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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1979)
Emerald Vol 81. No 2 Eugene. Oregon 97403 Thursday, June 21, 1979 Draft bill moves quietly through Congress By SALL Y HODGKINSON Of the Emerald Draft registration is quietly — and sometimes secretly — making its way through the U S Congress On June 7. the U S Senate Subcom mittee for Manpower and Personnel ap proved 5-3, in secret session, the regis tration of all males 18-26 years old start ing next January Four days later, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved the same registration package 12-5 On the other side of Congress, in the House, an amendment to the Defense Department authorization bill that provides for registration of all 18-year-old males beginning in January 1981 rests in the House Rules Committee after being approved by the House Armed Services Committee The rules committee will decide whether registration should be included as part of the authorization bill or treated as a separate issue ‘ It's pretty much a foregone conclu sion that the rules committee can’t beat it because they don't have enough votes.” says Dave Isenberg of the University Veterans Association (UVA) and the Coalition Opposing Registration and the Draft (CORD) Although John Lawrence, president of the UVA, says the chances for passage of any form of draft registration have narrowed from a sure bet to a 50-50 bet due largely to anti-draft forces, he adds that the public isn’t aware of what's going on 'The public isn’t informed or doesn’t care," he says "This thing is not going to go away We re going to be faced with this for a long time. If it (draft registration) fails this year, it will come back stronger than ever next year.” Lawrence predicts that draft registra tion probably won't be voted on in the Senate or the House floor until early July. Opponents of draft registration, in cluding Rep Jim Weaver, D-Ore., say the military is gearing up for intervention in the Persian Gulf to secure oil imports. “We re looking at 1980 as the year of mobilization and 1981 as the year the military will make their move,’’ says Law rence, noting that the military is already beginning to recall retired officers For more information about draft registration call the UVA at 686-4098 or CORD at 344-0009. This little girl's mother won t have to worry about her popping a Captan- or Benomyl-coated strawberry in her mouth while picking for the family the freezer arns reserves A federal court judge recently ruled that children under 12 can tpick on fields sprayed with the toxicants, but most area U-Pick farmers don 't use the chemicals. Lane berry growers won’t suffer from labor ruling By KEVIN HARDEN 01 the Emerald A Court ruling that will keep 10 and 11-year-old strawberry pickers out of the fields this summer may be causing prob lems in other parts of the state, but Lane County berry growers won't feel the pinch, says Craig Wiggert of the Lane County Ex tension Service None of the county growers whose berries are used for processing commercially now hire 10 or 11-year-old children to pick the strawberries during June and July, Wiggert says. “Most of them only use the older kids, from about 12 years-old and up " A San Francisco federal - r judge ordered an injunction against strawberry growers hir ing the younger children June 14 after the U S Labor Depart ment and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) dis covered the possiblity that two fungi-pesticides used on the fields — Captan and Benomyl — could cause mutations or cancer in the younger pickers Tests conducted by the labor department have shown Captan can be carcinogenic when han dled and Benomyl can be toxic. The ruling was greeted with anger from nearly all strawberry growers in Oregon and Wa shington Oregon Farm Bureau spokeswoman Beth Caster said June 15 the ruling will have “disastrous" effects on the strawberry harvest this year, which could mean a $4 million loss to nearly half of the state's berry crop During a federal hearing on the findings last month, FDA lawyers argued that the pes ticides could cause not only cancer, but also mutations in children under 12 years old. A Seattle federal judge did not accept the findings and allowed the children to continue picking until his ruling was overturned last week. Although the court’s ruling allowed 12-year-old children to harvest the berries, that age was set after tests by the Environ mental Protection Agency Showed the fungicides to re semble drugs that caused fetus defects in the 1950s, says EPA representative Michael Watson Children younger than 12 years old have not yet developed im munities to the chemicals, he says Berry growers who normally hire the 10 and 11-year-old chil dren can apply for a waiver of the injunction if their crops are in danger of not being harvest ed. Wiggert says, but so far only three Lane County growers have applied for the waiver. ‘‘The whole thing is just so asinine,” he says. “Captan s been used for about 30 years without any of the problems the FDA is talking about." Wiggert says the FDA is “just speculating” about the chemicals and no real proof has been made about the chemicals' danger “There are so many problems with this ruling There is so much confusion, I don't think anyone knows what is going on. But the people who really get hit by this ruling are the growers.” Most of the strawberries grown in the county are sold to private pickers who take advan tage of the U-pick season, with only about 40 acres set aside for commercial processing, Wig gert says. Most U-pick growers also do not use the chemicals during the harvest season, he says. today The new Willie Knickerbocker Bike bridge spans the Willamette River near Judkins Point, but there are a tew bugs in it that Lane County and City of Eugene officials are try ing to iron out See story page 8. A Women s Studies certificate has been given, for the first time in University history, to a man He ex plains his thoughts, reactions and reasons for completing the interdis ciplinary program on page 3. Why did 41 Sperm Whales beach themselves on the South Jetty of the Suislaw River near Florence? A team of scientist, including volun teers from the American Spciety Mammalogists, are trying to an that question See story page 4,
