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Vol. 8 Issue 26…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…July
1, 2005
Campaign
Against Mercury
By
John Burl Smith
During
the 1960s, Americans watched black smoke and soot belch from industrial
smokestacks and cars. Sick from industrial waste fouling rivers and streams
with toxic pollutants, Americans watched as developers clear-cut and paved more
green spaces, further degrading the land. Then, a conscious vibe spread across
the nation as individuals banded together. Organized in small groups, they
conducted petition drives, lobbied governmental officials and used the vote to
change the status quo. These organized groups targeted members of Congress
known as the "Dirty Dozen," who supported measures that damaged the
environment for the sake of corporate profits. These groups helped convince President
Richard M. Nixon, who was owned by special interests, to sign the Clean Air,
Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.
Unfortunately,
thirty-five years after inaugurating Earth Day, a vicious assault on the
environment, led by George W. Bush, has reversed all of those gains. This
spring, Environmental Action (EA) launched a new Campaign Against Mercury aimed
at defeating the "Unhealthy Skies" bill in Congress. Dubbed
"Clean Skies," if passed, this bill will allow power plants to
continue releasing almost seven times more mercury than enforcement of the
current Clean Air Act allows. Despite enormous pressure from industry and the
Bush administration, members of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee have refused to support committee approval of "Clean
Skies."
Down,
but by no means out, the Bush administration crafted a "compromise"
bill, which allows only five times as much mercury to be released into the
environment. Moreover, it appears that Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Majority
Leader Bill Frist may try to attach "Clean Skies" to the
administration's equally nefarious energy bill. If the public does not act,
power plant owners and their cronies in Congress will gut the current Clean Air
Act with the "Clean Skies" bill.
How
can you join the fight? EA is gearing up its largest-ever grassroots campaign
to counter "Clean Skies." This summer, it has mobilized more than
100,000 citizens/community activists in sixteen (16) key states to meet this
challenge. In addition, EA is sponsoring a national e-petition to tell Senators
"No Deals on Unhealthy Skies." Go to www.environmental-action.org and join
the clean air fight by signing the petition.
Mercy Mercy Me
By Marvin Gaye
Ah, mercy, mercy me,
Ah, things ain't what they used to be,
no, no.
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows
from the north and south and east.
Mercy, mercy me,
Ah, things ain't what they used to be,
no, no.
Oil wasted on the ocean and upon
our seas fish full of mercury,
Oh, mercy, mercy me.
Ah, things ain't what they used to be,
no, no, no.
Radiation underground and in the sky;
animals and birds who live near by are
dying.
Oh, mercy, mercy me.
Ah, things ain't what they used to be.
What about this over crowded land?
How much more abuse from man can she
stand?
Our
Man "We"
By
John Burl Smith
On
Monday after "Father's Day," Yohannes took me to lunch. Returning
home, he saw "We One" and stopped to thank "We" for
inspiring him to elevate his performance expectations. Poet for Peace, spoken
word artist, producer and playwright, "We" cast Yohannes in his first
play You’re Trippin'. Now in another groundbreaking role,
"We" is a community activist.
Singlehandedly
it seemed, "We" was Environmental Action's (EA) entire Atlanta attack
force in their Campaign Against Mercury. Walking door-to-door on one of the
hottest days of the summer in the Virginia Highland community, he was informing
residents about mercury's potential health hazards.
Complaining
about the heat, Yohannes parked and got out. "We" then gave us the
411 on the trench battle against mercury for cleaner skies. "Mercury is a
potent neurotoxin; even small amounts of it can affect how children learn,
think, remember and behave. The expression 'mad as a hatter' comes from the
time when hatmakers routinely handled mercury as a stiffening agent. Nowadays,
exposure to mercury results primarily from old lead-based paint and eating
fish--especially tuna and swordfish." "We" challenged us.
"Think about it! According to EPA, pregnant or nursing moms who eat tuna
can be the one in six women of childbearing age in the US exposed to mercury in
amounts that threaten their children's health. More astoundingly, 44 states and
territories have posted mercury advisories, warning people to limit or avoid
consuming fish from more than 12 million acres of lakes and 400,000 miles of
rivers."
Expanding
EA's fight for cleaner air to include protecting our forests, he explained,
"From rainforests of the Pacific Northwest to old growth forest in the
South, America's national forests are home to some of the most striking beauty
on earth. They provide clean drinking water for sixty million Americans and
critical habitat for such endangered species as grizzly bear, wolf and salmon,
as well as, endless opportunities for recreation and solitude. However, the
Bush administration's "Roadless Rule" will eviscerate our national
forests by providing on demand access to chainsaws and bulldozers instead of
protecting wildlife and old-growth trees.
Unapologetically,
"We" offered, "Unlike years past, seeing the big picture made it
easier to commit to something more than my art. This is a battle that must be
fought at the individual level!"
Marshall
Islands (1700-2005)
The
Marshall Islands is one of three adjoining archipelagoes in the western
Pacific; the other two are the Caroline and Mariana Islands. Spanish explorer
Alonso de Salazar was the first European to sight the islands. Partially
exploited by Spain, the island was left mostly undisturbed by outsiders until
visited by Captain John Marshall (1788), for whom the island is named.
In
1885, a German trading company settled on the islands. Following the
Spanish-American War (1899), Germany purchased Spain's interest in the islands,
which then fell under the protectorate of German New Guinea. At the outbreak of
World War I, Japan captured and assumed administration of the German Islands.
At the end of WWI, the League of Nations granted Japan a mandate over the
archipelagoes. Violating its mandate, Japan established sea and air bases on
the islands.
In
1944, the United States invaded the islands, which were added to the Pacific
Islands Trust Territory. After World War II, the US, under the United Nations,
gained control over the islands as part of a trusteeship agreement, which came
into force on July 18, 1947.
Immediately
after WWII, the US began using the islands as a nuclear testing site. The
atolls of Bikini and Eniwetok were evacuated for atomic bomb tests in 1946. In
1957, the United States Air Force used Eniwetok as a base for firing research
rockets. As a result of the nuclear tests, which continued until the 1960s,
many Marshall Islanders suffered from high radiation levels.
In
1954, the US detonated the Bravo hydrogen bomb on Bikini atoll. About 1,000
times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, the fallout sweep over
the Rongelap and Utrik atolls, contaminating the land and endangering the
people. The Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the US Department of
Energy (DOE), established the Marshall Islands Program (MIP). Mandated by
Congress, MIP provided for medical screenings and monitored radioactive
materials in the environments on Bikini, Eniwetok, Rongelap and Utrik.
In
1979, the Republic of the Marshall Islands was established and a Compact of
Free Association with the US was signed; it became effective in 1986. In 1990, the
Republic of the Marshall Islands gained its independence as the UN ended the
USA trust.
On
Rongelap Radiation
By
Chiyoko Tamayose
I
am Chiyoko Tamayose; I was born May 2, 1937. I am from Rongelap atoll in the
Marshall Islands. I returned to Rongelap in 1957, three years after the nuclear
fallout contaminated my homeland; scientists informed us that the land was
clean and safe.
I
noticed that not everything was right. The arrowroots that before grew
everywhere were gone. Coconut trees were bearing green and yellow nuts from the
same tree. Water changed color when we cooked our foods. Some of our fish had
thyroid problems, small hard nodules in fish gills that were very hard to
crack. After opening and tossing them in the water, the water changed to the
colors of a rainbow.
We
did not understand the change in the water; we played and splashed in it. We
were only instructed not to eat coconut crabs, but during food shortages, we
ate these delicacies and other locally grown food. We developed blisters all
over our mouths, but continued to eat them because we were hungry.
I
became very sick. I could not bear to be in bright daylight. The Department of
Energy officials sent me to New York for treatment. I was told that the
radiation content in my body was higher than some of the survivors of the 1954
fallout in Rongelap.
DOE
doctors assigned us numbers; we were referred to only in numbers and as the
'Control Group'. I believe this program was called 'Project 4.1.' It was people not exposed to nuclear
fallout, but became exposed and sick from injections that doctors gave us
without our consent and from eating foods grown in the contaminated soil. I
trusted American doctors to treat me fairly and take good care of my illness,
rather than using me as a guinea pig as I later on learned.
I
have 12 children; some of them are physically handicapped. I believe in my
heart that their problems began with me. I have one son that had liver cancer;
he was operated on at the Kuakini Hospital in Honolulu; he died during the
operation. Another son had problems with his thyroid - so severe he could not
eat or swallow water. A daughter was born with the lower body so soft as if
there was no bone. I have a 40 year-old son who was born with a big blister on
his back. Doctors informed me that they'd never seen that type of case. These
cases involve my immediate family, but there are numerous cases. One of my
cousins gave birth to what is known these days as a jellyfish baby; another one
of her babies was born without any backbone.
Hearings
need to be held here so our stories can be told. The Changed Circumstances
Petition is critical. If not approved by Congress, survivors and their affected
descendants are left to fend for themselves. There will be no funds to treat
their health conditions. If the Petition is not approved, Congress is washing
its hands off its moral obligation to care for the problems that it created.
Today,
I am 68 years of age. More than half of my life I've lived with many types of
health problems. I believe health problems in the Marshall Island will continue
beyond my time. Your support is critical for as long as these problems that
derived from the nuclear testing program exist. (For more on the petition,
click on www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRS/abstract.cfm?NLEid=64160
and for a complete copy of this letter, click on Chiyoko_Letter.htm)
ERUB: Nuclear Fallout Victims
The
US government conducted more than sixty nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands.
ERUB, an organization formed by the nuclear fallout survivors, is calling on
Congress to hold hearings in Majuro and Honolulu, where the survivors reside or
receive medical treatment. ERUB is an acronym for Eniwetok, Rongelap, Utrik and
Bikini, the atolls affected by the nuclear tests.
There
is ample evidence that Marshall Islanders served as guinea pigs for US
government scientists to test the impact of radiation on humans. As human
guinea pigs, similar to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment victims that trusted
government doctors to treat their illness, ERUB is justifiably suspicious of
the government. After fifty years, their stories of pain and suffering, which
run the gambit from cancer and miscarriages to horrible birth defects that
include "jellyfish babies," are absent from the congressional record.
Most of the survivors are too old, sick or cannot afford to travel to Washington,
DC.
On
May 25, the US House held hearings on the Marshall Islands Petition for Changed
Circumstances. Survivors did not play a significant role in those hearings. On
July 19, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to hear
the petition to provide funding for vital medical services for survivors and
their descendants. Before Congress votes on the measure later this year, let us
get the whole story on the record.
Disgruntled says:
Recognizing the
eroding support for the war in Iraq and his administration's handling of most
things, George W. Bush spoke on Tuesday before soldiers and sailors at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina. In front of another handpicked audience, Bush's beady
eyes chased the teleprompter as he read his vintage "stay the course after
9-11 war on terror speech." He frequently referenced that awful day, which
has not been linked to Iraq in any convincing way, but did not mention weapons
of mass destruction, the reason for the US-led invasion. In closing, Bush asked
US citizens to show their patriotism and support for the troops by flying flags
this Fourth of July and volunteering for a cause greater than themselves in the
killing fields of Afghanistan and Iraq. One might suppose, rather than opinion
polls, a real test of how well Bush's speech went over will be long lines at
military recruitment centers.
Disgruntled wants to know: Just in time for that Fourth of July
barbecue, a second case of US mad cow has been confirmed. The cow in question
died in 2004. Since mainstream media have devoted little coverage to this news
item, probably to protect and serve the interests of the beef industry, the
public has little information beyond the government's assertion that this
animal did not enter the human food supply. Samples of its brain tissue were
flown to Great Britain for testing. Having lied to its people about the threat
mad cow disease posed to humans there, the British are now experts in testing
for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow. Now that we know there
is mad cow in the US, when will the government cease to protect the beef
industry and concern itself with human health?
Disgruntled
feels: Endangered! On the
heels of watching "Silver City,” an obscure little movie set in Colorado that
is obviously about George W. Bush, his family's connections and the things
people with money and power do, including destroying the environment to make
more money and amass more power, came this daunting assessment. "With
Republicans controlling all three branches of government, Bush will likely get
much of what he wants, including the dangerous relaxation of environmental
protection. Moreover, Republican chairmen sitting on House and Senate
committees are unlikely to initiate any investigation into official misconduct,
including the Downing Street memo and other possible political
corruption." Not only are ethics and truth in danger, mankind is an
endangered species when power and money are allowed to run amok.
Mailbox:
E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email
kiesling+@pitt.edu I don't remember
when or why I subscribed to your list, but I just want you to know I really
appreciate it. I like not only the information and viewpoint, but the mix of
genres you put together so that each issue creates a kind of unique gestalt
beyond it's individual parts.
Email
angelman24@sprintmail.com Losing
Your Mind For A Burger: Thinking The Unthinkable..From Colm A Kelleher
PhD...The possibility of the age-related re-emergence of food-borne
Mycobacterium bovis (bovine tuberculosis) as a vector for Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (CJD or human Mad Cow Disease) and Mad Cow disease itself is real. The
CDC reported last May of an outbreak of CJD linked to the consumption of meat
contaminated "with the agent causing" bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) in a New Jersey racetrack between the time frame
1995-2004. Ample justification exists for considering a similar pathogenesis
for Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and other spongiform encephalopathies such
as Mad Cow disease. In fact, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and Alzheimer's often coexist
and at this point are thought to differ merely by time-dependent physical
changes.
Email
ThePhenomenalWomenGroup@yahoo.com
Foster kids used as 'guinea pigs'? By Adam Hutton...City Councilman Charles
Barron and Bill Perkins compared the hundreds of New York City foster children
used as guinea pigs to AIDS drug trials to black Alabama sharecroppers used as
lab rats during the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment conducted by the federal
government from 1930 to the 1970's. The city has hired a research firm to
investigate allegations that the Administration for Children Services used 465
foster children in HIV drug trials, sometimes without testing them for the
disease.
Email
www.oregonlive.com DENVER (AP) - Fish with
both male and female sex tissue have been discovered near Colorado wastewater
treatment plants on the South Platte River and Boulder Creek. Scientists are
trying to determine if chemicals that disrupt hormones, such as estrogen, are
responsible for the gender-bending phenomenon. Colorado biologist John Woodling
discovered the deformed white suckers about two years ago near two wastewater
discharge pipes. Female fish also far outnumber the male fish near the plants.
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