AR-NEWS Digest 515

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) (US) Pigeon Lawmaker Vows To Hold Ground
     by allen schubert 
  2) (US) MCDONALD'S POULTRY SUPPLIER BLASTED BY PETA 
     by allen schubert 
  3) (HK) Sniffer dogs take lead to beat bombs
     by Vadivu Govind 
  4) Australia first with Chinese medicine course
     by Vadivu Govind 
  5) PAWS Announces King Royal Vigils
     by PAWS 
  6) (US) Pocomoke River Sickens People, Fish
     by allen schubert 
  7) (US) 26th One-Arm Dove Hunt Begins Fri.
     by allen schubert 
  8) (US) McLibel Defendants Appeal Verdict
     by allen schubert 
  9) (FI) Anti-Fur Activists Free Animals
     by allen schubert 
 10) PAWS Vigils
     by PAWS 
 11) [UK] EU drafts food hormone laws
     by David J Knowles 
 12) [Finland] Activists release 1,100 mink
     by David J Knowles 
 13) (CN) Giant panda gives birth to twins in Sichuan
     by jwed 
 14) (US) Report: Hudson Backs Off on Beef
     by allen schubert 
 15) (US) Seed Industry Shakeout Looming (genetically altered)
     by allen schubert 
 16) Posting Subscription Options is a GOOD Thing   :^)
     by CathieWay@aol.com
 17) Haven Where Pets and Owners Come to Heal
     by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
 18) **ACTION ALERT**
     by Laura O 
 19) Hegins: Wounding Rate Highest Ever
     by Mike Markarian 
 20) Fighting between dogs and pumas in Argentina
     by "sa338@blues.uab.es" 
 21) hunters kill 9 geese at lake (PA)
     by NOVENAANN@aol.com
 22) Hegins buildings damaged (PA)
     by NOVENAANN@aol.com
 23) Judge throws out part of lab's suit against PETA (VA)
     by NOVENAANN@aol.com
 24) SUE MCCROSKY JAILED
     by Hillary 
 25) Anti-bullfighting campaing
     by "sa338@blues.uab.es" 
 26) Re: Chatahm 3
     by BSVILA@aol.com
 27) RCD/RHD deadly rabbit disease news (New Zealand)
     by bunny 
 28) Fwd: Santa Fe bull fight cancelled
     by AnimalNM@aol.com
 29) INFLUENZA, BIRD-TO-MAN, FIRST CASE?(Discussion on a new Flu)
     by bunny 
 30) Tyson foods to buy Hudson Foods
     by NOVENAANN@aol.com
 31) E. COLI, AMERICAN MEAT INSTITUTE UPDATE
     by bunny 
 32) CJD (Mad Cow Disease-humans) Eating Squirrel brains link?(USA)
     by bunny 
 33) (US) Deer Hunts Proposed (MD)
     by allen schubert 
 34) EU To Appeal WTO Decision on Beef
     by allen schubert 
 35) (US) E. Coli Code May Yield New Drugs
     by allen schubert 
 36) (US) NYC Bar Ass'n Conference on Animals and the Law
     by Marisul@aol.com
 37) (CN) Step closer to test-tube pandas
     by Vadivu Govind 
 38) Hegins 8: 4 still in jail
     by Wyandotte Animal Group 
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 20:21:36 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Pigeon Lawmaker Vows To Hold Ground
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970903202133.0070659c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from CNN web page:
--------------------------------
Pigeon Lawmaker Vows To Hold Ground

(HARRISBURG) -- A state lawmaker who had the windows in his Hegins,
Schuylkill County, office broken during the protest of the annual Labor Day
Pigeon Shoot is promising to not give-in. Representative Bob Allen says he
is ``extremely disappointed in the actions taken by these radical
protestors.'' He said they ``turned civil disobedience into wanton
destruction of state and community property.'' Police arrested more than
two dozen, mainly animal rights advocates, at the shoot. At one point, it
took state police more than ten hours to remove protestors who were
blocking a main road into Hegins Borough. 
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 21:47:24 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) MCDONALD'S POULTRY SUPPLIER BLASTED BY PETA 
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970903214720.006d4010@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PeTA web page:
-----------------------------------
MCDONALD'S POULTRY SUPPLIER BLASTED BY PETA 
News Conference Targets Conditions for Chickens at Tyson
For Immediate Release:
September 3, 1997 
Contact: Bruce Friedrich, 757-622-7382
                                                                            
Jackson, Miss. -- On the heels of this summer's British High Court ruling
that found McDonald's culpable for cruelty in the raising of chickens, PETA
is demanding that McDonald's take immediate, specific steps to remedy
problems with its factory farming practices, chiefly at Tyson Chicken. PETA
Director Lisa Lange will call on Tyson--a major supplier of poultry to
McDonald's that operates a slaughterhouse in Jackson--to reduce animal
suffering at a news conference on:

Thursday, September 4 11 a.m. Ramada Inn Southwest Conference Center, 1526
Ellis Ave. 

Lange will release broadcast-quality footage of animals on factory farms
and use life-size models to demonstrate the extremely small space presently
given to Tyson's broiler chickens and laying hens. Despite Chief Justice
Roger Bell's ruling in London last June that McDonald's intensively
confines chickens, slaughters chickens while they are still conscious, and
cripples chickens through genetic breeding, McDonald's CEO Mike Quinlan has
ignored requests to clean up its farming operations.



Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 10:55:52 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (HK) Sniffer dogs take lead to beat bombs
Message-ID: <199709040255.KAA29373@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


>South China Morning Post

Thursday  September 4  1997

     Sniffer dogs take lead to beat bombs
     STELLA LEE

     A squad of sniffer dogs will be used to deter terrorists from trying to
smuggle     explosives through the new airport.

     Police are training eight new dogs to work exclusively at Chek Lap Kok,
boosting their     canine contingent to 14.

Police dogs' training in sniffing out explosives and ammunition was put to
use at the     handover ceremonies and will be called upon again at this
month's World Bank     meetings. Officers will start searching conference
venues tomorrow.

     "The advantage of using explosive dogs to conduct searches is that they
are much     faster than humans," Chief Inspector Kong Cheuk-chau said.

     "This, effectively, provides greater flexibility in approach."

     German shepherds and Dobermans were put on street patrols when trials
started in     1995. The last police region to begin using dogs in emergency
units, Hong Kong     Island, started the practice about a month ago.

     Police with patrol dogs arrested 1,397 people in 1995, 1,351 last year
and 687 in thefirst six months of this year.


Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 10:55:47 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Australia first with Chinese medicine course
Message-ID: <199709040255.KAA30043@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Thursday  September 4  1997

     Australia first with Chinese medicine course

     I refer to the report from David Wallen in London headlined, "Chinese
medicine first     for Britain" (South China Morning Post, August 25).

     The report stated: "The first higher education course in traditional
Chinese medicine     outside the mainland has been set up at a British
university." This statement is incorrect.

     In 1996, the first five-year, full-time double-degree university
programme was     introduced at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
(RMIT) in Australia. The programme was approved by RMIT after three years of
negotiations and     preparation with the Nanjing University of Traditional
Chinese Medicine in Jiangsu     province, China. I am not sure whether the
programme at Middlesex University is the     first in Europe. However, it
definitely is not the first outside the mainland in the world.

     Dr Charlie Xue, the head of the Chinese Medicine Unit at RMIT, is
responsible for     development, administration, teaching and research in
the Chinese medicine     programmes. So far, there are more than 130
students enrolled at the unit for Bachelor,     Master's and PhD-level studies.

     Further, RMIT is the first university to have signed a collaboration
agreement with one     of the leading universities in Chinese medicine in
China, which includes a compulsory     year of clinical internship at the
University of China's teaching hospital.

Students also need to attend the final examination at the Nanjing University of
Traditional Chinese Medicine. Once they pass the examination, the
qualification is     recognised by Chinese authorities to be equivalent to
the five-year Bachelor degree in     Chinese medicine offered in China.

     RMIT is Australia's largest multi-sectional university. Its Chinese
medicine course is     accredited by the Australian Government and has been
listed in the Commonwealth     University Yearbook.

     What may be more interesting to you is that given the high quality of
the course in     Chinese medicine developed by RMIT, an agreement is being
finalised with a major     university in Hong Kong for delivery of the RMIT
course in Hong Kong. I will be     happy to inform you of this development
when it commences, possibly in late     September this year.

     The Government of Victoria in Australia is currently conducting a
second-stage  review     of the practice of Chinese medicine in the state
and will recommend the need for the     regulation of the Chinese medical
profession to the Australia Health Minister's Advisory     Council.

     In short, the development of Chinese medicine in both higher education
and regulation     has been led by Australia rather than the British in the
world outside the mainland.

     Prof A. M. KLEYNHANS 
     Associate Dean 
     Faculty of Biomedical 
     and Health Sciences 
     Dr CHARLIE CHANG LI-XUE 
     Head, Chinese 
Medicine Unit 
     Royal Melbourne 
     Institute of Technology

Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 23:07:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: PAWS 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: PAWS Announces King Royal Vigils
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

PAWS is sponsoring non-violent demonstrations and vigils in Albuquerque 
and in Washington, DC to coincide with the dates of the USDA's 
administrative hearing on the King Royal case--October 6-10.

PAWS' Director Pat Derby and other PAWS' representatives will be present 
in Albuquerque to demand the permanent revocation of King Royal's permits 
and the confiscation of the other animals still in King Royal's possession.

We hope as many people as possible will join us either in Albuquerque or 
outside the USDA headquarters in Washington, DC to demand justice for the 
King Royal animals.  

We have new information on the wherabouts of the other King Royal animals 
as well as recently-taken video tape which proves that they are in a 
"life-threatening" situation and should be immediately confiscated. 

Thanks to the hundreds of people who have contacted us from around the 
country and around the world since August 6th, when the elephant Heather 
was found dead in a trailer in Albuquerque.   Your calls and letters to 
the USDA have forced the USDA to act. 

Now, join us in Albuquerque if you can--or in WAshington, DC or outside a 
federal building in your community--to demand that King Royal never harm 
another animal.  Join PAWS in demonstrating and leafletting October 
6-10 to demand the confiscation of the animals remaining in King Royal's 
possession and the permanent revocation of ALL existing King Royal permits.

E.mail or call us at (209) 745-2606.

We now have a new King Royal fact sheet AND poster, both with 
photographs.  We will be happy to send them to you for any leafletting or 
demonstration you plan.   
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 23:03:19 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Pocomoke River Sickens People, Fish
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970903230317.007029f0@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

(link to animal wastes from farms)
from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------------
 09/03/1997 18:20 EST

 Pocomoke River Sickens People, Fish

 By TODD SPANGLER
 Associated Press Writer

 SHELLTOWN, Md. (AP) -- Jack Howard spent two full days on the Pocomoke
 River last week. By nightfall the second day, the recurring stomach
 cramps had returned and the vomiting started.

 He knows the cause: the river.

 Scientists believe a microorganism is making people sick and killing fish
 by the thousands along the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Some
 watermen have suffered itchy, red, dime-sized lesions and complained of
 memory loss and respiratory attacks. Many of the fish have bloody sores.

 Howard, a 46-year-old waterman, has spent years working the river but now
 spends his days catching fish and taking water samples to help scientists
 solve the mystery. Pulling up fish in nets, he sometimes finds as many as
 90 percent of the fish are covered with the ugly sores.

 ``I've put all my interest in this,'' Howard said. ``It's just something
 I had to do.''

 Maryland and Virginia officials last Friday shut down a seven-mile
 stretch of the Pocomoke and a small part of Pocomoke Sound near the
 river's mouth to swimming, boating and fishing.

 Gov. Parris Glendening cited medical evidence that a parasitic
 microorganism -- perhaps the Pfiesteria piscicida responsible for killing
 fish here and in North Carolina -- is sickening people.

 A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of
 Maryland Medical Center found it likely a toxin released by the
 microorganism hidden in the river's mud flats caused human brain damage,
 leading to a loss of concentration and short-term memory, as well as the
 diarrhea and breathing trouble some Pocomoke watermen have complained of
 since last fall.

 Scientists who discovered pfiesteria in the early 1990s believe the
 one-celled organism has existed for centuries, usually remaining in a
 nontoxic form that feeds on bacteria and algae.

 Researchers suspect that animal wastes and fertilizers running from farms
 and poultry houses into the Pocomoke's slow-moving, shallow waters
 encourage the pfiesteria to multiply.

 The microorganism secretes a toxin that subdues the fish until it can
 attach to their skin and feed on their tissue and blood. Some 11,000 fish
 died in the river last month. A smaller kill, stretching over a larger
 area, occurred in the Pocomoke last week.

 On Wednesday, a third fish kill was detected about four miles north,
 inside a closed portion of the river. State Natural Resources officials
 did not have an estimate on the number of fish killed but believed it was
 smaller than last week, when an estimated 2,000 fish died.

 Scientists believe that the watermen are falling ill from direct contact
 with the water.

 North Carolina health officials said Tuesday they will conduct a study
 similar to Maryland's, even though problems linked to pfiesteria,
 including rumors of human illnesses, have been going on there for several
 years.

 Pfiesteria has been blamed for killing millions of fish in North
 Carolina's Neuse and Pamlico rivers, both located off Pamlico Sound,
 which separates the state's mainland from the Outer Banks.

 Researchers at North Carolina State University suffered nausea, memory
 loss and respiratory problems while working with pfiesteria. One worker
 crawled out of the lab on his hands and knees, vomiting.

 Marion East, a 54-year-old boat mechanic, stopped going out on the
 Pocomoke River this spring after he became ill. His nephew, Tom, didn't
 have that luxury. He was back Wednesday on an unclosed stretch of the
 Pocomoke Sound checking crab traps, even though he has suffered
 pneumonia-like symptoms for months and has lost some 40 pounds.

 ``That's his job. You've got to live,'' East said. ``That's all he has
 ever known to do.''

 Pocomoke watermen are responsible for a tiny percentage of the seafood
 coming from Maryland waters and Glendening made a point on Labor Day of
 eating crabs and fish from the bay, not from the river, to show they are
 safe.

 Health officials have said that as long as a fish, even a fish from the
 Pocomoke, doesn't have lesions, it is safe to eat.

 But seafood retailers and wholesalers in Maryland have reported a sharp
 decline in sales, prompting the state Agriculture Department to mail
 thousands of fact sheets to reassure customers that the seafood is safe.

 The state said retailers could lose up to $20 million because of the bad
 publicity.

 Even some Eastern Shore locals won't touch the stuff.

 ``I wouldn't eat anything out of here,'' said Alan Parkinson, who has
 spent most of his life on the waters around Deal Island, some 20 miles
 away from Pocomoke Sound. ``I don't trust it.''

Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 23:05:49 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) 26th One-Arm Dove Hunt Begins Fri.
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970903230546.00709c5c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-------------------------------------------
 09/03/1997 16:19 EST

 26th One-Arm Dove Hunt Begins Fri.

 By MARK BABINECK
 Associated Press Writer

 OLNEY, Texas (AP) -- It started out as a joke among the gang down at the
 Cub Drug Store: How many one-armed guys does it take to shoot down a
 dove?

 Twenty-five years later, the One-Arm Dove Hunt is going strong.

 What began as a lighthearted contest among local amputees has grown into
 an annual two-day hunt that draws more than 100 participants from around
 the country. The only requirement is that the hunter lack a hand or an
 arm. Or two.

 ``We were talking about shooting doves,'' recalled Jack Northrup, who
 lost his right arm in a traffic accident. ``I said, `I wonder how many
 one-arm guys we could get here just to compete?'''

 ``We weren't looking to solve any problems or anything,'' said co-founder
 Jack Bishop, a former Young County commissioner who often jokes about the
 left arm he never had and is known along with Northrup as one of Olney's
 ``one-armed Jacks.'' The idea was simply to have a good time, Bishop
 said.

 This year's 26th annual shoot begins Friday.

 Many hunters bag their 12-dove limit during the hunt on a spread outside
 of town.

 Gun safety is stressed to beginners -- one reason there's been just one
 minor injury in 26 years.

 ``A one-armed guy got a BB caught in his eye,'' Northrup said of an
 incident in the mid-1970s. ``And it was a two-armed guy that caused it.
 That's why we don't let two-armed guys hunt with us anymore.''

 For participants like Joyce Baughn, the hunt is more about people than
 birds.

 ``That's what Olney is. It's a family,'' said Mrs. Baughn, who eight
 years ago first made the trip from Jacksonville, Fla., to this farming
 town 100 miles northwest of Dallas. She became the event's first female
 hunter.

 Mrs. Baughn's lost her forearms as a child when she crawled under a
 moving train. She ditched prosthetics early on, choosing to use her
 working elbow joints to write, drive and fire a shotgun.

 She levels the gun with her left stump and and pulls the trigger with her
 right, via a specially fitted aluminum ring. Mrs. Baughn has been known
 to break several clay targets in a row on the practice range.

 Her double-amputee status becomes an advantage at the Saturday morning
 ``10-cents-a-finger'' breakfast during the hunt.

 Other shooters must rely on more elaborate riggings. One uses a harness
 to mount the weapon and a hydraulic device that activates the trigger.

 Many of the one-armed participants simply tuck the butt up against their
 torsos, point and shoot.

 ``If I had two arms, I'd put a gun under each arm, all joking aside,''
 Bishop said. ``If you're used to it, it wouldn't be anything to you.''

Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 23:10:22 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) McLibel Defendants Appeal Verdict
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970903231019.0070a364@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
 09/03/1997 13:39 EST

 McLibel Defendants Appeal Verdict

 By DIRK BEVERIDGE
 AP Business Writer

 LONDON (AP) -- Two vegetarian activists who fought McDonald's Corp. in a
 marathon libel case said Wednesday they got an unfair trial -- despite
 their public relations victory over the hamburger giant.

 Dave Morris and Helen Steel asked the Court of Appeal to throw out the
 rulings made by Justice Roger Bell in June, ending the 314-day
 ``McLibel'' trial that became the longest in British history.

 ``We're calling for fundamental changes in libel laws to protect the
 public's right to criticize rich and powerful organizations that dominate
 our society,'' Morris told a reporter outside the Royal Courts of
 Justice.

 McDonald's took Morris and Ms. Steel to court after they handed out
 anti-McDonald's leaflets that called the company the epitome of evil,
 oppressive capitalism.

 Morris, an unemployed former postman, and Ms. Steel, a part-time barmaid,
 lost the case when Bell found that the main thrust of their leaflets had
 falsely defamed McDonald's.

 But the defendants gained years of publicity for their cause and
 McDonald's was humiliated when the judge found that some allegations
 against it were true. Bell ruled that McDonald's is sometimes cruel to
 animals, pays low wages in Britain and exploits children through its
 advertising.

 Shortly after the verdict, McDonald's decided to stop pressing the
 matter. It did not seek to collect the symbolic damages of 60,000 pounds
 ($98,000) the judge awarded and it did not seek a court order halting
 publication of the anti-McDonald's leaflets, which are being handed out
 by the thousands and are also on the Internet.

 But Ms. Steel and Morris will keep fighting, and say that if they lose
 their appeal in Britain, they will take the matter to European courts
 where they think they could stand a stronger chance of outright victory.

 The 21-page appeal filed late Wednesday alleged the trial was unfair
 because:

 --McDonald's had no right to sue because ``in a free and democratic
 society such corporations must always be open to unfettered scrutiny and
 criticism ...''

 --Ms. Steel and Morris should have been able to defend themselves based
 on ``reasonable belief in the truth of the words complained of,'' rather
 than having to prove the truth of everything McDonald's said was false.

 --Ms. Steel and Morris were denied legal assistance and had to represent
 themselves, making the case fundamentally unfair as they went up against
 a team of top libel lawyers hired by McDonald's.

 --They were denied a jury.

 --For about half of the trial, Ms. Steel and Morris were denied access to
 official transcripts. McDonald's paid to have the transcripts made
 overnight, but stopped handing them to Ms.Steel and Morris because the
 two were allegedly using them to create anti-McDonald's press releases.

 McDonald's in London did not immediately return a telephone call seeking
 comment.

Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 23:22:39 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (FI) Anti-Fur Activists Free Animals
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970903232229.006ac93c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
 09/03/1997 12:53 EST

 Anti-Fur Activists Free Animals

 HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Activists freed hundreds of minks and foxes
 from fur farms in western Finland on Wednesday, painting the words
 ``concentration camp'' on their cages.

 Police learned about the raids when they found blue foxes wandering down
 country roads early in the morning near Vaasa, 250 miles northwest of
 Helsinki.

 Activists opened the cages of at least 1,100 minks and 200 blue foxes,
 police said.

 Farmers and police managed to catch 300 minks, but hundreds more
 disappeared into forests. Representatives of both the fur industry and a
 leading anti-fur group said they feared the ill-tempered minks would die
 in the wild, after wreaking havoc on local wildlife.

 ``We don't accept this kind of direct action,'' said Jaana Kiljunen,
 president of Animalia, which has campaigned against the fur farms.
 ``Those caged animals don't belong in nature.''

 Finland is the world's largest producer of fox furs. This season, it has
 sold 2 million fox pelts, as well as 4 million mink pelts.

Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 23:35:40 -0400 (EDT)
From: PAWS 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: PAWS Vigils
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

PAWS is planning vigils outside the courthouse in Albuquerque to coincide 
with the dates of the USDA's administrative hearing on the King Royal 
case--October 6-10. 

We are asking activists around the country to join us in Albuquerque or 
to hold their own vigils at federal buildings in their communties. 

PAWS will also be holding vigils/leafletting outside the USDA 
headquarters in Washington, DC during these dates. 

PAWS has a new King Royal fact sheet AND a poster. Both contain photos as 
well as up-to-the-minute information on the King Royal case. 

To receive copies of these materials or to participate in the upcoming 
vigils, please e.mail PAWS or call us at (209) 745-2606.

THANK YOU for your persistence, your dedication, and for your continuing 
calls and letters to the USDA.  
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 23:07:31
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [UK] EU drafts food hormone laws
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970903230731.24b7e558@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Thursday, September 4th, 1997

              EU drafts food hormone laws
              By David Brown, Agriculture Editor 


              LAWS are being drawn up to protect consumers against
              risks from genetically engineered crops, Franz Fischler,
              European Union Agriculture Commissioner, announced
              yesterday.

              He told delegates at a food conference in London that
              existing consumer safeguards in the EU did not go far
              enough to address public concerns.

              Mr Fischler rejected criticisms that EU measures to label all
              foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
              were "inadequate" but added: "It is necessary to give clearer
              information to consumers about the risks associated with
              GMOs."

              Speaking by live television link-up from Brussels to food
              industry leaders at a conference organised by the Transport
              and General Workers' Union at Church House,
              Westminster, he called for a common European standard of
              food controls to overcome differences in each of the
              member states. "We need to give more objective information
              to consumers," he said.

              Mr Fischler said that the opening up of world trade in food
              products had increased risks to public health. He said that
              the EU would appeal against a recent ruling by the World
              Trade Organisation disputes' panel that rejected Europe's
              attempts to block imports from the United States of meat
              produced with the aid of growth hormones.

              

             © Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. 

Date: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 23:11:56
From: David J Knowles 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: [Finland] Activists release 1,100 mink
Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970903231156.248726fa@dowco.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Thursday, September 4th, 1997

            Activists release 1,100 mink

             ANIMAL rights activists released at least 1,100 mink and
             200 blue foxes, from fur farms in western Finland yesterday,
             spraying the words "concentration camp" on their cages. The
             raids at three farms near Vaasa, 250 miles north-west of
             Helsinki, were detected when police found blue foxes
             wandering down country roads in the early hours. The freed
             mink were expected to kill wildlife.  

             © Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. 

Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 18:34:55 +0000
From: jwed 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CN) Giant panda gives birth to twins in Sichuan
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19970904183455.006974c8@pop.hkstar.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

China Daily 4th September 1997 CHENGDU (Xinhua) 

A giant panda living in a research centre in the capital of Southwest
China's Sichuan Province gave birth to twins over the weekend. 

The siblings weighed 150 grams and 130 grams at birth on Friday at the
China Giant Panda Protection and Research Centre. Mother and cubs are in
"excellent condition," according to workers at the centre. 

Experts said it is difficult for giant pandas kept in an artificial
environment to get pregnant, as the females tend to reject the males. 

Less than 10 per cent of the male pandas living in zoos or breeding centres
are capable of mating and the pregnancy rate among female pandas kept in
artificial environments is around 24 per cent. 

Sponsored by the Chinese Government and the World Wildlife Fund, the China
Giant Panda Protection and Research Centre was established in 1980 in the
Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan. 

Since 1991, the centre has artificially inseminated 13 female pandas.
Nineteen cubs have been born, but only 14 survive.



Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 08:08:44 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Report: Hudson Backs Off on Beef
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970904080841.006eb8f8@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

(covers what happened in previous cases to tainted meat)
from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
 09/04/1997 00:03 EST

 Report: Hudson Backs Off on Beef

 DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- Hudson Foods Inc. asked for federal       
 permission Wednesday to cook and resell some of the 25 million 
 pounds of beef recalled two weeks ago, then changed its mind   
 and rescinded the request, the Dayton Daily News reported      
 Thursday.                                                     
                                                                
 Hudson had asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture about the  
 possibility of cooking the hamburger at a temperature high     
 enough to kill a deadly strain of E. coli that was found in
 some of the meat, the newspaper said.

 That would make the meat usable for prepared foods such as pizza toppings
 or tacos.

 But late Wednesday, the Rogers, Ark.-based company backed off its initial
 plan, telling the newspaper that it had decided it would not be recycling
 the meat.

 An outbreak of illness traced to the meat forced Hudson Foods to recall
 25 million pounds of ground beef processed at its Columbus, Neb., plant,
 which has been closed and sold.

 Hudson spokeswoman Becky Triplett said that about 8 million pounds of the
 meat has been recovered. She said no more is likely to be found because
 it either was eaten or thrown away by consumers.

 Jesse Majkowski, in charge of the Agriculture Department's recall
 program, said he remembered one case in the last three years in which
 tainted beef was reused.

 In 1995, more than 200,000 pounds of ground beef recalled from two
 different suppliers was cooked for use in the Jack-In-The-Box chain's
 tacos, with Agriculture Department approval.

 Jack-In-The-Box was involved in the largest outbreak of E. coli sickness
 in U.S. history in 1993.

 Cooking can kill the dangerous bacteria, but some researchers say
 reissuing tainted beef carries a health risk because it could contaminate
 other food being prepared at the plant where the cooking takes place.

 Agriculture Department and industry officials defend the practice of
 recycling tainted beef as being safe because the cooking kills any
 harmful bacteria.

 The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public policy advocacy
 group that follows food health issues, supported that view.

 ``I don't really have a problem with them taking a contaminated
 product and making it safe,'' said Caroline Smith DeWaal,
 director of food safety for the center.

Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 08:11:48 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Seed Industry Shakeout Looming (genetically altered)
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970904081145.006eb170@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

genetically altered food
from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
 09/04/1997 03:03 EST

 Seed Industry Shakeout Looming

 By TOM SEERY
 Associated Press Writer

 SLATER, Iowa (AP) -- Vernon Zanker has been watching his neighbor's
 soybean fields this summer and is convinced. He's ready to plant
 genetically altered soybeans that survive applications of the popular
 Roundup weedkiller.

 ``I've got Roundup Ready beans ordered for next year,'' said Zanker, who
 farms near Boone, in central Iowa. ``My neighbor's got me convinced. He's
 got some pretty clean fields. I don't like to see a weed in a bean
 field.''

 Chalk up another convert for farm biotechnology.

 After years of research, the first major wave of genetically altered
 seeds has entered the market just as farmers are freed from planting
 restrictions by the federal government.

 The seeds are a hit with farmers weary of annual battles with bugs, weeds
 and weather, and the once-staid seed industry is being transformed into a
 high-tech battleground.

 ``Biotechnology has made agriculture a brand new world,'' said John
 McMillin, a seed industry analyst for Prudential Securities.

 Even the world's dominant seed corn company, Pioneer Hi-Bred
 International Inc., realized it couldn't keep up with the advances alone.

 On Aug. 7, Pioneer announced it would sell 20 percent of its stock to
 chemical giant DuPont for $1.7 billion. The companies will cooperate on
 development of genetically altered seeds.

 ``A revolution is under way in improving crop genetics, which has the
 potential to benefit everyone,'' said Charles S. Johnson, chairman and
 president of Des Moines-based Pioneer.

 Everyone, except the losers in the seed industry battle.

 ``You've got to get access to new technology or you're dead,'' said Col
 Seccombe, president of Garst Seed Co. in Slater, Iowa.

 While more than 200 companies sell seed to farmers in the United States,
 only the largest companies do extensive research. Seccombe predicts a
 shakeout in the next few years.

 ``It's the people who don't have any technology strengths who are in
 trouble,'' Seccombe said. ``We've got about 30 percent of the market
 served by companies that have no technology -- what we call the `mom and
 pops.'''

 In January, Monsanto Co. paid $1 billion for Holden's Foundation Seeds
 Inc., a family-owned Iowa company that supplied seed stock for many of
 the smaller, independent seed companies. Monsanto already had bought a
 40-percent stake in DeKalb Genetics Corp., the No. 2 seed corn company
 behind Pioneer.

 Garst is another of the bigger players -- part of a European-based joint
 venture formed last year between London-based Zeneca Group and Royal
 VanderHave Group of the Netherlands. The group is the fourth-largest seed
 company in the world, with nearly $500 million in annual sales.

 In a sprawling laboratory building surrounded by corn and soybean fields,
 Garst scientists are using DNA fingerprinting to isolate genes that can
 build better plants.

 Garst introduced 12 new corn hybrids this year, and recently received a
 patent for a genetically enhanced corn plant that thrives in high-pH
 soils. That could expand the Corn Belt west through arid regions of
 Kansas and Nebraska and into Colorado, where corn plants often wither in
 the alkaline fields.

 Seed research is being conducted at laboratories surrounded by corn and
 soybean test plots across the Midwest. Advances in genetic manipulation
 now allow genetically altered seeds to be developed in three to four
 years, about half the time required a few years ago.

 The biggest initial hit is the Roundup Ready soybean. The seed allows
 farmers to freely apply Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller to their fields so
 that soybean plants are the only green things left standing.

Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 09:26:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: CathieWay@aol.com
To: alathome@clark.net
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Posting Subscription Options is a GOOD Thing   :^)
Message-ID: <970904092512_18836497@emout15.mail.aol.com>

Dear Allen -

In a message dated 97-09-03 15:59:43 EDT, you write:

> Why constantly repost this?  Well, some people didn't keep the welcome
>  letter.......
>  
I just want you and the entire list to know how WONDERFUL it is that you post
this information regularly.  It saves us all a lot of time in the long run,
and for those who never pay attention to it, i.e., unsubscribing to the
entire list, etc., well..... there's just not much you can do about that,
Allen.

There are so many problems on other lists I'm on that don't consistently post
rules/regulations and subscription offerings.  And the lists reflect it in a
big way.

Hats off to you, Allen!!

Cathie Lynn Lamm 
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 97 08:56:05 UTC
From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Haven Where Pets and Owners Come to Heal
Message-ID: <199709041351.JAA24546@envirolink.org>

(Excerpts from People Magazine, 8-25-97): Ed Lester realizes he isn't
the model pet owner. Homeless for the past 10 years, he drinks heavily
and often sleeps on the street, leaving the scruffy black dog he calls
Chicken to fend for himself. "Sometimes I can't believe he's still
with me when I wake up," admits Lester, 26. "There's this responsibility
thing I haven't really figured out. But I know I have to take care of him."

Luckily for Lester - and for hundreds of other down-and-outers in
Seattle - there is help. In the basement of the city's Union Gospel
Mission, Dr. Stanley Coe, 64, a veterinarian and owner of the local
Elliot Bay Animal Hospital, runs the Doney Memorial Pet Clinic,
maybe the only free medical facility in the nation for pets of the
homeless and indigent. It is open two Saturdays a month and offers
free food, exams, and shots to whoever trots in: The staff of 25
rotating volunteers has treated rabbits, ferrets, pigs, even an iguana
that was suffering from radiator burns.

"You never know what's going to walk in the door," says Coe - but you do
know it will be someone's best friend. "Most of the clients are with
their pets around the clock, so there's tremendous bonding between
them," says Coe. "And I've been amazed since I started this: You almost
never see an animal that's undernourished. They find ways to feed them."

The clinic, which is funded by private donations, "doesn't have running
water, and we don't always have on hand the first choice of drugs that
we need," Coe says.

When he sees an owner like Skye Kahli, a formerly homeless woman who
cried when he ordered blood tests on her cat Misha, he knows he's
helping save pets who are an inspiration to their owners to better their
lives.  "Misha keeps me sane and grounded," says Kahli (who ultimately
learned Misha had a treatable infection.) "In the past, I called
veterinarians for help and they slammed down the phone. But not this
place. They really are angels."



Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 15:31:37 -0400
From: Laura O 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: **ACTION ALERT**
Message-ID: <340F0C99.75B7@activist.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

There seems to be a "fur lover" message board on the internet. The
people on this board DEFINATELY need to be educated. It's going to be
tough since they hate AR's, but we must inform them and try to convince
them not to buy fur products.
-- 
>From Lizza

Please visit my homepages
http://www.con2.com/~catz My personal page.
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/3596 My Anti-Fur Page.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/3707
THANKS!
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 13:51:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mike Markarian 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+animalrights@earthsystems.org,
        en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Hegins: Wounding Rate Highest Ever
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970904165134.2fc7e3fc@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, September 4, 1997

CONTACT: Heidi Prescott, 301-585-2591

PIGEON SHOOT WOUNDING RATE HIGHEST EVER
Other Egregious Acts of Cruelty Documented at Hegins

Today, The Fund for Animals released results of its pigeon shoot monitoring
program at the 1997 Hegins Labor Day pigeon shoot, and reported that
approximately 78 percent of the birds released at the event were not
immediately killed, but rather were wounded. This analysis is the fifth
coordinated effort to document the fate of released birds. The wounding
rates at previous shoots were 58, 70, 77.5, and 77 percent for the 1993,
1994, 1995, and 1996 shoots, respectively.

Investigators monitored 4,154 pigeons released on all seven shooting fields.
This total represents nearly all of the pigeons released at the 1997 shoot,
and is only slightly higher than the 4,124 birds released last year. Only
220 shooters participated, down from 250 in previous years.

Of the 4,154 pigeons released from traps, 540 (13 percent) were killed
immediately by shooters; 2,671 (64 percent) were wounded and then collected
by "trapper boys"; 596 (14 percent) were wounded and either not routinely
collected by "trapper boys" or not collected at all; and 377 (9 percent)
escaped without injury. The 1996 data collectors documented 4.124 released;
566 (14 percent) killed immediately; 2,642 (64 percent) wounded and
collected; 532 (13 percent) wounded and not routinely collected; and 384 (9
percent) not injured.

Documenters reported an increase in "trapper boys" diving on wounded birds,
and one instance of a "trapper boy" strangling a bird to death with his
hands. At least three birds were already dead when the traps were opened.

"This monitoring work indicates that the Hegins pigeon shoot may be the
nation's most extreme example of organized animal cruelty," says Heidi
Prescott, National Director of The Fund for Animals. Year after year there
are literally hundreds of violations of Pennsylvania's animal cruelty law,
yet the Legislature has allowed this wanton abuse to continue."

Throughout the day, Fund volunteers rescued more than 50 wounded birds. The
26 birds who survived were given veterinary treatment and transported to
rehabilitation facilities.

One pigeon shoot spectator has been charged with disorderly conduct for
biting the head off a live bird. Police are investigating other reports of
head bitings, and a report of one man and two children who tore a live bird
into three pieces by pulling on the bird's head and both wings.

# # #

http://www.fund.org

[Ed. note: Thank you to all the volunteers who helped document and gather
this information. It was a horrible experience for all, but it will
ultimately help put an end to pigeon shoots.]

Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 23:38:55 +0200
From: "sa338@blues.uab.es" 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fighting between dogs and pumas in Argentina
Message-ID: <340F2A6F.40F6@blues.uab.es>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

In am Nuria from Barcelona.

I am preparing an article in my homepage about what some argentins
consider "fun", I mean the organised fights of dogs against pumas
(usually captured by leg-hold traps). I will let you know when the
article is ready to read and "see".
Thanks for your concern, for the animals

Nuria   http://www.geocities.com/heartland/Hills/3787
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 17:46:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: NOVENAANN@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: hunters kill 9 geese at lake (PA)
Message-ID: <970904174328_2050066113@emout04.mail.aol.com>

Hunters kill 9 geese at lake 

County tries to reduce the birds polluting waters at Upper Perkiomen 
Park. 

September 4, 1997

By FRANK DEVLIN 
Of The Morning Call 

Hunters thinned a goose population of several hundred by nine Wednesday 
on the first day of the Upper Perkiomen Valley Park hunt, officials 
said.

The first shotgun blasts of the rainy morning came around 6:45 and 
chased most of the park's honking geese from the hunting area along 
Knight Lake. 

For the rest of the morning, shooters hiding in the woods along the 
water had to make do with the occasional goose that ventured back into 
their line of sight.

The 10-day hunt, which continues Friday, is one of several ways 
Montgomery County officials are trying to control the goose population 
at the county-owned park.

The county also has had the birds carted away to other states and has 
shaken their eggs to keep more from hatching.

In recent years, geese have been blamed for coating the park grounds 
with droppings and contaminating the water -- once open to swimmers -- 
with fecal coliform bacteria.

Wildlife Conservation Officer William Vroman of the Pennsylvania Game 
Commission said it was ''too early to tell'' Wednesday whether the hunt 
would make any appreciable difference in the population, which, when 
combined with geese at the nearby Green Lane Reservoir, has been 
estimated at up to 2,000 birds.

Vroman said he was aware of no protesters Wednesday and that only one of 
the park's neighbors in the homes along Route 29 in Green Lane had 
expressed opposition.

''We checked with everyone there to let them know what was going on,'' 
he said. ''The people who were closest didn't seem to have a problem 
with it.'' 

Hunt opponent David J. Cantor of Glenside said he and other opponents 
had sent letters and made phone calls to the county and the Game 
Commission and that an organized protest could be scheduled for another 
day. 

''It's mass murder,'' he said. ''It's not going to solve any problems. 
It's pointless killing.'' 

Cantor said there wasn't a protest Wednesday because animal rights 
activists have focused recently on the Hegins pigeon shoot in Schuylkill 
County.

Vroman said, ''If people want to come here and protest, that's not a 
problem. But we don't want them in the hunting area. My main concern is 
safety.''

Some of the geese shot Wednesday were not killed instantly. After 
falling to the lake they flapped their wings and moved through the water 
before being shot again and killed.

Darlene Cernohorsky of the county Humane Society, who observed the hunt 
from a few hundred yards away, said she was satisfied the geese were not 
suffering too long.

''When they are shot, it's done quickly and humanely,'' she said. 

A park employee in a rowboat retrieved the geese from the water.

The hunt will continue 6-9 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through 
September. Up to 10 hunters a day will particate. They have already been 
selected through a lottery. 
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 17:47:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: NOVENAANN@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Hegins buildings damaged (PA)
Message-ID: <970904174434_-266369343@emout04.mail.aol.com>

Hegins buildings damaged 

Pigeon shoot organizers report vandalism to offices, one home and 50 
vehicles. 

September 4, 1997

By BOB LAYLO 
Of The Morning Call 

State Rep. Robert Allen says he believes animal rights activists 
vandalized his Hegins office because he supports the town's annual pigeon 
shoot.

Allen said three windows in his office were broken between 8:30 and 9:30 
a.m. Monday, shortly after the shoot started. Two were broken with a 
sign, he said, and another was broken by a brick.

Allen, who has said that locals, not protesters, should decide if the 
shoot goes on, won't change his view in the wake of the vandalism.

''Why should a person from outside the state of Pennsylvania be able to 
tell a person what they can do in their local municipality?'' said Allen, 
R-125th District. ''I think it should stay a local issue.''

Allen said his office will continue to keep regular hours.

''I am not going to be moved by somebody threatening me,'' Allen 
said.''It's just going to make me dig my heels in deeper.''

Allen's Hegins office is in a building owned by Robert Tobash, one of 
the shoot's organizers. Tobash's home and office, and about 50 vehicles 
were damaged, including one thatwas set on fire. Police said protesters 
caused the damage.

Allen said he is concerned that the protesters are turning to violent 
tactics.

The building is about 50 feet from where seven protesters chained 
themselves together, shutting down the town's main road.

The seven were charged by state police with obstructing a state highway, 
recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, riot, disorderly 
conduct and conspiracy to block the road.

Charged were Kimberly A. Bernardi, 20, of Astoria, N.Y.; Angela Metler, 
40, of Old Bridge,N.J.; Janelle E. Soto, 19, of Newark, N.J.; Brian J. 
Smith, 23, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Anne S.Crimaudo, 52, of Caldwell, N.J.; 
Christine A. Matyasousky, 20, of Milford, Conn., and Daniel T. Roth, 18, 
of Seldon, N.Y.

Matyasousky, Crimaudo and Metler posted $7,500 of the $75,000 bail and 
are free, Schuylkill County Prison Warden David Kurtz said.

Kurtz said the other four, who have threatened a hunger strike, are 
receiving a special diet because they are strict vegetarians who will not 
eat meat or animal products. He said the prison cook orders the special 
food every year, ''just in case we get anybody in.''

''They're eating, but not a lot,'' Kurtz said.

Kurtz said prison officials will watch their conditions.

The Activist Civil Liberties Committee of Sacramento, Calif., has 
threatened a protest this weekend if any of the activists are still 
jailed. 
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 17:47:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: NOVENAANN@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Judge throws out part of lab's suit against PETA (VA)
Message-ID: <970904174525_-1803335998@emout09.mail.aol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=unknown-8bit


Thursday, September 4, 1997 

Judge throws out part of lab's suit against PETA 

BY BILL GEROUX
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NORFOLK — A federal judge yesterday dismissed part of a New Jersey 
research laboratory's lawsuit against the animal-rights group People for 
the Ethical Treatment of Animals and said the rest of the case may not 
belong in federal court either. 

U.S. District Judge Henry Morgan Jr. gave the plaintiff, Huntingdon Life 
Sciences Inc., five days to bolster its claim that a PETA undercover 
investigation and subsequent publicity campaign against the lab violated 
federal anti-racketeering laws. 

Morgan said he had "serious questions" about the racketeering 
allegations. If Huntingdon cannot convince him, he said, he will dismiss 
another chunk of the lab's case and leave the rest for state courts to 
consider. 

PETA president Ingrid Newkirk called yesterday's ruling a victory and 
suggested Huntingdon's lawsuit was "hanging by a thread." But Stephen 
Poss, a lawyer for the laboratory, said he felt confident PETA 
eventually would pay for its actions, whether in federal or state court. 


The clash began last fall, when an undercover investigator for 
Norfolk-based PETA obtained a job cleaning cages at the lab, which uses 
animals to test new products it develops for pharmaceutical companies 
and other clients. The investigator, 30-year-old Michele Rokke, filmed 
activities at the lab with hidden cameras and secretly made photocopies 
of thousands of company documents. 

After she broke cover in the spring, PETA accused Huntingdon of "vile" 
treatment of monkeys and beagles and started a campaign to persuade the 
lab's clients to stop doing business with Huntingdon. Several of the 
lab's major clients have done so. 

Huntingdon contends PETA's claims of animal cruelty at the lab are false 
and misleading. But in suing PETA, Huntingdon has used the same approach 
the Food Lion grocery chain recently used against ABC-TV — challenging 
not the truth of the allegations but the secretive way in which the 
information was obtained. 

In the Food Lion case, a North Carolina jury awarded the grocery chain 
$5.5 million after deciding ABC reporters misrepresented themselves to 
get jobs at the chain's stores. ABC reported that store employees were 
repackaging spoiled meat for sale. 

A federal judge has reduced the award to $315,000, an ABC lawyer said 
last week. 

Huntingdon won the initial rounds in Norfolk federal court as the case 
bounced around among judges. First, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach 
Smith forbade PETA from using any more of the material obtained by Rokke 
until a trial could be held. Then, U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar, 
who was given the case because Smith had a scheduling conflict, ruled 
that Rokke had used fraudulent methods in order to get the job at the 
lab. Doumar said he thought Huntingdon had suffered irreparable harm and 
had a "great" likelihood of success with its lawsuit. 

But last month Doumar bowed out of the case, citing a potential 
conflict, and PETA filed motions to dismiss the case on the grounds the 
federal court lacked jurisdiction. 

Yesterday, Judge Morgan dismissed a claim by Huntingdon that PETA had 
violated the federal Lanham Act, which regulates the claims competing 
businesses can make about one another. Morgan said PETA was not a 
competitor of Huntingdon's but a commmentator on its activities. 

Lawyers for Huntingdon argued that PETA violated the Racketeer 
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, more commonly known by the 
acronym RICO. They said the group used secret documents stolen by Rokke 
to contact 200 of Huntingdon's clients and press them to stop doing 
business with the lab and to donate money to labs that don't use animals 
for testing. 

The lab's lawyers also accused PETA of engaging in a long-running 
partnership with like-minded organizations, including the radical Animal 
Liberation Front. 

PETA's lawyers argued that their client did not pressure any businesses 
for donations. They said PETA's only relationship with the Animal 
Liberation Front has been to publicize its activities from time to time. 

Judge Morgan expressed doubts that PETA had engaged in racketeering but 
gave Huntingdon a week to file a new motion to try to strengthen its 
claim. He said he would not hear the rest of the case — including 
charges that Rokke trespassed and breached her employment contract with 
the lab — if he decided the RICO law did not apply. 

If the case remains in Norfolk federal court, it is scheduled for trial 
starting Dec. 8
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 17:53:21 -0700
From: Hillary 
To: ar-views@envirolink.org
Subject: SUE MCCROSKY JAILED
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970904175317.006e9230@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"



>Subject: SUE MCCROSKY JAILED
>
>For Immediate Release
>September 4, 1997
>
>
>Ill Animal Rights Activist Jailed
>For 45 Days For Petty Infraction;
>Vows Hunger Strike Until Freed
>
    >ATLANTA – A 53-year-old animal rights activist with a potentially serious
>hypertension condition has been jailed for 45 days in the DeKalb County Jail
>on a petty offense of picketing scientists who she claims torture and kill
>animals in lab experiments.
>
    >Sue McCrosky was imprisoned late Wednesday by DeKalb Justice Ralph E.
>Merck, who denied Ms McCrosky a jury trial and then sentenced her to 45
>days, just 15 days less than the maximum for violation of a local ordinance
>prohibiting "residential picketing."
>
    >"This sentence is absurd, and the ordinance is, on its face, questionable
>on Constitutional grounds. People have a guaranteed right to peacefully
>assemble," said Cres Vellucci, with Activist Civil Liberties Committee, a
>national defense group based in California.
>
    >Ms McCrosky, although in ill health, announced she would not eat during her
>stay at the DeKalb facility, meaning she would probably be dead long before
>her 45 day sentence was met. She spent just 8 days in jail, far short of a
>4-month sentence, in February when she became extremely ill when DeKalb
>jailers failed to medicate her as proscribed.
>
    >Another Atlanta activist, Jean Barnes, was also convicted of the offense,
>but Ms Barnes posted $300 for the right to appeal the law, and conviction,
>on state and federal constitutional grounds. Ms McCrosky is also appealing
>the law, but Justice Merck sent her to jail, refusing to stay her sentence
>pending appeal without the bond.
>
    >Both Ms Barnes and Ms McCrosky were part of group of peaceful activists who
>went to the home of Yerkes Primate Center Director Thomas Insel in May to
>discuss Yerkes' treatment of animals at the research facility. Only Ms
>Barnes and Ms McCrosky were arrested in the group of roughly 50 people, who
>held signs but were peaceful.
>
    >Ms McCrosky is a member of Atlanta's Animal Abuse Watch, one of the
>sponsors of the April 26 demonstration against Yerkes, where 64 people were
>arrested following the police use of stun grenades and tear gas. That case
>is still pending.
>-30-
>
>Contact: Cres Vellucci (916) 452-7179 or Jean Barnes (770) 719-1241 or (770)
>242-4343
>
>
>Activist Civil Liberties Committee
>PO Box 19515, Sacramento, CA 95819 (916) 452-7179 Fax: (916) 454-6150 
>
>
>
>
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 1997 00:23:44 +0200
From: "sa338@blues.uab.es" 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Anti-bullfighting campaing
Message-ID: <340F34F0.3B6C@blues.uab.es>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

I am Nuria from Barcelona.

An important savings bank promotes bullfighting by selling the tickets!
What amuses me the most is that the director says that the position of
the bank is "neutral"!!!
You can read more about it here  
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/ranch/1231/promote-toros.htm

And please write to him and tell him tht torture is not funny!

cartes.director@lacaixa.es


Thanks for your concern,

Nuria   http://www.geocities.com/heartland/hills/3787
And please write
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 18:33:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: BSVILA@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: Chatahm 3
Message-ID: <970904183242_251109089@emout02.mail.aol.com>

Hi all,

  I wanted to update you all on Hilma.  She will be going to Chatham tomorrow
(Friday) morning and turning herself in at the police station.  At that time
she will be charged with breaking and entering at the "animal death camp" in
Belenheim the weekend prior to our incident.  We have been told by our
attorneys that she will be quickly charged, arrested, arraigned, and then
free to go home.  Hopefully, that is what will happen.  I am asking all of
you to take a moment tomorrow to send her a little bit of your strength
during this time.  She definitely needs your support. I will let you know
what happens as soon as I find out.

                                           Pat Dodson

Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 06:52:10 +0800
From: bunny 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: RCD/RHD deadly rabbit disease news (New Zealand)
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970905063215.301fc578@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Thursday 4th September 1997

FARMERS IMAGE - 
Farmers have been told they need to work to restore
their public image. Government backbencher, and former Associate
Agriculture Minister, Denis Marshall, believes the image of farmers has been
tarnished in the wake of the illegal release of RCD. He says he thinks the
risks of having RCD are minimal and probably less damaging to New
Zealand's clean green image than 1080 poison. But Mr Marshall feels farmers
responded too enthusiastically when the details of the illegal release came to
light and that rubbed off in the media in a negative way.
                     ****
                    
MAF DEFENDS - MAF is defending itself from critics who say the illegal
introduction of RCD caught it unprepared. Federated Farmers' president,
Malcolm Bailey, says there's a widespread view that MAF did not have an
effective strategy in place for the disease's inevitable arrival. MAF's
communications manager, Debbie Gee, points out that it DID have a
contingency plan to contain the disease if it arrived here illegally. But she
says farmers themselves stymied it by actively spreading the virus for weeks
before MAF learned the disease was here. Debbie Gee says that ensured
MAF had no chance of containing the virus.

                     (4.9.97)

                       
                                                       



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

Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148

Email>  rabbit@wantree.com.au

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)

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Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 19:10:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: AnimalNM@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Fwd: Santa Fe bull fight cancelled
Message-ID: <970904190411_809816154@emout15.mail.aol.com>

Santa Fe Bullfight Cancelled
---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj:    Santa Fe bull fight cancelled
Date:    97-09-03 17:06:48 EDT
From:    AnimalNM
To:      ar-news@envirolink.org

Posted on September 3, 1997

Animal Protection of New Mexico, Inc.
(formerly Sangre de Cristo Animal Protection, Inc.)
P.O. Box 11395, Albuquerque, N.M. 87192-0395
(505)-265-2322; fax: (505)-265-2488
AnimalNM@aol.com


For immediate release       Contact:  Elisabeth Jennings
Date: September 3, 1997     (505) 265-2322 from 9am-5pm
            
Tesuque Pueblo and Camel Rock Casino cancel Santa FeBullfights

Albuquerque, NM--The Tribal Council of Tesuque Pueblo decided yesterday to
cancel the planned "Santa Fe Bullfights" scheduled to take place this
Saturday, September 6th at the Santa Fe Rodeo grounds.  The pueblo's Camel
Rock Casino had originally been sponsoring the bullfight, but apparently was
unaware of the cruelty involved in the events.
 
Animal Protection of New Mexico's Executive Director, Elisabeth Jennings,
sent Governor Marvin Herrera a letter last week outlining the cruel and
dangerous nature of the so-called "bloodless bullfights".  The letter
described the way the matadors and even the audience torment the bulls.
 Bulls have had tacks stuck into their backs, chemicals and other irritating
substances sprayed on them or force-fed to them to disorient them, and they
are regularly worked to exhaustion to prolong the shows.  The letter to the
Pueblo also described a tragic incident which occurred in Lowell,
Massachusetts on August 24, 1997, in which a police officer was severely
gored by a bull who had escaped from the ring of a "bloodless bullfight".
 Three other people were injured as well, and the bull was shot dead in the
streets of Lowell.
 
"We are so delighted that the Tesuque Pueblo did not want their pueblo or
their casino associated with the cruelty to animals which is so much a part
of these events," said Elisabeth Jennings.  "Governor Herrera and the Tribal
Council have sent a very strong message of compassion and kindness to the
whole community."
 
A copy of Animal Protection of New Mexico's letter to the Pueblo and a letter
from the Lowell, MA police department recommending against future bullfights
in their community are both attached to this release.



Letter to Tesuque Pueblo from Animal Protection of New Mexico

August 28, 1997

Governor Marvin Herrera
Pueblo of Tesuque
Rt. 5, Box 360-T
Santa Fe, N.M. 87501

Honorable Governor Herrera,

Our organization recently became aware that your Camel Rock Casino is
sponsoring "Santa Fe Bullfights" at the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds on Saturday,
September 6 at 4:00 pm.  

We are very concerned about your sponsorship of such an event, and are
certain you must not be aware of the cruelty to animals involved in even
these so-called "bloodless bullfights".  

New Mexico's state law prohibits the torturing or tormenting of animals, and
the bullfight you are sponsoring will be in violation of those provisions of
our state law.  We have researched these bullfights and have discovered that
they incorporate a variety of cruel activities, depending on who is trying to
conduct them.  For instance, the very nature of any bullfight is to
intentionally torment and tease the bull into a rage.  This is not something
compassionate people would be involved in.  In some locations, the bulls have
had pointed tacks stuck into their flesh, they are worked to exhaustion to
prolong the show, are mistreated by members of the audience, have had
chemicals and powders fed to them or sprayed on them to disorient them, and
the horses sometimes ridden in the ring have been gored by the bull or their
flesh badly ripped by repeated spurring of the riders.  Many people are
concerned that adults and children watching these events will learn that
teasing and tormenting animals is considered "sport".   

In addition to the tremendous cruelty to the animals involved, these events
also pose great risk to public safety.  Just last Sunday in Lowell,
Massachusetts, a bull who escaped from a bullfight ring rampaged down a city
street and repeatedly gored a police officer, severely injuring the officer's
leg.  The bull was shot dead in the street because of the risk to public
safety.  Clearly, these so-called "bloodless" bullfights result in the
shedding of blood of both people and animals.  

In light of the complaints we are receiving and the cruelty of these events,
we would like to respectfully ask you to cancel this event.  I am hoping that
you will not want your casino or your pueblo associated with events like this
which demonstrate disrespect for the animal victims involved, pose a public
safety risk, and create unnecessary problems for officers of the law.  

I understand that this matter will have to be presented before your Tribal
Council, and I would be very happy to further discuss this with you and them.
 Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing back from
you.  

Sincerely yours,




Elisabeth Jennings
Executive Director




Letter to Lowell, MA City Manager from Lowell Police Department


Lowell Police Department
50 Arcand Drive
Lowell, Massachusetts 01852-1096

August 29, 1997

Brian J. Martin
City Manager
375 Merrimack Street
Lowell, MA 01852

Dear Mr. Manager,

The police investigation into the events surrounding the incident involving
the loose bull at Holy Ghost Park on Sunday, August 24, 1997 is substantially
complete.  It is with information garnered from the investigation, in
speaking with the members of the community, and in our review of the history
of the event, that I am recommending you not issue future permits for
"bloodless bull fights" in the City of Lowell.

The Lowell Police Department investigation reveals that conditions at the
site lack proper safeguards to ensure public safety.  The bull was not
properly secured; the pen was either left open or opened by the bull itself,
allowing it to escape from its holding pen and run wild.  Lowell is the only
venue in the Commonwealth allowing for the bull fight exhibitions.  Audience
participants are allowed to enter the rings with the bull after signing a
waiver, notwithstanding their age or experience in dealing with an enraged
bull.  Alcohol is served on the premises, creating the opportunity for
diminished physical and mental acuity.  These conditions only serve to
exacerbate management issues for police.

Four people, including one police officer, were injured on Sunday, August 24,
1997 while present at the exhibition.  Officer Kenneth Shaw was seriously
injured while attempting to limit damage and injury to property and other
individuals.  Officer Shaw will require significant time for recuperation.
 Noel Manual of Lowell suffered from broken ribs while being rammed in the
ring by a second bull after the runaway bull injured Officer Shaw.  Civilians
Frank Perreira of Warren, Rhode Island and Manuel Santos of Peabody,
Massachusetts were also injured.  In their attempts to corral the 1,400-pound
bull running wild and endangering public safety, several officers were forced
to fire shots in an open and public area.  This created yet another danger to
the public, while perhaps saving their own lives.

Representatives of the Portugese Community have expressed displeasure at the
lack of professionalism and management of the event as well as the
distasteful nature of the bullfighting in general.  Others find the
exhibitions an important cultural event.  In balancing the need for cultural
expression against my primary concern for public safety, I still must
recommend a stop to the bull fighting.  The lack of a veterinary doctor at
the scene increases the concern for the animals as well.  The Massachusetts
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other animal rights
groups claim the fight torments the animals and are unusually cruel.

It is clear, based on the investigation, the history of the Lowell event and
its management practices, that a continuation of bull fights in the city,
will seriously compromise the safety of participants, neighborhood residents,
passersby, event personnel, and city police officers placed there to preserve
the public safety.  

Sincerely,



Edward F. Davis, III 




Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 07:48:34 +0800
From: bunny 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: INFLUENZA, BIRD-TO-MAN, FIRST CASE?(Discussion on a new Flu)
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970905072838.187fdfa0@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

WHO (World Health Organisation) CONFIRMS NEW INFLUENZA VIRUS STRAIN IN
HUMANS.  NO PERSON-TO-PERSON TRANSMISSION SO FAR

Here is the discussion on the saga from a medical mailing list I follow.
This shows how easily viruses can jump from animals to humans (and I have read
before that birds can carry diseases from country to country)


INFLUENZA, BIRD-TO-MAN, FIRST CASE?
***********************************


Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 14:01:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Influenza Strain - Hong Kong


The press reported today, Aug.20 1997, that a 3-year-old boy died after
contracting an influenza strain that has never been seen in humans. A
specimen from the boy's trachea was identified as "influenza A of H4N1
strain", which is known to be found mainly in birds.

INFLUENZA, BIRD-TO-MAN, FIRST CASE? (02)
****************************************

Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 09:24:06 -0600

Unfortunately, the press seems to have gotten the facts mixed up a bit. 
The isolate was identified as H5N1 subtype not H4N1 as stated.  The boy
was from mainland China,  but I don't know the specific location.  The
virus was isolated in a human virus laboratory in China.

--
INFLUENZA, BIRD-TO-MAN, FIRST CASE? (03)
****************************************


[see also:
Influenza, bird-to-man, first case?                    970820145405
Influenza, bird-to-man, first case? (02)               970821122042]

Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 14:31:00 +0800



It had been brought to my attention that you were asking for information
concerning the H5N1 isolate of influenza A virus in Hong Kong and the
subsequent reply by Dennis A. Senne.

The Department of Health of Hong Kong Government announced that a 3-year-old
boy was diagnosed to be infected with an influenza A virus of the H5N1
serotype (avian flu strain). The boy subsequently died of complications of
pneumonia and possible Reye's syndrome in May of this year. The virus was
isolated by the Hong Kong Government Department of Health virus laboratory
and found to be not the current circulating influenza viruses in Hong Kong
(H3N2 and H1N1). With the help of WHO reference laboratories and other
independent influenza virus researchers in Europe, the virus was identified
to be an influenza A virus with serotype H5N1.

The patient was a resident of Hong Kong and not from China mainland as
reported. There had been no subsequent influenza A virus serotype H5N1
isolates identified so far and there is no increased influenza activity
locally.

I hope this would clarify some misunderstanding in the news media around the
world.

--
INFLEUNZA, BIRD-TO-MAN, FIRST CASE? (04)
****************************************


Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 13:11:00 -0400


[see
Influenza, bird-to-man, first case?                    970820145405
Influenza, bird-to-man, first case? (02)               970821122042
Influenza, bird-to-man, first case? (03)               970822110317]

Excerpted from FSNET 

According to this story, Hong Kong today intensified an investigation into 
the death of a three-year-old boy, who had contracted a chicken flu virus 
[and also had Reyes syndrome] to ascertain whether there was a risk of a 
dangerous epidemic from a new strain of influenza.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva confirmed the virus had never 
before been found in humans and four experts from the United States flew into 
Hong Kong to help with the probe.

The team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, 
Georgia, were appointed by the WHO to work with Hong Kong experts trying to 
find out how to handle the H5N1 variety of strain A influenza, previously 
found only in poultry.

While Hong Kong alone has almost 200 poultry farms where the disease could 
potentially thrive, new concerns were raised on Friday that efforts to 
monitor and control the virus would have to extend to southern China, a major 
poultry breeding region.

WHO CONFIRMS NEW INFLUENZA VIRUS STRAIN IN HUMANS.  NO
PERSON-TO-PERSON 
TRANSMISSION SO FAR

An influenza virus  - type A(H5N1) - known previously to infect birds only, 
has been isolated in a 3 year-old boy who died in Hong Kong last May of Reye 
syndrome* during an acute respiratory illness.

However, this is the only case to have been detected so far in a human being. 
 "There is no indication at present that this strain has spread from person 
to person. There is consequently no need for special measures to be taken, as 
of today," confirmed Dr Daniel Lavanchy of the World Health Organization's 
(WHO) Division of Emerging and other Communicable Diseases Surveillance and 
Control (EMC).

WHO is monitoring developments attentively, working in close collaboration 
with the Influenza Centre and the Department of Health in Hong Kong Special 
Administrative Region, with the four WHO Collaborating Centres for Reference 
and Research on Influenza in Atlanta, USA, London, UK, Melbourne, Australia, 
and Tokyo, Japan, and with the National Influenza Centre in the Netherlands.

Although no more instances of type A (H5N1) virus have been isolated from 
humans, efforts are being made to determine whether other persons in Hong 
Kong or other parts of southern China may have been infected with this 
strain. A team of scientists from a WHO Collaborating Centre (the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, USA) arrived in Hong Kong on 
20 August and will conduct an extensive investigation in collaboration with 
the WHO Collaborating Centre at the National Institute of Infectious
Diseases in Tokyo, Japan. They will assist the Influenza Centre and 
Department of Health in Hong Kong in assessing the significance of this 
discovery and its impact for public health.

*  The Reye syndrome, involving the central nervous system and the liver, is 
a rare complication in children who may have ingested salicylates (i.e. 
Aspirin); it occurs mainly in children with influenza type B and less 
frequently in children with influenza type A or chickenpox.

NOTES CONCERNING THIS SERVICE:

The Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) serves as an essential instrument for 
the rapid and accurate dissemination of epidemiological information on cases 
and outbreaks of diseases under the International Health Regulations, other 
communicable diseases of public health importance, including the newly 
emerging or re-emerging infections, non-communicable diseases and other health
problems.  The WER is distributed every Friday in a bilingual English/French 
edition.  The electronic edition is free of charge and can be obtained 
through FTP: ftp.who.ch, user name should be "anonymous", password should be 
your e.mail address.  The WER issues are in the subdirectory /pub/wer, or 
WWW: http://www.who.ch/wer/wer_home.htm
Any queries on subscription to the printed edition should be addressed to: 
World Health Organization, Distribution and Sales, 20 Avenue Appia, CH-1211 
Geneva 27, Fax: (+4122) 791 48 57

**************************************************************************
Date:   Wed, 27 Aug 1997
Source: Wire report, 23 Aug 1997


It has been reported from Hong Kong that the investigation of the flu virus
which caused the death of a Hong Kong boy was being extended into mainland
China, with a team entering Guangdong province this week.  The virus which
is usually found in chickens has also been discovered previously in geese.

Members of the team are CDC influenza epidemioloy chief Keiji Fukuda,
medical epidemiologist Hector Izuriet, epidemic intelligence officer
Catherine Dentinger and virologists Xu Xiyan.

***************************************************************************
EUROSURVEILLANCE WEEKLY UPDATE, AUGUST 28, 1997
***********************************************


Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 14:01:39 +0100
From: EuroWeekly 


Eurosurveillance Weekly has been updated! A big thank you to all our
regular readers who voted us Starting Point's "Hot Site". This week we
report on:

*  From the Editors: Publicising potential problems for the population

*  Risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy from cattle exported from the
United Kingdom

*  St Louis encephalitis - European tourists should beware of mosquitoes in
Florida

*  New influenza virus strain confirmed in human case, but no person to
person transmission identified so far




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

Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148

Email>  rabbit@wantree.com.au

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)

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Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 20:05:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: NOVENAANN@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Tyson foods to buy Hudson Foods
Message-ID: <970904200313_1060308985@emout09.mail.aol.com>

By Patricia Commins
Reuter

CHICAGO (Sept. 4) - Top chicken processor Tyson foods INC agreed to buy
smaller rival Hudson Foods INC, which was recently embroiled in a health
scare over tainted hamburger, in a deal worth about $650 million, the
companies said Thursday.

The deal comes a week after Hudson Foods agreed to sell its only raw
hamburger plant to IBP Inc. following concerns that some meat from the
facility was possibily contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

Now Hudson Foods, the No. 5 U.S. broiler processor with about 5.3 percent
market share, will become part of Tyson, which has the leading share of about
21.7 percent. Both companies are based in Arkansas.

''We've been neighbors and friends with the Hudson people for a long, long
time,'' Tyson Chairman Leland Tollett said on a conference call.

Piper Jaffray brokerage analyst George Dahlman said Tyson had been seeking to
grow both internally and through acquisitions. ''If you looked over the list
of who they were likely to acquire, this is one of the names that came up,''
he added.

Hudson Foods Chairman James ''Red'' Hudson said former Tyson Chairman Don
Tyson first approached him 11 or 12 years ago about a possible acquisition.
''Looking back, I guess it's been five or six times that we've talked about
(a deal),'' Hudson told a conference call.

Both companies signed a definitive merger agreement, calling for Hudson stock
to be exchanged for $8.40 a share in cash and six-tenths of a share of Tyson
common stock. Company officials said the deal was worth about $650 million.

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. analyst Leonard Teitelbaum said the acquisition will
add to Tyson's earnings immediately. He called the deal favorable to both
parties, although the value was at the ''bottom end'' of what he would
consider a fair price for Hudson Foods.

Hudson Foods' stock climbed $3.875 to $21.06 in consolidated afternoon
trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Tyson rose $1.875 to $23.25 on
Nasdaq.

After the merger, Tyson will review all the product lines and brands offered
by the poultry companies. ''We will use the ones and market the ones that are
advantageous to us going forward,'' Tollett said.

Hudson Foods' brands include ''Hudson,'' ''Delightful Farms,'' ''Pierre'' and
''Schweigert.''

By acquiring Hudson Foods, Tyson not only gains a larger share of the chicken
industry, it also expands its poultry operations into turkey.

>From a customer standpoint, Tyson and Hudson Foods have been competing in
many arenas, including as suppliers for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Sam's Club
warehouse outlet and restaurant chains McDonald's Corp. and Boston Market,
Dahlman of Piper Jaffray said.

''This will allow their customers to be serviced well,'' Dahlman added.

Hudson Foods is exiting the raw hamburger business with the planned sale of
its Columbus, Neb., plant to meat processor IBP Inc. The deal is expected to
close in several weeks.

Hudson Foods voluntarily shut the Columbus plant and recalled hamburger
produced there since early June due to concerns about possible E. coli
bacteria contamination. Hudson's plant was investigated by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture after health officials linked the beef and the
microbe to about 16 cases of illness in Colorado in July.

''That beef plant was an unfortunate situation,'' Hudson said. ''We still
don't know where that product came from that created this problem ...''
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 08:19:58 +0800
From: bunny 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: E. COLI, AMERICAN MEAT INSTITUTE UPDATE
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970905080001.18871fde@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

E. COLI, AMERICAN MEAT INSTITUTE UPDATE
***************************************
[See E. coli O157; ground meat recall extended - USA (02)   970815164641]

Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 13:33:00 -0400

Source: American Meat Institute

AMI represents the interests of packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb,
veal and turkey products and their suppliers throughout North America.

In recent years this pathogen has triggered foodborne illness outbreaks
carried by foods as diverse as unpasteurized apple juice, alfalfa sprouts,
ground beef and strawberries.

1. E. coli 0157:H7 Is Rare

"We have learned many things about this bacteria and how to prevent it,"
said American Meat Institute (AMI) President J. Patrick Boyle. "First, it
is quite rare -- only 0.2 percent of beef carcasses test positive for it,
according to USDA. And of more than 14,000 random ground beef samples
tested by USDA over the past three years, only seven have been positive for
E. coli 0157:H7 -- an incidence of less than one-tenth of one percent
[0.05% to be exact, with an incidence 1/5 of this in the finished patties.
Obviously mixing dilution is responsible for the reduction. -- RAL]," he
stated. But its rarity is both a blessing and a curse, Boyle said: a
blessing, because it is not as common as other foodborne pathogens; a
curse, because it is so rare that it is very difficult to find through
product testing.

 New In-plant Technologies Destroy Pathogens

"Second, in recent years we have developed new techniques in our processing
plants to destroy pathogens," Boyle said. Blasting beef carcasses with
superheated steam, for example, reduces E. coli 0157:H7  Rinsing beef
carcasses with hot water and acidic solutions also reduces pathogens.
Irradiation has also been proven effective in destroying E. coli 0157:H7 in
ground beef patties.

2. New Pathogen Reduction/HACCP Rule Helps Prevent Contamination

A third way to help prevent pathogens  from contaminating food is the use
of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems. The Pathogen
Reduction/HACCP Rule  also requires new microbiological monitoring of raw
meat and poultry. The new rule requires industry to test raw carcasses for
generic E. coli (beginning January 1997) and requires USDA to test raw
carcasses and ground meat and poultry for Salmonella (phased in, beginning
January 1998).

3. Micro Testing for E. coli 0157:H7 Useful But Limited

But Boyle noted that testing for a rare bacteria, such as E. coli 0157:H7,
has its limitations. "To find this elusive germ everytime it occurs in food
would require massive testing on a scale that is totally unfeasible," he
said. H

4. Missing Links in the War on E. coli 0157:H7

"Despite the mandatory safe food handling labels introduced in 1994 and
many well-intentioned consumer education efforts, most consumers still do
not know that ground beef must be cooked to 160 degrees to be absolutely
safe," Boyle said. "Consumers and other food preparers are the final link
in the food chain.
Boyle said that industry groups, government agencies and consumer
organizations formed the Partnership for Food Safety Education last year to
address this consumer knowledge gap, and that the Partnership would soon
launch a new, high-impact public health education campaign on safe food
handling.

The final missing link, according to Boyle, is prevention methods for E.
coli 0157:H7 in livestock on the farm. 

5. Useful Statistics

Number of beef carcasses produced annually in the U.S.: 37 million
Average carcass weight: 702 lbs.
Pounds of beef produced annually in the U.S.: 25 billion
Pounds of ground beef produced annually in the U.S.: 7 billion
Annual sales of ground beef: $9 billion
Annual per person consumption of ground beef: 27 lbs.
Incidence of E. coli 0157:H7 on beef carcasses: 0.2%
Average length of time raw ground beef is kept in plants: 48 hours
Average length of time raw ground beef is kept in supermarkets: 48 hours

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

Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148

Email>  rabbit@wantree.com.au

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)

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 jgs  \_/^\_/













Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 08:26:18 +0800
From: bunny 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: CJD (Mad Cow Disease-humans) Eating Squirrel brains link?(USA)
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970905080622.1887117a@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Source: The Lancet, August 30, 1997

A tentative warning against eating squirrel brains was published in a 
Research Letter in this week's issue of The Lancet.  A research team at
the University of Kentucky reported on a possible link between the 
consumption of squirrel [genus _Sciurus_] brains, a practice found in some 
rural parts of the United States, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).  
Spongiform encephalopathies have been reported in a variety of large and small
mammals.  Dietary transmission of prion diseases has been documented
experimentally in animals and in humans who are cannibals.  Several case 
reports have suggested the possibility of transmission of CJD by consumption 
of brains of wild animals.  These observations, together with recent concerns 
about the transmission of a variant of CJD to humans believed to be related 
to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, led these investigators to examine the 
possible association of eating squirrel brains with CJD in rural Kentucky, 
where eating squirrel and other small game is not uncommon.  Joseph Berger, 
Erick Weisman and Beverly Weisman of the University of Kentucky reported on 
five patients, aged between 56 and 78, who had been diagnosed as having CJD.  
All of them reported that they had eaten squirrel brains.  Among 100 people 
of similar age who had no neurological disease, 27 reported eating squirrel 
brains.  A big unanswered question is whether the disease occurs in squirrels.
CDPC Note: How would you diagnose a "mad-squirrel"?

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

Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148

Email>  rabbit@wantree.com.au

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)

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       )6 6(
     >{= Y =}<
      /'-^-'\
     (_)   (_)
      |  .  |
      |     |}
 jgs  \_/^\_/













Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 20:16:53 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Deer Hunts Proposed (MD)
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970904201650.0068822c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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from CNN web page:
---------------------------------
Deer Hunts Proposed

(STATEWIDE) -- The controversy between deer hunters and animal lovers will
come to a head again this fall, as the Department of Natural Resources
proposes a new round of managed deer hunts in Maryland state, county and
other parks This year's hunts begin September 15th with bow hunting in
three areas of Patapsco Valley State Park and runs through January 31st.
Firearm hunts are scheduled in other counties through the end of January.
Animal rights groups are trying to convince the D-N-R to use other
population control methods, such as contraceptive darts. 
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 20:30:19 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: EU To Appeal WTO Decision on Beef
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970904203016.006dd39c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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from AP Wire page:
------------------------------
 09/04/1997 12:16 EST

 EU To Appeal WTO Decision on Beef

 BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union plans on Sept. 25 to appeal
 a World Trade Organization ruling that outlawed the group's ban on
 hormone-treated beef.

 A EU spokesman complained Thursday that the ruling struck at Europe's
 right to set health standards for its citizens.

 ``We have the right to set our own level of protection,'' Gerry Kiely,
 spokesman for the EU's executive commission, told reporters.

 Acting on a complaint from the United States, a WTO panel ruled last
 month that the European ban on growth hormones in cattle is an unfair
 restriction on trade.

 The 15-nation EU has long maintained that beef hormones are harmful, but
 the WTO panel concluded its 1989 ban has no scientific basis and does not
 mesh with current international safety standards on beef.

 EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler criticized the WTO in a speech
 Wednesday, saying it is time to ``reconsider the role of the
 international organizations in setting health standards applicable to
 trade.''

 When the EU banned imports of U.S. beef worth an estimated $100 million,
 Washington retaliated by imposing tariffs worth a similar amount on
 European veal and canned tomatoes.

 Washington dropped the import penalties after seeking the ruling by the
 WTO panel.

 A new WTO panel would have 60 days to 90 days to rule on the EU's
 expected appeal. If the EU loses, it would have to lift its ban or
 compensate the United States for losses resulting from the restrictions.

Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 20:36:24 -0400
From: allen schubert 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) E. Coli Code May Yield New Drugs
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970904203619.006dd39c@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
---------------------------------
 09/04/1997 16:01 EST

 E. Coli Code May Yield New Drugs

 By PAUL RECER
 AP Science Writer

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- E. coli, the bacteria family that prompted the
 nation's largest hamburger recall, has been genetically decoded by
 researchers, who say the discovery could lead to new drugs or even
 vaccines against certain food poisonings.

 A team led by Frederick Blattner, a University of Wisconsin, Madison,
 geneticist, have sequenced and mapped the 4,288 genes contained in the
 4.6 million base pairs of DNA in a common laboratory strain of E. coli.

 Experts said the new map is good news for public health and will be of
 great benefit in the laboratory, where scientists have used E. coli as a
 workhorse of experimentation and biological discovery.

 The University of Wisconsin group beat a Japanese science team by just a
 few days in a years-long race to sequence all the E. coli DNA. A report
 on the new gene map will be published Friday in the journal Science.

 Blattner said the next step is to find what makes some forms of E. coli
 deadly while other strains are harmless or even beneficial to digestion.

 ``The E. coli genome we have sequenced,'' said Blattner, ``is closely
 related to 0157, the E. coli that kills people.''

 Hamburger contaminated by 0157 sickened people in Colorado and led to the
 recall of 25 million pounds of meat, the largest such recall ever.

 Hudson Foods Inc. had to shut down some meat-packing plants and the firm
 announced Thursday that it was being bought by Tyson Foods Inc.

 Forms of E. coli contamination in apple juice, lettuce and fruit also
 have been blamed in recent years for outbreaks of infection.

 Now that his team has completed the E. coli gene map, Blattner said,
 ``one of the first things we will do is a comparison with 0157 so we can
 pick out the genes that are responsible for causing illness.''

 Blattner said the gene map ``is the first big step'' toward developing
 vaccines or drugs against the disease-causing strains of E. coli.

 ``The ability to attach to cells in the intestine and then express toxins
 is controlled by some genes that we don't know yet, but this map puts us
 on the trail,'' he said.

 Harmful types of E. coli, such as 0157, put out highly destructive toxins
 that poison healthy cells. The infection can kill elderly or the very
 young. Some patients who survive develop kidney failure or brain damage.
 Urinary infections and attacks of diarrhea are frequently caused by
 strains of E. coli.

 ``This is a significant achievement because it sets the stage for new
 therapies against pathogenic forms of E. coli,'' said Dr. Dennis Lang, a
 researcher at the National Institutes of Health.

 With the map, Lang said, researchers should be able to quickly find the
 genes that cause other forms of E. coli to be deadly.

 ``It like having a book written now and all we have to look for is the
 differences in letters,'' said Lang. Before the gene map was completed,
 researchers had to check each of the 4.6 million pairs of DNA molecules
 to find the ones that cause disease.

 E. coli is more formally known as Escherichia coli, named for Theodor
 Escherich, a German bacteriologist who first isolated it 111 years ago.

 The benign form of the bacterium lives in the human gut where it is
 essential for proper digestion.

 But it is in the laboratory where this simple microbe has been a star.

 Thousands of experiments with E. coli have helped generations of
 scientists learn how cells live, die, multiply and genetically change.
 Since the 1930s, E. coli has been considered ideal for such fundamental
 research because it is easy to keep alive, grows rapidly and it can be
 genetically manipulated.

 The microbe also can be easily infected with viruses, and much of what is
 now known about HIV and other viruses can be traced to early lab work
 with E. coli.

Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 21:33:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: Marisul@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) NYC Bar Ass'n Conference on Animals and the Law
Message-ID: <970904210323_959661235@emout13.mail.aol.com>

The Association of the Bar of the City of New York's Committee on Legal
Issues Pertaining to Animals will present its Third Annual Conference on
Animals and the Law on Saturday, September 27, 1997 from 9 am to 5:30 pm.
 The Association is at 42 West 44th Street in Manhattan, between 5th and 6th
Avenues.  The fee for the program is $10 for students and members of the Bar
Association and $15 for all others.

Topic: "A day long conference on legal issues pertaining to wildlife,
recognizing that New York State parklands are the largest center for wildlife
preservation available in the Eastern United Sates and addressing the
interaction of wildlife and humans in the urban and suburban New York
environment"
Schedule:
9 am         "Welcome and Introduction" / Jill Mariani, Assistant District
Attorney, New York County; Chair, Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to
Animals
9:15 am     Nicholas Robinson, Professor, Pace University School of Law
9:45 am     Lisa Weisberg, Vice President of Government Affairs, ASPCA
10:15 am   Break
10:30 am   "Reintroduction of the Wolf Into New York State" / Panel Moderator
- Lawrence Levinson / Panelists -- Nina Fascione, Northeast Wolf Recovery
Coordinator for Defenders of Wildlife; Robert Insleman, New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation; Ed Bangs, Fish & Wildlife Service,
United States Department of the Interior
12 noon     Lunch (on your own)
1 pm         "International Controls Over Wildlife" / David Favre, Michigan
State University, Detroit School of Law
2 pm         "Defense of the Wetlands -- Riparian Rights" / Kevin Cleary,
Assistant United States Attorney, Eastern District of New York
2:45 pm     Break
3 pm         "Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation" / Panel Moderator - Jill
Mariani / Panelists - Frank Nass and Barbara Buscareno, Wildlife
Rehabilitation Center of Long Island; Yvonne Wallace Blane, Fellow Mortals,
Inc.
4 pm          Break
4:15 pm     "Wildlife in Suburban/Urbanized Areas" / Panel Moderator - Jill
Mariani / Panelists - Peter Muller, Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting;
Priscilla Cohn, Professor, Pennsylvania State University; Dr. Allen Rutberg,
Humane Society of the United States

For further information please call the Meetings Services Department at the
Association at 212 382-6600.
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 09:56:10 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (CN) Step closer to test-tube pandas
Message-ID: <199709050156.JAA18854@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Friday  September 5  1997

     Step closer to test-tube pandas
     AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

     Scientists yesterday announced a breakthrough in efforts to produce the
world's first     test-tube panda, which could save the species from extinction.

     The Chengdu Panda Genetic and Embryo Engineering Lab revealed it had
carried out     the first external artificial insemination experiment on a
giant panda.

     On August 4, researchers removed an ovary from a 17-year-old giant
panda which     had died from an unspecified illness, the Xinhua news agency
said.
They separated eggs from the ovary and fertilised them with sperm after the
maturation     period.

     Only 10 per cent of pandas are believed to mate naturally, a key reason
why their     survival is endangered.


Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 22:33:30 -0400
From: Wyandotte Animal Group 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Hegins 8: 4 still in jail
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970905023330.4ee712de@mail.heritage.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="=====================_873452010==_"

from No Compromise web site
http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/nocompromise/


Hegins Massacre '97 Updates (Day 3)
September 3, 1997 -- 2:26am EST



Anne Crimaudo and Angi Metler have been bailed out of jail.  The hungerstrikers who remain in
custody are Kim Berardi, Mike Smith, Dan Roth, and Janelle Soto. 
 
10 people in JIHAD in Orange County, California are on a sympathetic hunger strike. 
 


New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance has started a fund to help cover the legal costs for the
freedom fighters arrested at Hegins.  Please send as generous a donation as you can to: 
 
 

NJARA (earmark "for Hegins defense") 

PO Box 174 

Englishtown, NJ 07726  
 

No Compromise would like to applaud all of the activists who protested the massacre in Hegins
this past weekend.  To the lock-downers, the rebel-rousers (including window-smashers,
car-burners, paint-throwers, etc.), the bird-rescuers and the jail-supporters you are loved,
acknowledged, appreciated and respected.  You all rock and No Compromise salutes you!! 
 
Stay tuned for more updates still to come!! 
 
 

Jason Alley
Wyandotte Animal Group
wag@heritage.com
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