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Dear media person, I just found these very useful sites and highly recommend them for exploration to anyone in the media. As you certainly have noticed there is an ever increasing deluge of news stories on bio-warfare, terrorism, vaccines, epidemics, encephalitis etc. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these articles and TV pieces are nothing more than government and pharmaceutical industry propaganda directed at making the public open to the idea of receiving new vaccines, being sprayed with insecticides and otherwise preparing them for some very frightening scenarios. The recent encephalitis "epidemic" here in NYC was a textbook example of the media doing saturation coverage on an issue while barely touching on any facts other than those issued by the CDC, the DOD and the Mayor's OEM. What most surprised me about the past few months of news coverage is that with a home computer I was able to readily access more info than one could read in a lifetime that refuted the entire media and government spin on this issue. Most of what I discovered that was especially interesting was from US government and pharmaceutical company sites rather than from anti-pesticide activists. Many reporters I spoke to acknowledged that they'd read my own and other activists' essays on the issue or had read documents such as the Mayor's Chem-Bio handbook but that they then contacted one or two "official experts" (those recommended by the Mayor's office) who assured them that there was nothing to worry about, that Malathion was in fact completely safe and so on. As this issue developed from August to November documents, transcripts of taped interviews with those who did the actual spraying, the labels from the actual canisters of Malathion used and so on proved beyond any possibility of doubt that the people of NYC were being lied to in a highly coordinated manner. As of today the media continues to ignore virtually all of this information, and in my opinion, help hide it from the public. Just to be clear, I don't consider including a sentence in each article that, "some residents expressed fear" to be covering both sides. Whether this lack of real coverage is from journalistic skepticism, having deadlines to meet or because your assignment editors don't want you to go too deeply into these issues is something you know better than I. What I and many others know for sure is that if we can get this info this readily, so can you. It's clear that various governmental agencies are preparing the public for a lot of new things to come. As a reporter you will be covering these issues regardless of whether you do local, national or international news. If for no other reason that to protect yourself and your own family don't you think you should look at all the facts? Robert Lederman (718) 369-2111 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Go to: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Oct1999/t10191999_t1019as d.html For a specific US government briefing on nerve agents and the treatments given to the military during the Gulf War. Has a lot on acetylcholine (the enzyme affected by Malathion and other nerve agents). Go to: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/ Department of Defense News an incredibly useful site if you want to know what the military has planned re: nerve agents, chemical warfare, vaccines etc. Go to: http://www.mediaeater.com/easy-access/news.html this has incredible media and info links, the best I've ever seen and is a tremendous tool for research on any subject. From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991111/ap online071148_000.htm Washington Post 11/11/99 CDC: Pesticide Sickened 123 in Fla. By Russ Bynum Associated Press Writer Thursday, Nov. 11, 1999; 7:11 a.m. EST ATLANTA Federal authorities are calling for a safer alternative to fighting Mediterranean fruit flies than a pesticide believed to have sickened as many as 123 people in Florida. People in the Tampa Bay and Orlando areas reported a range of health problems after helicopters and planes sprayed their neighborhoods with the pesticide malathion last spring and summer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. In one case, a woman with asthma who was exposed to malathion suffered nausea, diarrhea, coughing, wheezing and fatigue when she was exposed to the chemical. In another, blisters broke out on the arms of a man mowing grass after a malathion spraying. "It's important that people not be too alarmed," said Omar Shafey, coordinator of pesticide poisoning surveillance for the Florida Department of Health. "But we realize that agricultural pesticide application ... can result in some adverse health effects." Though it concluded that malathion doesn't pose a serious risk to most people, the CDC wants agricultural officials to look for less toxic alternatives for wiping out the Medfly. "The risks are already pretty small, but we would like them to be even lower," said Dr. Geoffrey Calvert of the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Cheminova Inc., the New Jersey company that manufactures malathion, had no immediate comment. Malathion is used to kill a host of agricultural pests, including mosquitoes. It was sprayed over New York City after a summer encephalitis outbreak, and North Carolina used it after Hurricane Floyd left the area a soggy breeding ground for mosquitos. No pesticide-related illnesses were confirmed in either state. When used to fight mosquitoes, malathion dissipates in the air within a day, making it less likely to causes illnesses, Calvert said. To kill the Medfly, malathion is mixed with corn meal and corn syrup that is sprayed on plants for the flies to eat. The mixture causes the pesticide to stick around, normally for four days, but possibly as long as a month, Calvert said. It was sprayed in Florida suburbs with a population totaling about 132,000 to protect surrounding citrus and tomato crops. Rather than zeroing in on farmland, helicopters and airplanes blanket large areas. "People are spraying poison on your head," said Jeffrey Huggins of Tampa, a spokesman for the group Citizens for Responsible Alternatives to Malathion, which has been pushing to get malathion spraying banned in Florida. The CDC suggested using less toxic chemicals or even pesticide-free approaches, such as introducing sterile males into the Medfly population to disrupt its reproduction. © Copyright 1999 The Associated Press A few of hundreds of Malathion information sites: http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/Biology/4S03/malathio.htm http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/plane/default.htm http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/ http://www.chem-tox.com/malathion/research/index.htm http://www.ncchem.com/malathion.htm http://unix.adept.net/~mcsinfo/genetic.htm http://members.tripod.com/C_E_A_S_E/framesindex.htm READ THE MALATHION LABELS YOURSELF http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/webinst.htm NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation LABELS FOR ALL PESTICIDES BEING USED http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/pestlab.htm FYFANON ULV [This is the brand of Malathion OEM Director Jerry Hauer Testified is being used] page 1 of label http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/fyf1.gif page 2 Label http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/fyf2.gif page 3 label http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/fyf3.gif page 4 label http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/fyf4.gif ANVIL LABEL http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/anvil.gif SCOURGE LABEL 1 http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/scourge1.gif SCOURGE LABEL 2 http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/scourge2.gif SCOURGE LABEL 3 http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dshm/pesticid/scourge3.gif CDC Encephalitis webpage http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/arbor/arboinfo.htm http://www.tricity.wsu.edu/~mantone/wa24c/wa960004.htm SUPPLEMENTAL LABELING SEE: 10/6/97 Tampa Tribune on Malathion Fyfanon ULV http://www.tampatrib.com/news/fly1101o.htm What is malathion? Recent articles on the Plum Island Biological warfare/Animal disease lab {Dr. Tracy McNamarra, the Bronx zoo animal pathologist who first suggested West Nile virus, testified at the City Council hearing that she was trained at Plum Island, a Federally operated biowarfare lab that has been experimenting with West Nile virus on birds for decades]. NY Times 9/22/99 U.S. Would Use Long Island Lab to Study Food Terrorism NY Times 9/23/99 Residents Near Lab Taking Germ Plan Matter-of-Factly Daily News 9/21/99 L.I.'s Nearby Plum Island Eyed for Deadly Testing Newsday 9/23/99 Plum Island Upgrade Debated / Worries about lab for animal diseases Newsday 9/24/99 Editorial/ Bioterrorismism /A real threat. Using Plum I. labs to develop vaccines against it would make sense. Earlier articles on Plum Island: Newsday Lab Focus Was On 4 Animal Diseases 11-21-1993 From: NEWSDAY Danger Is Their Business At Plum Island http://www.lihistory.com/specdisc/displum.htm NEWSDAY Plum Island Safety Check 04-07-1994 NEWSDAY Security on Plum Island Must Be Taken Seriously 1/4/93 NEWSDAY Plum Island Cited By EPA 3/12/93 NEWSDAY Plum Island Bird Kill Probed 7/2/93 NEWSDAY Plum Is The Word In Russian 3/3/94 This site contains most of Robert Lederman's writings on this issue http://www.levymultimedia.com/news.htm Giuliani's Chem-bio Handbook http://www.janes.com/company/search/searchset.html http://www.janes.com/ This is the book, specially printed for the Mayor with his seal and name on the cover that has extensive info on Malathion directly refuting the Mayor's public statements. The book is inside every EMS vehicle, firetruck and police precinct. "Malathion is a nerve gas...in the same family as nerve gasses developed during WWII" -NY Times 9/14/99 "There's absolutely no danger to anyone from this spraying...There are some people who are engaged in the business of wanting to frighten people out of their minds." Mayor Giuliani-Newsday, 9/14/99 "Meanwhile, officials said that several hundred mosquitoes sent to federal labs for testing showed no trace of the potentially lethal virus." -Daily News 9/17/99 "Freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do." Mayor Giuliani, New York Times, March 17, 1994 From: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer pgs. 968 and 972 'The Zyklon-B crystals that killed the victims were furnished by two German firms which had acquired the patent from I.G. Farben...The gas chambers themselves and the adjoining crematoria, viewed from a short distance, were not sinister looking places at all; it was impossible to make them out for what they were...The unsuspecting Jews thought they were being taken to the baths for the delousing which was customary at all camps". "I ask you not to create any undue or unnecessary alarm or panic," Giuliani said at a City Hall news conference on Thursday morning. "There's no point in not spraying, because there's no harm in spraying. So even if we're overdoing it, there's no risk to anyone in overdoing it...The more dead mosquitoes," he added, "the better. I don't think the media should try to push this out of proportion". NY Times 9/10/99 >From Newsday, 10/10/99 Bugged by Spraying "The loudest protests heard during the city's recent campaign of insecticide spraying came from the city's tiny Green Party and the artist-agitator Robert Lederman...Yesterday, the head of the mayor's Office of Emergency Management, which took the lead in the assault on the city's mosquito populace, dismissed such concerns as "irresponsible environmental hysteria and stupidity." "If they took a deep breath [of Malathion?] and looked at what we did and what pains we went through to ensure that we did it right and recognize that human life is at stake, they'd get the perspective," said OEM Director Jerry Hauer." The World's Current Major Chemical Companies Germany- BASF Aktiengesellschaft- Bayer AG- Cassella Farbewerke Mainkur Aktiengesellschaft- Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft- IG FarbenNetherlands- AKZO NV- DSMSwitzerland- CIBA-GEIGY AGU.K.- Imperial Chemical Industries PLC U.S.A.- Allied-Signal Inc.- Dow Chemical Company- Du Pont Company- Goodrich Company- Grace & Company- Monsanto Company- Union Carbide Corporation- Uniroyal Holdings, Inc. IG Farben-History From The Encyclopedia Brittanica Online In 1945 IG Farben came under Allied authority; its industries (along with those of other German firms) were to be dismantled or dismembered with the stated intent "to render impossible any future threat to Germany's neighbours or to world peace." In the western zones of Germany, however, especially as the Cold War advanced, this disposition toward liquidation lessened. Eventually the Western powers and West Germans agreed to divide IG Farben into just three independent units: Hoechst, Bayer, and BASF (the first two being refounded in 1951; BASF in 1952). From: -DEADLY DISCOVERY Newsday, 9/25/99 "Virologist Thomas Monath, one of the country's leading authorities on mosquito-carried viruses, called the discovery [of the encephalitis virus in NY] "a bombshell," and added: "This is the biggest arbovirus story of the last 50 years. Wow!"...Monath, who works for OraVax, a biotechnology company in Boston, said that he has been working closely with CDC investigators in New York since the encephalitis outbreak began in late August. He is assisting federal scientists in trying to figure out a way to deal with the new development...Monath said he met with CDC authorities on Wednesday to discuss the tests performed on the dead birds. "We had a long discussion about what the hell is going on," he said. They had a couple of dead flamingos in the Bronx Zoo. And they found a dead crow."...Bob Howard, a spokesman for the CDC's special pathogens branch, said that earlier this week--before the dead crow was tested--CDC researchers in Atlanta were telling their counterparts in New York City about "some really weird lab reports. "There's an outbreak right now in Russian--in Volgograd--some 559 cases and 33 deaths..." >From the Peptide Therapeutic Group's website, Oravax's parent company .[http://194.202.157.11/peptide/default.htm] Excerpt from a 9/20/99 press release: "Our priority is to deliver shareholder value..." From: OraVax, Inc. http://www.biospace.com/b2/company_profile.cfm?CompanyI D=1467 "OraVax is a Cambridge, Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative vaccines and antibody products to prevent or treat human infectious diseases...Additionally, the Company is developing the ChimeriVaxT family of single-dose genetically-engineered vaccines based on the yellow fever YF 17D vaccine strain virus. The first of these vaccines targets Japanese encephalitis [West Nile is a Japanese Encephalitis-RL], currently in preclinical development". [Peptide Therapeutics/Oravax (manufacturers of Japanese Encephalitis vaccines) and Pasteur Mérieux Connaught are collaborating together on many different levels, both economically and scientifically. PMC/Oravax manufactures a Japanese encephalitis vaccine]. From: http://194.202.157.11/peptide/default.htm "Peptide is currently involved in the research and development of two distinct classes of pharmaceuticals - vaccines and small molecule drugs. ChimeriVax(TM) JE single-dose vaccine to prevent Japanese encephalitis ("JE") ChimeriVax(TM) is a technology platform broadly applicable to develop vaccines to protect against infections caused by flaviviruses. Two recent publications from data presented by our scientists at the 11th International Congress of Virology in Sydney demonstrated the safety and efficacy of ChimeriVax(TM) in pre-clinical models. The most advanced project employing the ChimeriVax(TM) technology is to develop a JE vaccine [Japanese Encephalitis}, in collaboration with PMC. Pre-clinical work and manufacture of clinical lots for the Phase I trial is expected to be completed by the end of this year [1999]. The IND will then be filed for a Phase I safety and immunogenicity trial, which is expected to commence in the first half of 2000. We also have collaborative agreements with PMC to develop vaccines against three other flaviviruses: Dengue fever, Hepatitis C and Tick-borne encephalitis. Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (718) 369-2111 http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html Please feel free to forward this to anyone you know or to post it anywhere you like. |
