Wednesday, 13 Aug 2003

The Sperminator

New Injection for Men Could Shake Up World of Contraceptives

It's the boys' turn. After millennia during which women have had to take most of the responsibility for family planning, a new, easy, and inexpensive injection could get men into the game. That would be a nice change of pace for couples in industrialized countries. But in developing nations -- where an inability to control fertility leads to serious health problems for women, financial burdens on poor families, and excessive exploitation of natural resources -- it could make a world of difference. That is, if pharmaceutical companies don't thwart the procedure's spread. Audrey Schulman gets the inside scoop on the latest alternative to the Pill -- only in Grist Magazine.

Turtle Goop

Oil Spill off Pakistan's Coast Threatens Marine Life

Hundreds of dead turtles and fish are washing ashore near Pakistan's port city of Karachi -- victims of an oil spill emanating from a Greek tanker that ran aground nearby late last month. A massive oil slick from the ship has hit the shore, despite workers' efforts to contain the spill. The tanker, which was carrying more than 67,000 tons of crude oil, is splitting down the middle and could soon break in two; authorities today abandoned efforts to save the vessel, fearing that it could explode. Environmental experts warned that the disaster could be devastating for the area's marine life and the people who depend on it for food and livelihoods.

Voluntary Service

Canada Unveils $1B Plan to Address Climate Change

Canada is stepping up to the plate to tackle climate change -- or at least emerging from the dugout. Prime Minister Jean Chretien yesterday unveiled a nearly $1 billion package aimed at helping the nation lower its emissions of greenhouse gases. The plan includes incentives for individuals and businesses to make their homes and buildings more energy-efficient, subsidies for the fuel-cell and ethanol industries, and money to assist provinces and aboriginal communities in launching emission-reduction initiatives. Still, Canada has lots more to do in order to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to slash greenhouse gas emissions -- and this plan, with its voluntary initiatives and subsidies, will be the easy part. Setting new mandatory pollution limits on industry won't prove so simple.

Who Was That Unmasked Man, Anyway?

Hanford Cleanup Workers Worry About Toxic Vapors

Dozens of cleanup workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state -- the most contaminated site in the nation -- have registered complaints in the past two years about ammonia-laden vapors seeping up from waste tanks at the site. The workers blame the noxious fumes for a host of health problems ranging from nosebleeds to numb gums to black tongue, and they're particularly worried about getting cancer. It's thought that many more workers are also experiencing problems but haven't come forward for fear of losing their jobs. The U.S. Department of Energy and the site's cleanup contractor, CH2M Hill Hanford Group, claim the workers are safe and have refused some of their requests for protective masks, even while admitting they don't know everything that's in the vapors. Hanford is home to 177 buried tanks that hold 53 million gallons of A-bomb waste, a frightening mix of chemicals and radioactive materials.

Threat Level: Orange

Legacy of Agent Orange Continues to Haunt Vietnam

Decades after the U.S. military sprayed Vietnam with millions of gallons of Agent Orange, fish and livestock in some parts of the nation are still highly contaminated with dioxin and other toxic chemicals contained in the defoliant. Dioxin levels in some people's bloodstreams are also high, according to a new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Vietnamese officials estimate that more than 1 million of the nation's citizens have been exposed to Agent Orange, which was used from 1962 to 1971 to strip trees of their leaves and thereby deny cover to communist fighters. The herbicide has been linked to cancer, diabetes, spina bifida, and other illnesses.