Greenpeace activists cleaned up toxic wastes from a chemical manufacturer in Homebush Bay, Sydney, Australia, last week as part of a publicity stunt aimed at getting the company to take responsibility for its waste.

The chemical company, Orica, is cleaning up its land because it intends to sell it for a reported $50 million for residential development, but has made no public commitment to clean up the bay.

``Orica must accept responsibility for the pollution it created in Homebush Bay and clean it up,'' said Greenpeace campaigner Dr Darryl Luscombe. ``The Olympics are less than two years away and unless Orica immediately cleans up its toxic mess, it will embarrass Australia's Green Olympics.''

Luscombe says that Homebush Bay is one of the five most polluted waterways in the world and the second highest for pollution by phthalates -- chemicals used to soften PVC. ``Homebush Bay is the only place in Australia where it is illegal to fish because it isso polluted. The situation poses the question--who wants to live next to a toxic waste site?'' said Luscombe.

Phthalates are believed to mimic the hormone estrogen and disrupt reproductive development in humans. Orica is the only company to have ever produced phthalates in Australia. Greenpeace samples of the bay show the levels of pollution next to the Orica factory exceed United States guidelines by up to 14,000 times the safe levels.

Greenpeace removed 30 drums of toxic sediment from the bay in compliance with legal guidelines for moving hazardous waste. The drums will be secured in protective storage.

Spanish mine's toxic spill

The collapse last spring of a retaining wall holding tailings from a Spanish zinc mine has dumped an amount of zinc into rivers nearly equal to the mine's total annual output, researchers reported recently in EOS, a weekly journal of the American Geophysical Union.

The accident, which has been called Europe's worst environmental disaster, occurred on April 25 atthe Los Frailes zinc mine in Aznalcollar, about 50 miles south of Seville. Some 5 million cubic metres of acidic sludge were released into the Guadiamar River, which one week later had an acidity approaching that of vinegar.

The researchers measured the amount of zinc in the water and sediments in the rivers downstream from the Los Frailes mine early last May. They concluded that the sludge released from the retaining pond may have contained as much as 120,000 tonnes of zinc, comparable to the mine's annual output of 125,000 tonnes.

At high concentrations, zinc, like many heavy metals, can be harmful to the environment, said Zanna Chase, one of the report's authors from Columbia University. Plants and nitrogen fixing bacteria are particularly sensitive to zinc pollution, causing concern about possible crop losses.

Unique school programme

If you had walked on the San Andreas fault, observed migrating whales and northern elephant seals, and experienced the tule elk rut when you were a student inschool, you'd probably remember a whole lot more about middle school science than you do today.

That's the premise of an innovative hands-on programme that will begin this year at California's Point Reyes National Seashore. The Point Reyes National Seashore National Park, in an innovative new educational partnership between the Exxon Corporation, the National Park Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association, will introduce the students and teachers at Tomales Middle School and Bolinas School to the Parks as Resources for Knowledge in Science (PARKS) programme.

The PARKS programme was created to advance science education partner-ships between national parks, schools and local communities. The structure of the PARKS programme builds on NSTA's `Building a Presence for Science', which aims to improve science education and bring science teaching practices in line with the National Science Education Standards.

``National Parks offer tremendous opportunities for students to observe and studynatural processes and resources. Students can walk on the San Andreas fault, observe the migration of gray whales and northern elephant seals, and experience the tule elk rut merely by visiting Point Reyes National Seashore,'' said Don Neubacher, superintendent of Point Reyes National Seashore.

``Point Reyes National Seashore will use this grant to encourage teachers to utilise the seashore as an extension of their classrooms. In partnership with area middle school teachers, we will be developing a sixth through eighth grade teacher's guide, which highlights the park resources that provide exceptional opportunities for students to understand science.''