The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 10, 1989 -- Page 5
Center to
study
toxic
waste cleanup
BY NOELLE SHADWICK
Michigan will be one of five states to
take a lead in cleaning up toxic wastes with
the establishment of a toxic waste research
center funded by the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency.
The EPA yesterday announced that five
consortiums of schools will receive one
million dollars to study the problem of
cleaning up hazardous waste sites.
One college in each consortium will co-
ordinate the EPA funds. The University of
Michigan, in addition to the New Jersey
Institute of Technology, North Carolina
State, Kansas State, and Stanford Univer-
sity will receive EPA money.
The University of Michigan will
cU,
wins
$1 million grant from EPA
coordinate the consortium that includes
Michigan State and Howard University.
Researchers will study and try to improve
the ability of microorganisms living in the
soil to break down toxic wastes.
Many studies have shown that certain
organisms can break down compounds re-
lated to benzene, a cancer-causing solvent
in gasoline, said Dr. Jerome Kukor, assis-
tant research scientist in microbiology and
immunology. But the process is slow, he
said.
"We're trying to find out ways we can
make them proceed a little bit faster," he
said.
By genetically altering the bacteria, re-
searchers think they can produce a bacteria
that will decompose waste faster.
The chemicals that researchers will stuay
- part of a class of chemicals known as
BTX - pose serious problems in Michi-
gan because of their prevalence, said Gary
Guenther, director of research and develop-
ment for the Department of Natural Re-
sources.
The chemicals, found mostly in gasoline
and paint, are toxic in air and water. Indi-
viduals as well as gas stations and indus-
tries are responsible for the hazardous
spills, Guenther said.
Researchers will test the microorgan-
isms by using them to clean a toxic waste
site to be determined, said Ron Olsen, di-
rector of the University's Institute of Sci-
ence and Technology.
The use of biological means is a solu-
tion to a problem only recently recognized,
Olsen said.
"This will be a permanent solution and
(allow us) to treat old messes," he said.
There is no question whether or not mi-
crobes can break-down the substances,
Kukor said. "The question now is can we
make them work quickly enough." he said.
There is precedence for using microbes
to clean up waste, said Kukor, who referred
to the cleaning of sewage systems.
But the cleanup of toxic wastes is more
difficult because researchers must make sure
they do not produce a microbe that will
produce more toxic substances, he said.
An additional nine million dollars will
come from the Department of Natural Re-
sources, The National Institute of Envi-
ronmental Health Sciences, and the Michi-
gan Oil and Gas Association.
The Dow Chemical Company funded
preliminary research.
Author speaks
Soviet journal blasts
Gorbachev's reform
on
Vietnam War
BY DONNA IADIPAOLO
AND ANNA SENKEVITCH
Wallace Terry struggled for 17
years to have Bloods: An Oral
History of the Vietnam War by
Black Veterans, printed, because
publishers told him he had tackled
the two topics which Americans
were unwilling to face: Vietnam
and racism.
Terry spoke of his experiences
in Vietnam as a reporter for Time
magazine last night to a crowd of
300 at East Quad's auditorium.
"Nobody wants to hear about
Vietnam," he said, referring to the
early 1970s when he was told he
could not put to print his 600-
page manuscript.
He added that the racism he re-
vealed in his book contributed to
its late publishing - the idea of
"a Black man with a gun who
knew how to use it."
In the 1960s, Terry said,
racism was something that both
diseased the nation and heightened
the atrocities of the war abroad.
During the first two years of
combat, 23 percent of those who
fought front line combat were
Black, he said. As a result, that
combat zone became known as
"Soulville," he added.
"I suppose Uncle Sam was an
equal opportunity employer during
the time of the war," he said.
In addition to being set up as
the prime casualties, Terry said
Black soldiers were also frequent
victims of "Friendly Fire" - be-
ing shot by your own troops.
Cross burnings, racial slurs, and
Confederate flags were common
additions to their war experiences.
Terry presented an alarming
dimension to the war, one of dis-
crimination based on the socio-
economic background of those
who fought in Vietnam.
Wallace Terry, a former Time magazine writer who covered
the Vietnam War, and author of Bloods, speaks in East
Quad last night.
MOSCOW (AP) - A "new
class" of Communist Party and
government bureaucrats is sabotag-
ing President Mikhail Gorbachev's
reforms, and the Soviet leadership is
unable to combat it, a daring maga-
zine article says.
Direct criticism of Gorbachev's
reform program has remained largely
off limits, despite his policy of
greater openness in society. But
Sergei Andreyev's article in the
Leningrad monthly Neva is one of
the harshest and most detailed attacks
yet on the communist system and
Gorbachev's policies.
The party general secretary - the
post Gorbachev holds along with the
presidency- remains "an inaccessible
and exemplary figure" and his at-
tempt to make the system demo-
cratic still leaves the people politi-
cally powerless, Andreyev, a biolo-
gist and plant director, wrote.
"All decisions of the upper pow-
ers are carried out only to the extent
that they are advantageous to the
new class," Andreyev said in the 28-
page essay in the January issue of
the literary and political magazine.
He said the new class is a
"production and managerial appara-
tus" of 14 million party bureaucrats,
government ministers and managers.
Gorbachev himself has launched a
war on bureaucrats who interfere in
day-to-day decisions about pro-
duction and has tried to transfer some
of their power to local officials and
factory managers. He often blames
bureaucrats for the slow pace of re-
form.
But Andreyev said Gorbachev
hasn't gone far enough and that the
model government of the people has
been replaced by the "dictate of the
new class."
Andreyev's use of the term "new
class" appeared to be a reference to
Milovan Djilas' book "The New
Class," which criticized the Com-
munist system.
"Fewer than 50 graduates at all
the Ivy League schools combined
died in Vietnam," said Terry,
comparing that figure of 57 from
a single inner-city high school.
The wealthy white section of
"our great nation" had the pull to
keep their sons our of the line of
combat, he said. Vice President
Dan Quayle's service in the Na-
tional Guard was also used by
Terry in a semi-comical fashion as
an example.
While the author said he is
pleased with the recent public in-
terest in dissecting the Vietnam
war, Terry was disturbed with the
images of the war presented in
such violence-glorifying films as
Rambo, The Deer Hunter, and
Platoon.
Tuition
Continued from Page 1
"This is going to be a very key
year for higher education appropria-
tions," Kittrie said. "The MCC has
made great leaps forward in repre-
senting students at a state level."
Kittrie said MCC will work to-
wards making sure students do not
get the brunt of the traditional fin-
ger-pointing game between the state
and the University over appropria-
tions.
"The University is realizing that
they can't look at tuition as their
way out," Kittrie said. "MSA is
asking administrators and regents not
to increase tuition. Instead, they
should consider making cuts in the
budget in a responsible way which
will not compromise quality."
RC
Continued from Page 1
University students have recently
suffered from skyrocketing tuition
increases - 25 percent in the last
three years. In the past, University
officials have asked for more funds
from the state than they expect, then
raise tuition to cover an increase in
the University budget when the state
gives a lesser amount.
According to the University bud-
get proposal, $33 million of the $51
million increase in the University
budget is needed to maintain current
activities. The additional $18 mil-
lion of the increase will come from
the overhead money gained from re-
search projects.
The University received a higher
increase in state appropriations than
most other state universities. Mich-
igan State received a 3.3 percent
increase, and Wayne State received a
3 percent increase.
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diately and that he will talk
members of the RC before
any concrete plans.
to other
making
Eagle, who has been interim di-
rector of the RC since last July, is
also an RC professor and an associ-
ate professor of Slavic languages and
literatures in LSA. For the six years
before he became interim director,
Eagle was the director of the Pro-
gram of Film and Video in LSA.
Tho Dipartmmnt F istaoy
PRESENTS TWO PUBLIC LECTURES BY
CL AYBOICXE-.CAR0(
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY
AND GENERAL EDITOR OF THE PAPERS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
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