Nexus - 0110 - New Times Magazine-pages

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NEXUS GLBBAL NEWS -AGENT ORANGE TURNAROUND- , —~— PLASTIC MONEY WINS — ULTRA VIOLET CHILDREN — In a landmark decision, the safety of | First the bad news; Australian Reserve | Australasian children may have to wear Agent Orange and related agricultural | Bank will begin phasing out all paper | optic sunglasses from the age of three or chemicals has been brought into open | money this year, replacing it with more | four years to avert eye damage caused question once again. = durable plastic notes after the success of | by the thinning ozone layer. the Bicentenary $10 note. The new notes Evidence shows a link between will all be redesigned. The first to be | excessive exposure to UV light and eye replaced will be the $5 note. Now the | cataracts, according to Ian Favilla, good news... there will be no $5 coin. optomologist at Melbourne’s Monash beeneeennnennnnnnmnnreennnnrmmmnnensns [1] | Medical Centre. This could result in an extra 36,000 cases of eye problems a The Adrainincades Appeals Tribunal VIRTUAL REALITY am year in Australia, he said earlier this year. found in favour ofa widow who had been MUUEMUULe Comrie lee 20s “It takes 20 to 30 years for the eye to fighting for more than8 yearstoproveher MCU UPRCUI TR CUUCLY AL build up protective mechanisms. The husband died as a result of chemicals FECUR SMU OCLOOC MC eyes of a child are very vulnerable and sprayed on him in Vietnam. Mrs Maree MR@UUun CME TICEUI EMIS damage to them is cumulative.” SiCeaicikmemenecsi@ company VPL of Redwood City in A report to the June ozone conference 1977, will now receive a backdated war PRCT ern Chir CE GieM showeda5% thinning of ozone across the widows pension. SR CUEUCE Oe eM ACCM Australian mainland, linked to the so- In response the Federal Minister for UCI CULCO MAM MCLE called ozone hole over the antarctic. This Veterans Affairs, Mr Humphries, called (sii) Cigar a itm is a debate which Australia and New for an urgent report on Agent Orange; (itZgi [gil Coit sap . Zealand will have to lead; the northem there has been an avalanche of new . : industrialised nations are responsible for evidence linking exposure to the | the damage, but are not yet experiencing chemical and its derivatives to cancerand itdirectly and are more complacent about birth defects in children. Agent Orange | B the urgent action required. is now a generic term for all phenoxy [4% : herbicides composed of 2,4,5-Tor2,4-D. }? The tribunal’s decision also lends credence to the view that combined effects of these and a cocktail of other | chemicals sprayed on veterans has been disastrous for their health. This viewpoint was curiously rejected by the | notorious Evatt Royal Commission into Agent Orange - which quoted chemical see users writhing about in their suits as company documents verbatim in its they explore virtual reality, while their findings to ‘prove’ these chemicals were | VPL bapa to design a ‘dataglove’ | figures appear on display screens of their safe and disallow compensation claims - | usedbyNASAfor space simulations. The | private cosmos. Some describe the despite opposite findings by wider | glove is connected to a computer and | experience like being inside an an Apple Macintosh, a world designer first draws a floor plan of their universe. Then 3D objects are added to complete the view. Once inside a body suit, a user can actually enter their own creation, experiencing a perspective from inside their world, which they can explore. Observers of VPL bodysuit displays studies in the US and elsewhere. becomes a ‘virtual hand’, interacting | animated cartoon. Also in May a panel of scientistsinthe | with objects depicted on-screen. Jaron Lanier predicts a day when US reported that studies led to the Now, a WPL team, under the | homes will have theirown Home Reality “inescapable” conclusion that non- | leadership of 29-year old Jaron Lanier, | Engine which will allow people to Hodgkin’s lymphoma, soft-tissue | has designedacomplete body suit - fully | experience other cultures, lands or even sarcoma, certain liver ailments andaskin | equipped with umbilical cables | history as though they were part of it condition making tissue vulnerable to | connected to head, back and limbs. “You can play back exactly what you being torn, in addition to chlorachne, are Added to the suit is a pair of ‘eye | experienced,” says Lanier. “Experience linked to exposure to Agent Orange. phones’, virtual reality goggles which | becomes something you can store on a Their review also showed an even | are two colour TV monitors. Two silicon | computer file,” he said. chance that the chemical is also related | graphics computers ~ one for each eye - "I have toyed with the idea of to certain neurological conditions, | produce the images...andcomplemented | opening a Virtual Reality Parlour... birth defects, Hodgkin’s disease and | by headphone speakers to relay virtual | sortofasalon scene where people would sterility problemsin Vietnam veterans, | sounds. Using a VPL-designed | have virtual reality conversations and their spouses and children. EJ | modelling program called Swivel 3D on | share wild experiences.” iN Nexus *10 ig