In February, a rhesus monkey used in disease experiments mysteriously disappeared from campus and has never been found. Now, the university is proposing to contract out security for the new biolab to Los Alamos, the nuclear laboratory in New Mexico embroiled in numerous security lapses - most recently when it lost what it called a "small" amount of low-grade plutonium.According to Ms McCarthy, the biolab plan would entail the transport of highly dangerous materials in and out of town in ordinary lorries - a system that recently brought a Hazmat team out on to a road in Ohio after an explosion involving a lower-grade biological agent.Most experts agree that the level 4 facilities would probably be pretty safe, since they are made of numerous isolation chambers that researchers would enter in moon-style protective gear. Whether they are suitable for urban areas such as Davis is a matter of debate, however. One biolab designer, Jim Orzechowski of the Canadian firm of Smith Carter Architects and Engineers, told the Los Angeles Times less than reassuringly last week: "We're getting as close to fail safe as possible. As fail safe as the space shuttle." The space shuttle has had two catastrophic failures in 17 years.The broader question, however, is why these laboratories are being built at all.
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According to Richard Ebright, professor of chemistry at Rutgers University, it is a matter of crazy bureaucratic logic. Congress flooded the National Institutes of Health with so much money that the NIH simply could not work out how to spend it all on biodefence. Even if the NIH accepted every single research proposal without vetting - something it would never do - and built as many level 2 and level 3 labs as it possibly could, it still would not get through the $6bn. Only super-expensive level 4 labs can do the trick - even though they are of negligible scientific or medical value and do not cover bioweapon agents."Not only is this a monumental waste of money," Professor Ebright said, "but the new labs raise their own security issues. And it can't be a good idea to increase the number of people trained in handling these agents given the damage that a rogue scientist could do.".
Hollywood has a new top villain, who has taken over from those old foes, red Indians and Communists. According to a new report, they are portrayed in a derogatory way 96 per cent of the time.Usually typecast as nasty bombers or evil billionaires, or at best, evil belly dancers, Arab characters have been the baddies in more than 20 big films in the past 10 years, including Death Before Dishonor, Navy SEALs, Patriot Games, The American President, Delta Force 3 and Executive Decision.Not, it seems, since the heyday of cowboys-and-Indians has there been such an epidemic of violence against one group, though Arabs have long been a target as well. The report in the July issue of Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science says they have been depicted as rogues for the best part of a century.Based on a study of more than 900 films, the report says: "Moviemakers' distorted lenses have shown Arabs as heartless, brutal, uncivilised, religious fanatics through common depictions of Arabs kidnapping or raping a fair maiden; expressing hatred against the Jews and Christians; and demonstrating a love for wealth and power."It compares the stereotype of the hook-nosed Arab with a similar depiction of Jews by the Nazis Cartoons are involved too. Even in those with all-Arab characters the heroes are lighter-skinned - with American accents..
Thousands of Israeli military conscripts and reservists have spent time in the occupied territories, especially since the beginning of the current intifada 33 months ago Many are disturbed by what they see while in uniform. But only a handful do what Moti Kimtel has done - return as aid workers. Now he teaches irrigation and farming techniques to Palestinians, but he is constantly reminded of his service there as a soldier. While working on an irrigation project he saw a women whose house he had searched after her son had been arrested as a terrorist suspect."I don't know, maybe her son was a terrorist," he said. "It only bothers me that I followed orders I didn't even understand at the time Now I work for peace in ways that I can understand.
