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Show Friday, February 13, 1MT Paga Two Toxic fog on both coasts NEW YORK F6g at both U.S. coasts was found to be far more toxic than expected and riskier to breathe than polluted air, said scientists who blamed the dirty mists for hastening the death of forests. The scientists conducted the study with a homemade "fog collecting machine" mounted on a pickup truck that was driven through Beltsvillc, Aid., and the San Joaquin Valley in California. The machine condensed moisture from fog and collected samples of often acidic "dirty, brown water" in quart jars, said James Sciber, professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California at Davis. "It was very dirty from soot and dust, more so in Maryland than California because of the chimneys," he said. "When we looked at it chemically we found pesticides and a number of chemicals." More facts are needed to determine the health threat of toxic fog, Seiber and scientists from the Department of Agriculture reported in the British science journal Nature. Most of the chemicals found in the fog samples were byproducts from the manufacture of plastics. Pesticides, airborne chemicals and vehicle exhaust fumes all become concentrated in the microscopic drops of moisture that form fog, Seiber said. Inhaling the contaminated fog, which resembled the London, likely is more soupy "killer fogs" of the study found. than air, breathing polluted dangerous "There is a difference between inhaling vapors and inhaling concentrated particles," he said. "The particles (from fog) stay in the lungs whereas vapors can be exhaled." The fog droplets can build up on the surfaces of leaves and lungs and are more easily absorbed than vapors moving through the air. The droplets dry and coat leaves with a film of "toxic organics," said Dwight Glotfelty, research chemist at the USDA. The scientists said they were surprised at the new findings because they broke a chemistry standard known as Henry's Law, The Washington Post said today. The formula predicted a much lower rate of absorption of substances by water droplets in fog, which is a cloud formed at ground level. "There is a higher concentration (of pesticides and chemicals) than we expected, up to 100 times more in some cases," Sciber said. 19th-centu- ry 184-year-o- ld Pilots take island refuge MOULD BAY, Northwest Territories Two pilots took refuge on a freezing dark arctic island on the "edge of the world" Thursday while they hoped to figure out the strange wing "bangs" that stalled their record -- setting global flight. It was 45 degrees below zero when pilots Richard Norton and Calin Rosetti landed the Arctic Tern on Prince Patrick Island, the desolate site of a Canadian weather station in the Arctic Ocean. They described their detour 420 miles off their course to the North Pole on their way to Oslo, Norway, and return to adventure Jan. 21 as Paris, where they started their 13-leg "cautionary." There, they hoped to solve what was causing mysterious Piper banging on a wing of their specially outfitted Malibu, which carries 270 gallons of fuel instead of its usual six-se- at 120 gallons. "We heard the noises twice in the flight," Rosetti told a UPI reporter over the only telephone in Mould Bay, population 10, after they made their unscheduled stop Wednesday and were given a warm bunk and hot food. "It was like a bang. Just two times. One time is good enough, but two is too much." The island's extreme cold put off any urge to immediately Thank God It's Friday! B&D Burger's inspect the plane, Rosetti, 56, a West German engineer who works for the European space agency in Paris, said between sips of hot tea. But they said they intended to find out what was causing the noise and continue their quest for 21 separate world flying records, including being the first to fly a single-engin- e propeller-drive- n plane around the world over both the and North poles. They had originally planned to South arrive back in Paris Thursday. "It's very, very cold. It might just be contractions," he speculated. Norton, 48, lives in Philadelphia but flies commercially between New York and Europe. It was the pilots first encounter with trouble since they began their world journey three weeks ago at Paris Le Bourget Airport, the same field where Charles Lindbergh landed in his celebrated transatlantic flight from New York in 1927. The Arctic Tern, which soared over the South Pole Feb. 1 without incident, was 450 miles from the North Pole on a ur flight from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Oslo when the "bangs" scared the pilots enough to radio the Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center for help. 17-ho- With guidance from U.S. and Canadian air traffic controllers, they steered the plane to the closest airstrip: a frozen gravel funway on the island in the Northwest Territories. Energy dept. challenged SAN FRANCISCO Federal refusal to pay states legal fees for challenges to nuclear dump site selection was likened Thursday to asking someone on his way to an execution to pay for part of the cab ride. A three-judpanel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments by Nevada, Washington, ge Utah and Mississippi challenging the Department of Energy's refusal to pay legal costs for states opposing DOE actions in the nuclear dump site selection process. "The act is unprecedented in authorizing states to participate in oversight of the site selection process," said Washington Assistant Attorney General Narda Pierce. The states want advance payment to fund lawsuits challenging DOE actions in the course of the case. Nevada already has won one major legal challenge in appeals court. That allows states to conduct independent soil and water studies of sites over DOE oppostion. The total amount sought by the four states combined is $440,000, only a small fraction of the total $2 billion currently in the Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund, said Nevada attorney Malachy Murphy. The costs could be much higher down the road if the states mount full scale legal challenges to the final selection site by the department, Murphy said. Fund money comes from a tax on utility bills among the companies that create the waste through use of nuclear power. "Asking the state to pay part of the expenses is like asking someone riding to his execution to pay part of the cab ride," said Utah attorney Michael Later. The federal government is anxious to construct a dump to store the increasing amount of highly radioactive nuclear fuel rods and defense department waste from plutonium refining. The first site is expected to provide storage space for 70,000 metric tons of spent fuel rods and 10,000 metric tons of plutonium refining waste, according to a planner for Nevada's agency for nuclear projects. There are six states Texas and Wisconsin, along with the four states involved in Thursday's appeal Valentintsf' Ski Sale Feb. 13, 14, 15. 16 $25. off TUA Toute Neige. TUA Expresso. Fischer Air Carbon HAPPY HOUR! $50. off Atomic Telemark OT. Swallow TR Alpine. Karhu Extreme. Fischer 99 Crown $75. off p.m. 2 p.m.-- 4 p.m. p.m.-- 5 Mon.-Thur- s. 582-720- 255-590- Limited to supplies on hand 702 Easl 100 South. Sail lake CilJ Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, announced there would be a fourth round of Lausanne talks between the two Koreas before the summer. Those talks are conditional on North Korea formally accepting the proposals made last June in which the North would stage table tennis, archery, preliminary-roun- d soccer from race and a Seoul. to cycle Pyongyang Sakaranch said in October that would be the final offer. meeting between a North Following Thursday's two-ho- ur 100-kilome- ter Korean delegation and the IOC Executive Board, Samaranch released a statement saying the delegation would cooperate. Samaranch said he did not know whether the North Koreans would ask to hold more events, but conceded there could be changes "if all three parties agree." But Kim Yu Sun, president of the North Korean Olympic Committee, was in no doubt about the direction of the next round of talks. "We only agreed to the proposals of the June 1 1 letter in principle," he said after the meeting. "Wc have only been offered two sports and parts of two others. "Wc demand five or six more sports in addition to those already proposed. They (IOC) must give them to us." Pyongyang earlier agreed to open its borders to the Olympic family officials, athletes and reporters but is looking for a compromise on the number of sports it is given. North Korea has received only token support from its allies, who have merely said the IOC should consider the Games. Pyongyang's call to st Pyongyang initially stressed the threat of an East Bloc boycott if the IOC did not give way, but that possibility has rapidly faded as more socialist countries have said they will compete. co-ho- 'Amerika' causes concern WASHINGTON American church leaders are steering clear of support for censorship in challenging the ABC television miniseries Amerika as a risky distortion of the Soviet Union and the United Nations. Indeed, a major concern of the churches is that the series scheduled to begin Sunday tends to print dissent and the exercise of free speech as unpatriotic. "We should not attempt to have ABC cancel the miniseries or change the script. Free speech is not an empty phrase and we need to respect that," said Mennonite Peter Dyck in a church commentary on the issue circulated Wednesday. Nevertheless, Dyck said, "At a time when U.S. and USSR relations are low, America does not need more Cold War propaganda," and called the miniseries' portrayal of the United Nations "preposterous (and) a slanderous insult." Amerika depicts the United States 10 years after an invasion by the Soviet Union with the aid of a U.N. peacekeeping force of Third World Soviet client states. Though critics of the series have not seen the entire show, they say ABC's descriptions and available scripts were enough to indicate its thrust. "Many Americans will find (the) portrayal of occupation army provocative and irresponsible," said Dwain Epps of the National Council of Churches. "To put the imagined invader under the thinly disguised symbols of a U.N. peacekeeping force. . .borders on the slanderous." Michael Simmons, coordinator of the Quaker-affiliatEast-We- st Program, said the portrait of the U.N. force of Asians and Hispanics is racist and gives them "no blacks, evidence of morality at all." In once scene, Simmons said, a white woman describes being raped by serveral occupation soldiers, adding that the film "reinforces the common stereotype that white women are in constant danger of rape by Third World men." "Many viewers of Amerika will no doubt be pleased to have their stereotypes confirmed," Epps said. "Very many others, however, will be incensed." Nelson Price, head of the United Methodist Church's public media division, said viewers should watch the program "with a skeptical eye" and remember it is fiction rather than fact. "It was designed to make money, preys on the fears of viewers and should be watched carefully for propaganda," Price added. jack-boot- ed ed Friday: Scattered rain through Saturday. High in the mid 40's to low 50's. Weekend: High as you can be (without synthetic assistance of course), low, not until Monday night. Ski Report: High temperatures in 30's and treading water in the afternoon. 0 0 LAUSANNE, Switzerland North Korean officials said Thursday they insist on holding nearly half the 23 events at the 1988 Seoul Olympics despite accepting in principle an offer to stage four competitions. By Randy Sheya Buy One Drink, Get One FREE 222 So. 1300 E. 7800 So. State wants games VJGATHER Rossignol TRS TUA Excalibur Friday 2 under consideration for the first dump. A second dump could be placed in any of 17 states. "This is not a states' rights issue," said Justice Department attorney Martin W. Matzen. No. Korea 359-93- 61 it |