Word: toxicants
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When Union Carbide agreed last year to pay $470 million to compensate victims of the 1984 toxic-gas leak that killed more than 3,400 people in Bhopal, India, the company hoped it had put the world's worst industrial accident behind it. But after less than two months in office, the government of Prime Minister V.P. Singh last week disavowed the settlement. New Delhi said it would demand the $3 billion in damages that India originally sought and would seek to reinstate criminal charges against Union Carbide executives...
Government officials acknowledge that the scientists have a point. Says Charles Elkins, director of the EPA's office of toxic substances: "I would agree that in many cases removal is the wrong thing to do. It is a mistake for people to overreact. But it is also a mistake to say that asbestos is not a problem." In some situations, he says, simply blocking off an area or coating the damaged material with chemical sealants may do the trick. But asbestos insulation should probably be routinely removed from pipes in hallways, for example, to prevent passing children from dislodging...
...folly of spending $300 billion a year on defense: "I think we can get by easily with a $75 billion military budget. These bombers and all of this stuff is an absolute waste of money and a joke." Or industrial pollution: "We get more information every day that toxic poisons are a greater threat to us than anyone ever thought. Intelligent people now know that we are really in trouble." Or East-West relations: "Gorbachev has probably moved more quickly than any person in the history of the world. Moving faster than Jesus Christ did. America is always lagging...
...Goodwill Games to foster better relations between the superpowers following two Olympic boycotts. TNT has aired such advocacy films as Nightbreaker, an antinuclear drama starring Martin Sheen, and Incident at Dark River, in which Mike Farrell (who produced the movie) plays a man whose daughter is killed by toxic waste dumped by a local factory. Currently in production is Captain Planet, a cartoon show for kids about a superhero who fights environmental villains. And Turner's new publishing unit has just created the Turner Tomorrow Awards, offering prizes of up to $500,000 for outstanding unpublished works of fiction that...
...Securitate's more unusual duties was to provide down-to-the-skin security for Ceausescu. According to Pacepa, after hearing Cuba's Fidel Castro claim that the CIA had once tried to poison him by treating his shoes with a toxic substance, Ceausescu developed a phobia about becoming the victim of such a scheme and began wearing brand-new garments every day. At one time, says Pacepa, the Securitate kept a year's worth of suits, socks and shoes stored in a special warehouse; one of each, presumably after careful inspection, was delivered daily to Ceausescu's private quarters. Once...