[Milton]

This is an important story because it is not just agent orange, it is depleted uranium as well. Do any of you know if there is a website run by or for Canadian soldiers , which details the health problem that they have suffered from as a result of being put in harms way?

[FootPrints]

Years ago I was doing research on that for someone I knew who became quite ill after serving in the Gulf War. I tried a search now, and haven't come up with any Canadian site. I am sure there was one.<br /> <br /> Milton, I have a feeling you would enjoy this site though if you don't already know about it. <br /> <a href="http://www.trufax.org/">trufax</a><br /> Under thier search/links tab, check out the general links A-Z (Lots of reading) It can be a pretty far out site but good reading as well, lots on Tesla, energy etc...<br /> <br /> Other reading on DU:<br /> <a href="http://www.peace.ca/depleteduranium.htm">Depleted Uranium and Canada's Role</a><br /> <a href="http://traprockpeace.org/depleteduranium.html">Traprock Peace Center</a><br /> <a href="http://www.gulfwarvets.com/du.htm">Depleted Uranium</a><br /> <a href="http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR407A.html">Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War</a><br /> <a href="http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2004/nucs2004.htm">Nuclear 2004 - 2005</a><br /> <a href="http://www.ccnr.org/#topics">Canadian Coalition<br /> for Nuclear Responsibility</a><br /> <br /> Maybe one of these sites may steer you in the right direction.<br /> <br /> <br />

[FootPrints]

<b>What Dow Knows (But Won't Tell)</b><br /> <br /> By Shelley Alpern, AlterNet. Posted May 12, 2005.<br /> <br /> <br /> Dow Chemical's financial liabilities related to toxic chemical production would make its shareholders very nervous -- if they only knew. <br /> <br /> At this week's annual stockholder meeting, Dow Chemical will surely tout the fact that its stock has outperformed the S&P 500 for the better part of the last five years. But can a company as environmentally burdened as Dow keep it up? Dow is being sued in the U.S. and overseas for environmental damages that stem from both its core products and from the toxic chemicals that are byproducts of its big manufacturing processes.<br /> <br /> Take Dow's dioxin liabilities. Dioxins, which are a byproduct of production of some Dow chemicals, are known to cause cancer, immune suppression, reproductive, developmental and liver damage. A class action lawsuit by Michigan residents is seeking compensation for the contamination. Residents in the region are asserting approximately $100 million in property damages and seeking medical monitoring. The medical monitoring claim is now before the Michigan Supreme Court.<br /> <br /> Dioxin is also a severe problem in Agent Orange hotspots including Vietnam, New Zealand and Australia, where the Dow-produced herbicide was sprayed as a lethal war defoliant and released at manufacturing facilities. Roughly 100,000 claims of Agent Orange exposure-related health problems by U.S. veterans have been filed with the government since 2000. U.S. and Vietnamese veterans and their families are suing Dow for compensation.<br /> <br /> The unfinished legacy of the 1985 Union Carbide chemical factory explosion in Bhopal, India became Dow's problem when it acquired Carbide in 2001. One hundred and fifty thousand survivors and residents of Bhopal are still suffering from the after-effects of that explosion, which has killed 20,000 people to date. These survivors are seeking additional compensation and the environmental cleanup that was never performed.<br /> <br /> But it's not just Dow's past that should make investors, by nature a nervous bunch, more nervous. Developing legal and public policy trends raise a big question mark as to whether Dow's reliance on organochlorine chemistry is the way to go in the 21st century. Just last month a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Bates v. Dow Agrosciences, affirmed the right of citizens to sue chemical manufacturers for harm caused by their pesticides. Thousands of people harmed by pesticides will now be able to hold pesticide companies accountable in state courts for making and distributing dangerous chemicals.<br /> <br /> In the last 15 years, Dow has already been sued in 300 lawsuits claiming damage from Dursban (the trade name for the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos), which can cause respiratory paralysis, convulsions, nausea, headaches and other symptoms with acute exposure. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 93 percent of the U.S. population had this chemical in their bodies and one market analysis indicates that Dow Chemical likely contributed at least 80 percent of public exposure to chlorpyrifos.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/21981/">continued</a><br /> <br />

[Milton]

Which is one reason why the Canadian and US negotiators for the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol treaty are seeking to eliminate corporate accountability for GM products. They do not want to be liable for anything. See my post on "Canada denies visa for chief African Biosafety Protocol Negotiator". Canada is <b>opposed</b> to the following rules:<br /> a. Clear labelling on all genetically engineered commodities;<br /> b. State liability in cases of damage to the environment and/or human beings arising from products of genetic engineering;<br /> c. Entitlement to full compensation in cases of damage to the environment and/or human beings;<br /> d. Burden of proof of any product of genetic engineering not being the cause of damage resting on the country exporting that product;<br /> e. Venue of litigation and enforcement of judgement being in the country where the damage occurred and not in the country of export. <br /> <br /> If they can inflict these rules on us then they are one step closer to eliminating all lawsuits for product liabilities of any sort.

[Marcarc]

Great information above, although I see this industry much like the tobacco industry, even lawsuits are simply added into the cost-benefit structure and Dow are registered in states where lawsuits are simply added into the liability stream and deducted from taxable income. <br /> <br /> The best news about this is that perhaps even more people will open their eyes and change their way of doing things. Namely, of course, buying organic food, eliminated processed food, and eliminating lawn pesticides municipally. Dursban, that chemical of 300 lawsuits is still being used in Canada, although I can't find recent info on it. It may have been discontinued, like diazinon, but still available on shelves until the company's reserves are gone-now how many companies can get that kind of treatment. Could you imagine selling heroin to kids and then getting the government to agree that you'll stop AFTER your supply runs out. This, to my mind, is far far worse.