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Publisher EDWARD GOLDSMITH Founding Editors EDWARD GOLDSMITH PETER BUNYARD Editorial NICHOLAS HILDYARD SARAH SEXTON SIMON FAIRLIE Editorial Assistant SALLY SNOW Associate Editors PATRICIA ADAMS Probe International (Canada) TRACEY CLUNIES-ROSS (England) MARCUS COLCHESTER World Rainforest Movement (England) RAYMOND DASMANN University of California, Santa Cruz (USA) SAMUEL S. EPSTEIN University of Illinois (USA) ROSS HUME HALL (USA) SANDY IRVINE The Green Party (England) MICK KELLY University of East Anglia (England) MARTIN KHOR KOK PENG Consumers Association of Penang (Malaysia) SMITHU KOTHARI Lokayan Social Action Group (India) SIGMUND KVAL0Y Ecopolitical Ring of Cooperation (Norway) LARRY LOHMANN (USA) PATRICK MCCULLY (Northern Ireland) JOHN MILTON (USA) JIMOH OMO-FADAKA African Environmental Network (Kenya) JOHN PAPWORTH Fourth World Review (England) ROBERT PRESCOTT-ALLEN PADATA (Canada) JOHN SEED Rainforest Information Centre (Australia) VANDANA SHIVA Research Centre for Science and Ecology (India) ROBERT WALLER Commonwealth Human Ecology Centre (England) RICHARD WILSON (England) DONALD WORSTER Universitv of Kansas (USA) EDITORIAL OFFICE, AGRICULTURE HOUSE, BATH ROAD, STURMINSTER NEWTON, DORSET, DT10 1DU, ENGLAND, UK. TEL +44-258-473476 FAX +44-258-473748 E-MAIL ECOLOGIST@GN.APC.ORG The Ecologist Vol. 23, No. 5, September/October 1993 Editorials Breast Cancer Trials: A Chemical Smokescreen 162 Cathy Read Time to Retreat: Lessons from the Mississippi Floods 163 Patrick McCully SLAPPs Come to Britain 165 Simon Fairlie Feature Articles Slave and Enclave: Towards a Political Ecology of Equatorial Africa 166 Marcus Colchester Slavery, colonialism and, most recently, the depradations of the nation state have markedly transformed the social and political structures of Equatorial Africa. Ecological balance wil l not be restored without the resurgence of longsubmerged traditions of equity and accountability. This wi l l require a long and slow process of rebuilding community institutions and controls. Britain's Toxic Legacy: The Silence over Contaminated Land Alan Watson Under pressure from vested interests, the British government has reneged on a committment to compile a register of contaminated land. The public is to be kept in the dark about sites which are affecting our health and polluting the environment. .174 Sapping the Economy: Structural Adjustment in Costa Rica Karen Hansen-Kuhn Costa Rica's structural adjustment programme is held up as a success story by the World Bank and the IMF. But the policies pursued have exacerbated disparities in wealth, led to extensive environmental degradation, increased Costa Rica's debt and undermined the country's democratic traditions. 179 The Eugenics of Normalcy: The Politics of Gene Research Ruth Hubbard and Elijah Wald Scarcely a week passes without an anouncement that scientists have established a causal link between a specific gene and a human disease or form of behaviour. But genes do not act alone and the myth of the all powerful gene is distracting attention from the environmental causes of disease. It also provides the ideological justification for dangerous new forms of eugenics. 185 Report Breast Cancer and the Environment 192 Samuel S. Epstein The medical establishment is ignoring evidence of a relationship between the escalating incidence of breast cancer and the presence of environmental pollutants. Books 194 Letters 198 Campaigns Centre Pages THORP • Yanomami Massacre • Forced Evictions and the UN • Colombus Telescope • Indian Farmers Rally • Stone Container Corporation • Logging in Irian Jaya • Scots Crofters • Ecuador Oil • Brazil Mahogany Conviction • US and French Road Demonstrators Jailed • Shell in Nigeria • Narmada Victory • UK Golf Course Opposed. Cover: Scientist checking a DNA sequence (Sinclair Stammers/Science Photo Library). The Ecologist is printed on recycled paper, whitened with hydrogen peroxide. The Ecologist, Vol. 23, No. 5, September/October 1993 161

Publisher EDWARD GOLDSMITH Founding Editors EDWARD GOLDSMITH

PETER BUNYARD

Editorial NICHOLAS HILDYARD

SARAH SEXTON SIMON FAIRLIE Editorial Assistant

SALLY SNOW Associate Editors

PATRICIA ADAMS Probe International

(Canada) TRACEY CLUNIES-ROSS

(England) MARCUS COLCHESTER World Rainforest Movement

(England) RAYMOND DASMANN University of California,

Santa Cruz (USA) SAMUEL S. EPSTEIN

University of Illinois

(USA) ROSS HUME HALL

(USA) SANDY IRVINE The Green Party

(England) MICK KELLY University of East Anglia

(England) MARTIN KHOR KOK PENG

Consumers Association of

Penang (Malaysia) SMITHU KOTHARI Lokayan Social Action

Group (India) SIGMUND KVAL0Y Ecopolitical Ring of Cooperation

(Norway) LARRY LOHMANN

(USA) PATRICK MCCULLY

(Northern Ireland) JOHN MILTON

(USA) JIMOH OMO-FADAKA

African Environmental

Network (Kenya) JOHN PAPWORTH Fourth World Review

(England) ROBERT PRESCOTT-ALLEN

PADATA (Canada) JOHN SEED Rainforest Information Centre

(Australia) VANDANA SHIVA Research Centre for Science and Ecology (India) ROBERT WALLER Commonwealth Human Ecology Centre

(England) RICHARD WILSON

(England) DONALD WORSTER Universitv of Kansas

(USA) EDITORIAL OFFICE, AGRICULTURE HOUSE, BATH ROAD,

STURMINSTER NEWTON, DORSET,

DT10 1DU, ENGLAND, UK. TEL +44-258-473476 FAX +44-258-473748 E-MAIL ECOLOGIST@GN.APC.ORG

The Ecologist Vol. 23, No. 5, September/October 1993

Editorials Breast Cancer Trials: A Chemical Smokescreen 162 Cathy Read Time to Retreat: Lessons from the Mississippi Floods 163 Patrick McCully SLAPPs Come to Britain 165 Simon Fairlie

Feature Articles Slave and Enclave: Towards a Political Ecology of Equatorial Africa 166 Marcus Colchester Slavery, colonialism and, most recently, the depradations of the nation state have markedly transformed the social and political structures of Equatorial Africa. Ecological balance wil l not be restored without the resurgence of longsubmerged traditions of equity and accountability. This wi l l require a long and slow process of rebuilding community institutions and controls.

Britain's Toxic Legacy: The Silence over Contaminated Land Alan Watson Under pressure from vested interests, the British government has reneged on a committment to compile a register of contaminated land. The public is to be kept in the dark about sites which are affecting our health and polluting the environment.

.174

Sapping the Economy: Structural Adjustment in Costa Rica Karen Hansen-Kuhn Costa Rica's structural adjustment programme is held up as a success story by the World Bank and the IMF. But the policies pursued have exacerbated disparities in wealth, led to extensive environmental degradation, increased Costa Rica's debt and undermined the country's democratic traditions.

179

The Eugenics of Normalcy: The Politics of Gene Research Ruth Hubbard and Elijah Wald Scarcely a week passes without an anouncement that scientists have established a causal link between a specific gene and a human disease or form of behaviour. But genes do not act alone and the myth of the all powerful gene is distracting attention from the environmental causes of disease. It also provides the ideological justification for dangerous new forms of eugenics.

185

Report Breast Cancer and the Environment 192 Samuel S. Epstein The medical establishment is ignoring evidence of a relationship between the escalating incidence of breast cancer and the presence of environmental pollutants.

Books 194 Letters 198 Campaigns Centre Pages THORP • Yanomami Massacre • Forced Evictions and the UN • Colombus Telescope • Indian Farmers Rally • Stone Container Corporation • Logging in Irian Jaya • Scots Crofters • Ecuador Oil • Brazil Mahogany Conviction • US and French Road Demonstrators Jailed • Shell in Nigeria • Narmada Victory • UK Golf Course Opposed. Cover: Scientist checking a DNA sequence (Sinclair Stammers/Science Photo Library). The Ecologist is printed on recycled paper, whitened with hydrogen peroxide.

The Ecologist, Vol. 23, No. 5, September/October 1993

161

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