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10/2000:
Some thoughts from John, who is living in Indonesia:
Illegal miners steal gold ore and process it with cyanide which ends up in the rivers
where people bath, drink and eat the fish.
Every old agricultural poison or medication developed in the USA, and now outlawed there,
is sold and used freely here (and elsewhere in the "third world") without any
notification of the problems. There is more damage being done by pesticides in
Mexico alone than the worst problems north of the border.
We have Malaysian and Indonesian thieves cutting down rain forest (without permits) faster
than it is being regenerated.
American and Australian mining companies operate with minimum concern about environmental
damage. Other manufacturing operations are no better.
Children play next to the toll roads, breathing lead poisoned air, because the adjacent
green areas are all the space they have and because there are inadequate limitations on
the lead content of fuels.
I suggest that the concerns of caring Americans should focus on the very
severe damage being done by US companies abroad, free from US regulations.
The world is a small place and the US is locally protected by relatively high
standards.
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Thanks to John,
Ingrid
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