Bites and Pieces
News briefs on good news for elephants, pesticides, sheep labor, sweet greens, children and handguns, the statistic impossibility of being a rural yuppie and plants and light.
Good News For Elephants
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Texas chemist Orlando Battista has discovered a way to make
synthetic ivory. By mixing microcrystalline cellulose,
calcium phosphate, and a special gelatin and then letting
the concoction dry at room temperature for ten weeks, the
scientist produces a material that he claims is virtually
indistinguishable from real ivory and "has essentially the
same chemical composition as elephant tusk." (No word yet
on whether Battista has any tower-building plans.)
Pesticides Getting Panned
Each year 750,000 people are poisoned by pesticides; of
these, 14,000 die. Studies indicate that the rate of
poisonings in the Third World is 13 times as great as in
the U.S.
Following the dictum "think globally, act locally," the
Pesticide Action Network (PAN) is coordinating local
organizing efforts around the world to try to limit the
unnecessary spread of these dangerous chemicals. One of the
primary goals of the group is to "end the double standard
in the worldwide pesticide trade which allows pesticides
that are banned in developed countries (because of their
documented health hazards) to be routinely exported to the
Third World."
PAN's international "Dirty Dozen" campaign seeks to end the
use of 12 extremely hazardous pesticides wherever their
safe use cannot be ensured. The organization is using
techniques tailored to each individual country's culture to
spread the message. In Indonesia, farmers are traveling
from hamlet to hamlet to tell others about natural methods
of pest control. Brazilian groups have staged street
theater, dressing up as the offensive pesticides to warn
local farmers about the lethal potential of the poisons.
And in Britain, posters and billboards proclaim,
"These days there are enough pesticides in vegetables to
turn you into one!"
If you would like to "act locally" and organize a Dirty
Dozen campaign in your own neighborhood, PAN will send you
an information packet (including technical data, an
overview of the pesticide trade, alternative pest-control
methods, posters, and more) for $10.00 postpaid. To order
the packet-or for more information about hazardous
pesticides and the PAN organization-write to Pesticide
Education and Action Project, 1045 Sansome St., Rm. 404,
San Francisco, CA 94111.
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