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<font size=5>Population, Family Planning, <br>& Ecology News Digest<br>Archives January - April 2003</font> of WOA!! World Population Awareness

Population, Family Planning,
& Ecology News Digest
Archives January - April 2003
August 23, 2003

  • April 30, 2003   Los Angeles Times   US California: Rise in Otter Deaths Puts Experts on Alert.   An increase in dead sea otters on California beaches has wildlife officials scrambling for possible reasons. 44 had been found from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, the previous high was 29. This year's death toll has grown so dramatically that wildlife officials see new urgency in finding answers. Many of the animals died from infectious diseases and parasites, and a few fatally injured when struck by boats. For several years, the southern sea otter population off California has hovered at about 2,150, protected by the Endangered Species Act since 1977. A sustainable sea otter population could be as high as 8,400. The northern sea otter has always thrived and now numbers about 100,000. Scientists concede that lower human population in that area could be part of the answer. The sea otter habitat is becoming short on food but officials dismiss any suggestion they are starving to death. About 25% of the deaths are from disease spread by feral cats and cat litter dumped into sewage systems. A worm infestation found in sand crabs, part of the sea otter diet, is another major cause. In the late 1980s, officials moved 140 sea otters from the Monterey area to San Nicolas Island 60 miles off the Ventura County coast, any otters that strayed would be herded back to San Nicolas. Some swam back to the Channel Islands others to Mexico and San Diego but the federal government hasn't returned them. Sea otters stay close to shore because they cannot forage in more than 100 feet. Fishermen are fighting an idea that would allow the sea otter to spread along the entire California coast.     rw 006617

  • April 29, 2003   Patrick Burns   Abortion vs Contraception.   Across the globe, 133 million births occur annually, as well as an estimated 46 million induced abortions, meaning that about 25% of all pregnancies end in abortion. The U.S. follows this pattern. Research by the Population Council makes a convincing case that an increase in contraception decreases the number of abortions. Abortion has been legal in the U.S. for 30 years, thus if we are going to achieve a decline in the rate of U.S. population growth it is not going to be by abortion, but by either tackling immigration and/or increasing contraception. A number of Americans use no contraception, use contraception irregularly or improperly, or use contraceptive systems that have high failure rates. What if one-tenth of the energy put into the abortion debate (on both sides) had gone into educating people about the methods of contraception available and improving the level of access? We've all seen pro-choice and anti-choice ads at one time or another. Anyone seen an ad that tells the failure rate of condoms or diaphragms? An ad for over-the-counter emergency contraception or an ad touting a reversible form of birth control that lasts 10 years at a crack? The good news is that a change may be in the works. Emergency contraception will eventually lead to over-the-counter birth control pills. It can't happen soon enough.     rw 006598

  • April 29, 2003   Associated Press   UNICEF Warns on Water in Southern Iraq.   Water supplies in southern Iraq could be undrinkable within weeks. Many pumping stations have been repaired, but face dwindling supplies of chlorine to purify the water drawn from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Most sewage is being dumped in rivers and untreated water could soon be pumped to Iraqi homes. UNICEF needs $3 million to buy enough chlorine for the next three months. Unsafe water could cause outbreaks of cholera, dysentery and diarrhea.     rw 006599

  • April 29, 2003   Grist Magazine   US Colorado: High and Dry.   Colorado is suffering a three-year drought. The average snowpack was half of normal, and streams the lowest in 100 years. The majority of the water comes from the Western Slope of the Rockies and the drought is responsible for development constraints, wildfires, declining tourism, and some of the state's $900 million deficit. Municiple officials say there is no way around building new reservoirs and diversion pipelines. Environmentalists claim this could cost billions and wreak havoc on rivers and forests; they claim the needs can met through reduced consumption. The state government believes that the long-term issue is storage, because they can't store all the water they are entitled to. Enough to supply 2 million families flow out of the state, much of the lost water leaves through the Colorado River and is used by Arizona and California. State officials and developers are backing the Colorado Aqueduct Return Project, that entails building a 200-mile long pipeline to pump Colorado River water to the Front Range to be recycled. The river would then carry a stream of used water to farms and towns on the Western Slope. The pipeline would cost at least $5 billion. To West Slope communities and environmentalists, the project is absurd. The legislature approved $500,000 for a study, but the project could be derailed due to its price and environmental impact. A state bond issue exists for water projects and cities can purchase existing rights from farmers for less money than any new development. The lack of provisions such as requiring that conservation measures be considered before any new development may encourage towns to build dams and reservoirs. Colorado's environmental organizations promote "Smart Storage" and "Smart Supply" instead of new development and say conservation goals can meet Front Range water needs over the next 40 years. But the legislature balked at conservation. Agriculture accounts for 85% of water use and bills to enable the sharing of agricultural water with thirsty cities are in the state legislature.     rw 006606

  • April 29, 2003   C-Span/Patrick Burns   The Hyde Hyde HIV/AIDS Bill on the House Floor April 31 and a Video of Bush on HIV/AIDS and Condoms.   For those of you that missed President Bush's speech on HIV/AIDS, it can be seen via RealPlayer from C-Span at http://video.c-span.org:8080/ramgen/kdrive/e042903_aids.rm?end=:17:00.0 or at C-Span.org. This is a pretty big file. In his speech, Bush says: "Since January 1, 2001 we have increased U.S. funding to fight HIV overseas by almost 100% .... but we must do far more." For those that think Bush cannot actually say the word "condoms" without passing out, this video is certainly worth viewing! If a Democrats had launched this effort, we would be cheering pretty loudly. Because it was launched by a Republican is no reason to be silent now. Please send a letter to your Representative and Senator in support of this legislation -- and a note of thanks to the White House. Rather unbelievably, the Bush Administration is also proposing the largest single increase in U.S. development assistance in U.S. history. Who would have ever imagined? As a final note, the Hyde HIV/AIDS bill is the only item on the House agenda tomorrow. For those of you that want to see a little history in the making, this should provide that opportunity. For the die-hard political junkies on this list that want a complete program for tomorrow's floor action, the debate rules (with timing, debate order, and links to all amendments) can be read at: http://www.house.gov/rules/108rule1298.htm 006618

  • April 28, 2003   Push newsfeed   Australia: Disease Alert for Under-30s.   In NSW, those aged 16-29 are being urged to get tested for (STD) chlamydia. The disease can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility in women, and testicular infection, and infertility in men. Chlamydia can be diagnosed with a swab or urine sample and treated with antibiotics.     rw 006583

  • April 28, 2003   UN News   Timor-Leste Midwives Get UN Motorcycles in Bid to Slash Maternal Mortality.   The United Nations has given Timor-Leste’s midwives 80 motorcycles in a bid to extend their reach to remote rural areas and cut maternal deaths. Expanding midwife services is is crucial in a country with a maternal death rate of 850 per 100,000 births. Increasing the number of midwife-assisted deliveries will help lower maternal death rates.     rw 006586

  • April 28, 2003   Los Angeles Times   US California: Lettuce Study This More.   A toxic chemical used in rocket fuel was found in four lettuce samples purchased at Northern California grocery stores. The lettuce, contaminated with perchlorate, was traced to farms that irrigate their crops with Colorado River water in Southern California and Arizona. The water has been contaminated by military and industrial activity. An average serving contained four times the level considered safe in drinking water, though not enough research has been done to determine how much in the diet would be dangerous. EWG is calling for a study of perchlorate in the food stream and to clean up military sites.     rw 006589

  • April 28, 2003   San Diego Union-Tribune   U.S.: Brockovich Files Pollution Claims Against Beverly Hills School.   Erin Brockovich and attorneys filed 25 claims against Beverly Hills school district, alleging that former students got cancer from being exposed to toxic fumes from an on-campus oil field. Brockovich, said up to 300 claims could eventually be filed for students who attended between 1975 to 1997 and have been treated for Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's or thyroid cancer. It is believed that an oil rig under the athletic fields emitted high levels of cancer-causing chemicals. Beverly Hills Unified School District and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, have disputed the findings. The oil rig produces about 450 barrels of oil and 400,000 cubic feet of natural gas a day. The law firm says tests conducted in and around the athletic fields found high levels of benzene, toluene and h-hexene, byproducts of the oil industry. The school's cancer rate is said to be 20 to 30 times above the national average.     rw 006608

  • April 28, 2003   Los Angeles Times   US California: Sprawl: Open-Space Group Targets 6,000 Acres.   Open-space advocates successfully fought the measure to allow construction of 1,390 homes in the hills above Ventura. They have established a nonprofit conservancy to acquire 6,000 acres and backers met to discuss raising the money to purchase the hills and canyons they hope to spare from development. The landowner wants to sell the land and is willing to meet with conservancy officials to discuss a deal. The conservancy is an offshoot of last fall's campaign that challenged some 300 landowners who tried to persuade voters to permit home building in exchange for setting aside 80% of 3,800 acres for parks, trails and open space.     rw 006613

  • April 28, 2003   BBC News   India: World's Wettest Area Dries Up.   The Khasi Hills, in north-east India, usually experience more than 1,000 inches of rain each year and has two of the world's wettest places: Cherrapunji and Mawsynram. But Cherrapunji is drying up because of increases in pollution and deforestation. Residents have received less and less rain over the years and long rows of trucks loaded with drums of water can be seen travelling up to Cherrapunji from the plains. A bucket of water costs six or seven rupees during the winter. Ten years ago clouds were clinging to the mountains and it was raining. This year there is bright sunshine and no rain. Since Meghalaya became a separate state, there has been a rise in deforestation in the area and environmentalists agree that the loss of forest cover around Cherrapunji is more serious than ever. In 1960, Cherrapunji had 7,000 people. Now, there are 15 times that number and a cement plant a few kilometres away, was built 20 years ago. The cement plant polluted the environment and added to the population pressure. If there are more people, the pressure on the forests will increase.     rw 006616

  • April 27, 2003   Los Angeles Times   Iraq: After the War / Fearing the Future; Women Fear Their Rights Will End with Hussein Era.   Many Iraqi women are happy about the end of Saddam Hussein's rule, but worry that the change could lead to erosion of women's freedoms. Iraqi women have enjoyed personal liberty undreamed of in neighboring nations but there is a growing sense that the power vacuum will be filled by Muslims who may seek to impose the conservative mores of Iraq's Shiite-dominated south. Hussein presided over a repressive police state, but his socialist-minded Baath Party provided women with professional and educational opportunities. There have been signs that the American-backed transitional government will protect women's rights but Iraq, like any Muslim country has conservatism and the new government will have to reflect that. Hussein's government was similar to the former Soviet Union, with women's rights enshrined in party doctrine. Iraqi women were afforded some opportunities, but women ministers, members of parliament and a high-ranking women in the Baath Party, were all handpicked loyalists. Rural women shared few of the gains. Most are mired in poverty. Virtually none work outside the home, marriages are arranged. Already, in these early postwar days, some women say they are seeing signs that they might be relegated to a more restricted role.     rw 006582

  • April 27, 2003   Washington Post   India: New Delhi to Harvest Rain.   Thousands of unauthorized wells in New Delhi have caused groundwater levels to drop alarmingly. But a solution may be to collect monsoon rains and pipe them underground to recharge depleted aquifers. The inexpensive technique has been successfully applied in five pilot projects. The water authority estimates daily demand at 850 million gallons, yet the system delivers 650 million gallons, of which 12% comes from groundwater. To government has installed hundreds of hand pumps, but most have gone dry due dropping water levels. Government officials promise relief, with the completion of a new dam and treatment facility. But the city adds 500,000 people year, improvements will be outstripped by demand and groundwater supplies will be depleted by 2020. People have long collected the monsoon rains, archaeologists have unearthed colection structures dating to the third millennium B.C. Modern rainwater harvesting involves channeling water from rooftops or storm drains into sand-lined underground boxes called "soak pits." Water that would otherwise run off then percolates through the soil, replenishing natural aquifers several hundred feet below the surface. The project has been so successful that in affluent Panchshila Parkthat the water table has risen three feet in less than a year.     rw 006588

  • April 27, 2003   Star-Ledger   US New Jersey: Sprawl: Water Regulation to Face Legal Battle.   Gov. James E. McGreevey announced a curb on development around 15 bodies of water, including nine reservoirs, but it will have to survive a court of law. Builders are challenging. Both sides agree that the stakes of the expected court battle are enormous. If builders lose, McGreevey could give teeth to the "smart-growth" map he unveiled in January. The new rule designated nine reservoirs and six streams as Category One (C1)water bodies and nothing can be discharged into them that worsens the water quality. This would make subdivisions, more difficult to build. The state will propose C1 status for 40 more bodies of water. If C1 becomes widespread it can wipe out all available land for development. Builders have been successful in court battles at thwarting the water quality regulations, including strict septic tank and wetlands rules. Land-use planning has been the province of the Department of Community Affairs which expects a challenge from builders. Builders could also challenge each designation. Barring some procedural mistake by the DEP, builders would have to show that the rule is "arbitrary and capricious" to have it overturned.     rw 006604

  • April 27, 2003   BBC News   Indonesia: Cheap Coffee 'Threatens Wildlife'.   Overproduction of the coffee beans used in instant coffee may contribute to the loss of animals in Sumatra. Areas of Indonesian forest being cut for coffee plantations increased by 28% between 1996 and 2001. 70% of Lampung's coffee production occurs inside and adjacent to Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park -one of the strongholds of Sumatran tigers, elephants and rhinoceros. Their populations are declining due to the loss of their forest home. Deforestation rates within the Park were shown to be directly related to the price of coffee paid to farmers. Throughout the 1990s, coffee production accelerated while prices plummeted. The demand for coffee continued and it was the second leading export product from developing countries, and the US the biggest importer. Despite recent low prices, Indonesia has announced plans to expand coffee production in Lampung that will result in increased threats to large mammals. Higher yields of quality coffee that can be grown among indigenous shrubs and trees would allow a reduction in acreage while boosting prices. Large mammals avoid forest boundaries and are affected by deforestation. Compared with mining or rearing livestock, coffee cultivation is eco-friendly.     rw 006607

  • April 26, 2003   Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC)   Trinidad: One Hundred UN Volunteers to Serve in Health Service .   The Trinidad and Tobago health sector is to have 100 U.N. volunteers, as a doctors' sick-out affects the state run hospitals. The program, will provide specialized doctors working for a stipend not exceeding local doctors. They come from Commonwealth countries and are approved by the WHO, with an initial three year contract. The government had no choice with a shortage of 200 doctors. It is claimed that the health authorities were procrastinating on negotiations to justify bringing in foreign doctors. The major health facilities, including the three main hospitals, have been operating in emergency mode since 9 April due to a shortage of junior doctors, whose contracts expired last December. A number of senior doctors have also reported sick in solidarity with the junior doctors. We want to provide our service, because this is our country, they claim, but if we are forced out many of us will go. But following Thursday's Cabinet meeting the govt; said that what they are offering the doctors is reasonable.     rw 006585

  • April 25, 2003   Patrick Burns   House Vote on Major Family Planning Bill.   The House International Relations Committee has endorsed HIV/AIDS legislation which exceeds that which President Bush asked for in his State of the Union message. It authorizes $15 billion for overseas HIV/AIDS, $3 billion a year for five years, and earmarks a greater percentage for the global AIDS fund. Most of the HIV/AIDS money will go to countries in sub-Saharan Africa where condoms are an important part of slowing HIV. The Bush White House has greenlighted inclusion of condoms in the bill.     rw 006572

  • April 25, 2003   Patrick Burns   Emergency Contraception - Behind the Confusion and How it is Available in the Bathroom of 27% of All Women Using Contraception.   Confusion among pharmacists and the lay public is widespread, and those in the family planning movement are at least partly to blame. Some incredibility is due to the fact that: in the early 1980s and 1990s, RU-486 (now called the abortion pill) was refered to as 'emergency contraception' and not abortion, leading to confusion as to what we now call 'Emergency Contraception' really is, which is NOT abortion. At the very same time that this was going on, there was little effort to educate women about the use of regular birth control pills as emergency contraception. RU-486 is new to the U.S., but taking massive doses of birth control pills is NOT new. The Yutzpe method (developed 20-25 years ago by Dr. Al Yutzpe), when using the most commonly available birth control pills in the U.S., are that two doses should be taken, 12 hours apart, and within 72 hours of having sex. Like the Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, most women already have access to emergency contraception. Just as the shoes on her feet got Dorothy home, so too can the birth control pills already in her cabinet (or in her friend's cabinet) get her out of the trouble she is in if a condom breaks or she has a serious lapse of judgment. For more information, see: http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/ecpuse.html rw
    General instructions: Take one dose every 12 hours
    for 24 hours, discard the last 7 pills in a 28-pill pack
    as they do not contain any hormones. If you are
    using Triphasil, Tri-Levlen, or Trivora, use only
    the correct color of pills that are noted below.
    Pill Brand Manufacturer Pills per Dose
    Alesse Wyeth-Ayerst 5 pink pills
    Aviane Duramed 5 orange pills
    Cryselle Barr 4 white pills
    Enpresse Barr 4 orange pills
    Lessina Barr 5 pink pills
    Levlen Berlex 4 light orange pills
    Levlite Berlex 5 pink pills
    Levora Watson 4 white pills
    Lo/Ovral Wyeth-Ayerst 4 white pills
    LowOgestrel Watson 4 white pills
    Nordette Wyeth-Ayerst 4 light orange pills
    Ogestrel Watson 2 white pills
    Ovral Wyeth-Ayerst 2 white pills
    Ovrette Wyeth-Ayerst 20 yellow pills
    Portia Barr 4 white pills
    Tri-Levlen Berlex 4 yellow pills
    Triphasil Wyeth-Ayerst 4 yellow pills
    Trivora Watson 4 pink pills
    Source: Trussell J, Koenig J, Ellertson C, Stewart F.
    Preventing unintended pregnancy: the cost-
    effectiveness of three methods of emergency
    contraception. American Journal of Public Health
    1997;87(6):932-937.

    Please note that the FDA has explicitly declared
    that the brands of birth control pills listed
    above are safe and effective for use as
    emergency contraceptives. These protocols work!

       006573

  • April 22, 2003   Push newsfeed   Conservation Costs, but Inaction Costs More: Development Has Taken Its Toll on Hong Kong’s Beautiful Harbour, Rolling Green Hills and Air Quality.   Hong Kong’s green spaces offer habitat to a diversity of wildlife and in 1974 set aside 40% of its land for conservation and recreation. However, many areas of high ecological value are outside the parks. Wetlands, woodlands, streams, and marine and intertidal habitats are being destroyed. The department in charge of conservation is underresourced, lacking leadership and is unwilling to restrict development. In this year’s agenda, the chief executive pledged to consider a rating system for ecological values in various locations. The government expropriates land for roads, reservoirs and new towns, it has never considered conservation a public purpose. The conservation value of Hong Kong’s natural resources could be as much as HK$ 6.5 billion annually. Ecotourism could increase Hong Kong tourist receipts by HK$ 4.3 billion a year.     rw 006558

  • April 22, 2003   Xinhua General News Service   China Marks 34th Earth Day with Focus on Resources Protection.   China marked the 34th World Earth Day with a theme of "treat the earth better, better protect resources". China's resources are being used with a low utilizing rate and the ecological environment has deteriorated due to increased attention to economic development, to the neglect of environmental protection. China's arable acreage is shrinking - the per-capita farmland area was 0.097 hectares in China. China is a major mining production and consumption nation, but the country now suffers a shortage of mining resources. Water resources are also shrinking as the country has had to supply water to its 1.3 billion people - 20% of the world's population - with only 8% of the world's freshwater.     rw 006562

  • April 21, 2003   Washington Post   Nonprescription Sale Sought for Contraceptive; Petition to FDA to Offer 'Morning After' Pill Over the Counter Could Become Entangled in Abortion Debate.   The makers of the emergency contraceptive "Plan B" are petitioning the F.D.A. to sell it without a prescription. If approved, it would be the first "morning after" contraceptive to be sold over the counter. This could become entangled in the abortion debate although the makers say their product prevents conception, rather than aborting. An easily avalable emergency contraceptive could reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions by half. Plan B uses progestin to interfere with fertilization and is usually effective within 72 hours after intercourse, but its ability to prevent pregnancy diminishes by 50% over the first 12 hours. Some antiabortion groups are opposed to their use and some silent. FDA officials have said it will take about 10 months to review their application. The treatment was restricted to rape-crisis centers until the late 1990s, when two morning-after pills were approved by the FDA for use with a doctor's prescription. Plan B's cost would remain about $27 a dose.     rw 006549

  • April 21, 2003   New York Times*   Texas Reactor Is Leaking Cooling Water From Its Base.   The South Texas Nuclear Project, 90 miles southwest of Houston, was found to have leaked cooling water from its large reactor vessel. Managers of 103 nuclear plants in the U.S. have been on the lookout for leaks since extensive cooling-water seepage was discovered at the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Toledo, Ohio.     rw 006552

  • April 21, 2003   Xinhua General News Service   EU Plans Clean Water Fund for Poor Countries.   The EU intends to set up a fund to provide assistance and financing for water projects in developing countries. The EU would not seek to compete with the small-scale water projects or private sector developments. It would promote initiatives and provide information and, as a last resort, lend money. The fund should provide the link in the financing of sustainable projects. More than 430 million live in nations facing widespread water shortages. Population growth will lead to a fivefold increase in the number of people with access to less than 1,700 cubic metres of fresh water per person per year. Oxfam says water-related diseases kill more than 5 million people every year and 2.3 billion suffer from diseases linked to dirty water.     rw 006556

  • April 21, 2003   Xinhua General News Service   US Helps Rebuild Afghan Health Sector.   In a move to highlight continuous support by the US to Afghanistan's reconstruction and stability despite its war in Iraq, a women's hospital rebuilt with US assistance was opened here in a high profile ceremony. US Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson said the US government is committed to helping rebuild the health sector, especially reducing high infant and maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan. When fully operational the hospital would admit nearly 36,000 patients each year, deliver about 40 babies daily, and provide the best medical instruction to Afghanistan's health care providers. It was reconstructed by the civil branch of the US military authorities in Afghanistan with a cost of over US $300,000 and there will also be four teaching clinics outside Kabul, which would provide direct health care to patients as well as training to health workers at all levels. US military authorities are assisting US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in establishing maternal and child health clinics and teaching centers.     rw 006557

  • April 21, 2003   The Economic Times (India)   India: Hindustan Latex, Limited to Test-Market Condoms for Women.   Hindustan Latex, Limited (HLL) will initiate its female condom research study in Maharashtra. The programme, is targeted at three groups, commercial sex workers (CSW), homosexuals and married couples. The female condoms are an option to the condoms for men. They contribute to protection against sexually transmitted diseases. The main objective is to promote protected sex. Priced at Rs 35 a proposal has been submitted for a government subsidy which would result in a rate of Rs 5 a piece. With financial constraints, it will be too early to know if the state government will offer subsidy. A pilot study was conducted in July 2002 with a success rate of 80%.     rw 006560

  • April 21, 2003   Associated Press   U.N. Appealing for $84 Million in Emergency Humanitarian Aid to Haiti.   The U.N. is appealing for US $84 million to confront poverty in Haiti. International donors have withheld US $500 million since flawed elections swept in President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's governing party. The economic situation in Haiti has worsened as the government and opposition have been at loggerheads on new elections that Aristide has pledged. So far, no commitments have been made by international donors. The funds are channeled exclusively through private aid groups. Some US $146 million in Inter-American Development Bank loans have been freed, but Haiti first must pay some US $24 million in arrears. Haiti's government has criticized donors for withholding aid that Aristide has called "economic terrorism." 56% of Haitians suffer from malnutrition.     rw 006561

  • April 21, 2003   Philadelphia Inquirer   Too Much Junk in Junk Cars.   A growing portion of the American car is plastic, often too much trouble to recycle. There's no way to separate it or no vendor who would want that material, so it goes to the landfill. The residue from the shredder, contains plastic, foam, glass, dirt, and nonferrous metals such as copper and aluminum, up to 25% of the weight of a car, up to five million tons a year. The metals can be sold but plastics can be made more cheaply from raw materials. The E.U.has mandated that by 2006, 80% of junked cars must be reused or recycled, rising to 85% in 2015. By 2005, new vehicles must be reusable or recyclable at a minimum of 85% by weight. U.S. automakers have worked to solve the problem by developing technologies to separate plastics after old cars are shredded. They also can design their new cars with fewer plastics that are more easily separated. Proponents note that plastics don't rust, and cost less. DaimlerChrysler's focuses on how to separate types of plastics. A single technology is not a complete solution to the problem. Then there's the option of turning the waste into energy by simply burning the plastics But that can have problems, especially if the plastics are contaminated. Cars should be designed with the end of use in mind.     rw 006566

  • April 17, 2003   Immigrants Help Steady Big-City Populations.   This article claims that immigrants helped to stabilize the big-city centers, while people continued to push out the metropolitan fringes. Rockwall County, Texas, east of Dallas, was the fastest growing, Atlanta and Washington also had big gains. Los Angeles County added 118,000 immigrants while losing 83,000 residents. The 2000 census showed that emigration from Mexico helped Chicago reverse a decline in population. The largest urban counties had little or no growth, suburban counties in the West and South dominated the list of fastest-growing areas. The United States had 288.4 million residents last July, up 1.1 percent from 2001.   While immigrants are willing to cram themselves in - big families or several families to a unit, they drive up the demand for city housing and prices go up. Native borns are usually not willing to settle for the lower standard of living at higher prices and the previous residents move out to the suburbs because that is the only housing left that they can afford.  rw 006533

  • April 20, 2003   Bob Perciasepe, National Audubon Society   Safeguarding Wildlife: a Wise Investment.   One hundred years ago, the population of California was less than 2 million. By 1950, it was 10 million and since then it has tripled. Bob Perciasepe of the National Audubon Society says: "As human numbers have soared in California, forests have fallen to farms, and farms have fallen to freeway. As human populations have exploded, habitats worldwide have been profoundly altered." 50 years ago Mono Lake, 300 miles NE of Los Angeles, was home to nearly a million ducks, today fewer than 20,000. Freshwater diversions for Los Angeles have the lake 40% increasing salinity and reducing the life it can support. In Tanzania, the changing chemistry of Lake Natron threatens the only breeding ground of East Africa's lesser flamingos. In Central and South America, farms and roads have been burned and bulldozed into once pristine forests and 50% of migrant bird species that winter there are in decline. The population explosion over the last 50 years is killing them. President Bush is increasing U.S. aid to poor countries by $5 billion over the next three years but has yet to earmark any for contraceptives. Family planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost and would benefit wildlife.     rw 006548

  • April 20, 2003   Xinhua General News Service   UN Agency to Identify Gender Gap in Afghanistan for Women's Empowerment.   The UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) initiated a research to make gender analysis in Afghanistan. The study is trying to examine the impact of changes at the household level, which have affected the divisions of labor between the man and women. The study will capture these changes in the regional context and could make a contribution by incorporating gender analysis into livelihoods research.     rw 006550

  • April 19, 2003   The Monitor (Uganda)   Uganda; Bahati Wants More Money for Population Activities.   District leaders have been encouraged to allocate more money to population activities. A few districts have given ample support but others need to increase their allocation to population programmes. Bushenyi, Katakwi and Luwero districts have some of the lowest allocations. The U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) representative said districts must recognise the link between uncontrolled population growth and the fight against poverty.     rw 006559

  • April 19, 2003   BBC News   AIDS Ravages Rwanda.   Every 14 seconds, AIDS turns a child into an orphan. The average life expectancy in Rwanda is 49 and one in six children die before they reach five. About a million people were massacred in the genocide in 1994. Over 11% of the population have HIV or AIDS. Many of the women got HIV when they were raped the militia during the war. Children were orphaned by the genocide and now by AIDS. A charity called Hope and Homes for Children has set up a project to help support the orphans. They keep family units together, sending the children to school and providing food and shelter. In 2003 they will be working with 452 children in Rwanda and plan to grow the number significantly in the next few years.     rw 006567

  • April 18, 2003   Grist Magazine   Afri-Can Do.   Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia are collaborating to increase geothermal power generation to 1,000 megawatts by 2020. They could produce up to 7,000 megawatts. To date, Kenya produces 57 megawatts. The U.S. State Department will help fund the cost of geothermal energy in Africa.     rw 006543

  • April 18, 2003   Audubon population listserv   The Speed of Growth.   It took two million years to add the first billion people to the population of the world. It took only 100 years to add the second billion, and just thirty years to add the third billion. Today the population tops 6.2 billion, and demographers predict world population will climb to seven billion within the next 12 years.     rw 006547

  • April 17, 2003   Inquirer, Philippine Daily   Senate OKs Bill vs Trafficking of Women, Kids.   A measure that will criminalize the act of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, locally or internationally, has been approved on the Senate in the Philippines. Trafficking is defined as the "recruitment, transfer, provision, harboring, receipt or deployment of person for the purpose of forced labor, slavery, sexual exploitation, involuntary servitude, debt bondage, physical and other forms of abuse, removal or sale of organs or involvement in armed activities or other similar acts." The Act provides for a penalty from 20 years to life imprisonment and fine from P1 million to 5 million.     rw 006518

  • April 17, 2003   Deutsche Presse-Agentur   Indonesia's Infant Mortality Rate Rises.   Indonesia's infant mortality rate has risen to 51 babies per 1,000 births. The post-natal maternal mortality rate has increased from 325 women per 100,000 births in 1997 to 396 mothers per 100,000 births in 2001. Experts blamed the economic crisis which has limited access to health services. Indonesia's health budget has been reduced, while the number of people living under the poverty line has increased due to growing unemployment and underemployment.     rw 006519

  • April 17, 2003   Los Angeles Times   'Safe' Lead Levels Lower IQ in Children.   Lead blood levels 10 micrograms per deciliter below current federal and international guidelines produce a drop in IQ of up to 7.4 points. It is estimated that one in every 50 children has levels above that guideline and one in every 10 has levels of 5 micrograms/deciliter or above, within the dangerous range. There is no safe level of exposure. We have to take the lead out of houses built before 1950 that have lead-based paints. Exposure also comes from folk medicines and Mexican ceramic pottery. Low levels of lead delay puberty in young girls, especially African Americans and Latinas as it interfers with hormonal processes. Higher levels of lead reduce intelligence, slow development and can lead to behavioral problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continued to reduce the allowable level to the current 10 mcg/dl in 1991, about 100 parts per billion. The average lead level in children is about 3mcg/dl, but that's 10 to 100 times higher than the level in preindustrial humans.     rw 006525

  • April 17, 2003   Associated Press   Pollutants Dip 5% From 1995 to 2000.   Pollution in North America dropped 5% between 1995 and 2000, according to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, established under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Two of the trends are a 28% drop in the chemicals emitted into the air and a 41% increase in the chemicals sent to landfills. In 2000, the total amount of pollution was 3.6 million tons -- 1.5 million tons going into the air, water or ground. More than 1 million tons went to recycling and the rest for treatment, energy recovery or disposal. Electric utilities, steel mills, chemical makers and other industries in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Canada's Ontario accounted for a fourth of the continent's pollutants. The five facilities reporting the largest total releases were Kennecott Utah Copper in Magna, Utah; Chemical Waste Management in Arlington, Oregon; ASARCO Inc. in East Helena, Montana and Hayden Arizona; and Magnesium Corp. of America in Rowley, Utah. 14% of the pollution were chemicals such as styrene, lead, chromium and their compounds, known or suspected carcinogens.     rw 006526

  • April 17, 2003   Associated Press   Denver Limits Lawn Watering for 1.2 Million Customers .   Denver has restricted outdoor watering. The rules allow residents to water two hours twice a week. The Water Board has imposed surcharges on residents who use excess water. Commercial users and city parks must reduce water consumption to 70% of 2001 usage. Golf courses must cut consumption in half. Denver's reservoirs were at 44% capacity Wednesday. Levels could increase to 79% percent by July 1 with runoff from the snowpack, if spring precipitation is average. The estimate is 66% if this spring is dry.     rw 006531

  • April 17, 2003   Patrick Burns   Where in the World? .   The average American has never heard of Shandong that has a population as big as Mexico. Guangdong / Hainan have a population as big as Germany. Anhui has a population as big as Italy. Hubei has a population as big as France. Liaoning has a population as big as Spain. Shanxi has a population as big as Canada. Tianjin has a population as big as Sweden. Ningxia has a population as big as Finland. All are in China. Falling birth rates have slowed population growth, but momentum continues to increase the population. India's population growth rate is twice that of China and is expected to overtake China's within the next 30 years.     rw 006536

  • April 17, 2003   Scripps Howard News Service   On Earth Day, the Water News Is Bad.   1 in 5 people don't have safe drinking water and every year 5 million people die from waterborne diseases. The world's governments have pledged to cut the number without safe drinking water in half by 2015. Global water supplies are falling, while the demand is growing at an unsustainable rate. More likely than wars between nations are internal instability and violence by downstream users denied water. China and India have both experienced water riots. There are 2,878 cubic miles of polluted rivers worldwide and 2.5 billion people lack access to sanitation. Water-related diseases claim an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 children each day. More than 20% of freshwater fish species are endangered. 70% of the world's freshwater is consumed each day by agriculture. Some of the world's key aquifers are being overpumped and when irrigation is scaled back, crop yields will decline and food prices rise. - Population pressures are pushing water utilities to sell their systems to private water companies or build expensive new projects to meet demand. Experiments in privatization of water systems have been controversial. Changes in Earth's climate have resulted in more intense rainy seasons, longer dry seasons, stronger storms, shifts in rainfall and rising sea levels.     rw 006540

  • April 16, 2003     Why China’s Health Matters to the World.   Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has quickly spread from Guangdong to Hong Kong and beyond, illustrating China's increasing economic and social interdependence with the region and the entire planet. Mainland China has become East Asia's engine of growth. Now more than ever before Chinese enjoy freedom of movement in their country while millions of travellers visit and millions of Chinese travel abroad. A strategic transit point for commerce, Hong Kong has reaped great benefits. Now the price is being paid for mainland China's underdeveloped and opaque public health system. In the years of 'gaige kaifang' (reform and opening up) its admirable public health system has deteriorated to the point of being ill-prepared to cope with rapidly emerging diseases such as SARS, hepatitis and HIV/Aids. The slow reaction by medical authorities to the SARS threat happened in a political environment where individual initiative is discouraged and social stability is protected above other interests, in addition to outdated laws (i.e. the State Secrets Law) that prevent effective communication about emerging epidemics. Only the Ministry of Health in Beijing can announce the existence of an epidemic. Other emerging infectious diseases throughout the mainland have demonstrated the inability of the public health system to deal with them. Social services are inadequate to non -existent in rural areas where most of the population resides. While SARS has already had an immense, immediate economic impact on the economy of the region, the long term impacts of ill-preparedness will be much greater. One million Chinese are infected by HIV/Aids and 170 million have hepatitis B, a disease for which there is a vaccine. A vast improvement in medical capacity is necessary to maintain China's steep economic growth rates. 006507

  • April 16, 2003   Associated Press   Harmful Algae Blooms Linked to Population Growth.   The toxin in littleneck clams from northwest of Bainbridge Island increased fivefold from the 1970s to the '90s as the population of Kitsap County increased 87%. More people mean more fertilizer, sewage and animal waste flowing into Puget Sound, providing rich nutrients for algae. Clams, mussels, oysters, geoducks and pink scallops filter algae from seawater, producing toxins. When people eat infected shellfish, the neurotoxin can cause breathing difficulties, nausea, paralysis and death. The relationship between algae blooms and human activities remains unclear. Algae require nitrogen and other nutrients, but it is not understood what are the nutrients that fuels the blooms. Most of the closed shellfish beds are off limits because of high levels of fecal coliform or dangerous pollutants, such as mercury. If you go south you've got more pollution, and if you go north you've got more paralytic shellfish poison.     rw 006508

  • April 16, 2003   Associated Press   US California: Irrigation Blamed for Warming Effect in San Joaquin.   Rising nighttime temperatures in the San Joaquin Valley (Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties) may be caused by irrigated land that increases humidity. Nighttime temperatures in the region have risen more than four degrees F. over seven decades. The big issue is climate change from carbon dioxide. Preliminary data conflicts with global warming theories, but suggests increased humidity is preventing nighttime air from cooling. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville said, "The evidence shows that if this were a large-scale climate change caused by carbon dioxide, it would affect the valley, the foothills, and the mountains," ... "But we have not seen these changes in the higher elevations." Dave Kranz, a California Farm Bureau questioned the study: is it irrigation that's warming temperatures or sunlight reflecting off the paved roads that come with urbanization? The crops on irrigated land help clean the air - each acre of rice in scrubs about 23,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. California has more than 8 million irrigated acres, of which 2 million are in the study's region.     rw 006514

  • April 16, 2003   Grist Magazine   A Great Grandma -- An Aboriginal Elder Battles Construction of a Radioactive-waste Dump in Australia.   In the 1950s and '60s, the British military conducted nuclear tests in southern Australia. To the military, it was a wasteland, to the Aboriginal people it was their home. The military told the Aboriginals that the testing was safe, but many went blind, suffered radiation sickness, or developed cancer. Now, the Australian government has proposed a radioactive-waste dump near Woomera, that would store waste from nuclear reactors. Aboriginals fear their land, water, and health will be poisoned once again. Eileen Wani Wingfield and Eileen Kampakuta Brown, in their 70s, joined with five other older women to create the Coober Pedy Women's Council. They have written to the government and traveled miles to speak against the project. The Australian government says it plans to move ahead with the project. Wingfield and Brown shared one of this year's environmental prizes for their efforts to stop the radioactive-waste dump. Wingfield and the other elders decide to fight it because "those things" already killed all the old people, and is still dangerous. The dump would poison everything else.     rw 006515

  • April 16, 2003   Washington Post   U.S.: Tougher Rules Unveiled for Diesel Emissions.   Diesel-powered off-road machines will be subject to stricter EPA emissions standards, cutting emissions by 95%. The tougher rules are expected to prevent 9,600 premature deaths per year and save billions of dollars in medical expenses and lost productivity. Refineries will have to cut the sulfur content to 500 ppm in 2007 and 15 ppm in 2010. Once the fuel standards are in place, the EPA will phase in tougher soot and nitrogen oxide standards for diesel engine manufacturers between 2008 and 2014.     rw 006516

  • April 16, 2003   Christian Science Monitor   U.S.: City Improvement: Planting Trees.   Over the past 15 years the number of trees in the U.S. has declined by 30%, while the space covered by solid surfaces has risen by 20%. To redress the imbalance, the country needs 634 million more trees says American Forests, a conservation group. In some cities, volunteer groups are stepping in to plant and care for trees on public land, and educate the public on why they matter. Trees are natural pollution-control devices. Their leaves, branches, and trunks help slow the runoff of storm water. They also provide sound buffering, shade, and measurably cooler temperatures on hot summer days, and breeding and roosting places for local and migratory birds, whose habitat has been disappearing. City trees can reduce storm-water and pollution-control expenditures by millions of dollars. Much of the problem with trees stems from lax maintenance, outright neglect, and stressful growing conditions. One solution is to plant good-sized trees as tree size and longevity count more than quantity.     rw 006517

  • April 16, 2003   South African Press Association   South Africa: Condom Billboard Ok, Says Authority.   The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of South Africa has ruled that a billboard depicting a woman holding a condom embracing a man with the caption "one roll-on all women want" does not breach the advertising code. The billboard had caused offence, but the ASA had decided to overlook this due to the seriousness of the HIV/Aids pandemic.     rw 006522

  • April 15, 2003   New York Times*   Firm Wins $62 Million Deal to Restore Education in Iraq.   Creative Associates International Inc., Washington, has won a $62 million contract to open schools on schedule this fall, with equipment and supplies, teaching to lay the foundations for democracy among students, parents and teachers. Education is critical for ridding the schools of the environment of Saddam Hussein. When safe in Iraq, the company will send teams to assess the state of the schools. 25% of children do not attend school, and the company will ensure that they return to class and catch up on their education, girls as well as boys. Textbooks, will be awarded in a separate contract. A $4.8 million contract to manage and repair seaports was given to Stevedoring Services of America in Seattle, and a $7 million contract to plan emergency relief went to the International Resources Group of Washington. The Research Triangle Institute of North Carolina won a $7.9 million contract to restore local governments in Iraq.     rw 006494

  • April 15, 2003   Boston Globe   Iraq Aid Efforts Raise Africa Questions.   Iraq's need for relief is siphoning away funding for the world's other crises - Africa comes to mind. James Morris, head of the World Food Program, said that the $1.8 billion needed for emergency food aid for Africa remains more than $1 billion short. Iraq has our attention, but "there are nearly 40 million Africans in greater peril. They are struggling against starvation," he said. "How is it we routinely accept a level of suffering and hopelessness in Africa we would never accept in any other part of the world?" $3.5 billion in global emergency assistance was requested by the U.N. this year, compared with $2.2 billion (60% of the total) requested by the UN for Iraq alone over the next six months. Until Iraq oil is adequately producing, over the next two or three years, an estimated $25-$30 billion would be spent for Iraq's construction. John W. Snow, the US treasury secretary, said that the Bush administration would seek an extra $100 million from Congress for the International Development Association. UNICEF warned in March that "away from spotlight, millions of children in peril." UNICEF put out a $501 million appeal for children in 30 countries or territories, but received just 14% of that request by the end of February. UNICEF recently appealed for $166 million for Iraq - and has already netted $49.3 million. Its earlier $110 million appeal for Afghanistan raised only $13.3 million. 006495

  • April 15, 2003   Kathmandu Post   Asian Development Bank Approves Loan for Water Supply Scheme in Nepal .   The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a 1.4 million US dollars grant to improve the water supply and sanitation sector of the Kathmandu Valley under a private scheme due for completion in 2004. This includes a river diversion from the Melamchi Valley to the Kathmandu Valley, distribution network improvements, construction of a water treatment plant and bulk distribution system and wastewater system improvements. There is a clear consensus that private participation is essential to the development. The Nepal Water Supply Corporation (NWSC) has failed to supply efficient and affordable services to the residents of the Kathmandu Valley. The total cost is estimated to be 1.75 million US dollars. 700,000 dollars will be financed by the government of Japan, $700,000 by the government of Norway and the remaining $350,000 from the Nepal government.     rw 006497

  • April 15, 2003   Push newsfeed   U.S.: Battle of the Environment Breaks Out as Pentagon Urges Fewer Limits on Military: Rules on Marine Mammals, Toxic Waste and Air Quality Are Seen as Obstacle to Training.   The Senate’s environment committee underscores the efforts to insulate the US military from environmental lawsuits. The Defense Department asked Congress to "clarify" regulations governing marine mammals, toxic waste, air quality and endangered species. The Pentagon says vague definitions leave it vulnerable to legal challenges. Employing an unusual tactic, Mr Inhofe’s staff sends e-mails to journalists offering rebuttals of environmental groups’ criticisms. The five-week-old campaign, named "Operation End Extremism", underscores the controversy surrounding efforts to insulate the US military from environmental lawsuits. Congress rejected a similar request last year. The Pentagon says there is a need to reduce limitations on combat training. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) accuses the defense department of exploiting the situation in Iraq. "Existing laws already allow national security to trump environmental concerns, ... And they’ve never proven that the laws even constrain military training." says Rob Perks of NRDC. One of the contentious issues involves the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the changes sought by the Pentagon would allow it to test sonar equipment with less fear of lawsuits so that the navy’s ability to detect quiet diesel submarines would not be impaired.     rw 006498

  • April 15, 2003   Push newsfeed   Freedom Fighters Win Political Clout: Status of Women -- Those Who Fight for Their Country Do Not Voluntarily Head Back to the Kitchen’.   Women who fight for their country do not voluntarily head back to the kitchen - this is one explanation for the change in female fortunes since the National Resistance Army seized power in 1986. Women now have a status in Uganda unrivalled in Africa. The vice president is female, and a quarter of parliamentary members are female. When the war forced husbands to flee the country, they left women no choice but to support whole families. Ugandan feminists are frustrated at the pace of change and uncertain how long it will last. The legal rights of women have barely begun to reflect their productive role. It is estimated women produce 80% of food crops, 60% of exports such as coffee, tea and cotton and 80% of exports such as maize, vanilla and chillies. Yet they own only 7% of the land. Under President Museveni, female enrolment at primary school has risen to parity. Affirmative action is in place at the universities. Legislation regarding rights to land and property, and iniquities in the divorce laws that would enable women in politics to bring about improvements for the vast majority of their sex in rural areas remains on the back burner. There is no guarantee that the affirmative action will find a place in a more pluralist political system.     rw 006499

  • April 15, 2003   Lancaster Megastar   Jolie Cares for Cambodia.   Angelina Jolie plans to give $1.3 million over five years to help sustain a wilderness in the north-west of Cambodia. The region, known as the "100 Elephants Forest," is believed to hold the last remaining wild tigers and elephants in the former war-torn country.     rw 006501

  • April 15, 2003   New Scientist   Contraceptive Vaccine Temporarily Sterilises Dogs.   A contraceptive vaccine designed by an Australian group to make dogs sterile for at least six months may be available soon. But frequent visits to the vet and human forgetfulness may make spaying or neutering a better alternative. The vaccine works by generating antibodies to luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH), which controls the production of male and female sex hormones such as testosterone, progesterone and oestrogen. The reliability of the vaccine will soon be know from larger trials involving many different breeds of dog. "Our expectation is there will be a significant proportion of dog owners who would rather not have their animals undergo surgery," said Kelso of the group creating the vaccine. "The vaccine is less invasive, there are essentially no risks." There is a contraceptive vaccine for elephants which works by generating antibodies against an egg protein, preventing sperm binding to the egg. Some groups in Australia and New Zealand would like to eliminate alien invaders such as rabbits and possums by releasing infectious viruses that stimulate the production of these antibodies. 006504

  • April 15, 2003   AAP Newsfeed   Australia: NSW: Concern About Cuts to Family Planning.   Cuts to family planning services in NSW, including closing three Sydney clinics, could result in higher rates of unwanted pregnancy. They provide tens of thousands of women with free sexual and reproductive health services. They have around 90,000 abortions a year, one of the highest in the world. A spokeswoman for the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) said funding for family planning in NSW, currently $8 million a year, had been cut by 25% over the past five years. 38% of clients were under 24. Reducing infrastructure costs would allow FPA to concentrate on health promotion, training and information, while women would be able to see their GP or other sexual health service providers for clinical services.     rw 006509

  • April 15, 2003   Daily Trust (Nigeria)   Nigeria; Agency Organises Workshop for Women in Politics.   A USAID-funded agency has organised workshops in Nigeria to make women aware of HIV, reproductive health and child survival situations in the country. They were also aimed at improving quality of lives, how to network among women politicians, identify appropriate interventions for improving the health of the 120 million people in the country. Men who make all the decisions do not consider these as priorities, as they do not generate income nor are they amenable to immediate resolution. Health and population problems should be of priority concern to women politicians.     rw 006510

  • April 15, 2003   Malaysia General News   Malaysia: No Family Planning Policy for Now.   The government will not launch any family planning policy because the target for Malaysia's population- to reach 70 million - has yet to be achieved. People with many children, from among the poorer segments of society, were poorly educated and thankful for having "gods gift" of many children. The government will review the situation when it is warranted.     rw 006512

  • April 14, 2003   Push newsfeed   UNDP and Pakistan’s First Women Bank Launch 3-year Project.   The United Nations Development Progrmme (UNDP) and First Women Bank Limited (FWBL) have signed a three-year project entitled ’Women’s Access to Capital And Technology’ (WACT) to improve women’s access and control over micro credit and technology in Pakistan.     rw 006480

  • April 14, 2003   Statesman (India)   Their Feudal Lords.   Most Bangladesh garment factories engage in discriminatory practices against women labourers. Women who get pregnant either lose their jobs or are forced to undergo abortions. Even when the factory imposes no such strictures, women are not allowed a break even if they are unfit for hard labour. It is claimed that a large number of workers suffer miscarriages because of overwork. These women earn Bangladesh almost 70% of its foreign exchange. Yet, neither employers nor government offer labour protection. Some claim that employers force them to use contraceptives that have been condemned for the damage they inflict. Researchers claim a link between the rising fortunes of the garment industry and the low marriage rate for women. More married women preferred to settle in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ), which offered day-care facilities, than in the non-EPZ, where large garment factories are located. Women workers in non-EPZ factories rarely opted for motherhood. So desperate are the women to hold on to their jobs, that they risk undergoing abortions at low-grade clinics. Garment factory owners argue that the productivity of female workers declines from the moment they go on maternity leave. Employing women who have no children ensures consistent productivity and no obligation to provide child-care facilities. Those who do not dismiss pregnant women, rarely offer paid maternity leave. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) claims it has not heard of any unit forcing anti-conception injections on women workers. The Directorate of Labour too, has made no arrests or questioned the anti-women policies of factory owners. The government has enacted laws to ensure equal rights for working women, including four months of maternity leave. The Constitution states, that if an employer forces a lactating mother to work before the period of six weeks following childbirth is over, he/she will be liable for prosecution.   [Note: The hard facts of life in an impoverished country are that a job in a garment factory may be far better life than no job at all. If the garment factory is making a big profit off of women, that is one thing, but if the garment factory cannot afford to keep a woman who often has to take time off to care for her children, that is the hard facts of life. We cannot always blame the entrepreneur for the injustices of poverty. Re: Depo-provera, it is approved by the FDA for use by American women. Since FDA has the most rigorous standards in the world for drugs, it is hard to believe the bad name that some extremists want to give it.]  rw 006481

  • April 14, 2003   Deutsche Presse-Agentur   Saddam City: Children Suffer Most in Baghdad's Slums.   In Baghdad there is a large Shiite slum of 2 million people. Its poverty and the residents' bad health has been made worse by war. The water is contaminated and looting and violence have nearly collapsed the health care system, with only three out of 32 hospitals and clinics working over the weekend. Children suffer such health problems as malnourishment, food allergies, diarrhoea and vomiting. Adults suffer from car accidents, gunfire and stabbings. The fight for food and provisions has also resulted in injuries. The German group APN in a small clinic has looked after 1,500 people in the last four days. Larger humanitarian organizations are still caught up in the midst of chaos. 006500

  • April 14, 2003   New Haven Register   North America: Jobs Move Offshore as Firms Continue to Economize.   In India, the amount of software and back-office services performed for companies outside India is expected to reach $54 billion by 2008. The Indian market for the same services is expected to reach just $15 billion. The software and technology services are a high foreign-exchange earner. That represents many new jobs in India and fewer in the United States. Offshore outsourcing save companies 25% to 50% A recent report by Foote Partners LLC in New Canaan said up to 45% of information-technology workers in the United States and Canada will be replaced by contractors, consultants, offshore technicians and part-time workers by 2005.  rw 006503

  • April 14, 2003   The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)   The People Problem; When Will the World Face It?.   Either the world slows its booming population growth or dreams of conquering global illiteracy and poverty will be dashed. The AIDS epidemic will curtail population growth somewhat, but that the world can do without. Efforts to educate and feed all the people can't succeed if new mouths and minds keep appearing faster than they can be filled. There's little sign that the world's nations are serious about population control. The failure to follow through on the Cairo goal isn't just unfortunate. Over the long haul, it promises to be disastrous. The total spent on population control in 2000 was $11.2 billion, in 2001, $9.4 billion. The industrialized countries, have come through with only 40% of their share. Birth-control is being denied, condoms are in short supply in AIDS-stricken countries. Fertility rates remain high in the world's poorest regions. The upshot will be hundreds of millions of unwanted pregnancies, untenably large families, untold numbers of preventable AIDS cases. Packing the world with too many people is a sure way to make the majority miserable. Half of the world's citizens subsist on $2 a day or less and the only way to bring hope is to squelch poverty. The chief method is population control so foolishly ignored by the world's wealthy.   Note: The words 'population control' is sometimes thought to suggest coercive methods, but this is not the case because the 'Cairo' convention is about voluntary family planning. There is a large unmet need for contraception. RW says THIS SHOULD BE PRINTED IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND A COPY SENT TO EVERY PERSON IN THIS COUNTRY.  rw 006532

  • April 14, 2003   Manila Bulletin (Philippines)   Philippines: Growing Garbage Problem Linked to Family Planning .   Developed cities find it difficult to keep up with the increase in waste that accompanies rising consumption. Metro Manilans face a problem of waste disposal since the two main facilities have been closed. It is estimated that the population of Metro Manila will increase by 50 million by 2050. People mean garbage. The Philippines has enacted the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act which international donors are helping implement, in particular, to set up public education programs on recycling as well as refuse processing centers with private contractors. Thus, it is important to link environmental question with information and services on family planning.     rw 006537

  • April 13, 2003   Agence France Presse   World Bank Chides Rich for Sliding on Development Promises.   The World Bank chided industrialized powers for failing to boost aid and lower trade barriers. Aid from rich countries as a proportion of GDP had slumped from 0.5% in the early 1960s to just 0.2%. Developing countries had cut trade barriers, but this has not been reciprocated by wealthier nations. Action now could cut poverty rates to less than half by 2015. But rapid growth in Asia and improvements in Eastern Europe will do little to reduce the poverty in Africa. The number of impoverished people will drop from 1.29 billion people or 29.6% in 1990, to 809 million or 13.3% in 2015. But in sub -Saharan Africa, poverty numbers will swell from 315 million in 1990 to 404 million in 2015 and in the Middle East, the number will climb from five million to eight million. In East Asia and the Pacific, including China, the number in poverty would decline from 486 million to 80 million, and in South Asia, would slide from 506 million to 264 million. World powers had agreed on halving global poverty rates, providing primary school education for all and cutting child mortality rates by two-thirds. But those goals would slip without stepped-up action. Critics said the organizations missed a chance to do more. The World Bank said an initiative to cut the debt of the poorest countries had amounted to 40 billion dollars in 26 countries.     rw 006479

  • April 13, 2003   Free Lance Star   Radical Right Wants to Abridge Women's Rights.   Neither the U.S. delegation, nor any other delegation, (nor the U.N. agencies or nongovernmental organizations) "promote abortion as 'reproductive health,' as Steven Mosher claims ["Rep. Davis: Champion of Women, Opponent of UNFPA Funding," March 21]. Mr. Mosher's phrase is widely used by the extreme right to camouflage a broader, underlying agenda. That agenda would deny women access to the widest range of contraceptives of their choice, withhold vital information from young people that would protect them against HIV and AIDS and prevent girls and women from achieving equality with men.   Writer of this op-ed is Adrienne Germain, the president of International Women's Health Coalition and member and core strategist of the Clinton delegation to the 1994 United Nations population conference. 006489

  • April 13, 2003   Terra Daily/Agence France-Presse   Kashmir's Fabled Forests Vanish.   Kashmir is loosing glorious forests - and soldiers, villagers, officials, and timber merchants are blamed. Since 1947, the 13,300 square kilometer strip of the region under Pakistani control has diminished by two-thirds. In 1947, 42% of Azad Kashmir was forest, today it's 13%. Disappearing with the forests is Kashmir's exotic wildlife. They are also victims of shelling along the heavily militarised line splitting the region between Pakistan and India. Wild deer, were nowhere to be seen, snow leopards declined from 80 to 20, migratory birds, have changed their routes. Pakistani and Indian soldiers are involved in illegal logging. Forestry officials checking vehicles for smuggled timber are not allowed to check army trucks. The civilian population cuts trees for fuel. 25% percent of forests are zoned commercial, providing 60% of its revenue and 2,800 jobs. The army is planting more than 30,000 saplings and AJK villagers have tried to prevent illegal felling, but they cannot forbid the army.     rw 006492

  • April 12, 2003   Nation (Nairobi)   Investing in Girls' Schooling a Win-Win Strategy.   In African hamlets, 12-year-old girls are postponing marriage and will be the first generation of educated girls. Mali's programme ensures that half the students are girls, local women are trained to become teachers and class hours respect the rhythm of the farming seasons. In Bangladesh girl enrollment in secondary school has doubled in less than a decade. Girls will eliminating the gender gap in education by 2005. For 50 countries, the gender parity target remains difficult. Girls' education translates into smaller, healthier families, higher productivity and incomes. It is the most effective way to prevent HIV/Aids. Work is an obstacle, many parents require their daughters to help out and care for siblings. The cost of clothing, shoes and textbooks is beyond poor families. Finally education is of little value where girls are expected to marry early and remain in the household. Yet most families will send girls to school when costs are reduced and quality is improved. Separate latrines, safe drinking water, free meals and small schools close to home are boosting girl attendance. Women are learning to read and write through programmes that teach them how to manage credit, maintain water pumps and issues of health and violence.     rw 006496

  • April 11, 2003     3 Tykes and You're Out; in a Bid to Curb Population Explosion, New Delhi May Set Example by Barring Those with Many Kids From Elections.   The Indian government is planning legislation banning politicians with more than two children from contesting elections. The opposition lawmaker Laloo Prasad Yadav has nine children, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has an adopted daughter, and opposition leader Sonia Gandhi has two children. The proposal wants the ruling class to set an example. India's population is growing at 2%. The ruling will need the support of all parties in the House. A variant was introduced at local government level in some states but it is unclear if it serves the purpose. Disqualifying people from the democratic process will not make much difference to the family-planning programmes that India started in the 1950s. Adoption of a small family norm has social consequences but should be voluntary. There has to be an environment where a small family is accepted as normal but this has not materialised because of poverty, illiteracy, inequality and lack of proper health facilities.     rw 006462

  • April 10, 2003   Associated Press   U.N. Says Iraq's Population is Expected to Grow.   Using figures based on the 1987 census, Iraq's population is expected to grow from 23.2 million in 2002 to about 26.6 million in 2005 and 58 million by 2050, according to the United Nations Population Division. An additional 1.1 million Iraqis are living outside the country. The war is another variable, so higher mortality, fertility declines and changes in living conditions that can affect nutrition, illness and child-bearing," must be taken into account. Iraq's population is growing by 2.68% a year. Half of Iraq's population is under the age of 19. Iraqi women have an average of 4.77 children. Infant mortality is high at 83.3 per 1,000 births. An estimated 50,000 to 180,000 Iraqis are in Jordan and about 40,000 Iraqis in Germany and Sweden. 006464

  • April 10, 2003   UN Integrated Regional Information Network   Somalia: Puntland Warns of Drought.   Parts of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland face water shortages. The problem is acute in the regions of Sool and Sanaag, and the self-declared republic of Somaliland. Also affected are the districts of Bargal, Iskushuban, Qandala, Alula, Badar Beyla and Qardo, all of Bari Region, and parts of Nugal Region, said Abdishakur. Puntland administration had dispatched fuel to Sanaag to help in the trucking of water. Puntland authorities had called on international agencies to intervene. The first priority was to deliver water to affected areas and distribute food to those who had lost their livestock.     rw 006465

  • April 09, 2003   CAPS   SB 71: California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act.   SB 71, introduced by Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles), consolidates various legislation involving sex education and AIDS prevention and preserves California's provision of age-appropriate sex education in schools, including the prevention of unwanted pregnancies. Ask your state Senator and Assembly person to support this legislation. (Click on headline to send a fax). 006370

  • April 07, 2003   New York Times*   U.S.: A Global Catalog of Wrongs.   The State Department produces a document detailing human rights practices of almost every country. Among the nations are: Uzbekistan who routinely tortures detainees; Eritrea has ended freedom of the press and restricts religious freedom; Azerbaijan detains dissidents and rigs elections. Violations are noted in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Macedonia, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia, all with poor human rights. Iraq, North Korea and Iran victimize their people. Baghdad has executions without trial, political murders, torture and persecution of Shiite Muslims. North Korea has detention camps, torture and harsh prison conditions, including starvation. Iran has arbitrary arrests, disappearances, stoning and flogging. Burma has punitive rape by soldiers, forced relocation of minorities, forced labor and conscription of children. Turkmenistan's autocrat models his rule on Stalin's. China is freer but Beijing executed 3,000 people last year, many without due process. It uses torture, forced confessions, imprisonment in psychiatric hospitals and lengthy detentions with no right to communicate with family members or lawyers. Some countries have been cited for withholding sleep and food to extract confessions. American authorities have been charged by some with using these techniques in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.     rw 006421

  • April 04, 2003   Push newsfeed   Seoul’s Air Pollution Worst Among OECD Members.   Seoul’s particulate matter (PM) was 71 micrograms per cubic meter at the end of 2001, the highest among OECD countries. Moscow recorded the lowest with 10 micrograms. PM causes various respiratory problems. Nitrogen dioxide in Seoul was 0.037 ppm ranking third after Moscow with 0.058 ppm. The high level of pollution is due to an increase of diesel-fueled automobiles. 45% of nitrogen dioxide and 44% of PM in 2000 came from automobile emissions. Diesel-fueled cars made up 81% of the nitrogen dioxide and 100% of the PM. The lower price of diesel fuel is the main cause for the increase in diesel-powered cars. Cost of diesel in S.Korea is 54.9% of gasoline, well below the average 77.5%. In Italy, Japan and Mexico, diesel fuel costs 80% that of gasoline, in Britain and the U.S. there is little difference. Among the 14 million vehicles in S. Korea, diesel-powered account for more than 30%. The government is allowing the domestic sale of diesel-powered passenger cars from 2005 aggravating the air pollution.     rw 006384

  • April 04, 2003     More Than Four in 10 U.S. Women Experience Complications Giving Birth.   A study found that 29% of women had complications giving birth. About 4% had preexisting conditions that were made worse by giving birth. Complications included major vaginal tears, pelvic trauma, bleeding, infections and pregnancy-induced diabetes. About 22% of women underwent C-sections, a major procedure. The mortality rate has remained at eight deaths per 100,000 births for the last two decades. Many of the complications could be avoided with quality prenatal and delivery care. 19 million births occurred in the United States from 1993 to 1997.   [Note: If the number is as high as 29% in the U.S., you can bet it is much higher in countries where malnutrition, malaria, and HIV are additional complications. Why would people like Judy Brown of ALL deny funding for reproductive health simply because (she claims) IPPF is only pretending to care about women's reproductive health care?]  rw 006412

  • April 02, 2003   BBC News   Toxin Threat to Inuit Food.   The traditional diet of Inuits of Greenland includes polar bears, seals, and whales. It is a healthy diet and no toxins are produced by their lifestyle. Unfortunately persistent organic pollutants, lead, cadmium, mercury, and other hazardous chemicals are being carried from industrialised nations by wind and ocean currents to Inuit Greenland region and accumulating in the same animals the Inuit eat - which could result in birth defects, reduced fertility, and genetic damage for the humans. In fact, in some areas toxic levels were high enough to cause concern for in 100% of the population, and above the "level of action" for 30%. The report from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) concludes Greenlanders should consider changing their eating habits. The Greenlander diet that has kept Greenland's population protected from ailments typically associated with industrialised societies, like heart disease, diabetes and obesity; so until now people were told to avoid abandoning their traditional diet for a Western one. Diabetes, for example, has increased from almost no cases twenty-five years ago to three times the level in Denmark. "To discover that the food which for generations has nourished them and kept them whole physically and spiritually is now poisoning them is profoundly disturbing and threatens Indigenous Peoples' cultural survival," the report says. 006395

  • April 02, 2003     Pipeline Company to Pay $34 Million for Spill.   The EPA has levied a $34 million fine against Colonial Pipeline Company, which owns a 5,500-mile pipeline from Texas to New York. It violated the Clean Water Act with seven spills, 1.45 million gallons of oil. The EPA said the spills were caused by corrosion, damage, and human errors. The fine was punitive for being a consistent violator.     rw 006408

  • April 01, 2003   Associated Press   EU's Multibillion Dollar Aid-and-Trade Pact with 77 Developing Countries.   A multibillion aid-and-trade pact between the European Union is aiming to fight poverty and promote democracy. 16 billion euros would be disbursed among the world's poorest nations under a deal that promises aid to nations if they show improvements in human rights and a reduction in corruption. It encourages members to form regional trade blocs to promote economic growth. Quotas on bananas will be phased out between 2002 and 2006, and sugar and rice from 2006 to 2009. Zimbabwe, Haiti, Ivory Coast and Liberia had already been criticized for human rights violations. Zimbabwe has diplomatic sanctions by EU nations and EU nations have frozen Mugabe's financial assets. Cuba has lobbied to be included and this will be considered - hoping it will turn the communist country toward democracy and improved human rights. Cuba insists it respects human rights by ensuring broad social services including free education and health care.     rw 006381

  • April 01, 2003   Push newsfeed   Kenya; 1,500 Street Children Set to Join National Youth Service.   1,500 former street children are to be admitted to the National Youth Service program in Kenya. Each child will cost the government Sh100,000 to complete the programme, which aims at moulding them into useful citizens. The Street Children Rehabilitation Fund has reached Sh6 million,and was expected to increase. Under the UN convention member states are obliged to ensure that child victims of conflicts, torture, neglect, maltreatment or exploitation are helped to recover. More than 300 youths aged above 18 have been identified for training. The presence of street families is based on poverty and the collapse of social values, including HIV/Aids. The YS programme is part of the government’s jobs creation programme and was aimed at training NYS staff in issues such as human and children’s rights, counselling and basic health care.    006383

  • April 01, 2003   Asia Pulse   Philippine Urban Areas to Face Water Sanitation Crises.   Cities in the Phillipines face water and sanitation crises as the population grows. 50% of the world's population lives in cities and towns and one billion live in slums and squatter settlements without clean water or decent sanitation. Metro Cebu in the Phillipines has a population of two million and is expected to grow. The Rotary Club of Cebu provided 15 toilets with water that were turned over to the community. But they will have to charge a small fee to maintain them and pay for the water. All cities grow on a supply of good water, the removal of wastewater, and attention to pollution control. But better governance means all citizens' needs must be considered. Government institutions must allow community-based organizations a greater role in determining projects.     rw 006386

  • April 01, 2003   Financial Times (London)   Africa: Child Trafficking Still Widespread.   Evidence of trafficking in child labour in West Africa documents cases of children transported for domestic or farm labour and accuses governments of failing to protect minors and prosecute traffickers. 13 countries are involved with Togo as a source, destination and transit point for illegal child labour. Togolese children between three and 17 have been recruited, including girls taken to ports in Nigeria and then to Gabon to work in domestic service. It reveals abuse resembling child slavery. The report describes transporting truckloads of boys to work on farms in Nigeria in conditions of bonded labour.     rw 006387

  • April 01, 2003   Inquirer, Philippine Daily   Philippines: High Population Growth Undermines Conservation Gains.   On Apo Island, a showcase of marine conservation, the population growth of 40% to 700 people has become a problem. Rapid population growth of 2.3% annually, high poverty rates, and over-fishering have overexploited Philippine reef fisheries. Until 1995, dynamite fishing was practiced in the waters of Bais and neighboring areas as fishermen had to go farther and farther for less and less catch. Development without consequences was another contributor to coral reef degradation. Development, agriculture, aquaculture and land cover change threaten many coral reefs. Over 80% of tropical forests and mangroves have been cleared, increasing sediment outflow onto reefs. Conservation must include family planning. Tourism must be controlled or conservation will come to naught. New management projects integrate family planning. Environmental problems are also due to overconsumption by the affluent and deprivation of the poor.     rw 006388

  • April , 2003   National Audubon Society population news list   Good News! the HIV/AIDS Bill Just Passed by a Vote of 374 to 41.   This HIV/AIDS bill, initiated by President Bush and authored by Congress Henry Hyde (R-IL) may be the most significant family planning development of the last 25 years. For a good analysis of the benefits of this bill and what you should do to help, please click on the headline link.   [This article has some important points that need summarizing. If you would like to help, click on the red arrow to register as a volunteer. Thanks!!] 006620

  • March 31, 2003   The Slovak Spectator   Slovakia: Plans to Raise Awareness of Family Planning.   The Slovak Deputy Prime Minister has promised to intensify training of health workers, remove barriers to health care, and encourage Roma girls and women to visit gynaecologists and receive information on reproductive health. This requires 60,000 euro to prevent discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. This project for the Roma minority focused on 300 Roma settlements in the Preov, Koice, and Banska Bystrica regions. The claims by two foreign NGOs that up to 100 Roma women in Slovakia had been forcibly sterilised are untrue, the Slovak government says.     rw 006380

  • March 31, 2003   UN News (United Nations)   UN Hears Call for Education to Curb Population Growth, Boost Development.   Primary education is crucial in improving economic and social conditions among the poorest segments of society, including girls, rural dwellers and minorities. Expanding educational opportunities is one of the most powerful tools governments have for promoting both income growth and equality. But growth in the numbers of school-age children, (2 billion worldwide) presents a challenge to less developed countries. The number of school-age children worldwide should rise by nearly 300 million between 2000 and 2050, with more than 90% in Africa, where the school-age population should double. The school-age population of more developed regions is expected to decline by more than 20% by 2050.     rw 006390

  • March 31, 2003   US Newswire   Pro-life Congresswomen Call for Zero Funding for Forced Abortion, Coercive Family Planning.   Concerned Women for America (CWA) http://media.cwfa.org and the Coalition for Women and Children announced an April 1 congressional press conference - "Women Speak for Motherhood" - to support the expansion of the Mexico City Policy, oppose funding of the UNFPA, and support the Bush administration's international policies to protect marriage, parents and children. 'Population control' groups [as they were called in the press release] lobbied Congress March 31 to [the press release claims] "secure funding for programs that are known to support forced abortion and coercive family planning. The United States must not give these inhumane activities our financial support." The press conference was mediated by the Catholic Family and Human Rights Group. Members in attendance: Rep. JoAnn Davis (R-VA), Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehiten (R-FL). Also supporting the legislation but absent: Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC). Members of Press: SRN News, Family News In Focus and CNS News. Pro-Life Groups Represented: Family Research Counsel, Eagle Forum. Rep. JoAnn Davis said: "In many areas of the world, women and children are in need of real foreign aid. Basic medical care, safe sanitation and clean water are desperately needed. However, abortions and condoms are what they receive. Women across the globe deserve better." "Its time for international assistance programs to focus on the inherent needs of women and children, and not the population control agenda. The root of effective population control is not forced abortion and condoms. It is abstinence, fidelity and improvements in the overall standards of life for women around the world." "Regardless of whether you support abortion or not, we should all agree that NO women should be forced to kill her unborn child, as we Americans will not stand back and allow our federal tax dollars to support such action." Connie Mackey: "Women of America do NOT want abortion." The representatives repeatedly expressed their support for abstinence-only programs, instead of "abortion and condoms" as the preferred form of health aid in foreign countries. Groups and members had no new arguments or data in support of their position. It appeared that their program was thrown together at short notice in response to Population Connection and allied groups' lobby days. They claim to have gathered a group of about 100 activists who are all in town on their own dollar. However, CWA brought with them about 15 young people, half men and half women. There appeared to be about three members of the press, but no cameras. Other than this presence, there were only about 5 audience members.   So far, no evidence has been produced that the UNFPA has participated in or promoted forced abortion or coercive family planning. Also, population groups are not about 'control' but about voluntary family planning to achieve healthy and happy families. 006402

  • March 30, 2003   Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)   U.N. Population Fund Deserves Our Support.   "..although the Population Research Institute was able to convince the Bush Administration to withdraw the $34 million approved by the Congress for the United Nations Population Fund (which does no abortions), the people of the United States are responding by the tens of thousands to an appeal made by Lois Abraham and myself," said Jane Roberts. After a seven-month long grass-roots effort, $767,000 has been raised and $7,000 arrives daily. Jane traveled to Senegal and Mali to see UNFPA's work on site. She talked to women whose lives had been saved by Caesareans and saw babies vaccinated and mothers given the means to space their next pregnancies prop