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World Meets to Ensure Diversity of Living Organisms

Provider: Environment News Service KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, February 9, 2004 (ENS) -"The survival of the human species depends on biological diversity. Without biodiversity, there would be no trees to produce oxygen, no water catchments and no biodegradation, so that organic waste would just accumulate," says Hamdallah Zedan, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. "The services provided by biodiversity are inestimable and yet, because they are free, they are often overlooked, to the point where biodiversity is still being lost at an alarming rate." Zedan is in Kuala Lumpur at the Putra World Trade Centre today with more than 2,000 delegates from around the world for the opening of the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP7). Cabinet ministers and other government representatives, world renowned scientists, and delegates from nongovernmental organizations will consider as priority issues mountain ecosystems, protected areas, the transfer of technology and technology cooperation, and the provision of benefits to people, particularly indigenous people. The convention is expected to solidify a 10 year strategy to create a global system of marine protected areas by 2012 that includes the worlds oceans and seas beyond national jurisdiction. This high seas […]

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Appeals Court Blocks Hemp Foods Ban

Provider: Environmental News Service SAN FRANCISCO, California, February 9, 2004 (ENS) – The U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) agency does not have the authority to ban the sale of foods containing hemp, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The three judge panel unanimously agreed that the DEA's attempted ban ignored a provision in the Controlled Substances Act that excludes hemp seed from the law. Congress exempted hemp seed from the law because it only contains trace amounts of the active ingredient in marijuana, known as THC. Poppy seeds, which have trace amounts of opiates, are similarly exempted. "We find unambiguous Congress' intent with regard to the regulation of non-psychoactive hemp," the panel ruled. The DEA, which could appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, has been trying to ban hemp foods for more than two years. The appeals court blocked implementation of an October 2001 ban at the request of the Hemp Industry Association, which challenged the legality of the rule. In March 2003, the DEA issued another rule banning hemp foods, a move federal officials said was driven by the concern that a flourishing hemp industry could provide cover for illegal cultivation of marijuana. The appeals court blocked that rule […]

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Eat Your Hat

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