Action on Dum

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WITH more and more exampies recently of chemicals blighting the lives of people in Britain (pesticide contamination of schools, housing estates built on toxic tips, chemical factory fires and secret dioxin dumps) nothing could be more timely than to publicise the activities of the Sandyford and Goldenhill Action Group (SGAG) against their local toxic tip (see previous Socialist Organisers).

Arthur Bough of Stoke Socialist Organiser and SGAG has sent me a most impressive file of letters, leaflets, maps and press cuttings.

Since it started last May, SGAG has organised two public meetings, each attracting over 300 people, collected a 3000-signature petition, just trom the immediate area involved, and organised a mass application for reduction of rates.

They have produced a newsletter, Action News, made a film, written to the local press, and got onto the local radio. Labour Party members took the fight into the local branch, and secured the support of the councillors, after some initial hostility.

SGAG has organised an excellent Monitoring Group, whose job is to check for breaches of regulations on the dump itself. They have collected evidence of gates regularly left open, children frequently playing on the site, fires on the site, and waste material falling off lorries on their way to the site.

When a number of birds were found dead from no THE LEON TROTSKY 30p from Socialist Organiser, 28 Middle Lane, London N8 apparent cause, near the site, these were sent for analysis. Their observation of unlicensed deliveries of drums of oil which preceded the recent explosion I have already mentioned (Socialist Organiser no.55).

That explosion seems to have been caused by the dumping of a drum of magnesium turnings in a pool of battery acid.

Magnesium is a very reactive metal. Left in water, it slowly reacts, producing highly inflammable hydrogen gas (used as a rocket fuel fuel): In acid the same reaction goes much faster and releases lots of heat.

This must have caused an explosion of hydrogen. l don't know if the oil then caught fire, but you can imagine the danger of the situation.

The Action Group is going to monitor, protest, demonstrate, etc. until the toxic tip is closed for ever. People threatened by similar chemical catastrophes could do worse than follow their example.

THREE Mile Island reactor operators took an exam last April to see if they still knew how to run a nuclear reactor (if they ever did!). This was to prepare for restarting one of the undamaged reactors.

Now they are going to have to take the exam again; since at least two of them were caught cheating!

Information froin New Scientist and Arthur Bough.

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~-ette cialist Organiser Criteback Thursday and October./

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TRANSITIONAL PROGRAM FOR REVOLUTION