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Announcement :: Environment |
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BACKYARD BIOWEAPONS AT BIODEV 7 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Michael Allen
Email: mrallen (nospam) mprsnd.org (verified)
Phone: 314-353-8176 |
17 Apr 2003
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A new panel announced for Biodevastation 7 in St. Louis (May 16-18 2003) |
Backyard Bioweapons: Biolabs, Biodefense, Biotech & Billions of $
will be one of the major themes at
Biodevastation 7: A Forum on Environmental Racism, World Agriculture and Biowarfare
May 16 - 18, 2003, St. Louis, Missouri
After sabotaging a UN inspection system for biological weapons research facilities, the Bush Administration is spending billions in a massive expansion of America's biodefense program. Communities across the country are confronting bioweapons in their backyards.
With biological weapons, offense and defense are virtually inseparable. From Boston to Honolulu, more than three dozen new "hot zones" have been proposed. These labs are said to be necessary to defend the US from biological terrorists; but the biodefense program itself is the bigger threat to peace, health, and the environment. These labs will store and grow the world's most dangerous organisms and genetically engineered diseases. They will train hundreds, perhaps thousands, in the perverted science of making biological weapons. Few of the priority diseases pose a significant health threat in the US. But as public health systems crumble, federal money has been found to genetically engineer anthrax.
Secrecy at the labs threatens biological weapons control and surrounding communities. Government agencies with atrocious records of public accountability will finance and operate them, including the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security. When you mix biotech, the military, and billions of dollars you get profound dangers to people, the environment, and peace.
You can hear from those opposing this new military-biotech frontier at the panel on "Backyard Bioweapons." This Biodevastation 7 panel will bring together activists resisting the out-of-control expansion of research on bioweapons. Speakers will discuss…
the US Army's plans for Dugway Proving Ground in Utah,
how nuclear weapons maker Lawrence Livermore National Lab wants to go biological,
Boston University's big secret: a $1.6 billion lab plan for Boston's South End,
the University of Texas' monster facility in Galveston, and
how a five pound primate may have sunk a $200 million University of California scheme.
This major panel on biowarfare will be…
10:00 am, Saturday, May 17, 2003, "Backyard Bioweapons: Biolabs, Biodefense, Biotech, & Billions of $"
There will be three related workshops…
2:00-3:45 pm, Friday, May 16. "Blitzing Biodiversity: Fumigation in Colombia." Glyphosate. Agent Green (Sunshine). A bit on other countries, especially Afghanistan.
1:45-3:30 pm, Saturday, May 17. "Biotech Superbugs: Genetically Engineering Diseases." Areas where genetic engineering and the Pentagon collide. The science in biodefense labs -- from biotech superbugs to the bleeding edge science of RNA interference.
3:45-5:30 pm, Saturday, May 17. "Confronting the Biolabs: Grassroots Organizing and Coalition-Building." A participatory sharing and cooperation session, with a success story of how Davis, CA activists booted the University of California's biodefense lab out of the city and are working to stop it altogether.
Confirmed speakers for the biowarfare panel and workshops at Biodevastation 7 include…
Edward Hammond is the Director of the Sunshine Project in Austin, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to preventing development and use of biological weapons and, in particular, the application of biotechnology to hostile uses.
Steve Erickson, Director of the Citizens Education Project in Salt Lake City, has been peace and social justice advocate and lobbyist for over two decades, and is the leading watchdog and critic of the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground.
Inga Olson, Program Analyst for Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) in Livermore CA, has been active in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 and the peace, anti-nuclear, women's, environmental, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movements.
Joshua English is with Stop the UCD Biolab Now! and lives a short bike ride from the proposed Biosafety Level 4 facility at the University of California at Davis.
Biodevastation 7 also includes the following panel discussions:
10:00 am, Friday, May 16. "The International Threat to Farms and Farmers"
7:00 pm, Friday, May 16. "Globalization and Food Imperialism"
7:30 pm, Saturday, May 17. "Environmental Racism"
10:00 am, Sunday, May 18. "Crop Contamination and the Future of Indigenous Agriculture"
On the afternoon of Sunday, May 18 there will be an anti-globalization convergence at the World Agricultural Forum. http://www.worldagforum.com or 314-771-8576.
REGISTER NOW: http://www.gatewaygreens.org/biodev7/register.htm |
See also:
http://http;//www.gatewaygreens.org/biodev7
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