Shortly after the Sept.-Oct. Report went to press, action in Congress invalidated part of the Update story on recent human rights legislation. The article stat- ed that the Carter administration had won the "free and unrestric- ted hand" it wanted regarding the granting of loans to repres- sive regimes by multilateral lend- ing institutions such as the World Bank. But in fact, Congress has passed legislation requiring tne U.S. to vote against loans to coun- tries which consistently violate human rights. The legislation, known as the Harkin-Badillo A- mendment, was reluctantly signed into law by Carter in mid- October as part of the foreign-aid bill. The passage of this legisla- tion represents the hard work of lobbyists in the progressive, Washington-based Human Rights Working Group. The amendment calls for the application of specific criteria to evaluate the human rights viola- tions in any country applying for loans. As such, it presents an op- portunity for progressive forces to document violations of repres- sive regimes in order to demand a U.S. "no" vote. Nevertheless, several loopholes within the leg- islation have become apparent. Nov. I Dec. 1977 As past experience has demon- strated, a mobilization of public pressure will be necessary to win its effective implementation. by Bob Barber, who has worked with the Human Rights Working Group in Washington. NOTICE TO OUR READERS: NEW SUBSCRIPTION PRICES As of January 1, 1978 our subscrip- tion rates will increase for the first time in four years. The new rates are as follows: Individuals Institutions 1 year 2 years 3 years $11 20 28 $19 36 49 For air mail, add the following: U.S. and Canada $4 Mexico, Central America and Caribbean $6 South America and Europe $8 Asia, Africa and Australia $9 Back issue prices: Old format (prior to Sept/Oct 1977): $1.25 plus 40C postage and handling New format (Sept/Oct 1977 forward): $2.00 plus 400 postage and handling 49update * update * update . update PROJECT NEWS NACLA-East is currently work- ing on the March-April, 1978 is- sue of the Report. In it, we will discuss health-hazardous pro- duction by looking specifically at the asbestos industry. By exami- ning an industry which requires working with a well-known killer, we will do a comparative study of dangerous work conditions in the U.S. and Latin America. We will attempt to answer the following questions: *Have conditions in the shops changed significantly since the enactment of OSHA in 1970? *Have OSHA and EPA pressures encouraged industries to run away to "non-regulated" coun- tries in order to avoid compli- ance? *In general, has the knowledge of dangerous substances tra- velled along with increased in- dustrial production to Latin America? *Do lower standards abroad act to depress effective enforce- ment of standards in the U.S.? In general, we hope to add an in- ternational perspective to the fight for safe work places and to point to the necessity of inter- national awareness and coordi- nation. We would very much appreci- ate any help people can provide in the following areas: experi- ence with OSHA's effectiveness, knowledge of the asbestos indus- try, and any information on as- bestos production, factory sites, and health and safety conditions in Latin America. Send any sug- gestions to Asbestos Project, NACLA-East, Box 57, Cathedral Station, New York, N.Y. 10025. NACLA-East is also in need of volunteers to help us in our office and library. Anyone interested in bi-monthly mailouts, clipping, or- ganizing our files, or rationalizing our library system would be more than welcome. Please call us at 212-749-6513.
