"The Government are in breach of both those treaties, and the offer of civil and criminal indemnity to water companies is therefore illegal"

Mr John Butterfill (From Hansard)

parliamentary debate on the proposed water bill

Motion presented to the Lord Mayor and Members of Bradford Council (UK) 1st july 2003 by Councillor Martin Love, (Green Party).

read full speech

* The vast majority of western Europe has rejected water fluoridation.

* The fluoride chemical added to water is an unprocessed, industrial waste-product from the pollution scrubbers of the phosphate fertilizer industry.

* A growing body of evidence indicates that water fluoridation is both ineffective and unnecessary.

* Fluoride's 'benefits' are primarily topical, not systemic. Thus, there is no need to swallow fluoride.

* Two-thirds of US communities, when given the chance to vote, have voted against fluoridation. Over 60 US communities have rejected water fluoridation since 1999.

* Excessive exposure to fluoride has been linked to health problems, including arthritis, hip fracture, hypothyroidism, cancer, male reproductive problems, and brain disorders.

* Children are receiving too much fluoride today, not "too little". There is a need to reduce, not increase, current exposures.

* As a result of excess exposure to fluoride, near-epidemic numbers of children are developing dental fluorosis (a poisoning of tooth-forming cells).

Flouride alert

"Findings from a covert research project, obtained by Scotland on Sunday, reveal that contamination by the radioactive isotope Strontium 90 from nuclear tests peaked in babies born in 1964."

The cancer time bomb facing Scots born during Cold War by CAMILLO FRACASSINI

Strontium 90 mimics calcium. Plants can not tell the difference due to their similiarities. Large quantities of radioactive strontium 90 were spread over our planet by nuclear weapons testing in the 1940's and 1950's. Plants have been bioaccumulating (concentrating) this strontium 90 and then we eat those plants. Our bodies are also fooled by strontium 90. In a breakthrough study done in 1958 by Barry Commoner and others, it was shown that the teeth of every baby in the country had some level of strontium 90 accumulation.

The tooth fairy project Robin Mills

NASA and mind control

"As one psychological theory has it, if you induce enough trauma, you get a split in the personality because the person can't face the pain, so they put that part out of it, and they come with a new personality. If you keep doing it, you invoke or create different personalities, and then if you are the CIA you try to program these sub-personalities to do different things like memorize information photographi cally and not remember it, do courier operations, assassinations, sex agents, blackmail operations, all of this. "

The CIA, Mind Control & Children Jon Rappaport

"He's only nine years old - but he is the world's most audacious special agent! There has never before been a special agent like JOE 90 - and television has never before presented such an original, imaginative and intriguing series."

"For nine-year-old Joe can do anything, thanks to a fabulous electronic device which can transfer the brain patterns of those who are the greatest experts in their field."

Joe 90 childrens TV show made in 1968 - read the full history of the JOE 90 character!!!

FLUORIDE, TEETH, AND THE ATOMIC BOMB by Joel Griffiths and Chris Bryson

Douglas Cross, EurProBiol, Environmental Analyst

January 20th 2003...read report

"Radioactive pollution from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria has led to children's teeth across Britain being contaminated with plutonium.

The Government has admitted for the first time that Sellafield 'is a source of plutonium contamination' across the country. Public Health Minister Melanie Johnson has revealed that a study funded by the Department of Health discovered that the closer a child lived to Sellafield, the higher the levels of plutonium found in their teeth. "

Plutonium from Sellafield in all children's teeth Sunday November 30, 2003

John Reid warns climate change may spark conflict between nations - and says British armed forces must be ready to tackle the violence

Published: 28 February 2006

Israel, Jordan and Palestine

Five percent of the world's population survives on 1 percent of its water in the Middle East and this contributed to the 1967 Arab -Israeli war. It could fuel further military crises as global warming continues. Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan rely on the River Jordan but Israel controls it and has cut supplies during times of scarcity. Palestinian consumption is severely restricted by Israel.

Turkey and Syria

Turkish plans to build dams on the Euphrates River brought the country to the brink of war with Syria in 1998. Damascus accused Ankara of deliberately meddling with their water supply as the country lies downstream of Turkey, who accused Syria of sheltering key Kurdish separatist leaders. Water shortages driven by global warming will pile on the pressure in this volatile region.

China and India

The Brahmaputra River has caused tension between India and China and could be a flashpoint for two of the worldÕs biggest armies. In 2000, India accused China of not sharing information of the river's status in the run up to landslides in Tibet which caused floods in northeastern India and Bangladesh. Chinese proposals to divert the river have concerned Delhi.

Angola and Namibia

Tensions have flared between Botswana, Namibia and Angola around the vast Okavango basin. And droughts have seen Namibia revive plans for a 250-mile water pipeline to supply the capital. Draining the delta would be lethal for locals and tourism. Without the annual flood from the north, the swamps will shrink and water will bleed way into the Kalahari Desert

Ethiopia and Egypt

Population growth in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia is threatening conflict along the world's longest river, The Nice, Ethiopia is pressing for a greater share of the Blue Nile's water but that would leave downstream Egypt as a loser. Egypt is worried the White Nile running through Uganda and Sudan, could be depleted as well before it reaches the parched Sinai desert.

Bangladesh and India

Floods in the Ganges caused by melting glaciers in the Himalayas are wreaking havoc in Bangladesh leading to a rise in illegal migration to India. This has prompted India to build an immense border fence in attempt to block newcomers. Some 6,000 people illegally cross the bored to India every day.

By Ben Russell, and Nigel Morris Published: 28 February 2006

Across the world, they are coming: the water wars. From Israel to India, from Turkey to Botswana, arguments are going on over disputed water supplies that may soon burst into open conflict.

Yesterday, Britain's Defence Secretary, John Reid, pointed to the factor hastening the violent collision between a rising world population and a shrinking world water resource: global warming.

In a grim first intervention in the climate-change debate, the Defence Secretary issued a bleak forecast that violence and political conflict would become more likely in the next 20 to 30 years as climate change turned land into desert, melted ice fields and poisoned water supplies. Climate campaigners echoed Mr Reid's warning, and demanded that ministers redouble their efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Tony Blair will today host a crisis Downing Street summit to address what he called "the major long-term threat facing our planet", signalling alarm within Government at the political consequences of failing to deal with the spectre of global warming.

Activists are modelling their campaign on last year's Make Poverty History movement in the hope of creating immense popular pressure for action on climate change.

Mr Reid used a speech at Chatham House last night to deliver a stark assessment of the potential impact of rising temperatures on the political and human make-up of the world. He listed climate change alongside the major threats facing the world in future decades, including international terrorism, demographic changes and global energy demand.

Mr Reid signalled Britain's armed forces would have to be prepared to tackle conflicts over dwindling resources. Military planners have already started considering the potential impact of global warming for Britain's armed forces over the next 20 to 30 years. They accept some climate change is inevitable, and warn Britain must be prepared for humanitarian disaster relief, peacekeeping and warfare to deal with the dramatic social and political consequences of climate change.

Mr Reid warned of increasing uncertainty about the future of the countries least well equipped to deal with flooding, water shortages and valuable agricultural land turning to desert.

He said climate change was already a contributory factor in conflicts in Africa.

Mr Reid said: "As we look beyond the next decade, we see uncertainty growing; uncertainty about the geopolitical and human consequences of climate change. "Impacts such as flooding, melting permafrost and desertification could lead to loss of agricultural land, poisoning of water supplies and destruction of economic infrastructure. "More than 300 million people in Africa currently lack access to safe water; climate change will worsen this dire situation." He added: "These changes are not just of interest to the geographer or the demographer; they will make scarce resources, clean water, viable agricultural land even scarcer. "Such changes make the emergence of violent conflict more rather than less likely... The blunt truth is that the lack of water and agricultural land is a significant contributory factor to the tragic conflict we see unfolding in Darfur. We should see this as a warning sign."

Tony Juniper, the executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: "The science of global warming is becoming ever more certain about the scale of the problem we have, and now the implications of that for security and politics is beginning to emerge."

He said the problems could be most acute in the Middle East and North Africa.

Charlie Kornick, head of climate campaigning at the pressure group Greenpeace, said billions of people faced pressure on water supplies due to climate change across Africa, Asia and South America. He said: "If politicians realise how serious the problems could be, why are British CO2 emissions still going up?"

Tony Blair will be joined by the Chancellor Gordon Brown, the Environment Secretary, Margaret Beckett, and the International Development Secretary, Hilary Benn, at today's talks in Downing Street. They will be meeting representatives of the recently created Stop Climate Chaos, an alliance of environmental groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Oxfam. It will also meet opposition parties.

The alliance will call for the Government to commit itself to achieving a 3 per cent annual fall in carbon dioxide emissions.

The facts

* On our watery planet, 97.5 per cent of water is salt water, unfit for human use.

* Most of the fresh water is locked in the ice caps.

* The recommended basic water requirement per person per day is 50 litres. But people can get by with about 30 litres: 5 litres for food and drink and another 25 for hygiene.

* Some countries use less than 10 litres per person per day. Gambia uses 4.5, Mali 8, Somalia 8.9, and Mozambique 9.3.

* By contrast the average US citizen uses 500 litres per day, and the British average is 200.

* In the West, it takes about eight litres to brush our teeth, 10 to 35 litres to flush a lavatory, and 100 to 200 litres to take a shower.

* The litres of water needed to produce a kilo of:

Potatoes 1,000
Maize 1,400
Wheat 1,450
Chicken 4,600
Beef 42,500

Published: 28 February 2006

Ask yourself what the world's most precious commodity is, and you might say gold; you might say diamonds. You'd be wrong on both counts. The answer is water.

If by "most precious" we mean what's most desired by most people, nothing comes close to water - fresh, clean water, that is.

This basic truth has been hidden from us in the rich Western countries because we have long had such a plentiful supply. But much of the rest of the world has had no such luxury.

Across the globe, perhaps a third of all people suffer from "water stress". There are 1.1 billion people lacking access to clean water, 2.4 billion lacking access to improved sanitation, and half the world's hospital beds at any one time are thought to be occupied by people suffering from water-borne diseases. You think this is bad? It's going to get worse.

In 2003 a UN report predicted that by the middle of the century - in the worst case - 7 billion people in 60 countries could be faced with water scarcity, although if the right policies were followed this might be brought down to (merely) 2 billion, in 48 nations.

It doesn't take much to realise that with such a commodity in desperate demand, fights are going to break out. The essence of the problem is that there is only so much water to go round, and as the world population mushrooms upwards, we are at last coming up against the limits of it.

You might not think so from a picture of the Earth, more than two-thirds of it water, making us the blue planet. But only about 2.5 per cent of it is freshwater, while the rest of it is salt. And of the freshwater, two-thirds is locked in glaciers and permanent snow cover. What is available, in lakes, rivers, aquifers (ground water) and rainfall runoff, is increasingly coming under pressure .

Population growth is the biggest pressure. Even though growth has slowed, the world population of 6.3 billion is likely to about 9.3 billion by 2050.

Demand comes not just from drinking, washing and human waste; the greatest calls come from industry in the developed world, and in the developing world, from agriculture. Irrigating crops in hot, dry countries accounts for 70 per cent of use. Pollution from industry, agriculture and human waste, adds fierce pressure. Finally, climate change will probably account for about a fifth of the increase in water scarcity. While rainfall is predicted to get heavier in winter in high latitudes, such as Britain and northern Europe, in many already-drought-prone countries and even some tropical regions it is predicted to fall. Other pressures will also make themselves felt, such as the growing move of the world population into urban areas (which concentrate wastes) and the increasing privatisation of water resources.

But the combined effect of population growth, pollution and climate change will probably be enough to bring world water supplies to a critical point.

Although the issues of water and sanitation are now on the international agenda, thanks to being included in the Millennium Development Goals, the UN believes that the true scale of the potential world water crisis is still eluding world leaders. A nasty wake-up call may be on the way.

World water wars

From disputes between India and China over the Brahmaputra River, to struggles between African states for a greater share of the Nile's water, flashpoints are emerging as governments grapple for control of the precious commodity of water.

by Hannah K. Strange - UPI U.K. Correspondent - London, UK (UPI) Feb 28, 2006

Climate change could become a major source of global conflict over the next 30 years, with countries battling for control of water supplies, British Defense Secretary John Reid has warned. He pointed to a looming collision between a growing world population and increasingly scarce water resources, saying violent confrontations between states would become more likely as global warming caused deserts to engulf land, ice fields to melt and water supplies to become contaminated. Speaking at a conference London international affairs think tank Chatham House Monday evening, Reid listed climate change as one of the major emerging threats to global security, alongside international terrorism and energy shortfalls.

Britain's armed forces would have to be prepared to cope with conflicts over shrinking resources, he suggested.

Military planners have already begun considering the consequences of climate change for British forces over the coming three decades, and warn that they must be ready for an increased number of humanitarian relief operations, peacekeeping and conflict interventions. Climate change was also cited as a growing threat to security by several NATO officials at the conference as it continued Tuesday.

Reid said climate change was already contributing to conflicts in Africa, and pointed to an uncertain future for impoverished countries unequipped to deal with water shortages, flooding and desertification.

"As we look beyond the next decade, we see uncertainty growing; uncertainty about the geopolitical and human consequences of climate change," he said. "Impacts such as flooding, melting permafrost and desertification could lead to loss of agricultural land, poisoning of water supplies and destruction of economic infrastructure. "More than 300 million people in Africa currently lack access to safe water; climate change will worsen this dire situation." He continued: "These changes are not just of interest to the geographer or the demographer; they will make scarce resources, clean water, viable agricultural land even scarcer. "Such changes make the emergence of violent conflict more rather than less likely... The blunt truth is that the lack of water and agricultural land is a significant contributory factor to the tragic conflict we see unfolding in Darfur. We should see this as a warning sign."

Reid's comments came on the eve of a Downing Street summit hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair, where British ministers were to meet with opposition politicians and environmental campaigners to discuss the nation's response to climate change.

In an open letter to members of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, penned before the summit, Blair said he understood the frustrations of campaigners at the "seemingly slow progress" in combating the threat of climate change.

He acknowledged: "The cost of inaction is clear. Almost every day, there is new evidence of how our climate is becoming more extreme and the impact on people and our environment. Every week, there are new and authoritative scientific studies warning that, without urgent action, this may be just a taste of what the future holds."

However Britain had made significant progress, he said. It was one of only two pre-2005 EU member states on course to meet its Kyoto targets and was working hard to meet its own targets of reducing greenhouse emissions by 20 percent by 2010, he said. At the Group of Eight summit in Scotland last year a new dialog had been opened on a framework for tackling climate change after the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, he added.

But after the talks, a spokesperson for the coalition - an umbrella group of environmental and humanitarian organizations and trade unions - expressed skepticism that Blair's words would be backed up by action.

"We were encouraged that we were able to open a dialogue with the prime minister," the spokesperson said. "But it's not about talking and warm words, it's about concrete action."

The coalition noted that Blair had failed to mention in his letter that to keep the global temperature rise below the widely accepted danger threshold of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, global carbon emissions must be on a downward path by 2015.

Britain had also failed to fulfill pledges of cash to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate change, it said.

Ashok Sinha, Stop Climate Chaos director, said: "We told the prime minister that urgent and comprehensive action is needed to avert climate chaos. This must begin by setting an annual carbon budget for the U.K. to drive down emissions in every sector."

Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary Norman Baker released a dossier accusing the government of having a "shameful record" on climate change.

British carbon emissions had risen in 2005, he noted, while the Department for Trade and Industry was attempting to weaken targets for businesses under the EU emissions trading scheme. Blair had failed to truly bring the United States on board for climate change negotiations at the G8, and had "thrown in the towel" on cutting emissions from air travel, the fastest growing source of emissions, Baker continued.

Blair's claims that the United States is moving towards the European position on climate change appear to be based largely on wishful thinking. In January, the prime minister insisted a post-Kyoto treaty based on cutting emissions through targets was essential to the fight against global warming; Washington has said repeatedly it will not sign up to any such agreement.

Meanwhile, tensions continue to flare across the globe over access to diminishing water supplies. From disputes between India and China over the Brahmaputra River, to struggles between African states for a greater share of the Nile's water, flashpoints are emerging as governments grapple for control of the precious commodity. The fear is that as climate change worsens and resources become ever scarcer, angry words could easily spill over into violence. - terradaily.com

By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 22, MEXICO CITY - Governments, not private companies, should take the lead in improving public access to safe drinking water, representatives of 148 countries said Wednesday at the end of a forum on improving global water supplies.

The seven-day forum focused much of its attention on the developing world's growing reliance on bottled water bought from private companies. Worldwide, the industry is now worth about $100 billion per year. Anti-corporate forces and other critics say governments should instead be improving tap water supplies.

The forum's declaration, adopted Wednesday, does not specifically mention privatization, but states that "governments have the primary role in promoting improved access to safe drinking water." The declaration also described dams and hydroelectric projects - opposed by environmentalists for decades - as important and innovative.

"(We) acknowledge the implementation and importance in some regions of innovative practices such as ... the development of hydropower projects," said the draft declaration, circulated in advance of the closing ceremony.

Environmentalists oppose big dam projects - used to create hydroelectric power - because they can disrupt natural water sources and take up land. They say corporate interests, combined with an aggressive lobbying campaign by the World Bank, are pushing developing countries to build large dams.

On Wednesday, United Nations officials presented a report warning about the effects of climate change and the need for more dams. The U.N. World Water Development Report, however, recommends small dams instead of big ones - or at least making the larger projects more environmentally friendly.

"Many regions will likely need to increase water storage capacity in order to cope with (climate) change," UNESCO official Walter Erdelen said at the same Mexico City hotel where government representatives met for the water forum.

Almost everyone who spoke at the summit - from leading business figures to government officials - claimed they did not support handing local water authorities over to private administrators, which was done starting in the 1990s.

Violent protests in countries including Bolivia and Guatemala have led private firms to withdraw from some contracts and to be more cautious about signing new ones. On Wednesday, about 2,000 protesters marched through Nicaragua's capital, Managua, to demand the government improve its water service, not privatize it.

But private companies have vastly increased their sales of bottled water in the developing world in recent years, in what some see as a sort of "stealth" privatization of water services in countries where the tap water is unsafe.

Representatives of Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela and Uruguay issued a separate statement after approving the declaration, saying they had wanted it to guarantee water as a human right and protect water from being involved in free trade agreements.

"We declare a profound concern regarding the possible negative impacts that international instruments such as free trade and investment agreements can have on water resources and reaffirm the sovereign right of every country to regulate water and all its uses," said the statement from the nations, all run by leftist governments.

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said some 6,000 people, most of them children, die from water-related causes every day. He said the goal is to reduce by half the number of people without regular access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

The water forum is held every three years. - news.yahoo.com/

Julian Borger Washington - Thursday March 30, 2006 The Guardian

The Pentagon stalled efforts to clean water supplies contaminated by a carcinogenic chemical despite evidence that it posed a significant health risk to millions of people, it was reported yesterday.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigated the solvent, trichloroethylene, extensively used on military bases, after significant quantities were found in water supplies. In its report, published in 2001, the EPA found it to be 40 times more likely to cause cancer than had been previously thought, and recommended tough safety standards to limit public exposure. There was also evidence the chemical played a role in birth defects.

But the Los Angeles Times reported that the defence department, which owns 1,400 bases and other sites contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE), fought the findings, challenging their scientific basis. Under pressure from the Pentagon, political appointees at the EPA overruled their own scientists, took them off the case and postponed action pending a further study by the National Academy of Sciences, which is due to report this summer.

"The evidence is that there was some monkey business going on between the EPA and the Pentagon," said Gina Solomon, an expert on environmental medicine at the University of California, who was on the scientific board that reviewed the EPA report. "The 2001 report was an excellent piece of scientific work," Dr Solomon told the Guardian.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Major Susan Idziak, said the defence department believed "a better scientific understanding of the toxicity of TCE [was needed] so that cleanup levels are accurately set at levels protective to public health and the environment."