http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/11749/109036


Informant: Planttrees

Der TV-Bericht „Giftige Kleider?“ des Südwestrundfunks zeigt, dass in Südindien Tausende von Landarbeitern durch das Pestizid Monocrotophos von Bayer vergiftet werden – häufig mit tödlichen Folgen. Im Folgenden dokumentieren wir Teile des Beitrags, unter anderem ein Gespräch mit Annick Dollacker von Bayer CropScience. Hierin schiebt die Bayer-Sprecherin die Verantwortung für die Vergiftungen auf die (häufig analphabetischen) Landarbeiter.

Im Baumwollgürtel von Südindien gibt es für die Bauern keine Alternative, Baumwolle ist die einzige Feldfrucht, die auf dem Weltmarkt verkäuflich ist. Und wie bei jeder Monokultur muss die Pflanze intensiv vor Schädlingen geschützt werden. Wie das geht, haben ihnen die Agrarberater der großen Chemiefirmen beigebracht: Mit Pestiziden, die die Schädlinge sofort töten sollen.

Monocrotophos heißt eines der Mittel, billig und hochgiftig. Leider auch für den Menschen. Doch das haben den Bauern weder die Hersteller noch die Pestizid-Händler gesagt. Monocrotophos ist in Europa längst verboten, sogar international geächtet ist es inzwischen. Auf keinen Fall darf das Gift auf die reife Baumwolle gelangen, denn die weiße Watte saugt sich voll mit den gefährlichen Chemikalien. Aber die Baumwollbauern hier sprühen, egal ob die Kapsel schon offen ist. (...)

Die verwendeten Pestizide sind zum Teil Nervengifte, die früher als Chemiewaffen im Krieg eingesetzt wurden. Die Sprüher baden regelrecht in Pestiziden. Und nach einem langen Arbeitstag können sie sich wegen der Wasserknappheit nicht einmal richtig waschen. Sie riskieren ihr Leben. Die Giftopfer finden wir hier: Auf der Intensivstation der größten Klinik in Warangal in Südindien. Regelmäßig kommen Baumwollbauern mit akuten Vergiftungen ins Krankenhaus. Manchmal sind es so viele, dass die Ärzte nicht mehr wissen, wohin mit ihnen.

O-Ton, Arzt:
"Dieser Patient wurde heute eingeliefert. Ein, zwei oder drei Fälle bekommen wir jeden Tag hinein. Es sind Fälle von direkter Vergiftung.“

Frage: Und in der Hauptsaison?

O-Ton, Arzt:
In der Hauptsaison werden Patienten eingeliefert, die dem Gift ausgesetzt sind und es eingeatmet haben. Es sind keine Selbstmörder, es handelt sich um beruflich bedingte Vergiftungen. Ohne sich zu schützen, gehen sie aufs Feld und sprühen. Und danach waschen sie sich nicht. Über die Haut wird das Gift aufgenommen und sie vergiften sich. In der Hauptsaison haben wir Hunderte solcher Fälle. Zwischen 30 und 50 an einem Tag.

Für viele kommt jede Hilfe zu spät. Bestimmte Pestizid-Moleküle zerstören die Nervenzellen. Auch wenn sich das medizinische Personal sehr bemüht, sie können nur wenige Giftopfer retten.(...)

Den riesigen Pestizid-Markt in Indien teilen sich im Wesentlichen: Dupont, Novartis und Bayer, der Chemieriese aus Leverkusen. Die Marke Bayer steht bei den indischen Baumwollbauern für Qualität. Und dies, obwohl in Indien Pestizide verkauft werden, die in Europa verboten sind.

Wir wollen wissen, warum der Weltkonzern das macht. Es vergehen Wochen, bis wir die Zusage für ein Interview bekommen. In Monheim treffen wir dann gleich auf drei Pressebeauftragte. Wir bekommen vorformulierte Antworten auf unsere schriftlich eingereichten Fragen. Was sagt Bayer zu den vielen kranken Baumwollbauern in Indien, die als Analphabeten die giftigen Pestizide ausbringen.

O-Ton, Annik Dollacker:
"Es ist natürlich dann der Punkt, wo der Landwirt die Produkte letztendlich ausbringt und wo er sicherstellen muss und auch er die Verantwortung übernehmen muss, dass er die Produkte korrekt ausbringt, so wie es auch in der Gebrauchsinformation steht, und dass er eben auch versucht eben Unfälle zu vermeiden, wo es nur irgendwie geht."

Frage: Und wenn das nicht passiert?

O-Ton, Annik Dollacker:
"Tja, wie gesagt, irgendwo liegt die Verantwortung auch bei dem Anwender selbst."

Die Pressesprecher zeigen uns das sogenannte Tropicarium. Wir wollen aber nicht die exotischen Pflanzen bewundern, sondern wissen, warum Bayer in Indien bis heute ein Mittel verkauft, dass seit mehr als 10 Jahren in Deutschland nicht mehr zugelassen ist.

O-Ton, Annik Dollacker:
"Ganz klar Monocrotophos. Wir verkaufen dieses Jahr Restbestände aus, es wird durch ein modernes, besseres Pflanzenschutzmittel ersetzt und auch das ist genau das Beispiel oder ein Beispiel dafür, dass wir also unsere Produktpalette ständig erneuern, nach den neueren Erkenntnissen."

Frage: Jetzt ist aber doch eigentlich dieser Prozess, dass es abgesetzt werden sollte, schon sehr lange im Gange, warum dauert das so lange?

O-Ton, Annik Dollacker:
"Das dauert in unterschiedlichen Ländern unterschiedlich lange, einfach auch auf Grund der ökonomischen Bedingungen in den Ländern. Viele der älteren Produkte sind patentfrei und sehr kostengünstig für die Landwirte, die verlangen nach den Produkten."

Frage: Also, das heißt, Sie haben da keine Möglichkeit, das dann vom Markt zu nehmen oder wie kann man sich das dann vorstellen? Ihr Name steht ja drauf auf dem Produkt.

O-Ton, Annik Dollacker:
"Gut, ich hab ja gesagt, wir nehmen es vom Markt. Wenn Sie Bestände haben, dann müssen sie die verkaufen, einfach auch um die..."

Hier unterbricht ein anderer Pressesprecher das Interview. Schon seit 1996 verspricht Bayer, das Pestizid Monocrotophos vom Markt zu nehmen.

Wir sind wieder in Südindien, in der Textilmetropole Tirupur.

Nicht nur beim Anbau, sondern auch bei der Weiterverarbeitung leiden die Menschen unter den Giften. Die Arbeiterinnen berichten uns von Schwindel, Übelkeit und Ohnmachtsanfällen. Denn die Baumwolle ist vollgesogen mit den Rückständen der Pestizide. In der Halle stinkt es. Der Chemikaliendunst lähmt die Zunge. Die Frauen haben ständig das Gefühl zu verdursten. Und der Chemieeinsatz bei der Baumwolle geht weiter.

In Deutschland verbotene Chlorbleichmittel werden hier in Indien standardmäßig eingesetzt, damit die Baumwolle weiß wird. Bei den späteren Färbeprozessen gelangen auch wieder Chemikalien auf die Baumwolle, die bei uns längst verboten sind. Das sind zum einen Mittel, von denen man in Europa weiß, dass sie Allergien auslösen können. Zum anderen sind es die AZO Farben, die nach wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen Krebs erzeugen. AZO ist in deutschen Textilien eigentlich nicht erlaubt.

Die meisten indischen Produzenten glauben an so etwas nicht.

Hier heißt es: Möglichst billig herstellen, um konkurrenzfähig zu sein. Und die Einkäufer aus Deutschland können die eingesetzte Chemiebrühe oft gar nicht identifizieren.

Dazu kommt die Umweltzerstörung im indischen Tirupur.Keine Kläranlage der Welt könnte diesen Giftcocktail wirklich bewältigen. Mit den eingeschränkten Möglichkeiten hier: ausgeschlossen.

Diese Anlage wurde mit deutscher Entwicklungshilfe gebaut. Doch selbst das geklärte Wasser enthält noch drei Gramm Chlor pro Liter, die neue Baumwolle wird damit gewaschen. Nicht einmal die Entsorgung des Klärschlamms ist geregelt. Die Frauen bringen den Giftmüll nur von der einen zur anderen Stelle. Hier können die Chemikalien wieder ungehindert ins Grundwasser sickern. Tirupur, ein wichtiges Zentrum der internationalen Textilproduktion, eine stinkende Kloake.(...)

Betrifft: "Giftige Kleider?"

Autorinnen: Inge Altemeier, Beate Greindl, Redaktion: Oliver Merz

SWR, 26. April 2004 http://www.swr.de/betrifft

Das Skript des kompletten Beitrags senden wir gerne zu.


Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren
CBGnetwork@aol.com
http://www.CBGnetwork.de
Tel: 0211-333 911
Fax 040 – 3603 741835

Beirat
Dr. Sigrid Müller, Pharmakologin, Bremen
Dr. Erika Abczynski, Kinderärztin, Dormagen
Eva Bulling-Schröter, ehem. MdB, Berlin
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rochlitz, Chemiker, ehem. MdB, Burgwald
Dr. Janis Schmelzer, Historiker, Berlin
Wolfram Esche, Rechtsanwalt, Köln

Dorothee Sölle,Theologin, Hamburg (U 2003)
Prof. Dr. Anton Schneider, Baubiologe, Neubeuern
Prof. Jürgen Junginger, Designer, Krefeld

This warning has been around for a while but always good to see it again:

The Invisible Killer Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death.

Dihydrogen monoxide:

* is also known as hydroxyl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.

* contributes to the "greenhouse effect."

* may cause severe burns.

* contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.

* accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.

* may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.

* has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

Contamination Is Reaching Epidemic Proportions!

Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage in the midwest, and recently California.

Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

* as an industrial solvent and coolant.

* in nuclear power plants.

* in the production of styrofoam.

* as a fire retardant.

* in many forms of cruel animal research.

* in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.

* as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.

Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer!

The Horror Must Be Stopped!

The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use.

It's Not Too Late!

Act NOW to prevent further contamination. Find out more about this dangerous chemical. What you don't know can hurt you and others throughout the world.

http://www.dhmo.org/


Informant: Jacy

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/breaking_news/8804422.htm


Informant: NHNE

The Ontario College of Family Physicians has released an international study, conducted over a 13 year period, saying that there is no evidence that certain pesticides are safer than others---rather, pesticides misconstrued as "safe" may simply have delayed effects on health.. Meanwhile, the Pesticide Action Network has compiled data from the Centers for Disease Control that shows that 100% of blood and urine samples, collected from 9,000 random people, showed residues of pesticides.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/pesticides051704.cfm

"Beneath the glamorous high-flying image of aviation is a grossly polluting industry," said Paul de Zylva, head of Friends of the Earth in London.

Environmentalists say airlines rate as one of the most polluting forms of transport, with 16,000 commercial jets producing over 600 million tons of carbon dioxide every year...

read further under:

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/25274/story.htm

EARTH MEANDERS

America's Gasoline Dangerously Inexpensive
Oil's true cost: cheap gas kills the Earth and diminishes society

By Dr. Glen Barry
May 25, 2004

Gasoline in America is dangerously inexpensive, threatening the ruin of society and the environment. Consumers generally have little idea how much fueling their automobile actually costs, or the impacts it has on national security, the environment, their health, and their quality of life.

America's current national outrage over gasoline prices that remain historically low is ill-advised. Car owners must recognize that government subsidies to petroleum companies and users, and environmental, health, and social costs associated with gasoline use, place the real cost of gasoline at around $10 a gallon - or at least five times current prices.

Factors not reflected in the price of gas include the destruction of 60 million year old rainforests and other ecosystems during exploration and drilling, military adventurism to secure supplies, marine oil spills during transport, unprecedented climate change as consumed, and political corruption throughout - to say nothing of crashes, pollution, noise and congestion.

Energy prices, climate change, terrorism and childhood asthma are all symptomatic of the same problem - overdependence upon oil, a polluting and finite resource. And oil is simply not worth killing for - yet this is precisely what is being done in Iraq.

American over-consumption of artificially cheap oil and other sources of natural capital - notably water and land - has fueled a huge and precarious bubble economy that will eventually unravel. Implications of the bubble's burst will depend upon actions taken now to reduce and eventually eliminate petroleum products as the basis of our society.

America and the rest of the industrialized world's prosperity are based upon unsustainable rates of energy consumption. Americans are 4% of the world population, yet consume about 25% of the world's petroleum - much going towards feeding their automobiles. Oil provides transportation, grows our food, and provides warmth and cooling - though there are alternatives.

Europeans and others have routinely paid twice the amount Americans pay for oil. Are Americans so exceptionally noble of mind and character that ever cheaper oil in real terms is our birthright - while the rest of the World must be content as lesser beings using less energy for which they pay more?

Many Americans have become lazy and addicted to mechanized mobility, believing it their right to drive a small room sized vehicle whenever and wherever they wish, and at the expense of massive government subsidies and the natural ecosystems upon which life depends. And as a result, the American government has become a wholly owned subsidiary of the oil oligarchy - government for, by and of the petro-pigs.

If Americans are unwilling or unable to come to terms with their petro-addiction, they deserve the profound societal ills that will follow the bursting of the petro-bubble economy. If every last bit of oil is to be ripped from the Earth and burned before alternatives are seriously pursued, large natural ecosystems and the global atmosphere will cease to function in the manner they have throughout history. A post-petroleum World will face widespread poverty, persistent environmental problems and a dearth of energy adequate to meet basic needs.

Breaking the deadly addiction of cheap oil will require that consumers eventually see the entire cost of burning gasoline reflected in the price they pay at the pump. Only then will it prove more difficult to ignore the harmful effects that their addiction has to the Earth, society and their children's prospects. Only then will alternative means of energy be competitive and flourish.

Clearly gasoline prices can not immediately rise to their true cost to society and the Earth. But rise steeply they must. An initial 50 cent a gallon increase in the federal tax on gasoline would result in more conservation and decreased oil consumption. Carbon and other energy taxes need not increase the overall tax burden - as income taxes should be reduced by an equal amount.

A steady, incremental incorporation of external costs into energy prices is exactly the stimulus needed to promote conservation, energy independence and renewable alternatives. And a whole slew of other benefits will follow such as less international conflict, more intact ecosystems, and more livable communities.

Though only a few generations old, not many Americans can imagine a non-automobile centered society or community. It is time to take back our cities, by designing people centered communities, where the needs of roads and cars are secondary. Americans must set an international example of moderation in the use of petroleum resources - striving for efficiency - before the rest of the World mimics our gross wastefulness.

Sustainable living is about reducing your energy use: live close to where you work, travel using your feet and bike as a first priority, buses and trains when possible, and a rented fuel-efficient car when necessary. Kill you car while coming alive personally. If America can not learn to live as though oil is dear, our addiction will soon cost us our and the Earth's future.

http://www.environmentalsustainability.info/blog/archives/000596.htm

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

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