Promoting the equal rights of women and girls :
”Promoting the equal rights of women and girls to freedom from violence -understanding and combating violence in the name of honour.”
Violence in the name of honour - Save the Children Sweden's experiences from preventing and responding to violence.[1]
These are the voices of some girls living in Sweden;
“My parents want to marry me off, against my will.”
“I have to come home immediately after school, and I am not allowed to go out.”
“My father beats me if I do not obey him.”
“I am afraid and I feel so threatened.”
“I cannot live like this, I am going to commit suicide.”
(Source: “Ungdomar och hedersrelaterat våld”, page 15, Save the Children Sweden, 2006)
“According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.”
Honour-related violence is a fundamental breach of both human rights and children’s rights.
It should never be justified in the name of culture, tradition or religion.
Violence in the name of honour is a very specific manifestation of the universal problem of violence against girls and women. Honour-related violence exists all over the world.
Honour-related violence mainly affects girls and women, but - it is important to remember that also boys are affected, usually in their role as caring brother/relative who are forced to control or even kill their own sisters – or as the one who take a stand in favour of the girl accused of disgracing the family honour.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths are also seen as a severe threat to family honour. Honour-related violence takes many forms: verbal threats, physical and psychological abuse, forced marriages and - or even - murder or forced suicide.
Save the Children Sweden is a non-governmental organisation fighting for the rights of the child (established in 1919). We have a domestic as well as an international program with Regional Offices in 8 different regions of the world. One of our priority areas is to promote children’s right to protection from all forms of violence.
Save the Children Sweden’s Domestic Program
In Sweden, due to immigration, many girls live under pressure to conform to multi-cultural expectations. Although they live in Sweden they are expected to live up to very traditional expectations. The girls are expected to take care of their family members and/or siblings. They are also often expected to get married to the man selected by their family and not mixing with the opposite sex after puberty. These expectations are contrasted by the situation of their native Swedish female friends who have more freedom to make individual choices. Still, it is very important to remember that this does not mean that the Swedish society is free from gender discrimination or gender stereotypes.
The severity of honour-killings came to the surface in the Swedish society in January 2002, when Fadime Sahindal, a young girl from an immigrant background, was murdered by her father because she had a Swedish boyfriend. As far as we know, she was the third girl being murdered as a result of honour-related violence. This became a wake-up call to the Swedish society, and a debate around honour-related violence was initiated. A number of actions were taken by the government and by members of the civil society.
Within two days after the murder, Save the Children Sweden opened a clinic for girls - and later also for boys - affected by honour-related violence. Three strategies were developed to support girls and boys affected by this kind of violence:
· Professional support and treatment is offered at the clinic, girls and boys are able to get psychotherapy to heal the traumas they have experienced from honour-related violence and other causes.
· A telephone help-line was set up, where girls and boys could call anonymously and receive advice and support.
· An opportunity to get treatment through e-mail communication was established. Over the past 4 years, 500 children and young people, a majority of them girls, have received treatment through regular contacts with psychologists via e-mail.
These strategies have also been important for prevention. Risk situations have been detected and addressed at an early stage.
Information about support is offered through various youth websites, our own site and through information in the schools.
For the psychotherapists who are to treat and support the child, it is important to understand each girl’s individual situation, her psychological condition and her family background, the risks attached, as well as the girl’s own views and opinion - and to react with to the girl’s best interest in mind.
“The psychotherapist’s role is to encourage the girl to reflect and to structure her own thoughts and wishes – and to open up new perspectives and alternatives. It is important to use words and expressions that have a meaning in their culture, family and context. The girls are often confused about their belonging and identity. They are living in two cultures, their own culture and the majority culture, e.g. the Swedish culture.”
Sevil Bremer – psychotherapist at Save the Children Sweden’s Centre for children and youth in crisis
Through the e-mail dialogue various solutions are discussed with the girl. The e-mail therapy may continue for several months or even years, depending on how long time the girl wants to continue. If the girl so chooses, her parents are invited to the clinic.
The girl is often encouraged to contact a school nurse, a teacher or a relative she trusts. The teacher may contact the parents to establish a dialogue. There are many examples of girls, whose freedom of movement has increased as a result of the dialogue. If the situation is severe, with violence or serious threats of violence, the social services will be contacted.
According to Swedish law, professionals working with children who suspect that a child is at risk, has a duty to report this to the social services. The social services may start an investigation. They will only contact the family (parents or care givers), if they believe that this will not place the girl or the boy in a further risk situation. In a risk situation, the social services may decide to remove the girl before contacting the parents or initiating a police investigation.
There are also some examples of how girls who have left their families are able to establish a positive relation with their relatives afterwards.
“Katarina was living in a family with a very violent father. She ran away with her mother and three younger siblings. Katarina had many feelings that she needed to process; guilt, fear and powerlessness. She undertook mail- therapy under a period of three years.”
“Today I can see both the advantages and disadvantages of being a girl with an immigrant background. It is an advantage to be in contact with two cultures. The disadvantages are that my parents see life differently from the way the Swedes do. Today I have learned to love myself, with my strengths and weaknesses. I have very good contact with everybody in my family, except my father and his relatives. I still suffer from what I experienced as a child, but life continues.” (Source: Save the Children Sweden 2006, Ungdomar och hedersrelaterat våld, page186)
However, a decision to leave or stay in the family, is never easy to make.
The knowledge that Save the Children Sweden has accumulated through our clinic and e-mail contacts with a number of girls and some boys, have helped us to better understand the situation and the perspective of girls and boys living under threat of honour-related violence. This knowledge has been used for advocating the decision-makers in Sweden to take actions to prevent and support these girls and their families. For example, to allocate sufficient resources, building the capacity of professionals on multi-culture competence, etc.
At an early stage, it became obvious that the police, the social services, the teachers and the medical personnel did not have sufficient knowledge on how to deal with these difficult situations. Save the Children Sweden’s theory and methodology, developed over the years has resulted in a book. There is now a process to integrate this knowledge into the university courses for psychologists, medical doctors and nurses, etc. Conferences are also held in Sweden and abroad in order to spread this knowledge and to learn from other countries’ experiences. It is essential that the various professionals does not work in isolation but cooperate and discuss each girl’s specific situation, so that appropriate actions can be taken.
Save the Children Sweden is also active in several networks, at local, national and international levels, in order to gain greater coverage and more impact. The members of the networks include staff of youth clinics, midwifes, social welfare officers, staff of immigrant associations, women’s organisations, etc. Through this international network, we are better prepared for the contact with the extended family and for preventing, for example, situations of forced marriages.
It is also essential that this kind of support services do not become isolated projects for one or two non-governmental organisations. The competence and the resources need to be integrated into existing support services and structures dealing with all forms of violence against children and women. State officials, such as the social services, the judiciary and the police need a holistic view when they address violence and discrimination. All girls and boys have the same right to be protected from violence.
Save the Children believes that in order to change patriarchal structures and gender discrimination, it is important to involve boys and men in our preventive work, since boys and men are both perpetrators and victims of a patriarchal society. There are many examples of boys taking action against honour-related violence. Sharaf Heroes, one of our networking partners in Sweden, is a group of young men fighting violence in the name of honour. They are all prepared to fight patriarchal attitudes and are given education in human rights and gender equality issues, through a program funded by the Swedish government. The young men serve as role models and mentors for others wanting to change the honour culture. The project is based on a dialogue where each individual starts thinking about what is right and what is wrong.
Save the Children Sweden’s International Program
Save the Children Sweden’s International Program does not have a specific program or component addressing honour-related violence; it is part of the overall work to address violence. An essential component of our anti-violence program is to involve boys and men to address discrimination and violence against girls and other boys. Methods used in various parts of the world include;
Discussion groups with boys and men – led by boys and men - with opportunities to discussion issues of gender discrimination, traditional values, male vulnerabilities, fatherhood, ending violence against children, etc.
Awareness raising and campaigning where boys and men – often in partnership with girls and women - create public awareness of the consequences of male violence, including violence in the home.
Capacity building of professionals working with children, including the police, on how to detect and respond to gender discrimination and violence.
Advocacy towards governments and other decision-makers, including the alternative report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in order to make the governments fulfil their commitments to end all forms of violence, including honour-related violence. The media and the private sector are also approached. The media tends to victimise the girls and simplify the discussions related to honour violence.
Save the Children Sweden’s work has a child rights based approach, which implies that the principle of accountability, non-discrimination and child participation is central. In various consultations with girls and boys in different parts of the world, violence in the home is an area that they would like adults to act – and they also emphasise the importance of listening to girls and boys and involving them when designing programmes and interventions to address all forms of violence.
Recommendations to end honour-related violence;
States Parties are the key duty bearers for addressing honour-related violence based on international human rights standards. International cooperation is essential since the problem is global. State Parties need to work in cooperation with the media and civil society organisations - including youth, child rights, women’s rights and faith based organisations.
It is important that honour-related crimes are not treated isolated from other forms of violence against girls and women, - male dominance and gender discrimination being a common root course. At the same time, it is important to see the particularities of honour-related violence and to ensure that professionals have multi-cultural competence in order to understand and appropriately prevent and respond to this form of violence.
It is important to collect reliable statistic data on honour-related crimes, including suicide and accidental death.
It is important to identify and support boys and men who take action against gender discrimination and honour-related violence. These boys and men will become important role models for mobilising others. Education and empowerment of girls is also essential for breaking the cycle of oppression.
A segregated society nourishes traditional values. Cross-cultural and inter-generational meetings are essential for promoting cultural diversity and gender sensitivity.
Information on human rights and the promotion of parenting skills (fathering and mothering) are essential components in a rights based approach.
References
“Expert meeting on violence in the name of honour”. Regeringskansliet, Justitiedepartmentet, 2003
“Report from the international conference: Combating Patriarchal Violence Against Women – Focusing on Violence in the Name of Honour”. Swedish Ministry of Justice and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs
”Förtryck i hederns namn, Rapport från ett seminarium”. Save the Children Sweden, 2003
”Det handlar om olydnad. Rapport från seminarium med kvinnoorganisationerna KA-MER från Turkiet och Rädda Barnens Centrum för barn och ungdomar i kris”. Save the Children Sweden, 2004
”Ungdomar och hedersrelaterat våld”. Sevil Bremer, Monica Brendler-Lindqvist and Björn Wrangsjö, Save the Children Sweden, 2006
Interview with Sevil Bremer and Monica Brendler, psychotherapists at Save the Children Sweden’s Centre for children and youth in crises.
[1] Lena Karlsson, Senior Advisor-Violence against Children, Save the Children Sweden
Monday, September 10, 2007
SAVING WILDLIFE
Saving wildlife
We were only 300 million Indians when the British left their most prized imperial possession. In just over half a century we have more than tripled our population and lost more than 50 lakh hectares of our natural forests. With the country needing to find food, water, shelter, energy, timber and medicine for a new mouth every alternate second, our forests and wild landscapes face fresh and bigger threats. With this burgeoning growth in human population certain species of our wildlife face risk of extinction than ever before.
The Indian Cheetah has been driven to extinction, the brow-antlered deer is facing the risk of extinction, the natural habitat of the tiger has shrunk to less than one percent of its former ranger, the home of Asiatic lion is pushed to one small corner in Gujrat, the habitat range of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros is now restricted to a few pockets in North East India, the rainforest habitat of the lion-tailed macaque is diminishing faster than we expected, the great pied hornbill which shares its habitat with the lion tailed macaque can fly away forever, well protected habitat of the Indian Elephant could be less than two percent of our country's land area.
As natural history writer Tim Radford truly commented in his recent article in the Guardian about wildlife extinction “the first five great extinction of life in the history of the planet were all natural: from volcanic catastrophe, climate change, asteroid impact, or even deadly radiation from an exploding star. But, this one is the unwitting work of humankind”.
Wildlife week and the year that was
Yet another year has quietly passed by. Many of us might not have given a serious thought to wildlife conservation. While we believe that this should be a hotly debated issue, the tangible and intangible benefits we receive from wildlife conservation directly concerns over 75 percent of our country's population who depend upon the traditional occupation - rainfed agriculture. This apart, it concerns most of us in several different ways both known and unknown. It is time again for all of us to think about the needs of wildlife conservation and pull up our socks to perform the onerous task of conservation on-the-ground. We need to analyze the various aspects that have affected the future survival of our wildlife species.
However the last year has seen some major gains for wildlife conservation. There have been several positive initiatives and victories for the conservation corps of our country. Various policies, decisions and initiatives by the government, judiciary and interested conservation organisations have directly or indirectly affected the management of our wild areas.
Strong laws-stronger enforcement
Amidst all the gloom and doom for wildlife, the year 2003 has actually seen major gains on the legal front. In a rare show of consensus the parliament of India passed the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2002. The amended (Wildlife Protection) Act, is stronger with several new clauses and important amendments making it the bulwark and guardian of wildlife and its habitat.
Penalties for hunting wild animals have been increased to a minimum of three years in order to ensure that killing of endangered animals including the tiger and elephant, now qualify as non-bailable offenses. A new clause now empowers enforcement authorities to effect forfeiture of property derived from illegal hunting or trade of wildlife. To ensure better protection of wildlife habitats, illegal encroaches within national parks or wildlife sanctuaries can now be evicted and structures removed; no construction of commercial tourist lodges, hotels and zoos can be allowed without the prior approval of the National Board for Wildlife. The commercial exploitation of forest produce has now been made illegal.
The judiciary too has joined hands towards conservation of forests and wildlife. To assist and effectively monitor the implementation and compliance of several landmark orders, the Supreme Court directed the Union Government to constitute the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). Since then the CEC has gone on to make several important recommendations on critical matters concerning wildlife that include winding up of mining in Kudremukh, complete ban on logging including removal of dead and wind fallen trees in protected areas and ban on regularisation of encroached forest land.
All these have been major gains for wildlife conservation that conservationists can actually cheer about.
Events in Karnataka
The past year has been a fruitful year for the conservation scenario in Karnataka. Several important events and initiatives were taken up during this period that would set a new trend in the protected areas of our state.
The apex court of our country passed a landmark judgment ordering the closure of the ecologically devastating mining operations carried out in Kudremukh National Park. This rainforest habitat is a biodiversity treasure trove and home to several endangered wildlife species including the lion-tailed macaque. The decision to stop mining would not only save such niche specialist species but also protect the livelihood of millions of marginal farmers dependent on the Bhadra, Tunga and Nethravathi rivers that originate in the forests of Kudremukh. The court clearly rejected the arguments of economic benefits in favour of the ecological benefits for the society from these fragile eco-system. This is viewed as a land mark judgment in the history of wildlife conservation in India. ‘Wildlife First’ a pro-active wildlife organisation had approached the Supreme court against the continuation of the mining activity and in association with several other wildlife, environment and farmers' organisations spearheaded a major campaign against renewal of the mining lease.
Positive Political Will
The Chief Minister of Karnataka in response to public opinion took an environmentally sound and socially responsible decision to save the Kudremukh National Park from the ravages of mining. In yet another positive move in August 2003 the Chief Minister, in response to an appeal by conservation organisations, took a visionary decision of stopping timber extraction from the forested catchments of Kodagu; directed senior officials of the Government to develop a plan for consolidation of the area as a wildlife reserve and approach the UNESCO which is considering a proposal to notify the area as a World Heritage Site. This decision assumes greater importance in the wake of poor monsoons in Kaveri delta and the severe drought faced by the state and will go a long way in protecting the watershed of Kaveri, the river of hope and prosperity of several million farmers in the states of Karnataka and Tamilnadu.
For such positive political will to actually translate to on the ground action a dynamic and responsive bureaucracy needs to be in place. The new Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka has exhibited such dynamism by proactively initiating several systemic changes after taking charge of the Wildlife Wing which urgently needed priming. He has already articulated a strategy that includes consolidation of habitats, strengthening of protection and minimal developmental works like roads, buildings and so on inside wildlife reserves.
Emerging Solutions
The voluntary resettlement of people residing inside Bhadra Tiger Reserve has emerged as a model project and is more or less complete with most of the families shifting out of the reserve. Signs of wildlife returning to the earlier inhabited areas are already clear. This project is also an archetype of excellent co-ordination between government officials and non-government organisations. The success story of Bhadra has infused hope in several thousand villagers severed from the world inside our wildlife reserves and bereft of even basic amenities. There have been instances of villagers and forest officials from other areas already visiting the Bhadra voluntary resettlement project to note down the crucial points of the project.
While the entire country is groping for an ecologically correct and socially practical solution to the vexed problem of forest encroachments, a small but effective initiative has been implemented in Kudremukh National Park. In an innovative effort, eight pastoralist families who had encroached forest land in Kudremukh National Park were voluntarily resettled outside the national park with support from individual private donors. The families were given suitable compensation and provided support to purchase agricultural land outside the national park by wildlife organisations. We believe that these kinds of initiatives that offer pragmatic solutions to consolidate prime wildlife habitats and permanently resolve human-wildlife conflict holds considerable promise since this unique effort can also be replicated in other important protected areas through constructive private public partnerships.
Though wildlife conservation is largely perceived as the protection of large charismatic mammals for the indulgence of urban elite, the overall benefits for the entire society accrue through saving an entire ecosystem that includes even micro-organisms is immense. We might not understand the prominence of our wildlife both large and small, until the consequences emerge, which by then would be irreparable. These complex ecological webs which contain yet unexplored wild genes of food plants, fibers, chemicals and designs are invaluable biodiversity assets that is critical for survival of human kind. So many intangible benefits our forests provide human beings across the world without any expectations in return. It is therefore imperative for this generation to save this biological treasure for the future.
This casts an important duty on wildlife organisations, forest officials, governments, communities and donors to focus and redouble efforts for the cause of long-term conservation of our country's wild heritage. We still have nearly four percent of our land area protected as wildlife reserves, if we have the political will and the commitment of our wildlife managers we can still save most of the large threatened wildlife and their habitats. The future can be bright and it is not a lost cause, let's be a bandwagon of optimists.
We were only 300 million Indians when the British left their most prized imperial possession. In just over half a century we have more than tripled our population and lost more than 50 lakh hectares of our natural forests. With the country needing to find food, water, shelter, energy, timber and medicine for a new mouth every alternate second, our forests and wild landscapes face fresh and bigger threats. With this burgeoning growth in human population certain species of our wildlife face risk of extinction than ever before.
The Indian Cheetah has been driven to extinction, the brow-antlered deer is facing the risk of extinction, the natural habitat of the tiger has shrunk to less than one percent of its former ranger, the home of Asiatic lion is pushed to one small corner in Gujrat, the habitat range of the Indian one-horned rhinoceros is now restricted to a few pockets in North East India, the rainforest habitat of the lion-tailed macaque is diminishing faster than we expected, the great pied hornbill which shares its habitat with the lion tailed macaque can fly away forever, well protected habitat of the Indian Elephant could be less than two percent of our country's land area.
As natural history writer Tim Radford truly commented in his recent article in the Guardian about wildlife extinction “the first five great extinction of life in the history of the planet were all natural: from volcanic catastrophe, climate change, asteroid impact, or even deadly radiation from an exploding star. But, this one is the unwitting work of humankind”.
Wildlife week and the year that was
Yet another year has quietly passed by. Many of us might not have given a serious thought to wildlife conservation. While we believe that this should be a hotly debated issue, the tangible and intangible benefits we receive from wildlife conservation directly concerns over 75 percent of our country's population who depend upon the traditional occupation - rainfed agriculture. This apart, it concerns most of us in several different ways both known and unknown. It is time again for all of us to think about the needs of wildlife conservation and pull up our socks to perform the onerous task of conservation on-the-ground. We need to analyze the various aspects that have affected the future survival of our wildlife species.
However the last year has seen some major gains for wildlife conservation. There have been several positive initiatives and victories for the conservation corps of our country. Various policies, decisions and initiatives by the government, judiciary and interested conservation organisations have directly or indirectly affected the management of our wild areas.
Strong laws-stronger enforcement
Amidst all the gloom and doom for wildlife, the year 2003 has actually seen major gains on the legal front. In a rare show of consensus the parliament of India passed the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2002. The amended (Wildlife Protection) Act, is stronger with several new clauses and important amendments making it the bulwark and guardian of wildlife and its habitat.
Penalties for hunting wild animals have been increased to a minimum of three years in order to ensure that killing of endangered animals including the tiger and elephant, now qualify as non-bailable offenses. A new clause now empowers enforcement authorities to effect forfeiture of property derived from illegal hunting or trade of wildlife. To ensure better protection of wildlife habitats, illegal encroaches within national parks or wildlife sanctuaries can now be evicted and structures removed; no construction of commercial tourist lodges, hotels and zoos can be allowed without the prior approval of the National Board for Wildlife. The commercial exploitation of forest produce has now been made illegal.
The judiciary too has joined hands towards conservation of forests and wildlife. To assist and effectively monitor the implementation and compliance of several landmark orders, the Supreme Court directed the Union Government to constitute the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). Since then the CEC has gone on to make several important recommendations on critical matters concerning wildlife that include winding up of mining in Kudremukh, complete ban on logging including removal of dead and wind fallen trees in protected areas and ban on regularisation of encroached forest land.
All these have been major gains for wildlife conservation that conservationists can actually cheer about.
Events in Karnataka
The past year has been a fruitful year for the conservation scenario in Karnataka. Several important events and initiatives were taken up during this period that would set a new trend in the protected areas of our state.
The apex court of our country passed a landmark judgment ordering the closure of the ecologically devastating mining operations carried out in Kudremukh National Park. This rainforest habitat is a biodiversity treasure trove and home to several endangered wildlife species including the lion-tailed macaque. The decision to stop mining would not only save such niche specialist species but also protect the livelihood of millions of marginal farmers dependent on the Bhadra, Tunga and Nethravathi rivers that originate in the forests of Kudremukh. The court clearly rejected the arguments of economic benefits in favour of the ecological benefits for the society from these fragile eco-system. This is viewed as a land mark judgment in the history of wildlife conservation in India. ‘Wildlife First’ a pro-active wildlife organisation had approached the Supreme court against the continuation of the mining activity and in association with several other wildlife, environment and farmers' organisations spearheaded a major campaign against renewal of the mining lease.
Positive Political Will
The Chief Minister of Karnataka in response to public opinion took an environmentally sound and socially responsible decision to save the Kudremukh National Park from the ravages of mining. In yet another positive move in August 2003 the Chief Minister, in response to an appeal by conservation organisations, took a visionary decision of stopping timber extraction from the forested catchments of Kodagu; directed senior officials of the Government to develop a plan for consolidation of the area as a wildlife reserve and approach the UNESCO which is considering a proposal to notify the area as a World Heritage Site. This decision assumes greater importance in the wake of poor monsoons in Kaveri delta and the severe drought faced by the state and will go a long way in protecting the watershed of Kaveri, the river of hope and prosperity of several million farmers in the states of Karnataka and Tamilnadu.
For such positive political will to actually translate to on the ground action a dynamic and responsive bureaucracy needs to be in place. The new Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka has exhibited such dynamism by proactively initiating several systemic changes after taking charge of the Wildlife Wing which urgently needed priming. He has already articulated a strategy that includes consolidation of habitats, strengthening of protection and minimal developmental works like roads, buildings and so on inside wildlife reserves.
Emerging Solutions
The voluntary resettlement of people residing inside Bhadra Tiger Reserve has emerged as a model project and is more or less complete with most of the families shifting out of the reserve. Signs of wildlife returning to the earlier inhabited areas are already clear. This project is also an archetype of excellent co-ordination between government officials and non-government organisations. The success story of Bhadra has infused hope in several thousand villagers severed from the world inside our wildlife reserves and bereft of even basic amenities. There have been instances of villagers and forest officials from other areas already visiting the Bhadra voluntary resettlement project to note down the crucial points of the project.
While the entire country is groping for an ecologically correct and socially practical solution to the vexed problem of forest encroachments, a small but effective initiative has been implemented in Kudremukh National Park. In an innovative effort, eight pastoralist families who had encroached forest land in Kudremukh National Park were voluntarily resettled outside the national park with support from individual private donors. The families were given suitable compensation and provided support to purchase agricultural land outside the national park by wildlife organisations. We believe that these kinds of initiatives that offer pragmatic solutions to consolidate prime wildlife habitats and permanently resolve human-wildlife conflict holds considerable promise since this unique effort can also be replicated in other important protected areas through constructive private public partnerships.
Though wildlife conservation is largely perceived as the protection of large charismatic mammals for the indulgence of urban elite, the overall benefits for the entire society accrue through saving an entire ecosystem that includes even micro-organisms is immense. We might not understand the prominence of our wildlife both large and small, until the consequences emerge, which by then would be irreparable. These complex ecological webs which contain yet unexplored wild genes of food plants, fibers, chemicals and designs are invaluable biodiversity assets that is critical for survival of human kind. So many intangible benefits our forests provide human beings across the world without any expectations in return. It is therefore imperative for this generation to save this biological treasure for the future.
This casts an important duty on wildlife organisations, forest officials, governments, communities and donors to focus and redouble efforts for the cause of long-term conservation of our country's wild heritage. We still have nearly four percent of our land area protected as wildlife reserves, if we have the political will and the commitment of our wildlife managers we can still save most of the large threatened wildlife and their habitats. The future can be bright and it is not a lost cause, let's be a bandwagon of optimists.
Prosperous mining is impossible without prosperous forests
" Prosperous mining is impossible without prosperous forests," Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot told the mining industry in 1901 in his quest for support for forest conservation and Federal forest reserves. The linkage between the fortunes of mining and forests in the United States grew following discovery of the rich Comstock silver lode at Virginia City, Nevada. The large size of such works as the Comstock Mine led to a new technique of timber reinforcement in the mine tunnels. Other timber-intensive mining techniques existed then, but in 1860, mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer developed a new timbering technique for tunnels called the square-set. Interlocked sets of framed timbers were used to replace the walls of the mine as the ore was removed, leaving a tunnel of timber to house the mine.
This timber-intensive system was copied throughout the mining industry but used most widely in the West for the large ore deposits commonly found that the region. Forests of the Sierra Nevada were depleted to obtain the estimated 600 million board feet of timber used in the mine from 1860 to 1880. The dependency of mines such as the Comstock on local timber supplies led to the building of sawmills in many new areas of the country. Depletion of local timber in some areas led to a reliance on importing timber by rail and rising expenses as a result.
Efforts were made to reduce costs by using metal supports, but their higher cost (and tendency to buckle) favored the continued use of timbers. This was especially true after creosote-pressure-treatment techniques were invented to help prolong the life span of lumber used in the mines. Later, with the introduction of large earthmoving equipment, open-pit mining reduced use of tunnel mining and the consumption of timbers in the industry. However, deep-level mining still continues and with it the need for timber, and in turn, the existence of bountiful forests.
Pinchot was after more than just having miners conserve lumber when he told them of the relation between forestry and mining. Early opposition to the proposal to create Federal forest reserves came from miners and prospectors worried about restrictions on mining on reserves (Steen 1991). Later, in the debates in Congress over the purpose of the reserves that culminated in passage of the Forest Management Act of 1897, much of the passion settled on whether to allow commercial sale of reserve timber or not.
After the debate was resolved and the 1897 act passed, the first timber sale by the General Land Office (case 1) was to the Homestake Mining Company for timber off the Black Hills Forest Reserve in 1898. Fifteen million board feet were purchased at 1 dollar per thousand board feet. The contract stated that no trees smaller than 8 inches in diameter could be removed and that brush left after harvest had to be "piled."
Federal regulation of mining was not a critical issue in Congress until the Gold Rush of 1849 in California and later rushes in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. These "finds" resulted in claims being worked on public domain lands. To legalize this practice, the General Mining Law of 1872 (which consolidated earlier 1866 and 1870 laws based on models from England and Spain used by the miners in the absence of formal laws) stated that gold, silver, and other minerals in the public domain could belong to the person who found them merely by staking a claim. A claim was set at 20 acres, with no limit on the number of claims that could be filed. A person could hold a claim by performing $100 worth of work each year or by obtaining permanent legal ownership of the minerals and land surface by paying a fee to patent the claim. By having patent on a claim, the owner need not pay any royalties on production. What is most important, however, to being granted legal claim status is the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit.
Congress has since placed fossil fuels (along with other certain minerals such as gravel, sand, and pumice, etc.) under a lease or sales system, but the core of the1872 law still applies to the national forests and grasslands. The illegal occupancy of National Forest System "mining claims" for purposes such as summer homes, hunting camps, and marijuana farms creates an ongoing conflict with operations approved under the Forest Service Mineral Regulations of 1974.
Gifford Pinchot wrote in the first Forest Service book of regulations for the newly established national forests under the mining section (following the transfer of the forest reserves to the Department of Agriculture in 1905): "No land claims can be initiated in a forest reserve except mining claims, which may be sought for, located, developed, and patented in accordance to law and forest reserve regulations." This wording repeats the section on prospecting found in the 1897 Forest Management Act. The willingness of Pinchot to include mineral resources among the list of resources of the reserves to be used by the people was in part practical politics. It was also the result of his knowledge of the mining industry's needs acquired when he made his first trip West in 1891 to inspect Arizona lands held by Phelps, Dodge & Company to judge if they could be reforested. The 1907 Report of the [Chief] Forester mentioned that three geologists were detailed from the Geological Survey to assist forest supervisors in examining mining claims and that a total of 1,093 mining claims were received that year within national forests.
The transfer of the reserves to the Department of Agriculture from the Interior Department in 1905 removed much of the impediment to regulation of the reserves by USDA foresters but mining still remained under control of Interior. Richard Ballinger, appointed in 1907 to head the General Land Office and elevated to Secretary of the Interior in 1909, differed with Pinchot over coal claims. Ballinger wanted them patented, while Pinchot argued for Federal leasing. Pinchot feared that a coal famine for the Nation would result if the private sector was allowed complete freedom to exploit coal fields without concern for future needs. In response, Pinchot was depicted by the mining industry as out to curtail the right of the citizen to engage in free enterprise the "small man" was being crushed by Government. By 1910 the dispute between Pinchot and Ballinger reached the point that President William Howard Taft requested Pinchot to resign. Historians now note that the coal debate was only a small part of the conflict over natural resource management policies Between Pinchot and President Taft and his people. The struggle between conservation and exploitation continues today in public debates over regulation of natural resources.
This timber-intensive system was copied throughout the mining industry but used most widely in the West for the large ore deposits commonly found that the region. Forests of the Sierra Nevada were depleted to obtain the estimated 600 million board feet of timber used in the mine from 1860 to 1880. The dependency of mines such as the Comstock on local timber supplies led to the building of sawmills in many new areas of the country. Depletion of local timber in some areas led to a reliance on importing timber by rail and rising expenses as a result.
Efforts were made to reduce costs by using metal supports, but their higher cost (and tendency to buckle) favored the continued use of timbers. This was especially true after creosote-pressure-treatment techniques were invented to help prolong the life span of lumber used in the mines. Later, with the introduction of large earthmoving equipment, open-pit mining reduced use of tunnel mining and the consumption of timbers in the industry. However, deep-level mining still continues and with it the need for timber, and in turn, the existence of bountiful forests.
Pinchot was after more than just having miners conserve lumber when he told them of the relation between forestry and mining. Early opposition to the proposal to create Federal forest reserves came from miners and prospectors worried about restrictions on mining on reserves (Steen 1991). Later, in the debates in Congress over the purpose of the reserves that culminated in passage of the Forest Management Act of 1897, much of the passion settled on whether to allow commercial sale of reserve timber or not.
After the debate was resolved and the 1897 act passed, the first timber sale by the General Land Office (case 1) was to the Homestake Mining Company for timber off the Black Hills Forest Reserve in 1898. Fifteen million board feet were purchased at 1 dollar per thousand board feet. The contract stated that no trees smaller than 8 inches in diameter could be removed and that brush left after harvest had to be "piled."
Federal regulation of mining was not a critical issue in Congress until the Gold Rush of 1849 in California and later rushes in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. These "finds" resulted in claims being worked on public domain lands. To legalize this practice, the General Mining Law of 1872 (which consolidated earlier 1866 and 1870 laws based on models from England and Spain used by the miners in the absence of formal laws) stated that gold, silver, and other minerals in the public domain could belong to the person who found them merely by staking a claim. A claim was set at 20 acres, with no limit on the number of claims that could be filed. A person could hold a claim by performing $100 worth of work each year or by obtaining permanent legal ownership of the minerals and land surface by paying a fee to patent the claim. By having patent on a claim, the owner need not pay any royalties on production. What is most important, however, to being granted legal claim status is the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit.
Congress has since placed fossil fuels (along with other certain minerals such as gravel, sand, and pumice, etc.) under a lease or sales system, but the core of the1872 law still applies to the national forests and grasslands. The illegal occupancy of National Forest System "mining claims" for purposes such as summer homes, hunting camps, and marijuana farms creates an ongoing conflict with operations approved under the Forest Service Mineral Regulations of 1974.
Gifford Pinchot wrote in the first Forest Service book of regulations for the newly established national forests under the mining section (following the transfer of the forest reserves to the Department of Agriculture in 1905): "No land claims can be initiated in a forest reserve except mining claims, which may be sought for, located, developed, and patented in accordance to law and forest reserve regulations." This wording repeats the section on prospecting found in the 1897 Forest Management Act. The willingness of Pinchot to include mineral resources among the list of resources of the reserves to be used by the people was in part practical politics. It was also the result of his knowledge of the mining industry's needs acquired when he made his first trip West in 1891 to inspect Arizona lands held by Phelps, Dodge & Company to judge if they could be reforested. The 1907 Report of the [Chief] Forester mentioned that three geologists were detailed from the Geological Survey to assist forest supervisors in examining mining claims and that a total of 1,093 mining claims were received that year within national forests.
The transfer of the reserves to the Department of Agriculture from the Interior Department in 1905 removed much of the impediment to regulation of the reserves by USDA foresters but mining still remained under control of Interior. Richard Ballinger, appointed in 1907 to head the General Land Office and elevated to Secretary of the Interior in 1909, differed with Pinchot over coal claims. Ballinger wanted them patented, while Pinchot argued for Federal leasing. Pinchot feared that a coal famine for the Nation would result if the private sector was allowed complete freedom to exploit coal fields without concern for future needs. In response, Pinchot was depicted by the mining industry as out to curtail the right of the citizen to engage in free enterprise the "small man" was being crushed by Government. By 1910 the dispute between Pinchot and Ballinger reached the point that President William Howard Taft requested Pinchot to resign. Historians now note that the coal debate was only a small part of the conflict over natural resource management policies Between Pinchot and President Taft and his people. The struggle between conservation and exploitation continues today in public debates over regulation of natural resources.
PROBLEMS: POLLUTION
PROBLEMS: POLLUTION
A pollutant is any substance that, when in an environment, poisons our air, land and water. Chemicals have poisoned all of the world, harming humans, wildlife, and plant life, on land, sea and air. Approximately 100,000 synthetic chemicals are now on the market, with one thousand new chemicals are added yearly.
Although companies test the toxicity of their products individually, they do not exist alone in the environment. Compounds are altered in combination with others, but the effect of these combinations are not tested or studied. Pesticides, designed to kill insects, weeds and fungus, are also toxic to human nervous systems, and are linked to cancer and reproductive, developmental, neurological and immune-system damage. Every chemical we use, every substance we produce, in manufacturing, farming, energy use, or consumption, remains here on Earth. These poisons may seem to disappear—but they are only hidden.
The World Health Organization reports that 3 million people now die each year from the effects of air pollution. This is three times the 1 million who die each year in automobile accidents. In the United States, traffic fatalities total just over 40,000 per year, while air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually. U.S. air pollution deaths are equal to deaths from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Air Pollution Fatalities Now Exceed Traffic Fatalities By 3 To 1.Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts September 17, 2002-13. http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update17.htm
Point Source and Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPS)
Pollution sources are classified as point source or nonpoint source (NPS). Point source pollution comes from a particular place such as industrial and sewage treatment plants. In the last 25 years, the United States, has made considerable progress in cleaning-up this cause of pollution.
Non-Point source pollution occurs when rainfall or snow melt moving over and through the ground, picks up natural and human-made pollutants and finally deposits them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These non-point source pollutons include:
Fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas;
Oil, grease, toxic chemicals and heavy metals from urban runoff and energy production;
Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banks;
Salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines;
Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems; Agriculture, forestry, grazing, septic systems, recreational boating, urban runoff, construction, physical changes to stream channels, and habitat degradation, careless or uninformed household management. [X]
Today, NPS pollution is the main reason approximately 40 percent of the rivers, lakes, and estuaries surveyed are not clean enough to meet basic uses such as fishing or swimming. The latest National Water Quality Inventory indicates that agriculture is the leading contributor to water quality impairments, and responsible for degrading 60 percent of the impaired river miles and half of the impaired lake acreage surveyed by states, territories, and tribes. Runoff from urban areas is the largest source of water quality impairments to surveyed estuaries.
If US homeowners reduced their use of Toxic Chemicals including pesticides by 10%, 2 million kilograms of toxic chemicals would be removed from the environment each year. If US manufacturing firms reduced their toxic releases by 10%, 700 million kilograms would be removed from the environment. Worldwatch Magazine Jan-Feb 2003, p. 39. Their source: “Biodiversity 911: Saving the Earth” a traveling exhibit of the World Wildlife Fund and the Worldwatch Institute.
Endocrine Disruptors
The threat of toxic substances has been misunderstood. Scientists had assumed that, if they could rule out cancer, then people would be protected from everything else as well. But a new threat has been discovered. Until recently, research on and regulation of synthetic chemicals and pollution focused on the dangers of genetic mutation, gross birth defects, and especially, cancer. A decade ago, it was assumed that if very high-dose testing was used, the probability of causing cancer would not be missed. Wildlife studies and laboratory experiments provide solid evidence that synthetic chemicals have contributed to dwindling wildlife populations by disrupting hormones, altering sexual development, impairing reproduction, and undermining the immune system.
These man-made chemicals, are now called endocrine disruptors, because they interfere with the body’s hormones. Endocrine systems control body growth, organ development, metabolism and regular body processes such as kidney function, body temperature and calcium regulation. Endocrine disruptors include any chemical that interferes with hormones such as thyroid, cortisol, insulin or growth regulators. These chemicals are being tested for potential links to prostate, testicular and breast cancers, as well as lowered sperm counts and behavioral and learning abnormalities.
Our Stolen Future by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) senior scientist Dr. Theo Colborn and coauthors Dianne Dumanoski and Dr. John Peterson Myers, demonstrates that many man-made chemicals interfere with the body's hormones. Contaminants can also transfer to the fetus where chemicals interfere with the hormonal signals directing fetal development. The effects may not appear until puberty or later. Some of these chemicals alter sexual development, some undermine intelligence and behavior, others make our bodies less resistant to disease. Fetal development is extremely sensitive to any variations in hormone signals. For a fetus to grow up according to its genetic blueprint, the right hormone message has to arrive at the right place in the right amount at the right time. These chemicals interfere with the delivery of that message.
Hormonally active chemicals can do damage at extremely low exposure levels, because these compounds do not behave according to the classic linear dose-response model (that is, the higher the dose, the greater the harm) that traditional toxicology assumes.
Genetically Engineered Food is a Form of Pollution
Genetic engineering refers to a technology where scientists transfer genes from one species to another. This practice goes far beyond selective breeding or hybridization. For example, scientists have spliced genes from viruses, bacteria and animals into food crops. Presently, two thirds of processed foods are made with a genetically engineered organism. Our laws do not require long-term testing for safety, so long-term effects are still unknown. Although U.S. companies now promote and sell genetically engineered foods, many other nations worldwide believe the known or potential dangers of this technology, requires legal safe guards. Many countries have enacted laws or policies (or are in the process of doing so) to restrict use of genetically engineered products in their foods.
These nations have practical and ethical objections to putting genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) into the environment. Ecological concerns include the irreversible affects on the environment if these genes spread to other plants:
Cross pollination between GEOs and a wild relative could establish the engineered gene in nature, where it could cause irreparable damage to natural habitats, forever.
Genes that add resistance to weed killers or pests can spread to nearby weeds, creating a new invasive plant that could replace native plants.
The Bt toxin gene, a common gene spliced into plants, gives plants resistance to insect infestation. However, the toxin of the altered plant also kills beneficial insects like monarchs, lace wings and lady bugs. The plant exudes the toxin into the soil. This changes soil biology that that can affect nutrient cycle processes and soil fertility.
Bt is a natural insecticide organic farmers use. It is not known if extensive planting of crops with the added Bt gene cause the toxin itself to loose its effectiveness.The reasons companies give for gene splicing is that the added gene offers resistance to insect pests or weed killers. Some modifications increase the size or speed of plant growth. In practice gene modification allows a company to hold a patent on the altered seeds. A farmer cannot legally gather seeds from this year’s crop to share or to plant the next year.
Petrochemical Industry
The petrochemical industry is the biggest polluter—every Superfund site in the US is petrochemical- related. A Superfund site is any land in the United States that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified as contaminated by hazardous waste and therefore a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or to the environment.
We need new laws that use what ecologists call the precautionary principle. As described by John Cavanagh and Jerry Mander, in Alternatives to Economic Globalization, “proponents of a practice or product should bear the burden of proving that it is safe,” because it can take years to find scientific proof of harm.
Germany and Sweden have this law, and other countries are considering doing so. Currently, we use the policy of “risk assessment,” which requires governments to provide absolute proof of harm of new technologies and techniques before they can stop their use. Any preventative measures used to stop a product or practice, the WTO names as illegal barriers to trade and orders them stopped. Without the adoption of a precautionary principle, citizens lose the right to decide what risks they or the natural environment should be exposed to.
Environmental Defense Fund Scorecard. EDF has set up a huge interactive site that enables anyone in the US to learn about what pollutants are being released into the air, water and soil of any community, and by whom--all by entering a ZIP code, or clicking on their maps. http://www.scorecard.org/
Reducing Your Risk On a day-to-day level, reduce contact and risk by following the ten tips outlined in The World Wildlife Fund's online pamphlet Reducing your risk: A guide to avoiding hormone-disrupting chemicals.
Eat lower on the food chain.
Do not microwave in plastic, use heat-resistant glass or ceramic containers instead of plastic containers or plastic wrap. Minimize plastic wrap’s direct contact with food. In particular, reduce consumption of fatty foods (cheese and meat) packaged in plastic and heat-sealed containers.
Drink distilled water.
Do not use pesticides (inside, outside, or on pets and kids).
Quit smoking.
Treat dead batteries as hazardous waste.
Wash hands, floors and windowsills frequently.
Avoid "super-strength" specialty cleaners.
Avoid mercury fillings.
If you golf, keep your hands, tees, and golf balls away from your mouth because most golf courses are sprayed intensively.
Read labels and call 1-800 numbers for information on product formulations.
Write or call local, provincial and federal politicians, asking them to take action to reduce hormone- disrupting chemicals in our environment. http://wwfcanada.net/satellite/reduce-risk/top10.html or at http://www.wwfcanada.org.
LINKS to Pollution SitesAmerican Lung Association: Air Quality http://www.lungusa.org/airBeyond Pesticides http://www.beyondpesticides.org/Basel Action Network http://www.ban.orgEnvironmental Defense Scorecard http://www.scorecard.org/Environmental Protection Agency: Air Pollution http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/air.htmlEnvironmental working Group http://www.ewg.org/EPA Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances http://www.epa.gov/oppts/International Biodegradable Products http://www.bpiworld.orgIntroduction to Hormone Disrupting Chemicals http://website.lineone.net/~mwarhurst/National Pollution Prevention Roundtable http://www.p2.orgNational Resources Defense Council: Air Pollution http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollutionNonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) http://nemo.uconn.eduOur Stolen Future http://www.ourstolenfuture.orgRachel's Environment & Health Weekly Web site: http://www.rachel.org/Right-to Know Network http://www.rtk.net/Sierra Club Clean Air Program http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanairWorld News Network- http://www.pollution.com/WWF Global Toxics Initiative http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/toxics/problems/index.cfm
Children's Environmental HealthRaising Healthy Children in a Toxic World: 101 Smart Solutions for Every Family by Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., Herbert L. Needleman, M.D. and Mary Landrigan, M.P.A. (Rodale, 2001) Beyond Pesticide/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, www.beyondpesticides.orgCenter for Health and Environmental Justice http://www.chej.org. Children's Environmental Health Network http://www.cehn.org. Children's Health Environmental Coalition http://www.checnet.org. Healthy Schools Network, Inc., http://www.hsnet.org. National Environmental Trust , http://www.environet.org. Our Stolen Future http://www.ourstolenfuture.orgPesticides Action Network North Americahttp://www.panna.org/panna
Consumers Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org/Environmental Home Center http://www.environmetnalhomecenter.comGood Stuff? A Behind-the-Scenes Guide to the Things We Buy . http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/goodstuff/The Green Guide http://www.thegreenguide.comSeventh Generation http://www.seventhgeneration.com
A pollutant is any substance that, when in an environment, poisons our air, land and water. Chemicals have poisoned all of the world, harming humans, wildlife, and plant life, on land, sea and air. Approximately 100,000 synthetic chemicals are now on the market, with one thousand new chemicals are added yearly.
Although companies test the toxicity of their products individually, they do not exist alone in the environment. Compounds are altered in combination with others, but the effect of these combinations are not tested or studied. Pesticides, designed to kill insects, weeds and fungus, are also toxic to human nervous systems, and are linked to cancer and reproductive, developmental, neurological and immune-system damage. Every chemical we use, every substance we produce, in manufacturing, farming, energy use, or consumption, remains here on Earth. These poisons may seem to disappear—but they are only hidden.
The World Health Organization reports that 3 million people now die each year from the effects of air pollution. This is three times the 1 million who die each year in automobile accidents. In the United States, traffic fatalities total just over 40,000 per year, while air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually. U.S. air pollution deaths are equal to deaths from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Air Pollution Fatalities Now Exceed Traffic Fatalities By 3 To 1.Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts September 17, 2002-13. http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update17.htm
Point Source and Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPS)
Pollution sources are classified as point source or nonpoint source (NPS). Point source pollution comes from a particular place such as industrial and sewage treatment plants. In the last 25 years, the United States, has made considerable progress in cleaning-up this cause of pollution.
Non-Point source pollution occurs when rainfall or snow melt moving over and through the ground, picks up natural and human-made pollutants and finally deposits them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These non-point source pollutons include:
Fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas;
Oil, grease, toxic chemicals and heavy metals from urban runoff and energy production;
Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banks;
Salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines;
Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems; Agriculture, forestry, grazing, septic systems, recreational boating, urban runoff, construction, physical changes to stream channels, and habitat degradation, careless or uninformed household management. [X]
Today, NPS pollution is the main reason approximately 40 percent of the rivers, lakes, and estuaries surveyed are not clean enough to meet basic uses such as fishing or swimming. The latest National Water Quality Inventory indicates that agriculture is the leading contributor to water quality impairments, and responsible for degrading 60 percent of the impaired river miles and half of the impaired lake acreage surveyed by states, territories, and tribes. Runoff from urban areas is the largest source of water quality impairments to surveyed estuaries.
If US homeowners reduced their use of Toxic Chemicals including pesticides by 10%, 2 million kilograms of toxic chemicals would be removed from the environment each year. If US manufacturing firms reduced their toxic releases by 10%, 700 million kilograms would be removed from the environment. Worldwatch Magazine Jan-Feb 2003, p. 39. Their source: “Biodiversity 911: Saving the Earth” a traveling exhibit of the World Wildlife Fund and the Worldwatch Institute.
Endocrine Disruptors
The threat of toxic substances has been misunderstood. Scientists had assumed that, if they could rule out cancer, then people would be protected from everything else as well. But a new threat has been discovered. Until recently, research on and regulation of synthetic chemicals and pollution focused on the dangers of genetic mutation, gross birth defects, and especially, cancer. A decade ago, it was assumed that if very high-dose testing was used, the probability of causing cancer would not be missed. Wildlife studies and laboratory experiments provide solid evidence that synthetic chemicals have contributed to dwindling wildlife populations by disrupting hormones, altering sexual development, impairing reproduction, and undermining the immune system.
These man-made chemicals, are now called endocrine disruptors, because they interfere with the body’s hormones. Endocrine systems control body growth, organ development, metabolism and regular body processes such as kidney function, body temperature and calcium regulation. Endocrine disruptors include any chemical that interferes with hormones such as thyroid, cortisol, insulin or growth regulators. These chemicals are being tested for potential links to prostate, testicular and breast cancers, as well as lowered sperm counts and behavioral and learning abnormalities.
Our Stolen Future by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) senior scientist Dr. Theo Colborn and coauthors Dianne Dumanoski and Dr. John Peterson Myers, demonstrates that many man-made chemicals interfere with the body's hormones. Contaminants can also transfer to the fetus where chemicals interfere with the hormonal signals directing fetal development. The effects may not appear until puberty or later. Some of these chemicals alter sexual development, some undermine intelligence and behavior, others make our bodies less resistant to disease. Fetal development is extremely sensitive to any variations in hormone signals. For a fetus to grow up according to its genetic blueprint, the right hormone message has to arrive at the right place in the right amount at the right time. These chemicals interfere with the delivery of that message.
Hormonally active chemicals can do damage at extremely low exposure levels, because these compounds do not behave according to the classic linear dose-response model (that is, the higher the dose, the greater the harm) that traditional toxicology assumes.
Genetically Engineered Food is a Form of Pollution
Genetic engineering refers to a technology where scientists transfer genes from one species to another. This practice goes far beyond selective breeding or hybridization. For example, scientists have spliced genes from viruses, bacteria and animals into food crops. Presently, two thirds of processed foods are made with a genetically engineered organism. Our laws do not require long-term testing for safety, so long-term effects are still unknown. Although U.S. companies now promote and sell genetically engineered foods, many other nations worldwide believe the known or potential dangers of this technology, requires legal safe guards. Many countries have enacted laws or policies (or are in the process of doing so) to restrict use of genetically engineered products in their foods.
These nations have practical and ethical objections to putting genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) into the environment. Ecological concerns include the irreversible affects on the environment if these genes spread to other plants:
Cross pollination between GEOs and a wild relative could establish the engineered gene in nature, where it could cause irreparable damage to natural habitats, forever.
Genes that add resistance to weed killers or pests can spread to nearby weeds, creating a new invasive plant that could replace native plants.
The Bt toxin gene, a common gene spliced into plants, gives plants resistance to insect infestation. However, the toxin of the altered plant also kills beneficial insects like monarchs, lace wings and lady bugs. The plant exudes the toxin into the soil. This changes soil biology that that can affect nutrient cycle processes and soil fertility.
Bt is a natural insecticide organic farmers use. It is not known if extensive planting of crops with the added Bt gene cause the toxin itself to loose its effectiveness.The reasons companies give for gene splicing is that the added gene offers resistance to insect pests or weed killers. Some modifications increase the size or speed of plant growth. In practice gene modification allows a company to hold a patent on the altered seeds. A farmer cannot legally gather seeds from this year’s crop to share or to plant the next year.
Petrochemical Industry
The petrochemical industry is the biggest polluter—every Superfund site in the US is petrochemical- related. A Superfund site is any land in the United States that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified as contaminated by hazardous waste and therefore a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or to the environment.
We need new laws that use what ecologists call the precautionary principle. As described by John Cavanagh and Jerry Mander, in Alternatives to Economic Globalization, “proponents of a practice or product should bear the burden of proving that it is safe,” because it can take years to find scientific proof of harm.
Germany and Sweden have this law, and other countries are considering doing so. Currently, we use the policy of “risk assessment,” which requires governments to provide absolute proof of harm of new technologies and techniques before they can stop their use. Any preventative measures used to stop a product or practice, the WTO names as illegal barriers to trade and orders them stopped. Without the adoption of a precautionary principle, citizens lose the right to decide what risks they or the natural environment should be exposed to.
Environmental Defense Fund Scorecard. EDF has set up a huge interactive site that enables anyone in the US to learn about what pollutants are being released into the air, water and soil of any community, and by whom--all by entering a ZIP code, or clicking on their maps. http://www.scorecard.org/
Reducing Your Risk On a day-to-day level, reduce contact and risk by following the ten tips outlined in The World Wildlife Fund's online pamphlet Reducing your risk: A guide to avoiding hormone-disrupting chemicals.
Eat lower on the food chain.
Do not microwave in plastic, use heat-resistant glass or ceramic containers instead of plastic containers or plastic wrap. Minimize plastic wrap’s direct contact with food. In particular, reduce consumption of fatty foods (cheese and meat) packaged in plastic and heat-sealed containers.
Drink distilled water.
Do not use pesticides (inside, outside, or on pets and kids).
Quit smoking.
Treat dead batteries as hazardous waste.
Wash hands, floors and windowsills frequently.
Avoid "super-strength" specialty cleaners.
Avoid mercury fillings.
If you golf, keep your hands, tees, and golf balls away from your mouth because most golf courses are sprayed intensively.
Read labels and call 1-800 numbers for information on product formulations.
Write or call local, provincial and federal politicians, asking them to take action to reduce hormone- disrupting chemicals in our environment. http://wwfcanada.net/satellite/reduce-risk/top10.html or at http://www.wwfcanada.org.
LINKS to Pollution SitesAmerican Lung Association: Air Quality http://www.lungusa.org/airBeyond Pesticides http://www.beyondpesticides.org/Basel Action Network http://www.ban.orgEnvironmental Defense Scorecard http://www.scorecard.org/Environmental Protection Agency: Air Pollution http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/air.htmlEnvironmental working Group http://www.ewg.org/EPA Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances http://www.epa.gov/oppts/International Biodegradable Products http://www.bpiworld.orgIntroduction to Hormone Disrupting Chemicals http://website.lineone.net/~mwarhurst/National Pollution Prevention Roundtable http://www.p2.orgNational Resources Defense Council: Air Pollution http://www.nrdc.org/air/pollutionNonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) http://nemo.uconn.eduOur Stolen Future http://www.ourstolenfuture.orgRachel's Environment & Health Weekly Web site: http://www.rachel.org/Right-to Know Network http://www.rtk.net/Sierra Club Clean Air Program http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanairWorld News Network- http://www.pollution.com/WWF Global Toxics Initiative http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/toxics/problems/index.cfm
Children's Environmental HealthRaising Healthy Children in a Toxic World: 101 Smart Solutions for Every Family by Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., Herbert L. Needleman, M.D. and Mary Landrigan, M.P.A. (Rodale, 2001) Beyond Pesticide/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, www.beyondpesticides.orgCenter for Health and Environmental Justice http://www.chej.org. Children's Environmental Health Network http://www.cehn.org. Children's Health Environmental Coalition http://www.checnet.org. Healthy Schools Network, Inc., http://www.hsnet.org. National Environmental Trust , http://www.environet.org. Our Stolen Future http://www.ourstolenfuture.orgPesticides Action Network North Americahttp://www.panna.org/panna
Consumers Center for a New American Dream http://www.newdream.org/Environmental Home Center http://www.environmetnalhomecenter.comGood Stuff? A Behind-the-Scenes Guide to the Things We Buy . http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/goodstuff/The Green Guide http://www.thegreenguide.comSeventh Generation http://www.seventhgeneration.com
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