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abolition-usa-digest    Wednesday, January 12 2000    Volume 01 : Number 250




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 17:00:26 -0600
From: "Boyle, Francis" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law at Amazon.com

This book can now be obtained at Amazon.com. Years ago, I waived my royalty
rights to a paperback edition in order to bring out a special paperback
edition at this low cost. All profits go to the Center for Energy Research,
which is a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation concerned with energy and
peace issues, located at 333 State Street, Salem Oregon 97301. fab.

- ------------------------------------------------------------

Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law

Our price: $10.00*

Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours*

To view this book, go to:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/094132043X/ref=rm_item
*price and availability are subject to change.

- ------------------------------------------------------------

                     Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law
                     by Francis Anthony Boyle
                     Our Price: $10.00

                     Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.


                     Paperback - 379 pages (July 1, 1987)
                     Transnational Pub Co; ISBN: 094132043X
                     Amazon.com Sales Rank: 1,641,263




                     Editorial Reviews

                     Book Description
                     Provides legal information to individuals to help them
design a legal defense for actions of civil
                     resistance intended to halt destructive government
activities that violate international law. Has a
                     special section relating to nuclear weapons activities.


                     About the Author
                     Francis A. Boyle is a Professor of International Law at
the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL. He
                     has often helped defendants in civil resistance cases
design their legal defenses and wrote this book
                     to answer commonly asked questions and provide relevant
information.





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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 19:26:39 -0800
From: Jackie Cabasso <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) more suggestions for NPT speakers

Dear Alice and other colleagues,

    Congratulations! I understand that a letter of invitation to potential NPT
speakers will be mailed out shortly.  Here are a few additional
suggestions. (My apologies for duplications if some of these names appear
on an earlier list.)  I'm a little concerned that our list may not be
international enough. I hope those of you reading this in various countries
will make additional suggestions if you have any.

In no particular order, here are a few categories:

AUTHORS

1) Kurt Vonnegut -- Even though he's already been proposed,  I'd like to
support the idea of inviting Kurt Vonnegut. His fairly recent book,
"Timequake," talks extensively about nuclear weapons.

2) Nadine Gortimer -- A nobel-prize-winneing South African writer (white);
she was a keynote speaker at a conference of Le Mouvement de la Paix a
couple of years ago

3) Alice Walker -- A well-known African-American writer and activist; she
has been arrested in nonviolent anti-nuclear and other protests around the
San Francisco Bay Area

4) Arundati Roy -- for obvious reasons

FORMER NUCLEAR WEAPONS DESIGNERS -- it would be ideal to invite one from
each nuclear weapon state

1) Dr. Theodore Taylor -- One-time leading nuclear weapons designer at Los
Alamos Lab, now an ardent abolitionist

2) Lev Feoktistov -- Former leading Russian nuclear weapons designer, he
spoke in favor of nuclear abolition at the St. Petersburg Abolition
2000-sponsored conferece last June (reachable through IPPNW Russia)

3) Frank Barnaby -- Former UK nuclear weapons designer; he currently works
with the Oxford Research Group

4) There is (or was) a former French nuclear weapons designer who spoke at
the IPPNW/Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement conference in Kazakhstan in 1990.
Perhaps our French colleagues or IPPNW know who he is and how we can reach him.

OTHER

1) Daniel Ellsberg -- Former Pentagon nuclear war fighting planner; he
risked everything to release the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam war.
(He also conducted a fast for disarmament for the duration of the NPT
Review and Extension Conference in 1995).

2) Ronald Dellums -- Former member of the US Congress (African-American);
leading Congressional voice for nuclear disarmament and peace issues;
one-time Presidential candidate; currently working against AIDS/HIV in
South Africa

3) Former USSR Minister of the Environment -- the last one; a great guy --
does anyone remember his name?  I think he worked closely with Greenpeace
for a while.

******************************************************
Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director
WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION
1440 Broadway, Suite 500
Oakland, California USA 94612
Tel: +[phone]
Fax: +[phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
******************************************************
Western States Legal Foundation is part of  ABOLITION 2000
A GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS

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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 22:08:31 -0500
From: peter weiss <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) FW: Clyde Ferguson on ASIL&Power

Francis: That's a nice one for the annals of international law. Where is
Clyde now? Is he still alive?
                        Peter

Boyle, Francis wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Boyle, Francis [mailto:[e-mail]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 2:25 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Clyde Ferguson on ASIL&Power
>
> Clyde Ferguson,Henry L. Stimson Professor at Harvard Law School, was the
> first African American to be elected President of the American Society of
> International Law and Power. One of the first things he did was to appoint
> an Ad Hoc Committee to revise the Guidelines for co-optation of officers so
> as to make them more diverse. Clyde appointed me to that Ad Hoc Guidelines
> Committee. I did a first draft of the Ad Hoc Guidelines Committee Report,
> got it through the Committee, then through the ASIL&Power Executive
> Committee , then through the Annual Convention itself. During those two
> years of fighting these battles, I came to appreciate how right wing,
> racist, bigoted, reactionary, elitist, sexist and imperialist the American
> Society of International Law and Power really was.
>     The ASIL&Power was to "celebrate" its 75 Anniversary at the 1981
> Convention with a concluding plenary panel on:" The American Society of
> International Law: 75 years and Beyond," chaired by Clyde in his capacity as
> President. Around the turn of the year, Clyde called me on the phone to tell
> me that he was putting me on that panel:" NOW I WANT YOU TO GET UP THERE AND
> GIVE THOSE PEOPLE A MESSAGE!"  The emphasis was all Clyde's. "Sure Clyde,
> you can count on me." Of course I knew that Clyde wanted me to become his
> sub silentio skunk at their garden party. But Clyde was my friend. So I went
> to work on the speech. After several weeks of hard work I sent Clyde a copy
> of the draft speech for his comments, questions, criticisms, suggestions,
> etc. Clyde called me up and  said only :"This will do it!"
>     Well you can read the text of the speech for yourself at  Vol. 75 of the
> Proceedings of the American Society of International Law and Power, pages
> 270-75(1981) and draw your own conclusions. I blasted the hell out of the
> Reagan administration's pro-nuclear weapons policies and the Carter/Reagan
> support for Saddam Hussein during his genocidal war against Iran. Warming up
> to my subject, I then said:"The United States and Israel must finally
> recognize the international legal right of the Palestinian people to
> self-determination,"  and called for the recognition of the PLO as "the
> legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" for the purpose of
> conducting peace negotiations with Israel. At that point an audible gasp
> rose up through the audience. I called for the United States to oppose
> Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, and any more
> settlements on the West Bank and Golan.(More gasps.) I attacked our
> provision of weapons to Israel for the purpose of committing aggression and
> war crimes in Lebanon.(More gasps) And called for Israel's withdrawal from
> Lebanon. (More gasps)  Then I condemned the Reagan administration's upcoming
> wars against Cuba and Nicaragua:"Current intimations that the Reagan
> administration will employ overt or covert military operations against Cuba
> and Nicaragua are illegal, irresponsible and counterproductive." I then
> called for the independence of Namibia:"The right of the Namibian people to
> self-determination had been firmly established under international law
> before the American, South African and Cuban governments decided to
> intervene in the Angolan civil war."  I concluded with a nice little attack
> upon American realpolitik icons much admired and honored by the American
> Society of International Law and Power:"Otherwise the future of this planet
> will be left in the brutal hands of geopolitical practitioners of power
> politics such as Kissisnger,Brzezinski, and Haig." Etc.
>     While all this bloodletting was going on, Clyde sat on the panel, looked
> straight ahead into the audience with his  best diplomat's poker-face on and
> pretended as if he had nothing to do with what I was saying and was just as
> surprised as anyone else by what I was saying. Of course Clyde had
> deliberately put me up there to say it and had approved of everything I was
> going say. Notice of course that Clyde never told me WHAT to say. He did not
> have to and would not have done so.
>     After this concluding, plenary panel chaired by Clyde, they had a big
> cocktail party reception to "celebrate" the 75th Anniversary of the American
> Society of International Law and Power. After my speech, the "celebration"
> was subdued. Not only was I treated like the proverbial skunk at their
> garden party, but also as if I had an advanced case of leprosy. But Clyde
> was pleased and let me know it. And that was all that mattered to me.
> Francis A. Boyle
> Professor of International Law
> HLS''76
>
> Francis A. Boyle
> Law Building
> 504 E. Pennsylvania Avenue
> Champaign, Ill. 61820
> 217-333-7954 (voice)
> 217-244-1478 (fax)
> [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Private reply:         "Boyle, Francis" <[e-mail]>
> Public replies:        [e-mail]
> To signoff, send message to: [e-mail]
>   message merely says: unsubscribe forintlaw
> Questions?             Rebecca Alexander, [e-mail]
> Washburn's WashLawWEB, a comprehensive legal research site:
>   http://www.washlaw.edu/
>
> -
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>  with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 22:12:48 -0500
From: peter weiss <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) FW: No Sour Grapes! AS/JIL&Power

Francis: Some of us are planning a meetig some time in February to talk
about US violations of international law. I want to call it "US Super
Outlaw." Do you have anything recent written on that subject?

                        Peter

yle, Francis wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Boyle, Francis [mailto:[e-mail]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 10:36 AM
> To: '[e-mail]'
> Cc: 'AALS Section on Minority Grps. mailing list';
> '[e-mail]'; '[e-mail]'
> Subject: No Sour Grapes! AS/JIL&Power
>
> Dear Professor Khan:
>         Actually, I stopped going to the Conventions of the American Society
> of International Law and Power over  a decade ago because I got fed up with
> their pronounced and pervasive anti-Arab bigotry and racism. It turned my
> stomach. Ditto for the American Journal of International Law and Power.
> Francis A. Boyle
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: khan ali [mailto:[e-mail]]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2000 10:25 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Sour Grapes
>
>
>         I want to add my voice to that of Professor Boyle on the workings
> of what he calls "Am. Soc. Int. L & Power," an obvious reference to ASIL
> and perhaps to the AJIL, a journal published under ASIL command and
> control.
>         ASIL has done good work, but it remains wedded to the interests of
> the United States foreign policy and the scholarship printed in the AJIL
> is predominantly boring, mechanistic, oligarchic, un-intellectual, and
> almost always pro-Israel.
>         Here is one example. AJIL has acknowledged receiving my book "The
> Extinction of Nation-States: A World without Borders"--but has failed in
> the past three years to find a reviewer for it, even though the book has
> been reviewed in several European journals.
>         The book challenges the notions of the single super power and
> shows how historically the Church and the Empire failed to institute a
> pyramidical legal order. It also challenges the notion of the chosen
> people, a reference to Romans and the English (and now to people like
> defunct Newt Gingrich), who foolishly believed that God had created them
> as the best people in the world.
>         Most importantly, the book challenges the notion of the
> nation-state and argues that its present legal and political form is no
> longer sustainable, a prediction that does not sit well with those who are
> overly obsessed with the existence of "the state of Israel."
>         The book is perhaps too radical for the boring and bland
> intellectuals of ASIL and AJIL, but it speaks the truth that would become
> irrefutable in due time and I am sure the book will be, one day, reviewed
> in AJIL, a command and control publication of ASIL and Power.
>         Of course, AJIL and ASIL and Power may dismiss this email as 'sour
> grapes,' the complaint of a disgruntled law professor whose book simply
> does not meet the standards of AJIL.
>
> Ali Khan
> Professor of International Law
> & Human Rights,
> Washburn University
> Topeka, KS 66621
>
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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 02:57:35 PST
From: "Abolition2000 Pacific Region" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Four BILLION dollars to operate a missile range in the Pacific!

fyi:

It costs $4 billion to operate the Kwajalein Missile Range (yearly) in the
Marshall Islands. This contributes to what many people including Americans
call the maintenance of an American-imposed Apartheid system. The US
military effectively controls large parcels of valuable land areas on small
islands and atolls complete with golf courses. Many Marshall Islanders live
on overcrowded atolls, with unhygienic conditions that contribute to
diseases and ill-health. Marshall Islanders are transported via boat to work
in the military areas during the day, then taken back to their cramped,
overcrowded living conditions where they huddle in misery, drinking
themselves to them!
American military colonialism is so beautiful!


- ---

http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/2000/January/01-12-05.htm

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawaiæi at Manoa

Wednesday, January 12, 2000

PACIFIC ISLANDS RENEGOTIATE U.S. PAYMENTS

By Colin Woodard

YAP, Federated States of Micronesia (December 27, 1999 û Christian Science
Monitor)---Washington's hands-off approach to the grant payments it has sent
to the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) over the
past 15 years is widely regarded as a failure.

Those grant payments to the former U.S. wards will expire in 2001, and
sources in all three countries say the United States has a chance to set
things right as it negotiates the provisions.

"The U.S. is willing to help us, but there should be more restrictions on
how we spend the money," says Vincent Figir, governor of Yap State, which is
considered the most effective government in the region.

"There wasn't enough accountability or strings attached (to the U.S.
money)," Figir said. "Far too many people decided they would benefit
personally."

U.S. negotiator Allen Stayman has been sending a similar message.

"We want to know what happened over the last 13 years before we make any
decisions about the future," Stayman said.

Key congressional leaders have asked the Government Accounting Agency (GAO)
to go to the region and assess how the U.S. grants were spent. Until the GAO
gets answers, Stayman said it's "premature to be talking about future aid."

Sen. Peter Christian, the FSM's negotiator, said his country welcomes the
opportunity to explain itself.

"We spent the first 10 years of the Compact just organizing a system of
government," he said. "Now we have the time, experience, and institutions to
focus on economic development.... I think we're on the right track."

Former FSM Foreign Minister Asterio Takesy said the U.S. should place future
money in a trust fund, rather than make annual payments.

"Not just the FSM, but any child that is trying to establish itself should
be given room to make mistakes so that it can grow from them," he said. "If
you keep spoon-feeding us we will never become self-reliant."

Marshall Islands officials have taken a tougher stance, arguing it's none of
Washington's business what they do with the money. They say it's not foreign
aid because the U.S. gets extensive military rights and access in return.

The Marshall Islands' more antagonistic stance reflects a strong bargaining
position. Unlike the FSM, the Marshalls have something the U.S. wants:
continued base rights at Kwajalein Atoll.

The $4 billion Kwajalein Missile Range is currently the only place in the
world where the U.S. can test components of the newly revived National
Missile Defense program.

A recent change in governments isn't expected to alter the Marshall Islands'
negotiating strategy. But it may soften the rhetoric. Negotiations with both
countries are scheduled to continue this year.

The Republic of Palau, another part of America's once vast Pacific Trust
Territory, became independent in 1994. Its grant payments won't expire for
another eight years. The remainder of the Trust Territory - the Marianas
Islands - chose to become a U.S. commonwealth, similar in status to Puerto
Rico.



















______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 12:22:25 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: sign-on to oppose new Turkish reactor

>Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 10:28:27 -0500
>Subject: sign-on to oppose new Turkish reactor
>To: [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>Dear Friends:
>
>Attached is a sign-on letter, prepared by Nuclear Awareness Project of
>Canada, against possible U.S. involvement in the proposed Akkuyu nuclear
>power plant in Turkey. We will be sending this letter to President
>Clinton, Vice President Gore and the U.S. Export-Import Bank. We
>encourage you to sign this letter AND to send a copy to your Senators
>and Representative. You may also want to alert your local media about
>this. This issue has not received in the U.S. the attention it deserves.
>
>The Westinghouse bid described below has reportedly been promoted at the
>highest political levels. The Turkish daily Milliyet reported on
>December 19, 1999, that Vice-President Al Gore had written to Turkish
>Energy Minister Cumhur Ersumer lobbying for the Westinghouse bid.
>
>Please send your name, title, organization, city and state to us at
>[e-mail] by 9 am, Tuesday, January 18. Individuals should just
>include their name and city and state. Thanks for your help. You can
>find a background paper on this issue in the international section of
>NIRS' website, www.nirs.org
>
>Michael Mariotte
>NIRS
>
>
>Re: SELECTION OF AKKUYU NUCLEAR VENDOR IMMINENT
>
>We am writing to express our concern and opposition to American
>involvement in the tender by the Turkish state utility, TEAS, for
>construction of the Akkuyu nuclear plant on Turkey's Mediterranean
>coast,
>directly north of Cyprus. As you may be aware, the Turkish government
>last
>stated last year that it would select a vendor for the Akkuyu nuclear
>plant
>before the end of December 1999. That decision was delayed, but may take
>place this month.
>
>As you may be aware, Westinghouse and Mitsubishi are jointly one of
>three
>contenders in that bidding process. Although now owned by British
>Nuclear
>Fuels Ltd (BNFL), the Westinghouse nuclear division is still US-based.
>Furthermore, the American companies Raytheon and Duke Power are major
>partners of Westinghouse in its bid
>
>In addition, Bechtel is a major partner in a competing consortium headed
>by
>Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).
>
>The Westinghouse bid, at a reported $3.3 billion, would, if successful,
>undoubtedly seek financing in part by the US Export-Import Bank.
>Similarly,
>Bechtel's involvement in the AECL bid would also likely require
>financing
>from the Ex-Im Bank. The Ex-Im Bank has already provided $40 million in
>preliminary financing for Akkuyu ($20 million to Bechtel Power
>Corporation
>for "engineering and procurement services" and $20 million to
>Westinghouse
>Electric Corp. for "procurement services and equipment").
>
>There are several reasons for our objection to American involvement in
>the
>proposed Akkuyu nuclear plant.
>
>1. Nuclear power is an inappropriate energy option for Turkey. It is a
>high
>cost, risky technology that has serious safety and environmental
>problems
>including the risk of catastrophic accident and the still unsolved
>problem
>of radioactive waste management. The real sustainable energy solutions,
>for
>Turkey as for the USA,  are energy efficiency and renewable energy
>options.
>
>2. Earthquake Risk at Akkuyu -- Westinghouse, the other nuclear vendors,
>and
>the Turkish government have refused to acknowledge the real risk of an
>accident caused by an earthquake at Akkuyu. The Design Basis Earthquake
>(DBE) for the Akkuyu plant specified by Turkey is only 0.25g,  less than
>the
>standard set by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission for
>nuclear
>power plants in the central and eastern United States (0.3g).  The
>Turkish
>government maintains that there is no evidence of active faulting within
>the
>vicinity of the Akkuyu site. Yet a 1991 research paper by Turkish and
>British geologists identified an active fault line near Akkuyu (the
>Ecemis
>Fault). According to the database of the US Geological Survey, there
>have
>been 31 earthquakes within 100 km of the Akkuyu site since 1973, ranging
>from 2.9 to 4.7 magnitude. The Turkish government has refused to release
>copies of geological reports on the site.
>
>3. Nuclear Weapons Proliferation -- We are very concerned about the
>proliferation potential of reactor sales to Turkey. In 1991, the USA
>pressured Turkey to not buy a reactor from Argentina because of the fear
>that it would be used to make plutonium for bombs. Turkey's signature on
>the
>Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is no guarantee that it will not
>develop nuclear weapons. Iraq signed this same treaty, but simply broke
>its
>commitments. Any signatory country can legally leave the NPT with only
>three
>months notice.
>
>5.  Human Rights Abuses in Turkey -- Trade should be limited with
>countries
>that have serious human rights abuses. Turkey has a long history of such
>abuses, including systematic torture and murder of prisoners by police
>and
>military forces, death squad murders and disappearances, restrictions on
>freedom of speech, and incommunicado detention without legal
>representation.
>A state of martial law still prevails in the south-eastern Kurdish
>provinces, where an estimated two million people have been forcibly
>displaced. The Kurdish language remains under legal restrictions and the
>death penalty is still in place. Human rights abuses have been the main
>problem standing in the way of Turkey's entry into the European Union.
>
>In summary, for all of the reasons noted above, we urge the government
>to
>reconsider its support for the sale of a nuclear power plant to Turkey.
>I
>look forward to hearing your response on this important matter.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Michael Mariotte
>Executive Director
>Nuclear Information and Resource Service
>Washington, DC
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]
http://www.gracelinks.org

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to
eliminate nuclear weapons.

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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 11:38:21 -0700
From: "bob kinsey" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) Fwd: sign-on to oppose new Turkish reactor

Sign me on
*************************************************
Bob Kinsey
Peace and Justice Task Force
Rocky Mountain Conference, United Church of Christ
bkinsey@peacemission .org
6555 Ward Road, Arvada, Colorado, 80004
"Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God" --
Jesus of Nazareth


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 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 15:10:03 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) wd: More poison from DOE: GM microbes in radioactive waste

>>>Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000 22:24:55 -0500
>>>Subject: [terminatorseedwatch] GM microbes in radioactive waste
>>>Priority: non-urgent
>>>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>>>To: [e-mail]
>>>X-FC-Forwarded-From: [e-mail]
>>>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>>>
>>>===================
>>>
>>>Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2000 16:29:13
>>>From: j.e. cummins <[e-mail]>
>>>
>>>
>>>The GM bacteria used to "purify" radioactive waste sites cause ionic
>>>mercury to be released as volatile mercury metal. Such bacteria have
>>>probably escaped into the environment to convert more ionic mercury in
>>>geologic strata. Such mercury released has begun to cause major problems
>>>in cold places like Canada, Alaska, and the northern continental states.
>>>The Arctic is facing tragic injury to the top of the food chain including
>>>people, polar bears, beluga, narwhal,walrus, etc. Those victims have
>>begun
>>>to show birth defects and nerve damage from mercury in their only source
>>>of food. The question is" who in the hell told the US department of
>>energy
>>>that it was O.K.?
>>> ======================
>>>
>>>Articles Nature Biotechnology
>>>
>>>January 2000 Volume 18 Number 1 pp 85 - 90
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Hassan Brim n.1, Sara C. McFarlan n.2, James K. Fredrickson n.3, Kenneth
>>>W. Minton n.1, Min Zhai n.1, Lawrence P. Wackett n.2 & Michael J. Daly
>>n.1
>>>
>>> 1. Department of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of the Health
>>>Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814.
>>> 2. Department of Biochemistry, Biological Process Technology Institute
>>>and Center for Biodegradation Research and Informatics, Gortner
>>>Laboratory, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108.
>>> 3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352.
>>>
>>>Correspondence should be addressed to M J Daly.
>>>e-mail:[e-mail]
>>>
>>>
>>>We have developed a radiation resistant bacterium for the treatment of
>>>mixed radioactive wastes containing ionic mercury. The high cost of
>>>remediating radioactive waste sites from nuclear weapons production has
>>>stimulated the development of bioremediation strategies using Deinococcus
>>>radiodurans, the most radiation resistant organism known. As a frequent
>>>constituent of these sites is the highly toxic ionic mercury (Hg) (II),
>>we
>>>have generated several D. radiodurans strains expressing the cloned Hg
>>>(II) resistance gene (merA) from Escherichia coli strain BL308. We
>>>designed four different expression vectors for this purpose, and compared
>>>the relative advantages of each. The strains were shown to grow in the
>>>presence of both radiation and ionic mercury at concentrations well above
>>>those found in radioactive waste sites, and to effectively reduce Hg (II)
>>>to the less toxic volatile elemental mercury. We also demonstrated that
>>>different gene clusters could be used to engineer D. radiodurans for
>>>treatment of mixed radioactive wastes by developing a strain to detoxify
>>>both mercury and toluene. These expression systems could provide models
>>to
>>>guide future D. radiodurans engineering efforts aimed at integrating
>>>several remediation functions into a single host.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>=================================
>>>
>>>
>>>*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
>>>is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
>>interest
>>>in receiving the included information for research and educational
>>>purposes. ***
>>>
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]
http://www.gracelinks.org

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to
eliminate nuclear weapons.

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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 16:45:30 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Iowa contacts?

>Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 12:36:15 -0500
>Subject: Iowa contacts?
>To: [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>Dear friends,
>If any of you have local chapters or offices in Iowa who might find a
>Bradley-Gore Voter Guide on "Peace and National Security Issues" useful,
>please send me their name/address right away.  We are sending it out to our
>100 or so members there today, in time to be distributed at the caucuses on
>Jan. 24, and we'd like to distribute it as widely as possible.  There is
>quite a sharp contrast, actually, based mostly on their Senate votes in
>1990-92, plus the current difference over military spending.
>
>Van Gosse
>Organizing Director, Peace Action
>1819 H Street, NW, Suite 420
>Washington DC 20006
>202.862.9740 x3002
>202.862.9762 (fax)
>
>"Sentence me, I don't care.  History will absolve me."  Fidel Castro, July
>26, 1953
>
>[If you wish to be removed from this listserve, contact Jim Bridgman at
>[e-mail]]
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]
http://www.gracelinks.org

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to
eliminate nuclear weapons.

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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
 For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
 "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 13:57:05 -0800
From: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Of interest-Fwd: Rubblization

>January 12, 2000
>Acting Director
>Radiation Protection Division
>Office of Air and Radiation
>United States Environmental Protection Agency
>Washington, DC  20460
>
>Dear Frank Marcinowski:
>
>IÆd like to comment on your December 2, 1999 letter to John Greeves at the
>NRC Division of Waste Management.  ThereÆs no further need for the EPA to
>make more comments for the NRCÆs consideration on the rubblization concept
>at the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (MYAPC).  The EPA has no
>significant ability to influence the outcome of NRC policy decisions.  The
>rubblization process at Maine Yankee is the most cost effective
>decommissioning option as well as the next logical step in evading
>documentation of fuel cladding failure-derived contamination in MYAPC
>company reactor water systems.  If the rubblization process is subverted,
>NRC licensees will be stuck with an expensive and embarrassing pile of
>regulatory paperwork as accurate record keeping of low-level waste
>shipments is required by federal law.  Rubblization is the next essential
>step in the ritual of not documenting the source term (inventories,
>pathways and destinations of contamination) of the fuel cladding failures
>and other losses-of-radiological controls at MYAPC and other NRC licensed
>reactors.
>
>The ongoing construction of the Wiscasset radioactive waste storage and
>disposal facility is a project that was started in 1972 with reactor
>criticality and the first incident of fuel cladding failure.  The
>Wiscasset facility should now be expanded to include low-level wastes from
>all other Maine sources as soon as Bob Blagdon, a Wiscasset selectman,
>makes the arrangement for other Maine waste generators to make their
>meager contribution to the larger inventories of radioactive waste already
>sited at Wiscasset.  The town of Wiscasset will be happy to collect a fee
>from other Maine vendors, using the MYAPC facility to help offset their
>loss of tax revenues from the cessation of reactor operations.  Any
>objection to the waste dump at Wiscasset is just EPA bluster.
>Historically, the EPA is part of the problem, not part of the solution,
>and has always been a non-advocate of better documentation of NRC licensee
>reactor-derived pulsed releases of radioactivity.  ItÆs too late to worry
>about something you canÆt do anything about now.  The Wiscasset facility
>will be a pathbreaking and innovative solution to the decommissioning
>conundrum and will provide handy opportunity to solve the fuel cladding
>failure-derived contamination problem without too much publicity or public
>expense.  The Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company is on the cutting edge of
>nuclear waste dump design and construction as well as the wave of the
>future, and it is unlikely that there is anything the EPA can do to alter
>the economic necessity of ISFSIs, entombment, rubblization, onsite burial
>of low-level wastes and continued use of Montsweag Bay as a federally
>licensed liquid waste disposal repository.  What the EPA Office of
>Radiation and Indoor Air thinks is irrelevant - get used to it.
>
>Thank you for your attention to this matter.
>
>Yours truly,
>
>H. G. Brack
>
>P.S.  I would also like to comment on item 5 in your letter:  ôdilution as
>the solutionö is a remedial practice that is the very foundation of NRC
>waste disposal policy: see CFR 10 Part 20 Appendix B Tables 1, 2 and 3:
>ôOccupational values, Effluent concentrations, Releases to sewersö.  MYAPC
>is not in violation of regulatory guidelines until such time as average
>individuals residing near the Wiscasset reactor ingest more than 1,000
>servings of food contaminated with 10,000 pCi/kg of 137Cs (Table 1).  It
>is unlikely the rubblization process will violate any NRC regulatory
>guidelines any more than fuel cladding failures did in the past.
>
>------------------------------------------------------
>Center for Biological Monitoring, Inc.
>Sponsor of RADNET:  Nuclear Information on the Internet
>SOURCE POINTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC RADIOACTIVITY
><http://home.acadia.net/cbm>http://home.acadia.net/cbm
>BOX 144, HULLS COVE,  ME  04644-0144    207/288-5126
>FAX:[phone]  EMAIL:  [e-mail]
>
>
>



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 20:26:28 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NEEDED:NAMES OF DOWNWINDERS

Dear Friends,
I've made a connection with the people who are organizing Earth Day in New
York and they are confident that they can turn 1,000 people out to hold
hands around the UN during the NPT (or as close as we can get).  They
suggest that we gather at least 1,000 names of downwinders from all over
the world and that the demonstrators will wear the names, city, country,
date of exposure, death, or accident where available. We will also have as
many actual downwinders as we can bring to NY  --the funds and
accomodations here are limited and if you can help that would be
appreciated--I expect we will be able to use our "celebrities" to bring
press attention to the human suffering caused by the nuclear weapons and
nuclear power states.   We think we can get a lot of press for this and
would like to start gathering names.  Please send them to me--remember we
need the place and country they are from to demonstrate movingly the
worldwide toxic legacy of the nuclear age at the NPT.  Let's take a leaf
from the landmines campaign!!  And let's be creative about inviting as many
of these victims of the nuclear weapons insanity to join us as is possible.

Just to show the synchronicity of the universe, the Earth Day people will
soon be greeting a new neighbor on their floor in their Manhattan office
building--Children of Chernobyl!!
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]
http://www.gracelinks.org

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to
eliminate nuclear weapons.

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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #250
***********************************

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