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WHAT'S NEW IN INES? |
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No.8/2001 |
Dateline: February 23, 2001 |
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This is the weekly electronic information service of the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Editor: Tobias Damjanov, e-mail:
INES homepage: http://inesglobal.org
INES International Office
INES Chair: Prof. Armin Tenner
CONTENTS of WNII No. 8/2001
UK: Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) Newsletter (No. 22/February 2001) http://www.sgr.org.uk
The latest SGR Newsletter carries the following articles:
NOTE (I): SGR has recently set up a 'web-board' forum to facilitate discussion between members (and non-members) on ethical issues in science and technology. The web-board can be found at: http://mattasp.ewebcity.com/db/sgrforum
NOTE (II): Draw your attention to the SGR Conference 2001 "No Star Wars: An International Conference to Keep Space for Peace," Leeds, 4-6 May 2001 (this conference has been announced in WNII 26/2000 and updated in WNII 6/2001). Contact:
To receive a copy of the SGR Newsletter, contact the SGR Administrator Kate Maloney:
USA: Project on Defense Alternatives on "The Paradoxes of post-Cold War US Defense Policy"
The Commonwealth Institute's Project on Defense Alternatives has published "The Paradoxes of post-Cold War US Defense Policy: An Agenda for the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review" (Briefing Memo 18, 5 February 2001) at the following website: http://www.comw.org/pda/0102bmemo18.html The Commonwealth Institute is a US-based INES member organisation.
Biological Weapons statement (forwarded by IPB)
The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has disseminated the following message:
Dear Friends, A group of NGOs - under the auspices of the Geneva NGO Committee for Disarmament - have worked on the sign on letter (pasted below) to push for the Verification Protocol re: Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. This is the final year to get the Verification Protocol completed and signed. At the end of this April, delegates of the BTWC will meet again and also prepare for the 5th Review Conference in November. Between now and then, civil society must gather as many signatures as possible to let them know that we want leadership on this issue. Please send your signatures to the International Peace Bureau at: and pass on the statement to your own contacts. Initial deadline 31st March.
NOTE: The NGO Committee is organising a day briefing on BW. A luncheon for delegates to the Verification Protocol working group in Geneva will be held on April 23-24. If you are interested in attending, please contact this office.
Best wishes Colin Archer, Secretary-General International Peace Bureau
Civil society organizations call on all governments to reinforce the global ban on biological weapons
Biological warfare agents are a unique class of weapons, as they include living organisms with the ability to reproduce and perpetuate their destructive mission beyond the intended target area and time. The threat of biological weapon agents to humankind and the environment has led to a global ban of these weapons. The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) of 1975, ratified by 143 States Parties, outlaws the development and possession of all biological weapons. The last decade has been witness to dramatic and rapid changes in bioscience that are likely to facilitate the development of biological weapons. Civil society organizations around the world are concerned that the BTWC has no mechanism to monitor compliance with the Convention. To solve this problem, States Parties to the Convention established an Ad Hoc Group in 1994 to develop a Protocol to strengthen the Bioweapons Convention. The goal has been to complete the negotiations before the 5th Review Conference of the BTWC convenes in Geneva end of this year. We call on all governments to undertake every effort to reach consensus on a strong Protocol, including broad criteria for facility declarations, random visits to all declared facilities, clarification procedures, challenge investigations and an export monitoring system. The global consensus against the hostile use of living organisms is increasingly endangered. Some programs blur the boundary between peaceful and hostile uses of biological agents, such as pathogenic fungi that are currently being developed for use in drug crop eradication programs. These efforts undermine the global taboo against the development and use of biological weapons. We call on the 5th Review Conference of the BTWC, to be held in November 2001 in Geneva, to address these issues and
Nuclear Dangers and Nuclear Disarmament
This is a "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) brief elaborated by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. To give you an idea what it's all about, here are the questions:
You can obtain this FAQ either from: or from the WNII editor as an rtf-formatted email attachment.
Abolition 2000 homepage: http://www.abolition2000.org
Grassroots News: http://www.napf.org/abolition2000/news/
Abolition 2000 Grassroots Newsletter February 2001 (Vol. III Number 2)
The latest Grassroots Newsletter of the Abolition 2000 Network has the following contents:
CSD9: Petition Against the Support of Nuclear Technologies
As Michael Strauss, Media Coordinator of the NGO CSD Steering Committee ( )explains: "The Petition version that now appears, includes the final suggestions from organization such as WISE, NIRS, and the Earth Day Network. These have been edited into the original document that had been drafted and circulated by Helene Connor of Helio International with input from a number NGOs, particularly Gunnar Olesen [INFORSE], Alice Slater [GRACE] ((INES member; the ed.)), Pincas Jawetz [FFPAI], and Gail Karlsson [CitNet]. "Networks should be informed that positive signers should be sent back to Myrthe Verweij, at WISE-Amsterdam . She will record this round of signatures and send the list to us for the final formatting and then the presentations. Networks should also be reminded that signatures should be BY ORGANIZATIONS NOT BY INDIVIDUALS." You can get the Petition, which will be formally presented to the CSD Bureau and governments at the CSD high-level session, 16-27 April this year, from the following websites: (*) English: http://www.antenna.nl/wise/csd/petuk.html Spanish: http://www.antenna.nl/wise/csd/petes.html French: http://www.antenna.nl/wise/csd/petfr.html Dutch: http://www.antenna.nl/wise/csd/petnl.html
(*) As an rtf-formatted email attachment, I can make available the english version. The Editor
("Rio+10"): Email information contacts http://www.un.org/rio+10.htm
(1) An Overview of National Preparatory Processes is given at: http://www.un.org/rio+10/web_pages/national_preparations_for_rio.htm
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) information http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/index.htm
The web site indicated above contains the full text and graphics of five special reports from the IPCC's Working Groups, released for the 6th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in The Hague, The Netherlands, 13-24 November 2000. These five special reports are the following:
Petition for UN Resolution Calling for the Banning of Genetically Engineered Foods and Crops
(From Joan Russow (PhD), Global Compliance Research Project Canada )
This petition for a General Assembly resolution has been circulated internationally through the internet and received endorsement from representatives from over 30 states. It was also submitted to the office of the Secretary General of the United Nations, to the leader of the G77, and to UN delegates to the Beijing +5 Conference held in New York in June 2000. In Canada, a similar petition had been put on the floor of the House of Commons in the fall of 1998, and submitted to David Anderson, the Minister of Environment in January 2000. For too long the dialogue about genetically engineered foods and crops has been treated solely as a "right to know" issue--a labeling issue. Labeling would not address the equity, health and environmental issues. No amount of research will be able to determine the long range consequences on human health and the environment of having introduced, and continuing to introduce genetically engineered foods and crops. This Petition emerged out of a Proclamation, and out of resolutions from the Biodevastation 1 Conference in St Louis, USA,(July, 1998) the Biodevastation II Conference in Delhi, India (March, 1999 and meeting on Biotechnology the World Trade Organization, Seattle,(November, 1999). The Petition can be obtained as an rtf-formatted email attachment from the WNII editor
Istanbul +5 http://www.istanbul5.org/
Istanbul +5 is the short name for the Special Session of the UN General Assembly for an Overall Review and Appraisal of the Implementation of the Habitat Agenda, to be held at New York, 6-8 June 2001. The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is publishing daily reports from the Istanbul +5 PrepCom II, underway in Nairobi form 19-23 February 2001. Full coverage, including streaming audio, digital photos and daily reports is available at: http://www.iisd.ca/habitat/istanbul+5/prepcom2/index.html
To subscribe to daily issues delivered by e-mail, send a one line message to: with the message: Subscribe enb Or Subscribe enb-pdf
(Unfortunately, this information was provided as of 20 February only; the ed.]
UNIDIR "disarmament forum" one/2001
"NMD: Jumping the Gun?" is the subject of the latest issue of "disarmament forum" which is published by the UN Institute for Disarmament Research. The first edition of this year carries the following articles:
CONFERENCES, MEETINGS, SEMINARS
InterSymp 2001
13th International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics and Cybernetics
The Conference will provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of short reports on current systems research in humanities, sciences and engineering. A number of specialized symposia is being organized to focus on research in computer science, synergetics, cognitive science, psychocybernetics, sociocybernetics, logic, philosophy, management, ecology, health care, education and other related areas. For more details, visit: http://www.iias.edu/frameset_start_inters_ann.html
No new or changed addresses.
All INES e-mail addresses and homepages are available upon request from:
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