ECHOES AND UPDATES

1. Cancer & Rifkin vs. human progress [AtE Jun 84]: On May 16, Rifkin's side won. The judge: none other than media hero John J. Sirica of Watergate, who ruled there must be an environmental impact statement for research with federal funds; however, he left private companies free to fight disease, develop new drugs, and alleviate human suffering. (The latest: a hepatitis vaccine from genetically engineered yeast.)

2. Xia Yuren's defection: Sen. Armstrong replied that after hearing the State Department's opinion of whether Xia faces persecution on return to China (!), the Immigration and Naturalization Service denied his request for asylum, and again his appeal; he has now appealed in federal court (San Francisco) and the case is pending.

3. Violation of the 1930 slave labor act [AtE Mar 84): Treasury Secretary Regan announced that he would not make a decision until after the November elections, which prompted 84 House members to petition US Customs Commissioner Wm. von Raab (who originally started the ball rolling) to enforce the law immediately and stop importing Soviet goods made in whole or in part by slave labor. The petition is handled by the Washington Legal Foundation, 1705 N. Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20036. Is your Congressman a signatory, or is he opposed to enforcing laws during an election year?

4. Nuclear plant licensing: In response to the NRC's request for public comment, I submitted three points, the third of which is "that in all cases where delay of a licence can be shown to increase the expected number of premature deaths or to cause other damage to public health by delaying or denying a safer source of electric power than hitherto available, a commissioner voting for such a delay [shall] be required to publish the reasons why his action should not be viewed as a violation of his oath to protect the lives and health of the citizens of the United States." Full text in [P]owerhouse of Fort Freedom.

6. Young Americans for Freedom [Jul 83]: Soon after I had sent a further letter asking what they had done with the money raised by their repeated appeals to help the teen-aged Ukranian detector Polovchak (then under threat of deportation to the USSR in a suit by the Soviets and the ACLU), I was called by the new chairman Bob Dolan who promised to answer my questions in writing. I have not heard from him since, nor do I need to: documents made available by the State of Virginia show that the YAF raised $283,732 by using Walter Polovchak's name (without his consent), of which not a solitary cent was passed on to him or his defense fund.