. Not only Lynndie England and the other Army reservists charged, but also Col. Pappas, Stephen Cambone, and all the architects of Operation Copper Green are among the guilty parties, and ought to be brought to justice. The War Party is reeling under the impact of these multiple shocks. Several have gone 'wobbly,' as Maggie Thatcher once said of Bush I, and I predict they'll go even wobblier -- because more shocks are coming."

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=2600


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Mejia wrote in his testimony. 'I have witnessed the suffering of a people whose country is in ruins and who are further humiliated by the raids, patrols, curfews of an occupying army. My experience of this war has changed me forever.'"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,120304,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Presse

IKRK-Bericht über unangekündigte Gefängnis-Visiten lag vor

Washington - Führende US-Militärs haben laut Medienberichten bereits im vergangenen November von den Misshandlungen irakischer Gefangener gewusst. Das Internationale Komitee vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) habe der US-Armee damals einen Bericht über zwei unangekündigte Besuche im berüchtigten Abu-Ghraib-Gefängnis im Monat zuvor übermittelt, berichteten die Zeitungen "Wall Street Journal" und "New York Times" am Mittwoch unter Berufung auf einen ranghohen US-Offizier. In dem IKRK-Bericht sei beschrieben, wie Gefangene tagelang nackt in dunklen Zellen gehalten und mit Frauen-Unterwäsche auf dem Kopf fotografiert worden seien. US-Verteidigungsminister Donald Rumsfeld hatte bei einer Anhörung im Senat angegeben, seine Behörde sei Mitte Januar über die Misshandlungen informiert worden. Das Pentagon leitete Ende Januar eine Untersuchung ein. (AFP)

19.05.04, 10:12 Uhr


Quelle:

http://www.netscape.de/index.jsp?sg=News_Newsticker&cid=1235229