Global News Headlines 06/25

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Friday, June 25, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
1) The Gazette (Montreal) June 25, 1999, FINAL SECTION: News; A1/FRONT
HEADLINE: Fire scares Beauharnois: Residents await results of environmental
-damage tests BYLINE: ALLISON LAMPERT BODY: Residents of the South Shore
town of Beauharnois are awaiting the results of environmental  tests today,
after fire broke out in a chemical warehouse near their homes. About 300...

2) Belgian ``spin-doctors'' keen to remedy image By Nieck Ammerlaan BRUSSELS,
June 25 (Reuters) - Belgium's Association of Advertising Agencies (B3A) on
Friday offered the services of its members to the government to undo the
damage to its image from recent poisoned food and tainted drinks sagas. The
PR industry grouping said in a full-page advertisement in Belgium newspapers...

3) Asiaweek June 25, 1999 SECTION: ARTS & SCIENCES; Health; Pg. 43 HEADLINE:
The Great Dioxin Scare  HIGHLIGHT: A persistent problem with pollutants
BODY: When Belgian authorities finally admitted the country's eggs and
poultry were tainted with carcinogen dioxins, Asia was quick to act. Health
regulators from Bangkok to Taipei imposed a ban on food imports from Europe...

4) Belgium to give aid to dioxin-hit food sector By Leslie Adler BRUSSELS,
June 25 (Reuters) - The Belgium government said on Friday it would grant
emergency aid to farmers and businesses hurt by the country's dioxin-in-food
crisis. The cost of the debacle has been heading toward the $1 billion mark,
with many farmers fearing bankruptcy if the government does not move quickly...

5) ASIA PULSE HEADLINE: JAPANESE DIOXIN EMISSIONS FALL 55PCT IN 1998: AGENCY
DATELINE: TOKYO, June 25 BODY: Dioxin emissions from measurable sources in
Japan totalled 2,900-2,940g in 1998, down about 55% from the previous year,
the Environment Agency reported Friday. The decrease was attributed to the
stricter regulation of waste incinerators, the nation's biggest polluters....

6) AP Worldstream June 25, 1999 HEADLINE: EC official condemns Germany for
blocking old-car recycling law BYLINE: PETER JAMES SPEILMAN DATELINE:
BRUSSELS, Belgium BODY: The European Commission's  environmental  spokesman
on Friday condemned the German auto industry for  blocking a plan to make
automakers to scrap and recycle old cars. Facing pressure from car...

7) Europe Energy June 25, 1999 SECTION: No. 539 HEADLINE: NUCLEAR: POWER
LOBBY SURVEY ON APPROACHES TO BOOSTING PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE HIGHLIGHT:
Eurelectric- Unipede, the Brussels-based electricity lobby group, is to
publish a study on how utilities help public acceptance of nuclear power.
Based on an analysis of 13 countries, including 9 EU Member States, the
study aims to...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

(GREENPEACE)
8) 06/25 SEOUL, June 25 (Kyodo) About 30 members of South Korea's
leading environmental movement group staged a rally Friday in front
of the Japanese Embassy here to protest Japan's planned shipment of
plutonium expected to pass through the Korea Strait. The members of
the Korean Federation of Environmental Movements (KFEM)  also
delivered a letter of protest to the...

9) Asiaweek June  25, 1999 SECTION: ARTS &  SCIENCES; Environment; Pg. 40
HEADLINE: NUCLEAR FALLOUT BYLINE: SOUTIK BISWAS, CALCUTTA HIGHLIGHT: An
Indian uranium mine is blamed for a spate of horrifying illnesses afflicting
local villagers  BODY: Surumajhian is a uranium miner in Jaduguda, in the
northern Indian state of Bihar.  He says he has been suffering from body...

10) Clinton would veto nuclear waste bill-official By Patrick Connole
WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Bill Clinton likely would
veto compromise legislation on nuclear waste storage pending in the Senate
because it would cut out the Environmental Protection Agency from setting
radiation regulations, a Department of Energy official said on Friday.  The...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS 

11) 2nd generation A-bomb victims ask gov't for care TOKYO, June 25
(Kyodo) -- A group of children of atomic bomb survivors urged the
Ministry of Health and Welfare on Friday to create a health care
policy for them based on the findings of a planned medical study. The
request was contained in a letter the group submitted to the 
ministry. The letter asks for special health...

12) 06/25 Koreas-Missile SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korean President
Kim Dae- jung warned today that another missile test by North Korea
would seriously hurt the communist country's relations with its
potential donors, including the United States, Japan and South Korea.
"Blocking another North Korean missile launch test is a top policy
priority of the three countries,"...

13) UN defends decision to exclude UNSCOM in Iraq By Evelyn Leopold  UNITED
NATIONS, June 25 (Reuters) - Alleging a U.N. laboratory in Baghdad contained
dangerous substances, the United Nations on Friday defended its decision to
send a team to Iraq without experts who set up the laboratory. U.N.
spokesman Fred Eckhard said Iraq would not allow a team with experts from...

14) 06/25 Pakistan Squeezed, India Strikes In Kashmir By John Chalmers
NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) Indian fighter jets pounded infiltrators
in Kashmir mountain hideouts Friday as the United States stepped up
pressure on Pakistan to bring the confrontation with its arch-foe off
the boil. India denied that Washington's involvement amounted to
third-party mediation in a...

 OCEANS 

15) 06/25 Anchovy boats block southern Thai port BANGKOK, Thailand
(Reuters)The largest port in southern Thailand has been blocked for
the last 10 days by anchovy fishermen protesting what they see as
overfishing by large trawlers, a senior port official said Friday.
Wathanachai Raunglertpanyakul, deputy director of Songkhla port, said
21 vessels from Hong Kong, China, Singapore...

16) New US rule aims to shield right whales from ships BOSTON, June 25
(Reuters) - Commercial ships off Cape Cod, Florida and Georgia must begin
reporting their course under rules that take effect on July 1 in an effort
to reduce ship collisions with endangered right whales, U.S. officials said
on Friday. Government officials said such accidents account for the  bulk of...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

17) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE, Global warming means more bugs, US study  shows  USA:
June 25, 1999 WASHINGTON - Just as the jungle is buggier than the Arctic,  a
world made hotter by global warming could also have more insects -  which
would be bad news for farmers, researchers said on yesterday.  "Insect
damage on fossil leaves found in southwestern Wyoming, from the  late...

18) Floods hit Bangladesh, kill 10, scatter thousands DHAKA, June 25  (Reuters)
Monsoon floods have hit southeast Bangladesh, killing 10  people, forcing
thousands from their homes and cutting off roads, officials  said on Friday.
The situation is deteriorating with rain still pouring, which caused rivers
to overflow their banks," said a flood control official at Cox's Bazar...

19) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Beijing prepares to divert floodwaters to
protect city and farmland BYLINE: Luisetta Mudie DATELINE: BEIJING, June 25
BODY: Beijing is preparing to divert floodwater along a crucial section  of
the Yongding River to protect the capital and its sprawling suburbs from
potentially disastrous flooding. Around the Marco Polo bridge to the...

20) The Christian Science Monitor June 25, 1999 SECTION: USA; Pg. 4 HEADLINE:
South, Southwest search sky for rain clouds BYLINE: Compiled from wire
reports HIGHLIGHT: Arizona declares state of emergency; Georgia enforces
water bans to BODY: It's only the first week of summer, but huge swaths of
the United States have already had enough of the sun. Everyone from Arizona...

21) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE Focus - Russia harvest forecast cut after heatwave
RUSSIA: June 25, 1999 MOSCOW - A  summer heatwave which has swept Russia for
the second year in a row has caused the food and agriculture ministry to cut
its official grain harvest forecast for this year, officials said yesterday.
Some analysts have  said  the drought might force Russia to ask for more...

22) TASS HEADLINE: Ukrainian MPs to study ecology in coal mining district
BYLINE: Anatoly Gordeyev DATELINE: SLAVYANOGORSK, Donetsk region, June 25
BODY: A delegation of the Ukrainian parliament arrived in the Donetsk coal
basin to study the situation in the region which is on the brink of an
ecological catastrophy. At their visiting session, deputies, members of the...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

23) New York Times June 25, 1999, Late Edition -  Final SECTION: A; Page 12;
Column 3; Foreign Desk HEADLINE: China to Get World Bank Loan Despite U.S.
Objections BYLINE: DAVID E. SANGER DATELINE: WASHINGTON, June 24  BODY: The
World Bank overruled the United States today and approved a $160 million
antipoverty loan for China. However, it agreed to delay financing for the...

24) PROTECTION FUNDED FOR HIMALAYAN SNOW LEOPARDS, BEARS  WASHINGTON, DC, June
24, 1999 (ENS) - The snow leopards, white clawed bears, Central Asian
mountain goats and wild sheep of the West Tien Shan mountains are
about to benefit from a new multi- million dollar biodiversity
protection project. The World Bank and Global Environment Facility
approved Tuesday a grant...

25) The Vancouver Sun June 25, 1999, FINAL SECTION: Business; H1/Front
HEADLINE: Weyerhaeuser, MB eco-records differ: U.S. forest giant facing
year-old charges of damaging the environment in B.C. BYLINE: Gordon
Hamilton, Sun Forestry Reporter BODY: Weyerhaeuser Canada, the company
expected to be operating on MacMillan Bloedel's coastal forest lands, is...

26) 1,000 hectares of forests burn down in Karelia in ... PETROZAVODSK,
June 25 (Itar-Tass) Over 1,000 hectares of forests has burnt down in
Karelia over June, which is twice as much as compared to whole 1998.
We have extinguished 247 forest fires. About 100 paratroopers are
taking part in the job. They are brought to the fire sites by three
An-3 planes and two Mi-8...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

(GREENPEACE)
27) 06/25 CONFRONT GM FEARS, PROFESSOR TELLS FIRMS By Eileen Murphy, PA
News Biotechnology companies were warned today that a more
responsible approach to the introduction of genetically modified (GM)
technology was needed if a consumer or legislative backlash was to be
avoided. Professor Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller
Foundation -- the world's largest philanthropic...

28) Soybeans' Nutritional Value Unaffected by Bioengineering, Study Says  St.
Louis Post-Dispatch  Jun. 25--Food experts said Thursday that gene-altered
soybeans and standard beans have the same nutritional value, disputing a new
study that suggests biotech beans contain less of an important nutrient.
The experts say the study is flawed because it tested only two varieties out...

29) 06/25 DJ US Reacts Calmly To EU Plan To Tighten Bio Food Rules
BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The U.S. reacted calmly Friday to the European
Union's latest proposal to tighten rules on trade in new genetically
modified seeds within the E.U. The decision by E.U. environment
ministers reached early Friday effectively means that no genetically
modified organisms, or GMOs, will be...

30) US to probe Euro attitudes on GM foods By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON, June 25
(Reuters) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said on Friday that
European rules governing genetically modified crops must be based on sound
science and not consumer fears. "I am disturbed to see an escalation of the
fears of genetic engineering that do not appear to be based on science,"...

31) 06/25 DJ Europe Biotechs Fear Slowdown In EU GMO Approvals By Matthew
Newman BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--European biotechnology companies fear
that a de facto European Union moratorium on approving genetically
modified organisms could impede the industry for several years. E.U.
environment ministers on Friday didn't officially impose a moratorium
on genetically modified...

32) 06/25 DJ Rockefeller Foundation Asks Monsanto To Drop Gene By Scott
Kilman CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--The Rockefeller Foundation, which funds
research to help poor farmers in developing countries, is lobbying
Monsanto Co. (MTC) to swear off use of the so-called terminator gene,
which would make seed sterile. Gordon Conway, president of the New
York City foundation, is slated...

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