Industrial toxins are still deadly after 'recycling'

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... Court's war on abortion rights In 1987, U.S. industries poured 22.5 billion pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, water, or ground—or shipped them off to sewage-treatment plants. That's 1000 pounds for each American citizen. These are unaudited industry figures; the reality is probably far higher.

In the past, landfill was the most common method of disposal. But with the tremendous amounts of industrial waste-coupled with the dilemma of regular garbage-we are running out of room. Understandably, most communities do not want landfills in their own backyards.

Most landfills leak into our underground water supplies— a major source of drinking water. A recent federal report stated that 37 states have widespread contamination of ground water.

Another means of disposal is direct dumping in water resources such as lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans. The Environmental Protection Agency reported last month that 17,365 of the country's waterways are polluted.

Much of this dumping is still legal. The few laws that exist to regulate these activities are usually not enforced—in part due to lack of funding for the regulators. Corruption is also a factor.

Is incineration a "solution?"

Another "solution," which began in Europe and is now being greeted with favor in this country, is the toxic-waste incinerator. Burned at high temperatures, large amounts of toxics are seemingly made to disappear.

But filling the air with these deadly poisons is hardly a long-term solution. Industry figures—which at first glance appear impressive-point to a 99.99-percent burning efficiency. Let's say for a moment that this is possible. A few facts can soon dispel their sense of reality.

Even small amounts of this highly unstable toxic smoke should be a source of concern. These airborne elements combine with others, which create unpredictable compounds. And the effects are magnified, of course, given that each incinerator burns hundreds of tons of material.

But let's delve deeper into this issue of deadly deceit. Accidents occur even in the best situations. Industry locates these incinerators side by side with low-income neighborhoods, posing a fundamental question—which way is the wind blowing?

This article is a contribution from a Socialist Action reader. Jeffrey Goldman is an activist in the environmental movement in the San Francisco Bay Area.

(continued from page 1: “Nationally coordinated mass protests are needed”) roughly eroded by the Supreme Court's ruling that-unless the pro-choice majority mounts a mass-action campaign-soon only the wealthy will retain access to abortion. Currently, all but 13 states deny public funding for poor women wanting abortions.

OR plans more blockades Randall Terry, leader of the right-wing, anti-choice Operation Rescue (OR), promised that an "avalanche of [anti-choice] legislation" Will hit all 50 states. More ominously, he promised a big escalation of blockades at clinics that perform abortions. OR insists, justifiably, that it has the blessing of the Supreme Court.

The Court's decision escalates the war against women's rights. The casualties— women dead and injured—will be seen in the days to come. No laws actually stop abortions—-they just drive them underground. The rate of abortion has been constant throughout modern U.S. history; the only statistic that changes is the number of women who die from back-alley abortions.

On one side of this war are the Supreme Court, the White House, Congress, and state governments—in conjunction with Operation Rescue and other incipient fascist groups which consider their war on women's rights to be a holy crusade. On the other side are the majority of the people, women's rights organizations such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), unions, and many other organizations.

NOW is the most important organization in the leadership of the pro-choice movement. NOW initiated and organized the largest 4 SOCIALIST ACTION JULY 1989 Bened AIR WATER EARTH ANIMAL VEGET MAKRAI 'NAME YOUR POISON' Action list Joseph Ryan/Socia Thousands protested Court decision and children-marched in Washington, D.C., on April 9 to keep abortion safe, legal and accessible.

Challenge before NOW convention On July 21-23, NOW will hold its national conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. This conference represents an historic opportunity for NOW to launch the next campaign of the mass movement to defend reproductive rights.

Periodically, burners must blow their stacks free, which releases large amounts of cancer-causing smoke. The large volumes of ash from burning and the scrubbers and liquids used to clean the stacks are all highly toxic. This material then goes for burial or dumping in our waterways. Big business as usual!

Furthermore, even under the best of circumstances, the distorted industry figures are not possible. A 99.99-percent efficiency cannot be achieved.

Corporation-style "recycling"

Portions of the corporations' overhead goes to buying government officials. A little more is used to deceive the public through a number of gimmicks—or what they call "public relations."

Let's take a look at a recent case to illustrate the corporations' tactics. Marine Shale, a disposal company in Amelia, La., is a good place to start.

Owner Jack Kent seemed nice enough at first, plenty A debate is developing over what the character of this campaign should be. Several pro-choice leaders have declared that the task before the movement is to channel the energies of pro-choice activists into the electoral arena. Their aim is to defeat "anti-abortion" legislators (Republicans) and elect those with "pro-choice" positions (Democrats) in order to pass pro-choice bills in state legislatures.

But this course of action would deliver the pro-choice movement into the hands of those who would demobilize it. Democratic and Republican party politicians would like nothing better than to funnel the anger generated by the Supreme Court decision into the two-party political shell game.

Both capitalist parties have played a treacherous role in opposing women's rights-defeating the Equal Rights Amendment, implementing the 1977 Hyde Amendment, gutting affirmative-action programs.

There are no fundamental differences between the Republicans and the Democrats.

At the same time, several pro-choice leaders have declared that the fight is at the state capitols. But letting ourselves be diverted from a nationwide protest into separate stateby-state actions would be a serious mistake, tending to isolate activists in states where the pro-choice movement is weaker.

The Supreme Court's invitation to the states to put new restrictions on women's rights was designed precisely to forestall a unified nationwide response by the pro-choice On April 9, over 600,000 women and men—of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all over the country-gathered on the Mall in Washington, D.C, to defend the right to abortion. Today, as the consequences of the Supreme Court's decision become known, an ever larger number of people can be mobilized in mass action.

The National NOW the date for a massive convention should set pro-choice march and commerce in neighboring Morgan City. He also bought the town's Little League uniforms and financed the high-school band. Actually, all that was a smokescreen of inexpensive overhead.

Things changed for the worse when five children contracted neuroblastoma, a rare cancer. Then two of them died. All five children lived downwind from the largest hazardous-waste incinerator in the United States. Other residents complained of illnesses and skin irritations.

But Jack Kent, who owns the incinerator, reaped $40 million profit in 1988 from the project. That was all to "recycle" (as Jack refers to it) the deadly chemicals that other companies don't want to handle. Marine Shale burns an average of over 100,000 tons a year of every toxin used in this country.

When Marine Shale first opened, it was licensed for disposal of "non-toxic" waste only. But the company soon began to burn toxics. When people complained of the smell, a judge placed a 10-day restraining order on the company. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LADEQ) also issued a compliance order.

Government lends a hand In late 1985, Pat Norton, the secretary of LADEQ, was called into Governor Edwin Edward's mansion. In the presence of Jack Kent, he was told to sign a letter of authorization. The company was now allowed to burn the toxic chemical creosote. Soon, through a series of maneuvers, Kent expanded his ability to store and burn all types of toxic waste.

Kent is able to counter every investigation and complaint against him with legal loopholes and Whitewashing in the media. All of his commercials end with the tag line, "Marine Shale processors-environmentally safe."

Now following Jack Kent's lead, other companies across the country are using a federal loophole by calling themselves "recyclers."

Workers and communities have been taken advantage of and misled through deception by corporate bosses and their two hands-the government and the mass media. Lies-like the threat that jobs will be lost if the waste facilities are Shut down-have gone on too long.

We cannot afford to create toxic waste since there is no safe means of disposal. Let the bosses answer for their wrongdoings. The workers must take control of the factories in order to adapt to today's changing world.

The workers are the majority; the bosses are but a few. These modern-day barons are not capable of serving the interests of society. Let the ones who made the mess clean it up and not perpetuate it. At least they won't be unemployed!

With community activism, we can make an impact. We can begin to destroy their elitist mentality. Let them answer for their wrong-doings. We must pass stiff penalties for the violators. Take away their businesses, so they can't repeat their incompetence.

Ultimately, a much more radical change is needed to face the numerous global nightmares in regard to pollution. Unless big steps are taken, new faces will ultimately emerge serving corrupt ideas with new methods of exploitation. Time is indeed running out.

rally this fall that will once again bring together hundreds of thousands of people.

Clinic defense and mass protests Mass demonstrations and massive defense of abortion clinics are inseparable tasks. The only way to effectively counter the "one-two punch" of the government and the anti-choice terrorists is to fight them on both fronts.

These two tasks—if carried out by NOW and all the supporters of every woman's right to choose-will have a big impact on the legislatures and the courts.

In fact, the extent to which the movement retains its independence and its mass mobilization character is the extent to which women's rights will be preserved-and expanded.

Women will never accept going back to the days when their choices were between bearing children against their will or facing serious risks-possibly even death-from illegal, back-alley abortions. The Supreme Court and the clinic terrorists want to send us back to those days. The women's rights movement must reach out to all supporters of democratic rights-especially the unions-for help.

The stakes in the struggle to defend Roe v. Wade and keep the clinics open have risen dramatically. To paraphrase an axiom of the workers' movement, "An injury to one-half of the human race is an injury to the entire human race."

zoklyn, NY 11240-4830 IMPACT st Office Box 404830 ISUALS 2-966-9619 Affordable photos, cartoons, caricatures and lions for the movement and the progressive press

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demonstration for women's right in history. Six hundred thousand peoplemen, women,