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| The
Earth Times | Posted September 4, 2002
Columnists
Johannesburg Summit: What's the Point? World leaders
arriving in Johannesburg expected to make stirring
speeches on development issues, even as tough questions
are raised about usefulness of summit
> BY BONNER R. COHEN
Copyright © 2002 by The Earth
Times. All rights
reserved
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JOHANNESBURG--As
the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
enters its final three days, the question heard most
often is: Will anything worthwhile come from this?
The question is not a vote of confidence in what
most believe will be the outcome of the Johannesburg
summit. Whether it's the promise to take "decisive
action" to address the latest global affliction,
or the announcement of yet another "partnership" to
improve the lot of the downtrodden, it's all been
heard so many times before that delegates and journalists
alike appear increasingly bored by the proceedings.
Those still clinging to the belief that "sustainable development" is
the wave of the future need look no further than yesterday's press conference
hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to see the error of their ways.
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of the WHO and, according to the
WHO press release, a "pioneer of sustainable development," launched "her
major new initiative to tackle the worldwide environmental crisis affecting children's
health."
Brundtland explained that environment-related
illnesses kill the equivalent of a jumbo
jet full of children every 45 minutes.
Noting that children, particularly in
poorer countries, suffer from infectious
diseases due to lack of safe water and
sanitation and acute respiratory infections
due to high levels of indoor air pollution,
Brundtland announced the creation of
a global alliance, the Healthy Environments
for Children Initiative, which, among
other things, would:
-
"Mobilize
partners and individuals into a broad-based
popular
participatory
movement;"
-
Empower
governments and their local partners to
expand and scale up action;" and
-
Foster
cooperation amongst the world's nations
and amongst different sectors
within each country, e.g.
environment, transport, energy, housing,
etc."
It is a mystery how such
meaningless phrases will
be of any benefit
to children in poor countries
who breathe indoor
air made filthy by the burning
of firewood or dung which
are the only available
sources of energy. Even worse,
a careful reading of some
of the materials in its
press packet shows that WHO's
children's initiative is
better suited for a GreenPeace
fund-raising letter than
for
an agency seriously aiming
at addressing the health
problems of children in poverty-stricken
countries.
Thus we are told that, "Endocrine-disrupting
chemicals polluting the environment are
thought to affect the reproductive and
immune functions, and may cause "neurotoxicity
and neurobehavioural problems." Further,
WHO states that, "Global
climate change, ozone depletion,
electro-magnetic
radiation, contamination
by persistent organic pollutants,
and chemicals
that disrupt endocrine functions
may adversely
affect the health and development
of children who are most
vulnerable to 'emerging'
environmental threats."
Surely there is someone at WHO who knows
that the study on which the endocrine
disrupter scare of the mid-1990s was
based had to be withdrawn in 1997 because
neither the original researchers or anyone
else was ever able to replicate the reported
results. And surely there is someone
at WHO who knows that extensive research
costing billions of dollars has produced
no evidence whatever that electro-magnetic
fields pose a threat to public health.
For WHO to engage in this kind of fear-mongering
is to degrade the organization and undermine
its credibility.
The mind reels as the number of hungry
children who could have been fed, or
provided with much-needed medical care,
with the money WHO spent on the slick,
glossy, colorful, spare-no-expense press
packet handed out yesterday in Johannesburg.
Among other things, it included a glowing
one-page bio of Brundtland, complete
with a color photo of the WHO director
general. If, as expected, the WSSD, ends
in three days with little to show for
it, the finger-pointing will get underway
in earnest. Much of the blame should
be laid at the feet of the pioneers of
sustainable development who continue
to serve up warmed-over slogans and who
don't even bother to check the accuracy
of their pronouncements
Bonner R. Cohen is a senior fellow at
the Lexington Institute in Arlington,
Virginia.
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