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September 10, 2003
Public Information and Records Integrity Branch (PIRIB)
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20460-0001
RE: Docket ID number OPP-2003-0132
Dear Sir/Madam:
On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), I appreciate the opportunity to comment on potential U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criteria and standards relating to research involving human subjects.
A central role of government is to protect the dignity of the human person and foster the common good of society. In fulfilling this obligation, it is necessary for the state to establish regulations to ensure adequate protection of life and health. The regulatory function of government should protect the health of all individuals equally, if it is to protect human dignity and promote the common good of society.
We understand that the Environmental Protection Agency's legal authority over pesticides is to ensure the protection of public health and the environment. The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) was intended to reform pesticide regulation in response to a 1993 National Academy of Sciences report concluding that the pesticide regulatory framework did not provide adequate health protection, especially for children. As the EPA considers regulations that will govern human testing, we would oppose any attempts (administrative in this case) to undermine or weaken the health protections set forth by the FQPA. Instead, we urge the Administrator to implement and enforce these current protections.
We are particularly concerned with how the new regulations might affect the protection of humans. In our view, human life deserves full respect and protection at every stage and in every condition, particularly those who may be very young, very old or very disabled. Especially at risk are those who are very powerless and marginalized in our society, such as children. Therefore, we support the adoption of special protections for children. From their conception, unborn children face a disproportionate threat to their neurological development from environmental toxins. The ability of children's bodies to cope with harmful substances is also significantly less than that of adults. In addition, we have a special concern for low income families and low wage workers, who share a disproportionate risk and burden from harmful exposure. Farmworkers in particular, are often exposed to dangerous pesticides which undermine their health and their ability to continue to provide for their families.
Accepted codes of conduct for testing, such as the Nuremberg Code and all standards based on it, are very insistent on the principle of informed consent. Since each human being must be treated as an end in him- or herself and not just as a means to benefits for others, exposure even to a risk of harm should only be by the person's own volunteering (after receiving full information about the possible risks). A corollary is that no research posing a significant risk of harm should be conducted on an individual who cannot give informed consent. So, in addition to their special vulnerability, born and unborn children should be excluded because they cannot give such consent. Even parents do not have the right to give proxy consent for research that cannot benefit the child but may pose serious harm to him or her. Similarly, exposing farmworkers to these risks is a concern because they are likely to have literacy and language problems that would compromise the ability to obtain fully informed consent. There should be extra safeguards when dealing with these populations, including materials in the appropriate language and the availability of trained interpreters.
We are very concerned about using humans for the direct testing of pesticides under any conditions, particularly when they will not receive any direct or immediate health benefit, but in fact may be harmed. However, if any such testing were to be permitted, we would urge the Agency to follow the principles below in setting its guidelines and standards:
John L. Carr
Department of Social Development & World Peace
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
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University of Vermont
Asian Studies Outreach Program
Communicating Effectively with Chinese Students
- 03-07-2013
- By Jacqueline Drouin
Since the implementation of the US-Sino Pathway Program (USPP) in 2010, a program that provides an academically rigorous pathway for talented Chinese students who want to pursue their undergraduate studies at UVM, the University of Vermont is slowly realizing its goal of building a more international student population. Within the past four years, a rather homogenous New England student population saw a gradual increase in the number of students from China, with over 75 USPP students studying at UVM this semester.
This sudden increase in USPP students added more diversity and opportunities for global friendships to develop at UVM, but concurrently a realization that sometimes cultural differences allow for moments of communication breakdowns between students, faculty and staff. The question that emerged amongst staff and faculty members was whether they were truly prepared for cross-cultural communication with Chinese students.
"The truth is," commented Professor Emeritus Juefei Wang during an EDU@UVM panel discussion, "The Chinese students at the University of Vermont feel that they are very well supported by the staff and faculty."
The audience of staff and faculty at the EDU@UVM Communicating Effectively with Chinese Students workshop looked pleased upon hearing Dr. Wang's comment. In 1985, he himself arrived at UVM as a graduate student and was one of five international students from China at UVM. Since then, Dr. Wang noted, the number of international students from China has increased, which has resulted in a greater demand for support by staff for these students. As one of five students from China in 1985, Dr. Wang reflected that he had no choice but to integrate into UVM's community. Presently, the incoming USPP students arrive in large groups and, in certain cases, isolated themselves as a group from UVM's academic and social culture. "The challenge," continues Professor Wang, "will be to help these USPP students overcome the barriers that prevent them from integrating successfully as UVM students."
The EDU@UVM workshop presentation was a collaborative effort between faculty members and staff in the College of Education and Social Services and the School of Business. Jennifer Fath, a Student Service Specialist in the School of Business, works with the largest population of USPP students at the University of Vermont. Since the program inception at UVM, Jennifer has worked with the program, traveling to China to meet the incoming students and their families. "We're learning as we go along." Jennifer explained, noting that her years of working with the USPP program have allowed her college to collect large amounts of information on how to best support and work with USPP students.
"Academic integrity has been an issue." explained Jennifer. "But placed in the context of Chinese culture and education, copying or replicating someone's work is considered a sign of respect." Another cultural challenge is the concept of FERPA and the American practice of having students meet with their academic advisor individually, as opposed to an educational culture in China that places a great emphasis on the group. Unlike the parents of American students who have no qualms about picking up the phone and calling administrators or faculty at UVM with questions about course selection, grades, and internships, in China parents will place complete trust in the education system to make the best decisions. "It's completely against traditional Chinese culture for a parent to question the university's decisions."
Questions raised by audience members during the panel ranged from understanding more about why Chinese students prefer to be in groups, and practices of speaking English very quickly when speaking to student service specialists. As an English language teacher in China, Visiting Scholar Wang Ping offered some insight as to why Chinese students may choose to speak extra fast when communicating with a native English speaker.
"This is their way of showing the listener that they understand the language." explained Wang Ping. In her presentation, Wang Ping noted that this generation of students on campus are from the "one-child generation", meaning that they are the center of attention at home and are being given ample opportunities in order for them to reach the high academic expectations set for them by their parents. "But because they are the center of attention, some of them have hardly any life skills, such as managing money, daily life, or interpersonal skills."
Wang Ping shared with the audience key aspects of Chinese culture that transcend into communication patterns. Face saving, Wang Ping noted, is an important feature in Chinese culture, explaining that multiple approaches will be taken by a student in order to "save face" for all. The use of indirect speech is another important concept, as students will refrain from saying what they really think because they are concerned with whether or not his or her words are correct.
As the session drew to a close, Dr. Wang noted that when a USPP student comes to a staff member to ask for help, whether they speak fast or slow, whether they arrive for help by themselves or in a group, to remember that USPP students, like all students, are sensitive to being addressed harshly. "Even if they don't show it in their face, in their hearts they will hurt." If the student can tell that the staff member is making an effort to communicate with them kindly, then the student knows that good quanxi, the Chinese word for "connections", are being built between the student and the university.

subset: commoncrawl


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SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Good morning. We'd like to provide you with the latest information that we have on recent events in the United Kingdom, and an update on the actions that we are taking to protect our citizens and to keep air travel safe and secure. We want to be as open as possible with the public about the facts; at the same time, it's important, I'm sure you'll understand, that we preserve confidentiality of matters that are necessary in order to complete this investigation. And we also have to respect the demands of the British legal process, which puts certain restrictions on what can be said about ongoing cases.
As I think you're all aware, British authorities have arrested 21 individuals who are now in custody who are alleged to have engaged in a plot to detonate liquid explosives on board multiple commercial aircraft departing from the United Kingdom and bound for the United States. This plot appears to have been well planned and well advanced, with a significant number of operatives. The terrorists planned to carry the components of the bombs, including liquid explosive ingredients and detonating devices disguised as beverages, electronic devices, or other common objects.
While this operation was centered in Great Britain, it was sophisticated, it had a lot of members, and it was international in scope. This operation is, in some respects, suggestive of an al Qaeda plot, but because the investigation is still underway, we cannot yet form a definitive conclusion. We're going to wait until all the facts are in.
We believe that the arrests in Britain have significantly disrupted this major threat. But we cannot assume that the threat has been completely thwarted, or that we have fully identified and neutralized every member of this terrorist network.
There is currently no indication of any plotting within the United States; nevertheless, as a precaution, the federal government is taking immediate steps to increase security measures, with respect to aviation.
First of all, the United States government has raised the nation's threat level to our highest level of alert - Severe, or Red - for commercial flights originating in the United Kingdom and bound for the United States. We've made this adjustment to coordinate our alert level with that currently enforced in Britain. In Britain, as you've heard, they are now operating as their highest level, which is called Critical.
Second, as a precaution against any members of the plot who may still be at large, and recognizing the fact that we still have yet to take the investigation to its conclusion, we want to make sure that there are no remaining threats out there, and we also want to take steps to prevent any would-be copycats who may be inspired to similar conduct. Accordingly we are raising the threat level, or we have raised the threat level, with respect to aviation in general, to High, or Orange. That will cover all in-bound international flights, other than flights from Great Britain, and it will cover all flights within the United States itself.
We're taking some additional specific steps. In light of the nature of the liquid explosive devices which were designed by the plotters, we are temporarily banning all liquids in carry-ons in aircraft cabins. That means no liquids or gels will be allowed in carry-on baggage. Any liquids or gels have to be checked have to be checked as part of baggage to go into the hold. There will be exceptions for baby formula and medicines, but travelers must be prepared to present these items for inspection at the checkpoint, and that will allow us to take a look at them and make sure that they're safe to fly.
We are taking this step of preventing liquids from getting into the cabin to give us time to make adjustments in our current screening tactics, based upon what we learn from this investigation concerning the nature of the devices that these individuals were constructing.
We might also add that in order to expedite and ease the process of going through this new screening regime, travelers would be wise to pack as lightly as possible for their carry-on, and to minimize clutter so that we can make the process go more quickly.
Additionally, the Transportation Security Administration will be implementing a series of additional security measures, some of them visible and some of them not visible, to ensure the security of the traveling public and the nation's transportation system.
TSA is immediately implementing these changes to airport screening, including the prohibition against liquids and gels of any kind in carry-on baggage. And apart from these other measures, federal air marshals are being sent to the United Kingdom to provide expanded mission coverage for flights between the United Kingdom and the United States.
United States Customs and Border Protection will be increasing enforcement efforts in the international arrival areas, including the use of advanced targeting tools; special response teams, including baggage and aircraft search teams; baggage x-ray equipment; specially trained canine units; and explosive detection technology. These measures, again, will be constantly evaluated and updated as circumstances warrant.
Now, we recognize these measures are going to be inconvenient. But they are proportionate to the very real threat to the lives of innocent people that was posed by this plot. And what is important here is that we are taking every prudent step to thwart new tactics of terror. Today, air traffic is safe. And air traffic will remain safe precisely because of the measures we are adopting today. People should be patient, but they need not cancel their travel plans. They simply need to be aware there may be some delays and they may want to check with their carriers to see whether they ought to adjust their arrival times at airports.
As always, we ask the American public to remain aware and vigilant, and report any activity that they think is suspicious to local authorities or other appropriate law enforcement agencies.
The work in this investigation has been a remarkable example of interagency coordination in the federal government. We've had numerous intelligence components and law enforcement components working together seamlessly in a coordinated fashion to address this emerging threat and to take the steps necessary to protect the American public from it. I also have to give special thanks to our partners, the British government. They have been terrific, in terms of close information sharing and close coordination, recognizing that both countries, which are bound together with great common feelings of culture, are also, unfortunately, bound together by being targeted through terror. But because of the close working relationship between the British government and the U.S. government, we have managed to make sure that the people of both countries and the people of the world are safer.
The American public can be assured that the United States government will continue to do everything in its power, under the leadership of President Bush, and in cooperation with our British and other allies, to defend our nations and our world. We will continue to provide updates throughout the day and the next few days, as appropriate.
And now I'd like to turn to Attorney General Gonzales.
ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: Thank you, Michael. Let me begin by repeating and emphasizing something that Secretary Chertoff said, and that is, we have a very serious investigation that is proceeding in the United Kingdom. And we want to be very, very careful, as we try to inform and educate the American public, about saying too much that might, in any way, jeopardize that investigation or subsequent prosecution. And so we ask for your patience in asking and receiving information. We'll try to be as forthcoming as we can, as quickly as we can. But again, we don't want to do anything that may, in any way, jeopardize or adversely affect an investigation or prosecution in the United Kingdom, or perhaps even in this country.
Now, since 9/11, the threat reporting has consistently shown that there is a vicious and determined enemy that is intent on harming American lives. And every day is September 12th for those of us tasked with protecting America. And we know that our counterparts abroad feel the same way.
Today's announcement is a true testament to the hundreds of hours of patient work by British authorities. Their vigilance has led to the unraveling of this deadly plot by terror cells based in the U.K. - a plot, as Mike indicated, designed to detonate bombs aboard commercial airliners en route to the United States, potentially killing hundreds of innocent people. On behalf of the American people, I want to thank the British authorities for their tremendous efforts to disrupt this deadly scheme.
Although the law enforcement investigation is ongoing, I want to update you on the preliminary information that we have available at this time. We will, as Secretary Chertoff indicated, continue to provide additional information as it becomes available. The perpetrators who were arrested overnight were extremists who had gone beyond just stating a desire to kill Americans. Their plotting turned to action as they took several steps to carry out their deadly plan. Their focus appears to have been on the use of liquid explosives.
We are still assessing the links to al Qaeda. However, a plot of this sophistication is suggested of al Qaeda tactics, as Secretary Chertoff mentioned.
From the beginning of the investigation, we have been in constant contact with our counterparts in the U.K. We share the same philosophy of prevention, a sense of urgency to dismantle these terrorist cells before an attack occurs. The FBI and other law enforcement intelligence agencies have worked closely with our colleagues at MI-5 on all aspects of this case, and they have aggressively pursued every domestic lead that has arisen from the intelligence that led to these arrests.
As Secretary Chertoff said, while there is currently no indication of any plotting within the United States, the federal government is taking immediate steps to increase security measures in the aviation sector. The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the entire intelligence community will continue to aggressively pursue every lead and shred of intelligence that arises from this or any other terrorism case. This has been our practice since 9/11. And today is no different from any other day, in that sense.
The American people should know that everything that can be done to protect them is being done by law enforcement and intelligence professionals around the country and abroad. We ask that people continue on with their normal lives, but with some extra patience as the professionals do their jobs, especially at the airports around the country.
As we have stated many times before, we are a nation at war. Today's actions are a stark reminder that the threat is real and that we have a deadly enemy who still wakes every morning thinking of new ways to kill innocent men, women and children, and dreams every night about wreaking the destruction on freedom-loving countries.
Our enemies should know that we are just as equally intent on stopping them. We will continue to work around the clock with our colleagues around the world to dismantle their operations one person at a time.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY HAWLEY: First, I'd like to thank the traveling public and our partners at the airports and airlines, law enforcement and our own transportation security officers and all the people involved in this change-over. It normally takes us about four weeks to roll out a change at a security checkpoint, and this one came about in a little bit more than four hours in the middle of last night. And so this was a surprise to many of us, and as such is difficult to implement. And I think we are going to see over the next day or two as the public becomes aware and we all get used to the process that it is going to get better, but in the next couple of days, we ask for your patience, and we thank you for your understanding.
This was strong and immediate action, and it was cooperative with - among airlines, airports, law enforcement to do much more than you can see at the checkpoint. These changes sound complicated, but it is very, very simple. The major change is that passengers are no longer allowed to bring liquids through the checkpoint and onto the plane. That is the big change. Other than that, it is getting used to the new process. And we're very confident that as time goes one, that will occur.
A couple of pointers: de-clutter your bag. If you let the TSOs have a clear view of what's in the bag with their x-ray, you'll move right on through. That is something very easy to do as you pack your bag - leave the liquids at home, drink them, de-clutter your bag.
And last, I'd say enjoy your trip. I think this is what TSA was created for - to be flexible, to work with others in the community, to scale up security where needed in certain areas and be flexible and adjustable. And we look forward to delivering on that commitment.
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Let me just echo that. It does seem a little odd maybe to hear somebody say enjoy your trip, but the whole point of this exercise is to continue to maintain the level of safety and security in air travel in this country that we have had since September 11th. Now, sometimes to do that, we have to be taking steps that do cause a little bit of inconvenience. But with patience and with cooperation - and so far I think we've seen that from the traveling public - what we will deliver to the public is the thing which is most important, which is the ability get on the plane, get about your business or enjoy your holiday and do so with confidence that we are searching out people who want to do harm to innocent travelers.
Let me just introduce everybody else up here, and then we'll take some questions in various people's area of expertise. We have Marian Blakey, who is the head of the Federal Aviation Administration; you know Bob Mueller, the Director of the FBI; and Scott Redd, who is the head of the NCTC. So with that, if you'll raise your hands, and I'll direct questions.
Yes, Pete.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, you talked about the design of the devices by the plotters. Can you say whether they went beyond the design stage and had actually built their devices? And can you say whether they had made reservations, bought tickets? How far along were they?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: I would say that this plot was well advanced. In other words, they had accumulated and assembled the capabilities that they needed, and they were in the final stages of planning before execution. I don't want to get very specific for investigative reasons about each individual step. But this is not a case where this was just in the initial thought stage. There were very concrete steps underway to execute all elements of this plan.
QUESTION: So they had built the bombs?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: I'm not going to get that specific because I'm going to honor that original observation I made about not compromising the British case or the investigation, but they had accumulated the capabilities necessary and they were well on the way. This was a well advanced plan.
QUESTION: Secretary Chertoff, you praised British authorities. What do you know about when they learned about this plot? And when did they inform the United States?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Let me - again, I'm going to be a little bit circumspect and say that some of the threads which led to this investigation have been pursued by British authorities for a considerable period of time. However, it is only recently -- certainly within the last two weeks, maybe less -- that the investigation revealed that this planning was taking the direction of targeting the United States. And so in that much more recent period of time, we've obviously become much more involved from the United States' standpoint and been working much more closely with the British to follow what appeared to be an accelerating plan to carry out a very, very serious terrorist act.
QUESTION: I wonder if we could talk about the upcoming anniversary of 9/11, and whether this was in any way related to that? Was that a possible target date? And if not, can you say anything about when this plot would have come to fruition? And speaking of 9/11, can you compare this plot with that one in terms of scope - the number of airlines, the number of planes, the number of potential victims and so forth?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: That's about five questions. We're all obviously mindful about September 11th. I can't tell you that that was a particular date that was in the mind of the people involved in this plot, nor can I tell you that they would have waited that long. I think we were really getting quite close to the execution phase. I can tell you our general experience, certainly when you deal with al Qaeda - and again I want to caution that we've not yet concluded this is al Qaeda - but our general experience is that they're not necessarily motivated by anniversaries the way sometimes people project.
In terms of seriousness, it's obviously hard to compare a plot that was frustrated, thank God, with a plot that was unfortunately executed. It is reminiscent -- but again, I don't want to overdraw the comparison - with a plot that was hatched by Khalid Shaykh Muhammad in the 1990s, in which he envisioned detonating bombs on I think it was 11 airliners, many of them traveling over the Pacific. And that's been well publicized, so that's obviously a known historical fact.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, maybe you - Mr. Mueller or Mr. Redd might answer this - if this isn't an al Qaeda footprint, is there any evidence that leads you to believe that there is - there are other organizations with the capability to do something like this?
DIRECTOR MUELLER: Well, this had the earmarks of an al Qaeda plot. As the Attorney General and Secretary Chertoff have said, we have no indication at this point in time of plotting within the United States aligned at all, or at all intersecting the plotters in the U.K. But that does not mean that there are not others around the world that have the same aspirations and would undertake the same type of plotting.
QUESTION: You mentioned the 11 planes in that - in the KSM plot - do you know how many planes were actually targeted in this plot? And can you give us the airlines that were targeted, as well?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Again, the investigation is still at a relatively early phase. The British are conducting the investigation. I don't feel that we can confidently give you a number. Clearly what was envisioned were multiple explosions in multiple aircraft. But I think it would be speculative for us to come up with a number - to fix a number onto that.
QUESTION: Can you name the airlines, at all?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: What I prefer to say is this: It's clear that they were searching to look at possible options, in terms of scheduled passenger airline flights. It does appear that towards the end, shortly before we brought this down, they had focused on a number of airlines involved, which have specific routes between Britain and the United States, and which are U.S.-flagged carriers. We have talked to the airlines in question. In fact, we've talked to all the airlines that operate internationally and domestically because we want to make sure that everyone is fully aware of what the dimensions of this planning was. And I can tell you the airlines have been very, very deeply committed to working with us to elevate the level of security to protect their passengers.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, there is so much emphasis here on liquids. Was the fear that they were planning actually to assemble a bomb on board the aircraft by mixing liquids?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: I would say certainly one of the considerations or one of the concerns we had is the possibility of bringing on board a number of different components of a bomb, each one of which would be benign, but when mixed together would create a bomb. And as we assess exactly what the design of these devices was or the plan design was, I think it will give us a better ability to tailor our countermeasures in order to pick up what appears to be a quite sophisticated conception of how to execute a terrorist bombing plot.
QUESTION: Regardless of whether this does turn out to be al Qaeda or not, could you talk about the suspects in Britain, and whether those people were homegrown folks who - are British citizens or from Britain, as opposed to people who came from elsewhere and moved there?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Yes, I think we're going to let - this is really a sensitive area for the British legal system. I think we're going to let them discuss the nature of the defendants. But I do think a point that's very important is this: This was a very sophisticated plan and operation. This is not a circumstance where you had a handful of people sitting around coming up with dreamy ideas about terrorist plots. The conception, the large number of people involved, the sophisticated design of the devices that were being considered, and the sophisticated nature of the plan all suggests that this group that came together to conspire was very determined and very skilled and very capable.
And the reason I emphasize that is become we are taking some very serious and inconvenient measures, and I think the public is entitled to understand we're doing this because we recognize this was a plot that is certainly about as sophisticated as any we've seen in recent years, as far as terrorism is concerned.
QUESTION: When the threat alert system was created, the Red level was supposed to indicate an imminent threat. Do you believe that there's an imminent threat against the United States at this point? If not, why didn't we just go to code Orange like we did a year ago? And from your viewpoint, what's the difference in operational levels between Red level and Orange level?
Also, a quick follow-up. Are there any concerns about threats against any other modes of transportation in the United States?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: What we tried to do this year, as we did last year with July 7th was to be as precise and sculpted as we could reasonably be, in terms of the alert level. We did go to Orange in the aviation system domestically and every place outside of flights from Britain to the U.S. precisely because we have no specific indication of a threat in those channels of air travel. But given what we don't know, and given the possibility of copycats, we thought it prudent to raise the alert level generally in aviation. We don't believe that logic extends to raising it generally in the country.
Now, as far as Red, the British made a determination - and obviously they are in the best position, given their knowledge of what's going on in their investigation - that even with the 21 arrests, it is still prudent to consider the likelihood of attack at being at the highest possible level for travel from Britain to the United States. And I think that, based in significant part, certainly, on that judgment, and with our own assessment, that seemed a prudent step to take with respect to this fairly defined subset of air travel, which was, after all, the objective of a sophisticated plot.
QUESTION: So, in other words, there's no evidence right now to indicate that there's going to be an imminent attack on the United States?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: I would say that with respect to travel from the U.K. to the United States, given the fact that the arrest activities in Britain are still underway, prudence suggests that we treat that particular route of travel - U.K. to the U.S. - as being at the highest level of being under threat.
Apart from that, we're certainly at a heightened alert-level elsewhere, but we don't have any specific reason to believe that there is a threat to other routes of air travel. But, again, we always have to be careful that - we don't necessarily know everything. We're going to learn a lot more in the course of the investigation, and I would rather have more protection and then scale it back as we become more reassured than underestimate the problem and find out, God forbid, that we have made a tragic mistake.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, because you said the substances were benign, is there any type of detection device that we have or could be created to detect these liquid explosives?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Well, here's where I'm going to resist the temptation to give a recipe to terrorists about how to try to maximize their ability to succeed. Obviously, we're always assessing and examining the challenge posed by different kinds of improvised explosive devices. We do use various kinds of techniques for different kinds of bomb-making, but when we do see a sophisticated design, we want to make sure that we have properly engineered our countermeasures to be able to detect it.
And so while we're in the process of assessing that - and, you know, honestly, some of these are pretty difficult - we want to, frankly, take the most protective stance, and that's why we have, for the time being, excluded liquids from the cabin.
Yes, in the back.
QUESTION: Yes, are the air marshals just going to Britain for flights coming this way, or are they going to other European cities, as well?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: Well, we have air marshals all over the world. We're going to continue to have air marshals operate in the system, but we will be focusing, at least in the short term, on putting extra air marshal resources in this particular route because we know this was the focal point of the conspiracy that is in the process of being disrupted.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, just back to the Red versus Orange - the Red would seem to indicate that you or the British authorities believe that some of the people involved are still at large. Is that the case? Or is this just precautionary?
SECRETARY CHERTOFF: I think it's a recognition of the fact that, particularly at this stage of the arrest and the takedown, there is sufficient uncertainty about whether the British have scooped up everybody - that we do think it's prudent to regard this particular target, this particular route, as still being at the highest level of risk. It doesn't mean that we know for a fact there are people out there who are still active, but as anybody who's been involved in these investigations knows, we're going to learn more things, and the British are going to learn more things in the next hours and days.
And given the amount of planning and effort that was put into this plot, I think it would be a little bit risky to assume that everything is shut down and the threat has gone away. So, you know, we spent a lot of time thinking about this. We certainly put a great deal of weight on the views taken by the British because it is, after all, their investigation. Principally it is their - the folks who are on the ground, and certainly when they express a concern that prudence requires the highest level of protection and the highest level of concern for this particular route, I think we're well advised to give a lot of weight to that.


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Bottling Luxury
By Ray Latif
During a meeting the other day, Anne Swan noticed that the woman sitting next to her was drinking water from a sleek, glass bottle.
A few women across the table were drinking water from plastic bottles.
Swan knows branding. She's the global creative director at Siegel+Gale, an international identity and branding firm that champions simplicity. Still, she couldn't help but feel like the water from the glass bottle must be more refreshing.
"That glass water bottle makes me think that water is better," Swan said.
The bottle was made by Voss, currently the fastest-rising premium water in the country. Swan, it seems, felt the pull. Swan asked the woman where she got the water—she wanted a bottle of her own.
Lacking the vast financial resources and distribution muscle of mega companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, premium water companies must compete on a different level. They'll advertise the exotic source, the high mineral content, the environmental sustainability. More recently, some water marketers have begun to boast about the high alkaline content in their products, a claim that has resonated with a growing number of heath-focused consumers.
However, it's been proven time and time again that in blind taste tests, under equal conditions, the average person – or even the expert — is rarely able to distinguish between tap water and bottled water. So if taste isn't why consumers are drawn to high-end water brands, what is it? Like a fancy car, it's the packaging, and not what's under the hood (or bottle cap), which most people crave.
In the $10 billion plus world of bottled water, branding is everything. And for premium waters, everything begins with the bottle.
"The design is creating desire," said Paula Grant, the founding partner of Flood Creative, a design agency based in Nyack, N.Y. "If it was just utilitarian, everyone would be drinking Dasani."
Although brand owners have long centered marketing on the native or spring sourcing of their water, the escalator in suggested retail price, even for those brands that purport to have a superior liquid, nevertheless has to come with a unique and distinguishable bottle. That can work to increase a product's recognition and underscore its difference from the rest of the field. Even ordinary water in a great bottle can serve as a vehicle to help the consumer see luxury in place of value, again enabling a water marketer to charge a premium price for its product.
"I think that it's almost a disconnect if it looks too cheap, and you're charging the amount of money that you're charging," Grant said. "At the end of the day, it's just water, and the category is pretty crowded. Water is water is water. So, what else can you do perk up the product? In stores, people tend to usually turn for structure first, then color."
So what needs to happen in terms of design? If you aren't going with a color variation, Grant notes, marketers often focus on the shape and design of the bottle –and less so on the label.
"Usually if you're designing structure, you want the structure to stand out as much as possible, and use very minimal graphics," Grant said. "[Take] Method (cleaning product) bottles and things like that. There's really not that much room for graphics – on purpose. You're supposed to be looking at it like a structure, like a piece of art."
It is this very notion – packaging as art – that has propelled the growth of many premium water brands. VOSS, for example, broke the mold for premium water packaging with the introduction of its cylindrical glass bottle, one that has since been imitated by several other beverage companies.
VOSS' bottle is the brainchild of Neil Kraft, the founder of KraftWorks, a creative agency in New York City that has worked with a wide range of consumer brands including Vitaminwater, Adidas, Pop Chips, and Calvin Klein. Nearly eight years ago, VOSS approached Kraft with the goal of launching an advertising campaign that would position the brand as a premier luxury bottled water.
First, Kraft told them, they needed a new bottle. According to Kraft, VOSS was using a rather ordinary beverage bottle at the time, and in order to achieve iconic positioning, it needed an iconic package. Kraft said he saw an opportunity to redefine how luxury could be communicated in the category and drew on elements of shape and style from high-end fashion and cosmetics brands. The result was an elegant, if drastic, departure from the norm: a single-shaped bottle with no edges and a large, screw-top cap. The problem was that VOSS couldn't find anyone to actually produce the bottle – it took a rigorous year-long process to finally find a manufacturer in Ireland to produce the new bottles.
"There's only been a couple times in my life when people said 'go ahead and break all the rules,'" Kraft said. "That's when things are really successful – when they're willing to break rules. They were unbelievably persistent in terms of getting someone to make [the bottle]."
Like VOSS, Icelandic Glacial wanted to separate itself from the bustling throng of premium water brands, each of which have their own story about rare springs from far off places. The company decided that to share its message, the shape of the bottle had to be unique.
"Iceland is a place that most people know about, but nobody knows anything about," said Icelandic Glacial chairman and co-founder Kristjan Olafsson. "It left us with a blank canvas to create the image of Iceland in the process of trying to communicate what we had here."
For Olafsson, inspiration came from the vodka world. He noted brands like Crystal Head Vodka as ones that have distinctly separated themselves from others via stand-out packaging.
"If you look at most [bottled water brands] on the shelf, it's relatively simple bottles that play on the label," Olafsson said. "You get into the vodka world, and you've got that skull bottle, you've got all sorts of people that are really breaking the boundaries when it comes to shape."
Olafsson referred to premium bottle shapes as "the handbag theory." Based on the notion that women want to hold designer handbags more than traditional ones, Olafsson said that premium bottled water has as much to do with the liquid as the need for self-expression.
"It is a lifestyle choice," Olafsson said. "Basically, if you're going to be a premium player and really give the quality of the water that [you] have justice, you need to have a package that consumers will feel good about holding in their hand. People that want to express themselves with a luxury lifestyle, they'll express themselves with a luxury water."
Icelandic Glacial has received widespread accolades for its bottle – it clearly communicates luxury appeal and the essence of an exotic water source without saying a word.
While still a smallish brand, it has kept investors interested and active. In 2007, Icelandic Glacial gained a tremendous partner in Anheuser-Busch, which acquired a 20 percent stake in the company (subsequently increased in 2011 to 23.3 percent) and is the master distributor of the brand in the U.S. Two years ago, The Bidvest Group Limited, an industrial investment company based in Johannesburg, South Africa invested $13.5 million in Icelandic Glacial in exchange for 14.49 percent of the company.
The success of these brands is not lost on new and existing companies in the premium water space, many of which are drawing inspiration from the very same products that they are, or will be, competing against. While imitation may be the highest form of flattery, Kraft considers the lack of new ideas to be surprising, especially considering that it's been proven time and again that originality sells.
"It's kind of shocking that after all this time, there's very little out there that's innovative," Kraft said.
Certainly, some brands are restricted by the high costs associated with creating a custom bottle. Branding and design firms notwithstanding, unique bottle molds are often priced upwards of $150,000. It's a common financial reality for many beverage companies, but a critical hurdle for bottled water start-ups. Using a stock PET bottle intensifies the chance that a new brand will simply get lost in the shuffle. However, there are a few companies have picked up on lessons from category forerunners, and identified packaging that, while used to fill alcoholic beverages such as wine and vodka, have rarely, if ever, been utilized to market water in the U.S.
Companies ranging from über-exclusive Bling H2O to environmentally-sensitive RAW Water are served in carafes typically designated for wine, while other brands such as Voda and Naeve have found traction via the frosted " Bellisima" bottles made famous by Grey Goose vodka.
Yet, regardless of how packaging is sourced, as the high-end water biz continues to grow, it seems likely that bottles will remain the dividing line in an otherwise invisible set of differences.
"In order to convince people to pay an extra buck for water," Kraft said, "the bottle's got to be really, really special."
Staff Writer Max Rothman contributed to this story.


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Aer Lingus has warned its profits for this year will be lower than it had previously expected.
The airline pointed to heavy discounting by Ryanair as one reason for the move, saying that all European airlines will be squeezed in the coming months by the no-frills carrier.
Ryanair, which flies more international scheduled passengers than any other European airline, said it plans to introduce "aggressive" pricing to maintain volumes amid signs of weak demand in the autumn.
The threat of a price war comes as airlines struggle with high fuel costs and weak consumer confidence, although a lack of growth in capacity in recent years has kept ticket prices relatively stable.
"Ryanair has opened the taps," Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller said, adding price cuts were being felt across Europe and with "significant intensity" in markets such as Italy and Poland.
"We are less affected than other carriers in Europe, but clearly the offering currently on the market on some of the Ryanair routes is below their own cost level," Mueller said.
He said he believed Ryanair was selling tickets at up to €20 per passenger below cost on some routes.
A Ryanair spokesman said it "would not comment on the excuses of high-cost competitors."
Ryanair issued its own profit warning last week and with Aer Lingus following suit, it indicates pricing pressure will spread across the sector, said Investec analyst Gerard Moore.
Aer Lingus cut its profit forecast for the year by 13%, saying its profit for the full year would be around €60 million, down from a forecast of €69 million it made at the end of July.
"This shows Ryanair's profit warning wasn't just a company specific issue and there's an impact on the broader market," said Moore. "It's worrying for the whole sector."
In July, Aer Lingus reported weak bookings in July and August due to unusually warm weather in Ireland, but said it hoped to make up for that shortfall in the remaining months of the year.
In today's statement the carrier said despite more aggressive pricing it did not now expect to recover the lost volumes.
It said it would cut short-haul capacity in the final three months of the year by 3%, but that long-haul bookings for the remainder of 2013 were ahead of last year.
Aer Lingus also said it had seen significant weakness in the number of UK travellers to Ireland and expected currency fluctuations to cost it around €10 million over the course of the year.


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Anxious relatives were searching for missing family members on Monday in a northern Indian city that is home to one of the world's largest religious gatherings, unsure if their loved ones were caught in a stampede that killed 36 people.
People thronged to the main hospital in Allahabad to see if their relatives were among 36 dead and 30 people injured in Sunday evening's stampede at the city's train station. Tens of thousands of people were waiting to board a train when railway officials announced a last-minute change in the platform, triggering the chaos.
An estimated 30 million Hindus were at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Saraswati rivers on Sunday as part of the 55-day Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival. Sunday was one of the holiest days to bathe.
People going missing at the Kumbh Mela is the stuff of legend in India and at least a dozen films have been made on the theme. On Sunday, like most other days, volunteers and officials used loudspeakers to give details of children and elderly who were "found" on the river banks, having lost their families in the crowd.
It was unclear how many people were actually missing because of the stampede.
Witnesses blamed police action for the tragedy.
"We heard an announcement that our train is coming on platform number 4 and when we started moving toward that platform through a footbridge, we were stopped. Then suddenly the police charged us with batons and the stampede started," passenger Shushanto Kumar Sen said.
"People started tumbling over one another and within no time I saw people, particularly women and children, being trampled over by others," Sen said.
Police denied they had used batons to control the crowd. "It was simply a case of overcrowding. People were in a hurry to go back and there were not enough arrangements by the railway authorities," said Arun Kumar, a senior police officer.
Medical superintendent Dr P Padmakar of the main state-run hospital said 23 of the 36 people killed were women.
India's railway minister, Pawan Kumar Bansal, said an inquiry has been ordered into what led to the stampede.
Indian television stations showed large crowds pushing and jostling at the train station as policemen struggled to restore order. "There was complete chaos. There was no doctor or ambulance for at least two hours after the accident," an eyewitness told NDTV news channel.
The auspicious bathing days of the Kumbh Mela are decided by the alignment of stars, and among the most dramatic features of the festival are the Naga sadhus ascetics with ash rubbed all over their bodies, wearing only marigold garlands leaping joyfully into the holy waters.
According to Hindu mythology, the Kumbh Mela celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over nectar that would give them immortality. As one of the gods fled with a pitcher of the nectar across the skies, it spilled on four Indian towns: Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.
The Kumbh Mela is held every three years, rotating between each of the four towns. Hindus believe that sins accumulated in past and current lives require them to continue the cycle of death and rebirth until they are cleansed. If they bathe at the Ganges on the most auspicious day of the festival, believers say they can rid themselves of their sins.


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IM virus hoax threatens bandwidth drain
Instant messaging users are being blighted with an increasing number of threats of terrible viruses which are spreading via the popular peer-to-peer application.
But just as email users were regular victims of hoaxes several years ago, so this latest scare is similarly fictitious.
One such hoax, propagated by well-meaning recipients who are urged to share the information with all their contacts, says there is an IM virus out there which will destroy hard drives and wipe data.
According to the hoax, somebody called firstname.lastname@example.com will ask to be accepted onto your contacts list but once accepted the wording of the hoax claims a "horrible virus" will be unleashed.
The message comes with handy instructions for users of the Yahoo! IM application on how they can forward it to all their contacts.
Another hoax, again targeting Yahoo! users instructs all recipients to forward the IM to everybody in their contacts list or face losing their email and IM account, as part of a routine database cleansing.
Typically recipients assume 'better safe than sorry' and forward the messages, but that is when malicious hoaxes come into their own - often they are a simple ruse to bring down networks with a very basic denial of service attack.
The social engineering element is very simple, but proved highly effective with a bout of email hoaxes in 2001 and 2002. Often the fact the emails arrived from a known contact made the advice all the more compelling. Often the message to forward even begins with a statement to the effect of saying the sender has checked out the information and found it to be true.
If all Yahoo! users IM their contacts to warn of this virus and their contacts in terms IM their contacts - forwarded multiple versions of the message - the resultant traffic can be huge and potentially akin to the impact of a genuine self-propagating worm.
One recipient who forwarded the IM to her entire company and buddy list admitted that she realised her mistake with hindsight, but said when under pressure at work and an IM turned up from her boss warning about a virus and asking her to warn the rest of the company she felt immediately compelled to so. Such an IM was evidence that her boss too had already been duped.
"It's really easy to open a file only to find it is a virus, so when you get a message from your boss about a virus with some plausible sounding email addresses mentioned, it seems like a good idea to forward it on to everyone in your buddy list," she said.
"So I did and managed to start the ball rolling on a hoax - exactly as the hoaxers had planned I suppose," she added.
From silicon.com


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Have you been naughty or nice?
Starting Christmas Eve, little boys and girls can track Santa's movements online at NORADSanta.org as he moves around the globe to deliver gifts. Every movement of the jolly man dressed in his famous red suit can be tracked thanks to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD. Christmas revelers can also keep up with the movements of Santa and his reindeer on Facebook, Twitter, by email (firstname.lastname@example.com), or phone (877-HI-NORAD). There's also an (iPhone or Android) app for that.
NORAD has tracked Santa's whereabouts for more than 50 years. NORAD was developed after Canadian and U.S. governments came together.
This year a controversy erupted when a children's advocacy group complained about fighter jets escorting Santa's sleigh on an animated "trailer" video on NORAD's website, The Associated Press reported. A NORAD spokesman countered that the command has shown jets accompanying Santa since the 1960s.
The program began in 1955 when a typo in a newspaper ad led to children calling the hotline of NORAD's predecessor then asking for Santa, the AP reported. Ret. Col. Harry Shoup was NORAD's first Santa tracker.
Last year's Santa tracker prompted 114,000 calls to NORAD, 1.2 million Facebook followers and 129,000 Twitter followers, according to the AP.


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|North Stonington, CT
|High School:
Collegiate Personal Bests:
800 Meter Run: 2:21.69
1,500 Meter Run: 4:53.83
One Mile Run: 5:21.25
3,000 Meter Run: 10:37.61
5,000 Meter Run: 18:25.69
3,000 Meter Steeplechase: 12:52.42
2012 Cross Country: Best finish of the season came at the Northeast Conference Championships where she placed 28th, crossing the finish line in 18:58.63...Completed the NEICAAA Championships in 19:17.85...Competed at the NCAA Regionals on Nov. 9, finished the 6K race in 23:36.9.
2012 Outdoor Track: Placed 25th in the 1,500 meter run with a time of 5:03.92 at the University of Connecticut Invitational...Completed the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 12:52.42 at the Holy Cross Invitational...Finished 32nd in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 20:06.64 at the Northeast Conference Outdoor Championships...Placed 38th overall in the 800 meter run at the University of Massachusetts Spring Meet with a time of 2:28.74.
2012 Indoor Track: Placed 14th in the 3,000 meter run at the Northeast Conference Indoor Championships with a time of 10:47.00...Finished 17th in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 19:06.71 at the NEC Indoor Championships...Placed 23rd in the 3,000 meter run at the New England Indoor Championships with a time of 10:37.61...Finished 26th in the one mile run at the Great Dane Classic with a time of 5:28.06.
2011 Cross Country: Competed in seven of eight of the Blue Devils' meets as a freshman…Her best finish came at the Blue Devil Invitational on Sept. 2 where she earned 20th place with a time of 19:44…Turned in a solid performance at the Monmouth Invitational with a time of 20:06.80 for 41st place out of 157 participants…Earned 31 points for the Blue Devils at the Ted Owen Invitational on Sept. 24…Finished 183rd out of 269 participants at the 2011 New England Cross Country Championships with a time of 20:38…Placed 32nd out of 102 at the Northeast Conference Championships with a time of 20:09.50...Finished with a time of 24:30 at the 2011 NCAA Division I Northeast Regional Cross Country Championships for 190th place…Completed the season at the IC4A/ECAC Cross Country Championships earning 69th place with a time of 19:38.
Before Central: Ran cross country at Wheeler High School...ECC Small Division Champion as a junior and a senior...Earned the Coach's Award as a junior and senior.


text: Invigorating blend of tropical fruits These beautifully scented, creamy showergels contain emollients and humectants that provide a lasting moisturizing effect and help to maintain the natural moisture level of the skin, as if you have used a leave on product. Key ingredients: - 5% organic Distillates Marshmallow & Everlasting: Skin smoothing and soothing, anti-inflammatory, with regenerating and antioxidant properties. - Active Aloe: Rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc and antioxidant enzymes, enhances the immune system of the skin. Its ability to stimulate collagen and elastin synthesis helps reduce the visible signs of ageing.