Scientists and physicians in the heartland of genetic modification are alerting policy-makers and the public to the dangers of GM crops. Prof Peter Saunders

We thank the Institute of Science in Society http://www.i-sis.org.uk  for Permission to reproduce this ISIS Report by Professor Peter Saunders
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/US_Opposition_to_GMOs.php  

This is a good news article.The Obama administration is listening whereas the Bush administration would not-Editor   

A Chinese intellectual visiting the US was heard to say that the Americans must be mad to buy all this rubbish; he was referring to the mountains of Chinese consumables. Here lies the problem in apportioning responsibility for green house emissions. China is now the largest emitter in the world and a new study shows that exports to the West are a major source of these emissions.
In summary, half of the increase in emissions is due to production of exported goods and services, 60 per cent of which are exported to the West. This means Western consumers are partially responsible for one third of increases in Chinese emissions. These exports tend to be electronic products, metals, chemicals and textile products.

Around the World, scientists are becoming very anxious about data that suggests an acceleration of climate change. Statements urging reductions in emissions are being made by Academies, Colleges, Journals and by individual scientists. The editorial in the April 30 edition of the Journal Nature says,

“Nations urgently need to cut their output of carbon dioxide. The difficulty of that task is manifest: emissions have continued to rise despite almost two decades of rhetoric, diplomacy and action on the matter. But that unhappy fact should not be taken as a licence for fatalism. Governments have a wide range of pollution-cutting tools at their command, most notably tradable permit regimes, taxes on fuels, regulations on power generation and energy efficiency, and subsidies for renewable energy and  improved technologies. These tools can work if applied seriously — so citizens around the world must demand that seriousness from their leaders, both within their individual nations and in the international framework that will be discussed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December”.

17 May 2009: The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a report on climate change and health research during the meeting of Commonwealth Health Ministers, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland. The Chair of the report was Tony McMichael. Colin Butler was a contributor.

The report was drafted in response to a World Health Assembly resolution on climate change and health adopted by the 193 member States of WHO in May 2008. The resolution called on, inter alia, the WHO to work with external partners to support applied research in this field, from assessment of climatic risks to health, to estimating the health benefits of mitigation measures and the costs of adaptation.

Commentary from David Shearman
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced that the UN is launching a worldwide climate change campaign under the slogan: "Seal the Deal! Power green growth. Protect the planet".

The campaign aims to galvanize political will and public support towards signing a new UN agreement on climate change, and urges world leaders to act in the best interest of their peoples and the planet by sealing the climate deal.

The Premier of Tasmania says that Tasmania is clean and green and its future is to provide clean, green food produce to the world. Water will be provided to irrigate a productive centre of the island.

To be clean and green is laudable but perhaps the Premier needs to be reminded of three major problems to be solved if his claim is to be accepted.  Firstly, the material below relates to meetings held in Launceston and at the Royal Hobart Hospital which documented chemical spraying practices dangerous to the environment and to human health. Secondly,the proposed pulp mill assessment procedures question the judgement of the Tasmanian government. Thirdly, forestry practices which include the wood chipping of old growth and regrowth forest are now reprehensible in terms of Australia fulfilling its necessary role in reducing green house emissions. Once the Premier has acknowledged and acted on these problems it will be satisfying for us to remove the question mark from the title of this article.