Word: draft
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1990
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Gorbachev, frustrated over the refusal of many republics to accept his draft of a new treaty of union, asserted that he would submit it to a popular referendum within each republic; the Baltic republics promptly declared that they would not let such a referendum be held on their turf. Most ominous, Gorbachev announced that he might introduce a "state of emergency or presidential rule" in areas where the "situation becomes especially tense and there is a serious threat to the state and to people's well-being." That might have been the trigger for Shevardnadze's resignation...
...alarmists have gained some qualified support from the Environmental Protection Agency. In the executive summary of a new scientific review, released in draft form late last week, the EPA has put forward what amounts to the most serious government warning to date. The agency tentatively concludes that scientific evidence "suggests a causal link" between extremely low- frequency electromagnetic fields -- those having very long wavelengths -- and leukemia, lymphoma and brain cancer. While the report falls short of classifying ELF fields as probable carcinogens, it does identify the common 60-hertz magnetic field as "a possible, but not proven, cause of cancer...
...report is no reason to panic -- or even to lose sleep. If there is a cancer risk, it is a small one. The evidence is still so controversial that the draft stirred a great deal of debate within the Bush Administration, and the EPA released it over strong objections from the Pentagon and the White House. But now no one can deny that the issue must be taken seriously and that much more research is needed...
Several Administration officials are also skeptical about the EPA's conclusions. Last June draft language classifying ELF fields as a "probable carcinogen" was deleted from an earlier version of the EPA report after it was reviewed by the White House. At the time, the EPA denied that it was pressured into dropping the offending words...
This time it is clear that the White House is hoping for a more balanced presentation of the evidence. The draft's release was reportedly delayed at the request of Allan Bromley, President Bush's science adviser, who asked that it be reviewed by another scientific panel and prefaced with a statement that qualifies the conclusions. In an interview with TIME, Bromley made it plain that he believes the EPA's findings of a "positive association" between electromagnetic fields and childhood cancer are "quite incorrect." "There's no scientific basis for that statement at all," says Bromley. "What...