Australia's environment minister began a last-minute lobbying tour of Pacific island states Tuesday in hopes of halting a bid by Japan and other whaling states to end a 20-year ban on commercial whaling.

Environment Minister Ian Campbell will meet senior ministers in Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Vanuatu in hopes of securing their support before the International Whaling Commission (IWC) votes next month on lifting the ban.

His tour comes after Japan at the weekend pledged about 400 million US dollars in aid to Pacific nations, ostensibly to garner support for Tokyo's bid to be a member of the UN Security Council.

But Japan has been accused in the past of using aid to buy support for its ambition to resume commercial whaling, banned under an IWC moratorium.

Australia has taken a leading role in opposing whaling, but Campbell insisted the government would not be offering aid as bribes to the poor Pacific states seen as potential swing votes when the 66-member IWC meets in the Caribbean from June 16.

"Australia quite specifically never links aid to these other votes, that would be a practice we would condemn," Campbell said before leaving Australia Tuesday.

"What we do is try and win the argument based on science, based on the need for global conservation efforts," he said.

Last year Kiribati voted with Japan at the IWC meeting, but the pro-whaling lobby fell short of the 51 percent of votes needed to challenge the ban on commercial whaling.

Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands are still not members of the commission, but may be considering signing up and reports in the Australian press have suggested the Marshall Islands would vote with Japan.

While a simple majority will not be enough to overturn current whaling bans, anti-whaling forces have warned it could lead to policy changes that could tend to undermine a protective regime.

Japan officially stopped commercial whaling in 1987 and reluctantly accepted an international moratorium supported by Western countries. Norway is the only country that explicitly defies the ban on commercial whaling.

But Japan uses a loophole that allows the killing of whales for "research," even though the meat usually ends up in grocery stores and restaurants.

Japan last year doubled its annual kill to about 850 minke whales and extended the hunt to other species considered to be endangered. It launched this year's whale hunt just last week.

Hospice nurses, medical directors and pharmacists are magicians in my opinion. They can work wonders. I've met so many patients in pain who, once hospice comes on board, are relieved of their pain and live out the last of their days maintaining a good quality of life. There are some patients who, despite all the magic the hospice team offers, are just not able to get in good pain control.

Unfortunately, there are some medical professionals who are not fully trained as pain management experts who refuse the suggestions of hospice professionals and who choose to manage their patients as they see fit. It is because of these professionals that people are choosing the option of suicide at the end of life when pain can sometimes be unbearable due to the disease process. Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" has been responsible for an increase in hospice utilization, physician education regarding pain managements, and better communication between physicians and patients within that state. California is looking at a similar act. In fact, more than 70% of people surveyed in California would support such an act.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian brought something to the mainstream that people were not prepared to accept. We are, after all, a death-denying culture. What we need to realize is that as the baby-boomer generation ages, and now cares for their elderly loved one, death and dying has to come out of the closet! We can no longer avoid discussions of advance health care directives, how we want to die, or where we want to die. From my experiences in hospice, most people want to discuss these issues, but don't know where to turn for the answers or how to start the communication process.

While we're trying to educate people about the needs of the dying, Dr. Jack Kevorkian sits in prison, persecuted by politicians and the media who refused to report how he actually conducted his work with the many people who sought him out for help.

Whether you believe in what Dr. Jack Kevorkian did or not, wouldn't you like an option just in case you are suffering and you're not in good pain control? Wouldn't you like your physician to know more about pain management and how to communicate well with you and your family regarding your end of life?

If you are interested in helping to support a man who brought end-of-life care issues out of the closet, please write a letter on his behalf to Governor Jennifer M. Granholm P.O. Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan 48909. For those interested in helping further, please contact Dr. Jack Kevorkian's lawyer, Mr. Mike Morganroth 3000 Town Center Suite 1500 Southfield, Michigan 48075. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thank you!

Kriss