Nota: un buon punto di partenza sarebbe smettere di bombardare la gente e capire esattamente che tipo di malattia affligge la Signora Albright.

Storms, Disease Our Fault, Says Prince Charles
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000L-11-07-10.html

LONDON, United Kingdom, November 7, 2000 (ENS) - Mad cow disease and the storms currently battering the United Kingdom are the result of humans' "arrogant disregard" for the delicate balance of nature, said Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, Monday.

Prince Charles speaking at last night's Millennium Festival of Medicine in London. (Photo courtesy the official Internet websit of HRH the Prince of Wales)

The prince was addressing the Millennium Festival of Medicine in London, when he linked the terrible weather outside with the BSE disaster. BSE, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is commonly known as mad cow disease. When it occurs in humans it is known as Creutzfelt Jakob disease. More than 80 people have died of the disease, which was caused by cattle being fed meat and bone meal supplements that had become contaminated with the disease agent.

"As it did in the 19th century, medicine will once again have to consider the impact of pestilence and famine on human health," said the prince. "A new danger is the transfer of infective organisms between the animal kingdom and man, and the terrifying potential of environmental changes with their serious effects on health.

"Some recent occurrences such as the BSE disaster and even perhaps - dare I mention it - the present severe weather conditions in our country are, I have no doubt, the consequences of mankind's arrogant disregard of the delicate balance of nature," said the prince.

"We have to find a way of ensuring that our remarkable and seemingly beneficial advances in technology do not just become the agents of our own destruction. There is no doubt that we live in an age of unprecedented, and sometimes terrifying, technological advance where the speed of advance so often outstrips the necessary ethical considerations."

The prince's remarks align him with scientists and environmentalists who believe that extreme weather events are increasing and are the evidence of manmade global warming. Calls for governments around the world to strengthen their commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming are increasing.

The River Pont burst its banks yesterday, flooding about 200 homes in the town of Ponteland, west of Newcastle last night. (Photo by Liz King, courtesy http://freefoto.com)

Next week in the Dutch capital, The Hague, 160 nations begin talks to accelerate international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol is an addition to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change governing the emissions of six greenhouse gases from 39 industrialized countries. These countries have committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

But the treaty must be ratified for these commitments to take effect. The Sixth Conference of the Parties to the convention in The Hague, November 13 to 24, is seen by many as the last chance for this to happen.

Heavy rain and flooding continued across England and Wales today. By noon, Tuesday, the UK's Environment Agency had issued 39 severe flood warnings across 29 rivers in England and Wales. The Met. Office forecast more rain, with up to one and a half inches (3.8 centimeters) to fall in some parts.

Last night around 200 properties in the town of Ponteland, west of Newcastle, were flooded when the River Pont overflowed. Homes have been flooded in the south, particularly near the towns of Woking and Byfleet in Surrey.

"We are very worried about further prolonged rain to come for northeastern England and the Borders because of the current flood problems," said Ewen McCallum, head of forecasting at the Met. Office. "Even in the south, the heavy showers could bring further localized flooding."

The country's Maritime and Coastguard Agency continues to work with its French counterparts to try to contain a chemical slick produced by the sinking of the Iveoli Sun in the English Channel last week.

The agency admitted some of the 6,000 tonnes of chemicals had begun leaking from the Italian tanker, which sank in 65 meters (213 feet) of water, 18 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of the Channel island of Alderney.

Greenpeace say this picture confirms styrene is leaking from the Ievoli Sun. (Photo courtesy Greenpeace International) It also reported a brown oil slick above the wreck site, and estimated the stain extends 400 meters (1,312 feet) by 60 meters (197 feet). Pictures taken by Greenpeace International appear to confirm that the tanker's most toxic cargo, 4,000 tonnes of styrene, is leaking. The group's observers who flew over the site on Sunday said the tell tale whitish styrene slick has spread a mile over the sea surface.

"Clearly the Ievoli Sun still presents a danger and every effort must be made to survey the vessel and begin recovery of the cargo and fuel on board," said Paul Horsman of Greenpeace International.

"Shell and Exxon, who own the cargo, and the ship owner need to ensure that no expense is spared to get the necessary equipment and personnel to the area," added Horsman. "This is a wake up call to the shipping industry, and indeed all of us, about the consequences of climate change. Just what measures now need to be taken to operate when the conditions are becoming increasingly unstable and unpredictable?"

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said some of the chemicals will evaporate naturally into the atmosphere when reaching the surface, generating a vapor plume.

"Chemical plume models have been run and show that the concentrations of chemical vapor are rapidly diluted and outside of three kilometers (1.86 miles) of the wreck site - in the worst case scenario - will no longer present any hazard to human health," said the agency. "No concentration strong enough to register on monitoring equipment has been detected."