> > WW News Service Digest #174 > > 1) Bioterrorism: Red scare for a new millennium > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Giuliani and West Nile mosquitos: Who's a bigger threat to New Yorkers? > by "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) U.S. vets to rebuild Iraq water plants > by "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) Contradictions of the Nader program > by "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 5) Socialist slams sham Bush-Gore debate > by "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 6) Boston: Mumia teach-in precedes protest > by "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 7) Wisconsin: Moorehead-La Riva win ballot spot > by "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >BIOTERRORISM: RED SCARE FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM > >By Hillel W. Cohen > >Soldiers and cops gown up in decontamination suits. With >guns, flashlights and electronic sensors they move carefully >through smoke-filled streets, stepping over bodies on the >ground. Ambulances and helicopters drown out the crackling >of walkie-talkies. > >It is not a movie. It is a bioterrorism drill in the United >States. According to a program currently underway, this >scene will be played out in at least 120 cities. In >Wisconsin last year, one cop taking part accidentally set >off his pepper-spray canister. With irritated eyes and >lungs, some of the participants panicked, thinking that the >scenario they were following had become real. > >These Pentagon-led drills are just one part of a multi- >billion-dollar program known as "bioterrorism initiatives." >Research labs are studying exotic toxins and diseases that >"might" be used in an attack. City and county health >departments have set up bioterrorism units to handle >emergencies that no one really expects to happen. A lot of >resources that might otherwise have been used for public >health are being diverted to "protect" the public from >bioterrorism. > >What is bioterrorism? This new word has come to mean the use >of biological or chemical--sometimes even nuclear--weapons >in a terrorist attack. Since 1997, bioterrorism has become a >major topic in public health institutions on the federal, >state and local level. > >IT BEATS OUT FOOD AND BLOOD SAFETY > >The Surgeon General's office puts bioterrorism third on a >list of four areas of global concern--after polio >eradication and emerging and re-emerging infectious >diseases, which include HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. >Bioterrorism is ranked ahead of food and blood safety. > >The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based in >Atlanta, have launched a national health alert network in >order to coordinate responses to bioterrorist attacks. The >Association of Schools of Public Health is trying to make >bioterrorism a core item in the education programs for all >public health students. Medical journals have regular >articles about the need to train doctors to recognize the >symptoms of anthrax and smallpox in the emergency rooms of >local hospitals. > >With all this attention and money, you might think that >bioterrorism has taken a huge toll in lives in the United >States and other countries. > >Think again. > >In the United States, the number of people who have died due >to bioterrorism attacks in the last 100 years is exactly-- >zero. And in the whole world, there have been only three >documented incidents. > >The most widely known was in Tokyo in 1995. Members of a >religious cult released a chemical agent in a subway, >killing 12 people. The same group had killed seven in an >incident several months earlier in a Tokyo suburb. > >The only other case took place in Oregon in 1984, when a >religious cult purposely contaminated several salad bars >with salmonella bacteria. Over 700 people were sickened, but >none died or were even sick enough to be hospitalized. > >Yet in news reports, press releases and conferences on >bioterrorism, these incidents are mentioned over and over >again to convince the public that bioterrorism is a real >threat. > >REAL HAZARDS DOWNPLAYED > >In 1984, the same year as the salmonella attack, an >industrial accident in Bhopal, India, in a factory owned by >the U.S. corporation Union Carbide, killed thousands of >people--so many that an accurate count was never >accomplished. Many more were blinded or otherwise >permanently disabled. > >Every year in the United States, according to testimony at >congressional hearings, there are approximately 60,000 >chemical spills, leaks and explosions, of which about 8,000 >are considered "serious." Together, they are responsible for >some 300 to 400 deaths. In addition, an estimated 76 million >illnesses from food-borne disease occur each year, leading >to 325,000 hospitalizations and about 5,000 deaths. > >Compared to these staggering numbers, the alleged threat >from bioterrorism is just about zero. There's a much, much >greater risk of being hit by lightning than being a victim >of bioterrorism. > >In fact, the dangers from the "anti-terrorism" campaign are >much greater than the virtually non-existent danger from >bioterrorism. > >So why do the Clinton administration and so many federal, >state and local health agencies put bioterrorism at the top >of their agendas? > >DIVERTING PUBLIC HEALTH DOLLARS > >A major reason is that terrorism in general and bioterrorism >in particular are useful for justifying bigger budgets for >the Pentagon and Federal Bureau of Investigation. >Bioterrorism is also a handy excuse for all sorts of nasty >business lumped in the budget under "defense." > >For example, the U.S. government claimed that a medicine >factory in the Sudan was making bioterrorism materials. The >Pentagon destroyed the factory on Aug. 20, 1998, with two >cruise missiles. Within days, the allegations were shown to >be false. It is apparent now that the Pentagon and CIA never >had any real evidence for their claim. Yet a factory that >supplied half the medicines for North Africa and parts of >the Middle East was wiped out. How many people have died or >suffered needlessly for lack of these medicines? > >The U.S. government also continues to claim that the >government of Iraq makes or stockpiles biological and >chemical weapons, thus justifying economic sanctions that >have already led to the deaths of over a million Iraqi >people. But it is the United States that has the largest >stockpile of chemical weapons in the world, even though >Washington pledged to destroy these stocks. > >The Pentagon spends more each year than the next 10 biggest >military powers combined. The U.S. stockpiles more "weapons >of mass destruction," including nuclear weapons, than the >rest of the world added together. > >For decades the anti-communist red scare was used to justify >the enormous waste of military spending. With the fall of >the Soviet Union, it is hard for the capitalists and their >politicians to explain why hundreds of billions more are >needed every year. Bioterrorism could become the phantom >menace of the new millennium. > >Next: How the campaign against bioterrorism may be dangerous >to your health. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <016301c02ff3$2d5f90d0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Giuliani and West Nile mosquitos: Who's a bigger threat to New >Yorkers? >Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 20:11:45 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >GIULIANI OR WEST NILE MOSQUITOES: >WHO'S A BIGGER THREAT TO NEW YORKERS? > >By G. Dunkel >New York > >When a sparrow falls to earth in the New York area these >days, its death is announced on the 11 o'clock news. If it >tests positive for the West Nile virus, within days the area >is sprayed with insecticide. > >Sports, the weather and the spraying schedule are the three >topics the news media cover daily. > >Many respected public health specialists, however, question >whether the West Nile requires such a vast campaign of >spraying. Spraying is dangerous to humans and other mammals >and is not particularly effective. Why have the media and >politicians like New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani raised such >a furor over West Nile? > >West Nile virus was first reported in the New York area in >the summer of 1999. At the time of that outbreak, seven area >people died and 63 were affected so badly they wound up in >the hospital. > >A survey conducted in the New York borough of Queens last >winter concluded that 3.8 percent of its 2 million residents- >-about 76,000 people--had been bitten by infected mosquitoes >and developed antibodies to the West Nile virus. > >Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the people infected with >the virus became sick enough to go to the hospital. One one- >hundredth of 1 percent of the people infected died. > >This year 13 people had gone to the hospital as of Sept. 28; >four are still there. One 82-year-old resident of New Jersey >died. All the others were treated and released. > >Dr. Bela Matyas, medical director of the epidemiological >program at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, >said the information from New York showed that "95 to 98 >percent of people who were infected had absolutely no >symptoms at all." (Boston Herald, Aug. 27) > >Unlike malaria, West Nile virus does not linger in the body. >The virus will not resurface later in life, Matyas said. > >Other specialists were just as emphatic. David P. Ropeik, >communications director at Harvard University's Center for >Risk Analysis, said statistically a person in the United >States is far more likely to be killed by chickenpox than by >West Nile. (Baltimore Sun, Aug. 21) > >Dr. Andrew Spielman, professor of tropical public health at >the Harvard University School of Public Health, tried to >establish the rate at which mosquitoes feeding off infected >birds themselves become infected. He claims "infection rates >are probably in the neighborhood of less than one in a >thousand." > >IS SPRAYING EFFECTIVE? > >Any disease that kills people has to be treated seriously. >But public health organizations have successfully controlled >mosquitoes without sustained spraying for over a century. > >The American Mosquito Control Association (www.mosquito.org) >recommends killing the eggs and larvae. It urges that >temporary bodies of water--potholes, depressions, gutters, >garbage can covers, discarded tires and the like--be >drained, filled or emptied. > >This would require the city hiring a large number of people. > >The AMCA points out that spraying insecticides is the >hardest way to control mosquitoes because they are mobile. >Spraying depends on good weather conditions--not too much >wind, yet enough to disperse the spray. Missing a small >breeding pool is likely, which means killing adult >mosquitoes is not consistently effective. Sometimes spraying >is necessary--for example, after a flood or in a burned-out >or collapsed building. But in general the AMCA recommends >controlling the eggs and larvae. > >New York has not put much effort into this most effective >way of controlling mosquitoes. It has only one entomologist >and 22 volunteer interns to monitor its larvicide program, >carried out by the Department of Sanitation. Cleanups are >spotty; for example, in the old Flushing Airport in >northeast Queens, discarded tires--a prime breeding ground >for mosquitoes--were not removed until August of this year. >(Newsday, Sept. 14) > >The city has conducted its spraying in a reckless, dangerous >and racist fashion. > >The No Spray Coalition, composed of environmental groups >like the Sierra Club along with more activist groups, sued >the city in federal court to try and halt its spraying. They >claimed that many of the 308 pesticide-related complaints >the city admits to tracking are due to spraying that >occurred without warning and off schedule. > >NO WARNING GIVEN IN HARLEM > >In one case, videotaped by the coalition in the Black >community of Harlem on Aug. 4, a spray truck preceded by a >cop car with its lights flashing went up and down streets >still thronged with people around midnight. No warning was >given to the people sitting on their stoops, enjoying the >night air. The video shows the spray settling over a fruit >stand, young children screaming while they fled and people >covering their mouths with cloth. (Daily News, Sept. 21) > >This is perhaps the most serious incident brought up in the >suit, but there are many more. One woman who was directly >hit by the spray while making a telephone call lost her >voice for two months and still can speak only in a whisper. > >Asthma among children is at a dangerous level in New York, >especially in poor communities. It is possible the spraying >could exacerbate this and other health problems. > >The court dismissed most of the suit, accepting the city's >claim that it was responding to a public health crisis. > >The city used Malathion in its massive spray campaign last >year. Malathion has a long history of negative side effects, >so a less potent brew, called Anvil, was used this year. >While Anvil is reputedly less dangerous, even Giuliani >recognizes that it is important to avoid direct contact. > >The city's spraying has been so careless that hundreds of >people have been seriously and immediately affected. But >even the most careful procedures in a city so densely >populated as New York could expose people to the chemical. > >So does the risk of West Nile virus outweigh the risk of >spraying, especially when there is an effective, recommended >alternative? > >The disease struck New York while the mayor was preparing to >run for the Senate and the city had let its mosquito control >program lapse for years. Many accuse Giuliani of >grandstanding. > >But what lies beyond his political maneuvering is the >inability of capitalist politicians to evaluate a public >health emergency, plan and carry out a reasonable response, >especially when it involves spending money to hire a large >number of workers. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <016b01c02ff3$40828d70$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] U.S. vets to rebuild Iraq water plants >Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 20:12:17 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >U.S. VETS TO REBUILD IRAQ WATER PLANTS > >By David Sole > >A group of U.S. veterans is leaving for Iraq the first week >in October. Their mission is one of peace and solidarity >with the Iraqi people, who have been the victims of U.S. >military and economic aggression for over 10 years. "Team >One," as the veterans' brigade is known, will help rebuild a >water treatment plant in southern Iraq. > >The vets' visit comes as the U.S.-led United Nations >blockade has been eroding internationally. For the first >time in a decade, planes from Russia and France flew >directly to Baghdad in September. There are rumors that >regularly scheduled flights will resume. > >The Iraq Water Project grew out of a tour of Baghdad's water >treatment plant during the historic Iraq Sanctions Challenge >led by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and the >International Action Center in May 1998. Fredy Champagne was >one of the delegates who helped deliver medicine to a >children's hospital and toured the water plant. Champagne is >a Vietnam-era veteran and member of the board of directors >of Veterans for Peace. > >Champagne and the other delegates learned that water >treatment facilities, pumping stations and underground pipes >in Baghdad and other areas sustained severe damage during >the U.S.-led Gulf War in 1991. Further, the sanctions >prevent the Iraqi government from importing pumps, pipes, >replacement parts and adequate chlorine to provide clean >water. > >Upon returning to the United States, Champagne and other >Vets for Peace members stepped up efforts to both expose the >crimes of U.S./UN sanctions and concretely aid the Iraqi >people. Their work resulted in the formation of the Iraq >Water Project, a plan to rebuild four fresh-water treatment >plants in an area of southern Iraq called Abul Khaseeb, a >suburb of Basrah. The plants serve a population of over >66,000 people. > >While educating the U.S. public about the horrors sanctions >have caused the Iraqi people, especially by denying them >clean water, the Veterans for Peace have been raising the >money needed for the reconstruction of the facilities. In >this endeavor Vets for Peace is in a partnership with Life >for Relief and Development, the only relief organization >that has permission to conduct work inside Iraq from both >the Iraqi and U.S. governments. > >Future trips by veterans' teams are planned to aid in >rebuilding three other water plants. Tax deductible >donations can be made to "Veterans for Peace-Iraq Water >Project" and sent to P.O. Box 532, Bayside, CA 95524. > >- END - > >(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to >copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but >changing it is not allowed. For more information contact >Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <017301c02ff3$5f47bff0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: "Gary Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Contradictions of the Nader program >Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 20:13:08 -0400 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >CONTRADICTIONS OF THE NADER PROGRAM > >By Fred Goldstein > >The presidential and vice presidential campaign of Ralph >Nader and Winona LaDuke on the Green Party ticket is a >noteworthy development--full of contradictions and major >flaws, but also of optimism for the struggle ahead. > >In its present stage, its importance lies not in some major >electoral realignment but as a barometer of growing >discontent, particularly among youths, with the gross > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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