Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ

It is no secret that Gro Harlem Brundtland, the prime minister of Norway,
wants to be known as ‘the mother of the environment’.

In 1987, she headed the UN panel that wrote ‘the Brundtland report’,
which foisted the term ‘sustainable development’ on a bemused world. She
has continued to spread the gospel since. Last month she told a world congress
of trade unions in Caracas, Venezuela, that ‘sustainable development’ means
making ‘the exploitation of resources . . . consistent with present as
well as future needs’.

It seems that no one, present or future, needs seals. Even as Brundtland
spoke, Norwegian vessels were steaming northwards towards regions of the
Arctic where harp and hooded seals bear their young. They are now killing
20 000 of the creatures, despite warnings that the seal population is already
down to only a sixth of its natural size and still falling.

The Norwegians don’t even use the seals for anything. Since the European
Community banned imports of sealskins, there is no market, and Brundtland’s
government has to subsidise the seal killers.

So why do they bother? Because what Norway does need is fish. Seals
eat fish, so Norway says seals must be reduced to an ‘optimum’ number to
enable humans to continue exploiting declining fish populations. They are
not actually saying that the optimum number is zero, but if that’s the end
result, at least it will be sustainable.

* * *

Not that it is only the Norwegians who are keen to kill seals. Scottish
fishermen are calling on the Scottish Office to allow what their leader,
Davy Reid, describes as ‘the mother of all culls’ off the coast of Scotland.
They claim that the grey seal population is too big and threatens their
livelihood. The Scottish Office, however, says ‘there is no clear evidence’
that seals are eating large amounts of fish, while Greenpeace says, ‘The
real villain is not the seal but human overfishing and the pollution of
´Ç³¦±ð²¹²Ô²õ.’

* * *

Readers with not much to do on 14 May might consider attending one of
the highlights of the year’s round of scientific conferences – the Castor
Oil Symposium, to be held in Toronto by the International Castor Oil Association.
The symposium will discuss the many uses of ‘one of the world’s oldest and
most important oleochemicals’, including cosmetic applications, polyurethane
casting resins and coatings, a ‘continuous process for simultaneous detoxification
and deallergenation of castor meal’ and various ‘castor-derived’ compounds.
A fax to the association (908) 654-9144 should provide more details.

But don’t tell your mother.

* * *

On 25 January, this column queried whether there really was such a book
as Flattened Fauna: A Field Guide to Common Animals of Roads, Streets and
Highways, by Roger Knutson. Two readers have kindly pointed out that this
book does exist, and is available in Britain.

Both readers commend Knutson for his scrupulous attention to detail
and the many thought-provoking questions raised by his work. Indeed, Sue
Travers describes the book – the first ever guide designed to enable the
highway naturalist to distinguish at a glance a squashed turtle from a hub-cap,
or a snake from a bicycle tyre – as ‘revolutionary’. For Will Higgs, the
work’s salient characteristic is its compassion, as evidenced by the observation:
‘These animals have not only lost their lives but also their third dimension.’

The book, which includes ‘outline drawings’, is available from: The
Natural History Book Service, 2 Wills Road, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5XN, or Airlift
Books, 26 Eden Grove, London N7 8EL.

* * *

In an attempt to cut down on fraud, US credit card issuers are trying
hard to tighten up their procedures, especially in the vetting of applicants.
But according to the Computer Fraud and Security Bulletin, their efforts
have still not been entirely successful. For example, in January an eight-year-old
cat belonging to Jim Bridges of West Seattle received by post a pre-approved
gold class premium credit card with a credit limit of $10 000.

Along with the card, there was a sweepstake cheque offering the cat
$220 towards the purchase of a range of items, including a Singer sewing
machine, a five-piece luggage assortment and diamond-studded his ‘n’ hers
wristwatches.

Bridges explained that a few months earlier he had used the name Nathan
N. Jones on behalf of his cat when he had requested samples of a gourmet
cat food advertised in a magazine. This was the name the credit card was
addressed to.

* * *

Embargoes on news stories rely on a kind of gentleperson’s agreement
that journalists will not run the story until the requested date or time.
Usually, this is only a day or two ahead, otherwise journalists would be
tempted to break the story ‘in the public interest’.

At the end of March we received a press release promising the appearance
in June of an exciting and innovatory new edition of the Oxford English
Dictionary. Unusually, the press release was customised – it even told us
how many times New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ is cited in the work. Thrilled, we started
to write a news story about the new dictionary. But then we noticed the
embargo note at the top: ‘Please do not publish this story before Friday
June 19 1992.’

* * *

On a recent visit to a pizza emporium, a contributor made ready to order
his usual four-ingredient delight with a fancy name. But his 15-year-old
son, more streetwise than the old man, pointed out that according to the
prices on the menu, by ordering the basic cheese and tomato pizza with two
other toppings as ‘extras’, he would get the same thing for 70p less. He
tried it. Sure enough, he received the same delicious concoction as usual,
without the fancy name, and saved the price of the coffee to follow.

There must be a reason, but for the life of us we can’t work out what
it is.