AR-NEWS Digest 438

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Dioxin found in chickens
     by Andrew Gach 
  2) It worked on animals - why not people?
     by Andrew Gach 
  3) Birth defects and hazardous waste sites
     by Andrew Gach 
  4) [CA] IFAW's open letter to minister
     by David J Knowles 
  5) [CA] Discovery Channel on Genetic Engineering
     by David J Knowles 
  6) (CH) Buffalo become livestock
     by Vadivu Govind 
  7) [UK] SOS to Clinton, Blair and Spice Girls over lost dog
     by David J Knowles 
  8) [UK] Last airport protester surfaces after 5.5-hour rescue
     by David J Knowles 
  9) [UK] Hunt Bill may get extra time
     by David J Knowles 
 10) [US] In New York's Heroin Alley, Drug Users Learn Art of
  Healthy Cooking
     by David J Knowles 
 11) (US/EU) U.S., E.U. in Poultry Standoff
     by allen schubert 
 12) LA Times: Xenotransplants Raise Fears of New Germs (US)
     by Lawrence Carter-Long 
 13) Cute !
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 14) (US--DC) McLibel Verdict Celebration/Protest
     by allen schubert 
 15) (US) Air Force Seeks Homes for Chimps
     by allen schubert 
 16) (ZW) Group Votes To Keep Wildlife Ban
     by allen schubert 
 17) (ZW) Proposal To Trade Ivory Rejected
     by allen schubert 
 18) (ZW) Japan Loses Whaling Votes
     by allen schubert 
 19) (ZW) Zimbabwe May Defy Ivory Plan
     by allen schubert 
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 22:14:20 -0700
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Dioxin found in chickens
Message-ID: <33A61D2C.22B7@worldnet.att.net>
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Dioxin found in two chickens in Arkansas

The Associated Press 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (June 16, 1997 8:56 p.m. EDT) -- Federal inspectors
said Monday they found dioxin, a suspected carcinogen, in chickens at
processing plants in Arkansas and Texas but said there was no public
health risk.

Dioxin occurs at low levels throughout the environment. The
Environmental Protection Agency sets health standards for dioxin levels
in air, water and land, but not in food.

Denise Kerns, an EPA spokeswoman in Washington, said the agency is
surveying poultry, beef, and pork in 24 southern and central states as
part of a reassessment of its dioxin standards.

Kerns said preliminary results of tests taken on 80 chickens showed two
with elevated levels of dioxin at Tyson Foods Inc. slaughterhouses in
Pine Bluff, Ark., and Seguin, Texas.

"The USDA, EPA, everybody has assured us that there's no health hazard
here," said Archie Schaffer, a spokesman for Tyson Foods in Springdale,
Ark. "But they are concerned about where it (the dioxin) is coming
from."

Tests seem to point to a feed ingredient as the source of the dioxin,
Schaffer said. "If that turns out to be the case, (we've) already
corrected it," he said.

Schaffer said the dioxin levels did not warrant a recall of Tyson's
chicken.
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 22:24:02 -0700
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: It worked on animals - why not people?
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Researchers competing to be first at curing disease through gene therapy

The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer 

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (June 17, 1997 01:03 a.m. EDT) -- The call from the
kennel came last week. A small black dog named Patches was beginning to
show signs that its muscle cells were changing. After six nail-biting
weeks, Jude Samulski could begin to relax. The University of North
Carolina genetic researcher has a shot at being the first to cure
disease by recasting the genetic makeup of living cells.

The odds of success are linked to Patches' response to a May 8
injection.

Last week, it looked as if Patches was coming through.

Samulski is trying to succeed where scientists with more experience,
bigger staffs and more generous grants have failed. Despite more than
100 human experiments and an annual price tag of $200 million, gene
therapy has yet to definitively heal a single patient.

Now, Samulski, a relatively young scientist who runs UNC's Center for
Gene Therapy, is getting close. Starting with lab mice, Samulski and
fellow UNC scientist Xiao Xiao used a new technique to insert corrected
genetic material into muscle cells. Unlike past attempts, theirs caused
no side effects and lasted more than a year. Other gene treatments have
worn off in a few weeks.

Moving on to tests on dogs, the last step before testing their treatment
in humans, Samulski and his team have chosen the bleeding disorder
hemophilia B as their target. By changing the genetic
makeup of the muscle cells, the researchers hope to coax the muscle into
producing healing substances like the clotting Factor IX that
hemophiliacs lack. Although only 4,000 people in the United States have
hemophilia B, Samulski's research could have a much broader impact in
the treatment of other diseases.

More important, it could help scientists understand why gene therapy has
failed in the correction of more common ailments, such as the
lung-crippling cystic fibrosis.

"If we can figure out how it works in the muscle, maybe we can figure
out how to make it work in the lung," Samulski said.

But while the news from the kennel was cause for optimism, Samulski
remains cautious. The dog's response could fade. And then there's the
competition: an aggressive, well-funded team of scientists from the
University of Pennsylvania working on the same treatment. Whoever gets
the quickest results will be in the best position to win approval from
the Food and Drug Administration to begin
testing the therapy on humans.

Samulski, 44, wants to be first. But he wants to be right.

"We're not going to learn any more until we get into humans," he said.
"But, we don't want to be the first to go in there and say, 'Whoops, we
screwed up.' "

His success with the muscle has renewed hope about gene therapy's
potential. The staying power of his treatment is unprecedented.

"If it works for Factor IX, you've already made a major advance," said
Kenneth Berns, a microbiologist at Cornell University. "This will be the
first instance of a disease that was helped by
gene therapy. It will be much more important than Dolly," the sheep who
was cloned.

But Samulski faces the some of the same obstacles that tripped his
predecessors: the leap from animals to humans.

Many of the early researchers had success in the test tube, and later in
small animals, Samulski said.  "The interpretation was 'It will do the
same thing in a human.' When it didn't, that told us we were
going down the right freeway, but there were lots of turns and loops
involved that we didn't understand."

The focus of the work is the development of a gene-delivery vehicle
called a "vector," which scientists think has been the missing
ingredient in the gene therapy formula. The vector is an organism with
the capacity to enter living cells and deposit genetic material in the
same way a needle delivers drugs to the bloodstream. In theory, once the
vector corrected the genetic error, the cells
would function normally. For example, people with sickle cell anemia
would produce normal cells rather than the oddly shaped red blood cells
that clog their bloodstream. Most vectors are made from viruses, since
they naturally invade living cells.

But so far, even the promising vectors have had their quirks. They cause
side effects such as infections or simply fail to change enough cells to
cure a disease. Or the body flushes out the new, improved cells and
develops an immunity to the treatment.

"It is clear we need to have a better understanding of what we are
doing," Samulski said. "The feeling was that everyone ran to the clinic
too quickly."

Cystic fibrosis researcher Richard Boucher, who works just down the hall
from Samulski, is the first to agree. Boucher made the unusual move of
publishing a paper about a gene experiment that failed,
in large part because of an inadequate vector. Boucher wanted others to
learn from the obstacles he came up against in attempting gene therapy.
Beginning in 1993, Boucher had treated 12 cystic
fibrosis patients with nose drops laced with a disarmed form of the
virus that causes the common cold. His "adenovirus" vector was designed
to deliver corrected cystic fibrosis genes, but it didn't
work. It failed to change enough cells, and the serum inflamed the nasal
tissues as the body rallied an immune response.

"If a vector doesn't want to go into a cell, we're not going to change
that," Boucher said. "The other option is to find another vector."

That's what Samulski has been working on since 1982.

As a graduate student at the University of Florida in Gainesville, he
was among the first to begin working with a substance called
adeno-associated virus or AAV. In many ways it seemed ideal.

But over the years, AAV presented its own set of problems. On a
molecular level, it is very small, so it can't hold very big genes. That
precludes it from carrying the gene for one of its obvious
targets, muscular dystrophy.

As scientists were writing off AAV, Samulski and his team discovered
that it worked in muscle tissue in a way that it failed to do in the
lung and the liver. Not only did it work, it had staying power.
Samulski's mice continued to produce corrected genes for more than a
year.

"When muscle came up positive, it changed our whole strategy," Samulski
said.

By November, when Samulski published a paper reporting on his success
with the muscle, word had spread in the genetics research world. Today,
at least eight other researchers are also using AAV in both the muscle
and the brain.

"I'm very anxious about the other groups," Samulski said. "They have
resources. They have a bigger, stronger team. We paved the way, but you
always want to be the one to lead it in."

Over at the UNC kennel, Patches -- named for the spots where he was
shaved to receive injections -- is beginning to regrow fur. For six
weeks, he tolerated the treatment but failed to produce cells
that indicate the gene therapy was working. Now blood tests suggest that
the dog may be producing Factor IX, adding to the evidence Samulski
needs to convince the FDA to allow him to test his
treatment in humans.

--By TINKER READY, Raleigh News & Observer
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 1997 22:39:32 -0700
From: Andrew Gach 
To: healthe@home.ease.lsoft.com
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Birth defects and hazardous waste sites
Message-ID: <33A62314.5152@worldnet.att.net>
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Fetuses may be affected by birth sites, California study finds

San Francisco Examiner 

SAN FRANCISCO (June 17, 1997 00:14 a.m. EDT) -- Living near hazardous
waste sites appears to raise the risk of birth defects in infants,
according to a statewide survey released Monday by the California
Department of Health Services.

The data do not conclusively make a link because the number of infants
with defects living near waste sites is too small to prove cause and
effect, researchers say.

But the connection is strong enough to prompt officials to publicize the
findings to help communities decide whether to build housing near waste
sites or to reuse waste sites, many of which still contain
chemical solvents, pesticides and metals.

"The findings are suggestive, not definitive. But it was important to
make our findings available to the public," said the lead researcher,
Dr. Lisa A. Croen, an epidemiologist with the state-sponsored
California Birth Defects Monitoring Program in Emeryville.

The study looked at women who in their first three months of pregnancy
lived within a quarter-mile of Superfund sites, defined as so
contaminated that they merit placement on a high-priority clean-up
list.

Women near the sites had four times the risk of having babies with
serious heart defects than those who lived farther away. There was twice
the risk of having a baby with neural tube defects such as
spina bifida and anencephaly, according to the study, to be published in
the July issue of the medical journal Epidemiology. Both types of
defects are disabling and may be fatal.

On average, there is a 1-in-1,000 chance that a woman in California will
have a baby with heart defects. The risk rises to 1 in 250 if she lives
within a quarter-mile of a Superfund site, according to
the study.

The chance of having a baby with a neural tube defect is one in 1,000,
but within a quarter-mile of a waste site the risk increases to 1 in
500, the study found.

Hazardous waste exposure is a possible factor in only a relatively small
number of birth defects.  Women living close to waste sites gave birth
to eight of 507 babies with neural tube defects and
three of 201 with heart defects, the study found. Less than 1 percent of
women interviewed for the study lived within a quarter-mile of a waste
site when they were in the early stages of pregnancy.

The research team stopped short of making a formal recommendation about
where to live during early pregnancy, saying more study is needed.

"A decision about where to live is a complex one, requiring
consideration of many different factors," said Croen. Further research
needs to be done before a firm link is made between birth defects and a
mother's place of residence, she said.

The study, the largest of its kind, interviewed 2,000 mothers across
California and compared the residential locations of those with healthy
and unhealthy babies. It is the first investigation to focus on the
early months of pregnancy, when organ development occurs. It took into
account other issues that might influence the rate of birth defects,
such as cigarette smoking, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status and
vitamin use.

Women were asked to list the street addresses and dates of residence for
places they had lived during the first three months of pregnancy. They
also were questioned about medical, reproductive, occupational,
nutritional and family histories.

Researchers evaluated the mothers' proximity to the 105 Superfund sites
throughout California.

Sites include inactive pesticide and chemical manufacturing plants, wood
treatment and preserving facilities, drum storage facilities, mines,
contaminated groundwater areas, sanitary landfills and
military bases.

No single site was identified as worse than others in terms of defect
risk. Previous studies have found a link between certain defects and
maternal exposure to chemicals and contaminated drinking
water supplies, polyvinylchloride industrial emissions, agricultural
pesticides and solvents in the workplace.

"Each site contains a big mixture of chemicals. It's hard to study these
chemical soups," Croen said.

Women living near a site may be at little risk. Airborne contamination
diffuses quickly as it travels from its source. Groundwater
contamination may never reach drinking water supplies.

In this study, no direct measurement of waste site exposure was made.
For more definitive data, it will be necessary to measure whether
mothers were actually exposed to toxic chemicals from these
sites, Croen said.

The study is superior to past research because it measures a woman's
proximity to a hazardous waste site, rather than simply counting women
by census tract or zip code. Because previous approaches combined women
who live closer to and those who live farther from the sites, they
failed to detect elevated risk, researchers said.

Military bases make up 20 percent of California's Superfund sites.
Civilian neighborhoods containing Superfund sites are more likely to be
of lower socioeconomic status, with a higher proportion of crowding and
people living in poverty.

--By LISA M. KRIEGER, San Francisco Examiner

=====================================================

Imagine how many hazardous waste sites could be cleaned up if the
billions spent on testing individual chemicals on laboratory mice was
put to a wiser use!

Andy
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 00:45:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] IFAW's open letter to minister
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970617004603.0ad7d748@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) today placed full-page ads
in several Canadian daily newspapers.

The ads included an open letter to new federal fisheries minister David
Anderson.

The full text of the letter follows:

"June 16, 1997

The Honourable David Anderson
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Minister,

Congratulations on your appointment as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
While all of the new Ministers will have important issues with which to
deal, the issues you face continue to stoke the passions of Canadians on
both coasts. And right across Canada.

You will soon be briefed by your new staff at the Department of Fisheries
and Oceans (DFO). We ask only this: that you also seek out the opinions of
independent scientists, non-governmental organizations and the Canadian
public. Then make up your own mind.

IFAW Canada believes that DFO is "managing" our oceans, fisheries and marine
mammals into serious danger. Once abundant species like the northern cod and
other groundfish stocks have been destroyed. Salmon stocks are collapsing.
And now Canadian tax dollars are subsidizing the commercial hunt for over a
quarter of a million seals, despite the hunt's extreme cruelty and
scientists' warnings that killing seals could actually impede the recovery
of cod stocks.

Naturally, we at IFAW Canada have some questions we'd like answered.

1 How soon can you work with Christine Stewart, the new Minister of the
Environment, to enact a strong Endangered Species Protection Act that
protects the habitats of Canada's many species at risk? After all, Canada
did commit itself to doing so when it signed the International Convention on
Biodiversity in 1992. Surely, Canada of all countries should enact the basic
legislation.

2 When will Canada recognize its responibility for the conservation and
management of whales? When will we stop killing highly endangered whales
with blatent disregard for the authority of the International Whaling
Commission - which Canada refuses to rejoin?

3 When will Canada ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
Sea and the Treaty on Highly Migratory and Straddling Fish Stocks? Dozens of
other countries have already done so. Why is Canada dragging its feet?

4 When will the Department of Fisheries and Oceans stop interfering with
scientific research? Why is it necessary for DFO to silence its own
fisheries scientists? Canadians can handle the truth.

5 When will Canada end subsidies to the fishing industry? The World Wide
Fund for Nature and the United Nations Environment Program contend that the
$54 billion of government subsidies worldwide have so bloated the world's
fishing industry that fish are being wiped out faster than they can reproduce.

6 When will Canada ban the sale of seal penises and the trade in seal parts?
DFO's own documents assert that these forms of commercial trade encourage
illegal sealing. In terms of profitability, the international trade in dead
wildlife parts is third only to the international arms and drugs trades. Is
this the kind of industry we want to encourage for Canada?

7 When will Canada end the commercial hunt for seals altogether? By any
measure, killing hundreds of thousands of seals in a year is cruel, wasteful
and inconsistent with the values of the vast majority of Canadians. To
compound the matter the commercial hunt is subsidized by Canadian tax
dollars. Without the knowledge of most Canadians.

Under your new leadership, Mr Anderson, DFO has the opportunity to change
the course of recent history. Canada has the opportunity to become the
world's model for fish and marine mammal management.

We urge you to base the policies of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and
Oceans on precautionary principles. And on ecologically sound conservation
practices. Not on political expedience.

Congratualtions again, and we look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

IFAW Canada"  

  

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 00:45:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [CA] Discovery Channel on Genetic Engineering
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970617004605.0ad7bdb2@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Tonight (Monday), The Discovery Channel's "Forbidden Places" did a show
about the genetic engineering of animals.

They covered the difference between GE and traditional selective
breeding;creation of the Geep at UC Davis (and showed a still photo of the
geep); the engineering of goats to produce human drugs ("Life as a goat used
to be simple. But now meat, cheese and petting zoo cameos are be replaced by
instant pharmacutical factories," noted the narrator.); engineering chickens
at the University of Guelph; the breeding and manipulation of pigs for human
transplants (Dr Micheal Fox, of the Humane Society of the U.S., noted how
ironic it was that after a lifetime of eating too many pork sausages and
pork pies, someone would then require a pig's heart to cure him.); cloning
("Cloning puts us deep in the ethical forest, with only a book of matches
and an outdated map," noted the narration.); and the manipulation of Pacific
salmon with growth hormone in West Vancouver.

There was also a explanation of what the scientists are saying when they
explain the procedure in techno-ese. Superimposed over scenes of scientists
talking about "..identifying cells that have been genetically engineered and
ensure they go to the germ line"; "..splice that on to the structural
region"; and "We do not have much control over the event of the gene being
integrated into the genome," were subtitles reading: "There's a lot of trial
and error.", "We mix and match and hope for the best." and "We don't
understand how it works."

There was also some good splicing by the producers/editors with liberal use
of old "B" sci-fi movie  clips.

Last word to Dr. Fox. "The view that we are the special creation on earth,
that we are somehow seperate from earth and the rest of the animal kingdom,
is a terrible fallacy of the modern age.

"We can't trust ourselves with the little knowledge that we have because
when we have a little bit of knowledge, we think we know it all. We have to
accept the fact that we're clever, but we're still monkeys." 

  

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 16:51:43 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CH) Buffalo become livestock
Message-ID: <199706170851.QAA25838@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>CNA Daily English News Wire
15 June 97
BUFFALO ROAM THE WILD PLAINS OF SWITZERLAND 


Geneva, June 15 (CNA) American buffaloes can now be seen grazing near Geneva
airport as part of a Swiss farmer's plan to help diversify his country's
livestock market. 

Laurent Girardet, a farmer from Bellevue, some ten kilometers north of
Geneva, spent six months in 1976 in Canada and the United States studying
buffalo and decided to introduce the species to Switzerland. 

He and his brother now operate an association which aims to promote buffalo
as a meat that is not "industrialized". 

Unlike cattle, buffalo are not fattened and the animals remain wild. 
"We want to do something different and help Swiss agriculture diversify,"
Girardet said. 

Making a profit is a long-term goal, he explained. "We imported 10 females
aged 10 months in 1990 and it takes five years for them to reach maturity."
It is the second generation offspring which are used for meat once they
reach the age of two. 

Girardet has been importing animals every year and intends to level off once
he has 40-50 females. "Then we hope to begin commercializing," he said. 

While buffalo raising here is on a very small scale compared with the
30,000-hectare ranches in South Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin, from where
the animals are bought, the idea has caught on with both the curious and
serious consumers. The meat is sold directly to the Auberge Communal de
Collex-Bossy. 

"We have an advantage in Switzerland over American raisers that we can sell
directly to restaurants and consumer," Girardet said. He also wants to set
up farm stands for passing customers. 

The buffalo do not demand much attention -- about one day a week. They feed
on grass and are rotated around a number of small fields. The young are fed
hay and cereals in the winter. 

"The greatest work involves putting up the fences," the farmer said. "But it
is not a gold mine." A head of buffalo costs between US$1,500 and US$3,000
when bought in the United States and have to be flown to Geneva. 

Another disadvantage for Swiss ranchers is the high cost of land. 

How do other farmers react? "Their opinions are rather negative," Girardet
conceded. "They thinkthat it is madness, and they find it difficult to
accept this new idea." 

American buffalo once roamed in vast herds over much of North America but
were subjected to wholesale slaughter in the 19th century that resulted in
their near extinction. After protective laws were passed at the end of the
last century the population rose from a few hundred to over 20,000.
By Maurus Young 

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 02:24:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] SOS to Clinton, Blair and Spice Girls over lost dog
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970617022524.120f16f0@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, June 17th, 1997

SOS to Clinton, Blair and Spice Girls over lost dog
By Helen Bushby 

FOUR children whose dog went missing have set up a website and written to
Tony Blair, the Whitehouse, the Spice Girls and Terry Wogan in a campaign to
find it. 

The children last saw Bonnie, a black Labrador, when she wandered out of
their grandmother's Dartmouth home at 6.15pm on May 26. It was their idea to
set up the website and contact famous names in the hope that the publicity
would spur people on to help them find their pet. So far, only Terry Wogan
has written back.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "Unfortunately Mr Blair is currently at the
European Council in Amsterdam. All I can say is that we will respond to the
children's letter as soon as we can."

The children are also eager to contact Swampy, but have not yet been able to
do so - he is understood to be in a tunnel in Cambridge. They are also
thinking of contacting John Major, who may remember meeting nine-year-old
Freddie recently when he signed a Prime
Ministerial autograph at Battersea Heliport. Freddie persuaded Mr Major to
pen a quick note so that he could show it to his mother . . . it was to
assure her that her son had completed his homework. The children are also
threatening to contact Diana, Princess of Wales, to see whether she will
help their cause.

There have been several reported sightings in Devon and Plymouth of a black
Labrador with a shiny coat, which fits Bonnie's description. Bonnie will be
six on September 1, and the children are hopeful that they will have her
back long before then.

The children's father said: "The best response has undoubtedly been from the
Internet and hundreds of people have contacted us."

Within three hours of the "Find Bonnie" site being set up, Mr and Mrs
Wherry, a retired couple from Derbyshire, contacted the family. The couple
said they saw a dog which was incredibly similar to Bonnie's photo when they
were in Kingsbridge, Devon, on May 27.

Bonnie is believed to have been taken by two men, who are described by
witnesses as looking "very scruffy". They were first spotted by a helicopter
pilot on a train from Exeter to Totness on May 26 when they were apparently
being abusive to fellow passengers. The pilot then recognised the same men
with a shiny, black Labrador at 7pm at a Kingsbridge pub. His father-in-law,
Group Captain Toon, is able to confirm this. The last reported sighting of
Bonnie was in Plymouth.

A free telephone number has been set up at 10-year-old Emma's request so
that any sightings of Bonnie can be relayed to the family as soon as possible. 

The story created a flurry of interest among the local press, which led to
the two youngest children, three-year-old twins Archie and Harvey, appearing
on Sky News. The lost dog saga also made headline news on Radio 1, Radio 2
and Radio 5 Live, after the children's father said he would put Bonnie's
bark on the Internet. 

Radio 4's Today programme have not yet given any airtime to Bonnie, despite
being sent a press pack by nine-year-old Freddie. But the children's
campaign has been effective elsewhere: journalists from as far afield as
Bolivia and Japan have contacted them. 

The children's father said: "We have been so touched by the response, which
has been huge. Students from Exeter University downloaded Bonnie's picture
from the Internet, and put up 'Find Bonnie' posters around the local area."

In the meantime, the children have only Hurricane and Dynamite, their
goldfish, for company, which are not really much of a substitute for Bonnie. 

Their father said: "The children have used every bit of initiative they
have. I am sure we will be able to find Bonnie. I am still going to put her
bark on to the Internet . . . but it will be when we get her back." 

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

The URL for the Find Bonnie web page is:
http://members.aol.com/findbonnie/index.html

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 02:24:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Last airport protester surfaces after 5.5-hour rescue
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970617022536.120f1940@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, June 17th, 1997

Last airport protester surfaces after 5.5-hour rescue
By Nigel Bunyan 

THE last remaining Manchester Airport protester was brought safely out of a
70ft long tunnel yesterday, after a five-and-a-half-hour rescue operation.

Matt Benson, 23, was brought to the surface with a specialist tunneller who
had been trying to reach him. Cheshire Police said both men became trapped
by a partial collapse of the tunnel 15ft from the surface.

Fire crews and paramedics were initially despatched to the entrance to the
tunnel, known as Cakehole, but they drew back when it became clear that
neither the protester nor the sheriff's officer was in immediate danger.

Members of the eviction squad pumped air into the tunnel as five rescuers
carried out repairs, shoring up the sides as they inched their way towards
the two men. While the operation continued, Mr Benson and his erstwhile
adversary, both of them thought to be
veterans of the Newbury bypass protest, shared drinks and food.

Mr Benson, a former health services administrator from Oldham, who now goes
under the name "Posh Pixie", emerged from the tunnel at 4.15pm. Dishevelled
and unsteady on his feet, he was helped to a police van by one of his
rescuers. Officers at Wilmslow police station later charged him with
obstructing a sheriff's officer.

Mr Benson had spent 17 nights in Cakehole, thereby more than doubling the
subterranean record set by another eco-warrior, Daniel  "Swampy" Hooper. His
removal concluded a 28-day eviction process estimated to have cost more than
£4 million. It now leaves the way
clear for the building of Manchester Airport's second runway on the fringe
of the Bollin Valley.

The operation to evict the protesters, codenamed Fulcrum, began on May 19.
Over the ensuing weeks police in Cheshire and Greater Manchester made 211
arrests. Last night, as professional tunnellers examined the entire length
of Cakehole, the under-sheriff of Cheshire, Randal Hibbert, said: "It is
very fortunate indeed that today's incident was not more serious."

Mr Hibbert, who described the tunnel as "an engineering feat", said his men
had been negotiating the last of 10 inner doors when a 6ft section collapsed
at around 10.50am. He attributed the cause of the landslip to rain weakening
the sides. Both Mr Benson and the
unnamed sheriff's officer had breathing masks available, had they needed
them. Mr Benson is thought to have been on his way out at the time of the
collapse. Mr Hibbert said they spent the hours awaiting rescue "discussing
their predicament". He said: "It was all quite matey."

Insp Rick Hollinshead, of Cheshire Police, said that the operation was "a
rescue rather than an emergency". "They had food and drink, and they were
sitting there comfortably just waiting to come out together," Mr Hollinshead
said. "It was all very good- natured. Most of the
protesters and sheriff's men know each other from other locations and are on
first-name terms. There has been a lot of old-fashioned courtesy."

The operation to evict the last protesters began with a dawn raid on two
treetop camps. With these cleared, Mr Hibbert's team moved on to remove
those concealed in a series of tunnels. Cakehole was always expected to be
the most difficult to breach, with 10 steel doors, each set into concrete,
barring the bailiffs' way before they could reach three cramped bedroom
chambers.

Mr Benson spent much of his self-imposed confinement with two other
protesters. But Denise Bishop, 29, who is three months' pregnant,
surrendered to bailiffs last Monday, and "Muppet Dave", 30, followed her to
the surface two days later.

Before yesterday's collapse, Mr Benson had told bailiffs that he would come
out voluntarily once they had breached the final door. Mr Hibbert conceded
that Cakehole's complex construction put his eviction operation four days
behind schedule.

Jeff Gazzard, a long-term anti-runway campaigner from the Manchester Airport
Environmental Network, said Mr Benson's removal marked the end of "this
phase" of the protest. But he said: "We have yet to see the first plane take
off from the second runway and we therefore live in hope. If we haven't
stopped it, this will at least be the last runway to be built in mainland
Britain."

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.


Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 02:24:57 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] Hunt Bill may get extra time
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970617022540.120f14de@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, June 17th, 1997

Hunt Bill may get extra time
Joy Copley and Charles Clover 

THE Government held out the prospect of assisting a backbench attempt to ban
all forms of hunting with hounds yesterday if enough MPs vote in favour of
the principle.

An anti-hunting Bill introduced yesterday by Michael Foster, Labour MP for
Worcester, represents the best chance of banning hunting this century. The
Wild Mammals (Hunting With Dogs) Bill will be heavily opposed by
Conservative MPs and peers of all parties, who
could use a variety of techniques to block its progress. The success of the
Bill - which seeks to ban the hunting of foxes, deer and mink and the
coursing of hares - is therefore likely to depend on the granting of extra
parliamentary time. The Government has now indicated that the fate of the
Bill will mainly depend on the strength of support from MPs at its second
reading on Nov 28. Downing Street sources said last night that the Bill
would initially take its course as a private member's Bill, but added that
the Government had not ruled out giving it extra time to ensure it became
law. "Whether the Bill gets extra time will be decided later in the context
of our other legislative priorities," said a spokesman.

Government whips had warned Mr Foster that the Bill would be so fiercely
opposed by MPs and peers that it would endanger key legislation on crime,
education and devolution. But the MP decided yesterday that he would go
ahead to try to outlaw the "cruel and barbaric practice". He added: "If it
takes one year to 18 months to achieve, so be it. The assumption is that I
will use the time ring-fenced for private members." Animal welfare groups,
including
the Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals, the International Fund
for Animal Welfare, the League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA - which
have all helped to draft the Bill - welcomed his decision. Kate Parminter,
RSPCA spokesman, said: "No one is under
any illusion that it will be a difficult task, but with the vast majority of
MPs on board we are hopeful that the tiny minority of people within
Westminster who support hunting with dogs will be overcome by the democratic
process." 

The League Against Cruel Sports said it was "probably the most exciting day"
in the organisation's 73-year history and predicted that the Bill would get
through the Commons by "a landslide". The British Field Sports Society,
which speaks for hunting, said it was determined to spend the summer
"winning arguments" over the issue in advance of the first debates on the
Bill in November. "This Bill has immense practical difficulties, which Mr
Foster himself acknowledges," a spokesman said. The Leave Country Sports
Alone campaign, made up of Labour supporters including the television
presenter Melvyn Bragg, the novelist John Mortimer and the lawyer Lady
Mallalieu, also said it "regretted" the decision to go ahead.
 
© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.


Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 02:32:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [US] In New York's Heroin Alley, Drug Users Learn Art of
  Healthy Cooking
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970617023302.34df3bae@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


In New York's Heroin Alley, Drug Users Learn Art of Healthy Cooking
By Rebecca Shannonhouse

NEW YORK (ANS) -- They chop eggplant and bell peppers in a cramped corner
office near the heart of Times Square. They stir, sauté and simmer bountiful
dishes to the rhythm of noisy traffic. Nutrition is the lesson, but this
improvised kitchen is no ordinary cooking school. It's the Positive Health
Project, where active and former IV drug users learn to
prepare simple, healthful meals for a dollar or less a serving.

Known as Planet Hot Plate, the freewheeling, three-hour cooking class is the
creation of Diana Hartel, an AIDS researcher and assistant professor of
public health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.

The recipes are vegetarian -- to cut down on cost and to enhance the
nutritional value for students, many of whom have tested positive for HIV.
"They're likely to go out and buy burgers a lot," says Hartel. "They eat too
much fat and sugar and hardly any veggies."
       
Adds David Purchase, chair of the North American Syringe Exchange Network in
Tacoma, Wash.: "The nutritional lifestyle of a heroin injector is
notoriously poor. The classic meal is a Coke and a Snickers bar."

In class, ethnic dishes are popular. Favorites include burritos, caponata
and sesame noodles with tofu and vegetables, dishes that will be among 100
recipes in a new Planet Hot Plate Cookbook being self-published to support
the project.

Many of the students are homeless or live in single-resident-occupancy
apartments, where good eating habits can be difficult to practice. "A lot of
people will ignore when they're hungry," says Hartel. "They'll just eat in a
habitual way. Eating steadily and healthfully will sustain them for much
longer, and if they're well fed and eating regularly they can deal with
their drug addiction better."

Some do not have a kitchen to try out the recipes immediately, but Hartel
hopes the nutritional information will instill better eating habits anyway.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are inexpensive and readily available at outdoor
markets and grocery stores, she reminds her students. 

Hartel begins each class with a few words about nutrition -- diet and stress
was a recent topic -- then welcomes impromptu comments on food. When a
student requested cheesecake as a class assignment, Hartel politely declined.
 
"I cook everything on a hot plate," says Hartel, whose classes evolved from
Community Works, a health and community development outreach project she
began, which conducts other activities such as gardening and sewing groups.
"It's kind of like a show. I bring the stuff in a large plastic container,
unpack everything, and within about 10 minutes, we have
a kitchen."

Most recipes -- pasta with beans and tomato sauce, for example, or
black-eyed peas with rice and collard greens -- can be prepared for no more
than $1 a serving. A few dishes, including North African vegetable stew and
fruit cobbler, cost about $3.

At each class, participants first wash their hands and then pull on
disposable rubber gloves before touching the food. No one who is coughing is
allowed to help with the cooking. Many of the students are HIV-positive or
cope with other chronic health concerns, such as diabetes.

Once the meals are prepared, the students smooth out a tablecloth and share
the food with staff and visitors. "They always come back for seconds," notes
one student.
        
About 300 students have attended Hartel's cooking classes, which are also
conducted at places including a women's HIV study group in the Bronx, a
drug-prevention program in Harlem, and domestic violence shelters. Class
sizes vary from a half-dozen students to more than 20. Many participants
return week after week, while others attend less regularly.

"The minute you put heavy structure in the class you're going to lose these
folks," Hartel explains.

Jason Farrell, executive director of Positive Health Project, says the
cooking class is the only one he knows of that is conducted at a
syringe-exchange program, in which drug users turn in dirty needles for
clean ones. "(The class) is a beautiful thing," Farrell explains. "This
provides an atmosphere of love and support. Food is love. People come to
eat, socialize and learn. There's no place else where a group of
disenfranchised people can come and be treated like this."

The class there may end in the near future as funds run out. The Positive
Health Project is funded by the New York State Department of Health and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The program itself was supported
by discretionary funds from the Manhattan Borough president's office and
private donations. But Planet Hot Plate classes will
continue at other sites in New York, which is populated by an estimated
200,000 IV drug users -- the nation's highest concentration -- half of whom
are HIV-positive.

 "The staff are wonderful and so generous you have to come back to the
cooking class," says 30-year-old Jennifer Denise Aquino, a recovering addict
who recently washed and chopped vegetables with the group.
 
"Everything is healthy and there are no sweets. They are making this for us
to get us healthier. They know the drugs destroyed our immune systems."

A volunteer or two usually assists Hartel in supervising the food
preparation. "It's like a free zone where nothing is expected," says Nita
Friedman, a documentary filmmaker who helped during a recent class. "Where
else could you sit down and chop onions with people I otherwise wouldn't get
a chance to chat with at that length?"
        
Organizing the class has its rewards for Hartel, too. "I learn tremendous
amounts from it," she says. "One of the major things is to not make
assumptions about people, to let them tell me who they are." 

Robert Sosa, a 43-year-old Vietnam veteran, chopped vegetables and helped
mix ingredients for an Italian dish prepared at a recent session. "It's a
good class," says Sosa. "Sometimes you have to feed a person to show him
something. And if he does it for himself, it's a little less humiliating."
        
Hartel wants the class to offer tips on nutrition and a larger life lesson.
"Self-care is the really essential part," she notes. "If they learn just
that basic fact, then that's the whole story."

 © COPYRIGHT THE AMERICAN NEWS SERVICE

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 07:42:31 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US/EU) U.S., E.U. in Poultry Standoff
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970617074229.007047f0@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-------------------------------------------
 06/17/1997 02:53 EST

 U.S., E.U. in Poultry Standoff

 By CURT ANDERSON
 AP Farm Writer

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- A standoff between the United States and the European
 Union over decontamination of poultry is still unresolved, but a new
 round of talks produced new promises to quickly end the impasse.

 ``It must be clear that we need a solution as early as possible, at
 latest, a few months,'' said EC Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler
 after meetings Monday with U.S. officials.

 Poultry was left out of a recent trade agreement on meat products because
 negotiators could not resolve the EU objection to U.S. use of chlorinated
 water to decontaminate slaughtered chickens. Europeans contend it is not
 adequate protection.

 As a result, the 15-nation EU has continued a ban on about $52.2 million
 in poultry exports from the United States.

 Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said following a 1 1/2 -hour meeting
 with Fischler on Monday that both sides are taking steps to resolve the
 objections.

 ``We have moved it forward some,'' Glickman told reporters. ``I'm not
 saying we aren't having problems. We are.''

 Glickman said USDA later this year will dispatch a group of officials to
 scrutinize European chicken processing practices.

 ``We have some questions there as well,'' Glickman said.

 Fischler has committed to continue studying U.S. practices of
 decontaminating poultry and expressed a desire to settle this and other
 differences between ``the world's two biggest trading partners.''

 ``It is not our intent to install new trade barriers to America or
 others,'' he said.

 Glickman and Fischler also discussed European consumer resistance to
 genetically modified products. Some EU countries have refused to allow
 the sale of genetically altered corn and soybeans grown in America, and
 the products generally are viewed with suspicion by many Europeans.

 He added that European officials are now discussing whether to label
 genetically modified products or perhaps segregate them from products
 that are not modified. The U.S. opposes any move toward segregation.

 ``Our consumers in Europe are interested to know what they are buying and
 eating,'' he said. ``I think it is important to introduce a labeling
 system.''

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 12:17:14 -0700
From: Lawrence Carter-Long 
To: LCartLng@gvns1.gvn.net
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: LA Times: Xenotransplants Raise Fears of New Germs (US)
Message-ID: <33A6E2BA.495F@gvn.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

> 


Los Angeles Times
Sunday, June 15, 1997

Animal-to-People Transplants Raise Fears of New Germs
Medicine: Public health officials wonder what risks accompany the 
benefits associated with nonhuman donors.

Flu epidemic in 1918-19 carries a warning.
By MALCOLM RITTER, Associated Press

     In 1993, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and
prevention called a few employees into her office. Then she asked a 
question at least one of those employees viewed as silly: What was the 
CDC doing about the risk that animal-to-people transplants would 
introduce new germs into the human population, infecting first the 
transplant recipient and then spreading to other people? 
     "My first reaction was, nothing," recalled Louisa Chapman, an 
expert on animal viruses that infect humans. "Why should we waste 
taxpayer time and money on that?" 
     Transplants from animals were so rare and recipients lived so 
briefly that it didn't seem a threat to public health, Chapman thought.
     But as she looked into the situation, she changed her mind: 
Interest in such "xenotransplants" was heating up. Animals could not only 
ease the shortage of kidneys, hearts and livers for transplantation, but 
supply brain tissue for treating diseases like Parkinson's and pancreatic 
tissue to treat diabetes. These days, Chapman spends most of her time on
xenotransplantation issues. 
     She's not alone. Drug and biotech companies have poured more than 
$100 million into xenotransplant research. Scientists report progress in 
overcoming rejection of animal organs, and industry analysts expect a new 
round of organ experiments in people within three to five years. 
     The heavy betting now is on organs and tissue from pigs, rather 
than chimps and baboons as in the past. 
     But the concern Chapman heard in that 1993 meeting has not gone 
away: Would xenotransplants be a form of Trojan horse, giving new germs 
an entree into the human population? 
     In March, scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in 
London reported that a virus--one that might be found even in healthy 
pigs--sprang out of pig tissue and infected human cells in a lab 
experiment. Then it reemerged from human cells in a form that apparently 
would slip by the body's defenses. 
     That shows the idea of such infection in a pig-to-human 
transplant "is more plausible than a fanciful scare story," the 
researchers said. 
     Two months earlier, the British government had slapped 
amoratorium on xenotransplants, chiefly because too little was known 
about the risk of infection. 
     And federal regulators in the United States now are refining 
draft guidelines to minimize the risk to public health. The guidelines 
discuss such things as keeping specialized colonies or herds of animals 
and screening them for germs. 
     People who get animal organs, cells or tissue should be followed 
for life for any sign of animal germs, and they should tell their "close 
contacts" about the possibility that such germs could be passed on, the 
guidelines say. Close contacts could include sexual partners, health care 
workers and breast-fed children, Chapman said. 
     "We're not talking about people who sit on the school bus with 
you or work in your office," she said. 
     At this point, the concern over public peril is theoretical, a 
pile of what-ifs, a mound of maybes. It reminds Chapman of how NASA 
quarantined the astronauts from the first three moon-landing missions in 
case they had brought back weird germs. "What we are saying is there's 
some level of risk," she said. The task now is to figure out how big it 
is and what to do about it, she added.
 
Here's why Chapman and others say there's reason to worry: 

* Animals do have germs that can infect people and then spread from 
person to person. The AIDS virus apparently came from monkeys long ago, 
for example, and the flu virus that killed more than 20 million people 
worldwide in 1918-19 emerged from pigs. 
* Dangerous germs can hide in healthy-looking animals. Hantavirus doesn't 
bother mice, but when it spreads to people, it can kill. 
* A person who would be receiving animal organs would be on drugs to 
suppress his or her immune system. This could make it easier for an 
animal virus to gain a foothold. 
* Genes from an animal virus could mingle with those of a human virus in 
an organ recipient, creating a hybrid virus with unpredictable behavior. 
* Keeping animals isolated from infection may not be enough. Some viruses 
scientists are concerned about aren't caught; they're inherited. 
     They're just part of being a pig, for example. That's because, 
eons ago, these viruses infected the ancestors of modern pigs and planted 
their DNA in sperm and egg cells. As a result, the virus genes mingled 
with the pig genes and are now passed on through the generations. 
     It was just this kind of inherited virus that popped up in the 
pig-cell study reported in March. 
     So far, however, the limited experience with xenotransplants is 
encouraging. 
     Dr. Alan Dimick, who has put pigskin on severe burns since 1970, 
says there is no evidence that treatment has infected anybody with pig 
germs. But Dimick, director of the burn center at theUniversity of 
Alabama at Birmingham, notes that the pigskin stays on for only a day or 
two. An implanted organ might pose more of a risk, he said. 
     Dr. James M. Schumacher, a Sarasota, Fla., neurosurgeon who has 
put fetal pig tissue into the brains of a dozen people with Parkinson's 
or Huntington's disease over the last two years, also reports no sign of 
infection. 
     While scientists ponder the risk of xenotransplantation,thousands 
of people die each year because they are unable to receive a human organ. 
     "It's a difficult issue," said virus expert Jonathan Allan of the 
Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, who calls 
the infection risk from pigs very small but worth worrying about. 
     "Here are people dying," Allan said. "You want to do everything 
possible to prevent that sort of suffering. But you certainly don't want 
to foster new infectious disease that would make even greater suffering 
in the population." 
Copyright Los Angeles Times 

Posted by:
Lawrence Carter-Long
Coordinator, Science and Research Issues
Animal Protection Institute
LCartLng@gvn.net

"Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there 
is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof."  -  
Galbraith's Law
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 19:12:55 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: Cute !
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970617191255.00760540@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

From: RKaynor@aol.com
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 17:40:47 -0400 (EDT)
To: ayres.hall@bos.frb.org, Cindy_Kuhn@blackside.com, annamae@ma.ultranet.com,
        basha@ultranet.com, scotters@interserv.com, jpuffer@usa1.com,
        dougnmj@cheshire.net, lruth@top.monad.net, carnsart@alaska.net,
        ftsvt@aurora.alaska.edu, helen@einstein.ph.utexas.edu,
        TonyScheck@worldnet.att.net, JonMEsq@aol.com, vrc@tiac.net,
        Keyhal@aol.com, Friedgen2@aol.com, hgleason@lisco.com,
        Renee01824@aol.com, stvs@lakeozark.net, ekimber@juno.com,
jjj@tiac.net,
        72263.1450@compuserve.com, fnck@aurora.alaska.edu
Subject: Cute!

Sometimes I receive things about genetic engineering which have an amusing
side (and I think it's important to let out a chuckle now and then, even with
an issue I regard as so critical).  Check these two out:

Japanese researchers create glowing mice (June 13, 1997)

OSAKA, Japan (AP) -- The first generation of glowing green mice entered the
world this week in a laboratory in western Japan, after geneticists at Osaka
University injected mouse embryos with the DNA of bioluminescent North
American jellyfish.

Professor Masaru Okabe and his team started the project four years ago in an
effort to develop new methods to observe the internal development of fetuses.
Okabe says medical researchers will be able to use the technique in a variety
of ways, including tracing white blood cells in cancer research.

Dr. Shuichi Yamada, a  member of the team that bred the mice said the green
mice will be able to pass on their unique characteristic to offspring for the
next five generations. Under ultraviolet light, their bodies appear a
gleaming green.

"The marker technology has potential. But I have my doubts as to how
significant a breakthrough it is for medical research....  They should have
made the announcement on Halloween."  -- Dr. Robert Shiurba, biologist at
Tokyo  University.

..............................

A DENIM TO DYE FOR, GENETICALLY SPEAKING

The Observer, 8 June 1997

by Robin McKie, Science Editor

Scientists are developing the ultimate in designer genes: genetically
engineered plants that produce naturally blue cotton.  The aim is to make
denims that can be manufactured without dyeing.

The blue gene project, created by American chemical giant Monsanto, reveals
the flourishing power of crop geneticists.  Last year, this resulted in a
swath of crops, genetically altered to combat pests, in the US.

... 'We have successfully inserted blue pigment genes into cotton plants, and
have got them to express colour,' said Dr Colin Merritt, technical manager at
Monsanto.  'We have produced blue lint directly from cotton plants.'

But the process is patchy, Monsanto admits.  'We have still got to ensure
pigment is produced consistently by the plant,' said director Dr Stephen
Moll.  'Then we will have blue gene cotton.  That will take a couple of
years.'

Dick


Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 20:16:34 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US--DC) McLibel Verdict Celebration/Protest
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970617201632.006dca1c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Win, lose or draw...
from FAX:
-----------------------------------
In anticipation of the McLibel verdict, whether the outcome calls for
celebration or protest, U.S. campaigners will be leafleting outside the
McDonald's at 17th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. (near the White House--the one
President Clinton visits) on ***Friday 20th June from 12pm-1pm***.  Come
and hear the outcome of the longest running trial in English history and
join us in celebration/protest.

For more information, call Jenny at Essential Action:  202-387-8030.
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 21:59:23 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Air Force Seeks Homes for Chimps
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970617215809.006ccd44@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
--------------------------------------
 06/17/1997 19:16 EST

 Air Force Seeks Homes for Chimps

 By PAUL RECER
 AP Science Writer

 ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- They were stuck, poked, probed and kept in cages
 in the interest of science. Some may have AIDS or hepatitis. Now the Air
 Force is looking for someone to care for 144 chimpanzees once used in
 research.

 Acting under a law passed last year, the Air Force on Tuesday formally
 opened a process to divest itself of a colony of chimpanzees formed 30
 years ago to help put America into space.

 At a public meeting, Air Force officials said they would accept bids to
 take the animals and the buildings at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.,
 where the chimps are housed. But they cautioned that successful bidders
 will have to prove that they have enough money, adequate facilities and
 the trained people needed to take care of the animals, which may live
 well into the next century.

 Animal-rights groups say they want all the chimps, but acknowledge that
 finding places to put them will be hard.

 ``Thousands of people are looking for homes for these animals that will
 not subject them to research,'' Elliot M. Katz told Air Force officials.
 ``They (the chimps) have been in prison on your base all their lives, and
 now we want to put them into a place with a good quality of life.''

 The Air Force got into the chimp business as part of the nation's space
 effort, but none of the 144 animals now alive took part in space
 research, said Air Force Col. Jack Blackhurst.

 Instead, the monkeys were leased out as subjects for medical research.

 Of the 144 animals, 103 have been used in AIDS and hepatitis studies,
 said Lt. Col. Denver Marlow, a veterinarian in charge of the animals.
 About 40 have been injected with live viruses. They would have to be
 housed at special sites to protect others from possible infection.

 Thirty-four of the chimps were captured in the wild and brought to the
 United States for research. These animals, now 30 to 40 years old, may
 live another 10 to 15 years.

 The rest were bred in captivity and born at Holloman. The youngest animal
 is 4.

 Katz said his group and others would like to create sanctuaries where the
 chimps could live long lives in retirement, no longer subject to medical
 research. But he and others said it will be difficult to find the money,
 the people and the buildings to take on the entire colony.

 ``Nobody wants them any more,'' said Virginia I. Landau of the Jane
 Goodall Institute in Tucson.

 Young chimps are cute and cuddly and valuable to medical research, but
 older chimps often are aggressive and difficult to manage. Adult animals
 are four times stronger than the average human, Landau said.

 Also, it costs $15 to $45 a day to care for chimps. ``Nobody can keep
 them in their homes,'' said Katz. ``They need special places.''

 Nor can any of the animals be released to the wild, he said.

 The Air Force began using chimps in space research in the 1960s. Some
 were shot into space on rockets and others took part in high-speed rocket
 research, but those animals now are long gone.

 Space research for chimps ended in 1971 and the Air Force leased its
 animals and primate building at Holloman to universities and foundations.

 The Holloman site now is operated by the Coulston Foundation, a research
 group that has more than 600 chimpanzees under its control, including a
 colony at a nearby center.

 Travis Griffin of Coulston declined to say what his group's plans are for
 the Holloman chimps, but said such animals still are needed for research.

 ``There are diseases that can only be properly studied with chimps,'' he
 said. ``Most advances in medicine have come from such research.''

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 22:08:44 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (ZW) Group Votes To Keep Wildlife Ban
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970617220841.006d78a4@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
 06/17/1997 17:14 EST

 Group Votes To Keep Wildlife Ban

 By PAUL ALEXANDER
 Associated Press Writer

 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- The world's largest wildlife convention voted
 Tuesday to keep a worldwide ban on ivory trading, though the issue
 pitting Western countries against developing nations is far from settled.

 The 138-member U.N. Convention on Trade in Endangered Species narrowly
 rejected proposals by Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to resume limited
 trade in ivory after a 7 1/2 -year embargo.

 Each of their proposals, however, were to be reconsidered Wednesday and
 debate also may be reopened Thursday if a third of the delegates approve.

 The convention also rejected proposals Tuesday to loosen restrictions on
 whaling and add Asian and European brown bears to the most-endangered
 list.

 But 62 nations wanted to speak out on the ivory issue Tuesday, leaving no
 time before the vote for animal rights groups to address the convention.
 Western countries strongly oppose lifting restrictions on ivory, while
 developing nations say they have more elephants than their land can
 support.

 The three southern African countries want to sell more than 150 tons of
 ivory to Japan. They say that money from ivory sales would go toward
 habitat conservation and development.

 ``We want our elephants to be like cattle and harvest them,'' said Nick
 O'Connor, vice president of the Zimbabwe Wildlife Producers' Association.
 ``It's a difficult animal to live with, and if we can't get a maximum
 price, it will eventually follow the dodo into extinction.''

 Animal-rights groups claim any trade will lead to poaching because of the
 difficulty in ensuring illegal ivory is not mixed with legal shipments.

 The joint vote on the proposals to resume trade was 75-41 with seven
 abstentions -- three ballots short of the 78 needed for the required
 two-thirds majority.

 Tom Milliken, leader in Africa of TRAFFIC, the largest independent
 monitoring group on trade in threatened species, said the vote showed
 goodwill toward southern Africa's claim it could control renewed ivory
 trade.

 Some countries seemed to back the ivory plans in exchange for support on
 issues they put forth.

 Norway, which won a 57-51 majority on its proposal to hunt Atlantic Minke
 whales but fell short of the two-thirds needed, strongly supported the
 ivory plan, as did much of Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean.

 It was the first time pro-whaling nations outvoted opponents at the U.N.
 convention.

 ``This indicates a significant decrease in opposition to whaling,'' said
 Ginette Hemley of the World Wildlife Fund. ``The whole tone of whaling
 debate has changed. It's going to make things very difficult in the
 future for whale conservation.''

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 22:26:32 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (ZW) Proposal To Trade Ivory Rejected
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970617222629.0068ed04@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
 06/17/1997 13:13 EST

 Proposal To Trade Ivory Rejected

 By ANGUS SHAW
 Associated Press Writer

 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- The U.N. wildlife convention today narrowly
 rejected plans by three southern African countries to resume limited
 trade in ivory after a 7 1/2 -year ban.

 However, the proposals by Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe will be
 reconsidered Wednesday.

 Today's secret ballot followed debate on one of the most contentious
 issues facing the 138-nation U.N. Convention on Trade in Endangered
 Species, which earlier rejected three proposals to ease restrictions on
 whaling.

 The joint vote on the proposals to resume trading in ivory was 75-41 with
 seven abstentions -- three ballots short of the 78 needed for the
 required two-thirds majority.

 Debate on the issue dragged on for nearly three hours as 62 countries
 spoke. Animal rights groups were shut out due to time constraints.

 Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe say they have more elephants than their
 land can support and that money from the sale of ivory would go toward
 conservation and development of areas where the animals live.

 ``We want our elephants to be like cattle and harvest them,'' said Nick
 O'Connor, vice president of the Zimbabwe Wildlife Producers' Association.
 ``It's a difficult animal to live with, and if we can't get a maximum
 price, it will eventually follow the dodo into extinction.''

 Secret voting must be granted if a motion by one country is supported by
 at least 10 others. Only one secret ballot was held at the last
 convention two years ago, compared with seven this year.

 Three of this year's secret ballots related to whaling issues. Japan lost
 two secret ballots today on easing whaling restrictions in the Pacific,
 and a proposal by Norway to hunt Atlantic Minke whales also failed to win
 the necessary two-thirds majority.

 However, the 57-51 vote on Norway's proposal marked the first time
 pro-whaling nations have outvoted opponents at the U.N. convention.

 ``This indicates a significant decrease in opposition to whaling,'' said
 Ginette Hemley of the World Wildlife Fund.

 ``The whole tone of whaling debate has changed. It's going to make things
 very difficult in the future for whale conservation,'' she said.

 Delegates voted 65-45 against Japan's proposal to downgrade the West
 Pacific Minke whale from the most endangered species list and allow
 limited trade in its meat and byproducts. A second vote, on whether to
 allow trade in South Pacific Minke whales, was also voted down 59-53.

 After those losses, Japan withdrew a third proposal to be allowed to hunt
 the Bryde's whale in the northwest Pacific.

 Japanese officials had demanded a secret ballot because they said whaling
 supporters were being harassed by Western opponents and lobby groups.

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 22:28:14 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (ZW) Japan Loses Whaling Votes
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970617222809.00703e10@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
 06/17/1997 10:40 EST

 Japan Loses Whaling Votes

 By ANGUS SHAW
 Associated Press Writer

 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Japan, seeking eased restrictions on whaling in
 the Pacific, lost two secret ballots today at an international meeting on
 wildlife conversation.

 But a proposal by Norway to hunt Atlantic Minke whales was narrowly
 approved -- marking the first time pro-whaling nations have outvoted
 opponents at the 138-nation U.N. Convention on Trade in Endangered
 Species.

 The 57-51 vote fell below the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a
 ban on Atlantic whaling -- but still raised concern among
 conservationists.

 ``This indicates a significant decrease in opposition to whaling,'' said
 Ginette Hemley of the World Wildlife Fund, the biggest conservation
 organization.

 ``The whole tone of whaling debate has changed. It's going to make things
 very difficult in the future for whale conservation,'' she said.

 Earlier, delegates voted 65-45 against Japan's proposal to downgrade the
 West Pacific Minke whale from the most endangered species list and allow
 limited trade in its meat and byproducts. A second vote, on whether to
 allow trade in South Pacific Minke whales, was also voted down 59-53.

 After those losses, Japan withdrew a third proposal to be allowed to hunt
 the Bryde's whale in the northwest Pacific.

 Japanese officials had demanded a secret ballot because they said whaling
 supporters were being harassed by Western opponents and lobby groups.

 Secret voting must be granted if a motion by one country is supported by
 at least 10 others.

 The practice has grown dramatically -- out of 75 conservation proposals
 being considered by more than 1,500 delegates, at least eight were
 expected to involve secret ballots.

 At the last convention two years ago, just one proposal -- for tighter
 conservation of Latin American big leaf mahogany timber -- went to a
 secret vote.

 Another secret vote, on whether to allow limited trade in ivory, was
 scheduled later today. It was being brought by the 12-nation Southern
 African Development Community, supporting demands by Botswana, Namibia
 and Zimbabwe to be allowed to sell more than 150 tons of ivory
 stockpiles.

 The United States, the European Union and the main independent
 conservation organizations are bitterly opposed to a resumption in ivory
 trade and to holding a secret vote on the issue.

 Southern African nations argue they have too many elephants and need to
 sell hides and ivory to plow money back into conservation and development
 of the remote areas where the animals live.

 Zimbabwe Environment Minister Chen Chimutengwende said Monday that the
 convention's regular show-of-hands voting led to intimidation of small
 countries ``by some delegates and non-governmental organizations.''

 ``Some countries have complained they have been told if they vote with
 us, their aid will be reconsidered,'' Chimutengwende said.

 Animal rights groups also threatened to step up militant and even
 disruptive campaigns against tourism and international loans to pro-trade
 countries, he said.

Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 22:30:41 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (ZW) Zimbabwe May Defy Ivory Plan
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970617223039.006f6600@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-------------------------------------------
 06/16/1997 17:14 EST

 Zimbabwe May Defy Ivory Plan

 By ANGUS SHAW
 Associated Press Writer

 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwe threatened to defy the world ban on
 ivory trading Monday, but Western anger quickly persuaded the government
 to tone down its stance during an international meeting on wildlife
 conservation.

 Environment and Tourism Minister Chen Chimutengwende said Zimbabwe would
 not resume ivory trading until the U.N. Convention on Trade in Endangered
 Species deems its trade controls effective against poaching.

 ``We will want the panel of experts to come again and see if our controls
 are now good. If they are satisfied, trading will resume,''
 Chimutengwende told reporters.

 Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana have lobbied intensely during the
 convention, in its second, for permission to sell more than 150 tons of
 combined ivory stockpiles. Ivory trading has been banned since 1990.

 ``Our people are hungry. They should be allowed trade in resources that
 are rightfully theirs,'' said Jerry Gatora of Zimbabwe. He runs a program
 that uses hunting revenues to build schools, clinics and recreational
 facilities in remote bush areas where families typically earn about $200
 a year.

 Chimutengwende's assurance that Zimbabwe would wait to resume ivory
 trading was seen as damage control. A state-controlled newspaper had
 reported Monday that Zimbabwe would defy the ban, regardless of what the
 138 convention members decide Tuesday when they vote on whether to ease
 the embargo.

 The report angered the United States, European nations and independent
 conservation groups, who say resuming trade would increase poaching.

 ``We feel it would be premature at this time,'' said Pat Owori,
 representative of the Species Survival Network, a coalition of 40 world
 conservation groups.

 Chimutengwende promised that Zimbabwe would stop trade if there was any
 evidence it led to more poaching.

 He said he was ``very optimistic'' his side would win Tuesday's vote,
 saying it had the support of several Asian, Latin American and Caribbean
 states. But he said many of the 1,500 delegates and hundreds more
 environmentalists and observers at the conference were hostile to the
 pro-trade lobby.

 Some, he said, were ``fanatical animal lovers'' who were not prepared to
 listen.

 ``Then there are others who are just racist and do not like the
 urbanization or development of Africa because they like Africa to be one
 big zoo where they will just come as tourists and see poor blacks
 practicing their traditions and living with wild animals,'' he said.

 In addition to the ivory debate, intense lobbying went on behind the
 scenes Monday for controversial voting on whale conservation.

 Japan, seeking permission Monday to hunt gray whales, lost the second of
 five whaling ballots -- by a slim 14-vote margin that surprised many
 environmentalists.

 Japan's proposal to downgrade the gray whale from the trade convention's
 most-endangered list lost on a 47-61 vote. In 1995, the same proposal was
 supported by only 20 members.

 David Bracket of Canada, chairman of delegates considering protection of
 75 species, said 32 proposals had been adopted by consensus, including
 stricter control on trade in terrapins, continued restrictions on trade
 in crocodiles and an end to limits on possums and tree kangaroos.


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