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Title: ASGP News Circulator 2/12.01 pt 1 Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) News Circulator
- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 14:00:16 -0500
- From: Greg Gerritt <gerritt@edgenet.net>
- Subject: ASGP-COO ASGP News Circulator 2/12.01 pt 1
Week Ending February 12, 2001
News Summary:
* LaDuke Speaks to Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Pennsylvania;
* Italian Ministers Argue Over GM Crops;
* Judge: Nader Suit Against Pres. Debates Commission May Proceed;
* Greens Lead Shift from Factory Farming in Germany;
* Two Greens Vie for Columbus City Council Seats;
* Hotline: Nader Must Build Green Party.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press
AP Online
February 12, 2001; Monday 3:20 AM, Eastern Time
SECTION: Domestic, non-Washington, general news item
LENGTH: 220 words
HEADLINE: LaDuke Says Environment Is at Risk
DATELINE: STATE COLLEGE, Pa.
BODY:
Winona LaDuke, who was Ralph Nader's running mate on the Green Party
presidential ticket, says the
environment is at risk during the Bush administration, but that an Al
Gore presidency wouldn't have been
much better.
''Do I think that Gore was the lesser of two evils? Yes. I think Gore
was the lesser of two evils, and I
think Bush was the greater of the two evils,'' LaDuke said. ''But I
think that the system is flawed, and I
still stand by the idea that you should be able to vote on your
principles and you should be able to vote
for people you believe in.''
During an interview Saturday, LaDuke dismissed criticism that the Green
Party cost the Democrats the
election and reiterated accusations she made during the campaign that
both Republicans and Democrats
are tainted by their big-business connections.
LaDuke, an Ojibwe Indian activist from the White Earth Indian
Reservation in northwest Minnesota,
was in State College to give the keynote address at the Pennsylvania
Association for Sustainable
Agriculture conference.
''Pennsylvania has long-standing communities, and you have people here
with a common interest of
clean air, clean water, wanting to know where your food came from,''
LaDuke said. ''They have a
common vision for their community, and that helps build the community.''
Copyright 2001 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
February 12, 2001, Monday 2:12 AM, Eastern Time
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 314 words
HEADLINE: Italian ministers in row over genetically-altered crops
DATELINE: ROME, Feb 12
BODY:
Supporters and opponents of genetically modified crops planned to take
their cause to the streets in
Rome Tuesday as Italy's farming and health ministers became embroiled in
a dispute over whether to
ban research in the field.
Health Minister Umberto Veronesi on Monday voiced support for scientists
who disagree with an
four-month-old order by Agriculture Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio of
the small ecological Greens
party that all open-air research into genetically-altered crops be
discontinued.
During the rally scientists said they would present a "manifesto for the
freedom of scientific research."
"To limit or put a stop to biotechnologies is to halt the course of
history. I wonder who would want
that," Veronesi said Monday in an interview with the newspaper Corriere
della Sera.
The manifesto is a way of "rebelling against a particularly near-sighted
Italian research culture," he
added.
Veronesi has likened Pecoraro Scanio's adamant opposition to genetically
modified crops to "that of the
(Roman Catholic) Church to many questions of life."
The Greens party, in a separate protest, is planning to back the farming
minister's policies which it says
are being pursued "in the name of precaution."
Speaking less than three months before the center-left government faces
a crucial election test, Pecoraro
Scanio played down the controversy on Monday, saying it was "due to
disinformation".
"I support free and independent research. I cannot outlaw research," he
told high school students in
Naples.
Pecoraro Scanio noted that he had redirected funds for the benefit of
farmers and consumers, away
from open-air research.
"If others want to do something else, let them do it," he continued. "I
am in favor of research that is
independent from economic bigwigs. Funds must go to researchers and not
to a few (industry) moguls."
Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston Globe
February 9, 2001, Friday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: METRO/REGION; Pg. B2
LENGTH: 152 words
HEADLINE: NEW ENGLAND IN BRIEF / BOSTON;
JUDGE ALLOWS NADER SUIT TO PROCEED
BODY:
A federal judge yesterday declined to dismiss 2000 Green Party
presidential nominee Ralph Nader's
lawsuit against the Commission on Presidential Debates. Nader sued the
commission for excluding him
from the site of the Oct. 3 presidential debate at the University of
Massachusetts at Boston, even though
he had a ticket to watch from a side room. Nader maintains that he was
discriminated against because
of his political views and prevented from doing interviews inside the
debate site. The commission had
already excluded Nader from participating in the debateon the grounds
that he did not have enough
support in opinion polls. Nader also sued a police officer and a private
security guard employed by the
commission who turned him away. US District Judge William Young said he
was "troubled by excluding
someone because of their political views" and ruled there were no
grounds to dismiss the lawsuit.
Copyright 2001 The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times (London)
February 9, 2001, Friday USA Edition 1
SECTION: WORLD NEWS - EUROPE; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 383 words
HEADLINE: WORLD NEWS - EUROPE: Germany plans factory farming shift
BYLINE: By Haig Simonian in Berlin and Michael Mann in London
DATELINE: BERLIN and LONDON
BODY:
Renate Kunast, Germany's new food, farming and consumer protection
minister, yesterday set out bold
plans to shift from factory farming to less intensive methods, in the
Green party minister's first
parliamentary statement since her appointment.
Ms Kunast's initiative comes as Europe struggles to overcome a wave of
consumer panic after the
discovery of BSE, or mad cow disease, in countries including Germany
previously believed to be free of
the disease. European Union beef consumption has fallen by more than a
quarter since October, forcing
politicians to reassess intensive farming methods blamed for spreading
the disease.
However, Ms Kunast's demand for a reappraisal of the output-oriented
policies of the European
Union's Common Agricultural Policy over the past four decades could lead
to difficulties with some EU
partners.
"I will pull every lever to ensure means are made available to give
priority to ecological farming, natural
animal breeding and the protection of jobs in the farming community,"
she said. "National room for
manoeuvre in agricultural subsidies must increase."
Ms Kunast, co-chairman of the environmentalist Greens in Germany's
coalition government, was
appointed to the newly created post after the resignation in January of
both Germany's farm and health
ministers because of the BSE scandal.
Germany has reported only 28 BSE cases since the first incidence last
November and had been
resistant to many of the EU's anti-BSE measures, claiming to be free of
the disease. The UK, which has
suffered the majority of the 180,000 recorded BSE cases, has been
legislating for more than a decade
to bring the disease under control.
Ms Ku nast promised DM1bn (Dollars 476,000) in aid to counter BSE,
including compensation for
farmers whose herds have to be slaughtered and feed stocks destroyed.
"The BSE scandal marks the end of agricultural policy of the old style,"
she said. The new criterion in
farming would be "class, not mass".
Ms Kunast said Germany would aim to raise the share of organically grown
foods to 20 per cent within
the next 10 years from 2.5-3 per cent today. Policy would also be
adjusted to promote higher
standards, natural animal breeding, greater consumption of regional food
products and restricted use of
medicines.
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