LIFE ON EARTH IS KILLING US Agnet Sept 30, Sept 30/98 Reuters Washington

After studying population trends, climate change, increasing pollution levels and emerging diseases, 11 graduate student researchers led by Cornell ecology professor David Pimentel concluded in a paper published in the October 1998 journal BioScience, that "Life on Earth is killing us" writing that increased temperatures caused by global climate change will further encourage growth of human diseases and prod development of new illnesses. The story quoted Pimentel, lead author of the report, as writing that, "More and more of us are living in crowded urban ecosystems that are ideal for the resurgence of old diseases and the development of new diseases. We humans are further stressed&endash;and disease prevalence is worsened&endash;by widespread malnutrition and the unprecedented increase in air, water and soil pollutants." The researchers concluded that to help address the problem, policymakers should adopt fair population-control policies combined with effective environmental management programmes.

PRINTERS PULP MONSANTO EDITION OF ECOLOGIST Agnet Oct 2, September

29, 1998 The Guardian Paul Brown

The Ecologist, the flagship of radical green for 30 years, has become involved in a row with it’s printers after an edition of the magazine was pulped. It had used the edition to attack Monsanto, the multinational genetic engineering company. But the Ecologist’s printers - Penwells of Saltash Cornwall, destroyed the 14,000 print run without notice. Although it refused to comment on it’s decision, it is understood the company was afraid of laying itself open to a libel action.

Penwells has been printing the Ecologist for twenty nine years without complaint. Zac Goldsmith, co-editor and son of the late Sir James Goldsmith, only discovered at the weekend that no copies of the edition survived. His uncle, Teddy Goldsmith, Sir James’s brother, funds the magazine. Mr Goldsmith is known well in green circles for his enviromental views. The Ecologist has been controversial since it was founded. It is read on both sides of the Atlantic and was one of the first publications to point to the potentially dangerous power of multinational companies. Zac Goldsmith was quoted as saying, "We are shocked and amazed. We have a long history of being forthright about enviromental issues and attacking powerful organisations, yet not once in 29 years has this printer complained about or expressed the slightest qualms about what we were doing. We have been good friends, but suddenly out of the blue this happens. I asked if they could send us just one copy but they said no, the lot had to be destroyed. I just cannot find out what happened; they are not returning my calls. "

Daniel Verakis, UK spokesman for Monsanto, was cited as saying he was mystified by the printers action, adding, "I had talked to Zac Goldsmith way back in September about the fact that this edition was a special one about biotechnology, and I guess as the biggest company in that field I knew we would be mentioned, but I did not know that it would be especially about Monsanto. The fact that it was pulped is news to me. We had nothing to do with it. "