Volume 7, Number 24

The Student Voice of University of Prince Edward Island

Thursday, March 15, 1990

McGill Profs Make Weapons

MONTREAL

(CUP) - Recently released

documents prove that for 10 years, two engineering proffessors have been per- fecting a high-tech weapon at McGill University.

Mechanical en- gineering professor Roman Knystautas and Joghn H. Lee have recieved about $1 million from the United States Air Force and the fed- eral Department of National Defense (DND) since 1977 to develop Feul Air Explo- sives Devices, according to heavily-censored documents obtained through the Access to Information Act.

Weapons experts say Feul Air Explosives, or FAEs,

have a destructive capacity approaching that of nuclear weapons. 2

The bombs work on the principle that flammable liq- uids when mixed with air can be ignited, causing pres- sures over a wide area.

McGill officials say the research is theoretical, ab- stract science — applied as easily to the gas pedal of a car as to weapons. They also maintain that DND is inter- ested in the results only for the relatively harmless task of clearing minefields.

wae it was weapons, I wouldn’t like it,” said McGill vice-principal of research Gorden MacLach- lan.

MacLauchlan de- scribed Lee and Knystautas “Canada’s experts on explo- Sives,”

In 1977 the professors presented a report at a gas dynamics colloquium about “problems pertaining, to fea- sibility of FAE III weapons.”

A US government tre- search bulletin says Lee and Knystautas, among other

things, “Reassessed the far tield destructive potential of FAE weapons” at McGill in 1979.

Lee and Knystautas cur- rently have s $156,643 DND contract to “Assess the Ef- fects of Feul Air Explo- sions.”

The DND, with its sub- sidiary the De- fense Reasearch Establish- ment Suffield (DRES), su- plies many of Lee and Knys- tautas ’ more recent con- tracts.

Copies of current McGill contracts — many classified

= were obtained through the Access to Information Act, and were heavily censored.

DND Information Officer Brian Laidlaw said he could not give details on the pro- fessor’s present contract, but he did not know it ends in September and will not be renewed. A 1982 pa- per about the detonation of feul air explosive clouds, written by Lee, Knystautas,. two DRES scientists and two researchers from Nor- way, stated the research had practical value for “acciden-

tal explosions and military applications.”

t's impos- sible to tell what it’s about, but you can speculate. I would say they are creating small scale models for prac- tical fieldwork experiments at Suffield,” said McGill Project Ploughshares mem- ber Amy Kaler.

Two years ago, Kaler helped organize a campaign against fuel-air explosive re- search at McGill, which cul- minated in three people oc- cupying MacLauchlan’s of-

fice for three days to demand

the cancellation of the con- tracts.

Partly as a result of student pressures, McGil adopted a screening policy for military contracts last May. Professors are re- quired to describe their re- search and have it approved by MacLauchlan if, in their opinion, it wil have “any negative or untoward conse- quences.” “Both professors Lee and Knystautas said they were not aware of any ill effects, they both wrote that to me,

continued on page 3...

GST on books will hit students hard

MONTREAL (CUP) -- If you’ re still groaning over the cost of your textbooks this year, just wait until next January. .

In 1991, the _ federal government’s proposed goods and services tax (GST) will push the price of textbooks up by at least seven per cent, with Canadian books costing as much as 12 per cent more.

Proposed GST legislation, in- troduced December 19, is a seven per cent tax which will be added to goods and services at the retail level.

It is designed to replace the hidden manufacturer’s sales tax (MST) of 13.5 per cent which is tacked on to about one-third of Canadian manufactured goods before they reach the consumer. The GST is expected to generate $18 billion in revenue which is what the MST brings in now, ac- cording to federal finance depart- ment public relations official Rick Doyon. However critics argue that the tax is compounded. It is paid on new books and then again when those books are resold.

The GST will be applied across the board with few exceptions, making books, magazines and newspapers taxable for the first time.

Concern about the effect the tax will have on the Canadian publishing industry has prompted publishers and booksellers to form the Don’t Tax Reading Coalition.

The Toronto-based coalition is lobbying the government to ex- empt the Canaddian publishing industry from the GST, as well as encouraging other groups, in- cluding students, to join the fight against the tax.

"Students will be hit hardest by this tax," said David Hunt, spokesperson for the coalition. "They spend more on books, magazines and newspapers than anyone else. Students can’trefuse to buy compulsory textbooks just because the prices go up."

A study by the Association of Canadian Pubiishers suggested GST would increase the price of the average Canadian book by 11 or 12 per cent.

"The increase in book prices due to the GST will reduce demand for books and wil] lead to smailier printruns, smailer or non- existent profits, * Hunt said. "This will force publishers to raise prices by more than seven per cent just to make up for lost sales."

The average student with five

courses spends $400 to $500 on books, according to Lina Lipscombe, manager of the Con- cordia University’s bookstore.

When the tax kicks in, that will go up to between $428 and $560.

"What really infuriates me is that the government is showing all this concern about literacy and then théy tax books,” Lipscombe said. "Books are a need, not a luxury."

"The government is taxing education."

Lipscombe said Canadian books, which make up ap- proximately 25 to 30 per cent of the texts in university bookstores, are particularly vunerable to the tax. And students buy a bigger proportion of Canadian books than the general public.

"Students will be paying the tax and the increased prices while other consumers will buy American or not buy at all," Hunt said.

Don’t count on savings at used ordiscount bookstores either. The GST will have to be paid on thosé sales as well.

Canadian University Press, a national co-operative of student newspapers is also a member of the coalition. The organizai:on

joined the lobby group ies: month.

Most of the naticn’s newspapers are also contributins, to the campaign: the Canadian Daily Newspaper Pubtis As- sociation and the Canad: munity Newspaper Association are members. the MUSE