AR-NEWS Digest 614

Topics covered in this issue include:

  1) Bright future
     by Andrew Gach 
  2) The Ideal Crew Member
     by Andrew Gach 
  3) Child of the Year chosen for her campaign for the Bengal tiger
     by Vadivu Govind 
  4) Cattle cartilage to join shark cartilage in "war on cancer"
     by Vadivu Govind 
  5) (Aust)Visitors warned over dengue virus 
     by bunny 
  6) Rabies-Nigeria/ Diseased salmon-Canada
     by bunny 
  7) BSE France and UK / BSE Susceptible Transgenic mice USA
     by bunny 
  8) (US) VA RFI vivisection labs
     by Bob Smith 
  9) California woman takes geese home for dinner
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 10) 1997 a terrible year for animals, better news in USA
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 11) Urine bypasses needed to "milk" animals for proteins
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 12) Hong Kong scrubs down poultry markets
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 13) Circus loses license over elephant's death
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 14) Israeli dies of rabies, 3rd in 1997
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 15) New Test for Mad Cow Disease touted
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 16) HK stops importing China chickens on fears of "bird flu"
     by Vegetarian Resource Center 
 17) Treatment of dogs in China
     by jwed 
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 21:13:20 -0800
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Bright future
Message-ID: <34A1EB70.2513@worldnet.att.net>
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In effort to 'milk' animals for proteins, scientists see need for urine
bypasses

Reuters 
WASHINGTON (December 24, 1997 6:36 p.m. EST)

Polly, the cloned sheep that contains human genes, will have to be
milked for the medicinal proteins her body produces. But scientists at
the Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday they had found a more
copious source of bodily fluids -- urine.

Writing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Bob Wall and colleagues at
USDA said they had genetically engineered mice that produce human growth
hormone in their urine.

This could lead, they hope, to herds of genetically engineered animals
that produce useful drugs in the inevitable by-product of any animal --
their waste.

Wall, a staff scientist at USDA's Agricultural Research Service, said he
also hoped the animals could one day be manipulated so their waste was
less polluting.

"The single biggest problem in animal agriculture right now is waste
management," he said in an interview.

"We might be able to identify a protein we can express in urine that
helps reduce the impact of animal waste on the environment."

But, he added, "So far we have been unable to identify such a molecule."

Such a development could have the effect of making a problem into a
solution. Animal waste from intensive factory farms is blamed for the
blooms of toxic Pfiesteria, a water-borne organism that kills fish and
may make people sick when they come into contact with it.

Wall said the technology only recently became possible, when researchers
at New York University discovered a gene that is expressed only in the
lining of the bladder.

Wall's group took this gene, known as uroplakin, and replaced part of it
with the gene for human growth hormone. They chose this hormone because
it is easy to track.

The gene was still "specific" for the bladder but also caused many of
the mice to produce human growth hormone.

Like all genetic engineering technology, it is hit and miss and not all
the mice "expressed" the gene and not all produced the hormone, Wall
said.

But it worked well enough. Wall said he thought the approach could
eventually be better than current techniques that aim at milk. For
instance Polly, who was born in July, should produce a human blood
clotting product, Factor IX, that is used to treat people with
hemophilia.

There are two problems with the milk approach. First, only female
animals can be used. Second, breeders do not even know if they are
producing the required product in their milk until they are old enough
to be mated, produce a baby and be milked.

This can take years.

But urine is produced by all animals and very early in life, Wall said.
"If you've ever changed diapers you know that," he said.

He also hoped it would be easier to purify proteins from urine, which is
basically salt water, than milk.

By MAGGIE FOX, Reuters health and science correspondent
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 21:14:27 -0800
From: Andrew Gach 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: The Ideal Crew Member
Message-ID: <34A1EBB3.5DF9@worldnet.att.net>
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Mir's crew gets amphibious help

The Associated Press 
MOSCOW (December 24, 1997 1:42 p.m. EST) 

It's the ideal crew member for the Mir space station -- it never
complains, can go months without food and has previous experience in
space. It's a four-year-old newt.

The amphibian, now in its third stint on Mir, arrived on a cargo ship
this week along with eight other newts and 120 snails, the ITAR-Tass
news agency reported Wednesday.

The newt's space experience dates to 1995. ITAR-Tass said scientists
want to know whether the newt has retained some skills from its previous
space missions, and whether it accommodates to space flight faster than
its inexperienced peers.

The Mir's Russian-American crew plans to film the amphibians and snails
to study their movement in weightlessness, said Givi Gargiladze, a
researcher with the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems.

The newts will go without food until returning to Earth in February --
to a feast of mosquito grubs
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 14:34:12 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Child of the Year chosen for her campaign for the Bengal tiger
Message-ID: <199712250634.OAA28089@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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>The Straits Times
25 Dec 97

... AND CHILD OF THE YEAR: Readers of a French children's magazine, Mon
     Quotidien, picked a 16-year-old British girl, Jenny Osgood, as the
magazine's "Child of the Year" for her campaign on behalf of the Bengal tiger. 


Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 14:34:29 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Cattle cartilage to join shark cartilage in "war on cancer"
Message-ID: <199712250634.OAA24257@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
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>CNA Daily English News Wire

AUSSIE SCIENTISTS DISCOVER COWS ABLE TO JOIN SHARKS IN WAR ON  CANCER 

Canberra, Dec. 23 (CNA) Australian scientists have discovered cattle
cartilage containing
substances similar to those with cancer-fighting properties in shark cartilage. 

The scientists now working for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization
(CSIRO) hope that an anti-cancer extract from cattle cartilage will provide
a significant financial
boost to the depressed cattle industry in Australia and relieve the heavy
pressure on the shark
population. 

The Australian daily on Tuesday quoted team leader Greg Harper as saying
that the work began
with the interest of Brisbane-based companies in commercializing shark
cartilage. 

"Sharks are in short supply. Our concern is that it is not a sustainable
resource with the number of
sharks being taken, and the sheer magnitude of this market in the United
States. It is already big in
Asia. We are looking to take advantage of cattle cartilage, which is already
there in large amounts,
and to try and commercialize that," Harper said. 

He said there was "enough evidence in the United States, China and Europe of
the efficacy of
cartilage" in combating cancer. 

Cartilage, which is found on the tips of ribs and the sternum, in joints and
the ears and nose, has
neither nerves, blood vessels or a lymphatic system. It inhibits the growth
of blood vessels. 

"It stops the supply of nutrients through to a tumor and inhibits migration
of that tumor back out,"
Harper said. 
He said overseas research had demonstrated that certain extracts of shark
cartilage, injected into
tumors, caused them to regress. 

"It appears from international research that those activities exist in
bovine cartilage but they need to
be extracted and enriched," he said. 

Harper and a Chinese colleague are working to find the active components,
the glycosaminoglycans
or GAGs, "to identify what the best bovine sources are, and what process we
need to go through to
enrich but not destroy the activity." 

He said the discovery will benefit Australia because the market for shark
cartilage in the United
States alone is worth more than A$1 billion a year. The shark cartilage
sells for up to A$500 per
kilogram in the United States. 

He said in Australia, cattle cartilage is virtually thrown away, used in the
manufacture of
blood-and-bone fertilizer. 

CSIRO Tropical Agriculture chief Elizabeth Heij said the research has the
potential to turn a
common, low-value product into a "very high-value product. The human
benefits are quite large."
(By Peter Chen) 

Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 18:15:59 +0800
From: bunny 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (Aust)Visitors warned over dengue virus 
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19971225180904.2947cf86@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Wednesday, December 24, 1997

Sydney Morning herald

     Visitors warned over dengue virus 

     By GREG ROBERTS

     Medical authorities have warned visitors to far north Queensland to
take precautions against mosquitoes after an
     outbreak of a potentially fatal strain of dengue fever in Cairns.

     Of 23 cases recently confirmed in the city, 22 belong to the virulent
type three dengue virus. Another 12 people
     have been reported with suspected dengue fever.

     Authorities are particularly concerned because type three dengue can
cause potentially lethal hemorrhagic fever in
     people who were previously exposed to another dengue type.

     Hemorrhagic fever can cause death from shock following massive bleeding
from various body parts and plasma
     leaking from blood.

     Seven of the 22 people with type three dengue are in hospital, compared
with seven of 200 people with the
     milder type two dengue who were admitted to hospital during an outbreak
in the Torres Strait last year.

     "This is a particularly hot strain of dengue virus," said Dr Scott
Ritchie, the medical entomologist with the Tropical
     Public Health Unit in Cairns.

     More than 2,000 people are believed to have contracted dengue type two
in Townsville, Charters Towers, the
     Torres Strait and other parts of north Queensland since 1992. 

     Dr Ritchie said he was particularly concerned about the vulnerability
of previously infected Torres Strait
     islanders.

     Dengue type three is a big killer in parts of South-East Asia, where
dengue fever is much more common than in
     Australia.

     The outbreak is believed to have started in a backpackers' hostel near
the Cairns Esplanade. A vase inspected in
     another hostel late last week contained dengue mosquito larvae.

     Nine of the 22 victims were visitors to Cairns. Three were backpackers
who have been traced to towns south of
     Cairns. All 22 are believed to have contracted the virus in a small
area immediately north of the city centre.

     Dr Ritchie said the dengue vector was the "cockroach of mosquitoes",
secreting itself in dark places indoors.

     He said an intensive mosquito control program had been implemented.

     "We hope we have confined it to the focal area near the city and that
it will dwindle away," he said, but "what
     you hope and what happens may not be the same thing".

     The dengue mosquito does not occur south of the central Queensland coast.

     Dengue viruses infect up to 100 million people annually in the world's
tropical and subtropical regions, says the
     Australian Society for Microbiology. 

     The infection is most often spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and
has been reported in Australia for more
     than 120 years, with the most recent outbreaks occurring in northern
Queensland in 1981-82 and 1991-93.

     An outbreak which occurred on several Torres Strait islands in late
1996 spread to Cairns this year.

     ABOUT THE FEVER 

     Dengue fever is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
     Symptoms include fever, acute headaches, dehydration, rashes and
assorted aches and pains.
     The fever usually lasts between one and two weeks
     Basic precautions, such as liberally applying insect repellent and
wearing long sleeves and trousers, should be
     taken to prevent being bitten.

========================================================
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)

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

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
 - Voltaire








Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 21:56:46 +0800
From: bunny 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Rabies-Nigeria/ Diseased salmon-Canada
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19971225214941.3fefc68e@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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RABIES, HUMAN FATALITIES - NIGERIA
**********************************

Date:   Fri, 19 Dec 1997

Source: National Concord, 18 Dec 1997


An outbreak of rabies has claimed the lives of 10 persons in Delta State.
The total number of hospitalized patients is uncertain.  The spokesperson
for the state agricultural ministry said that more than 1,500 does of rabies
vaccine have been distributed in affected areas.  Delta State is home to one
of Nigeria's 4 petroleum refineries and to a major Shell Oil operations center.

HEMORRHAGIC KIDNEY SYNDROME, ATLANTIC SALMON - CANADA
*****************************************************


Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 15:45:11 -0500

Source: Office International des Epizooties, Disease Information, Vol. 10 No. 50


Today's edition of the OIE Diseasse Information includes information on a
newly named syndrome in farmed Atlantic salmon _Salmo salar_ from Dr N.G.
Willis, Director General of the Animal and Plant Health Directorate,
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa:

Nature of diagnosis: histopathological.

Date of initial detection of animal health incident: Summer 1996.

Estimated date of first infection: Spring 1996?

Location                                No. of outbreaks
New Brunswick Bay of Fundy area         21 of the 80 sites (125 net pens)
checked in the area
(in the eastern part of the country)

Description of affected population: farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).

Salmon farmers have experienced variable and occasionally heavy losses. Cage
mortality rates have varied from site to site between 0.01% per week to 1%
per day. Until August 1997, only the pre-market classes (fish larger than
about 1 kg) were ever identified with the syndrome. August 1997 marks the
first suspicion of mortality associated with the syndrome in smolt year
class (approx. 300- to 400-gram fish).

Diagnosis:

Early clinical signs include the appearance of slow swimming fish near the
surface and lethargic fish near the bottom of marine cages.Internal findings
include kidney hemorrhages. Dead fish may also show signs of bleeding around
the fins, eyes and belly.

The disease responsible has been tentatively named "haemorrhagic kidney
syndrome" (HKS).

Until recently, although the aetiological agent was unknown, viral aetiology
was suspected. In September 1997, kidney samples of HKS-positive fish
produced a cytopathic effect on the SHK(1) cell line. The latter was
developed in Norway for the isolation and culture of the infectious salmon
anaemia (ISA) virus. The ISA virus was confirmed at the Central Veterinary
Laboratory, Oslo, Norway.

Based on the cytopathic effect obtained on the SHK cell line and
confirmation by RT-PCR(2), the ISA virus was recently confirmed in seven
HKS-positive sites. Work is continuing on other infectious agents possibly
involved with this syndrome.

A formal survey has been initiated to correlate the presence of the ISA
virus with HKS-positive sites.

(1) salmon head kidney  (anterior kidney)

(2) reverse transcriptase - polymerase chain reaction.

Epidemiology: the syndrome has only been found in marine cages. Although no
freshwater facilities (hatcheries) have been checked, there are no reports
of HKS in such facilities. Epidemiological studies have been initiated to
examine the risk factors. The Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans
(DFO) will also conduct surveys to determine if HKS is present in wild
salmon and other marine species. 

Control measures during reporting period: 

This syndrome does not pose a risk to human health. All cultured salmon
harvested in the Bay of Fundy are processed according to and meet Canadian
Food Inspection Agency standards. Dead or dying fish are not sold for human
consumption; they are composted or disposed of in other acceptable ways.

The following actions minimise the risk of spreading the syndrome to other
areas:

- Restricted movement between sites.
- Strict site disinfection procedures, and waste water disinfection at
processing plants.
- Voluntary early harvest of fish at risk of developing HKS.

A Special Advisory Committee for HKS was formed by the New Brunswick
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture to coordinate activities to address
this problem. The Committee consists of representatives of the DFO, the New
Brunswick Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, private veterinarians and
industry.

In addition, an HKS Steering Committee established by the aquaculture
industry is operating at the working level to make progress in the areas of
surveillance, containment (at the farm and regional level), research,
regulation, human health, and communication. The federal government is
represented on this committee as is the provincial government, universities,
private veterinarians, and the industry.
========================================================
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)

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

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
 - Voltaire








Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 22:01:26 +0800
From: bunny 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: BSE France and UK / BSE Susceptible Transgenic mice USA
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19971225215420.3fefa6d2@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
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BSE - FRANCE 
*****************

Date: 22 Dec 97

Source: FSNET


France has a new case of BSE, the country's 31st since 1990.  It was found
in a herd in the Brittany town of Plonevez du Faou.  The animal was born in
1992, after a 1990 ban was imposed on cattle feed containing ruminant protein. 

The 306 cows in the herd were slaughtered on Sunday and their carcasses
would be incinerated.

BSE - UK: REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
***************************************


Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 08:10:03 GMT

Pending the availability of the on-line Hansard report of yesterday in the
House of Commons, here is a relevant account taken from today's Electronic
Telegraph.

MAFF Minister Dr Jack Cunningham has announced the public enquiry into BSE.
He stated that Lord Justice Phillips had been asked to investigate the
emergence and identification of BSE and the human equivalent,
Creutzfeld-Jakob Disease. 

The inquiry will go back over events during the Callaghan, Thatcher and
Major governments, covering the period from when the disease was first
identified to March 1996, when the former administration announced a link
between eating infected beef and the new variant of CJD.  It has been asked
to report within a year on the adequacy of the response by previous
governments "taking account of the state of knowledge at the time."  It will
look at who knew what when, and whether the public was given enough warning.

Comment: "When the disease was first identified" was April 1985.  However,
inclusion of reference to "the Callaghan government" would take the enquiry
back to include the late 1970s.  Even that is not early enough.  The enquiry
really should go back further to include the early 1960s, to cover the
period when changes to rendering practices
actually began. 


BSE, SUSCEPTIBLE TRANSGENIC MICE DEVELOPED - USA
************************************************


Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 00:20:36 -0500

News Sources


Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 94, Number 26.  A
new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, may
help provide insight into how infectious proteins called prions from cattle
infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) can cause a fatal
neurodegenerative disease, a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, in humans. 

These cases may be due to the consumption of prion-tainted beef products
from infected cattle. It is generally thought that these cattle developed
BSE after ingesting prions contained in meat and bone meal made from the
remains of butchered sheep and cattle. Understanding how prions are
transmitted between species is essential for assessing the impact of Great
Britain's BSE epidemic on human health. But no reliable, specific test for
BSE prions in live animals is currently available.

The article beginning on page 14,279 is the first report of genetically
engineered mice that are highly susceptible to BSE prions and consistently
demonstrate symptoms of the disease in less than 250 days following
exposure. Symptoms can sometimes take years to appear in humans. The
researchers note that these genetically engineered mice now make possible an
accurate determination of BSE prion concentrations in brain and other
tissues, as well as the evaluation of drugs and other medicinal products
derived from cattle-such as collagen and gelatin-for prion contamination.
========================================================
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)

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

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
 - Voltaire








Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 13:45:01 -0800 (PST)
From: Bob Smith 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) VA RFI vivisection labs
Message-ID: <199712252145.NAA05520@igc4.igc.org>

From: "garyt" 
To: 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 15:56:35 -0500

I am writing to you in hope of finding some information that may help me in
locating my dog.  I live in the Linden, Virginia area and my dog was taken
on  December 21st with several other dogs.  I called the authorities and
found to my surprise that this is a common event in rural areas.  It seems
like these heartless people will steal pets to sell to research facilities
in the area or to breeders.  I have been desperately trying to search out
the research areas in the Washington, DC. Vriginia and Maryland area to
find my pet but have not had much luck.  I am hoping that perhaps your
organization could provide a listing of research labs in the area that do
experiments on canines.   She is loved very much by her family and any help
you can give will be greatly appreciated.

God Bless You,
Belinda Tuck
(540)635-4996
garyt@shentel.net

Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 16:24:56 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: California woman takes geese home for dinner
Message-ID: <199712252207.RAA17924@mailnfs0.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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.c The Associated Press  

REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) - Tana Pryor was worried the geese at Ford Park 
might end up as someone's Christmas dinner. 
So she took two home and gave them a holiday meal of their own. 

``I didn't want to see anybody eat them,'' said Mrs. Pryor, 42, 
who often helps stray or abandoned animals. 
``I just got home, put them in the cage I use for barnyard rescues, 
gave them food and water and they were eating and eating and eating.'' 

Police didn't think so kindly of her deed, and threatened to arrest her 
for theft of city property if she didn't give the geese back. 

``They told me I was going to jail,'' Mrs. Pryor said. 
``One of them walked over to my 11-year-old son and said, 
`Does your mom do this a lot?' He said, `Yes.' 

``Then the officer said, `Is your mom going to eat these geese?' 
And my son said, `No. She's a vegetarian.''' 

On Monday, Redlands officials said it was all a misunderstanding. 
Geese and ducks in the parks aren't city property. 

AP-NY-12-24-97 0306EST

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 16:25:27 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: 1997 a terrible year for animals, better news in USA
Message-ID: <199712252207.RAA18225@mailnfs0.tiac.net>
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Elephants, whales and dolphins took hits
in the international arena this year while some animals in the U.S. received
legal protection, reports the Humane Society of the United States, the
nation's largest animal protection organization. 

"Strides were made for animals in 1997," said HSUS President Paul G. Irwin.
"There is a steadily building body of state law that provides legal safeguards
for animals from abuse, neglect, and cruelty. The U.S. is becoming safer for
animals as more state legislatures respond to citizens' interest in protecting
animals." 

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS   

Participants at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in June reduced international
protections for African elephants by downlisting elephant populations of three
southern African countries from Appendix I to Appendix II allowing a regulated
trade in elephant ivory and other elephant products. 

Although whale advocates at the 49th annual International Whaling Conference
in Monaco blocked the most harmful proposals to liberalize the killing of
whales, Japan and Norway will continue to engage in commercial whaling
activities. Left in doubt was a proposal advanced by the U.S. to allow the
Makah tribe in Washington state to kill four gray whales even though whale
killing has not been practiced by the Makah in more than 70 years. Among the
victories at the conference was a hard-won agreement by Japan to halt the use
of the cruel electric lance. 

Elephants in South Africa's Kruger National Park were saved from slaughter as
a new elephant immunocontraception and research program progressed in 1997.
With human encroachment imminent, over 300 elephants were contracepted to
stabilize the elephant population at 7,500. 

U.S. CONGRESS HARSH ON ANIMALS   

Though the U.S. Senate passed a similar amendment, the House of
Representatives failed to approve an amendment to the Foreign Operations
Appropriations bill that would have barred taxpayer dollars from going to
directly support or promote trophy hunting of African elephants or
international trade in ivory or rhino horn. An HSUS poll, conducted by
Penn+Schoen, found that more than 84% of Americans oppose elephant trophy
hunting and the ivory trade. 

The U.S. Senate voted in favor of a "compromise" measure on tuna import laws.
The legislation gave commercial tuna fishermen who chase and harass dolphins
immediate access to the U.S. tuna market and offers the prospect of a change
in "dolphin-safe" label standards in the United States in less than two years.
The "compromise" called for the Commerce Department to study the effects of
chasing dolphins and encircling them with nets to catch the tuna that swim
below. If by March 1999 researchers find that encircling dolphins has not
caused a "significant adverse impact" on dolphin populations, the tuna caught
by this method could be sold under the "dolphin safe" label. But HSUS Marine
Mammal Scientist Naomi Rose, Ph.D. says that three years would be the minimum
amount of time needed to detect a population trend. 

U.S. HIGHLIGHTS   

In April an HSUS investigation revealed regulations designed to protect sea
turtles were being ignored by Texas shrimpers. The National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) responded to the announcement of findings with stepped up
monitoring of the use of turtle saving devices. 

Also in April NASA agreed to end its primate research on the Bion 12 mission.
The HSUS and other animal protection groups had charged that proposed
experiments were cruel, repetitive and unnecessary. 

Animal protection organizations had their most impressive victories at the
state level during 1997.  Over forty state laws were enacted to provide new or
stronger protection for animals. Seventeen states passed significant
legislation favorable to animals.  Ten states (TX, RI, CO, NJ, NY, LA, MS, OR,
NY, NE) changed their statutes to allow for stronger penalties or more
effective enforcement of basic animal cruelty statues. Two states (NC, CA)
strengthened their animal fighting laws. Two new states passed lemon laws (AZ,
PA) that provide anyone who purchases a sick animal be reimbursed for a
portion of the veterinarian bills. The new laws encourage retail stores to buy
healthy animals thereby reducing the sale of dogs from substandard puppy-
mills.  Humane euthanasia of nuisance wildlife legislation passed in
Connecticut. Keeping wild animals in captivity will be much more closely
regulated under a new Mississippi law.  Thanks to a new law, Oklahoma animal
shelters no longer have to turn animals over for research purposes. A
constitutional right to hunt and fish in Minnesota failed to pass. A bill to
allow the inhumane killing of snapping turtles was vetoed by Maryland's
governor and a substantial government subsidy to the racing industry was
defeated in Oregon. 

Students in Maryland and Rhode Island were given greater opportunities to
learn without having to dissect animals thanks to two new state laws. In
addition to the new laws, efforts to end painful experimentation on live
animals in microbiology labs at Ohio State University paid off. Rabbits that
had been scheduled for harmful injections, slow bleeding and death were
spared. The lab project that used the rabbits was eliminated after pressure to
use humane alternatives was accepted. 

Two more states -Texas and Connecticut -- created special license plates to
enhance public awareness of animal issues in 1997, bringing the total number
of state animal license plate programs to six.  A similar license plate
program, which began in 1996, has netted New York State almost $1 million in
revenues. 

In September, The HSUS released study results showing that almost one third of
animal cruelty incidents reviewed also involved violent crimes against people.
Those findings were part of  a new program called First Strike! which will
bring together experts in law enforcement, social work, education, child
abuse, domestic violence, and animal protection to increase awareness of the
connection between animal cruelty and human violence. 

In November, 280 Canada geese scheduled for slaughter by the state of
Minnesota because they were considered "nuisance animals" were rescued and
relocated to Oklahoma. The HSUS successfully sued the state and an eight-
member HSUS team oversaw their relocation to a Choctaw Indian reservation in
Oklahoma. 

The USDA revoked the license of King Royal Circus in December and levied a
$200,000 fine after African elephant Heather was found dead in a crowded
trailer parked in Albuquerque, New Mexico. USDA charged King Royal Circus with
providing improper vet care and improper diet, using life-threatening
transport methods and for neglecting and abusing performing animals. 

In Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio
immunocontraception of deer was used successfully in programs designed to deal
humanely with deer populations. But government-sanctioned deer kills took
place across the country in mistaken attempts to 'control' deer as the human
population rapidly encroaches on wildlife habitat. 

A cat killing spree in March brought the little town of Fairfield, Iowa, into
the national spotlight in November and December when two men were convicted of
breaking into an animal shelter and bludgeoning 23 cats and kittens with
baseball bats. Sixteen cats died in the attack. Two assailants were sentenced
to four years in the state penitentiary and 23 days in county jail.  The four
year prison sentence was suspended by Judge Daniel P. Wilson pending the young
men's successful completion of three years probation that includes mandatory
psychological counseling and participation in a youthful offenders program.
Iowa state legislators will consider a new felony animal- cruelty law in 1998.

SOURCE  Humane Society of the United States   
CO:  Humane Society of the United States 
ST:  District of Columbia 
IN: 
SU: 
12/24/97 14:56 EST http://www.prnewswire.com

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 16:25:16 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: Urine bypasses needed to "milk" animals for proteins
Message-ID: <199712252207.RAA15180@mailnfs0.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent 

WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Polly, the cloned sheep that contains human
genes, will have to be milked for the medicinal proteins her body produces. 

But scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday they
had found a more copious source of bodily fluids -- urine. 

Writing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Bob Wall and colleagues at USDA
said they had genetically engineered mice that produce human growth hormone in
their urine. 

This could lead, they hope, to herds of genetically engineered animals that
produce useful drugs in the inevitable by-product of any animal -- their
waste. 

Wall, a staff scientist at USDA's Agricultural Research Service, said he also
hoped the animals could one day be manipulated so their waste was less
polluting. 

``The single biggest problem in animal agriculture right now is waste
management,'' he said in an interview. 

``We might be able to identify a protein we can express in urine that helps
reduce the impact of animal waste on the environment.'' 

But, he added, ``So far we have been unable to identify such a molecule.'' 

Such a development could have the effect of making a problem into a solution.
Animal waste from intensive factory farms is blamed for the blooms of toxic
Pfiesteria, a water-borne organism that kills fish and may make people sick
when they come into contact with it. 

Wall said the technology only recently became possible, when researchers at
New York University discovered a gene that is expressed only in the lining of
the bladder. 

Wall's group took this gene, known as uroplakin, and replaced part of it with
the gene for human growth hormone. They chose this hormone because it is easy
to track. 

The gene was still ``specific'' for the bladder but also caused many of the
mice to produce human growth hormone. 

Like all genetic engineering technology, it is hit and miss and not all the
mice ``expressed'' the gene and not all produced the hormone, Wall said. 

But it worked well enough. Wall said he thought the approach could eventually
be better than current techniques that aim at milk. For instance Polly, who
was born in July, should produce a human blood clotting product, Factor IX,
that is used to treat people with hemophilia. 

There are two problems with the milk approach. First, only female animals can
be used. Second, breeders do not even know if they are producing the required
product in their milk until they are old enough to be mated, produce a baby
and be milked. 

This can take years. 

But urine is produced by all animals and very early in life, Wall said. ``If
you've ever changed diapers you know that,'' he said. 

He also hoped it would be easier to purify proteins from urine, which is
basically salt water, than milk. ^REUTERS@ 

16:17 12-24-97

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 16:29:44 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: Hong Kong scrubs down poultry markets
Message-ID: <199712252208.RAA19544@mailnfs0.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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.c The Associated Press  

HONG KONG (AP) - While
chicken buyers stayed away, cleaning teams scrubbed Hong Kong's food markets
Wednesday in a campaign to curb the spread of a bird flu that has killed as
many as four people. 

The government has found three more suspected victims of the virus - a
19-year-old woman in critical condition and two 3-year-olds, a boy and a girl,
in satisfactory condition. 

Nine people have caught the flu and doctors strongly suspect six others are
infected. Three of the confirmed victims and one of the suspected victims have
died. Only two have fully recovered. 

Doctors are unsure how people are contracting the virus, which until this year
only attacked birds. 

Four doctors from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who
arrived earlier this month to help investigate the virus, will stay through
the Christmas holiday, said spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds. 

In the government-run Sham Shui Po food market, cleaning teams sprayed a lime
solution on the floors and scrubbed hard Wednesday, while chicken vendors
watched glumly. 

``We're cleaning up the whole market, also the fish stalls, the vegetable
stalls, the dried goods section,'' said Peter Leung, the district
environmental health chief. 

The cleanup is part of an aggressive new government effort to cut off any
possible source of the A H5N1 virus and restore confidence in the territory's
chicken supply. 

Ng Chi-ping was one of the few who ventured into the darkened and largely
deserted chicken stalls Wednesday at the tiled, three-story market packed with
everything from tomatoes to tofu to pork. 

Ng bought a bag of freshly killed and plucked chicken, saying he would cook
the bird longer than usual, just in case. 

``It's my mother's birthday today and she likes to eat chicken,'' he said,
dangling a bag with trickles of blood visible through the thin plastic. 

Doctors say the virus is killed by heat, making it safe to eat well-cooked
chicken. 

Another element of the government's anti-flu effort, a halt to chicken imports
from mainland China, took effect at midnight Tuesday. About 75,000 chickens,
or 70 percent of Hong Kong's chicken consumption, are brought across the
border daily. 

Many traders at Sham Shui Po didn't bother to show up for work. Most say sales
have dropped up to 90 percent since the flu outbreak. 

``People have no confidence right now and I'm pretty worried about that,''
said Wong Wing-nam, watching the cleaning team. 

One floor down, the aisles were jammed and a beaming fish trader said his
sales were up 20 percent. 

``Business is much better than this time last year,'' said Chui Yun-tai. ``I'm
very, very happy.'' 

Shopper Chan Lai-ming left the market with three bags full of food - but no
chicken. 

``These days, I'm eating fish, pork, some beef, more vegetables,'' she said. 

AP-NY-12-24-97 1420EST 

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 17:32:32 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: Circus loses license over elephant's death
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - A traveling circus whose elephant was found dead
inside a trailer in New Mexico has had its license revoked and was ordered by
a federal judge to pay a $200,000 fine, officials said Friday. 

Department of Agriculture Judge Victor Palmer ruled Thursday that the Texas-
based King Royal Circus abused three elephants and eight llamas and
permanently barred it from exhibiting animals in the future. 

It was believed to be the largest fine ever imposed in an animal abuse case in
the United States and the circus claimed it was unfair. 

``We thought that evidence was available which showed this was simply an
accident. These sanctions and the revocation of the license is not an
appropriate remedy,'' attorney Ron Koch said, adding that the circus would
appeal the ruling. 

Albuquerque police discovered the animals crammed in a poorly ventilated
trailer last August. One elephant, an 8-year-old African elephant named
Heather, had died. 

The case provoked a nationwide outcry from animals rights activists who
appealed to the federal government to intervene. 

``This was no accident,'' said Lisa Jennings of The Animal Protection of New
Mexico, Inc. 

``This is the way they do business, and it's the way a lot of circuses do
business. The less money and the less care they put into the animals, the more
money they make, and that's the bottom line,'' Jennings said. 

Palmer said in his ruling that the circus's violations were ''severe and
directly affected the health and wellbeing of the animals,'' and ``were part
of a long-term failure to provide adequate care.'' 

The city of Albuquerque took away the circus's other two elephants and eight
llamas after the incident and is holding them at a city park. Koch said the
circus planned to sue the city to regain custody of the animals. 

Reuters/Variety 

REUTERS@ 

17:57 12-12-97

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 17:35:31 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: Israeli dies of rabies, 3rd in 1997
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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JERUSALEM, Dec 16 (Reuters) - An Israeli man died of rabies on Tuesday in the
third incident of the virus this year, a hospital spokeswoman said. 

She said the 58-year-old man from northern Israel contracted the virus after
being scratched by a stray animal. 

``For 30 years we never had a single case of rabies in Israel,'' Dr Isaac
Klinger, deputy director of veterinary services in the Agriculture Ministry,
said on Monday. 

He said two other Israelis have died of rabies this year. 

Klinger said pressure by animal rights groups had made doctors reluctant to
kill stray animals. 

``After animal rights groups started protesting, doctors became afraid to do
their work and the number of strays drastically increased,'' Klinger said.
^REUTERS@ 

03:11 12-17-97

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 17:36:22 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: New Test for Mad Cow Disease touted
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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.c The Associated Press  

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Researchers have developed a fast reliable test for mad
cow disease, allowing more efficient screening of blood, medicines and other
health products derived from cattle. 

The trick was engineering a strain of laboratory mice especially sensitive to
the bovine disease that can cause a similar brain-wasting ailment,
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, in humans who eat tainted meat. 

When cattle are infected, symptoms don't show up for at least three to five
years. But the genetically engineered mice, after being injected with cattle
tissue, would display the staggered gait and other warning symptoms of the
fatal brain disorder within 120 days, researchers said Tuesday. 

By further manipulating the mice in the lab, the group expects to cut that
time down to 40 days or less. 

At least 1 million cows in Britain and France have contracted the highly
infectious disease that is fatal in cattle. And at least 20 people, mostly in
Britain, have contracted Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from infected meat. 

The disorder has never been reported in the United States, but earlier this
month federal officials banned imports of all cattle, sheep and related
products from Europe until the risk of mad cow disease is assessed. 

The researchers at the University of California, San Francisco included Dr.
Stanley Prusiner, a Nobel prize winner for discovering microscopic particles
that can cause brain-wasting illnesses. 

The ``transgenic'' mice carry in their cells a mixture of genes for the
creation of normal prions - protein particles that can cause brain-wasting
afflictions - found in humans, cows and mice, according to Tuesday's report in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The researchers also believe they have identified a portion of the prion
protein that allows the disease-causing form to cross the species barrier
between animals and humans, Prusiner said. 

Besides meat, some human foods, cosmetics and drugs are made from cattle
bones, and the mice could be used make sure that tainted material isn't used
to make such products. 

AP-NY-12-24-97 0125EST

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 19:54:19 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center 
To: AR-News@Envirolink.Org
Subject: HK stops importing China chickens on fears of "bird flu"
Message-ID: 
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

HONG KONG, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Hong Kong on Tuesday ordered a temporary halt to
imports of chickens from mainland China as part of its battle against the
killer ``bird flu.'' 

A government official told a news conference the import
been agreed with Chinese authorities and was aimed at restoring consumers'
confidence in chicken meat. 

The mysterious disease, caused by the H5N1 virus not previously known to
attack humans, has killed three people in Hong Kong this year and caused
chicken sales to plummet. 

A total of 10 people, including the three dead, have been confirmed as being
infected with the virus. 

REUTERS@ 

04:59 12-23-97

©1997   Maynard S Clark    Vegetarian Resource Center    info@vegetarian.org 
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 11:15:55 +0000
From: jwed 
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Treatment of dogs in China
Message-ID: <3.0.5.32.19971226111555.007948c0@pop.hkstar.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Xi Chang Market. December 1997. Report by Dr John Wedderburn.

Xi Chang City, Lian Shan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, People's
Republic of China.

There is a market area on an embankment above the river in the old part of
town. At the front there are puppies and kittens for sale as pets and
further back are about 100 dogs waiting to be selected by customers. When
selected the vendor puts the dog in a sack and weighs it. After a price is
agreed the purchaser kills his dog and butchers it (sometimes in that
order, more often in the reverse order).   Business was brisk with a dog
being killed about ever 5 minutes.  There seemed to be two techniques.  The
one man technique was to hit the dog twice on the head with a wooden plank
which dazed it sufficiently to make it safe for him to plunge his knife
into its jugular without getting bitten. He then held the dog up by the
tail until it bled into unconsciousness - he would then proceed to butcher
it with  the dog coming in and out of consciousness.  With the two man
technique, one man held the dog up by her tail while the other pulled the
neck back with a wire round the dog's neck.   The first man was then able
to reach down, again without fear of being bitten, to sever the jugular
vein. Since the dog was in no way stunned, she struggled and howled and
urinated until passing out. The watching dogs were also shaking and
howling. The dog was flung onto her back and the butchering began -
consciousness returned on lying flat but she was too weak then to struggle
much. One of the men laid down his knife and put his mouth to the inside of
the dog's hind leg - I couldn't see what he was doing but my best guess was
that he was sucking blood from a vein.

What upsets me is not so much that people capable of such cruelty exist in
China (they exist in every country) but that there is NO ONE in China
trying to stop it.

For photographs go to:
http://www.earth.org.hk/xichang.html
If you are squeamish, skip it. the pictures are not nice.
There is no copyright on any of the material.
john.



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