Ocean Alert -Winter/Spring 1996.
A major battle is underway in Congress, and its outcome will affect the fate of dolphins and many of
our other hard-won environmental protection laws. If the Wise-Use Movement, the Mexican
government, the trade bureaucrats in the Clinton Administration, and a group of
compromise-oriented environmental organizations get their way, the laws protecting dolphins will
be severely weakened.If we lose this fight, we'll return to days when the chasing and setting of nets on dolphins was encouraged and thousands of dolphins will be unnecessarily slaughtered. It will reverse twenty years of progress to end the largest killing of marine mammals in the world. Companies and importers will be able to slap phony "dolphin-safe" labels on tuna cans, and consumers will be powerless to do anything about it.
This is just the kind of undermining of our laws that was warned against in the battle over the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico. The dolphins are first on the chopping block, and many other laws are hanging in the balance. If the dolphin laws are sacrificed, it will set a terrible precedent and encourage a broad array of challenges to US health, safety, and environmental laws.
Fortunately, the campaign to stop the gutting of dolphin protection is picking up steam. More than 70 environmental organizations across the country are joining in to stop the dolphin killing bill. By winning this one, we can send an important message that the public -- not Mexico or NAFTA or GATT -- has the right to set environmental standards.
Thanks for your help in the fight ahead!
Ocean Alert -Winter/Spring 1996.
http://www.earthisland.org/immp/davemssg.html