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NEWS ... GLOBAL NEWS ... cause of this sickness, eliminating the — with £750,000 from the Department of EUROPEAN LIBEL LAW REVIEW guessing. The terrible truth is now being Health and the telecommunications OVER McDONALD'S RULING cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is now being revealed." He added: "Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 [the first Gulf War], of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability. This astounding number of 'Disabled Vets' means that, a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent medical problems!" The disability rate for the wars of the last century was five per cent, although it was higher, at 10 per cent, in Vietnam. "The VA Secretary [Principi] was aware of this fact as far back as 2000," wrote Bernklau. "He and the Bush administra- tion have been hiding these facts, but now, thanks to Moret's report, [it] ...is far too big to hide or to cover up!" "Terry Jamison, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs at the VA Central Office, recently reported that 'Gulf Era Veterans’ now on medical disability, since 1991, number 518,739 veterans," said Bernklau. "The long-term effects have revealed that DU [uranium oxide] is a virtual death sentence," stated Bernklau. "Marion Fulk, a nuclear physical chemist, who retired from the Lawrence Livermore nuclear weapons lab and was also involved with the Manhattan Project, interprets the new and rapid malignancies in the soldiers [from the 2003 Iraq war] as 'spectacular— and a matter of concern'!" When asked if the main purpose of using DU was for "destroying things and killing people", Fulk was more specific. "I would say it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people!" Principi could not be reached for com- ment prior to deadline. (Source: by Bob Nichols, San Francisco Bay View, Feb. 23, 2005, http:/www.sfbayview. con/012605/headsroll012605.shtml) with £750,000 from the Department of Health and the telecommunications industry, are already underway. Sir William Stewart, the government's adviser on radiation, has called for more research into the issue. Some researchers believe a proportion of the population suffers ill health—with symptoms including fatigue, severe headaches and skin problems—because of exposure to electromagnetic fields. Other scientists say there is no evidence. The Swedish government, which recog- nised EHS as a physical impairment in 2000, calculates that 200,000 people—3.1 per cent of its population—suffer from the condition. A recent warning by Sir William, head of the NRPB and the Health Protection Agency, that parents should limit their children's use of mobile phones, received widespread publicity. However, his sug- gestion that another section of the popula- tion, as well as the young, could have extra sensitivity to exposure to either radiofre- quency fields from mobile phones or elec- tromagnetic fields in general did not. Dr David Dowson, a former GP who is now a complementary medicine specialist based in Bath, said he had seen around 10 patients he believed to be suffering from EHS. "I think the condition is increasing in prevalence because we are living ina more electrically polluted environment," he noted. (Source: by Nic Fleming, The Telegraph, UK, January 24, 2005, http:/www.telegraph. co.uk/) lhe UK government is to review the libel laws after two penniless environ- mental campaigners who were sued by McDonald's, the global burger chain, recently won a ruling at the European Court of Human Rights that their rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression were violated when they were denied legal aid. The libel battle pitted Helen Steel, a part-time barmaid earning £65 a week, and David Morris, a single parent on income support, against an expert legal team headed by a £2,000-a-day libel QC ina 313-day trial, the longest in English legal history. Their victory in Strasbourg, hailed by their QC, Keir Starmer, as a "turning point" in the law of libel, will force the government to take steps to redress the balance between rich and poor in defamation cases Mr Starmer said: "Until now, only the rich and famous have been able to defend themselves against libel writs. Now ordi- nary people can participate much more effectively in public debate without the fear that they will be bankrupted for doing so. This case is a milestone for free speech." The Strasbourg court awarded damages of £13,750 to Ms Steel and £10,300 to Mr Morris. Apart from paying the damages, the government will have to open the legal-aid purse strings to impecunious defendants sued by multinational corpora- tions or wealthy individuals in complex "T thin nk you i fied be on our Senate sub-committee rather "poe oetic Our is to form fies esh, new, Sen ate sub-committee. SCIENTISTS SERIOUS ABOUT "ELECTRICITY SICKNESS" CLAIMS F: the first time, scientists and health advisers are taking seriously the claims of people who say electricity makes them ill. The UK National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) is carrying out a review of existing scientific studies into "electromagnetic hypersensitivity" (EHS). Two studies into the condition, funded APRIL — MAY 2005 NEXUS +7 www.nexusmagazine.com