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OB OY oF VEN? AFGHANI LEADER WAS A UNOCAL ADVISER health effects of adding 2,000 gal- lons of hydrofluosilicic acid to drinking water in the Republic. The study utilised data from the Irish National Cancer Registry and its northern equivalent. Dr Harry Comber, director of the National Cancer Registry, cautioned against drawing firm conclusions from the osteosarcoma research because the disease is relatively rare on both sides of the border. Ireland is the only country in Europe to insist that drinking water be fluoridated. (Source: Dentistry, February 7, 2002, http:/www.dentistry.co.uk) n February 8 in Islamabad, L Pakistan, the US-favoured interim leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, spoke in favour of the much-discussed trans- Afghanistan gas pipeline, proposed by Unocal. Not much of a surprise really, given that Karzai was previously a paid adviser to Unocal. The Afghanistan interim leader said that he and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf had agreed to revive a plan for a trans- Afghanistan gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. "Both sides have agreed that the construction of this pipeline will be very beneficial for both countries as well as for the entire region," Karzai told a news conference after talks with General Musharraf. A consortium led by US corporation Unocal had originally aimed to build the US$1.9 billion, 1,400-kilometre (875-mile) pipeline to run from gas-rich Turkmenistan via northern Afghanistan. But in August 1998, Unocal halted development of the project after US forces fired missiles at guerrilla camps in Afghanistan in the wake of bomb attacks on two US embassies in Africa. (Sources: Le Monde, December 13, 2001; Reuters, February 8, 2002; Turan News Agency, February 18, 2002) WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET IS EXPANDING Pz: of the West Antarctic ice sheet are getting thicker rather than thinner, according to a study that casts doubt on one of the greatest fears sur- rounding global warming. Previous stud- ies have suggested that the western ice sheet is unstable and could melt disastrous- ly in a warmer world, causing sea levels to rise by as much as five metres. However, an investigation by scientists who studied the shrinkage and expansion of ice using satellite radars has found that, rather than losing about 21 billion tons of ice a year, West Antarctica is accumulat- ing nearly 27 billion tons. Ian Joughin, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Slawek Tulaczyk, of the University of California Santa Cruz, believe their study is more accurate and extensive than previous work and could indicate a reversal of a 10,000- year trend in glacier shrinkage which began after the last ice age. "The ice sheet has been retreating for the last few thousand years, but we think the end of this retreat has come," said Dr Joughin. "But I hesitate to say that we can stop worrying about it." This latest study covers a limited area of land and the scientists point out that ice sheets in other regions, such as the Pine Island Glacier and the Thwaites Glacier, are thinning. Dr Duncan Whingam, a glaciologist at University College London, said: "It's harder than ever to predict how this area of Antarctica is going to evolve." (Source: Independent, January 29, 2002, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/) STUDY LINKS FLUORIDATION TO BONE CANCER lhe Government in the Irish Republic has been urged to investigate the link between bone cancer and fluoridated drinking water, after a study carried out at Boston University School of Public Health found that 40 per cent more people in the Republic contract osteosarcoma than in Northern Ireland. Dr Don MacAuley, spokesman for Irish Dentists Opposing Fluoridation, said that while the Irish study did not conclusively link the cancer to fluoridation, it under- scored the need for urgent research into the 6 = NEXUS APRIL — MAY 2002 www.nexusmagazine.com