Reports

The Yanomami Indian Park: A Call for Action.
A report by the Anthropology Resource Center,
Boston, Massachusetts, 1981.

This 21-page study, compiled by Shelton H. Davis and Robin Wright of the Anthropology Resource Center (ARC), a Boston-based research group, focuses on the plight of the 10,000-12,000 Yanomami Indians who live along Brazil's border with Venezuela. Due to the construction of a major highway in the area, as well as the discovery of uranium, cassiterite (tin ore), gold, diamonds and titanium on Yanomami land, the Indians have lost large portions of their homeland without compensation. According to the ARC report, they have also been exposed to new diseases to which they have no resistance, including measles, tuberculosis and influenza. The invasion of their land in many cases have reduced the Indians to a state of "misery, sickness and shock," the report says.

Since 1968 numerous anthropologists, missionaries and human rights groups have been working to create a permanent Indian park for the Yanomami Indians. These organizations fear that without the establishment of a secure homeland, the Yanomami will have to change their lifestyles so drastically that all tribal customs and culture will be lost.

The ARC report includes a history of the Yanomami tribe and its relationship with the Brazilian government, an assessment of the present situation, copies of letters sent to various Brazilian leaders from different concerned organizations in support of the creation of an Yanomami Indian Park, as well as ink drawings by the Yanomami Indians depicting their culture and current situation.

To obtain copies of the report, write:

Anthropology Resource Center
54 Temple Place, Suite 444
Boston, MA 02111

- Kristin Bergen

Television

Pesticides and Pills: For Export Only

Pesticides and Pills: For Export Only appeared as two one-hour documentaries on Public Broadcasting Service stations on October 5th and 7th. Produced by Robert Richter, a New York-based independent filmmaker, and administered by the Television Laboratory at station WNET/ 13 in New York, the series investigated the export of pesticides and medications which are produced in the U.S. but are banned or highly restricted for domestic use.

Part I of the documentary presented information about pesticides which are misused and pose a threat not only to those using the products and those living in the vicinity, but to U.S. citizens who consume imported goods which contain high levels of pesticide residues. Annually the U.S. exports at least 200 million tons of banned, restricted or unregistered pesticides such as DBCP, DDT, DDVP. BHC, 2,4,5,-T, Dieldrin, Aldrin, Endrin, Lindane, mercury and Mirex, the program reported, adding that 70% of the pesticides used in third world countries are not applied to domestic food crops for local consumption, but instead to export crops. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that 10% of all U.S. imported food is contaminated with high levels of pesticide residues. The documentary added that this amount may actually be much higher since 70% of the known carcinogens cannot be detected by the FDA's spot check tests. Products often found with unacceptable levels of residues include coffee, bananas, cocoa, rubber and cotton.

Part II of the program dealt with the pharmaceutical industry. Due to the absence of international standards, many hazardous drugs are being freely marketed in underdeveloped countries. Many times products which are banned or restricted in countries with sophisticated regulatory programs are sold by their manufacturers under different names in other countries whose physicians and pharmacists are ignorant of the adverse side effects of the drugs.

The series included interviews with officials and workers in developing countries who are affected by the sales of banned and unrestricted items, with footage from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The documentary emphasized the role of multinational corporations in this dangerous traffic. "Some of the largest, most powerful, most profitable corporations in the world have been or are now involved: Mobil, Shell, Dow, Union Carbide, Occidental Petroleum-all from the United States: BASF from West Germany, Imperial Chemical of Britain, Rhone-Poulenc of France, and many others," the show noted. The companies and their trade organizations refused to comment.

To obtain a transcript of both parts of the documentary, send $4.00 to:

Pesticides and Pills
Box 862
New York, NY 10101

- Kristin Bergen

Organizations

Health Action International

Health Action International (HAI) is a newly established group consisting of about 50 consumer, development action and other public interest groups. Its aim is to coordinate campaigns on health and pharmaceutical issues, worldwide.

HAI has published "An International Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practice." This is a review and critique of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Managers' Association report on the same subject. HAI's pamphlet argues that the industry code fails to provide precise guidelines as regards product safety, the monitoring of companies, and the enforcement of the code. As an alternative, HAI provides a blueprint for laws that individual countries may wish to adopt in order to regulate the international pharmaceutical industry.

HAI promises to be an informative organization, acting as an important counterweight to the pharmaceutical industry's promotional activities.

The information center of the group is located at the regional office of the International Organisation of Consumers Unions in Penang, Malaysia.

For material about HAI, write:

IOCU
P.O. Box 1045
Penang, Malaysia

- Jennifer Bender