new internationalist
issue 216 - February 1991
| NICARAGUA |
Irradiated mutant turtles
Fears
that mutant turtles will soon become a reality are being expressed by environmental
groups after plans to dump nuclear waste off the coast of Nicaragua were
revealed. For its beaches are one of the few breeding grounds in the world
for six species of turtles. The turtle has become a symbol of the Environmental
Movement of Nicaragua since their campaign to protect the breeding grounds
began. Now there are plans for a nuclear power plant in the area.
US company, Phillips SA, whose Central American representative is a personal friend of the new Nicaraguan president, Violeta Chamorro, has offered to build this nuclear power station free. The only condition is it runs on nuclear waste imported from the US.
From press release, Environmental Network for Nicaragua, 23 Bevenden Street, London NJ 6BH.
| SOVIET UNION |
A year's supply
How many condoms does an able-bodied Soviet man need in a year?
Exactly 12 according to a 'men's minimal consumer budget' calculated last
year by Soviet planners and summarized in the new Shatalin plan for a market
economy. Yearly supplies of other items include 2.5 kilos of soap, one toothbrush,
two bottles of cologne and five pairs of cotton socks. The report in Komsomolskaya
Pravda comments on the Shatalin pro gramme that the 'per capita calculations'
are now out in the open. 'We think that the previous secrecy was because
not a single "capita" would be likely to swell up in gratitude for such
strictly calculated concern.
From World Press Review, Vol 37, No 11 1990.
| AIDS |
Women and AIDS
AIDS is now the leading cause of death for women aged 20-40
in major cities in the Americas, Western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
Globally, the World Health Organization estimates over eight million adults
are now infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and more than
a third - three million - are women. By the year 2000 the annual number
of female AIDS cases will equal the number of male.
A new report on how HIV/AIDS affects women, Triple Jeopardy: Women and AIDS looks at how women are threatened in three ways: as individuals being infected through sexual activity, as the traditional carers of those invalided by AIDS and as mothers of those who have the disease.
Women with little social or economic power face particular risk of HIV infection. In the Third World, the lack of condoms and ignorance about safer sexual options increase the risks. Traditional constraints on sexual behaviour and poverty often mean women are at risk even if they are well informed. A sex worker whose client refuses to use a condom has two options: possible HIV infection or not making a living that day.
From Triple Jeopardy: Women and AIDS, by Judith Mariasy, published by The Panos Institute, 9 White Lion Street, London NJ 9PD, UK.
| REFUGEES |
Mine awareness
The UN is starting a programme to educate Cambodian refugees
in the camps on Thailand's border about mines. The project is aimed at teaching
the refugees how to identify land mines and booby traps when they eventually
return to their country. They will also learn safety procedures to follow
when the mines have been discovered. Many of the 300,000 refugees living
under UN care in the six camps along the border were maimed by mines as
they moved (or were forced to move, by Khmer Rouge soldiers) to the camps
in Thailand.
From Far Eastern Economic Review, 1.11.90
| DOMINICAN REPUBLIC |
Lighthouse white elephant
The shenanigans over the 1992 celebrations of the 'discovery'
of the Americas (sighted by Columbus 500 years ago) are already well under
way. Perhaps the saddest and biggest of white elephants is in the Dominican
Republic. Here the 83-year old president, Joaquin Balaguer, has authorized
the building of a $10 million lighthouse as the largest Columbian monument
in the world. Destined to be inaugurated in 1992, the light-house is planned
to project a beam visible all over the Caribbean. Dominicans joke however,
that the most dramatic effect when the lighthouse is switched on will be
the final collapse of the creaking electrical system in Santo Domingo, their
capital city.
From NACLA Report on the Americas, Vol XXIV, No 3.
| WASTE |
Express recycling
With the opening of a new, larger Zurich main railway station,
a new waste-management system was introduced as well. Waste from more than
1,000 trains a day plus the refuse from railway offices, two dozen shops
and four restaurants fill four 800-litre containers every day. Separate
containers are provided for recycling paper, glass, aluminium and other
metals and compost. Waste from trains is sorted by railway workers, while
the shops and restaurants sort their own. Packaging material is reduced
to pulp on-site. The remainder goes to the incinerator, as before. While
the disposal costs in the incinerator are $75 a tonne, recycled waste is
collected free of charge. Only 3.6 tonnes of waste a month now goes to the
incinerator, instead of the previous 10 tonnes.
From Warmer Bulletin, No 27, 1990
| EGYPT |
Well, well, well
Satellite images have led to a spectacular discovery of water
beneath Egypt's Western Desert. There is speculation that it may contain
more ground water than was thought to exist in the whole of Africa. A test
drilling has indicated enough water for farming 200,000 acres for the next
200 years.
The discovery is of great significance in a country where almost all the farming is in the Nile Valley, occupying only five per cent of Egypt's land surface. Alternative water sources are particularly important as most of the Nile's waters come from drought-prone Ethiopia and water-levels at the Aswan Dam have dropped dramatically.
From Panoscope, November 1990
'The Queen's green credentials will be enhanced
by the disclosure
that she spends more on the purchases and upkeep of horses and carriages
(£165,000/$310,000) than on cars (£73,000/ $140,000).'
From The UK's Daily Telegraph
