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Articles below from Sam Smith's Progressive Undernews: http://www.prorev.com
Also, at the same site, an important look at how the world of politics
ignores the fourth largest faith group. It's titled:
Seventh Day Agnostics
Arise @
http://www.prorev.com/agnostic.htm
HIDDEN LOVE CANALS?
GEOFFREY LEAN, INDEPENDENT, UK - Toxic chemicals in the New Orleans flood waters will make the city unsafe for full human habitation for a decade, a US government official has told The Independent on Sunday. And, he added, the Bush administration is covering up the danger. In an exclusive interview, Hugh Kaufman, an expert on toxic waste and responses to environmental disasters at the US Environmental Protection Agency, said the way the polluted water was being pumped out was increasing the danger to health. The pollution was far worse than had been admitted, he said, because his agency was failing to take enough samples and was refusing to make public the results of those it had analyzed. . . Mr Kaufman claimed the Bush administration was playing down the need for a clean-up: the EPA has not been included in the core White House group tackling the crisis. "Its budget has been cut and inept political hacks have been put in key positions," Mr Kaufman said. "All the money for emergency response has gone to buy guns and cowboys - which don't do anything when a hurricane hits. We were less prepared for this than we would have been on 10 September 2001." He said the water being pumped out of the city was not being tested for pollution and would damage Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi river, and endanger people using it downstream. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article311818.ece NICOLE MAKRIS, ALTERNET - As the government drags its feet, the unknown number of human bodies decomposing in the New Orleans floodwaters are becoming hosts for a horde of diseases. The bodies continue to fester and rot, potentially contaminating the city they used to call home. . . The Centers for Disease Control has reported four fatal instances of vibrio vulnificus, a cousin of cholera. Red Cross and other relief workers are struggling to prevent outbreaks related to salmonella, e. coli and other bacteria that cause nausea, diarrhea, and can lead to severe dehydration. There is also cause to fear the spread of hepatitis A, a virus that causes liver disease. But a real plan to assess the health problems that could plague the Gulf Coast for decades is noticeably absent. Pollution has been a major problem in Louisiana for decades before Hurricane Katrina hit. Reporter Ron Nixon coined the term "toxic gumbo" to describe the potent mix of waste that courses through the state. The Big Easy, perched at the mouth of the Mississippi River, is located at the narrow end of a funnel siphoning immense amounts of industrial, agricultural and human waste every day. "Virtually anything could be in the water," said Jim Elder, the EPA's former National Director of Drinking Water and Groundwater. "I'm not sure that anywhere has ever seen all these chemicals put together in the same place. That's why people are referring to this as a toxic soup. I think that's a simple but apt description." Elder says the many heavy industries based in Louisiana have been leaching chemicals into the soil and groundwater for decades. But Katrina stirred up an even deadlier mix of waste: submerged automobiles are leaking oil, gasoline and other chemicals into the floodwater; asbestos that may have been contained in old buildings has been released by the flooding and the collapse of buildings; raw sewage, decaying body parts, offshore oil rigs and possibly ruptured pipelines all pave the way for a myriad of serious and potentially fatal medical conditions. http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/25552/ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| WORST NEWS OF THE DAY Republicans said Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, was in charge of the reconstruction effort |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| MICHAEL BROWN EXPLAINS IT ALL NY TIMES - Mr. Brown acknowledged that he had been criticized for not ordering a complete evacuation or calling in federal troops sooner. But he said the storm made it hard to communicate and assess the situation. "Until you have been there," he said, "you don't realize it is the middle of a hurricane." |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| AP - |
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