| 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. |
