letters ECOLOGICAL WARFARE I would like to suggest that Vander­ meer should have used the opportunity Dear SftP: his article presented to call for repara­ Your September-October issue is ex­ tions from the U.S. government for the cellent, but I do have one objection to ecological warfare already used against John Vandermeer's report from Viet­ Vietnam. This took two forms, defolia­ nam, entitled "Ecological Warfare." tion and weather modification, the ef­ While Vandermeer's report is useful fects of which are still being suffered and interesting, it appears to be misdi­ by the Vietnamese people. rected. He provides us with a lot of Please keep up the good work. factuarinformation about the Penta­ SPACE SHUTTLE Chris Robinson, gon's defoliation operations in Viet­ Philadelphia, PA Dear SftP: nam, and he correctly defines it as a Thank you for your Sept/Oct Issue. special kind of warfare, in this case Jack Manno's "Military History of the "ecological warfare." Unfortunately, Space Shuttle" was an informative look Vandermeer concludes his report with a at the military influence on our space call for a ban on ecological warfare. I NOTE FROM NORWAY program. As a longtime progressive ac­ think you should have pointed out to tivist, I have always had mixed feelings him that there is already such a ban. about our space program, especially the On August 21, 1975, the U.S. and Dear SftP: latest round of talk of commercializa­ the Soviet Union tabled identical draft I'm a TAP subscriber and that's where tion of space. While other science maga­ texts at the Geneva Committee on Dis­ I heard about SftP. I have found SftP to zines were busy glorifying NASA's 25th armament for a "Convention on the be very interesting, especially your re­ Anniversary, I was glad to see SftP Prohibition of Military or any other cent Water Issue (Vol. 15 No. 4). It telling it like it is. In this context I found Hostile Use of Environmental Modifi­ amazes me how industry can get away Manno's ending warning to be a particu­ cation Techniques," commonly known with dumping toxic waste all over the larly important one: "the recent talk of as the Enmod Convention. This agree­ world. It sometimes seems that if some­ space commercialization, industrializa­ ment was passed by the United Nations one kicks a dog people make a big fuss tion and the routinization of spaceflight, General Assembly and signed by more about it, but if someone dumps toxics no matter how well intentioned, will end than 34 nations, including the U.S., on that can kill thousands of people, no one up serving the military space program in May 18, 1977. really cares. the same capacity as the original NASA: On January l7, 1980, three days be­ I'm glad to see you concentrating on a Trojan Horse concealing increasing fore Reagan's inauguration, the U.S. these things that really matter in this militarization of space." became a party to the Enmod Conven­ world, like big industries and toxic I hope this information can be made tion, thereby agreeing "not to engage waste. We don't hear much about these available to every person on the left that in military or any other hostile use of things over here and that's one of the still has utopian visions of space colonies environmental modification techniques reasons why SftP is so interesting. Please and peaceful uses of space in our life- having widespread, long-lasting or se­ keep up the good work. times. vere effects as the means of destruc­ Carl C. Winter Jim Reeves tion, damage or injury to any other Arendal, Norway Portland, OR State Party.'' The treaty defines "environmental modification techniques" to mean "any technique for changing - UPCOMING ISSUE OF SFTP through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes - the dynamics, The East Cost Editorial Committee is now composition or structure of the Earth, soliciting articles for the July/August 1984 including its biota, lithosphere, hydro­ special issue on "Science and Policymaking/ sphere and atmosphere, or of outer Science and the Media." Please send arti­ space." An understanding attached to the convention specifically includes cles, outlines, graphics and other material to: "an upset in the ecological balance of SCIENCE for the PEOPLE, 897 Main St., Cam­ a region" as one of the many enmod bridge, MA 02139. techniques which are banned. 2 Science for the People January/February 1984 Vol. 16 No. 1. NUCLEAR POWER'S FINANCIAL 6 MELTDOWN IN THE U.S. by Chris Flavin A detailed analysis. SOCIOBIOLOGY AND RAPE 10 FEATURES: by Val Dusek A critique of sociobiologists' attempts to find genetic bases for rape. KNOWING ABOUT WORKPLACE RISKS 17 Cover: Photograph by Earl by Dorothy Nelkin and Michael Brown Dotter. Workers speak out about the safety of their jobs. TEACHING PEACE 23 by Barbara Beckwith and Connie Phillips A review of several curricula on the arms race. DEPARTMENTS: Letters 2 Book Review 33 The Second Sickness: Newsnotes 4 Contradictions in Capitalist Health Care Resources 34 Box 2783, Boston, MA 02208. 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January I February 1984 3 ~news notes Defense Contractors Buy The Most Expensive Referendum in History The city of Cambridge, Mass. was the mail campaigns, five television ads, Nuclear Free Cambridge organizers unsuspecting host this fall to a battle be­ numerous radio spots and newspaper felt that the campaign was a success in tween the giants of the nuclear weapons ads and leafletting. The Nuclear Free many of the most important respects. industry, local residents and disarma­ Cambridge Campaign spent a total of "We were able to make this fall a public ment activists. The issue was the Nuclear education forum in the city on the Free Cambridge Act, a binding voter nature of the arms race, and did more to referendum which, if approved, would increase awareness on any issue since the have prohibited all research, develop­ Vietnam war," reflected Susan Levine. ment, testing and evaluation of nuclear "We showed how a community can dir­ weapons within the city. This ban would ectly challenge how power operates in this country. The response of the have primarily affected one company in ) Cambridge: Draper Laboratory, which weapons industry indicates that nuclear last year did $120 million worth of free zone organizing is really onto some­ defense work, including designing thing." guidance systems for the Cruise, MX Similar nuclear free zone referendums and Trident missiles. will go on the ballot in five other com­ munities in 1984, including Ann Arbor, The referendum was voted down on MI, Madison, WI and Berkeley, CA. November 8 by a margin of 600Jo to Levine offered a word of advice to other 40%. But the vote count only tells part referendum organizers: "We can't of the story. Citizens Against Research $23,000 in its efforts, raised primarily match their financial resources-we just Bans (CARB), the group which formed from hundreds of small contributions. won't win in those arenas. Our cam­ to defeat the measure, spent $507,765.02 Their organizing focused on a door-to­ paign task is to build strong community during its two and a half month exis­ door canvass which covered the entire bases and large-scale grass roots organi­ tence trying to persuade Cambridge city twice, a telephone bank, leafletting, zations. That is where our strength ulti­ voters that they would jeopardize their speaking and mobilizing a large number mately lies." jobs and risk throwing innocent workers of volunteers.