Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, December 05, 1997, Page 5, Image 5

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    Sara Ali, an undeclared freshman, and Tara Nikzi, a freshman majoring in
a petition in favor of economic sanctions against Burma.
MICHAEL CRISP/Emerall
international studies, sigh
Boycott: Company buys teak wood
■ Continued from Page 1
Clinton’s executive order by limit
ing the city’s right to do business
or engage in contracts with any
company with Burmese business
ties.
Although Shaw said he felt the
meeting with Case went well, he
has not received confirmation on
an additional meeting date.
According to Case, she and oth
er city officials have not yet had a
chance to pore over the specifics
and the future implications of
such an agreement. However, she
said she will pass the draft to the
city’s administrative director War
ren Wong for further review as
soon as the initial evaluation is
done. But she said if the agree
ment seems feasible, it eventually
would require a City Council vote
to change the existing code for city
contracting.
But Shaw said if he does not get
any further cooperation from
Case, he will go to the council
with a drafted plan and a petition
with approximately 100 signa
tures from University students
and other Eugene residents.
Shaw said he and other stu
dents are also in the process of or
ganizing a postcard campaign to
urge the city to consider a selec
tive purchasing agreement, and he
said he is attempting to get City
Council member Bobby Lee to
sponsor the bill.
But as of Dec. 3, Lee said he had
not had time to look into the mat
ter because of the flurry of recent
council action.
“I think [the petition] is the kind
of thing Eugene citizens would
want,” Shaw said. “It should give
us a sense of pride that we’re
joined in an international civic
movement.”
Shaw said Portland is attempt
ing to enact a similar selective pur
chasing agreement, and 15 cities,
one county and one state already
have similar agreements of their
own. These include San Francis
co, California’s Alameda County
and Massachusetts.
Some of the ethical question;
surrounding Burma involve the
government forcing the enslaved
Karen to log and destroy the
Burmese rain forest, which is
home to the endangered teak tree
Shaw said a Eugene company uses
teak wood from the Burmese rain
forest.
The Eugene company with ties
to Burma is the U.S.-based
Scan/Design Furniture Company,
which sells Danish furniture con
structed from the wood oi
Burmese teak trees.
Scan/Design manager Brian
Pedersen said the company does
not use teak wood mined from the
endangered rain forest, and it only
buys wood from sustainable
forests, pointing to an Oct. 1990
statement from the Danish Timber
Trade Federation stating that the
harvest of Burmese teak is limited
to trees meeting national mini
mum girth limits.
“That’s a flat-out lie," Shaw
said.
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