Dear subscribers,

I thank all who sent me information.

CHEMICALS - EU – POLITIC

EU launches controversial "user-safe" chemicals law

October 31, 2003 BRUSSELS - Hidden health risks from chemicals lurking in everything from carpets to car interiors should be spotted and stopped under controversial environmental legislation proposed by the European Commission this week.

The European Union's executive arm issued the bill in the face of fierce opposition from the EU's 528-billion-euros-a- year ($618 billion) industry, its biggest governments and the United States, which said it could ruin the industry and strain global trade.

 (additional reporting by Iain Rogers in Berlin)

Story by Robin Pomeroy, reuters news service

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22716/story.htm

Scherrmann: I am searching for controversial articles about the new European Chemical law. I would appreciate URLS about this topic. Thanks.

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CHEMICALS – HOUSECLEANERS – ASTHMA

29/10/2003

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CHEMICALS - FRAGRANCES – ISO E SUPER

Substances Nominated to the NTP for Toxicological Studies and Recommendations Made by the ICCEC on April 17, 2002

Table 1. -- Substances Recommended for Study

Iso E Super, a common fragrance chemical has been recommended for National Toxicology Program studies

More info is available as a PDF file from http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/Chem_Background/ExSumpdf/IsoESuper.pdf

… For the general population,exposure to Iso-E Super ¤ is via inhalation and the skin through the use of products (e.g.,fragrances and perfumed personal care products)containing the chemical and via ingestion of water or food containing the chemical as a contaminant.In dermatological patients,two cases of an allergic reaction towards Iso-E Super ¤ were observed on day 3 or 4 of application;however,this was not proved to be clinically relevant.

http://www.fpinva.org/NTPstudies.htm

http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/liason/BkgrSum02June.html

Substances Nominated to the NTP for Toxicological Studies and Recommendations Made by the ICCEC on April 17, 2002

Table 1. -- Substances Recommended for Study

http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/htdocs/Chem_Background/ExSumpdf/IsoESuper.pdf

Iso E Super – IFF Send Email to IFF for more information on Iso E Super For more information visit www.iff.com

Information for health effects in fragrances: http://www.fpinva.org/

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CHEMICALS – HERBICIDE - EU - USA

Carcinogenic endocrine disrupters herbicides

European Union cleans up but united states sprays widely

The European Union has also officially banned atrazine, a toxic herbicide that is both a carcinogen and endocrine disruptor. The decision was made after alarming concentrations of the Syngenta chemical have been turning up in waterways all over the world. On the other side of the pond, atrazine recently received reapproval by the Bush-led EPA. Atrazine is currently the most commonly used herbicide in the US, where 60 million pounds were applied in 2003 alone. The water supply in much of the US corn belt is contaminated with atrazine and other toxic chemicals routinely used in conventional agriculture.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/atrazine102703.cfm

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CHEMICALS – INHALATIONAL ANESTHETICS

CNS penetration by noninvasive viruses following inhalational anesthetics.

 Ben-Nathan D, Kobiler D, Rzotkiewicz S, Lustig S, Katz Y.

 Dept. of Infectious Diseases, Israel Institute for Biological Research, Ness-Ziona, Israel. ben@iibr.gov.il

The effects of inhalational anesthetics on brain penetration by the neurovirulent noninvasive West Nile virus (WN-25) were studied in mice. WN-25 injected intracerebrally causes encephalitis and kills adult mice, but when injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) it is unable to invade the brain and kill.
Under stress conditions, this strain causes encephalitis and death even after i.p. inoculation. In the study described in this paper, we used two inhalational anesthetics, a single short-term exposure to 2% halothane for 10 min in oxygen, or 70% nitrous oxide (N2O) for 30 min in air. Both inhalational anesthetics induced WN-25 encephalitis and death in 33% and 20% of the tested mice, respectively. Exposure of inoculated mice to halothane for prolonged periods or for repeated exposures (two or three times) markedly increased the mortality rate (up to 75%).
Exposure to 30% CO2, a known modulator of blood-brain barrier (BBB) activity, was used as a positive control (80% mortality). No death was observed in the control non-exposed injected mice. Virus levels were found to be more than 10(7) plaque-forming units (PFU)/brain in all moribund mice. Additional parameter demonstrating the "stressor-like" nature of inhalation  anesthetics was the induction of a significant decrease in weight of the lymphoid organs of inoculated mice. We suggest that inhalational anesthetics induces BBB breaching with subsequent entrance of the noninvasive WN-25 virus into the brain, causing encephalitis and death.

 PMID: 11268425 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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CHEMICALS – MERCURY

Mercury Environmental Health and Research Professionals and the New York City Council

Arnold P. Wendroff, PhD  Mercury Poisoning Project

The widespread magico-religious and ethnomedical use of elemental mercury in Latino and Caribbean communities seems to be demonstrated by the elevated blood mercury and environmental mercury vapor levels described in the Washington Post newspaper article below.  There is good reason to diligently follow up and investigate the source of these elevated mercury levels in Latino households. 

www.mercurypoisoningproject.org   (718) 499-8336

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CHEMICALS – PESTICIDES

From P A N U P S Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

Resource Pointer #343 (Food Security),  October 29, 2003

Resource Pointer #342 (The Precautionary Principle),  October 23, 2003

Resource Pointer #341 (Backyard and Urban Agriculture), October 16, 2003

Resource Pointer #340 (Traditional Models for Sustainable Agriculture) , October 10, 2003

Pesticides in Water Threaten Aquatic Life, October 7, 2003

Sources: Diazinon and Chlorpyrifos Loads in Precipitation and Urban and Agricultural Storm Runoff during January and February 2001 in the San Joaquin River Basin, California, Celia Zamora, Charles R. Kratzer, Michael S. Majewski, and Donna L. Knifong, USGS, 2003, http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/wri/wri034091/ ; The Quality of Our Nation's Waters: Nutrients and Pesticides, USGS NAWQA, 1999, http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/circ/circ1225/ ; Secondhand Pesticides: Airborne Pesticide Drift in California, Susan Kegley, Anne Katten, & Marion Moses, Californians for Pesticide Reform, 2003, http://www.panna.org/resources/documents/secondhandDriftAvail.dv.html ; Water Quality in the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins, California, 1992-95, Neil M. Dubrovsky, Charles R. Kratzer, Larry R. Brown, Jo Ann M. Gronberg, Karen R. Burow, USGS, 1998, http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/circ/circ1159/index.html

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

Back issues of PANUPS are available online at: http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

To comment, send an email to: panna@panna.org    

To subscribe, send a blank email to: PANUPS-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), 49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Email: panna@panna.org Web: http://www.panna.org

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CHEMICALS – PHTALATES - CONTACT ALLERGIES - ASTHMA

http://www.health24.co.za/news/Asthma/1-892,25209.asp

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CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH – INFORMATION

1)EPA's Scientific Advisory Panel to Meet on Chromated Copper Arsenate in Children's Playground Equipment

The FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel will meet to consider and review EPA's probabilistic exposure and risk assessment for children who contact chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood on playsets, decks, and CCA-containing soil around these structures. The meeting will be held December 3-5, 2003, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

(ET) at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202; Tel. No.: 703-486-1111. For more information please contact Paul Lewis, Office of Science Coordination and Policy, at 202-564-8450. The full text of the meeting notice can also be viewed in the Federal Register at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-MEETINGS/2003/September/Day-26/m24402.htm.

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2)RN Prescription for an Environmentally Healthy Home

During Children's Health Month in October, nurses can learn how to create environmentally healthy homes and communities by using the Medscape website at: http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/2660 . Nurses have understood the importance of the environment since the time of Florence Nightingale but their formal education teaches them little about the modern-day environment and its potential impact on children's health. "Children's Health and the Environment: Environmentally Healthy Homes and Communities" will help nurses identify, prevent and manage environmental health risks to children where they live and play. This continuing education module was developed by the American Nurses Foundation in partnership with the University of Maryland School of Nurses under a cooperative agreement with EPA. Different training opportunities often require nurses to pay a fee for continuous education contact hours; but in this case, nurses can earn free education contact hours through December 2004 by completing this particular module. To learn more about EPA efforts to educate health care providers about environmental health risks to children, go to: http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/Whatwe_educat.htm#3 .

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3)The "Handbook" on Economic and Environmental Risk to Children

The "Children's Health Valuation Handbook" is a valuable reference tool for people conducting economic analysis of EPA policies that affect children's health. The handbook, released by EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE) and the Office of Children's Health Protection (OCHP), is a companion document to "EPA's Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analysis" (2000), and provides information on ways to incorporate the unique environmental risks to youth. It will also describe EPA's criteria for valuing children's health effects and will encourage research among economists and other experts. To obtain a copy of the handbook, go to: http://www.epa.gov/economics .

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America's Children and the Environment is now online!

A valuable new resource for children's environmental health is now online at  http://www.epa.gov/envirohealth/children.

The America's Children and the Environment website presents data and discussion on information for environmental contaminants and children's health and is based on the recently published report  America's Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens and Illnesses.

America's Children and the Environment, developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, reports on trends for levels of environmental contaminants in air, water, food, and soil; concentrations of contaminants measured in the bodies of women and children; and childhood

illnesses that may be influenced by environmental contaminants.   A

total of 27 measures are included.

The web site features a background summary explaining each issue, graphs showing trends over time, and explanations of the significance of the data.  In addition, references, data tables, and data sources are included and available for download, with on-line links where available

The significant limitations on data available for tracking environmental conditions and disease are discussed and recommendations provided for improvements as "future directions."

The web site also provides links between measures that are related.  For example, the page on trends in air pollution links directly to the page on trends in respiratory diseases related to air pollution.

EPA released a hard copy report with most of this information in February 2003.  All of the information presented in the report is available on the web site.  Additional information is included on the web site, which will be updated over time.

The web site contains instructions for ordering copies of the published report.  An electronic version of the published report can also be downloaded from the web site.

If you have any questions, please contact Tracey Woodruff (woodruff.tracey@epa.gov ) or Dan Axelrad ( axelrad.daniel@epa.gov ).

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CHILDREN -ASTHMA

Tiny air pollution particles of organic carbon and nitrogen dioxide can trigger chronic bronchitis in children with asthma.; Yahoo news, Thu Oct 9

 'Gasoline and diesel vehicle exhaust is the major source of organic carbon in southern California.'

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=97&ncid=751&e=9&u=/hsn/20031010/hl_hsn/airpollutioncanspelltroubleforasthmatickids

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CONFERENCES

Third NEW-CUE Writers’ Conference and Workshop in honor of Rachel Carson

to be held at The Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, from June  15 – 18, 2004

Nature and Environmental Writers – College and University Educators  (NEW-CUE), a non-profit, environmental education organization based in

Washington, D.C., will offer its Third Writers’ Conference and Workshop  in honor of Rachel Carson at The Spruce Point Inn in Boothbay Harbor,

Maine, from June 15-18, 2004. Writers, educators and the interested  public are invited to attend.

The theme of the 2004 Conference/Workshop will be “Living Waters,” …

For further details, information please visit our website at http://www.new-cue.org,

or send an e-mail message to info@new-cue.org

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DISEASE – MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE - ALS

Medical Consequences of Conflict:  Motor neurone disease News

Veterans of the first Gulf war are developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Owen Dyer. London

US veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf war are twice as likely as the general public to develop amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a type of motor neurone disease. This is a finding of two studies published in the current issue of the journal Neurology ( 2003; 61: 742-9, 750-6)[Abstract/Free Full Text].

US troops in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf crisis, 1990 … BMJ  2003;327:766 (4 October) PDF of this article http://bmj.com

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Occurrence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis among Gulf War veterans

M. R. Rose Gulf War service is an uncertain trigger for ALS

Neurology, September 23, 2003; 61(6): 730 - 731.

[Full Text] [PDF]

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/61/6/742?ijkey=69efa23a49955a858dcb9022bbddb8b6a2ed85a7&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Neurology 2003;61:742-749

© 2003 American Academy of Neurology

DISEASE – WOMEN

From WeNews

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1570

October 22, 2003 Study: Women Bear Brunt of Environmental Toxins

10/21/03  By Rebecca Vesely, WeNews correspondent

A California study calls for further investigation into how environmental toxins affect women's health. It estimates the health care cost of U.S. women's environmentally associated diseases is $12.2 billion annually.

 SAN FRANCISCO (WOMENSENEWS)--The push to link environmental safety to women's rights gained research footing last week with the release of a new report called Confronting Toxic Contamination in Our Communities: Women's Health and California's Future.

Released by the Women's Foundation of California, a grant-making organization based in San Francisco, the report on contaminants and women's health focuses on how women's biology  and role in society makes them bear the brunt of environmental toxins.

Women often work closely with potentially toxic chemicals and preliminary research suggests that their physiology is more conducive to absorbing and carrying these chemicals, according to the report.

Perhaps most notable about the report, however, is that it points out how little is known about how environmental toxins affect women. Data that takes gender and ethnicity into account is limited, for instance. Historically, women have not been the primary subjects of occupational studies. Of the gender-specific studies that have been done, most focus on reproductive health and newborns.

Fat-Soluble Toxins at Issue

The report notes that research indicates women, with as much as 10 percent more body fat than men, are able to store more fat-soluble toxic materials. These toxins have been tentatively linked to breast cancer and hormone disruption. Many fat-soluble synthetic chemicals, such as flame-retardants, are probable or known carcinogens, the report found. Women transfer toxins to children in utero and through breast milk, which some researchers suggest can affect fetal development and childhood growth.

The estimated U.S. health care costs of diseases affecting women that have a "strong environmental association" total $12.2 billion, according to the report. These diseases include breast cancer, birth defects, autoimmune disease and infertility. The cost to women beyond health care include lost wages, diminished quality of life and other tolls that environmental researchers are just beginning to track, the report indicated.

"We want to ensure that the health of all Californians remains a high priority on the policy agenda," said Patti Chang, president and chief executive officer of the Women's Foundation of California. "Especially for those disproportionately impacted--low income women and women of color."

Low-income and minority women tend to work or live near environmental toxins, the report said. For instance, many low-income women work as manicurists, housecleaners and factory workers, all occupations that require handling chemicals.

Cleaner House-Cleaning Products

Reducing women's exposure to chemicals shouldn't be left up to just politicians, the report suggests. One group of housecleaners in the San Francisco Bay Area formed environmental cleaning cooperatives that switched from bleaches and other strong chemicals to vinegar, vegetable soap and baking soda. By replacing two conventional all-purpose and glass cleaning products with more natural--and cheaper--cleaning agents, such as vinegar, each cooperative is reducing exposure to pollution by 85 percent, or 1,800 pounds per year, according to the report. And, the housecleaners report fewer headaches, spells of dizziness and skin irritations.

The report pulls together data from various studies and recommends reducing the amount of toxins in the environment in the state and across the country. Authors advocate a first-do-no-harm approach, meaning that chemicals should be more fully tested before they are approved for use.

The foundation that published the report also called on government and businesses to provide safer alternatives to toxic chemicals, as well as collaboration among groups to advocate for policy reforms and further scientific studies. They also seek to pass the burden of environmental cleanup to the producers, rather than taxpayers, by requiring producers to pay for Superfund site cleanups in Silicon Valley, for instance, where the most Superfund sites in the state are concentrated.

They also call for better research and data on the role of gender in environmental exposure and expanded efforts to monitor human exposure to toxic chemicals.

Biomonitoring Push

This so-called biomonitoring--or study of the amount of pollution in the human body--is gaining popularity among public health experts. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is offering grants to states to conduct biomonitoring projects. A California state bill introduced this year would have established a biomonitoring project within the Department of Health Services, using breast milk as a marker. The bill was killed because of the state's financial crisis in this year's legislative session, though state Senator Deborah Ortiz, a Democrat, said she would reintroduce the legislation.

"In terms of treatment, care, and lost productivity, the cost of chronic diseases possibly caused by exposure to contaminants is staggering," said Ortiz. "What is unknown and perhaps unknowable, is the cost in human terms, such as the physical and emotional suffering of the individuals and families affected and the loss of human potential across the entire spectrum of the population."

The report appears as a high-profile lawsuit against IBM, the White Plains, N.Y., computer giant, gets underway in Silicon Valley. Alida Hernandez, 73, an employee at the company's disk drive plant since 1977 developed breast cancer after retiring in 1991. She is one of two former workers alleging that the company created a hazardous environment that made them sick. The other plaintiff is a man who developed lymphoma two years after retiring from the company. About 250 other former IBM workers from plants around the country are also suing, alleging that industrial chemicals used in assembling the disk drives and computer chips are cancer-causing.

Body Burden Laws

Scientists and doctors suspect a link between environmental toxins and many of today's most prevalent medical conditions, such as asthma, autism, cancer and endometriosis. But with so many chemicals in the environment, finding the so-called smoking gun is nearly impossible. In response, California has passed a number of laws to reduce our so-called "body burden," or the amount of synthetic chemicals found in the human body.

California was the first state to ban thermometers and other products containing mercury, in 2001. Today, hospitals in the state participate in a program that provides incentives to remove all medical equipment containing mercury. Mercury is a neurotoxin linked to infertility in women and men, tremors, impaired vision and paralysis.

President George W. Bush submitted a proposal to Congress that environmental groups said would weaken industrial emission rules, called the Clear Skies Initiative. Compared to current law under the Clean Air Act, the Bush plan would allow three times more mercury emissions, more other chemical emissions, and would delay cleanup efforts, according to the National Resources Defense Council.

In August, California lawmakers adopted the first ban on the manufacturing, distribution and sale of flame-retardants, or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), starting in 2008. These flame-retardants--long banned in Europe--are found in carpets, home furnishings, computers and many other everyday products. Support for the legislation, sponsored by Assembly Leader Wilma Chan, a Democrat representing Oakland, was bolstered by a widely reported study that found high levels of these chemicals in the breast milk and breast tissue of women in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rebecca Vesely is a health care reporter at the Oakland Tribune.

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1570

For more information:

Environmental Working Group: http://www.ewg.org/

Our Stolen Future: http://www.ourstolenfuture.org

Women's eNews is a nonprofit independent news service covering issues of concern to women and their allies

Women's eNews subscribers may select whether to receive a daily full text, daily summary or weekly summary. To change your email address, send mail to membersvcs@womensenews.org .

Scherrmann: Thanks to Women’s eNews that I can publish this article at this newsletter.

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DISEASE – WOMEN - BREAST CANCER 

"Cosmetics and Beverage Alcohol with Carcinogenic and Estrogenic Links to Breast Cancer"   

by James W. Coleman, Ph.D., Cancer Research Center of America, Inc., Louisville, KY

Annually, tens of thousands of women are condemned to die of breast cancer 20 years prematurely because of
poor lifestyle choices. To help reduce the high incidence of breast cancer and its recurrence, women are advised
to become well informed about the potential sources and origins of this disease and its epidemiology. It is within
a medical certainty that breast cancer is caused by ionizing radiation or carcinogenic chemicals or a combination
of both. These agents cause breast cells to grow out of control resulting in malignant tumors.

 http://www.understandingbreastcancer.com/cosmetics.htm

...

The truth hurts but being misinformed hurts more and could even be fatal.

More information on this subject with supporting references from mainstream medical journals can be seen on our web site at these links: www.CancerResearchAmerica.org/edu.html  and www.CancerResearchAmerica.org/cosmetics.html

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And, while we are trying to understand the causes of Breast Cancer, we may also want to visit the sites of Dr. Samuel Epstein and Dr. Janette Sherman, in addition to Dr. Coleman's site.

James Coleman, PhD -- http://www.CancerResearchAmerica.org

Dr. Samuel Epstein  -- http://www.preventcancer.com/

Dr. Janette Sherman -- http://www.janettesherman.com/

Links to these sites, and some of their specific pages, are available from EHN's "Cancer-Cosmetic Connection?" at http://users.lmi.net/~wilworks/ehnlinx/c.htm#Connectio

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ELECTROMAGNETICAL FIELDS

Some links:

http://www.safer-world.org/e/topics/emf/emf.htm

http://www.energyfields.org

http://www.wave-guide.org

http://emf-canada.shorturl.com

http://www.AntennaReview.ca

http://www.buergerwelle.de

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ELECTROMAGNETICAL FIELDS – 3G MASTS

2 October, 2003, 3G masts 'cause health problems'

The location of mobile phone masts has caused controversy

Phone masts for the high-tech third generation mobile phones cause headaches and nausea, researchers have claimed.

Dutch government scientists looked at the signals transmitted by base stations for the new phones.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3157676.stm

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POLITIC – EU  - ATRAZINE – PARAQUAT

From P A N U P S Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

October 24, 2003 EU says "No" to Atrazine, But Not to Paraquat

In a move that is likely to have a worldwide impact on herbicide use, the European Union has withdrawn regulatory approval for the widely used herbicide, atrazine, due to groundwater contamination. Several countries in the EU, including France, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden had already banned the herbicide, which is manufactured by Syngenta. In response, Syngenta has announced that it is already offering alternatives to this product in Germany and Italy, and would extend those products to the rest of the EU.

Atrazine, a triazine broadleaf herbicide, is the most used herbicide in the U.S., where more than 60 million pounds are applied each year, mostly to corn. In the U.S. it is also used on sorghum (a cereal grain), sugarcane, Christmas trees, woodlands and golf courses. In 2002, two studies raised new concerns about the herbicide, one connecting extremely low levels of atrazine with sexual abnormalities in frogs, and another pointing to increased prostrate cancer among atrazine production workers. Traces of atrazine are found routinely in streams, ponds and lakes within the U.S. "There seems to be no atrazine-free environment," said University of California Berkeley researcher Tyrone Hayes, author of the study on frogs.

Both studies surfaced as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) was finalizing an ecological risk assessment for atrazine. Yet despite these findings, and the fact that its own seasonal water quality risk estimates were above "acceptable" levels, U.S. EPA re-approved the registration of atrazine in January, 2003. It also mandated a program of weekly water quality monitoring to be conducted seasonally by Syngenta in areas of high atrazine use.

In another decision, the EU has decided not to prohibit another controversial Syngenta herbicide, paraquat, which is already banned or severely restricted in eleven countries, including five EU member nations. This decision has put the fate of such pre-existing national bans in question, raising serious concerns by member states about their ability to protect the health of their citizens and environment from pesticide damage at the national level. A notorious occupational poison, paraquat has been on the PAN International list of "Dirty Dozen" pesticides since 1985. Due to its' high toxicity, absence of antidote, easy availability and danger to workers and the public, especially in developing countries, an international campaign to end Syngenta's production and sale of paraquat is now underway.

Sources: Terra Wire, EU withdraws approval for potentially harmful herbicide atrazine, Switzerland, Oct 05, 2003; Time's Up for Atrazine?, PANNA, Global Pesticide Campaigner, August 2002; Atrazine Facts; PANNA website, http://www.panna.org; First Binding Controls of PIC and POPs U PAN UK, http://217.154.68.186/pestnews/pn40/pn40p5.htm; Syngenta Press Release, EU Registration of Atrazine Not Granted Despite Favorable Science Review, http://www.syngenta.com/en/media/article.aspx?article_id=325 Web site; Paraquat, Syngenta's Controversial Herbicide, Berne Declaration, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, PAN UK, PAN Asia Pacific, Foro Emaús, 2002.

For information on the Syngenta/Paraquat campaign, contact PANNA; PAN UK email, admin@pan-uk.org, web site, http://www.pan-uk.org; PAN AP email, panap@panap.net , web site, http://www.panap.net; or Bern Declaration email info@evb.ch , web site http://www.evb.ch.

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North America, a non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

Back issues of PANUPS are available online at: http://www.panna.org/resources/panups.html

To subscribe, send a blank email to:  PANUPS-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com

Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), 49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Email: panna@panna.org Web: http://www.panna.org

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POLITIC – SCIENCE – USA

Politics & Science, Presented by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member, Committee on Government Reform

The American people depend upon federal agencies to develop science-based policies that protect the nation's health and welfare. Recently, however, leading scientific journals have begun to question whether scientific integrity at federal agencies has been sacrificed to further a political and ideological agenda.

At the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the minority staff of the Government Reform Committee assessed the treatment of science and scientists by the Bush Administration. …

NIH Official Decries Political Interference with Science

Oct. 20, 2003 -- In an anonymous essay, a senior NIH scientist details the political interference in the scientific process of the institution. Under the watch of the Bush Administration, nominees for scientific panels face political loyalty tests, scientific manuscripts are reviewed by bureaucrats for findings embarrassing to the Administration, and NIH employees face losing their jobs as part of the President's outsourcing initiative. This senior scientist official reveals that staff morale at NIH is rock-bottom and the institution needs help.  ... www.polticsandscience.org

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RACHEL - NEWS

October 10, 2003  Rachel's #778: Corporate Campaign Against Precaution

October 10, 2003  (Published October 30, 2003) : What the chemical industry fears                .

Environmental Research Foundation , E-mail: erf@rachel.org            .

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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end of newslettter /English/22//