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AR-NEWS Digest 475
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) EU ACCEPTS SPURIOUS TRAPPING AGREEMENTS
by CFOXAPI@aol.com
2) RE: UPC Alert: DA Won't Prosecute Emu Beaters
by "West, Jamey"
3) RE: 60 yo UK Pensioner faces jail threat for feeding birds
by "D'Amico, AnnMarie"
4) WWW-Pages of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments
by "Matthias M. Boller"
5) USDA NEEDS YOUR HELP IN ESTABLISHING EXOTIC ANIMAL HANDLING
STANDARDS
by shadowrunner@voyager.net
6) Southampton, NY: Circus Protest 7/28
by Mike Markarian
7) Great Ape Project WWW Update
by Vegetarian Resource Center
8) URGENT.....INFO REQUEST
by Coral Hull
9) fox hunting (US)
by Alex Press
10) Links - to back up Steve Baer's work
by Vegetarian Resource Center
11) RFI: Help fight university slaughterhouse (US...NC)
by allen schubert
12) Replacement organs grown for sheep, scientists report
by Vegetarian Resource Center
13) Fwd: "Animal Rights" A Powerful Book by Charles Patterson (CPatter221@aol.com)
by CPatter221@aol.com
14) (US) The cell from hell Toxic algae that thrive on pollutants
are killing fish, making people sick, and spreading nationwide
by allen schubert
15) BAD NEWS: EU to allow trade of leg-trapped animal fur
by Vegetarian Resource Center
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 18:27:59 -0400 (EDT)
From: CFOXAPI@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: EU ACCEPTS SPURIOUS TRAPPING AGREEMENTS
Message-ID: <199707241036.GAA03136@envirolink.org>
ANIMAL PROTECTION INSTITUTE
****URGENT NEWS ADVISORY****
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Camilla Fox
July 23, 1997
(415) 945-9309
Trapping photos available
U.S. MUST COMPLY WITH SO-CALLED "HUMANE"=20
TRAPPING STANDARDS, SAYS EUROPEAN UNION
SACRAMENTO, CA - After two years of delay, the European Union (EU) General
Affairs Council voted on July 22 for new agreements with Canada and Russia on
"humane" trapping standards that will ensure the use of the cruel leghold
trap for an indefinite period of time. The Council also called upon the
European Commission to reach an equivalent official agreement with the United
States.
U.S. officials have refused to give up leghold traps and say they will
not
sign a negotiated agreement that requires any phase-out of leghold trap use.
The new agreements nullify the original intent of Regulation 3254/91 (t
he
European Union Leghold Trap Fur Import Ban) to ban imports of fur pelts from
countries still using the leghold trap or not complying with "internationally
agreed humane trapping standards." Passed by the EU in 1991 and originally
scheduled to begin in January 1, 1995, the regulation is intended to reduce
pain and suffering to furbearing animals worldwide.
The Clinton administration has threatened international trade sanctions
through the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the EU implements the ban.
The new agreements exempt Canada and Russia from the ban and permit
continued use of standard steel-jaw leghold traps for two to four years.
Other forms of leghold traps may be used for at least eight more years and
indefinitely if they meet certain trap standards. In addition, a 300 second
threshold has been accepted for kill-type traps allowing animals to suffer in
excruciating pain for up to five minutes.
The weakened agreements are a great disappointment to animal advocates
and
to those who have fought for more than two years to ensure implementation of
the ban in its original form. =20
"Millions of animals die in cruel leghold traps each year," said Camill
a
Fox, Wildlife Program Coordinator for the Animal Protection Institute. "The
regulation has been reduced to the lowest common denominator, allowing
fur-exporting countries to claim that animals will now be trapped =91humanely=9
2
according to =91international trapping standards.=92 It is a terrible tragedy
that concern for free trade has preempted concern for improving the welfare
of animals worldwide." =20
The U.S. will face an import ban in December if a similar agreement is
not
signed by then. Animal advocates are urging the Clinton administration to
support HR 1176 that would ban the leghold trap nationwide and bring the U.S.
into compliance with the EU regulation. "The U.S. government should be
ashamed of undermining this progressive European legislation," said Fox.
"More than 80 countries have already banned the leghold trap. It is time
our country took a stand and banned this instrument of torture forever."=20
###
EU ACCEPTS SPURIOUS TRAPPING AGREEMENTS
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 06:48:32 -0400
From: "West, Jamey"
To: "'ar-news@envirolink.org'" ,
"'franklin@smart.net'"
Subject: RE: UPC Alert: DA Won't Prosecute Emu Beaters
Message-ID:
Anyone who was planning a vacation to Texas, might want to reconsider.
Of course, you would want to let the Texas Chamber of Commerce know
that this horrible injustice affected your decision. The Texas Chamber
of Commerce can be reached at 1-800-8888-TEX The man I talked
to was very nice and said that he would forward my comments to the
appropriate official.
Jamey Lee West
Peace for All Beings
----------
From: Franklin Wade[SMTP:franklin@smart.net]
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 1997 9:49PM
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: UPC Alert: DA Won't Prosecute Emu Beaters
United Poultry Concerns
Action Alert
No Prosecution of Men Who Beat Twenty-Two Emus To Death?
July 23, 1997
Today in Tarrant County the District Attorney's Office
announced it will not press cruelty charges against Steven and
Russell Vinson, the two medical doctors who beat to death twenty-
two penned emus with aluminum baseball bats on June 28, 1997.
The district attorney's office told UPC president Karen
Davis on July 21 that there was no proof that the men's conduct
was cruel. He said that maybe if the men had starved the birds or
set them on fire the case might be different. The last bird to
die in the pen was described by the humane investigator as
"vomiting blood and staggering until it fell on the ground and
couldn't get up anymore."
Attorney Richard Alpert, who recommended not to prosecute,
told Karen Davis that breeders all over Texas are beating their
emus to death "even as we speak." He said the only difference
between the Vinsons and others is that the other breeders
"generally tie the birds up first." He said this as if to say
that the fact that others are beating their emus to death makes
it a common practice so it is not "cruel" or a crime under the
law.
What Can I Do?
Contact:
Robert Mayfield
Deputy Chief, Misdemeanor Court
Tarrant County Criminal Justice Building
401 West Belknap
Fort Worth TX 76196
ph: 817-884-1649
fax: 817-884-2499
Tell him to revise the decision and to recommend prosecution of
Steven and Russell Vinson, the two brothers who beat their
captive emus to death. Their decision compounds the evil and
sends a message to other breeders that they can beat their birds
to death without fear of legal consequences.
_____________________________________________________________________
franklin@smart.net Franklin D. Wade
United Poultry Concerns - http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/upc
Compassion Over Killing - http://www.envirolink..org/arrs/cok
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 14:27:53 -0400
From: "D'Amico, AnnMarie"
To: AR-News@envirolink.org, vrc@tiac.net
Subject: RE: 60 yo UK Pensioner faces jail threat for feeding birds
Message-ID: <199707241825.OAA19639@envirolink.org>
Isn't it amazing...
Our court systems think its perfectly acceptable to club birds or
animals to death but god forbid if you feed them you pay a price by
going to jail.
I must admit, it was quite amusing when the neighbor said "How would you
like 200 pigeons sitting on your roof" waiting for Mrs. Simpson to come
out?
AM
----------
From: Vegetarian Resource Center[SMTP:vrc@tiac.net]
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 1997 1:15 AM
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: 60 yo UK Pensioner faces jail threat for feeding
birds
London Times
July 19 1997
BRITAIN=20
Neighbours protest at noise and nuisance as rooks,
pigeons and starlings descend on homes=20
Woman faces jail threat for feeding birds=20
A PENSIONER who attracts thousands of birds to
her home by smothering her garden with food was
warned yesterday that she could go to prison.=20
A council had become so exasperated with Barbara
Simpson it had asked a judge to jail her for breaking
an injunction forbidding her from feeding the birds at
her home in the village of Preston, near Weymouth,
Dorset.=20
Mrs Simpson, 60, agreed yesterday at Winchester
Crown Court not to put out any bird seed, nuts,
cheese or other scraps on her lawns or surrounding
pavement until her case is heard. But Mr Justice
Kennedy allowed Mrs Simpson to continue feeding
her 30 doves from a bird table =AD despite being told
the table measured 24 sq ft.=20
Neighbours had complained that Mrs Simpson spent
=A3100 a week on assorted food for the birds. Rooks,
pigeons and starlings perched on neighbouring
houses throughout the day, causing noise and
nuisance, waiting for Mrs Simpson to feed them.
Environmental health officers claimed the food was
sometimes strewn 6in deep.=20
Mrs Simpson who is married to Robert, a retired
newsagent, told the judge that she had not been
present when the injunction was granted in
December last year. Trevor Ward, representing
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, said Mrs
Simpson's previous solicitor asked to be released
from the case a month ago.=20
Mr Justice Kennedy said he did not think it right to
proceed with an application to commit to prison
someone who was not represented.=20
He said he would adjourn the case but only on
condition that Mrs Simpson gave an undertaking not
to feed the birds in the same terms as the injunction.=20
He told Mrs Simpson the birds could manage without
her: "They will be able to find enough in July and
August without any help from you."=20
Outside the court Mrs Simpson said: "The birds are
my children and I would be prepared to go to prison if
they stopped me feeding them."=20
She began feeding the birds 15 years ago, when a
sick baby blackbird landed on her doorstep. Since
then she has begun emptying bags of cheese and
nuts on to her front lawn and the path each day.=20
Vera Marshall, a neighbour in the seaside village,
said: "It's been terrible. It smells like a chicken run
and when we complain she just tells us not to be
unkind. It begins at 5am when all the rooks start
cawing away and waking us up. Then we get
hundreds of other birds sitting on our roofs waiting for
her to come out. How would you like 200 pigeons
sitting on your roof? We've got rats in the area now."=20
"I've lived here for seven years and she's been doing
this ever since I arrived. We all go outside and try and
clap the birds away which works temporarily but then
they're back after two minutes.=20
"The council have tried to clear up the mess but as
soon as they leave she comes out and pours more
food out."=20
yy 60 yo UK Pensioner faces jail threat for feeding birds
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 00:01:19 +0100
From: "Matthias M. Boller"
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: WWW-Pages of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Hello,
the homepage of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments is
now available at
http://www.tierrechte.de/european-coalition/
At the moment, the main topic is the current campaign to end animal
testing of cosmetic and toiletry products. Within an international
coalition of animal protection groups from across the European Union
and North America, a new and inter- nationally accepted standard for
what constitutes a product which is "Not Tested on Animals" was
established.
Details of the new standard, a list of the animal organisations
supporting it and the companies which have made a commitment to
implement a self-imposed ban on animal tested products and
ingredients by January 1st 1998 are available at the new www-pages.
Best regards,
Matthias Boller
coalition-webmaster@tierrechte.de
Member of the board
Federal Association Against Vivisection - People for Animal Rights
matthias@tierrechte.de - http://www.tierrechte.de/indexe.html
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 97 18:47:11 -0000
From: shadowrunner@voyager.net
To:
Subject: USDA NEEDS YOUR HELP IN ESTABLISHING EXOTIC ANIMAL HANDLING
STANDARDS
Message-ID: <199707242244.SAA06161@vixa.voyager.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
USDA NEEDS YOUR HELP IN ESTABLISHING EXOTIC ANIMAL HANDLING
STANDARDS
WASHINGTON, July 23, 1997--The U.S. Department of Agriculture
is seeking public comment to help establish standards under the Animal
Welfare Act for handling and training exotic or wild animals.
Anyone care to respond to this?????
***************************************************************************
***********************************
USDA also needs input on training and experience requirements
for trainers and handlers of potentially dangerous exotic or wild animals.
?The establishment of exotic animal training standards is in
response to public concerns,? said Michael V. Dunn, assisstant
secretary for marketing and regulatory programs. ?Several recent
events have clearly shown that there is a need within the industry to set
down universal training standards.?
This proposal is published in the July 24 Federal Register.
Consideration will be given to comments received on or before
Sept. 22. Send an original and three copies of comments to Docket No.
97-001-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, USDA,
Suite 3C03, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, Md. 20737-1238.
Comments received are available for public review at USDA,
Room 1141 South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, S.W.,
Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except holidays. Persons wishing access to this room are requested to
call in advance at
(202) 690-2817.
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 13:59:52 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Markarian
To: ar-wire@waste.org, ar-news@envirolink.org,
seac+announce@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu, en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Southampton, NY: Circus Protest 7/28
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970724165818.5f672cbe@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Members of The Fund for Animals, Volunteers for Animals, and Animal Rights
Foundation of Florida will protest the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers' Circus in
Southampton, Long Island, New York, on Monday, July 28. Please join us if
you're in the area.
WHAT: Demonstration against animal abuse in the circus.
WHEN: Monday, July 28, at 8:30 AM (during the tent-raising festivities).
WHERE: Southampton Elks Lodge Grounds (North Highway and County Road 39).
Please forward to other New York lists or activists.
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 20:21:16 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: Great Ape Project WWW Update
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970724202116.0222f9b0@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
From: David Pearson
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 19:45:46 +0100
Subject: Great Ape Project WWW Update
Dear Enviroethicists,
The Great Ape Project's WWW pages have moved to:
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/gap/gaphome.html
The pages are updated frequently.
Questions or comments are welcome: please direct them to
gap@envirolink.org, or to me at the address below, if you prefer.
Regards,
David Pearson
GAP-UK Coordinator.
David Pearson,
Great Ape Project - UK, Phone: +44 (0)410 12 4987
PO Box 6218, email: dwcp@mail.nerc-essc.ac.uk
London, W14 0GD, UK.
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 10:19:38 -0700
From: Coral Hull
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: URGENT.....INFO REQUEST
Message-ID: <33D8E029.58C8@envirolink.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Just got a call from Patty Mark, who has been told that......
Prime Minister Tony Blair is going to:
!!!!!!!PHASE OUT THE BATTERY CAGE IN GREAT BRITAIN!!!!!! Could it
finally be true?!....
Are there any from the UK or CWIF who can respond to this. It was heard
Firday morning ion 3LO ABC Australian Radio. Please respond ASAP.
Coral Hull (AWA)
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/animal_watch/au.html
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 20:46:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alex Press
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: fox hunting (US)
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
This is the second pro-fox hunting (or, at least, anti-anti-fox
hunting) Op-Ed piece the New York Times has run recently.
July 24, 1997
Roundhead Redux
By FAY WELDON
L ONDON -- To ban or not to ban? Hardly a question at all in
today's new Cromwellian Britain, not when it comes to fox hunting.
Or smoking. Or "selection" in schools. Or single stay-at-home
mothers. Banned they will be. The people want it so; it shall be
so.
No one likes posh upper-class men on horses chasing a wretched fox
and encouraging dogs to tear it to bits. Nor, for the record, do I.
But it's not the fright and distress of the fox that gets the new
Britain sufficiently riled to mean to do away with this old custom
-- no one is (yet) suggesting that the terror of the pig standing
in line for the abattoir is a reason to ban meat eating. Rather,
it's the pleasure the fox hunters take in the chase that is their
undoing. They have too good a time, and it shows, which is deeply
suspicious to Britain's new puritan heart. Time for it to go.
Three and a half centuries ago Cromwell banned Maypoles, theaters
and bright clothes as overheating to the public imagination. The
times go full circle, and now the puritans are back. The lean
wholesomeness of Tony Blair is welcome to the people, after the
complacent stuffiness of the Conservative Government, after years
of sexual and financial scandal. As welcome as the Lord Protector
Cromwell was after Charles I, who got his head chopped off.
Let Prince Charles do the honorable thing and marry Camilla, or the
people will want to know why. In the meantime they clamor for the
fox hunters' blood.
Protector Cromwell had a victorious army to back him. Protector
Blair has his overwhelming victory at the polls last spring. He
occupies not just the parliamentary but the moral high ground. He
announces his Government's plans to the media first, before
legislation is even proposed to Parliament. Since the House of
Commons votes exactly as it is told, and has done so for years,
what's the point of going through the motions? Let's just get on
with it: save time and argument, announce intent. Already the
saddlers, the clothiers, the farriers, the blacksmiths are shutting
up shop, and civil libertarian issues are hardly mentioned.
The right of a government to interfere with the personal habits of
its people, to take the place of individual conscience, seems now
fully established. People are forbidden to go to hell in their own
way; they must go to heaven under Government protection.
The civil libertarians can argue till they're blue in the face that
to hunt or not to hunt is a personal issue, that paradox and
dilemma are best solved on a personal, not a mandatory, level. That
if I weigh my pleasure against the pain of the fox, and it seems to
me to be O.K., that's my business. Do we not drive cars in the same
way -- my convenience pitted against another's lungs? And does not
my convenience win? So what's with the fox?
Here in Britain, back in the 60's, we abandoned the pursuit of
excellence in our educational system, said down with the
convenience of the few, the high fliers. We did away with the
Eleven Plus, the dreaded exam that sent a few to selective schools,
the majority not. Now we find ourselves horribly low in the
international rankings when it comes to adding up and spelling.
Most destructive over-political-correctness derives from a noble
aspiration to spare the disadvantaged humiliation, to save Monsieur
Renard from the dogs. The road to social hell is paved with an
excess of empathy.
One hundred thousand of the most unpopular people in Protector
Blair's new Britain gathered recently in Hyde Park to protest the
proposed ban on fox hunting. They needn't have bothered. Too rural,
too rich, too intellectual, too "luvvie" -- the word now used to
describe anyone in the arts -- too civil libertarian to be liked or
listened to. Fifty thousand hounds, they say, will die because
without the hunt no one will be able to afford to feed them, and
goodbye to John Peel and tallyho, and Olde England will be no more,
except in theme parks. No fox was harmed in the writing of this
piece.
Fay Weldon is the author, most recently, of ``Wicked Women.''
Home | Sections | Contents | Search | Forums | Help
Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company
_________________________________________________________________
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 21:20:05 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: Links - to back up Steve Baer's work
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970724212005.012d5c58@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Currently there are intensive days of action regarding
the rights of NHP's (nonhuman primates) used in research.
Here are some links so that we can read up and
understand some of the issues just a little bit better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/gap/gaphome.html
http://www.uwosh.edu/organizations/alag/#Video
http://www.selu.com/~bio/gorilla/index.html
http://www.ns.net/orangutan/
http://www.cwu.edu/~cwuchci/
http://www.gsn.org/gsn/proj/jgi/index.html
http://www.koko.org/
http://pantheon.yale.edu/~seelig/bpf/home.html
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mckee/chimp.html
http://www.infoweb.co.za/enviro/chimfunshi/chim2.htm
http://members.aol.com/artprimate/tiso.html
http://envirolink.org/arrs/index.html
http://www.sims.net/organizations/ippl/ippl.html
http://www.sims.net/organizations/ippl/ippl-alert.html#human
http://units.ox.ac.uk/departments/bioanth/budongo.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3347/
http://math.unice.fr/~michel/animaux/gsinges1.html
especially good, IMO, for their interesting and informative links
http://netvet.wustl.edu/primates.htm
http://www.duke.edu/web/primate/index.html
http://www.duke.edu/web/primate/index.html
http://www.primate.wisc.edu/pin/
http://larch.ukc.ac.uk:2001/gorillas/index.html
http://larch.ukc.ac.uk:2001/gorillas/news/
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/apelang.html
http://www.brown.edu/Research/Primate/
http://home.earthlink.net/~masterstek/ASLDict.html
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/gap/gaphome.html
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 22:04:10 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: RFI: Help fight university slaughterhouse (US...NC)
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970724220408.00695b1c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
This is posted on behalf of Ellen Bring of Factory Farming Economic
Conversion Project (FFECP). Send replies to me via private e-mail and I
will forward to her. (Ellen is working against an August 5th deadline.)
----------------------------------------------
We continue in our fight to stop North Carolina State University from
constructing a slaughterhouse on campus in Raleigh.
I want to know if you can help us with some research. The Planning
Commission supposedly is going to find out the experiences of other cities
that have university slaughterhouses within city limits. We need that
information, too, in order to know how Raleigh's situation is similar or
distinguishable, as well as problems that may be conveniently omitted.
Odor seems to be the big concern, not the brutality and killing of living
beings.
Several universities were mentioned (but without any information about the
process and opposition prior to construction, nor any information from
either city agencies, USDA/state inspections, or media coverage) --
University of Texas in Austin; University of Nebraska in Lincoln;
University for Florida in Gainesville; Michigan State University in
Lansing; Purdue; Iowa State University in Ames, IA. I understand that
there are more than these.
Can you get us names and addresses of all the university-based
slaughterhouses? Any related information would be appreciated, too. We do
not have the resources or personpower to do all the research.
NCSU's slaughterhouse was going to be passed right through the consent
agendas of the Planning Commission and the City Council. We have stopped
that from happening. NCSU sent six people to the Planning Commission
meeting on June 24 and several to the previously unscheduled meeting on
July 1. I've enclosed newspaper clippings.
We need the information as soon as possible. The next critical meeting is
August 5. Thank you for any assistance you can give us.
Sincerely,
Ellen Bring
Factory Farming Economic Conversion Project
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 23:06:21 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: Replacement organs grown for sheep, scientists report
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970724230621.0195329c@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
We should probably rename this list AW-news
(Animal Wrongs News) - since there are so many wrongs,
and very few rights, that are reported...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Replacement organs grown for sheep, scientists report
By Associated Press, 07/23/97
Boston researchers have successfully grown replacement organs
for newborn sheep using the animal's own cells, and they hope to
do so soon with humans.
While scientists have already found ways to grow skin and
cartilage, a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School and
Children's Hospital say they are the first to have grown animal
tissue from a wide variety of organs including the heart, kidneys,
and bladder.
Their new method holds the greatest hope for correcting common
birth defects - the focus of a paper to be presented today at a
conference of the British Association of Pediatric Surgeons in
Istanbul.
Harvard researcher Dr. Anthony Atala, who pioneered the
technique with colleague Dario Fauza, said the findings offer hope
that doctors can make replacement organs for humans in a
laboratory, using their patients' own cells.
``As surgeons, that's what we dream about - having a shelf full of
body parts,'' said Atala, a urological surgeon and tissue engineer
at Children's Hospital.
Atala and Fauza, a research fellow at Harvard's Center for
Minimally Invasive Surgery, have built bladders and windpipes for
sheep, a kidney for a rat, and leg muscles for a rabbit.
Because fetal organs are so small, surgeons have been forced to
use mismatched tissues to repair defects, like a piece of intestine
to patch a hole in the bladder.
The two doctors have developed a method for building
replacement organs for newborns with birth defects while they are
in the womb. For example, they could have a new windpipe ready
to be transplanted when a child is born with a malformed trachea.
``This can save lives,'' Fauza said.
Tests on humans are set to begin within three months and they
hope to get approval from the Food and Drug Administration within
five years, Atala said.
Cornell University researcher Thomas McDonald, who studies
sheep development, said the method appears to bypass the
biggest obstacle to organ transplants - the body's rejection of
foreign parts.
``It sounds like a wonderful technique,'' he said. ``It's just that
nobody has tried it until now.''
Already, Atala and Fauza are preparing to test the methods on
unborn humans diagnosed with birth defects. They also hope to
grow organ tissue for older patients.
This story ran on page A13 of the Boston Globe on 07/23/97.
© Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 23:22:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: CPatter221@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: "Animal Rights" A Powerful Book by Charles Patterson (CPatter221@aol.com)
Message-ID: <970724232121_-1942908589@emout19.mail.aol.com>
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Forwarded message:
Subj: "Animal Rights" A Powerful Book by Charles Patterson
(CPatter221@aol.com)
Date: 97-07-08 09:41:16 EDT
From: EnglandGal
Charles Patterson is someone that has been on my mailing list for some time
now, and he is a very active individual and a asset to our movement. He was
the winner of the 1995 Animal Rights Writing Award and has also written 8
young adult books in all!
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"Animal Rights" A Powerful Book by Charles Patterson
Now available at a discounted price: $17.07 (list price: $18.95)
Author Charles Patterson presents the arguments of animal rights activists,
exploring their concerns about the abuse of animals. He focuses on how
animals are treated by society, examining their role in research,
entertainment, education, fashion, and food production.
"As a book filled with examples of activism by young adults, it will
undoubtedly teach and inspire many."
~~Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
"It is very difficult for one book to cover all issues of animal rights
because the subject is so far reaching. However, in ANIMAL RIGHTS Charles
Patterson has done just that.....very helpful and interesting book....will be
enjoyed by newcomers, as well as those already involved in the movement."
~~Animals Agenda
Illustrated with black and white photographs - Chapter Notes - Further
Reading List - Index Recommended Grade Levels: 6-up, Ages 12-up, 104 pages,
LC#92-44286, ISBN 0-89490-468-X.
To order: Return the coupon below or call toll-free 1-800-398-2504. For
additional information, please contact Enslow Publishers, Inc. at tel.: (201)
379-8890 or fax:
(201) 379-7940 or E-mail: mail@enslow.com. Prices are subject to change
without notice.
Shipping: Please add 7% to your order for shipping and handling.
Return this coupon (or a copy) to:
Enslow Publishers, Inc.,
Box 699,
44 Fadem Road,
Springfield, NJ 07081-0699
If you have trouble getting books directly from publishers, you can always
order it through www.amazon.com ("the world's largest bookstore")
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Please send me_____copies of ANIMAL RIGHTS by Charles Patterson.
ISBN: 0-89490-468-X, L #92-44286, Discount Price: $17.05. Federal I.D.:
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Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 23:24:50 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) The cell from hell Toxic algae that thrive on pollutants
are killing fish, making people sick, and spreading nationwide
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970724232448.006cf68c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Environmental and health effects of factory farms in North Carolina.
from USNews.com web page (US News & World Report):
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The cell from hell
Toxic algae that thrive on pollutants are killing fish, making
people sick, and spreading nationwide
BY MICHAEL SATCHELL
Retired North Carolina fisherman David Jones struggles
with symptoms similar to those of several chronic afflictions:
the mental confusion of Alzheimer's, the physical crippling of
multiple sclerosis, the wasting of AIDS. But Jones has none of
these. Doctors say all the evidence points to a neurological
assault by algae.
Jones is one of about 100 North Carolina victims--fishermen,
commercial divers, marine construction workers--who appear to
have been poisoned by pfiesteria, a toxic alga found in the
state's eastern rivers and estuaries. The victims' symptoms can
include open sores, nausea, memory loss, fatigue, disorientation,
and the near-total incapacitation suffered by Jones.
Pfiesteria was first discovered in 1991 and has since killed
hundreds of millions of fish in North Carolina. State workers
have used bulldozers to clear piles of dead menhaden from the
beaches. A 1995 outbreak wiped out 14 million fish, temporarily
closed parts of the Neuse River, and put 364,000 acres of
shellfish beds off limits. Since then, the problem has been
spreading. Around the country, outbreaks of pfiesteria and other
harmful algal blooms known as red or brown tides are devastating
marine life and posing risks for fishermen in bays and estuaries.
Last summer, 20,000 rockfish in a Maryland fish farm on the
Chesapeake Bay were killed by the organism. Earlier this month,
"very, very concerned" Maryland officials launched a $250,000
emergency study of what is causing pfiesteria-type lesions on
fish in the lower Pocomoke River, which empties into the
Chesapeake Bay.
Dead sea cows. In the past 25 years, more than 35 poisonous algae
outbreaks have killed or sickened fish, shellfish, marine
mammals, seabirds, underwater vegetation--and people. On the
eastern tip of Long Island, a brown tide has wiped out a $20
million bay-scallop industry. In the past two years, a red tide
on Florida's west coast has killed 150 manatees, about 10 percent
of the state's sea cow population. And in Texas, the Corpus
Christi area has been plagued for seven years with a brown tide
that kills eelgrass and other underwater vegetation. Their
habitat destroyed, the fish have disappeared and, with them, many
of the tourists.
Scientists view these problems as an urgent warning of the
declining health of the nation's 127 ecologically vital and
commercially valuable bays and estuaries. Increasing development
of coastal areas is sending more sewage effluent, farm runoff,
and factory wastewater flowing into bays and estuaries,
triggering poisonous algal blooms on all three coasts.
Pfiesteria is a nasty little customer that some biologists have
dubbed the "cell from hell." The alga is a dinoflagellate, a
class of single-celled aquatic organisms that exhibit both plant
and animal characteristics. Most of the time the cells remain in
a hard, cystlike condition in the sediment of bays and estuaries.
But when fish swim by, the organisms swell and transform
themselves into aggressive ambush predators with twin, whiplike
tails called flagella that propel the killers toward their prey.
They then release a toxin that is 1,000 times more powerful than
cyanide. Even in minute quantities, the poison is deadly to fish,
dispatching a guppy in 10 minutes and a 20-pound striped bass in
four hours. Stricken fish gasp for oxygen and swim upside down or
in circles. The toxin also causes the distinctive oozing red
sores found both on fish and on humans who have been in direct
contact with the organism. The microscopic attackers feed on the
dying fish, reproduce furiously, then change shape when sated and
return to dormancy in the sediment. Although attacks on humans
are far more rare, the organism does pose significant risks to
fishermen or people in prolonged contact with pfiesteria.
Laboratory tests show a voracious appetite for human blood, and
its neurotoxin is powerful enough to harm humans. JoAnn
Burkholder, a scientist at North Carolina State University in
Raleigh, discovered the microbe, along with her assistant. Both
experienced severe neurological symptoms in 1993 after inhaling
the toxin in their lab. The potential threat to humans recently
prompted 131 physicians in the New Bern, N.C., area to petition
Vice President Al Gore for federal help to combat what they
called "a truly threatening environmental issue." Their action
reflects the growing frustration in North Carolina over the
state's inability to find answers.
North Carolina's pfiesteria problem has roots in its booming
economy. Urban areas like Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte are
expanding. Large numbers of well-off retirees, eager to live near
the water, have settled along the inland coastal region. Tourists
are flocking to the mountains and beaches. Forests and
marshlands, which filter pollutants and act as buffer zones, are
being rapidly replaced by highways, golf courses, subdivisions,
and strip malls. Along with all this growth has come an increase
of pollutants rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients,
flowing into creeks and rivers that feed the Albemarle-Pamlico
Sound. This has triggered the pfiesteria algal blooms that have
been decimating fish populations since 1991. These outbreaks are
of deep concern because Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, the nation's
second-largest bay after the Chesapeake, provides half of the
nursery waters for fish spawned on the East Coast between Maine
and Florida.
Scientists and environmentalists seeking answers to the algal
assault believe much of the blame lies with the industrial-scale
hog farming that has mushroomed in the eastern part of the state.
A decade ago, North Carolina was the nation's seventh-largest hog
producer. Today, it is second, just behind Iowa. Last year, more
than 16 million porkers were raised between Interstate 95 and the
Outer Banks. Hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated,
nutrient-rich hog feces and urine produced at these loosely
regulated factory farms are stored in earthen lagoons that
sometimes leak or collapse. In 1995, for example, 25 million
gallons of liquid swine manure--more than twice the volume of the
Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound--flowed into the
New River after a lagoon was breached.
Local officials, environmental groups, and rural residents in
North Carolina, fed up with the malodorous impact of the hog
industry and its contribution to pfiesteria outbreaks, are
pushing for stronger zoning powers and other measures to regulate
hog factories and their growth. Besieged by criticism, the
National Pork Producers Council says it is researching better
methods of manure disposal.
Getting worse. Negative publicity about pfiesteria has spurred
hundreds of calls to state offices from people wondering if it is
safe to vacation in North Carolina. Tourism officials say there
is cause for concern, not alarm. The threat is limited to the
inland waters of Albemarle-Pamlico Sound and its tributary
rivers, and these are being closely monitored. The organism has
not caused problems on the ocean side of the Outer Banks or
elsewhere in the state. Areas where kills have occurred in the
Neuse River estuary and elsewhere have been temporarily closed to
fishing, and people have been warned not to enter the water. Says
senior scientist Donald Anderson of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in Massachusetts: "It isn't time to cancel your North
Carolina vacation or sell your property, but pfiesteria reflects
a much bigger problem that's getting worse." Solutions would
include better sewage treatment, controlling farm runoff, and
improved wetlands protection. Among the experimental strategies
available to attack harmful algal blooms is use of algicidal
bacteria, parasites, and viruses.
Environmentalists are frustrated because they feel early signs of
trouble were ignored. In the six years since Burkholder
discovered the organism and warned of its devastating
consequences, officials in the state's Department of Environment,
Health and Natural Resources have belittled her scientific
credibility, downplayed the threat, and failed to attack the
problem aggressively. They dismissed her pollution-cause
conclusion as "specious" and told her to return when she had 10
years of confirming data. "No state likes bad news, and they have
tried to discredit me and bury my data," says Burkholder. She and
others suspect--but cannot prove--a connection between official
foot dragging and a desire to protect the commercial fishing,
tourism, and hog industries, which pump over $10 billion a year
into the state's economy. But Debbie Crane, spokeswoman for the
state environmental agency, argues otherwise. "Bureaucracy by
nature is slow to respond," says Crane. "Unfortunate things have
happened in the past but now we're working hard to beat this
thing." North Carolina and Maryland are currently trying to do
just that, but with 75 percent of the population now living
within 50 miles of the Great Lakes and the nation's coastlines,
the toxic algae will keep regulators worrying about where the
next outbreaks will occur.
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 23:44:40 -0400
From: Vegetarian Resource Center
To: AR-NEWS@envirolink.org
Subject: BAD NEWS: EU to allow trade of leg-trapped animal fur
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970724234440.01860ac0@pop.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
EU to allow trade of leg-trapped animal fur
By Reuters, 07/23/97
BRUSSELS - The European Union agreed yesterday to allow
imports from Canada and Russia of fur from animals caught by
leg-hold traps, even though the devices are banned by the
15-nation bloc.
EU diplomats said Britain, Austria and Belgium had voted against
a proposal for an agreement on leg-hold trap standards, but
backing by France meant the law will be enacted.
The proposal had been rejected three times by EU environment
ministers, but foreign ministers, responsible for trade policy,
passed the agreement on a majority vote.
European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan hailed the
agreement as a triumph of sense over emotion. ``This will ensure,
for the first time, that nations have to abide by minimum standards
when it comes to trapping fur-bearing animals,'' he said.
This story ran on page A11 of the Boston Globe on 07/23/97.
© Copyright 1997 Globe Newspaper Company.
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