21/10/03/2003

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: ACTIVE; Greenpeace: Bayer, Stop Poisoning India! Open Letter to Bayer Cropscience

Greenpeace India launched a week long "mobile cyber action" against Bayer in the city of Bangalore, to get Bayer to keep up its promise of replacing WHO Class I pesticides, and to highlight the fact that Bayer is trying to obstruct civil society efforts in securing safe food and water for all Indians (by intervening in a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court of India). This mobilization effort would also bring the focus of the current pesticides debate onto another set of culprits - multinational agri-chemical companies like Bayer who are practicing double standards on Indians.
The mobile kiosk that Greenpeace India is taking around the city is equipped with laptops on which people can line up their email petitions to Bayer, with copies marked to the Prime Minister of India and the Minister of Agriculture, Government of India.
In addition, Greenpeace India is asking cyberactivists around the world to support this action by sending their own letters to Bayer (see letter below).

Mr. Satish Bhambani,
Director
Bayer Cropscience

Dear Mr. Bhambani,
Our food and water is poisoned by many deadly chemicals produced by you. In spite of the environmental and health hazards that your products pose, you have been aggressively marketing these to the farming communities of India. You are thus directly responsible for adversely affecting millions of farmers and consumers of this country.
In your Annual Report of 1995, you committed to ushering in progress on important areas like environmental protection and product safety. You clearly promised "to reduce the amount of product required per application" and to "replace WHO (World Health Organisation) Class I products (highly toxic) with products of less toxicity".
In India, however, you continue to create markets for pesticides like Methyl Parathion (Metacid), Oxydemeton-Methyl (Metasystox), Monocrotophos (Bilphos), Cypermethrin (Cybil and Bilcyp) and Edifenphos (Hinosan 50EC)all of which fall in the Class 1 category. These pesticides are responsible for several cases of poisoning. In addition, you also have other deadly pesticides crippling the farmers of the country: Butachlor, Quinalphos, Fenvalerate, Endosulfan, Mancozeb, Fenthion, Dicofol, Acephate, Fenitrothion, Carbaryl, Triazophos etc.
Both sets of pesticides contain chemicals that are cancer-causing (Group B and Group C carcinogens), that disrupt human hormonal functions (endocrine disrupting chemicals), that create birth deformities in foetuses in the womb (teratogens), that cause embryo-toxicity, that cause liver and kidney damage, that wreck the nervous system, and that generally suppress human immunity to diseases.
The world knows that many of the above pesticides had to be withdrawn by you in your home country, Germany. But you continue to practice corporate racism and profit from continuing to sell these poisons in India.
You are clearly reneging on the promise you made to your shareholders, and are treating Indians as second-rate citizens, which is unacceptable to us.
Worse yet, as part of CropLife India, you are now intervening in a Supreme Court case which seeks to ensure Safe Food and Water for all Indians in an attempt to belittle civil society efforts to save the environment and health of all Indians.

I demand that:
- You stop producing and selling the poisonous chemicals that you produce and market in India, beginning with the ones that you have already promised to phase out.
- Give an undertaking before the Supreme Court of India that you would stop producing toxic pesticides.

CC:
Mr. Stephan Gerlich, Managing Director, Bayer India
Mr. Anil Jain - Head, Marketing, India
Mr.Aaloke Pradhan, Head, Corporate Communications
Mr. Pierre Louis Dupont, Country Group Head on India

Coalition against BAYER-dangers
www.CBGnetwork.org CBGnetwork@aol.com
Fax: (+49) 211-333 940 Tel: (+49) 211-333 911
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CHEMICALS; Proposition 65 Status Report on No Significant Risk Levels for Carcinogens and Maximum Allowable Daily Levels for Chemicals Causing Reproductive Toxicity. http://www.oehha.ca.gov/index.html; White House Cover-Up: New York's Poisoned Air http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/090603A.shtml; http://www.chemical-survivors.com/New

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CHEMICALS - ACRYLAMIDE – POLITIC

The Carcinogen Identification Committee (CIC) will discuss the proposed acrylamide workplan at its October 17, 2003 meeting. To assist the members in their deliberations and at the request of Dr. Thomas Mack, Chair of the CIC, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) assembled background materials related to the basis for the cancer listing of acrylamide, carcinogenicity reports on acrylamide published since the Proposition 65 cancer listing, viewpoints of some institutions concerning acrylamide in food, and other various studies related to acrylamide.

http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/docs_state/acrylback.html

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CHEMICAL - ARSENIC
Simeonova PP, Hulderman T, Harki D, and Luster MI. 2003. Arsenic

Exposure Accelerates Atherogenesis in Apolipoprotein E-/- Mice

Environ Health Perspect: doi:10.1289/ehp.6332. [Online 19 August 2003]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2003/6332/abstract.html

http://www.noccawood.ca

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CHEMICALS – PESTICIDES; Beyond Pesticides' Daily News Headlines (week of September 1-5, 2003) Full stories available at; http://www.beyondpesticides.org/main.html www.beyondpesticides.org/main.htm l.; * Exposure to Agricultural Pesticides Linked to Female Infertility; * Herbicide Causes Problems on Golf Courses; * Study Shows Crustaceans Control Mosquitoes; * Boulder, CO Opts Not To Spray for Mosquitoes; The purpose of this update is to let you know about pesticide news stories posted at http://www.beyondpesticides.org/main.html; from the past week that you might have missed. These updates will be short and sent only once a week. If you know of a story that should be covered in; the Daily News, please let us know by sending an email to info@beyondpesticides.org .; ---; From P A N U P S Pesticide Action Network Updates Service; October 1, 2003 Resource Pointer #339 (Activism: Inspiration and Opportunity); September 25, 2003 Resource Pointer #338 (Alternative Economies); September 17, 2003 Resource Pointer #337 (Biodiversity Conservation and Management); September 10, 2003 Resource Pointer #336 (Biotechnology Policy); September 3, 2003 Resource Pointer #335 (Farmworker Rights); August 27, 2003 Resource Pointer #334 (Back to School: Readings for Tomorrow's Activists); ---; Collapse of WTO Talks in Cancún; September 29, 2003; The Fifth Ministerial session of the World Trade Organization (WTO), held in mid September in Cancún, Mexico, ended in near-complete failure, signaling a new era of Third World and popular resistance to the developing neoliberal international economic and political order. The talks were derailed by new dynamics among nations of the global South, with NGOs and grassroots protest actions playing a highly visible role….; ---; World Bank Still Pushes Pesticides; September 22, 2003; World Bank officials gather this week for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's (IMF) annual meetings in Dubai, where they will review loan and development policies that dramatically affect the wealth and daily life of many nations of the global South. The strong resistance from Third World nations that flared at the World Trade Organization meetings in Cancun just two weeks ago may or may not resurface in Dubai, but as World Bank officials claim their lending practices will improve the lives of the rural poor and protect the environment, evidence from the ground tells a far different story.; Two recent PANNA reports point to the World Bank's failure to implement its mandatory policy on pest management and reduce Third World farmers' dependence on pesticides. In the late 90s, the World Bank designated its pest management policy and several other environmental and social policies as "Safeguard Policies," intended to protect the environment and vulnerable populations from adverse effects of Bank lending -- the "do no harm" principle. Yet as the PANNA reports show, in the five years since the Bank's adoption of Operational Policy 4.09 on Pest Management (OP 4.09), the Bank has made little progress in putting those words into practice.; OP 4.09 requires the Bank to support farmers' shift from pesticides towards ecologically sound alternatives such as integrated pest management (IPM). Field monitoring and project reviews conducted by PANNA and local partners, however, found widespread violations of the Bank's pest management policy and identified a number of projects in which farmers reported pesticide poisonings and deaths in their communities, as well as wildlife loss and contamination of natural resources. As Lu Caizhen, monitor of a World Bank project in China noted, "We say there are two ways to die in China: starve to death or be poisoned to death by pesticides."; In The Struggle to Reduce Reliance on Pesticides: can community-based monitoring improve policy compliance? PANNA documents the experiences of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Indonesia, China and Mexico monitoring World Bank project impacts on their communities and environments, and focusing on pesticide use and pest management practices.; In all three countries, PANNA and our NGO partners found the World Bank projects were out of compliance with OP 4.09. Rather than helping farmers reduce their reliance on pesticides, the projects either supplied "technology packages" that included pesticides or placed no restrictions on the use of World Bank funds to purchase pesticides. NGOs and community groups in the three countries reviewed project documents and conducted participatory exercises and interviews with community members and local officials to evaluate the projects' level of compliance with OP 4.09. Most reviews revealed an urgent need for project corrections, and monitors presented project officials with concrete and realistic recommendations on how to improve project implementation.; Lu Caizhen explained, "One of the important things about this monitoring project was that the World Bank got to hear the voices of the local people. The farmers told the World Bank officials that they don't like using pesticides, and they know that pesticides can impact their health and the environment, but they felt they had no choice. Once the farmers learned what IPM was and that the World Bank policy requires projects to promote it, they were eager to get IPM training."; However, the Bank's slow progress in responding to reports of policy violations led local NGOs to question the Bank's commitment to its own policies. Nila Ardhianie, lead monitor in Indonesia, commented, "Sometimes it seems like World Bank officials live in a different world, a world where they cannot see us and the daily reality that people face. I wonder how they can believe the official reports [they get from Bank project staff] when serious problems in a project are so easily covered up."; A second PANNA report reviewed project documents for more than 100 World Bank projects likely to affect pesticide use, and found that only 9% effectively employed IPM practices and complied with the Banks own pesticide policies. The Persistence of Pesticide Dependence: a review of World Bank projects and their compliance with the World Bank's pest management policy, 1999-2003 found a number of Bank projects that finance pesticide purchases and yet provide farmers with no training on their environmental or health hazards or ecological alternatives. Only 35% of reviewed projects mentioned IPM, but most did not provide a detailed pest management plan as required by policy. Where IPM plans were described, these plans typically lacked sufficient depth or resources to ensure lasting impact or contradicted the project's broader goals of increased input use.; The report blames the World Bank's emphasis on agricultural intensification and export-oriented production instead of small-scale sustainable agriculture using few pesticides, fertilizers or external inputs as the central barrier to adoption of meaningful, ecologically-based IPM in Bank projects. Compounding the problem is Bank staff's weak understanding of IPM and the requirements of OP 4.09. The Bank's own systems of monitoring, supervision and oversight are still ineffective and a recently proposed overhaul of its Safeguard Policies could be a major step back from the Bank's stated commitment to basic social and environmental protections.; A summary of the PANNA report was published in the August 2003 Global Pesticide Campaigner and the full report will be on the PANNA web site in October, 2003. The community monitoring report, The Struggle to Reduce Reliance on Pesticides is now on the PANNA web site.; Sources: The Struggle to Reduce Reliance on Pesticides: can community-based monitoring improve policy compliance, PANNA, June, 2003; The Persistence of Pesticide Dependence: a review of World Bank projects and their compliance with the World Bank's pest management policy, 1999-2003 PANNA, October 2003; Global Pesticide Campaigner, PANNA, August 2003, and April 2001.; ---; Learning from West Nile; September 15, 2003; In mid-August, mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus (WNV) were found in California's Salton Sea, at the southern extension of an important bird migration route. As communities across the country choose different strategies to battle WNV, it's important to take stock of what we have learned from West Nile's four years on our shores, to reduce the possibility that our defense against West Nile may bring unexpected consequences. …; ---; Swedish Study Shows Power of Prevention; September 8, 2003; A recent study in Sweden provides concrete evidence that preventative public health measures produce healthier populations. The study, which analyzes data from the National Swedish Cancer Registry, links Sweden's national policies to reduce chemical exposure with fewer cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).; The Cancer Registry data indicate the incidence of NHL increased annually in Sweden at a rate of 3.2% for men and 3.1 % for women between 1971 and 1990. The increase became a decrease (0.8% for men and 0.2% for women) between 1991 and 2000, roughly 20 years after use of a number of chemicals associated with NHL was severely restricted. Similar trends have been noted in Finland, Denmark and the U.S.; ---; Action Alert: Tell the U.S. Senate Not to Gut the POPs Treaty; August 29, 2003; The U.S. Senate is finally preparing to ratify the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty banning persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Legislation now moving through Congress, however, deeply undermines the agreement by allowing the U.S. to ignore international decisions targeting new chemicals under the treaty. Reducing the treaty's effectiveness is no way to ratify, tell your Senators to adopt the Stockholm Convention at full strength.; Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA); Email: panna@panna.org Web: http://www.panna.org
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CHEMICALS - PESTICIDES - SAFER SCHOOLS

Healthy Schools Network, Inc.

NewsSlice, an online news service operated by Healthy Schools Network, Inc. to promote healthier students, personnel, school facilities, and communities-- topics at the intersection of health, environment, building sciences, and education. Send your anno uncements, news clips, or articles for posting to info@healthyschools.org

To subscribe to NewsSlice, go to http://www.healthyschools.org/newsslice.html and complete the subscription form.

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CONFERENCES

The meeting of the NTP Board of Scientific Counselors Technical Reports Review Subcommittee that was tentatively scheduled for November 5 and 6, 2003, has been postponed. The meeting will be rescheduled for the winter 2004.

The toxicology and carcinogenicity studies that will be peer reviewed are listed below and include four dioxin/dioxin-like compounds, including dioxin, a polychlorinated biphenyl, a polychlorinated furan and a mixture of these compounds (chemical name /CAS No.).

- 3,3',4,4',5-Pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB126) /57465-28-8

- 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) /1746-01-6

- 2,3,4,7,8-Pentachlorodibenzo-furan (PeCDF) /57117-31-4

- A mixture of PCB 126, TCDD, and PeCDF

- Malachite Green /569-64-2 and Leucomalachite Green /129-73-7

Anthraquinone /84-65-1 (The draft NTP Technical Report on Anthraquinone was previously reviewed in May 1999. Subsequent to that peer review, the anthraquinone tested was found to contain a 0.1% contaminant. As a result, the NTP conducted additional mutagenicity and metabolism studies and the findings from those studies are being incorporated into a revised draft technical report. The Subcommittee will evaluate the results from the follow-up studies, use that information to re-examine the carcinogenicity findings from the 2-year studies and make a recommendation on the carcinogenicity of the anthraquinone tested.)

The studies on the dioxin/dioxin-like compounds were designed to evaluate the relative toxic and carcinogenic effects between the individual chemicals and the mixture. Due to the need to ensure a consistent pathological diagnostic approach across all four studies, an expanded evaluation of the liver pathology data is being conducted. Because of the expanded pathology review, the public comment period for these studies would have been insufficient if the meeting were held on the original dates.

The rescheduled Subcommittee meeting will be held in Research Triangle Park, NC. Once plans for the meeting are finalized, the NTP will publicize details about the meeting's date and location, deadlines for public comments and how to gain access to copies of the draft reports. This information will be made available through the Federal Register, the NTP's web site (http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov), its list-server (an electronic notification service), and its quarterly newsletter the NTP Update.

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COUNTRIES – EU

Food Labelling

Information note : Food without fear: new food labelling rules will improve consumer information on food ingredients, in particular allergens, 23 September 2003 (79KB) http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/fl/fl08_en.pdf

- International Food Safety Issues

Codex Alimentarius : CCMAS - Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (updated) http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/ifsi/eupositions/ccmas/ccmas_index_en.html

Public Health

- European Centre [for Disease Prevention and Control]: Updated

Corrigentum proposal (en) for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council Establishing a European Centre [for Disease Prevention and Control] http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/pdf/2003/com2003_0441en01.pdf

http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_overview/strategy/ecdc/ecdc_en.htm

- Tobacco

2003/641/EC: Commission Decision of 5 September 2003 on the use of colour photographs or other illustrations as health warnings on tobacco packages (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2003) 3184) Official Journal L 226 , 10/09/2003 P. 0024 - 0026 http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=32003D0641&model=guichett

Consumer Affairs

- Speeches

Speech by David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, "Payments & Confidence : How to boost security and fight risk", Conference on "Security of non-cash means of payment", Brussels, 16 September 2003 http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH/03/414|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=

- Call for tenders

2003/S 184-165729 L-Luxembourg: provision of services in the area of consumer protection http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?REQUEST=Seek-Deliver&LANGUAGE=en&DOCID=165729-2003

- Redress: Asserting Consumer Rights

Draft Minutes of the EEJ-Net Conference: Review of the European Extra-Judicial Network and future perspectives for improved EU Consumer Assistance held on 10-11 June 2003 in Brussels (137 KB) http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/redress/out_of_court/eej_net/acce_just08_minutes_en.pdf

19. 09.2003

- Health and Environment Updated: http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_determinants/environment/Pollution/health_environment_en.htm

- Key documents: New: A European Environment and Health Strategy, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_determinants/environment/Pollution/keydo_health_environment_en.htm

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COUNTRIES – PHILIPPINES

Philippines: Dismissed Employees fight uphill battle against Bayer

AFTER close to thirty years of loyal service to Bayer Philippines, electrical engineer and union president Juanito Facundo feels that all he got in return were two years of hardship and a pending labor case. Administrative staff member and union treasurer Virginia Capada suffers the same fate. The two were former employees of Bayer, a leading German-based drug firm, and they claim they were terminated from work without prior notice and unceremoniously evicted from the office. And all because they were union leaders, they suspect.

"I was 51 when dismissed from my job," Facundo told the Inquirer. "Who else would hire me? I could work abroad, but I would not neglect my case." Facundo said that for the last two years, he has been hard pressed in providing for his family, especially with three of his children in college. Almost 54 now, he found it difficult to find a new job because of his age. Facundo and Capada filed the case with the National Labor Relations Commission after they were fired from the drug firm.

They both came in for work one day, and were told to report to the administrative manager, who subsequently served them their termination papers, which immediately took effect. Plainclothesmen even accompanied the two when they collected their things that same day and escorted them to waiting vans. The drug firm cited redundancy as the reason for the complainants' dismissal. Facundo and Capada also said they were not given prior notice and only learned about their termination on the same day. In their complaint, Facundo and Capada claimed their positions were still needed.

Facundo said in his case, a licensed electrical engineer is required for companies as mandated by law. After the termination, Facundo said the company has even advertised for an administrative supervisor who must also be a licensed engineer, and for administration staff members, which were basically the same positions he and Capada used to occupy.

The NLRC has dismissed their complaints, but the two have filed a motion for reconsideration. In their motion, the two said their dismissal was union-related, as they believe they are being discriminated against for testifying in an unfair labor practice case against the company's officers and for leading a 1997 strike against the company. Facundo also told the Inquirer that he had felt being harassed after he was assigned to do odd jobs and transferred from one office to another. Ever since the union went on strike in 1997, Facundo said he had been under intense pressure. Yet he did not leave, he said, because he had done nothing wrong and had been loyal to Bayer.

The 53-year-old Capada, on her part, found it hard to believe she was terminated so quickly and for such a flimsy reason. She believed her being the union treasurer had something to do with it. She said she now carries the burden of meeting her financial obligations while spending for her breast cancer medication.

Now, two years after being fired, the former union leaders are trying to get the proper compensation that should be accorded to employees who have served the company for as long as they have. The amount is also being disputed in their labor case, and the two fear that a long wait is before them.

Inquirer News Service, by Leila Salaverria, Manila

Sept. 19, 2002 (Sorry for the delay, we only today got notice of this story)

Coalition against BAYER-dangers
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CBGnetwork@aol.com
please send an e-mail for receiving the English newsletter Keycode BAYER free of charge

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DISEASE – FIBROMYALGIA

07-07-2003

Can Fibromyalgia be Caused by Exposure to Environmental Toxins? Dr. Andrew Weil Responds ImmuneSupport.com

With fibromyalgia, a syndrome that combines pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression, you have to separate "cause" from "trigger." New research suggests that this mysterious syndrome is caused by imbalances of chemicals and hormones in the nervous system that amplify sensation, making even a slight touch feel painful. In a study published last year, Daniel Clauw, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Michigan, used MRIs to show what happens in the brains of fibromyalgia patients in response to minimal pressure to their left thumbs - blood rushes to areas involved in pain perception. To get the same response from healthy people Clauw had to apply twice the pressure.

http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/ID/4743

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DISEASE – MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity)

Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 111, Number 12, September 2003

A Review of a Two-Phase Population Study of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities

Stanley M. Caress1 and Anne C. Steinemann2

1State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, Georgia, USA; 2Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Abstract

In this review we summarize the findings of a two-phase study of the prevalence, symptomatology, and etiology of multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS). We also explore possible triggers, the potential linkage between MCS and other disorders, and the lifestyle alterations produced by MCS. The first phase of the study consisted of a random sampling of 1,582 individuals from the Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area to determine the reported prevalence of a hypersensitivity to common chemicals. In this phase, 12.6% of the sample reported a hypersensitivity. …. http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2003/5940/abstract.html

---

Meeting about MCS from the UBA at 9/4/2003 in Berlin.

Speakers were

A) From the side which means that MCS is not an organic disease

a) professors of the environment medicine of universities (former occupational and/or workers medicine)

b) scientists, employees of the governmental agencies UBA ( about the same like the EPA in the states) and RKI (Robert-Koch- Institut)

B) From the other side: 2 physicians of environmental medicine (not of universities), 2 speakers of NGOs and I.

It was a very disappointing experience for the experts of the government and of the universities only wants so see the old psychiatric view.

The discussion was grotesque. In the conclusion of the day there was nothing to find from side B).

I hope I can translate my speech soon. My main-points were

a) Important questions for science

b) How to get more confidence to science at universities

c) Ideas for more life-quality of MCS-patients

---

MCS- conference in London UK, 2-3 September 2003

www.mcsinternational.org

www.elc.org.uk

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ELEKCTROMAGNETICAL RADIATION

Reuters, 30.09.2003: http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp?type=technologyNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=3534399

3G mobile signals can cause nausea, headache - study

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Radio signals for the next generation of mobile phone services can cause headaches and nausea, according to a study conducted by three Dutch ministries.

The study, the first of its kind, compared the impact of radiation from base stations used for the current mobile telephone network with that of base stations for new third generation (3G) networks for fast data transfer, which will enable services such as video conferencing on a mobile device.

A base station, which usually covers a "cell" area of several square kilometers (miles), transmits signals to mobile phones with an electromagnetic field.

"If the test group was exposed to third generation base station signals there was a significant impact ... They felt tingling sensations, got headaches and felt nauseous," a spokeswoman for the Dutch Economics Ministry said.

There was no negative impact from signals for current mobile networks.

However, cognitive functions such as memory and response times were boosted by both 3G signals and the current signals, the study found. It said people became more alert when they were exposed to both.

Government ministers responsible for Economic Affairs, Health and Telecommunications said follow-up research was needed to confirm the findings as well as to look at any longer-term health effects and biological causes.

They will also discuss the study with the European Commission, the spokeswoman said.

The double-blind laboratory tests -- meaning no one in the survey knew if a 3G-like base station was actually transmitting signals -- exposed test subjects to expected levels of average radiation for 3G networks when they become commercial.

The GSM Association, a global organization of mobile telecommunications operators, said it was studying the report and could not comment.

The study, conducted by the Dutch technological research institute TNO, was the first to look for an impact of mobile telephones on well-being. It was also the first study to find a statistically significant negative impact from 3G base stations.

Previous research on a negative health impact of mobile phones, mostly second-generation, has been inconclusive.

Existing research gives no scientific evidence that second-generation phones cause brain tumors, while a long-term study by the International Agency on Research on Cancer is not expected to yield results before 2004.

Previous research did find an impact on cognitive functions, which was also found in the Dutch survey. But TNO noted that earlier studies always measured the impact of cellphones held close to the head, causing high fields of radiation close to the ear and warming of the brain.

TNO's study used lower a dose of radiation to mimic base station signals rather than handsets.

Handsets emit stronger radiation when they are used, while base stations transmit more constant levels of radio signals, exposing everyone within range.

Links:

http://www.buergerwelle.de (German and English)
http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/omega_newsletter (German and English)
http://teleline.terra.es/personal/kirke1/pagact.html (in Englisch)

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FOOD – GM PLANTS
Bayer abandons British crop trials

A key GM crop developer, Bayer, has decided to halt UK trials of genetically modified plants. The move is seen as a major blow to the industry. Bayer was the last company carrying out GM trials in the UK, though it said yesterday it hoped to start up again soon when conditions were 'more favourable'.

The company blamed Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett for its decision. Her insistence that the locations of all trial sites be made public had forced its hand, a spokesman told The Observer.

Until last week, Bayer CropScience, Bayer's crop subsidiary. believed it was close to a deal that would allow GM crop test sites - which are regularly destroyed by protesters - to be kept secret. Instead of having to publish exact map references for fields, companies would only have to name the county in which it was holding a trial.

The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment had said this vaguer notification was 'acceptable in terms of risk assessment', while the police have always complained that explicit disclosure of test site locations has been a major factor in aiding 'crop-trashers'. But at the last minute the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told Bayer it would not support this change in regulations.

'In the absence of any moves to ensure the security for trials, Bayer CropScience has no choice, therefore, but to cease its variety trial activities in the UK for this coming season,' said the official. 'It is disappointing the criminal activities of a small minority of people have prevented information on GM crop varieties being generated.'

Most GM crop trials carried out over the past few years have been sabotaged, not only those of Bayer. Other companies have pulled out. Now Bayer, the last to continue with them, has decided to call it a day. The current 'brain drain' of UK agricultural scientists to the US and Canada is now only likely to intensify.

The fact that companies also specifically blame Beckett for this latest blow is particularly intriguing. Last week, a letter from Beckett to her fellow Ministers said Britain should back EU laws that ban all GM-free zones, a move that would give the go-ahead to the commercial growing of GM crops here.

But as long as test GM trials are exposed to sabotage, the prospects of commercial growing look remote. 'This is a back-door moratorium,' said an industry source.

Robin McKie, science editor, Sunday September 28, 2003, The Observer

Monsanto, Bayer: Antitrust claims against seed producers can go forward

The antitrust portion of a lawsuit accusing Monsanto and some of its seed-marketing rivals of plotting to control genetically modified corn and soybean prices should be allowed to go forward, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel's 13-page decision this month threw out part of a 1999 lawsuit by a group of farmers who said they had suffered losses because of global resistance to genetically modified crops. But the judge said a claim alleging antitrust violations can proceed because "genuine disputes of material fact remain."

Victoria Nugent, a lawyer for the farmers, on Wednesday praised the ruling, calling it "a very good result for our clients."

Bryan Hurley, a Monsanto spokesman, said the company was pleased that the judge had narrowed the scope of the case, and was confident it would ultimately prevail against the antitrust claim.

Monsanto and others named in the case - Bayer, Syngenta and DuPont unit Pioneer Hi-Bred - have denied the farmers' claims that the companies plotted for years to fix prices. Casting the lawsuit as a political stunt, Monsanto has rejected claims that genetically modified seeds and foods are unsafe.

Bayer CropScience, a product of Bayer's acquisition of Aventis CropScience last year, is a relatively minor player in the lawsuit, named in just one of the case's nine counts, a spokeswoman said. If the case ever went to jurors, "we're quite confident that they will find no activities unwarranted from us," said Peg Cherny, vice president of government affairs and communications.

Messages left Wednesday seeking comment from Pioneer and Syngenta were not immediately returned.

The suit alleges that Monsanto, using its biotechnology patents, coordinated with the other accused biotech companies to fix prices and force farmers into using genetically engineered seed. The lawsuit also alleged there is "substantial uncertainty" as to whether the crops are safe.

In a ruling released Friday, Sippel rejected negligence and "public nuisance" claims by farmers who grew non-genetically modified corn and soybeans but who argued, among other things, that their crops were tainted by Monsanto's genetically modified seeds, and that the company wrongly hawked seeds critics called environmentally unfriendly.

Those farmers offered no proof of their claims, Sippel ruled. The judge has yet to rule on whether the lawsuit should have class-action status. Such a declaration could expand the case to include more than 100,000 farmers, said Michael Hausfeld, another lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Corn and soybeans genetically designed to kill pests or withstand herbicides have become widely popular in the United States, but they've have met consumer resistance overseas. Genetic engineering involves splicing a single gene from one organism to another.

Biotech opponents have focused on persuading food makers not to buy genetically modified crops and getting governments to require the labeling of altered foods.

USA Today, 9/24/2003

Coalition against BAYER-dangers, www.CBGnetwork.org CBGnetwork@aol.com

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RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS

#777 September 4, 2003.(Published October 1, 2003)

Origine of Dementia, Part 2 .

#776 August 14, 2003 (Published September 29, 2003) .

Origine of Dementia, Part 1

#775 August 7, 2003 (Published September 23, 2003) .

A new Tool for Environmental Protection and Justice.

#774 July 24, 2003 (Published September 4, 2003) .

The Revolution, Pt. 3, ultrafines

All back issues are on the web at: http://www.rachel.org in text and PDF formats. To subscribe (free), send E-mail to listserv@lists.rachel.org with the words SUBSCRIBE RACHEL-NEWS YOUR FULL NAME in the message. The Rachel newsletter is also available in Spanish; to learn how to subscribe in Spanish, send the word AYUDA in an E-mail message to info@rachel.org . .

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RADIATION

Energy Dept. Seeks Power to Redefine Nuclear Waste
MATTHEW L. WALD / NY Times 1oct03
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/DOE-Redefine-Nuclear-Waste1oct03.htm

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end of newslettter /English/21