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Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, headquartered in New Orleans, is one of the world's largest and lowest cost copper and gold producers, from its Grasberg mine in Irian Jaya. In 1996 it was regarded as one of the ten worst corporations by the Multinational Monitor magazine.

Asian community leaders -- mindful of ''World No Tobacco Day'' on May 31 -- say their battle to reduce high smoking rates among Asian Americans is making inroads but can't succeed as long as cigarette advertisers keep targeting their neighborhoods.

The San Francisco Tobacco Free Coalition will actively work in solidarity with domestic and international grassroots communities, groups, organizations, government agencies, and Ministries of Health to promote social, economic, and environmental justice. As 33% of San Franciscans are immigrants, the Coalition believes that it must think globally and act locally in the development of a Global Tobacco Control Policy Framework.

Larry Keuhn, the former head of British Columbia Teachers' Federation, looks at the reshaping of education to fit the needs of global corporations by critiquing a paper prepared by South Korea's Ministry of Labor and the economic integration of the Asia-Pacific region.

This month's winner is the Chlorine Chemistry Council (CCC). The CCC is a U.S.-based lobby group representing a chlorine subcommittee of another U.S. industry group, the Chemical Manufacturers Association. Amidst the groundswell of evidence that chlorine chemicals and their accidental byproducts are slowly destroying life on earth, the CCC is responding with gigantic public relations campaigns and contributions to Washington politicians.

Today the Albemarle Corporation is one of the top three producers of methyl bromide in the world. Founded in 1887 to produce blotting papers for fountain pens, Albemarle stayed a paper products company for many years.

Dead Sea Bromine produces as much as 30 percent of world output of methyl bromide, which it exports to Europe, Africa, the United States and China. However, very little information is available on this Israeli transnational corporation.

A largely mysterious entity, TriCal is owned and operated by its President, Dean Storkan. Together with some of his top lieutenants, Roger Hruby, Hank Maze and Tom Duafala, Storkan operates a series of thirteen related corporations in which he has significant, if not controlling financial interests.

The most blatent case of the Bromide Barons attempting to underine the democratic process with their financial influence is that of Sun-Diamond Growers of California. A large agricultural concern that uses methyl bromide to grow young fruit trees and to fumigate stored fruit and nuts.

The Methyl Bromide Global Coalition (MBGC) has exerted significant influence on all aspects of the methyl bromide debate, inserting itself as a central player in international scientific panels, diplomatic negotiations and public pronouncements on the issue.