Brain of Maoist Guerrilla in Nepal Speaks

INTERVIEW WITH BABURAM BHATTARAI

By Prateek Pradhan, Ghanashyam Ojha and Puran P Bista

'King should leave palace right after CA's first sitting'

Maoist ideologue Dr Baburam Bhattarai has emerged as the real leader of this country after the Constituent Assembly (CA) polls. He defeated his Nepali Congress opponent Chandraprakash Neupane with a huge margin from Gorkha-2. He says the CPN (Maoist) will not dare to deviate from its political commitments nor will it ever betray the people. He thinks the Maoists have now taken upon their shoulders a greater responsibility, that of restructuring the country and steering it onto the track of economic prosperity.

Dr Bhattarai, a former student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, is not surprised by the results of the CA election. He argues that the CPN (Maoist) has changed the country's ground realities. Dr Bhattarai spoke with Prateek Pradhan, Ghanashyam Ojha and Puran P Bista of The Kathmandu Post on how the CPN (Maoist) would proceed with its economic and political agenda.

Excerpts: Q: Your party appears to have emerged as the largest one. How would you proceed with your political agenda?

Dr Baburam Bhattarai: We had always pushed for the CA election, which was finally held last week. During the interim period, the Seven-Party Alliance government had already made certain political commitments. One of them was that we would reach a political consensus to form the government. All the political parties that have participated in the CA polls will join the government. Now, the question is who will head it. Obviously, the largest political party will lead the new government. So, naturally, the CPN (Maoist) has to head the coalition government.

Q: Who will head the CPN (Maoist)? Could you name the captain of your party?

Dr Bhattarai: I can't tell you right now. We have to discuss and decide who should be the leader. We have to prepare a draft of the new political system. We have to decide the fate of the monarchy. And only then we can think of who will head the CPN (Maoist). Our intention is to establish a presidential system. But we can't be sure as we have to discuss the matter with other political forces too. We must reach a political consensus because the constitution would need to be amended to set up a presidential system. Unless we have a political consensus, we can't amend the constitution. So, we can't simply go for an executive president. In case of political differences, we may have to follow the present form of governance.

Q: How would the CPN (Maoist), being the largest political force, approach other political parties in order to form the government, abolish monarchy and declare Nepal a republic?

Dr Bhattarai: First, we are going to hold discussions with the major political parties. We would need to seek their opinion and views before forming the government. We would have to work under the Interim Constitution for the time being which would require a political consensus. We shall move forward on this basis. The first sitting of the CA will declare this country a federal republic. For that, we have to develop a political consensus. After that the question would be forming the new government which will be done again on the basis of political consensus. And then we will proceed with the drafting of the new constitution of Nepal.

Besides these issues, there are other political commitments such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, rehabilitation of displaced persons and revamping and integration of the security forces. I think there will be several challenges and questions. We have to review four things immediately – security, political structure, the economy and international relation. Such issues require a national consensus.

Q: How do you assess the election results? Did you expect that you would make such a strong showing?

Dr Bhattarai: The people were looking for total change. We advanced the political agenda for total change during the decade-long people's war. We have people from different castes, ethnicities, genders and people from different regions. The main agenda of the people's war was to restructure the state. It took 10 years of the people's war to establish our political agenda. The people felt that the country's socio-political and economic structure needed a complete overhaul. So we couldn't look at things through our old lenses. The media and the elite missed the picture. As a result, the CA results surprised many. The ground realities had changed and they helped us to emerge as the largest party.

Q: Do you think that the people's support that you have garnered is more than what you expected?

Dr Bhattarai: We had thought that we would come out as the largest party, and that we might, if we reached a consensus, form the next government. But the manner in which we have clinched victory in the CA polls makes us feel that we have achieved more than what we expected to.

Nevertheless, we did think that the results would be in our favor. I have observed how people's waves have swept parliamentary elections in India. In 1977, Indira Gandhi was defeated. Similarly, sympathy votes after her tragic death helped Rajiv Gandhi to sweep the 1985 parliamentary elections. I had seen such mass hysteria earlier. I personally visited 22 districts and assessed the situation three weeks before the CA polls. I could foresee a massive wave rising in our support. Unfortunately, the media saw things the opposite way. And we also could not convince the media until the CA results showed that the people had voted for us.

Q: You told a local FM station this morning that you have now been burdened by greater responsibilities. What do you mean by that?

Dr Bhattarai: I take it as a great responsibility because we have to restructure the 250-year-old feudal system. You cannot expect it to happen overnight. Secondly, while restructuring the state, we have to take into account different aspects such as poverty, illiteracy, health and others. We don't have enough resources and skill to reorganize the country in a way we want to. It may take at least 10-15 years to do it. There are mounting challenges ahead. Q: How can you restructure the state and achieve economic growth in a short span of time?

Dr Bhattarai: What we need right now is political stability. We cannot think of rapid economic growth sans political stability. Now the CA results have given some hope for political stability. Secondly, there must be a strong leadership. Above all, we have yet to start restructuring the state. So, how can we think of the economy? The 30-year-long panchayat system promised us that it would deliver the people's needs, but it could not do so as it was a political system imposed by the royal regime to serve its own interests.

The post-1990 parliamentary system created a sort of anarchy. It neither had any clear political vision nor could it deliver anything. During this interim period, it would be difficult to think of economic prosperity. We can only think of economic growth in the post-CA period. This mandate has just opened the door to a future Nepal. Now the job is to garner the support of all the political parties and maintain political stability. This would be the beginning.

Second, the resources we have include land, water, jungle, herbs and people. I do not think that we run short of resources, but we need external support for technology and skills. We need foreign investments. I am sure if we really work together, we can achieve rapid economic growth in a short span of time.

Q: China has adopted a liberal economic policy. It has achieved remarkable economic growth in the past 30 years. To what extent do you think we can follow China's model?

Dr Bhattarai: China eliminated the feudal system during Mao's regime. It established a solid foundation for economic growth. We could have thought of making rapid economic progress had the country been liberated from the age-old feudal system. When you inject new technology after the foundation for economic growth has been established, you can achieve such development. We don't have such a foundation now. Once we restructure the state and involve the private sector, it will be possible to achieve rapid economic growth. We would implement a transitional economic policy during such an interim period which involves public and private partnership.

Q: Currently we are seeing a pattern of capital flight. How are you going to halt this?

Dr Bhattarai: We can't think of developing this country in the absence of domestic and foreign investments. Technological inputs are of equal importance. So, we will follow the policy of attracting domestic and foreign investments. For that to happen, we have to put an end to political instability. From our side, we have to provide security to investors and create a conducive environment for domestic and foreign financiers. And I also think that we will be able to resolve the differences between labor and management. Unless we resolve such issues, we cannot create a better investment atmosphere. In a nutshell, we recognize the legitimacy of management and the participation of labor in management.

Secondly, we have to identify areas for investment and create the necessary infrastructure. We have to focus on productive sectors. We don't want to encourage assembly industries. Business activities should raise productivity and generate employment.

Q: You mean the state's involvement in economic activities will increase from now on?

Dr Bhattarai: The state will play the role of facilitator. The state cannot intervene in business activities. It will encourage investors to raise productivity and generate employment opportunities.

Q: We have seen – especially after the restoration of democracy in 1990 – how political parties rewarded their cadres with jobs in the bureaucracy and other social sectors. How are you planning to restructure the bureaucracy and other sectors?

Dr Bhattarai: We have to, at all costs, restructure the bureaucracy and the judiciary as they have always been tools of the monarchy. But we have to follow certain norms. So let us leave it open. But we have to think of revamping the security forces as integrating the People's Liberation Army and the Nepal Army is part of the peace process. We can think of starting the restructuring process only after the monarchy has been removed. But it will be open to discussion. We want to reform the bureaucracy and other sectors in a democratic manner.

Q: You once said that Nepal did not need a huge security force. But if you integrate the Maoist combatants and the army, you are going to have a huge security force. Do you think Nepal needs such a large army?

Dr Bhattarai: The strength of the security forces after the two are combined would be roughly over 100,000. Going by the country's population, such a number may appear necessary. But we have to reduce the size of the army in the long term. I think that instead of having such a huge number of army, we could go for trained militias who would defend the country at times of war. I think it would be useful to train such a force. We should mobilize them during emergencies.

Q: The UML fared badly in the CA polls. Do you foresee a single communist party in the near future?

Dr Bhattarai: Until recently, there were three political forces – royalists, social democrats (who represent the bourgeoisie) and leftists. I think there will be only two forces in the future – the Nepali Congress, which represents the rich, and the left, which represents the poor. The NC has its own political stand. It's not going to lose its identity as it has a clear vision and policy.

But the CPN-UML does not have any political position. It neither represents the rich nor the masses. It is a eunuch though it continues to be identified as a communist party. It has lost its identity. It can't stand any longer. Now the CPN (Maoist) has established itself as a communist party. We welcome committed communist cadres of the CPN-UML to our party.

Q: How long will it take to draft the new constitution?

 Dr Bhattarai: It will take roughly two years. But how we proceed will depend on other political forces as well. We must finish the new constitution as early as possible so that we can focus on the economy.

Q: Some still argue that the Maoists may retain the monarchy in a ceremonial form. What do you think?

Dr Bhattarai: What surprises us is why people think that we will retain the monarchy when it has ceased to exist. There is no question of retaining the monarchy.

We did approach some nationalist royalists to join us. That does not mean we are going to keep the monarchy. It is not possible to save it in any form. It has ceased to exist in our minds.

Q: When will the king move out of Narayanhiti Palace?

Dr Bhattarai: The king has to quit Narayanhiti Palace immediately after we declare Nepal a republic. This is the understanding of the Seven-Party Alliance. He should leave the palace immediately after the first sitting of the CA.

Impending Global Hunger Crisis

The idea of the starving masses driven by their desperation to take to the streets and overthrow the ancien regime has seemed impossibly quaint since capitalism triumphed so decisively in the Cold War. Since then, the spectacle of hunger sparking revolutionary violence has been the stuff of Broadway musicals rather than the real world of politics. And yet, the headlines of the past month suggest that skyrocketing food prices are threatening the stability of a growing number of governments around the world. Ironically, it may be the very success of capitalism in transforming regions previously restrained by various forms of socialism that has helped create the new crisis.

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Haiti is in flames as food riots have turned into a violent challenge to the vulnerable government; Egypt's authoritarian regime faces a mounting political threat over its inability to maintain a steady supply of heavily subsidized bread to its impoverished citizens; Cote D'Ivoire, Cameroon, Mozambique, Uzbekistan, Yemen and Indonesia are among the countries that have recently seen violent food riots or demonstrations. World Bank president Robert Zoellick noted last week that world food prices had risen 80% over the past three years, and warned that at least 33 countries face social unrest as a result.

The sociology of the food riot is pretty straightforward: The usually impoverished majority of citizens may acquiesce to the rule of detested corrupt and repressive regimes when they are preoccupied with the daily struggle to feed their children and themselves, but when circumstances render it impossible to feed their hungry children, normally passive citizens can very quickly become militants with nothing to lose. That's especially true when the source of their hunger is not the absence of food supplies but their inability to afford to buy the available food supplies. And that's precisely what we're seeing in the current wave of global food-price inflation. As Josette Sheeran of the U.N. World Food Program put it last month, "We are seeing food on the shelves but people being unable to afford it."

When all that stands between hungry people and a warehouse full of rice and beans is a couple of padlocks and a riot policeman (who may be the neighbor of those who're trying to get past him, and whose own family may be hungry too), the invisible barricade of private-property laws can be easily ignored. Doing whatever it takes to feed oneself and a hungry child, after all, is a primal human instinct. So, with prices of basic foods skyrocketing to the point that even the global aid agencies - whose function is to provide emergency food supplies to those in need - are unable, for financial reasons, to sustain their current commitments to the growing army of the hungry, brittle regimes around the world have plenty of reason for anxiety.

The hunger has historically been an instigator of revolutions and civil wars, it is not a sufficient condition for such violence. For a mass outpouring of rage spurred by hunger to translate into a credible challenge to an established order requires an organized political leadership ready to harness that anger against the state. It may not be all that surprising, then, that Haiti has been one of the major flashpoints of the new wave of hunger-generated political crises; the outpouring of rage there has been channeled into preexisting furrows of political discontent. And that's why there may be greater reason for concern in Egypt, where the bread crisis comes on top of a mounting challenge to the regime's legitimacy by a range of opposition groups.

The social theories of Karl Marx were long ago discarded as of little value, even to revolutionaries. But he did warn that capitalism had a tendency to generate its own crises. Indeed, the spread of capitalism, and its accelerated industrialization and wealth-creation, may have fomented the food-inflation crisis - by dramatically accelerating competition for scarce resources. The rapid industrialization of China and India over the past two decades - and the resultant growth of a new middle class fast approaching the size of America's - has driven demand for oil toward the limits of global supply capacity. That has pushed oil prices to levels five times what they were in the mid 1990s, which has also raised pressure on food prices by driving up agricultural costs and by prompting the substitution of biofuel crops for edible ones on scarce farmland. Moreover, those new middle class people are eating a lot better than their parents did - particularly more meat. Producing a single calorie of beef can, by some estimates, require eight or more calories of grain feed, and expanded meat consumption therefore has a multiplier effect on demand for grains. Throw in climate disasters such as the Australian drought and recent rice crop failures, and you have food inflation spiraling so fast that even the U.N. agency created to feed people in emergencies is warning that it lacks the funds to fulfill its mandate.

The reason officials such as Zoellick are sounding the alarm may be that the food crisis, and its attendant political risks, are not likely to be resolved or contained by the laissez-faire operation of capitalism's market forces. Government intervention on behalf of the poor - so out of fashion during globalization's roaring '90s and the current decade - may be about to make a comeback. View this article on Time.com

"PARADISE on EARTH " being captured by Maoist Guerrillas as the world looks on helplessly

"PARADISE on EARTH " being captured by Maoist Guerrillas as the world looks on helplessly

like a dumbo looking at Banana......

Now it sounds like being listed terrorist by United nation and USA does not count, their power have dwindled and helpless when it comes to human welfare on Earth.

Seized and Gripped by terror of Maoist Guerrillas, the ordinary folks of the most peace loving people  dwelling on the most beautiful  landscape on earth " The paradise on Earth " have no choice but to  let the fierce thugs sweep through the unexpected victory. And the power of the world is too weak to challenge the Maoist Regime.

The Richest Dynasty

Who is The Richest on Earth?

      Remember when the pope came to the United States? How he chided us for not showing mercy? That we should give away what we have to the poor? We are such a wealthy nation. And then remember the great earthquake that took place in 1980 over in Italy? I remember when the pope came in to this ruined area, walked up to the bedside of some poor little wounded Italian man and the pope so benevolently laid his hand on his head and made the sign of the cross, blessed the man and walked off.

    John Paul II, "Pilgrimage of Faith"

      And the newscasters were telling of the devastation. And then we cut back to the United States and Senator Kennedy looked at the camera with sorrowful eyes and said, "Oh, we Americans, out of mercy we should send at least 45 million dollars to this devastated village so we can reconstruct it." Remember that? Now let me read something out of THE VATICAN BILLIONS by Avro Manhattan, and I think you're going to get as mad as I am right now. I want to bring to your attention the fact that this information was published 10 years ago, and the figures are probably even more startling today.

      "The Vatican has large investments with the Rothschilds of Britain, France and America, with the Hambros Bank, with the Credit Suisse in London and Zurich. In the United States it has large investments with the Morgan Bank, the Chase-Manhattan Bank, the First National Bank of New York, the Bankers Trust Company, and others. The Vatican has billions of shares in the most powerful international corporations such as Gulf Oil, Shell, General Motors, Bethlehem Steel, General Electric, International Business Machines, T.W.A., etc. At a conservative estimate, these amount to more than 500 million dollars in the U.S.A. alone.

      "In a statement published in connection with a bond prospectus, the Boston archdiocese listed its assets at Six Hundred and Thirty-five Million ($635,891,004), which is 9.9 times its liabilities. This leaves a net worth of Five Hundred and Seventy-one million dollars ($571,704,953). It is not difficult to discover the truly astonishing wealth of the church, once we add the riches of the twenty-eight archdioceses and 122 dioceses of the U.S.A., some of which are even wealthier than that of Boston.

      "Some idea of the real estate and other forms of wealth controlled by the Catholic church may be gathered by the remark of a member of the New York Catholic Conference, namely 'that his church probably ranks second only to the United States Government in total annual purchase.' Another statement, made by a nationally syndicated Catholic priest, perhaps is even more telling. 'The Catholic church,' he said, 'must be the biggest corporation in the United States. We have a branch office in every neighborhood. Our assets and real estate holdings must exceed those of Standard Oil, A.T.&T., and U.S. Steel combined. And our roster of dues-paying members must be second only to the tax rolls of the United States Government.'

      "The Catholic church, once all her assets have been put together, is the most formidable stockbroker in the world. The Vatican, independently of each successive pope, has been increasingly orientated towards the U.S. The Wall Street Journal said that the Vatican's financial deals in the U.S. alone were so big that very often it sold or bought gold in lots of a million or more dollars at one time.

      "The Vatican's treasure of solid gold has been estimated by the United Nations World Magazine to amount to several billion dollars. A large bulk of this is stored in gold ingots with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, while banks in England and Switzerland hold the rest. But this is just a small portion of the wealth of the Vatican, which in the U.S. alone, is greater than that of the five wealthiest giant corporations of the country. When to that is added all the real estate, property, stocks and shares abroad, then the staggering accumulation of the wealth of the Catholic church becomes so formidable as to defy any rational assessment.

      "The Catholic church is the biggest financial power, wealth accumulator and property owner in existence. She is a greater possessor of material riches than any other single institution, corporation, bank, giant trust, government or state of the whole globe. The pope, as the visible ruler of this immense amassment of wealth, is consequently the richest individual of the twentieth century. No one can realistically assess how much he is worth in terms of billions of dollars."

      And I think back about how the pope, the wealthiest man on this planet, walked up to that poor little Italian man lying in that rubble, put his hand on his head, and said, "Bless you," and then walked away and just left him there. That has got to be the height of hypocrisy. And then Sen. Kennedy, the pope's boy over in the United States makes the big pitch to the U.S. people to foot the bill to repair that devastated village, right in the pope's backyard. What a set-up!

Egg Donor Human Trafficking & HQ0-High Quality 0ocyte

Egg Donors and Human Trafficking HQ0-High Quality 0ocyte

Whenever most people hear the term "egg donor," they usually consider this a good thing, as most of us assume that anyone who donates is altruistically motivated and thus engaged in something intrinsically good. And besides, it's for a great cause, so everything is all right, yes?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly, egg donation has less to do with altruism and more to do with the exploitation of women–particularly young women and often poor women who are usually facing large debts or just trying to make ends meet.

In fact, we contend that human egg harvesting is the newest form of human trafficking.

There is a fairly universal consensus that something horrible called human trafficking exists. We watch documentaries of young women and children being forced into the commercial sex industry, or toiling long hours in sweatshops. Our hearts ache at the human misery we see. Slowly, we Americans are beginning to recognize that these abuses of human life and dignity take place in our own backyards. Thankfully, the United States has been a leader in the global war to combat human trafficking. It was one of the first countries to pass comprehensive legislation that recognizes trafficking as a crime and that calls for concrete action, both in this country and overseas, to prevent it, as well as to protect and assist victims of trafficking and bring perpetrators to justice.

So what exactly are the current laws addressing human trafficking, and why do we think that human egg harvesting must be seen through the trafficking lens?

First, there is the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which was signed into law on October 28, 2000, and imposes severe sentences on those who have been convicted of human trafficking. The TVPA demonstrates U.S. commitment to assist those persons trafficked into the United States by providing them with assistance and granting them a three-year residence visa–if they agree to cooperate with law-enforcement efforts.

But is the TVPA enough to keep human trafficking at bay? Unfortunately, no. Turn on the news, pick up a newspaper, and the stories are still there. The TVPA does not go far enough in preventing human trafficking and monitoring new means of abuse, notably those forms that develop as a result of technological and medical advances.

The TVPA also falls short in its definition of trafficking, which only includes sexual exploitation and forced or bonded labor. A more inclusive and comprehensive definition is required to correct newer forms of human-trafficking violations. The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime–known as the Trafficking Protocol–provided the anti-trafficking community with the first generally accepted definition of the crime and allows for a broader interpretation of trafficking. The Trafficking Protocol indicates that the purposes of exploitation that it lists are not to be considered exhaustive but rather are a "minimum listing": "At a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs" constitute human trafficking (emphasis added).

Article 3 of the Traficking Protocol provides a more comprehensive definition of human trafficking, namely:

• acts of trafficking, which include recruitment of persons. Young women are heavily recruited for their eggs. One Google search would confirm this.
• means of trafficking, such as forms of coercion, fraud, deception, the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits.
• purposes of trafficking: exploitation, which is at the heart of trafficking, for the purpose of forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs.

In March 2005, the European Parliament, taking its cue from the Trafficking Protocol, issued a resolution specifically condemning the trade in human eggs. The resolution, titled the European Parliament Resolution on the Trade in Human Egg Cells, was a direct response to the exploitation of Eastern European young women and condemned "the trade in human egg cells," stating that "harvesting of egg cells poses a high medical risk to the life and health of women." And, "despite the possibility of serious effects on women's life and health, the high price paid for egg cells incites and encourages donation, given the relative poverty of the donors." The European Union got serious about human trafficking following news stories of several young women who were severely harmed through egg donation in Eastern Europe.

U.S. laws do not currently recognize the trafficking of human organs as part of human trafficking. Yet the United States did recently ratify the U.N. Trafficking Protocol and, consequently, has a commitment to bring its national legislation into harmony with its provisions. The buying and selling of human tissue represents a commodification of the human body that has already been declared an affront to the basic dignity of the human being by international laws. Egg donation is a form of trafficking in the human body.

Vulnerable young women, trusting the medical establishment with their well-being, are being heavily recruited by means of deceptive advertisements and coerced with large sums of money in relation to their social-economic status. Advertisements such as Eggdonation.com recruit egg donors by suggesting that they are the "solution to solving female infertility." Thedonorsource.com says their egg donors create the "pathway to parenthood." Elitedonors.com, who represents financially well-off clients, offers a maximum compensation of $100,000 for the "preferred donor" who meets a set profile of physical characteristics. And now, adding to the competition for eggs, cloning researchers such as Harvard's Kevin Eggan and Advanced Cell Technologies' Robert Lanza say they hope there are women willing to donate their eggs for their cloning research in order to develop patient matched stem-cell lines.

The U.N. Trafficking Protocol places a premium on the crime of taking advantage of vulnerable women–whether young college women who face graduation with the prospect of entry-level wages and large student loans, or migrant workers in Spain who are unlikely to get within a hundred miles of a college education and so succumb to the growing egg trade in their country. Whatever their nationality or class, they are not told the truth about the health risks of egg donation. Medical science does not know the full implications of egg harvesting because there is inadequate tracking, monitoring, and meaningful short- or long-term follow-up of these young women. Prospective donors are told simply that there are "no known risks."

One donor explains her experience: When she had questions about the consent form, she was hurried and encouraged to "just sign it." After she made repeated calls complaining of side effects, a nurse from the agency finally responded that it was all part of taking the drugs and that she should continue to endure the side effects. Ultimately, the agency's inadequate screening process and neglect led to her suffering a major stroke and paralysis, and finally cost her the ability to conceive children naturally. Another woman was hospitalized with severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Less than a year later, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. These are only two examples of scores of similarly poor outcomes that have appeared in the medical literature but that are not systematically reported to any regulatory body. Potential donors have the right to know how common these disastrous outcomes are.

GlobalART USA's website touts its company as "The IVF Physicians' Source for High-Quality Oocytes . . . At Exceptional Prices." It is a state-of-the-art IVF laboratory maintained in Eastern Europe, in full operation since 1998. Why you might ask would a U.S. company be in full operation in Eastern Europe? So we can traffic human eggs to the world. The United States must extend its definition of human trafficking and realize that a new form of trafficking is occurring in egg harvesting. No matter how great the demand is for the human egg, we must resolve to protect young and vulnerable women.

Michele Clark is an adjunct professor in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and an international expert on combating human trafficking. Jennifer Lahl is national director of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network and founding director of Hands Off Our Ovaries, an international awareness campaign on the risks of egg-harvesting practices.

References:

The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime

"Lack of Human Eggs Could Hamper US Cloning Efforts," Technology Review, June 15, 2006

Unemployment: Take care US in Recession

Falling into an unemployment rut: don't let it happen

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- If you've just lost your job, the decisions you make in the coming days and weeks may be critical to your financial survival. How you organize your time, corral your resources and handle your money can help determine whether this job loss is a temporary setback or a potentially long-term disaster.

MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston says these five tips will help you find ways to cope, from keeping up your spirits to prioritizing your spending:

Get your head on straight. Keeping your energy level high and a "realistic sense of optimism" will be essential skills in helping you navigate the road ahead. While family and friends can try to help, what you really need is a job-hunting "board of directors" that can give you advice and encouragement. That means finding a job-search support group; the Web site Job-Hunt (www.job-hunt.org) may be a good place to start looking.

Let people know how to find you. Your business and professional contacts may have only your work email address and telephone number. As soon as possible, send a short email to all of your contacts letting them know where they can reach you now. Mention the change in job status (you might say something like, "Because of a staff reduction, my last day at XYZ Industries was Oct. 29."). Follow up later with a more personal note to key contacts to let them know you're looking for work.

Stay covered. If you had health insurance through your job, you should be able to purchase continued coverage under Cobra rules -- but that can be an expensive way to go. Fortunately, you usually have 60 days to sign up under Cobra and the coverage is retroactive, so you don't have to decide right away. If you get another job quickly, you may not need the coverage. If you don't, you may find that a high-deductible individual policy is a better deal.

Apply for unemployment benefits. Some people worry that applying for unemployment will affect their credit (it won't) or that jobless benefits are some kind of welfare (they're not, because your employer paid into the system on your behalf). The earlier you apply, the earlier you'll get your first check. Most states have a two- or three-week waiting period based on when you file, not when you lost your job. Although the national average unemployment check is only about $270 a week, benefits typically last for 26 weeks, and under some circumstances can be extended for an additional 13 to 20 weeks. But they are available only to workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. You generally can't get benefits if you were fired for cause or voluntarily quit your job. If the facts are in dispute, though, go ahead and file -- you can always argue your case.

Get your priorities straight. List your bills and other spending in order of importance. The items at the bottom should be pretty easy to trim. You should also have an "If Things Really Get Bad" list. Tops on it should be holding on to the roof over your head (the mortgage or rent), keeping the lights on (utilities) and ensuring you have transportation to get to job interviews (car payments and insurance). At the bottom should be your unsecured debts -- credit cards, student loans and other personal debt that paid for stuff that can't be repossessed. Skipping credit-card payments may result in a ding on your credit and phone calls from creditors, but skipping mortgage payments could leave you homeless.

Choose Life vs Cellphone&Smoking

Cell Phones May Be Riskier Than Cigarettes

The danger of developing a brain tumor from extended mobile phone use is greater than the risk presented by smoking, an Australian doctor has concluded. Neurosurgeon Vini G. Khurana reached his conclusion by reviewing other studies into the connection between mobile phones and cancer.

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The dangers associated with cell phones could far outweigh those tied to asbestos and smoking, an Australian doctor recently warned in a new report.

In his paper, "Mobile Phones and Brain Tumors -- A Public Health Concern," Vini G. Khurana, a staff specialist neurosurgeon at the Canberra Hospital and associate professor of neurosurgery with Australian National University Medical School, summarizes a 14-month study in which he reviewed previous reports on the effects of mobile phone usage in medical and scientific publications as well as the popular press.

"There is a significant and increasing body of evidence for a link between mobile phone usage and certain brain tumors," Khurana writes. "The link between mobile phones and brain tumors should no longer be regarded as a myth."

Fourfold Risk Possible

Cell phones can be invaluable in emergency situations and have contributed to the quality of human life, Khurana acknowledges. However, when used heavily over many years, the electromagnetic radiation they produce can do harm to the brain, which is itself an electrical organ, he notes.

Cell phones can also heat up the contents of the head, he notes.

There is strong evidence suggesting a relationship between the length of cell-phone usage and the delayed occurrence of an acoustic neuroma or astrocytoma brain tumor on the same side of the head as the "preferred side" for phone usage, Khurana adds, amounting to a risk increase of 200 percent to 400 percent.

"Given the widespread use of mobile phones by children and adults alike, the presence of any health risk posed by long-term near-field radiation will inevitably set the stage for the emergence of a global public health problem," Khurana writes.

Back to Landlines?

The scientific and medical communities need to reevaluate previous studies that found no link between cell phones and brain cancer, Khurana says, and the telecommunications industry needs to expedite the development and promotion of "safe, practical and ubiquitous EMR/radiofrequency shielding devices for mobile and cordless phones and their Bluetooth and headset accessories."

It also should further refine hands-free speakerphone options, he says.

Consumers, meanwhile, should use landlines whenever possible, he said, or at least speakerphone options when available. They should minimize the use of mobile and cordless phones in general as well as Bluetooth devices and unshielded headphone accessories, he says.

Children, Khurana added, should use wireless technologies only in emergency situations.

'One Person's Opinion'

The cellular industry is yet to be convinced.

"This is just one person's opinion of existing research," Joe Ferren, a spokesperson for CTIA-The Wireless Association, told TechNewsWorld.

The link between mobile-phone use and cancer is even listed among the American Cancer Society's "Top 10 Cancer Myths," Ferren noted.

"There is a consensus among global health organizations and leading scientists that there is no association between wireless usage and health effects," Ferren said.

The Next Tobacco Industry?

Given the widespread nature of cell phones and the divergent results of the many studies that have been done, it will be difficult for consumers to draw any clear-cut conclusions.

"Could this cause people to overreact? I see that being inevitable," David Chamberlain, principal analyst with In-Stat, told TechNewsWorld. "Someone will want to pass a law somewhere."

It's to be expected that the wireless industry would downplay any such fears, Chamberlain added, noting that one day, "they could look like the tobacco companies."

'Life's a Risk'

In the meantime, however, "I think everybody should just continue to make their own choices just the way we do when we decide to wear helmets when we ride motorcycles or to wear kneepads when we skateboard," Chamberlain said. "It's all about the same thing."

For now, "I don't know what can be done, other than individuals taking steps to ensure their own safety when they perceive a risk," Chamberlain concluded. "Life's a risk, and making our own choices is all we can do."