Global News Headlines 09/02

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Thursday, September 2, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

(GREENPEACE)
1) 09/02 Greenpeace calls on UN talks to ban "super toxins" AMSTERDAM
(Reuters) - The environmental group Greenpeace Thursday urged
negotiators at upcoming United Nations talks to impose a total ban on
dioxins and similar highly toxic chemicals. The talks on a treaty to
impose controls on a group of chemicals known as Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs) are due to resume...

2) Japan Economic Newswire HEADLINE: Saitama farmers sue TV Asahi over dioxin
report DATELINE: URAWA, Japan, Sept. 2 Kyodo BODY: A group of 376 farmers
filed a lawsuit against TV Asahi and a private research institute Thursday,
seeking some 197 million yen in damages over a February report on purported
dioxin contamination in vegetables grown in Tokorozawa, Saitama  Prefecture....

3) 09/02 WSJE: Top Belgian Grocers Cope With Dioxin Fears By John
Carreyrou Staff Reporter BRUSSELS -- You would think that Belgium's
four-month-old dioxin scare hasn't been kind to the country's large
food retailers. Think again. Feedback from company officials, store
managers and analysts corroborate the same surprising finding: If
anything, the dioxin crisis has...

4) EU's Wallstrom backs environmental liability By Michael Mann  BRUSSELS,
Sept 2 (Reuters) The European Union's future environment commissioner called
on Thursday for wide-ranging legislation to guarantee that companies are
liable for any environmental damage caused by the products they manufacture.
Sweden's Margot Wallstrom used a confirmation hearing at the European...

5) 09/02 PARENTS BOYCOTT SCHOOL OVER POLLUTION FEARS By Brian Farmer,PA
News Dozens of parents today boycotted a primary school at the centre
of a health scare. A third of children stayed away from St Edmunds
primary school in King's Lynn, Norfolk, after fears that pollution
from nearby factories was causing health problems. Head teacher Nick
Butt, who had appealed to parents...

 NUCLEAR POWER 

(GREENPEACE)
6) Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online Breaking News Greenpeace demands
answers over freighter accident  Greenpeace is demanding answers over an
accident on a  freighter carrying plutonium-based nuclear fuels off the
Western Australian coast. It has been revealed a  41-year-old crew member
was flown off the Pacific  Pintail suffering a broken collarbone and head...

(GREENPEACE)
7) N.Z. parliament opposes Japanese MOX shipments SYDNEY, Sept. 2 (Kyodo)
The New Zealand parliament Thursday unanimously passed a motion of "strong
concern" over a shipment of radioactive mixed oxide fuel (MOX) that will
pass waters near New  Zealand and travel through the Pacific on its way to
Japan. The motion, moved by the Green Party, criticized the Japanese, French...

8) 09/02 Canada To Test-Burn U.S. Nuke Waste By H. JOSEF HEBERT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Energy Department will ship a truckload of
plutonium-blend reactor fuel from the Los Alamos lab in New Mexico to
Canada later this year to test whether Canada's reactors can be used
to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium. U.S. and Canadian officials
announced agreement Thursday on the...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

9) 09/02 Russia, U.S. To Discuss Y2k Missile Fears By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia has agreed to resume talks on a
proposed joint center in the United States aimed at dodging any
missile miscues caused by the 2000 computer glitch, U.S. officials
said Thursday. The talks on the temporary "early warning" center are
to take place in Moscow on Sept. 13 during a...

10) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Russia denies plan to sell China two nuclear
submarines DATELINE: MOSCOW, Sept 2  BODY: Moscow denied Thursday newspaper
reports that it had agreed to sell China two nuclear submarines capable of
carrying ballistic missiles amid worsening relations between Beijing and
Taipei. No talks are being held or could be held on the delivery of  nuclear...

11) 09/02 Workers Contaminated With Plutonium AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Seven
workers face weeks of medical monitoring after they were contaminated
with plutonium at a federal nuclear weapons facility. Officials at
the Savannah River Site, on the Georgia-South Carolina border, said
particles of the radioactive metal were found on the workers'
clothing and skin, but they have not...

12) THE JOURNAL (Newcastle, UK) September 2, 1999 Edition 1 SECTION: REGIONAL
NEWS, Pg. 12 HEADLINE: Gulf radiation risk warning - Expert calls for
monitoring care BYLINE: Bill Wilson BODY: A NORTH scientist has warned that
Gulf War veterans will have to be closely monitored for signs of cancer
after being exposed to depleted uranium weapons. Professor Malcolm Hooper,...

13) 09/02 China Won't Use Nukes Vs. Taiwan By CHARLES HUTZLER BEIJING
(AP) -- While declaring its resolve to retake rival Taiwan by force
if necessary, China removed one threat today by promising not to use
nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict. The pledge, issued by the
Foreign Ministry, was the most explicit, public renunciation of the
nuclear option China has ever...

14) 09/01 Gas Not Blame of Gulf War Illnesses SAN DIEGO (AP) Soldiers
exposed to nerve gas during the Persian Gulf War were no more ill
than other veterans of the war, according to a new study. Researchers
at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego say their study
indicates that the nerve gases sarin and cyclosarin aren't
necessarily to blame for the illnesses...

 OCEANS 

(GREENPEACE)
15) APW September 02, 1999 HEADLINE: Greenpeace launches campaign to create
global sanctuary DATELINE: SYDNEY, Australia BODY: Environmental group
Greenpeace and the Australian government teamed up Thursday to push for the
creation of a permanent global safe haven to protect whales from commercial
hunters. Launching an Internet petition calling for better protection of the...

16) EU must slash fishery subsidies-environment group BRUSSELS, Sept 2
(Reuters) The European Union must slash subsidies to its fishing industry to
halt the inexorable growth in fleet capacity and the continuing decline in
vital fish stocks, a leading environmental group said on Thursday.  The
fishing industry in the 15 nation EU received more than 1.4 billion euros...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

(GREENPEACE)
17) THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON) September 02, 1999 SECTION: Pg. 30 HEADLINE:
City: Shell slams Greenpeace as Spar disposal cost doubles BYLINE: By Roland
Gribben, Business Editor BODY: SHELL yesterday disclosed that the four-year
long Brent Spar saga cost the Anglo-Dutch oil giant almost twice as much as
budgeted and criticised Greenpeace for exaggerating the potential...

(GREENPEACE)
18) 09/02 DJ Norway's Unwanted Oil Platforms May Become Elec Plants OSLO,
Norway (AP) Norway's state oil company, Statoil (Y.DNS), is pondering
a giant recycling idea: converting unwanted offshore oil platforms
into pollution-free power plants that transform ocean tides into
energy. Oil platforms in the deep waters off Norway include some of
the world's tallest...

19) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Defense firm to fight global warming with
'tree bombs' DATELINE: LONDON, Sept 2 BODY: US aerospace giant Lockheed
Martin plans to battle global warming the only way it knows how: by bombing
the earth with saplings using converted warplanes, The Guardian reported
Thursday. A former Royal Air Force pilot, Jack Walters, convinced the...

20) The Independent (London) September 2, 1999 SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 6 HEADLINE:
WARMING MAY FREE VIRUSES IN POLAR ICE BYLINE: Charles Arthur Technology
Editor BODY: GLOBAL WARMING could pose a disease risk from ancient viruses
which have been entombed in polar ice-caps for thousands of years. Ice cores
up to 140,000 years old from Greenland have yielded a virus that attacks...

21) IDB Approves Grant for Brazilian Renewable Energy ...  WASHINGTON (Sept. 1)
XINHUA - The Inter-American Development  Bank (IDB) announced Wednesday the
approval of a grant of 898,950 U.S.  dollars to support a Brazilian program
that promotes decentralized  energy services based on renewable sources in
isolated communities. The resources from the Japan Special Fund, which is...

22) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Enron Power Corp runs into fresh Indian
political storm as polls near DATELINE: BOMBAY, Sept 2 BODY: The United
States-based Enron Power Corp's power project in western Maharastra state
ran into a new political storm Thursday when the opposition demanded an
earlier price deal be renegotiated. The Congress party, ahead of national...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY 

23) Fires set by farmers choke central Brazil By Joelle Diderich BRASILIA, Sept
1 (Reuters) Fires set by farmers using slash-and-burn tactics to
clear their land have reached "alarming" levels in west central
Brazil, casting a thick pall of smoke over the region, officials said
on Wednesday. Satellite data show a sharp increase in the number of
hot spots -- areas where there is a...

24) FED: Forestry industry to benefit from fuel rebate BODY: DIESEL PARLY 012
CANBERRA, Sept 2 AAP - The federal government moved today to close a
loophole in its diesel fuel rebate scheme which would have slugged the
forestry industry with higher fuel prices. The Taxation Laws Amendment Bill
(No 9) 1999 will give the forestry industry the same rebate as other...

25) QLD: Protesters at Boral but company stands firm on forests BODY: WOODCHIP
QLD BRISBANE, Sept 1 AAP - An anti-logging protester was arrested during a
demonstration by 200 conservationists today outside the Brisbane office of
Boral Timber. The protesters, who want logging in native hard wood state
forests banned, hung a banner across the Boral building and chanted anti-...

26) Vancouver Sun Sept 02, 1999, FINAL SECTION: Business; F2 HEADLINE: Public
can visit old Douglas fir, top court rules: Interfor gets extension to its
injunction, keeping protesters out of its Elaho Valley road-building site.
BYLINE: Gordon Hamilton, Sun Forestry Reporter BODY: A Douglas fir tree
believed to be the oldest in Canada will remain accessible to the public...

27) Calif. needs to spend billions to conserve land By Michael Kahn SAN
FRANCISCO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - California needs to spend billions on land
conservation over the next 10 years to protect its lucrative tourism
industry and to continue to attract new business, according to a report
released on Wednesday. The California Environmental Dialogue, a coalition of...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

(GREENPEACE)
28) Brazil farmers tap black market for GM soy - group By Phil Stewart  SAO
PAULO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Brazil's farmers are skirting a ban on
genetically-modified (GM) crops and turning to the black market for illegal
soybean seeds smuggled in from neighboring Argentina, a top industry group
said on Thursday. The Brazilian Association of Seed Producers (Abrasem) said...

(GREENPEACE)
29) Campaigners, stores welcome ADM call on gene crops By Christopher Lyddon
LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) European campaigners said they were one step closer
to victory on Thursday after reports U.S. grain giant Archer Daniels Midland
Co <ADM.N> called on growers to segregate genetically modified and
conventional crops. The move was welcomed by the British Retail Consortium,...

30) 09/02 DJ Australian Study: Many Doubt Claimed Benefits Of GMO Food
CANBERRA (Dow Jones) Almost half of Australia's consumers are
skeptical of the claimed benefits of genetically modified food and
won't eat them, according to research conducted mid-August by a local
unit of market research concern ACNeilsen Corp. and issued Thursday.
But the survey of...

31) U.S. farmers face extra work, costs in GM crop battle By Bob Burgdorfer
CHICAGO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The global battle over genetically modified
crops moved closer to U.S. farmers this week when agribusiness giant Archer
Daniels Midland Co. (ADM.N) warned suppliers to keep such crops separate
from conventional ones. With harvest only days away in the Corn Belt,...

 OTHER 

(GREENPEACE)
32) HONG KONG STANDARD September 1, 1999 HEADLINE: Westerners 'press Tung to
focus on environment' BODY: MOUNTING pressure from Western businessmen has
compelled Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to focus on environmental protection
in his policy address next month, green groups claim.  Political parties
have made similar recommendations to Mr Tung for his address to the...

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