Conyers questions EPA
assessment of KUwait oil
fire impact on troops
" • WASHINGTON, D.c.-Rep.
· . John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Chair­
man of the Hou e Committee on
Government Operation, has in­
itiated a General Accounting Of­
fice (GAO) inve tigation into
· the adequacy of an April 3 En­
vironmental Protection Agency
(EPA) assessment of air quality
and sub equent health ri ks to
.: , U.S. troops due to the Kuwaiti
.. oil well fire .
�. The report, Kuwait Oil Fires:
:: Interagency Interim Report,
Itated that no toxic chemicals
were detected in the air in
Kuwait in ignific nt quanti tie ,
and concluded that there was no
:: serious health risk associated
· : with exposure to the smoke for
. people with normal respiratory
capacity, sucb as the over­
whelming majority of U.S.
troop.
"Soldiers and medical per­
" sonnelln the Gulf are calling the
. : emissions from the oil wells
"Agent Smoke," and I under-
tand many re keeping personal
diarie of their expo ure," Con­
re' tated. "A public percep­
tion that this enormou amount
of moke i harmle would cer­
tainly benefit the
Administration's consistent
depiction of the Persian Gulf
War and its aftermath as
'clean' ."
"The accuracy of the EPA as­
sessment is further c lled into
question by an analysis by the
British Meteorological Office,
which found that airborne soot
60 miles from the fires was six
time worse than in downtown
London.
THE NATIONAL Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administra­
tion (NOAA), which is part of
the interagency team, reported
this week that the soot con­
centration over Hawaii was at
least 20 times greater than nor-
.Corry er s introduces
'.;-9 e net i cpr iva c y act
WASHINGTON, D.c.-Rep.' dividuals to determine what
John'Conyerl, Jr. (D-MI), Chair- genetic records are collected,
. man of the House Committee on maintained, used or dissemi­
.... Government Operations, an- nated by government or private
. nounced the introduction of the sector agencies. It prevents dis­
Human Genome Privacy Act, to closure of genetic records
protect an individual's genetic without an individual's personal
Information from misuse and written consent, and guarantees
dllclolure. everyone the ability to correct or
,-- Conyers asserted, the right to amend the e records.
privacy, protected by the Con- Conyers said there are his­
stitution, I now potentially torical precedents of abuse of
, t�reatened b.y advance in the genetic information, Conyers
biological sciences, aid. Screening programs for
Becau e of high-tech ickle-cell anemia in the 1970's,
· development in gene mapping most notably tho e conducted by
- and screening, genetic privacy the Air Force, were incredibly
could become a major focus of damaging to the Black com­
the civil rights movement in the munity and howed how di -
#. next twenty year, Conyer said. criminatory and malicious the
"Allowing genetic informa- use of genetic technology can
tion outside an individual' per- become, Conyer aid.
lonal u e threaten to open a
'Pandora', Box': .we may well
ee genetic information u ed by .
tbe government and the private
. lector to create a 'biological
-., undercla .. ' of tho e with
'biological underclus' of tbose
: wit.h 'i nferior' gene tic
.' makeups," Conyers warn�d.
MY BILL IS the fir t piece of
ale illative mosaic that will en­
lure genetic information is
never abu ed.
The act would allow in-
"RECENT REPORTS by
the Office of Technology As-
essrne nt and other age ncie
have documented dozen of in­
stances where government and
the private sector-inCluding
Fortune 500 corporation -have
di criminated again t in­
dividuals on the basis of their
genetic make-up. People bave
been turned down for life,
health, di abit ity and auto in-
urance, denied government
benefits and employment, and
Because of high-tech
developments in gene
mapping and
screening, genetic
privacy could become
the major focus of the
civil rights movement In
the next twenty years,
Conyers said.
turned away, from adoption
agencies based on personal or
family genetic predispositions.
In the extreme ca e, Hitler used
genetic information in hi at-.
tempt to create a master race.
The genetic privacy bill is
backed by some of the nation'.
leading ctentlst , ethici ts, and
activi ts, including Dr. W.
French Ander on, Dr. Paul Bill­
ings, Jeremy Rifkin and Ralph
Nader. Additionally, in-
dividual repre enting or-
ganized I bor, disability rights,
women's organiz lion, public
interest organizations, con­
lumer nd health organization,
and the religious community
have also announced their sup­
port (or the Jelf.lalion.
qual Employment Oppor­
tuni ty Commi ion official
h ve re cinded letter that·
declared illegal certain ctivitie
that colleges routinely pon or
to i t minority tudents.
Accordin to recent i ue of
"The Chronicle of Hi her Educ -
tion," the letter, is ued la t year,
y tb t Title VlI of the Civil
Righ Act ba bolding "career
fairs," and other job pI cement
ctivitie geared for minority
tudents.
Tbi conlusion ba ed on
tbe Act's prohibition of racial
discrimination by employment
agencies. College pI cement of­
fices qualify employment
agencie , according to Federal
court rulings.
DETAILS OF THE LAW,
well u tbe ,minority a ist nee
practice of educational institu­
tions, are now under review by
the EEOC. Although tbe letter
bad not been widely publicized,
In 191 , the
EEOC tated th t
car.er cent r
could not
conduct ctlvltl
that p clflc lIy
xcluded white
tudent ..•
ing b t tbeir po ilion is goin
to be," he dds. Kaplan believ
th t the EEOC sbould clarify tbe
i ue quickly nd in a y that
How educational institutions
to provide peci,l services for
minority tudents.
This is not the first lime the
Commi sion h dealt ith thil
issue. In 1979, it stated in a letter
tbat career placement centers
could not conduct activities that
pecifically excluded hite stu-
ue:
Senate committee studies Black males
ing against young African
American male in this
country," Riegle said.
At a hearing which focused
on sol ution to the problems of
urban Blacks, actor Blair Under­
wood stressed a need to "change
the psyche of young Blacks In
the country."
Som of the i uel di ed
�t tb� fI,i,DI inc �<L p.41ng
ways to address t e root of
specific problems, regional and
national implications of those
problems, and lugae.lion on
government policy tbat will
solve tbe pro .. leml withOut
defying fiscal constraints.
"We've got to determine why
we can rebuild citie In Ku� alt
aDd Mexico but e can't do a
thing to provide jobl for people
iD Detroit," Riegle added. ·We
have • IS percent un M,P)OY-
chU r te in Dc!trolt" I' ve
lot to do _omethlDi t provide
jobl for people of all color. nd
races in our clues." .• ,
WA S H I N G TO N - - U. S.
Senator Donald Riegle (D­
Michigan), Chairman of the
Senate Banking, Housing and
Urban Affairs Committee, has
announced that he is outlining
ction step that must be taken
to rectify the problems facing
mal. It seem that a Kuwaiti African-American malel in
connection would be obvious, erican cities. . .
• b\Jt 'NOAA c�ned tht relatjon- .• "Th lack of e�AAomi�
ship 'circumstantial." • d'evelopment and equality In
Conyers pointed out thal .ctties such as Detroitand Flint is
while the EPA report has a cover the Single biggest (actor work­
"Note to Correspondents" that
states "the preliminary data did
not indicate levels of concern of
ulfur dioxide or hydrogen sul­
fide," the report itself points out
the following concerns:
-"The toea! .populations are
being exposed to an increased
ri k;"
-"Children are at special
ri k;"
-"There will most certainly
be occasions of black rain;"
-"The 'smoke' can and will
produce crop damage and
damage to marine life;"
-Long-term exposure "can
produce permanent I ung and car­
diovascular damage ... an 'oily
lung' sympton ... similar to Black
1 ung."
to
,
. .
Don'
. ,
, :
I r
Africa
arv
• I
Here's how you can help.
.1
TJle following organizations are among tnose accepting tax-deductible donatlona for
African famine renef, which you should designate on your check.
Arlc:.re
Afrlc.re Hou.e
440 R Street, N.W.
W •• hlngton, D.C. 20001
Amerlc.n Friend. Service Committee
1501 Cherry St.
Phll.delphl., ·Penn. 11102 .
Amerlc.n Jewl.h World Service
1210 Avenue of the America •
New York, N.Y. 10104
Amerlc.n Red Cro ••
PO Box 37243
W •• hlngton, D.C. 20013
C.thollc Relief ervlce.
ocl.1 Mlnl.trle. OHlce
301 Mlchlg.n Ave.
Detroit, Ich, 41228
Church World ervlce
PO Box HI ·
Elkh.rt, Ind. 48511
\
(Epl.cop.l) Pre.ldlng I.hop'. Fund
for World Relief
11 econd Ave.
New York, N.Y. 10017
Oxfam Amerlc.
115. Broadw.y
o.ton. M.... 0211 e
U. .Commltt.e for the United N"lon.
Children'. nd (UNIC F)
333 E. 31th t.
New York, N.Y. 10018