United Nations:  LIVING FREE OF POLLUTION BASIC HUMAN RIGHT

In a historic move, the United Nations (UN) Commission
on Human Rights has concluded that everyone has the right to live in a world free from toxic pollution and environmental degradation.

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Subject:    LIVING FREE OF POLLUTION CALLED BASIC HUMAN RIGHT
 Date:        Tue, 1 May 2001 08:15:38 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

Dear Mr. Helliker, I thought you might like to read an article entitled: LIVING FREE OF POLLUTION CALLED BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

NEW YORK, New York, April 30, 2001 (ENS) - In a historic move, the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights has concluded that everyone has the right to live in a world free from toxic pollution and environmental degradation.

In a statement issued from its Nairobi Headquarters, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) hailed the Commission's decision to invite High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer to organize a seminar on strengthening environmental and human rights principles.

"Many of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have significant environmental dimensions," Toepfer said. "Environmental conditions clearly help to determine the extent to which people enjoy their basic rights to life, health, adequate food and housing, and traditional livelihood and culture. It is time to recognize that those who pollute or destroy the natural environment are not just committing a crime against nature, but are violating human rights as well."

The successful implementation of international environmental treaties on biodiversity, climate change, desertification and chemicals can make a major contribution to protecting human rights, Toepfer added.

The results of the seminar will be considered at the Commission's next session in March 2002 and will feed into the review of progress towards sustainable development that has been achieved since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. This 10 year review will form the basis for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be convened in Johannesburg in September 2002.

The Commission's decision, which marks the first time the UN body has addressed the links between the environment and human rights, was taken at the conclusion of its 57th session in Geneva on Friday.

Well Mr. Helliker, Edmund Burke once noted: "When bad men combine, the good must associate else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." When you demand that only your "registered" POISONS can "legally" be used to "control" pest problems and threaten communities with the State's Attorney General, if they dare pass an ordinance that gives them more protection than you have decided they should have, there obviously is a need for the "good to associate".

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten

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