by
Forerunner, "WorldWatch," September-October 1999

Biological Warfare

U.S. and European agencies report mounting evidence that Russia and China have massively violated the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention. Russia has apparently stockpiled many hundreds of tons of anthrax and plague, as well as smaller amounts of smallpox, Ebola and Marburg virus, and toxins designed to attack plants and animals. The West is defenseless against many of the newly developed strains, including a super-anthrax. The West has destroyed or significantly reduced its stocks of chemical agents and claims to have ceased biological warfare research, while Russia and China continue to develop such weapons, creating a threat to all mankind.

Animal Feed?

European Union farm ministers are seeking ways to protect animal feed. Widespread food scandals have erupted recently upon discovery that meat has been fed to cows and motor oil to other animals.

Natural Disasters

The Red Cross says last year's natural disasters were the most damaging on record and predict catastrophes will become more widespread as climate changes take hold. "Climate change is no longer a doomsday prophecy; it's a reality. . . . Changing climate means changing disaster patterns. . . . Countries that have not had a major disaster in living memory will start having them. Those that have had one or two a year will have more."

Movie Violence Accepted

An Associated Press poll, taken in the midst of debate over the impact of violent movies and television programs after recent school shootings, indicates 60% of American adults would not be deterred from seeing a moving containing violence. This figure is 20% higher than a similar poll conducted 10 years ago.

Jerusalem Syndrome

Jerusalem Syndrome strikes with little warning. After a few days in the holy city, seemingly normal pilgrims imagine they are biblical figures, sing psalms at the top of their lungs, preach to passersby or dress up in hotel bed sheets. One psychiatrist says the syndrome may strike as many as 1% of all visitors and may disrupt celebrations of the "2000th birthday of Christ."

AIDS in Africa

Last year, AIDS killed 1.4 million Africans, more than all the wars combined. More than 1 in 5 young mothers in South Africa alone—not including other areas of the continent—are now HIV infected. Infection rates in young mothers have risen from 1% in 1990 to over 20%. Some 3.5 million South Africans are now HIV-positive.

Child Pornography

British Columbia's highest court upheld a lower court ruling that Canada's law against possessing child pornography is unconstitutional. The bottom line: It is lawful to possess child pornography in British Columbia, Canada.

Medicine

A Chicago Tribune article asks: "Would you use the body parts of an innocent baby so that you could live a happier life? Would you support a system of incentives to kill other babies, and process them like meat at a packing plant, for the benefit of a frightened Baby Boom generation terrified of Alzheimer's disease and death? Of course not. The suggestion is monstrous and dehumanizing." This is not reporting on a Nazi concentration camp, but "reasonable doctors in white coats in America" who are now using brain cells from helpless aborted babies to improve the health of "helpless old people." Further, these babies did not sign papers to donate their bodies to science or their destroyed young lives to improve the brains of diseased people already about to die.