Auto Pollution?

Gatalytic exhaust devices
“been developed for the
Sf of converting engine
tated nitrogen oxides to in-
Os Eroducts. Governmental
hment agencies are now
ting that all automobiles be
With such devices by 1975.
YY, then, do the auto and
Tig ™0polies continue to re-
in, “t.2Ppears to be, such a

© pollutant control?
€ automobile industry has
an empire by developing,
Placing at the disposal of
Public, extremely powerful
Sof self locomotion with
high powered, high com-
On, gasoline engines —
oa which operate effective-

Y on high octane fuels.

ding tetraethyl lead.

ast be recognized that the
2 Of high compression and
i YY, high powered,
Me in €ngines, could only be
he Close collaboration with
yy, Petroleum industry, and
im AS automobile and petrol-
dustries constitute a ma-
€nt of the nation’s mili-
‘ financial complex.

in the early 1920’s when
lead was first used as
: additive, it was in-
.- 10r the purpose of eli-
Ng the “knocking” in au-
en -€ngines which was
Depot petienced when trying
the ate a steep grade in

Be: ;
diving or in other such types

* 4nd more volatile, fuels
Mible. steveloped, it has been
obit a the design of auto-
sion Agines to increase com-
» develo, Tatios which are able
ting P the power that adver-
ly 9 Promotion relies so
a Ne for mass sales ap-
‘bling ium, or high octane,
engines high compression
2 €s are inseparable in
to ii kind of develop-
reme €, and the anti-knock
‘ifleanes’ a8 Of much greater
thep:c’ in the performance
It Compression engines.

uj

* high

at ong transpires, however,
eg aad Catalytic exhaust
ae hich have been deve-
Ith j Poisoned by the lead
ing .°°. Widely used as a

Additive. For these de-

Nels are usually achieved ©

vices to function effectively,
even for a short period of 5,000
to 10,000 miles, a gasoline has
to be developed which contains
no lead additive. Hence the bit-
ter cry from the petroleum in-
dustry about the cost of conver-
sion. But, this is only part of the
problem.

What happens to the popular
high powered, high compression,
automobile engines the industry
relies so heavily on?

This is a moot question; one
which reaches into the very
heart of the auto industry’s
highly successful sales record.
The high compression engine
with its quick surge of power
and fast acceleration, will not
be so efficient and driving may
be a bit of a pain, with the pos-
sibility of stalls and stumbles in
city traffic.

The ‘immediate alternative
seems to be a drastic redesign
of the high compression engine
which will’ perform efficiently,
and become compatible, with a
gasoline which contains no lead
additive.

Whether the monopolies will,
finally, be compelled to intro-
duce the drastic changes so
necessary for the health of the
population, remains to be seen.
With -a federal election expect-
ed this year in Canada and a
presidential election in the Unit-
ed States, it will be the post
election period before an answer
to this question will be forth-
coming.

We should not, however, over-
look the fact that lead too is a
poisonous exhaust emission, and
it is estimated that the annual
use of lead in gasoline amounts
to two pounds per person In the
United States. In fact, studies
made in that country indicate
that near-toxic levels of lead
have been found in traffic police-
men and others who are heavily
exposed to exhaust fumes. Re-
cords show that the increases of
lead emitted into the environ-
ment were more than five-fold
—from 50,000 tons in 1946 to
260,000 tons in 1968.

While Los Angeles has been
the main battle ground against
air pollution, photo-chemical
smog is not restricted to that
area — practically every major
city in the U.S. and a fairly

he

os The’ listed

in

iy

Sami
OF dig

bian People.
they get out?

ee
hee eration company has.

YORK—The Clark Canadian Exploration Co. of Den-
$ announced that it has just purchased from the —
Is eller family a 35 percent interest in the Companhia de a3
Ys de Angola S.A.R.L. or COFAN, The remaining 65

tis held by private British and Portuguese investors.
AN has a phosphate concession in Angola, and is
Ng setting up a phosphoric acid chemical complex —

ides the interest in COFAN, the Rockefellers tumed
ty > Clark Canadian an undisclosed amount of eg
dine ved in return 257,049 treasury shares of Cla

teh Canadian is a lesser company with oil and other in-
R | on the Toronto stock exchange.
ion ©ckefeliers, with their domestic and international con-
; thei” re often able to get good concessions or contracts ©
P . Companies and reap a killing before selling out.
“PS this time they wanted to get out
we Angolan venture at a time '
‘S. concerns profiteering over the enslavement ©

is
Stak, Wzable block of Clark stock, they will still have a
Y n the Angola holding, together with whatever else

Snadian designation in this case, as in many others,
tro}, Thebitation of Canadian resources, not Canadian
© U.S. headquarters indicates U.S. control.

of direct partici-
of rising protest

—VICTOR PERLO

| High profits from high octane

large number of smaller ones,
are affected in one form or an-
other. Similarly, with respect to
most of the major cities around
the world.

In Canada there seems to be
a concerted campaign by gov-
ernments and hospital author-
ities, to bring about a reduction
in health care and hospital ex-
penditures. Charges, and public
statements of all kinds, lay
claim to the proposition that
people are making unnecessary
calls upon the services of the
medical profession; and _ that
hospital facilities are taxed to
the limit “because many pa-
tients occupy beds longer than
necessary.” It is costing too
much to provide health care for
our population, is the cry from
many sources.

Aside from other: factors, the
question arises, how much of
the increasing costs and the
need for exvanded medical and
hospital services, can be laid at
the door of the monopoly corpo-
rations who poison the air we
breath and pollute the water we
depend upon, in the pursuit of
maximum profits.

As already indicated, the most
striking effects of air pollution
on health seem to occur where
the victim’s health is already
precarious. Published statistical
studies in the U.S. show that
people living in urban polluted
air experience more disease than
people living in less polluted,
usually rural, air..The health ef-
fects of exposure to air pollution
include coughing, frequency of
colds and other respiratory
‘diseases, increased resistance of
respiratory air passages, emphy-
sema, bronchitis, lung cancer,
cardiovascular disorders, eye
irritation, and asthma.

Civic officials are just as blind
and just as dangerous as the
polluters, and” the governments
which do only what they are
compelled to do to discourage
them. The constant drive, by
some civic leaders, for express-
ways and other facilities to ac-
commodate road traffic is de-
fended by one (very stupid)
argument which says, “the car
is here to stay and must be ac-
commodated ‘somehow. Other-
wise, you would be denying the
freedom of choice to the vast
majority of residents who are
car owners.”

To calculate the daily pollu-
tion index, the Ontario govern-
ments’ Air Management Branch,
monitors only two of the pollut-
ants in the air we breath—sul-
phur dioxide and particulate
matter, (the fall-out from fac-
tory chimneys and incinerators)
and continue to ignore the moni-
toring of automobile exhaust
emissions. The Toronto Daily
Star, in the meantime, con-
tinues to publish misinforma-
tion which stirs up the mud and
beclouds the issues.

For example, on August 7, a
front page headline shouted
“METRO’S AIR AND WATER
GETTING CLEANER BY THE
DAY,” and then gces on to Say:
“Although there are 200,000
more cars on Metro roads today
than there were 10 years ago,
auto exhaust pollutants, carbon
monoxide and hydrocarbons, are
near the level of a decade ago.”

August 7 was a Civic Holiday,
the tail end of a long weekend,
with factories closed and incin-
erators not operating, a substan-
tial reduction of heavy trans-
port vehicles, and tens of thou-
sands of motorists out of town.
Need any more be said? E.H.

t

4
meg

Angela Davis in Moscow standing with pa Valenti

Tereshkova and other members of the International Women’s Seminar
marking the 50th anniversary of the USSR.

All races work together
with inspiration— Angela

MOSCOW—The story of An-
gela Davis’ two-week stay in the
Soviet Union glows with warm,
illuminating encounters with the
multinational Soviet people —
with women workers, children,
cosmonauts.

The final visit of the promin-
ent Black American Communist
was with children of the Mos-
cow Young Pioneers’ organiza-
tion. She said to them:

“You spoke here about my
courage and stauncheness. But
how could I be but- staunch hav-
ing so many remarkable friends?
I am very happy that my visit to
your country ended with -this
marvellous meeting. I am happy
because I will be able to take
home with me this feeling of joy
which you have instilled in me
and to pass it on to the children
of my country, to those victims
of hunger, poverty and oppres-
sion.”

Travelling with Kendra and
Franklin Alexander, -U.S. Com-
munist leaders, Angela Davis
visited, besides Moscow, Tash-
kent, Samarkand, Leningrad and
Ulyanovsk (Lenin’s native town).
Her itinerary beyond the USSR
includes the German Democratic
Republic, Romania, \ Czechoslo-
vakia, Cuba and Chile.

In Moscow she received an
honorary professorship at Lo-
monsov State University, which
she accepted not only on her
own behalf, but “on behalf of
my friends, on behalf of the
leadership of the Communist

Party of the United States and
all its members. I accept it on
behalf of the progressive forces
of America, all the oppressed
people of my country.”

She expressed her satisfaction
at “how the people of different
races and nationalities worked
with inspiration in friendship
and affection for the sake of
building communist society.

“I am Black and_ therefore,
quite naturally, it was very in-
teresting and important for me
to learn how in reality the
Leninist principle of the policy
of nationalities has been solved.”

On the eve of her departure, °-

Miss Davis visited the Patrice
Lumumba Friendship University,
where young people from Asian,
African and Latin. American
countries study side by side with
Soviet young men and women.
In Tashkent, capital of Soviet
Uzbekistan, Sharaf Rashidov,
novelist and first secretary of
the .central committee of the
Communist Party of Uzbekistan,
described for her the cultural
and economic development in a
formerly poverty-ridden land. In
Samarkand, Miss Davis was

made an honorary citizen of the -

2500-year-old city.

The largest grain train ever
handled by Northern Alberta
Railways ran from the Peace
River country to Edmonton re-
cently. The 133-car train carried
some 300,000 bushels of wheat,
oats, barley, flax and rapeseed.

Greet Guyana PPP

The Communist Party of Can-
ada has greeted the 17th Con-
gress of the People’s Progres-;
sive Party of Guyana with the
following letter from the Cen-
tral Committee:

“The Central Executive Com- -

mittee greets the delegates to
your 17th Congress and through
them the members of the Peo-
ple’s Progressive Party and the
working people of Guyana.

“We send you fraternal, reyvo-
lutionary greetings on behalf of
all Canadian Communists,
French and English speaking,
who are fighting with other de-
mocratic, patriotic Canadians
against monopoly and United
States imperialism, for genuine
Canadian independence.

“We have been following,with:
considerable interest the deve-

lopments and the struggle of
your people since the achieve-
ment of your independence and
the creative and heroic role play-
ed by your party and your gene-
ral secretary, comrade Cheddi
Jagan as a staunch fighter for
the independence and socialism
of your country and for unity
of the world communist move-
ment for peace, democracy, in-
dependence and socialism.

“We note that your struggle
is directed against imperialism
and against the Burnham puppet
regime which supports the ag-
gressive policies of imperialism.

“We wish you, dear comrades,
great success in your effort to
achieve genuine independence of
your country and the revolu-
tionary transformation of Guy-

.%

ape ssociety.into a socialist coun-/
es",
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1972—PAGE9 |