AR-NEWS Digest 500 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) [UK] Anti-hunting league expels top officials by David J Knowles 2) Food is Sickening by Jean Colison 3) Killing Snow Geese by Jean Colison 4) Food is Sickening by Jean Colison 5) Killing Snow Geese by Jean Colison 6) Proposed Hound Hunting of Bears on WV Refuge by Mike Markarian 7) Manistee County, MI ends pound release by Wyandotte Animal Group 8) [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: Re: Animal Action : Canada's Primates in Peril]]]]] by Sean Thomas 9) (Hegins, Pa.) Less than 2 Weeks to Nation's Cruelest Event by Mike Markarian 10) Reptile Smugglers Arrested by "Christine M. Wolf" 11) Re: Proposed Hound Hunting of Bears on WV Refuge by Mike Markarian 12) Food causes sickness by Jean Colison 13) Killing Snow Geese by Jean Colison 14) [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: Re: Animal Action : Canada's Primate by Sean Thomas 15) Organizers needed! by "ida" 16) Food causes sickness by Jean Colison 17) Killing Snow Geese by Jean Colison 18) Organizers needed! by "ida" 19) albuquerque hearing in progress by PAWS 20) Barry Horne hunger strike by "Miggi" 21) APHIS Decision on King Royal Circus & Albuquerque Elephants by LCartLng@gvn.net (Lawrence Carter-Long) 22) (US) VRG HOSTS 4-H STUDENTS by allen schubert 23) Admin Note--subscription options by allen schubert 24) (US) Contaminations raise the question: Is food safe? by allen schubert 25) Merger Mayhem in the Dairy Business by Vegetarian Resource Center 26) (US) Dead rats found at VMI, apparent anti-woman stunt by allen schubert 27) EU Asks WTO To Judge US Chickens by allen schubert 28) Calle, the elephant by "bhgazette" 29) Mir and Milk ads by Vadivu Govind 30) (HK) Epidemic fear as bird flu kills boy by Vadivu Govind 31) (HK) Flu complications can kill: doctors by Vadivu Govind 32) (HK) Death not linked to outbreak: farmers by Vadivu Govind 33) (HK) Border farms targeted in hunt by vets by Vadivu Govind 34) (HK) `Several' diseases cross species line by Vadivu Govind 35) (HK) Hospital staff ignorant of outbreak by Vadivu Govind 36) HK could become centre of pandemic by Vadivu Govind 37) (TW) Ivory smuggling highlights ignorance of animal preservation laws by Vadivu Govind 38) Vitamin C said to help protect memory by Vadivu Govind Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 20:28:13 -0700 (PDT) From: David J Knowles To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] Anti-hunting league expels top officials Message-ID: <199708201139.HAA16714@envirolink.org> >From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, August 20th, 1997 Anti-hunting league expels top officials By Hugh Muir and Charles Clover=20 TWO senior members of the League Against Cruel Sports have been expelled after becoming involved in compromise talks with the foxhunting lobby.=20 Mark Davies, a former chairman of the league, and Steve Watson, formerly the regional representative for Bedfordshire, have been thrown out because they are also leading figures in the Wildlife Network, a group which is seeking to reform rather than abolish hunting. They have been told that their involvement with the group network is incompatible with membership of the league. An attempt to have their expulsions overturned failed last weekend despite an appeal to fellow members at the organisation's annual meeting. However, the two men are threatening a court challenge to the decision, claiming that the league made no attempt to inform them of any charges until they were called upon to defend themselves at the meeting. Last night Kevin Saunders, a league spokesman, confirmed that its constitution did not oblige the executive committee to provide disciplined members with detailed charges. Mr Davies, 52, of Crosby, Merseyside, said: "We may seek a court injunction to have the whole process set aside because we do not believe it gave due weight to natural justice. The executive committee wrote a letter saying I was expelled but they didn't give any reason." Mr Watson, 35, of Bedford, said: "My expulsion for thinking through the issue of hunting shows how unprofessional the league has become. The lack of evidence against us and the way this appeal has been handled has shown that the league is quite prepared to act in a way totally outside the principles of natural justice."=20 James Barrington, the director of the network and a former director of the league, said that the league could have allowed the pair to remain members. The prospect of an agreement between pro-hunters and reformers is an explosive one because abolitionists are pinning their hopes on the Private Member's Bill proposed by Mike Foster, the Labour MP, which would ban the sport completely.=20 The Bill will go before the House of Commons on Nov 28 and has the support of the Prime Minister, although the Government has indicated it will not smooth the measure's passage by allowing it extra time.=20 The network's blueprint for reform says a complete hunting ban would be damaging for foxes because farmers would find unacceptable ways of killing them Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 08:00:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: Ar-news Subject: Food is Sickening Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII In Our Food, Some Sickening Developments By Don Oldenburg Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page C05 The Washington Post Last week's largest recall ever for bacterially contaminated meat or poultry should serve as a warning about the serious health risks that can accompany many foods today -- and as a reminder of some precautions consumers can take. Five million prepackaged, frozen, quarter-pound hamburger patties, distributed by Hudson Foods, are suspected of being tainted with a potentially deadly strain of E. coli bacteria that has made at least 16 people sick in Colorado. "This recall doesn't surprise me at all. I'm not surprised the meat was contaminated or that people got sick in Colorado. I am surprised the contamination was spotted," says Nicols Fox, whose recently published book, "Spoiled: The Dangerous Truth About a Food Chain Gone Haywire" (BasicBooks; $25) uncovers high-risk changes in how our food is produced, processed, distributed, stored and prepared -- and their far-reaching consequences. "Each of those changes is opening the door to opportunistic, emerging, food-borne pathogens," says Fox. "This latest outbreak illustrates how a pathogen, through mass production and mass distribution, can be spread throughout a product so completely." Fox, who spent several years investigating why more people are getting more severely sick from what they eat, says hamburger provides an ideal example of a food system in which microbes can run rampant. "Hamburger meat is all these different meats from a thousand different cows from four different countries ground up all together," she says. "One contaminated cow can contaminate 16 tons of meat. Let's suppose we take that meat and distribute it all over the United States. A case of someone getting sick might pop up in Maine, and another in Tennessee, and in Washington, D.C. . . . It might not even be recognized as an outbreak because the cases are so widespread." In fact, health experts say more Americans than ever before are dying or suffering from food-borne ailments, which range from the mild stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea typically associated with run-of-the-mill "food poisoning," to chronic liver disease and paralysis. Fox points out that since midsummer more than 60 people in Virginia and Michigan became sick from the E. coli-contaminated alfalfa sprouts they ate, and Virginia Health Department officials tracked the illnesses of some 126 people to fresh basil contaminated with the Cyclospora parasite. Fox contends that one big culprit is the increase in imported foods. "Our food is as safe as the country and the environment that it comes from," she says. "Trade is like a passport for pathogens. When you go to Mexico, you know to eat only what you peel, boil or cook. But you go to your grocery store and buy produce never thinking that [a large percentage] of it comes from Mexico." She says initiatives such as the new meat-inspection rules, which won't go into effect for several years, and the first-ever salmonella vaccine for poultry, ready to go on the market by the end of 1997, will help, but they aren't going to prevent all that's gone wrong with our food system. "I think we're making progress," she says. "But it's two steps forward, one step backward." Meanwhile, Fox has become "a reluctant vegetarian" because, she says, "we've distorted the whole pattern of animal production to the point where I've lost my appetite for it." For others, she advises these safety precautions: Keep two cutting boards -- one for meats, one for vegetables. Cook foods to an interior temperature of 160 degrees F. Hamburger meat shouldn't be eaten pink and cooked chicken juices should run clear. Rinse fresh produce that will be consumed uncooked in antibacterial solutions, which can be purchased at health-food stores. Disinfect kitchen and counter areas with a solution of one teaspoon of chlorine to a quart of water. Got a consumer problem? Report the details via e-mail to oldenburgd@washpost.com or by mail to Don Oldenburg, Consummate Consumer, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. ©Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 08:01:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: Ar-news Subject: Killing Snow Geese Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trouble on the Tundra: Snow Geese Under Gun Massive Slaughter of Majestic Birds Proposed By Howard Schneider Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page A01 The Washington Post CHURCHILL, Manitoba—It has been 6,000 years since the Keewatin ice cap retreated from the coastal marshes around this Hudson Bay village, and for much of that time a prolific number of plants and animals shared what sub-Arctic Canada had to offer. Plants evolved with a type of organic antifreeze in their cells, and each summer's thaw revealed lush spreads of marsh grass, sedges and flowers; birds trimmed and fertilized the lawn, and foxes ate the birds. It was, say scientists who have studied the area intensively for 30 years, a system both finely balanced and broadly diverse, given the climate, from dozens of species of plant life to the top local predator, the polar bear. Today, however, there's trouble on the tundra. In the past three decades, an explosion in the population of snow geese has reduced thousands of acres of once thickly vegetated salt- and fresh-water marsh to a virtual desert, driving out other species and threatening to overwhelm an ecosystem that would take decades to rebound. The deteriorating situation has been tracked in detail by a team of scientists who have manned a field station deep in the Manitoba marsh each summer since the late 1960s. The situation is so serious that they want to call out the cavalry. At this point, they say, the only way to save the tundra is to kill the geese -- lots of them. "The population has escaped hunters' control and predators' control, and there is no sign of it doing anything else" but increasing, said University of Toronto botanist Robert Jefferies, who has been part of the field research team at La Perouse Bay since 1974. Jefferies and other members of a joint U.S.-Canada panel have recommended killing at least half the continent's snow geese through increased hunting in the United States, where the birds spend the winter, and in Canada, where they return in summer to breed and rear their young. Under the proposal currently being studied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its Canadian counterpart, hunters would be allowed to shoot the distinctive white birds all year, as many as they want. They would be allowed to bait migrating flocks into fields, use electronic calling devices to lure the birds, and possibly even enter America's network of national wildlife refuges in search of their prey. And if hunters cannot kill enough of the birds, wildlife officials say, there has been serious discussion of asking for help from the military, or even introducing disease to "depopulate" a species that, resistant so far to sickness, increased predation and other natural population controls, has climbed from fewer that a half-million in the 1960s to more than 3 million today. The birds may be majestic in flight and their annual arrival anticipated -- along Maryland's Eastern Shore, the plains of Iowa and the swamps of Louisiana and Texas -- as one of nature's grand events. But on the ground, in the marshes where they breed, they've become a pest, fattened for the winter on American grain, clustering farther south to avoid high-Arctic weather and increasing their numbers with an annual population growth rate of 5 percent. "They are very successful nesting birds, and they have shown the ability to devastate environments," said Paul Schmidt, chief of migratory bird management for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and co-chairman of the Arctic Goose Joint Venture, a panel of scientists and regulators established to study the snow goose. "There is a problem to be dealt with. . . . The challenge will be to convince people . . . to appreciate a problem that is thousands of miles away. The damage that has occurred here is significant. [The geese] are hurting other organisms," particularly shore birds deprived of the habitat the geese are destroying. The damage is obvious to the few hundred humans who live in this area year-round. "We're expecting the geese to land on the city square any day," said John Bilenduke, deputy mayor of Churchill, a city that once buzzed with military personnel stationed at a U.S. missile testing range but now relies on polar bear tours and a grain elevator to stay afloat. It is obvious from outer space, where satellite photos show the goose damage as a wide, red strip around the coast of the Hudson Bay. "Any effect you can see from orbit I would argue is a big one," said Peter Kotanen, a University of Toronto botany professor. Schmidt said wildlife officials plan to consult with public interest groups and hold hearings over the next year. They hope to have measures for dealing with the geese in place by next fall. The practical issues are difficult enough. Unlike Canada geese, snow geese are not a preferred game species. Many hunters don't think they taste as good. Refuge managers said it also may be difficult for hunters alone to control the population because the birds travel in large flocks, quickly learn to avoid decoys and will not stay in one place long enough to be killed in large numbers. "I am not sure there is much we can do with it," said George O'Shea, assistant manager of the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Delaware. "They come and go as they desire. . . . If you open an area to hunting, they will go to a private field and tear it up. . . . They adapt and learn very quickly." O'Shea said the flock of snow geese at Prime Hook has increased to as many as 100,000 birds, compared to only a few thousand in the late 1970s. It is a sight so impressive that the local Chamber of Commerce wants to start an annual snow goose festival. There will be political hurdles as well, Schmidt said. Many migratory bird species are declining in North America, their habitat converted to farms and housing subdivisions. After spending money and effort building refuges, establishing wetlands laws and encouraging conservation efforts to preserve wildlife, Schmidt said, it will be hard to sell the idea that a specific species should be suppressed. Schmidt said he also expects strong opposition from those who challenge the ability -- and the moral right -- of scientists and government officials to set the population level for a wild species and kill off the excess. Biologists estimate that if 15 percent of adult snow geese are killed each year, the overall population could be cut in half in several seasons, with little danger of overkill or other miscalculation. It is better to wait for a natural population crash as the geese run out of food and acceptable habitat, responded Susan Hagood, an analyst for the Humane Society of the United States, than to guess about how many birds should die. After a recent tour of the goose nesting grounds around La Perouse Bay, east of Churchill, Hagood said the humane society will oppose the proposed goose kill. The snow goose nesting grounds in North America include northern Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba and parts of the Northwest Territories, "and it is a little hard to believe that geese at their current population level could affect that entire area," Hagood said. "Let nature take its course. The population will continue to increase. It will probably then crash at some point, and that will give the tundra the break it needs." So far, however, there is no crash in sight, only the bare ground that flocks of hungry geese leave behind. Areas along the western coast of Hudson Bay that were once prime feeding ground for the birds are now mud flats. Scientists estimate that as much as one-third of that traditional habitat has been destroyed. Compounding the problem, the snow geese move inland and change their diet when the coastal grasses are gone, invading fresh-water marshes as well. Land that once bloomed with gentle blue gentian and white Grass of Parnassus flowers now has a dust bowl quality, covered with mats of a purple weed and the skeletal twigs of dead willow bushes. The goose's success, in and of itself, might not be cause for action. However, the scientists involved contend that they are only surviving in such numbers because man has given them an unfair advantage. Since the 1960s, said botanist Jefferies, the geese have been gorging on rice and grain in the southern and southwestern United States, returning north fatter than ever and better able to survive the northern Canadian winter. There is more land in cultivation now, the grain is better, and farmers, to conserve soil, no longer plow their fields under in the fall, Jefferies said. The result is a virtually unlimited supply of food for the birds to eat during their months in America. "All the evidence is that man caused the booming of that population. We created a niche for [the snow goose] to be more competitive with other species," said Jefferies. "If we are not effective in four or five years, we are going to have to use our imagination." @CAPTION: Snow geese flew over Cap Tourmente, Quebec, last October during annual migration south. Their growing numbers threaten other species. ©Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 08:00:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Food is Sickening Message-ID: <199708201207.IAA18870@envirolink.org> In Our Food, Some Sickening Developments By Don Oldenburg Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page C05 The Washington Post=20 Last week's largest recall ever for bacterially contaminated meat or=20 poultry should serve as a warning about the serious health risks that=20 can accompany many foods today -- and as a reminder of some precautions=20 consumers can take. Five million prepackaged, frozen, quarter-pound hamburger patties,=20 distributed by Hudson Foods, are suspected of being tainted with a=20 potentially deadly strain of E. coli bacteria that has made at least 16=20 people sick in Colorado. "This recall doesn't surprise me at all. I'm not surprised the meat was=20 contaminated or that people got sick in Colorado. I am surprised the=20 contamination was spotted," says Nicols Fox, whose recently published=20 book, "Spoiled: The Dangerous Truth About a Food Chain Gone Haywire"=20 (BasicBooks; $25) uncovers high-risk changes in how our food is=20 produced, processed, distributed, stored and prepared -- and their=20 far-reaching consequences. "Each of those changes is opening the door to opportunistic, emerging,=20 food-borne pathogens," says Fox. "This latest outbreak illustrates how a=20 pathogen, through mass production and mass distribution, can be spread=20 throughout a product so completely." Fox, who spent several years investigating why more people are getting=20 more severely sick from what they eat, says hamburger provides an ideal=20 example of a food system in which microbes can run rampant. "Hamburger meat is all these different meats from a thousand different=20 cows from four different countries ground up all together," she says.=20 "One contaminated cow can contaminate 16 tons of meat. Let's suppose we=20 take that meat and distribute it all over the United States. A case of=20 someone getting sick might pop up in Maine, and another in Tennessee,=20 and in Washington, D.C. . . . It might not even be recognized as an=20 outbreak because the cases are so widespread." In fact, health experts say more Americans than ever before are dying or=20 suffering from food-borne ailments, which range from the mild stomach=20 cramps, vomiting and diarrhea typically associated with run-of-the-mill=20 "food poisoning," to chronic liver disease and paralysis. Fox points out=20 that since midsummer more than 60 people in Virginia and Michigan became=20 sick from the E. coli-contaminated alfalfa sprouts they ate, and=20 Virginia Health Department officials tracked the illnesses of some 126=20 people to fresh basil contaminated with the Cyclospora parasite. Fox contends that one big culprit is the increase in imported foods.=20 "Our food is as safe as the country and the environment that it comes=20 from," she says. "Trade is like a passport for pathogens. When you go to=20 Mexico, you know to eat only what you peel, boil or cook. But you go to=20 your grocery store and buy produce never thinking that [a large=20 percentage] of it comes from Mexico." She says initiatives such as the new meat-inspection rules, which won't=20 go into effect for several years, and the first-ever salmonella vaccine=20 for poultry, ready to go on the market by the end of 1997, will help,=20 but they aren't going to prevent all that's gone wrong with our food=20 system. "I think we're making progress," she says. "But it's two steps=20 forward, one step backward." Meanwhile, Fox has become "a reluctant vegetarian" because, she says,=20 "we've distorted the whole pattern of animal production to the point=20 where I've lost my appetite for it." For others, she advises these=20 safety precautions: Keep two cutting boards -- one for meats, one for vegetables. Cook foods to an interior temperature of 160 degrees F. Hamburger meat shouldn't be eaten pink and cooked chicken juices should=20 run clear. Rinse fresh produce that will be consumed uncooked in antibacterial=20 solutions, which can be purchased at health-food stores. Disinfect kitchen and counter areas with a solution of one teaspoon of=20 chlorine to a quart of water. Got a consumer problem? Report the details via e-mail to=20 oldenburgd@washpost.com or by mail to Don Oldenburg, Consummate=20 Consumer, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.=20 =A9Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Food is Sickening Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 08:01:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Killing Snow Geese Message-ID: <199708201208.IAA19295@envirolink.org> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trouble on the Tundra: Snow Geese Under Gun Massive Slaughter of Majestic Birds Proposed By Howard Schneider Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page A01 The Washington Post=20 CHURCHILL, Manitoba=97It has been 6,000 years since the Keewatin ice cap=20 retreated from the coastal marshes around this Hudson Bay village, and=20 for much of that time a prolific number of plants and animals shared=20 what sub-Arctic Canada had to offer. Plants evolved with a type of=20 organic antifreeze in their cells, and each summer's thaw revealed lush=20 spreads of marsh grass, sedges and flowers; birds trimmed and fertilized=20 the lawn, and foxes ate the birds. It was, say scientists who have studied the area intensively for 30=20 years, a system both finely balanced and broadly diverse, given the=20 climate, from dozens of species of plant life to the top local predator,=20 the polar bear. Today, however, there's trouble on the tundra. In the past three decades, an explosion in the population of snow geese=20 has reduced thousands of acres of once thickly vegetated salt- and=20 fresh-water marsh to a virtual desert, driving out other species and=20 threatening to overwhelm an ecosystem that would take decades to=20 rebound. The deteriorating situation has been tracked in detail by a team of=20 scientists who have manned a field station deep in the Manitoba marsh=20 each summer since the late 1960s. The situation is so serious that they=20 want to call out the cavalry. At this point, they say, the only way to=20 save the tundra is to kill the geese -- lots of them. "The population has escaped hunters' control and predators' control, and=20 there is no sign of it doing anything else" but increasing, said=20 University of Toronto botanist Robert Jefferies, who has been part of=20 the field research team at La Perouse Bay since 1974. Jefferies and other members of a joint U.S.-Canada panel have=20 recommended killing at least half the continent's snow geese through=20 increased hunting in the United States, where the birds spend the=20 winter, and in Canada, where they return in summer to breed and rear=20 their young. Under the proposal currently being studied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife=20 Service and its Canadian counterpart, hunters would be allowed to shoot=20 the distinctive white birds all year, as many as they want. They would=20 be allowed to bait migrating flocks into fields, use electronic calling=20 devices to lure the birds, and possibly even enter America's network of=20 national wildlife refuges in search of their prey. And if hunters cannot kill enough of the birds, wildlife officials say,=20 there has been serious discussion of asking for help from the military,=20 or even introducing disease to "depopulate" a species that, resistant so=20 far to sickness, increased predation and other natural population=20 controls, has climbed from fewer that a half-million in the 1960s to=20 more than 3 million today. The birds may be majestic in flight and their annual arrival anticipated=20 -- along Maryland's Eastern Shore, the plains of Iowa and the swamps of=20 Louisiana and Texas -- as one of nature's grand events. But on the=20 ground, in the marshes where they breed, they've become a pest, fattened=20 for the winter on American grain, clustering farther south to avoid=20 high-Arctic weather and increasing their numbers with an annual=20 population growth rate of 5 percent. "They are very successful nesting birds, and they have shown the ability=20 to devastate environments," said Paul Schmidt, chief of migratory bird=20 management for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and co-chairman of=20 the Arctic Goose Joint Venture, a panel of scientists and regulators=20 established to study the snow goose. "There is a problem to be dealt=20 with. . . . The challenge will be to convince people . . . to appreciate=20 a problem that is thousands of miles away. The damage that has occurred=20 here is significant. [The geese] are hurting other organisms,"=20 particularly shore birds deprived of the habitat the geese are=20 destroying. The damage is obvious to the few hundred humans who live in this area=20 year-round. "We're expecting the geese to land on the city square any=20 day," said John Bilenduke, deputy mayor of Churchill, a city that once=20 buzzed with military personnel stationed at a U.S. missile testing range=20 but now relies on polar bear tours and a grain elevator to stay afloat. It is obvious from outer space, where satellite photos show the goose=20 damage as a wide, red strip around the coast of the Hudson Bay. "Any=20 effect you can see from orbit I would argue is a big one," said Peter=20 Kotanen, a University of Toronto botany professor. Schmidt said wildlife officials plan to consult with public interest=20 groups and hold hearings over the next year. They hope to have measures=20 for dealing with the geese in place by next fall. The practical issues are difficult enough. Unlike Canada geese, snow=20 geese are not a preferred game species. Many hunters don't think they=20 taste as good. Refuge managers said it also may be difficult for hunters=20 alone to control the population because the birds travel in large=20 flocks, quickly learn to avoid decoys and will not stay in one place=20 long enough to be killed in large numbers. "I am not sure there is much we can do with it," said George O'Shea,=20 assistant manager of the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in eastern=20 Delaware. "They come and go as they desire. . . . If you open an area to=20 hunting, they will go to a private field and tear it up. . . . They=20 adapt and learn very quickly." O'Shea said the flock of snow geese at Prime Hook has increased to as=20 many as 100,000 birds, compared to only a few thousand in the late=20 1970s. It is a sight so impressive that the local Chamber of Commerce=20 wants to start an annual snow goose festival. There will be political hurdles as well, Schmidt said. Many migratory=20 bird species are declining in North America, their habitat converted to=20 farms and housing subdivisions. After spending money and effort building=20 refuges, establishing wetlands laws and encouraging conservation efforts=20 to preserve wildlife, Schmidt said, it will be hard to sell the idea=20 that a specific species should be suppressed. Schmidt said he also expects strong opposition from those who challenge=20 the ability -- and the moral right -- of scientists and government=20 officials to set the population level for a wild species and kill off=20 the excess. Biologists estimate that if 15 percent of adult snow geese are killed=20 each year, the overall population could be cut in half in several=20 seasons, with little danger of overkill or other miscalculation. It is better to wait for a natural population crash as the geese run out=20 of food and acceptable habitat, responded Susan Hagood, an analyst for=20 the Humane Society of the United States, than to guess about how many=20 birds should die. After a recent tour of the goose nesting grounds=20 around La Perouse Bay, east of Churchill, Hagood said the humane society=20 will oppose the proposed goose kill. The snow goose nesting grounds in North America include northern Quebec,=20 Ontario and Manitoba and parts of the Northwest Territories, "and it is=20 a little hard to believe that geese at their current population level=20 could affect that entire area," Hagood said. "Let nature take its=20 course. The population will continue to increase. It will probably then=20 crash at some point, and that will give the tundra the break it needs." So far, however, there is no crash in sight, only the bare ground that=20 flocks of hungry geese leave behind. Areas along the western coast of=20 Hudson Bay that were once prime feeding ground for the birds are now mud=20 flats. Scientists estimate that as much as one-third of that traditional=20 habitat has been destroyed. Compounding the problem, the snow geese move inland and change their=20 diet when the coastal grasses are gone, invading fresh-water marshes as=20 well. Land that once bloomed with gentle blue gentian and white Grass of=20 Parnassus flowers now has a dust bowl quality, covered with mats of a=20 purple weed and the skeletal twigs of dead willow bushes. The goose's success, in and of itself, might not be cause for action.=20 However, the scientists involved contend that they are only surviving in=20 such numbers because man has given them an unfair advantage. Since the=20 1960s, said botanist Jefferies, the geese have been gorging on rice and=20 grain in the southern and southwestern United States, returning north=20 fatter than ever and better able to survive the northern Canadian=20 winter. There is more land in cultivation now, the grain is better, and farmers,=20 to conserve soil, no longer plow their fields under in the fall,=20 Jefferies said. The result is a virtually unlimited supply of food for=20 the birds to eat during their months in America. "All the evidence is that man caused the booming of that population. We=20 created a niche for [the snow goose] to be more competitive with other=20 species," said Jefferies. "If we are not effective in four or five=20 years, we are going to have to use our imagination." @CAPTION: Snow geese flew over Cap Tourmente, Quebec, last October=20 during annual migration south. Their growing numbers threaten other=20 species.=20 =A9Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Killing Snow Geese Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 07:48:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Markarian To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@earthsystems.org, en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org Subject: Proposed Hound Hunting of Bears on WV Refuge Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970820112119.29d79f1c@pop.igc.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ACTION ALERT The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published a "draft hunting management plan" for the brand new Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia. They are planning to allow the use of dogs to hunt black bears in the new refuge. Comments are due by 8/22 which is only a couple days away. Refuge Manager, Canaan Valley NWR PO Box 1278 Elkins, WV 26241 304 637-7312 or 636-6586 R5RW_CVNWR@mail.fws.gov You may wish to tell them that: * The hound hunting of bears is an unsporting and inhumane practice that has recently been banned in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts. Allowing this practice in a new refuge would turn back the clock on wildlife management. * Hound chases can last up to 20 miles, causing a nuisance to other refuge visitors, causing a danger to motorists, and causing threats to other wildlife and the habitat. * Creating a new "refuge" should mean that the bears would be safe from trophy hunting. Allowing the sport hunting of bears -- especially the high-tech search-and-destroy mission with radio-collared dogs -- will be detrimental to other refuge visitors who want the bears to be protected. Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 11:52:08 -0400 From: Wyandotte Animal Group To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Manistee County, MI ends pound release Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970820155208.2f2f36be@mail.heritage.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The subject tells about all I know. The County Commissioners voted yesterday. We expected the vote to be 4-3 in our favor after what we were told when lobbying the officials. Surprisingly, when the vote came down yesterday, it was 7-0, in our favor. The animals are safe from Class-B dealers in one more Michigan county. Jason Alley Wyandotte Animal Group wag@heritage.com Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 12:13:27 -0700 From: Sean Thomas To: ar-news@envirolink.com Subject: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: Re: Animal Action : Canada's Primates in Peril]]]]] Message-ID: <33FB41D7.35E5@sympatico.ca> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-ID: <33FB40A6.5F78@sympatico.ca> Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 12:08:22 -0700 From: Sean Thomas Reply-To: sean.thomas1@sympatico.ca Organization: Animal Action X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-SYMPA (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ar-news@envirolinkcom Subject: Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: Re: Animal Action : Canada's Primates in Peril]]]] References: <33FB3328.591C@sympatico.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > ANIMAL ACTION NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT > > PLEASE ADD YOUR GROUP'S NAME IN SUPPORT OF OUR EFFORTS TO HAVE ALL OF > HEALTH CANADA'S 750 MONKEYS RETIRED FROM RESEARCH AND PLACED AT THE > PRIMARILY PRIMATES SANCTUARY. > HEALTH CANADA NOW HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO END THE USE OF PRIMATES AT ITS RESEARCH CENTRES, NOW IS THE TIME FOR CANADIAN ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO DEMAND THAT THEY DO SO. > > If this cause seems worthy to your organization then please respond with a statemnt of support and your name will be added to our list of supporters, please indicate as well if you would like to receive more background information on the history of the primate breeding program in Canada, and if you would like to receive our campaign package which includes this information as well as posters and leaflets for distribution by your group. > > Thank you for your time. > Sean Thomas > Co-Director, Animal Action > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Dear Friend of Animals: > > A colony of 800 monkeys is doomed to laboratory hell unless we take > immediate and decisive action. Health Canada has launched an inquiry > into the fate of its captive primate colony a group of 800 long tailed > macaques imprisoned in Ottawa since 1983 as test subjects for lead, > mercury, dioxin, pesticides, vaccines, AIDS and other misguided, > agonizing vivisection. The inquiry, says Health Canada, will determine > if the colony should be either maintained as is or, and this is the mostlikely scenario, sold in part or entirely to private industry. > > PRIVATE INDUSTRY MUST NOT GET ITS HANDS ON THE MONKEYS, NOR CAN HEALTH CANADA BE PERMITTED TO MAINTAIN THIS COLONY FOR ITS OWN PURPOSES. > > In either scenario, these animals are doomed to suffer to be > poisoned, maimed, killed whatever atrocities will make a buck for > somebody. If you privatize the colony, there will be a reduction in > animal welfare; the only concern will be the bottom line"(Dr. Warren > Foster, Acting Division Chief, Environmental and Occupational > Toxicology, Health Canada; Dr. Foster has directed a departmental study of the disease endometriosis in which the primates are on a daily dioxin regime.) Private industry and Health Canada answer to no one in how they abuse and will abuse the monkeys: > > THEY CAN, HAVE AND WILL DO WHAT THEY WANT TO THE ANIMALS, NO > MATTER HOW PAINFUL, NO MATTER HOW PROFOUNDLY USELESS. > > Which is why we are appealing to thousands of individuals and groups > across Canada to join Animal Action in our campaign to protect the > primates from any more human abuse. Please, write to those listed below: insist that Health Canada's Primate Colony be retired to group settings and sanctuaries, and that no more experiments be performed upon them. And if you co-ordinate a group, we hope you'll consider using your newsletter and any other means to mobilize your membership to act, as well. > > Write/phone/fax/Email: > Royal Society of Canada, > 225 Metcalfe St., Suite 308, Ottawa, Ont. K2P1P9. > Fax (613)991-6996. > > The Society has been appointed to review the colony's fate and is > seeking public input to influence their recommendations. > > The Honourable Allan Rock, T.C., M. P. , Minister, Health Canada, > Brooke Claxton Bldg., > Postal Locator 0916A, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0K9 (no stamp necessary in > Canada) > Phone (613) 957-020 > Fax(613)592-1154 > www.hwc.ca > > Animal Action, meanwhile, is undertaking a campaign of direct action > here in Ottawa to generate public pressure on Health Canada through > media blitzes and grassroots awareness activity. Combined with your > action, we have a chance to liberate the monkeys. > > Thank You for your support. > Sean Thomas > Co-Director, Animal Action Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 08:43:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Markarian To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@earthsystems.org, en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org, ar-wire@waste.org Subject: (Hegins, Pa.) Less than 2 Weeks to Nation's Cruelest Event Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970820121649.51f74162@pop.igc.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ATTN: Labor Day Assignment Editors FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, August 20, 1997 CONTACT: Heidi Prescott or Mike Markarian, (301) 585-2591 LESS THAN 2 WEEKS TO NATION'S CRUELEST EVENT Labor Day Event Abuses Animals and Children Less than two weeks remain until the Hegins pigeon shoot, the nation's most gruesome and most notorious organized act of animal cruelty, scheduled for Labor Day, September 1, in Hegins, Pennsylvania. Each year in Hegins, contestants kill and cripple about 5,000 live birds in the name of fun. The event has become a nationwide target of animal advocates and a nationwide embarrassment to Pennsylvania, yet Governor Tom Ridge has repeatedly refused to intervene. Investigators from The Fund for Animals documented last year that approximately 77 percent of the birds released were not killed immediately, but wounded. Children known as "trapper boys" collect crippled birds, ripping off their heads, stomping on them, or throwing them into barrels to suffocate -- in front of their cheering parents, Ku Klux Klan members, and drunk spectators. Last year, one man even bit the head off a live bird in front of a cheering crowd. Animal advocates are working to ban live pigeon shoots in the Pennsylvania Legislature, but Republican lawmakers have stalled a vote on the issue. Celebrities such as actor Alec Baldwin and Philadelphia 76ers president Pat Croce have asked Governor Ridge to put his support behind legislation to ban pigeon shoots, but the Governor refuses to intervene. Pennsylvania humane officers have also filed a lawsuit to halt the pigeon shoot, and a hearing will be held next week. The Fund for Animals will organize a massive bird rescue effort this Labor Day with veterinarians and wildlife rehabilitators on hand to treat wounded birds. Last year, volunteers rescued hundreds of birds from the pigeon shoot and transported them to rehabilitation facilities. Says Heidi Prescott, National Director of The Fund for Animals, "Parents across the nation are voicing their concerns about children being exposed to violence on television. When will Pennsylvania halt the violence in their own backyard? This Labor Day, thousands of innocent animals will suffer, and many Pennsylvania children will be taught that violence is fun." # # # http://www.fund.org Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 09:27:23 -0700 (PDT) From: "Christine M. Wolf" To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Reptile Smugglers Arrested Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970328215156.244fdd12@pop.igc.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: > News Brief: > Arrest of Two Japanese Wildlife Smugglers > > Orlando, Florida > > On Wednesday evening, August 13, 1997, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service > Special Agents arrested two Japanese nationals, Kei Tomono, age 26, of > Chiba City, Japan and Masakazu Iseya, age 41, of Hasuda City, Saitama, > Japan at the Orlando International Airport, Florida when they claimed > their bags containing live snakes and turtles which had been smuggled > into the United States from Japan. > > Earlier in the day, U.S. Customs Service officials in San Francisco, > CA notified the Fish and Wildlife Service that Tomono, a suspected > animal smuggler, and a traveling companion, Masakazu Iseya were > scheduled to land mid-afternoon in San Francisco. When the aircraft > arrived in San Francisco, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. > Customs Service officials searched the bags belonging to the two men. > The search reveled eight live snakes concealed in Tomono's bag and two > live turtles concealed in Iseya's bag. Both men failed to notify U.S. > Customs Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they were > importing the snakes and turtles. > > Tomono and Iseya were allowed to board a domestic flight from San > Francisco to Orlando, FL. With the assistance of the U.S. Customs > Service and the Orlando Police Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife > Service Special Agents took the men into custody after they claimed > their bags containing live animals. > > On the morning of August 15, 1997, Tomono and Iseya appeared before > United States Magistrate James G. Glazebrook for their initial > appearance. Magistrate Glazebrook set bail for Tomono at $100,000 but > suspended it pending review by a Federal judge. Iseya's bail was set > at $25,000. > > On August 7, 1997, a Federal Grand Jury in Orlando, FL indicted Tomono > for smuggling turtles into the United States in the spring of 1996. > In the three count Indictment, Tomono was charged with smuggling Fly > River turtles (Carettochelys insculpta) and snake neck turtles > (Chelondina siebenrocki) from Japan to the United States. Both > species of turtles are protected in their native countries. In > addition, Tomono was charged with importing turtles with a carapace > length less than four inches, a violation of a public health > regulation, and with violating the Lacey Act, a Federal wildlife law > which makes it illegal to sell and purchase wildlife knowing that it > has been transported in violation of law. > > The criminal complaint issued August 14, 1997 against both Mr. Tomono > and Mr. Iseya charges them with knowingly importing eight live snakes > and two live turtles without first declaring the animals to the U.S. > Customs Service or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by law. > In addition, one of the smuggled turtles had a carapace length of less > than four inches. The snakes have tentatively been identified as > mandarin rat snakes (Elaphe mandarina) and black-banded trinket snakes > (Elaphe porphyracea), and the turtles as side neck turtles > (Acanthochelys spixii). > > If convicted, Tomono faces a maximum penalty of five years in jail and > a fine of $250,000 on each count, while Iseya faces an undetermined > sentence at this time. > > ----- > > Bruce J. Weissgold, CITES Policy Specialist > Office of Management Authority > U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service > 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Rm. 430 > Arlington, VA 22203 > Tel: (703) 358-1917 > Fax: (703) 358-2280 > E-mail: Bruce_Weissgold@fws.gov > > > ****************************************************************** Christine Wolf, Director of Government Affairs The Fund for Animalsphone: 301-585-2591 World Buildingfax: 301-585-2595 8121 Georgia Ave., Suite 301e-mail: ChrisW@fund.org Silver Spring, MD 20910web page: www.fund.org "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." (Margaret Mead) Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 09:45:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Markarian To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+announce@earthsystems.org, en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org Subject: Re: Proposed Hound Hunting of Bears on WV Refuge Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970820131800.5c17f256@pop.igc.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The fax # for the refuge is 304-636-7824. At 07:48 AM 8/20/97 -0700, Mike Markarian wrote: >ACTION ALERT > >The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published a "draft hunting >management plan" for the brand new Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge >in West Virginia. They are planning to allow the use of dogs to hunt >black bears in the new refuge. > >Comments are due by 8/22 which is only a couple days away. > >Refuge Manager, Canaan Valley NWR >PO Box 1278 >Elkins, WV 26241 > >304 637-7312 or 636-6586 > >R5RW_CVNWR@mail.fws.gov > >You may wish to tell them that: > >* The hound hunting of bears is an unsporting and inhumane practice that has >recently been banned in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Massachusetts. >Allowing this practice in a new refuge would turn back the clock on wildlife >management. > >* Hound chases can last up to 20 miles, causing a nuisance to other refuge >visitors, causing a danger to motorists, and causing threats to other >wildlife and the habitat. > >* Creating a new "refuge" should mean that the bears would be safe from >trophy hunting. Allowing the sport hunting of bears -- especially the >high-tech search-and-destroy mission with radio-collared dogs -- will be >detrimental to other refuge visitors who want the bears to be protected. > > Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 13:32:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: Ar-news Subject: Food causes sickness Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII In Our Food, Some Sickening Developments By Don Oldenburg Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page C05 The Washington Post Last week's largest recall ever for bacterially contaminated meat or poultry should serve as a warning about the serious health risks that can accompany many foods today -- and as a reminder of some precautions consumers can take. Five million prepackaged, frozen, quarter-pound hamburger patties, distributed by Hudson Foods, are suspected of being tainted with a potentially deadly strain of E. coli bacteria that has made at least 16 people sick in Colorado. "This recall doesn't surprise me at all. I'm not surprised the meat was contaminated or that people got sick in Colorado. I am surprised the contamination was spotted," says Nicols Fox, whose recently published book, "Spoiled: The Dangerous Truth About a Food Chain Gone Haywire" (BasicBooks; $25) uncovers high-risk changes in how our food is produced, processed, distributed, stored and prepared -- and their far-reaching consequences. "Each of those changes is opening the door to opportunistic, emerging, food-borne pathogens," says Fox. "This latest outbreak illustrates how a pathogen, through mass production and mass distribution, can be spread throughout a product so completely." Fox, who spent several years investigating why more people are getting more severely sick from what they eat, says hamburger provides an ideal example of a food system in which microbes can run rampant. "Hamburger meat is all these different meats from a thousand different cows from four different countries ground up all together," she says. "One contaminated cow can contaminate 16 tons of meat. Let's suppose we take that meat and distribute it all over the United States. A case of someone getting sick might pop up in Maine, and another in Tennessee, and in Washington, D.C. . . . It might not even be recognized as an outbreak because the cases are so widespread." In fact, health experts say more Americans than ever before are dying or suffering from food-borne ailments, which range from the mild stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea typically associated with run-of-the-mill "food poisoning," to chronic liver disease and paralysis. Fox points out that since midsummer more than 60 people in Virginia and Michigan became sick from the E. coli-contaminated alfalfa sprouts they ate, and Virginia Health Department officials tracked the illnesses of some 126 people to fresh basil contaminated with the Cyclospora parasite. Fox contends that one big culprit is the increase in imported foods. "Our food is as safe as the country and the environment that it comes from," she says. "Trade is like a passport for pathogens. When you go to Mexico, you know to eat only what you peel, boil or cook. But you go to your grocery store and buy produce never thinking that [a large percentage] of it comes from Mexico." She says initiatives such as the new meat-inspection rules, which won't go into effect for several years, and the first-ever salmonella vaccine for poultry, ready to go on the market by the end of 1997, will help, but they aren't going to prevent all that's gone wrong with our food system. "I think we're making progress," she says. "But it's two steps forward, one step backward." Meanwhile, Fox has become "a reluctant vegetarian" because, she says, "we've distorted the whole pattern of animal production to the point where I've lost my appetite for it." For others, she advises these safety precautions: Keep two cutting boards -- one for meats, one for vegetables. Cook foods to an interior temperature of 160 degrees F. Hamburger meat shouldn't be eaten pink and cooked chicken juices should run clear. Rinse fresh produce that will be consumed uncooked in antibacterial solutions, which can be purchased at health-food stores. Disinfect kitchen and counter areas with a solution of one teaspoon of chlorine to a quart of water. Got a consumer problem? Report the details via e-mail to oldenburgd@washpost.com or by mail to Don Oldenburg, Consummate Consumer, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. ©Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 13:33:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: Ar-news Subject: Killing Snow Geese Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trouble on the Tundra: Snow Geese Under Gun Massive Slaughter of Majestic Birds Proposed By Howard Schneider Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page A01 The Washington Post CHURCHILL, Manitoba—It has been 6,000 years since the Keewatin ice cap retreated from the coastal marshes around this Hudson Bay village, and for much of that time a prolific number of plants and animals shared what sub-Arctic Canada had to offer. Plants evolved with a type of organic antifreeze in their cells, and each summer's thaw revealed lush spreads of marsh grass, sedges and flowers; birds trimmed and fertilized the lawn, and foxes ate the birds. It was, say scientists who have studied the area intensively for 30 years, a system both finely balanced and broadly diverse, given the climate, from dozens of species of plant life to the top local predator, the polar bear. Today, however, there's trouble on the tundra. In the past three decades, an explosion in the population of snow geese has reduced thousands of acres of once thickly vegetated salt- and fresh-water marsh to a virtual desert, driving out other species and threatening to overwhelm an ecosystem that would take decades to rebound. The deteriorating situation has been tracked in detail by a team of scientists who have manned a field station deep in the Manitoba marsh each summer since the late 1960s. The situation is so serious that they want to call out the cavalry. At this point, they say, the only way to save the tundra is to kill the geese -- lots of them. "The population has escaped hunters' control and predators' control, and there is no sign of it doing anything else" but increasing, said University of Toronto botanist Robert Jefferies, who has been part of the field research team at La Perouse Bay since 1974. Jefferies and other members of a joint U.S.-Canada panel have recommended killing at least half the continent's snow geese through increased hunting in the United States, where the birds spend the winter, and in Canada, where they return in summer to breed and rear their young. Under the proposal currently being studied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its Canadian counterpart, hunters would be allowed to shoot the distinctive white birds all year, as many as they want. They would be allowed to bait migrating flocks into fields, use electronic calling devices to lure the birds, and possibly even enter America's network of national wildlife refuges in search of their prey. And if hunters cannot kill enough of the birds, wildlife officials say, there has been serious discussion of asking for help from the military, or even introducing disease to "depopulate" a species that, resistant so far to sickness, increased predation and other natural population controls, has climbed from fewer that a half-million in the 1960s to more than 3 million today. The birds may be majestic in flight and their annual arrival anticipated -- along Maryland's Eastern Shore, the plains of Iowa and the swamps of Louisiana and Texas -- as one of nature's grand events. But on the ground, in the marshes where they breed, they've become a pest, fattened for the winter on American grain, clustering farther south to avoid high-Arctic weather and increasing their numbers with an annual population growth rate of 5 percent. "They are very successful nesting birds, and they have shown the ability to devastate environments," said Paul Schmidt, chief of migratory bird management for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and co-chairman of the Arctic Goose Joint Venture, a panel of scientists and regulators established to study the snow goose. "There is a problem to be dealt with. . . . The challenge will be to convince people . . . to appreciate a problem that is thousands of miles away. The damage that has occurred here is significant. [The geese] are hurting other organisms," particularly shore birds deprived of the habitat the geese are destroying. The damage is obvious to the few hundred humans who live in this area year-round. "We're expecting the geese to land on the city square any day," said John Bilenduke, deputy mayor of Churchill, a city that once buzzed with military personnel stationed at a U.S. missile testing range but now relies on polar bear tours and a grain elevator to stay afloat. It is obvious from outer space, where satellite photos show the goose damage as a wide, red strip around the coast of the Hudson Bay. "Any effect you can see from orbit I would argue is a big one," said Peter Kotanen, a University of Toronto botany professor. Schmidt said wildlife officials plan to consult with public interest groups and hold hearings over the next year. They hope to have measures for dealing with the geese in place by next fall. The practical issues are difficult enough. Unlike Canada geese, snow geese are not a preferred game species. Many hunters don't think they taste as good. Refuge managers said it also may be difficult for hunters alone to control the population because the birds travel in large flocks, quickly learn to avoid decoys and will not stay in one place long enough to be killed in large numbers. "I am not sure there is much we can do with it," said George O'Shea, assistant manager of the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Delaware. "They come and go as they desire. . . . If you open an area to hunting, they will go to a private field and tear it up. . . . They adapt and learn very quickly." O'Shea said the flock of snow geese at Prime Hook has increased to as many as 100,000 birds, compared to only a few thousand in the late 1970s. It is a sight so impressive that the local Chamber of Commerce wants to start an annual snow goose festival. There will be political hurdles as well, Schmidt said. Many migratory bird species are declining in North America, their habitat converted to farms and housing subdivisions. After spending money and effort building refuges, establishing wetlands laws and encouraging conservation efforts to preserve wildlife, Schmidt said, it will be hard to sell the idea that a specific species should be suppressed. Schmidt said he also expects strong opposition from those who challenge the ability -- and the moral right -- of scientists and government officials to set the population level for a wild species and kill off the excess. Biologists estimate that if 15 percent of adult snow geese are killed each year, the overall population could be cut in half in several seasons, with little danger of overkill or other miscalculation. It is better to wait for a natural population crash as the geese run out of food and acceptable habitat, responded Susan Hagood, an analyst for the Humane Society of the United States, than to guess about how many birds should die. After a recent tour of the goose nesting grounds around La Perouse Bay, east of Churchill, Hagood said the humane society will oppose the proposed goose kill. The snow goose nesting grounds in North America include northern Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba and parts of the Northwest Territories, "and it is a little hard to believe that geese at their current population level could affect that entire area," Hagood said. "Let nature take its course. The population will continue to increase. It will probably then crash at some point, and that will give the tundra the break it needs." So far, however, there is no crash in sight, only the bare ground that flocks of hungry geese leave behind. Areas along the western coast of Hudson Bay that were once prime feeding ground for the birds are now mud flats. Scientists estimate that as much as one-third of that traditional habitat has been destroyed. Compounding the problem, the snow geese move inland and change their diet when the coastal grasses are gone, invading fresh-water marshes as well. Land that once bloomed with gentle blue gentian and white Grass of Parnassus flowers now has a dust bowl quality, covered with mats of a purple weed and the skeletal twigs of dead willow bushes. The goose's success, in and of itself, might not be cause for action. However, the scientists involved contend that they are only surviving in such numbers because man has given them an unfair advantage. Since the 1960s, said botanist Jefferies, the geese have been gorging on rice and grain in the southern and southwestern United States, returning north fatter than ever and better able to survive the northern Canadian winter. There is more land in cultivation now, the grain is better, and farmers, to conserve soil, no longer plow their fields under in the fall, Jefferies said. The result is a virtually unlimited supply of food for the birds to eat during their months in America. "All the evidence is that man caused the booming of that population. We created a niche for [the snow goose] to be more competitive with other species," said Jefferies. "If we are not effective in four or five years, we are going to have to use our imagination." @CAPTION: Snow geese flew over Cap Tourmente, Quebec, last October during annual migration south. Their growing numbers threaten other species. ©Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 12:13:27 -0700 From: Sean Thomas To: ar-news@envirolink.com Subject: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: [Fwd: Re: Animal Action : Canada's Primate Message-ID: <199708201724.NAA23767@envirolink.org> This attachment was sent as file (File name not found) It was saved in file 13280000 ATTCHMNT A Note: One or more attachments were saved to your personal storage ("A" disk). Most programs and documents sent from a PC will need to be downloaded to a PC to be usable; select the BINARY option of your file transfer program. If you know the attachment was plain text, but it is now unreadable, it may need translation from ASCII to EBCDIC. If it was saved as "README TXT A", the command would be "A2ETEXT README TXT A". Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 10:44:33 -0700 From: "ida" To: Subject: Organizers needed! Message-ID: <199708201740.KAA12528@proxy4.ba.best.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit IDA needs people who can ORGANIZE an action at certain locations in the month of September: Approximate dates: Fargo, ND Sept. 19-20 Columbus, OH Sept. 11-14 Roanoke, VA Sept. 24-28 Killington, VT Sept. 25&26 Milwaukee, WI Sept. 15-16 Please contact lauren [by e-mail or (415) 388-9641 X29] if you are interested in ORGANIZING something in any of these cities. Thanks. Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 13:32:48 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Food causes sickness Message-ID: <199708201741.NAA25900@envirolink.org> In Our Food, Some Sickening Developments By Don Oldenburg Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page C05 The Washington Post=20 Last week's largest recall ever for bacterially contaminated meat or=20 poultry should serve as a warning about the serious health risks that=20 can accompany many foods today -- and as a reminder of some precautions=20 consumers can take. Five million prepackaged, frozen, quarter-pound hamburger patties,=20 distributed by Hudson Foods, are suspected of being tainted with a=20 potentially deadly strain of E. coli bacteria that has made at least 16=20 people sick in Colorado. "This recall doesn't surprise me at all. I'm not surprised the meat was=20 contaminated or that people got sick in Colorado. I am surprised the=20 contamination was spotted," says Nicols Fox, whose recently published=20 book, "Spoiled: The Dangerous Truth About a Food Chain Gone Haywire"=20 (BasicBooks; $25) uncovers high-risk changes in how our food is=20 produced, processed, distributed, stored and prepared -- and their=20 far-reaching consequences. "Each of those changes is opening the door to opportunistic, emerging,=20 food-borne pathogens," says Fox. "This latest outbreak illustrates how a=20 pathogen, through mass production and mass distribution, can be spread=20 throughout a product so completely." Fox, who spent several years investigating why more people are getting=20 more severely sick from what they eat, says hamburger provides an ideal=20 example of a food system in which microbes can run rampant. "Hamburger meat is all these different meats from a thousand different=20 cows from four different countries ground up all together," she says.=20 "One contaminated cow can contaminate 16 tons of meat. Let's suppose we=20 take that meat and distribute it all over the United States. A case of=20 someone getting sick might pop up in Maine, and another in Tennessee,=20 and in Washington, D.C. . . . It might not even be recognized as an=20 outbreak because the cases are so widespread." In fact, health experts say more Americans than ever before are dying or=20 suffering from food-borne ailments, which range from the mild stomach=20 cramps, vomiting and diarrhea typically associated with run-of-the-mill=20 "food poisoning," to chronic liver disease and paralysis. Fox points out=20 that since midsummer more than 60 people in Virginia and Michigan became=20 sick from the E. coli-contaminated alfalfa sprouts they ate, and=20 Virginia Health Department officials tracked the illnesses of some 126=20 people to fresh basil contaminated with the Cyclospora parasite. Fox contends that one big culprit is the increase in imported foods.=20 "Our food is as safe as the country and the environment that it comes=20 from," she says. "Trade is like a passport for pathogens. When you go to=20 Mexico, you know to eat only what you peel, boil or cook. But you go to=20 your grocery store and buy produce never thinking that [a large=20 percentage] of it comes from Mexico." She says initiatives such as the new meat-inspection rules, which won't=20 go into effect for several years, and the first-ever salmonella vaccine=20 for poultry, ready to go on the market by the end of 1997, will help,=20 but they aren't going to prevent all that's gone wrong with our food=20 system. "I think we're making progress," she says. "But it's two steps=20 forward, one step backward." Meanwhile, Fox has become "a reluctant vegetarian" because, she says,=20 "we've distorted the whole pattern of animal production to the point=20 where I've lost my appetite for it." For others, she advises these=20 safety precautions: Keep two cutting boards -- one for meats, one for vegetables. Cook foods to an interior temperature of 160 degrees F. Hamburger meat shouldn't be eaten pink and cooked chicken juices should=20 run clear. Rinse fresh produce that will be consumed uncooked in antibacterial=20 solutions, which can be purchased at health-food stores. Disinfect kitchen and counter areas with a solution of one teaspoon of=20 chlorine to a quart of water. Got a consumer problem? Report the details via e-mail to=20 oldenburgd@washpost.com or by mail to Don Oldenburg, Consummate=20 Consumer, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.=20 =A9Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Food causes sickness Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 13:33:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Jean Colison To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Killing Snow Geese Message-ID: <199708201749.NAA27163@envirolink.org> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trouble on the Tundra: Snow Geese Under Gun Massive Slaughter of Majestic Birds Proposed By Howard Schneider Washington Post Foreign Service Wednesday, August 20, 1997; Page A01 The Washington Post=20 CHURCHILL, Manitoba=97It has been 6,000 years since the Keewatin ice cap=20 retreated from the coastal marshes around this Hudson Bay village, and=20 for much of that time a prolific number of plants and animals shared=20 what sub-Arctic Canada had to offer. Plants evolved with a type of=20 organic antifreeze in their cells, and each summer's thaw revealed lush=20 spreads of marsh grass, sedges and flowers; birds trimmed and fertilized=20 the lawn, and foxes ate the birds. It was, say scientists who have studied the area intensively for 30=20 years, a system both finely balanced and broadly diverse, given the=20 climate, from dozens of species of plant life to the top local predator,=20 the polar bear. Today, however, there's trouble on the tundra. In the past three decades, an explosion in the population of snow geese=20 has reduced thousands of acres of once thickly vegetated salt- and=20 fresh-water marsh to a virtual desert, driving out other species and=20 threatening to overwhelm an ecosystem that would take decades to=20 rebound. The deteriorating situation has been tracked in detail by a team of=20 scientists who have manned a field station deep in the Manitoba marsh=20 each summer since the late 1960s. The situation is so serious that they=20 want to call out the cavalry. At this point, they say, the only way to=20 save the tundra is to kill the geese -- lots of them. "The population has escaped hunters' control and predators' control, and=20 there is no sign of it doing anything else" but increasing, said=20 University of Toronto botanist Robert Jefferies, who has been part of=20 the field research team at La Perouse Bay since 1974. Jefferies and other members of a joint U.S.-Canada panel have=20 recommended killing at least half the continent's snow geese through=20 increased hunting in the United States, where the birds spend the=20 winter, and in Canada, where they return in summer to breed and rear=20 their young. Under the proposal currently being studied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife=20 Service and its Canadian counterpart, hunters would be allowed to shoot=20 the distinctive white birds all year, as many as they want. They would=20 be allowed to bait migrating flocks into fields, use electronic calling=20 devices to lure the birds, and possibly even enter America's network of=20 national wildlife refuges in search of their prey. And if hunters cannot kill enough of the birds, wildlife officials say,=20 there has been serious discussion of asking for help from the military,=20 or even introducing disease to "depopulate" a species that, resistant so=20 far to sickness, increased predation and other natural population=20 controls, has climbed from fewer that a half-million in the 1960s to=20 more than 3 million today. The birds may be majestic in flight and their annual arrival anticipated=20 -- along Maryland's Eastern Shore, the plains of Iowa and the swamps of=20 Louisiana and Texas -- as one of nature's grand events. But on the=20 ground, in the marshes where they breed, they've become a pest, fattened=20 for the winter on American grain, clustering farther south to avoid=20 high-Arctic weather and increasing their numbers with an annual=20 population growth rate of 5 percent. "They are very successful nesting birds, and they have shown the ability=20 to devastate environments," said Paul Schmidt, chief of migratory bird=20 management for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and co-chairman of=20 the Arctic Goose Joint Venture, a panel of scientists and regulators=20 established to study the snow goose. "There is a problem to be dealt=20 with. . . . The challenge will be to convince people . . . to appreciate=20 a problem that is thousands of miles away. The damage that has occurred=20 here is significant. [The geese] are hurting other organisms,"=20 particularly shore birds deprived of the habitat the geese are=20 destroying. The damage is obvious to the few hundred humans who live in this area=20 year-round. "We're expecting the geese to land on the city square any=20 day," said John Bilenduke, deputy mayor of Churchill, a city that once=20 buzzed with military personnel stationed at a U.S. missile testing range=20 but now relies on polar bear tours and a grain elevator to stay afloat. It is obvious from outer space, where satellite photos show the goose=20 damage as a wide, red strip around the coast of the Hudson Bay. "Any=20 effect you can see from orbit I would argue is a big one," said Peter=20 Kotanen, a University of Toronto botany professor. Schmidt said wildlife officials plan to consult with public interest=20 groups and hold hearings over the next year. They hope to have measures=20 for dealing with the geese in place by next fall. The practical issues are difficult enough. Unlike Canada geese, snow=20 geese are not a preferred game species. Many hunters don't think they=20 taste as good. Refuge managers said it also may be difficult for hunters=20 alone to control the population because the birds travel in large=20 flocks, quickly learn to avoid decoys and will not stay in one place=20 long enough to be killed in large numbers. "I am not sure there is much we can do with it," said George O'Shea,=20 assistant manager of the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in eastern=20 Delaware. "They come and go as they desire. . . . If you open an area to=20 hunting, they will go to a private field and tear it up. . . . They=20 adapt and learn very quickly." O'Shea said the flock of snow geese at Prime Hook has increased to as=20 many as 100,000 birds, compared to only a few thousand in the late=20 1970s. It is a sight so impressive that the local Chamber of Commerce=20 wants to start an annual snow goose festival. There will be political hurdles as well, Schmidt said. Many migratory=20 bird species are declining in North America, their habitat converted to=20 farms and housing subdivisions. After spending money and effort building=20 refuges, establishing wetlands laws and encouraging conservation efforts=20 to preserve wildlife, Schmidt said, it will be hard to sell the idea=20 that a specific species should be suppressed. Schmidt said he also expects strong opposition from those who challenge=20 the ability -- and the moral right -- of scientists and government=20 officials to set the population level for a wild species and kill off=20 the excess. Biologists estimate that if 15 percent of adult snow geese are killed=20 each year, the overall population could be cut in half in several=20 seasons, with little danger of overkill or other miscalculation. It is better to wait for a natural population crash as the geese run out=20 of food and acceptable habitat, responded Susan Hagood, an analyst for=20 the Humane Society of the United States, than to guess about how many=20 birds should die. After a recent tour of the goose nesting grounds=20 around La Perouse Bay, east of Churchill, Hagood said the humane society=20 will oppose the proposed goose kill. The snow goose nesting grounds in North America include northern Quebec,=20 Ontario and Manitoba and parts of the Northwest Territories, "and it is=20 a little hard to believe that geese at their current population level=20 could affect that entire area," Hagood said. "Let nature take its=20 course. The population will continue to increase. It will probably then=20 crash at some point, and that will give the tundra the break it needs." So far, however, there is no crash in sight, only the bare ground that=20 flocks of hungry geese leave behind. Areas along the western coast of=20 Hudson Bay that were once prime feeding ground for the birds are now mud=20 flats. Scientists estimate that as much as one-third of that traditional=20 habitat has been destroyed. Compounding the problem, the snow geese move inland and change their=20 diet when the coastal grasses are gone, invading fresh-water marshes as=20 well. Land that once bloomed with gentle blue gentian and white Grass of=20 Parnassus flowers now has a dust bowl quality, covered with mats of a=20 purple weed and the skeletal twigs of dead willow bushes. The goose's success, in and of itself, might not be cause for action.=20 However, the scientists involved contend that they are only surviving in=20 such numbers because man has given them an unfair advantage. Since the=20 1960s, said botanist Jefferies, the geese have been gorging on rice and=20 grain in the southern and southwestern United States, returning north=20 fatter than ever and better able to survive the northern Canadian=20 winter. There is more land in cultivation now, the grain is better, and farmers,=20 to conserve soil, no longer plow their fields under in the fall,=20 Jefferies said. The result is a virtually unlimited supply of food for=20 the birds to eat during their months in America. "All the evidence is that man caused the booming of that population. We=20 created a niche for [the snow goose] to be more competitive with other=20 species," said Jefferies. "If we are not effective in four or five=20 years, we are going to have to use our imagination." @CAPTION: Snow geese flew over Cap Tourmente, Quebec, last October=20 during annual migration south. Their growing numbers threaten other=20 species.=20 =A9Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Killing Snow Geese Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 10:44:33 -0700 From: "ida" To: ar-news@envirolink.com Subject: Organizers needed! Message-ID: <199708201802.OAA28980@envirolink.org> IDA needs people who can ORGANIZE an action at certain locations in the month of September: Approximate dates: Fargo, ND Sept. 19-20 Columbus, OH Sept. 11-14 Roanoke, VA Sept. 24-28 Killington, VT Sept. 25&26 Milwaukee, WI Sept. 15-16 Please contact lauren [by e-mail or (415) 388-9641 X29] if you are interested in ORGANIZING something in any of these cities. Thanks. Organizers needed! Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 15:08:19 -0400 (EDT) From: PAWS To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: albuquerque hearing in progress Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII The city of Albuquerque's hearing on the King Royal circus animals is going on right now (Wednesday afternoon). PAWS will post the results of the hearing as soon as it adjourns. Please continue to pressure the USDA to confisgate the animals and place them in a safe refuge. Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 21:55:52 +0000 From: "Miggi" To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Barry Horne hunger strike Message-ID: <199708202054.VAA15369@serv4.vossnet.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT > Barry enters week 2 of hunger strike > ************************************ > > A vigil was held outside Bristol Prison on the night of Tue 19 Aug to > mark the first week of Barry Hornes hunger strike against Government > policy on animal experiments. > After 4 days without food, the prison authorities imposed a punishment > regime on Barry, withdrawing all but his most basic privileges. He was > confined to his cell for 23 hours a day and was not allowed to associate > with other prisoners. > Following many calls of protest and a press release which generated > intense media pressure, the prison backed down and restored all > privileges. They even appointed an occupational therapist to check > Barrys condition. > Although Barrys condition did worsen a little after 6 days, he was > somewhat better the following day and responding to the many letters of > support which have flooded in from around the world. He wishes to thank > all those who have written and will try to answer all letters > eventually. > In a statement, Barry has let it be known that he has chosen to embark > on the hunger strike during a parliamentary recess to enable campaigners > to approach their MPs in person, as this is when most surgeries are > held in their constituencies. He urges all those who care to, to attend > the surgery of their MP and quiz Labour MPs as to why their party has > so blatantly lied about vivisection. > > LABOUR ADMITS IT LIED ABOUT VIVISECTION > --------------------------------------- > Last December, Elliot Morley, Labour spokesperson on animal welfare made > a number of promises, including a Royal Commission to examine the > necessity of animal experiments. In a shocking new development, a Home > Office spokeswoman, commenting on Barry Hornes hunger strike, has > revealed that the new Labour administration has no intention of > honouring this pledge, stating that December was a long time before the > election. She went on to say: We already have an excellent source of > independent advice - the Animal Procedures Committee." > For those who dont know, the Animal Procedures Committee consists > entirely of vivisectors and their political lackeys and a handful of > totally discredited ex-animal welfare campaigners. Even the RSPCA is not > represented. > > Labour has also broken a pledge to outlaw primate experiments and > announced a 2.5million research programme using monkeys to be carried > out at the infamous Porton Down Chemical and Biological Defence > Establishment. > > A week of action against vivisection is planned next week against > vivisection targets and the Government for its betrayal of laboratory > animals. > > *On Bank Holiday Monday, Aug 25, we will be gathering in Minster Lovell, > Oxford, for a Demo against Hill Grove Farm, breeders of cats for > vivisection, and currrently the target of an intensive campaign. Meet at > Minster Lovell Hall at 5pm. > *On Wed 27 August, at 12.30, there is a picket of Labour Party HQ, 150 > Walworth Rd, London SE 17 (Tel.0171 7011234). Nearest Tube and rail > station is Elephant & Castle. > > *On Sat 30 August there is a day of action against vivisection, meeting > at BIBRA contract toxicology lab, 12 noon, BIBRA, Woodmansterne Rd, > Carshalton, Surrey. > For further details use the contact numbers printed on the letterhead. > > Please remember that time is very important! Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 17:23:44 -0700 From: LCartLng@gvn.net (Lawrence Carter-Long) To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: APHIS Decision on King Royal Circus & Albuquerque Elephants Message-ID: <199708210017.UAA10389@envirolink.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" APHIS Press Release ANIMAL EXHIBITOR GIVEN 21-DAY SUSPENSION Jim Rogers (301) 734-8563 jrogers@aphis.usda.gov Jamie Ambrosi (301) 734-5175 jambrosi@aphis.usda.gov ANIMAL EXHIBITOR GIVEN 21-DAY SUSPENSION RIVERDALE, Md., Aug. 20, 1997- The owner of King Royal Circus, John Davenport of Von Ormy, Texas, was ordered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture today to suspend for 21 days all activities covered under the Animal Welfare Act. "We have reason to believe that John Davenport's actions contributed to the death of one of his elephants," said Michael V. Dunn, USDA's assistant secretary for marketing and regulatory programs. "Davenport transported an elephant named Heather while it was not in good health in a trailer that was sub par." On August 11, authorities in Albuquerque, N.M., found 11 King Royal animals in a parked trailer outside a local motel. The animals included three elephants, one of which was dead, and eight llamas. "We have also begun an investigation into King Royal Circus and this incident," said W. Ron DeHaven, the acting deputy administrator for USDA's animal care program. "For us, this is a high priority investigation and we expect to have it completed soon." In 1992, Davenport received a warning ticket regarding King Royal Circus' animal inventory and veterinary care records. And in 1996, Davenport settled with the USDA regarding several alleged violations of the act. He agreed to a civil penalty of $8,000. Under the AWA, animal exhibitors must be licensed with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a part of USDA's marketing and regulatory programs mission area. Animal Care employees conduct unannounced inspections to ensure compliance with the AWA. Any violations that inspectors find can lead to license suspensions and/or civil penalties following administrative adjudication. # Lawrence Carter-Long Coordinator, Science and Research Issues Animal Protection Institute phone: 916-731-5521 LCartLng@gvn.net "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of too much life by doing so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." -- Henry David Thoreau Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 20:42:32 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) VRG HOSTS 4-H STUDENTS Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970820204229.006c8948@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from VRG e-mail list (VRG contact info at end of post): ------------------------------- VRG HOSTS 4-H STUDENTS VRG hosted seven 4-H students on August 12th and 13th. The teenage students (many from rural farming communities) were attending a national 4-H conference in Washington, DC and had indicated a desire to learn about public relations and marketing skills in the food industry. VRG was asked to participate in this program and gladly accepted the challenge. Students had the opportunity to do research including calling supermarket chains and asking them whether or not they offered natural foods products in their stores and if so, which products and how were they displayed. Some students also called natural foods companies asking them if they had any new vegan products available in foodservice size. If so, they asked the companies for practical tips on how the products could be used by foodservice. The 4-H students also participated in two food tasting sessions to evaluate products and discuss how they thought the products should or should not be marketed. These non-vegetarians tasted about a dozen non-dairy frozen desserts the first day and about a dozen vegan cup of meals the other day. Their comments and conclusions will appear in Vegetarian Journal sometime in 1998. The students also learned about writing press releases, wrote Veggie Action columns for Vegetarian Journal, and practiced researching and answering consumer questions. Overall, the two days were a tremendous success! For more information on VRG-NEWS, see http://www.vrg.org/vrgnews or contact Bobbi Pasternak at bobbi@vrg.org. The Vegetarian Resource Group PO Box 1463 Baltimore, MD 21203 http://www.vrg.org email: vrg@vrg.org Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 21:18:06 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Admin Note--subscription options Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970820211803.006e6f58@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" routine posting (a "must" a couple times a week).......... Here are some items of general information (found in the "welcome letter" sent when people subscribe--but often lose!)...included: how to post and how to change your subscription status (useful if you are going on vacation--either by "unsubscribe" or "postpone"). --------------------------------------------------------------- To post messages to the list, send mail to ar-news@envirolink.org POSTING To post a *news-related item* (no discussions), send your message to: ar-news@envirolink.org Appropriate postings to AR-News include: posting a news item, requesting information on some event, or responding to a request for information. Discussions on AR-News will NOT be allowed and we ask that any commentary either be taken to AR-Views or to private E-mail. ------------------------------------------ ***General Subscription Information*** ALL THE FOLLOWING SHOULD NOT be sent to ar-news !!! 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If you have problems, please contact: Allen Schubert ar-admin@envirolink.org Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 21:49:19 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Contaminations raise the question: Is food safe? Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970820214916.006c3e40@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from CNN web page: -------------------------------- Contaminations raise the question: Is food safe? Most of the time is the answer August 20, 1997 Web posted at: 7:39 p.m. EDT (2339 GMT) From Health Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen ATLANTA (CNN) -- What's gotten into the American food supply lately? This year alone, there has been E. coli bacteria in hamburgers and alfalfa sprouts, Hepatitis A in strawberries, and a parasite called cyclospora in raspberries. These contaminations not only give the American consumer pause when it comes to eating such things, it also makes one wonder just how safe food is. Americans two or three generations back generally ate only food that was grown nearby. If something went wrong, "it went wrong locally," said Dr. Robert Tauxe of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The food supply that our grandparents ate was really different from the food supply we're eating now," he said. "It was a local problem with a local solution," he said. "Our food comes from all over the country and, indeed, from all over the world." As food goes, so go contaminants When something went wrong with beef at the Hudson Foods plant in Columbus, Nebraska, this summer, it made people sick in Colorado. Bad strawberries from Mexico gave people food poisoning in Michigan. Contaminated raspberries from Guatemala affected people in New York. In other words, as food travels around the globe, so do bacteria and pesticides and, inevitably, food poisoning. "There are some new disease-causing agents like E. coli that just didn't seem to cause much disease a generation ago," Tauxe said. What can be done about it? One answer is technology. Congress agreed this year to spend money on a better early-warning system for food poisoning. The quicker scientists can figure out what's making people sick, the quicker they can recall the contaminated foods. And technology does exist to kill many food-borne contaminants. It's called irradiation. But many companies are reluctant to use it, fearing that consumers won't buy a product with a label that says it has been exposed to radiation. No food is risk-free There are also low-tech solutions such as improved sanitation at slaughterhouses and more thorough cooking by consumers. Produce is a different story. You don't cook lettuce, and washing it won't kill the E. coli bacteria. Which brings up a point many consumers don't want to hear: while most food seems to be safe, there is no such thing as risk-free food, even when you're eating something as innocent as a strawberry or an alfalfa sprout. Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 21:39:00 -0400 From: Vegetarian Resource Center To: Veg-News@envirolink.org Cc: Veg-Biz@envirolink.org, Vegan-L@VM.Temple.Edu Subject: Merger Mayhem in the Dairy Business Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19970820213900.00dbf610@pop.tiac.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Merger Mayhem An Editorial by Sevie Kenyon Low Milk Prices are Only Background Noise as the Cultural-Social Fabric of Dairy Farming Changes Big, Bigger, Biggest Four of the nation's larger dairy marketing co-ops, including the two biggest, announced formally in May they are seeking to consolidate. The suspects are: Associated Milk Producers, Inc. (AMPI), Arlington, Texas; Mid-America Dairymen, Inc. (Mid-Am), Springfield, Missouri; Milk Marketing, Inc. (MMI), Strongville, Ohio; and Western Dairymen Cooperative, Inc. (WDCI), Thornton, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah. The U.S. Justice Department will review this proposal. At the start anyway, leadership of the four co-ops believe the Justice Department will rule favorably and allow the merger to take place. Mid-Am in particular has experience with anti-trust reviews as it has grown. You're asking: "How does this affect me?" The answer to your question depends on your view of dairy marketing co-ops. Should this merger take place, dairy producers in large parts of the country will have only one outlet for their milk. That's if you look at dairy co-ops as milk buyers. If you look at dairy co-ops as sellers of milk, you have a different spin. This proposed co-op consolidation will control 25% of the national milk supply. In theory, that's a enough market power to move prices. "Competition only helps buyers," says Carl Baumann, president of Mid-Am. Presumably, if there is only one source from which to purchase milk, buyers will pay the established price. The principals in this proposed consolidation also cite "economies of scale" as desirable benefits for such a super co-op. Benefits from economies of scale are gained in administration through reduced operating costs and by providing the "financial strength" to develop "value-added dairy marketing enterprises." This proposal is still some distance from the finish line. As we mentioned earlier, the Justice Department may have something to say about it. While farmer-owned co-ops have the benefit of the Capper-Volstead Act, allowing co-ops to set farm prices, a co-op still has to operate by the same rules as other businesses. Plus, the directors of each board have to sign off on the details. Then, the members of each co-op will ratify the proposal if that's what they choose to do. Mid-Am Notes Even without the consolidation news, Mid-Am, Springfield, Mo., is very busy growing. While we couldn't get an official comment at press time, sources say the deal for Mid-Am to buy Borden's is "imminent." Borden's is one of the few remaining "national" dairy product companies. It's most recognized by its Elsie the cow logo. The company has had a number of financial "challenges" lately and is looking for a home. Mid-Am is also dealing for a couple of bottling plants in the northeastern part of the country. The co-op has made a huge commitment to the fluid market and is keenly interested in gaining a foothold inside the big population areas. Final notes and a Correction: Don't look for a dairy section in your July magazines. We skip that month, sweep out the cobwebs, juice up the batteries and come back in the August editions all fired up. Good luck this summer. And, our apologies to Marvin and Mary Klehr. Last month we said they are Michigan dairy farmers when in fact they are Minnesota dairy farmers. Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 21:56:31 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Dead rats found at VMI, apparent anti-woman stunt Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970820215629.006e4bec@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" interesting story about sexism and speciesism from Mercury Center web page: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted at 10:53 a.m. PDT Wednesday, August 20, 1997 Dead rats found at VMI, apparent anti-woman stunt LEXINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Thirty dead rats and a sign reading ``Save the Males'' were found on the parade ground at the Virginia Military Institute today, two days after it admitted its first female cadets. The rats apparently were dumped by pranksters from a rival school. The term ``rats'' is used to refer to first-year cadets. Behind the pile of white laboratory rats was a white towel with the slogan printed with black marker. ``Save the Males'' was the mantra of opponents of allowing women into VMI. The nearly 460 freshmen lined up early this afternoon to begin their six-month ordeal, known as the ``rat line,'' that is intended to test their physical, mental and emotional endurance. The cadets, including the 30 women who enrolled Monday, faced screaming upperclassmen drillmasters. Earlier, Superintendent Josiah Bunting was visibly disturbed as he stood over the dead rats. ``It tells you a lot more about the people who would do that than the point they're trying to make,'' Bunting said. ``What kind of people would do that? Sick people.'' The rats may have been left as a prank by students at rival Washington & Lee University, whose campus is adjacent to VMI. A Washington Post reporter and Roanoke Times photographer said they were in a Lexington bar Tuesday night when a young man who identified himself as a W&L student told them that he and some fellow students were considering dumping dead rats at VMI. ``We're pretty sure the rats are ours,'' W&L security chief Mike Young said. The rats apparently were among those used in psychology and biology labs. When experiments are finished, rats are frozen and later buried in a landfill. The rats were found by Rusty Garber, the 11-year-old son of an assistant football coach at VMI. ``It made me queasy. I thought somebody has a really sick mind,'' he said. VMI officials for 14 months have prepared to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state-supported school must admit women. Cadets have been trained how to avoid sexually harassing female rats without compromising VMI's harsh regimen. VMI is trying to avoid the embarrassment The Citadel suffered in 1995 when Shannon Faulkner became the first woman to enter there. The South Carolina school was the only other state military school to exclude women. Miss Faulkner dropped out after one week, citing stress and her isolation as the only woman in a hostile male corps. Four more women joined The Citadel last August, but two dropped out in January alleging hazing by male upperclassmen. Bunting believes the female dropout rate should be comparable to the men. Roughly one-quarter of the men drop out of the tough regimen in a typical year; two have dropped out already this week. Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 22:29:48 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: EU Asks WTO To Judge US Chickens Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970820222946.006ebad4@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from AP Wire page: ---------------------------------- 08/20/1997 13:55 EST EU Asks WTO To Judge US Chickens GENEVA (AP) -- The European Union has formally notified the World Trade Organization of its complaint against U.S. restrictions on poultry imports, trade officials said Wednesday. Under WTO rules, the EU and United States have 60 days from last Monday -- the day the notice was filed -- to try to work out their differences between themselves. If they fail, the EU may request that a three-member WTO panel rule on the dispute. The dispute has curbed poultry trade across the Atlantic, with the EU blocking imports from the United States over objections to the U.S. use of chlorine to kill bacteria in chicken carcasses. The United States also has stopped imports of European poultry and poultry products, on unspecified health grounds. Earlier this year, the EU and United States agreed to accept each other's veterinary standards for meat, meat products including pet food, dairy products and eggs. But they have been unable to agree on poultry standards. Date: Wed, 20 Aug 97 21:51:12 PDT From: "bhgazette" To: "AR News" Subject: Calle, the elephant Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; X-MAPIextension=".TXT" This article appeared (some parts omitted.... as noted) in today's San Francisco Chronicle: ELEPHANT'S TB TREATMENT EFFECTIVE BUT NOT PRETTY Cocoa butter suppositories prescribed Two pounds of cocoa butter a day may spell salvation for Calle, the elephant.... "Suppositories," explained David Robinett, general curator at the San Francisco Zoo. "They were considered a last effort. Surprisingly, she's taking it well.".... After the zoo put out a call for help, a Berkeley pharmacist developed two-pound suppositories molded from cocoa butter. Acting on a suggestion from the zoo vet, pharmacist John Garcia fashioned hollow tubes of cocoa butter, 10 inches long and two inches wide, and filled them with the daily dose of four TB medicines. The drug-filled suppositories cost about $125 each. Garcia said he crafted five different designs for the mold before he hit on the right one. Cocoa butter was selected instead of more common vegetable fat because of its lower melting point and resistance to cracking. Garcia, propietor of Abbott Pharmacy on Woolsey St.l, specializes in old-fashioned compounding with mortar and pestle. He makes salmon-flavored steroid medicine for cats and fruit-flavored antibiotics for parrots. As far as he knows, this is the first all-hollow cocoa butter elephant suppository in history... Calle, a 30-year old Asian elephant on loan from the L.A. Zoo, apparently arrived in San Francisco already infected. Under the terms of the loan, S.F. is oliged to pay for animal's treatment, expected to cost more than $60,000 a year. Calle will receive daily suppositories for two months and three suppositories a week for 10 more months. After that, if tests are negative, she will be introduced to veteran zoo elephant Tinkerbelle, with whom she will share an enclosure. It takes a team of four zookeepers, working very much together, to administer the suppository by hand. One keeper is in charge of holding Calle's tail."It's not a pretty sight," said associate curator Michele Rudovsky. Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:47:06 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Mir and Milk ads Message-ID: <199708210347.LAA02785@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >South China Morning Post Thursday August 21 1997 Amid toil and trouble, Mir cosmonauts find time to film milk commercial AGENCIES in Jerusalem and Moscow A hole in his space station was not the only thing former Mir commander Vasily Tsibliyev plugged on his star-crossed mission - he also made a television commercial for Israeli milk. Yesterday Channel Two television broadcast a preview of the ad showing Tsibliyev swallowing a floating globule of long-life milk which he squeezed out of a Hebrew-lettered carton. "The 'Milk in Space' commercial is the story of a cosmonaut who, hundreds of kilometres away in space and months away from home, craves fresh-tasting milk," said a spokesman for the advertising agency that produced the commercial for Tnuva, Israel's biggest food manufacturer. She said US$450,000 (HK$3.48 million) was budgeted for the 90-second commercial and a fee was paid to the Russian space agency. She said she did not know if the Mir crew received payment. Tsibliyev returned to earth on August 14. Yesterday the new cosmonauts on Mir prepared for a dangerous spacewalk, scheduled for tomorrow, to repair the damaged module. The station was back in line with the sun and its solar batteries fully recharged after Monday's main computer shutdown which sent Mir into a chaotic spin. The computerwas repaired on Tuesday. Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:47:15 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (HK) Epidemic fear as bird flu kills boy Message-ID: <199708210347.LAA15670@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 21 Aug 97 Epidemic fear as bird flu kills boy By Mary Ann Benitez and Ceri Williams A HONG KONG boy has died from a new influenza strain that was thought to exist only in birds. The three-year-old's death has prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to send investigators here to try to prevent an epidemic. The flu type, which has never before been known to strike humans, is H5N1 _ known officially as A/HK/97 _ Director of Health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said. This is the second time a new flu strain has been discovered in Hong Kong. The first, H3N2, was discovered in 1968 and caused the ``Hong Kong flu'' pandemic that killed 120,000 people. That strain too was an avian virus. A gene investigator from the United States' Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, arrived last night to confer with a special virus committee on the new flu strain. Hong Kong and WHO authorities said there was no cause for panic since no one else had come down with the disease. The boy died in Queen Elizabeth Hospital on 21 May, five days after being admitted. He fell sick on 10 May and was first sent to Baptist Hospital. His death came after outbreaks of H5N1 occurred on three farms in Lau Fau Shan, where it killed 4,500 chickens in April. Twenty-seven people, chicken farm workers and those who might have been in contact with the boy, have since tested negative for the disease. Dr Chan said this indicated the virus was weak and not easily transmissible. The incubation period of the virus ranged from a few hours to five days. ``We are urging the public not to panic, for we have not yet found any other cases of the virus up to now,'' Dr Chan said. ``If the virus has not gone through any major changes it will not be a threat to mankind. ``If it has, it could increase the potential for a big epidemic like the Hong Kong flu in 1968.'' Dr Daniel Lavenchy, WHO head of the influenza program, said from Geneva last night: ``There's no reason to get anxious and go into special measures, as long as there's only one case.'' But the investigation was continuing and a CDC gene investigator had been sent to Hong Kong to try to prevent other cases. The investigation would take a few weeks. ``We want to be very sure there's only one isolated case in the Hong Kong population. ``If there's transmission from human to human or widespread transmission to the community, we have to analyse if the virus is dangerous to humans. ``Depending on the findings we will have to discuss between the WHO, Hong Kong and elsewhere to define a strategy.'' Dr Lavenchy said the H5N1 case did not surprise him because there had been outbreaks in chickens in Hong Kong and on the mainland. But ``so far we have not known H5 to affect humans''. WHO medical investigators working from laboratories in Tokyo, London and Melbourne were determining the ``final characteristics'' of the virus. Deputy Director of Health Dr Paul Saw Tian-aun, who is heading the special committee, said Hong Kong could breathe easy if the H5N1 had not mutated significantly as the community would have immunity against it. Three H types of influenza commonly affect humans: H1, H2, and H3. The boy's case is the first in which H5 and H5N1 have been found in a human. Dr Chan said specialists so far had no idea how the virus had jumped from a bird to the boy, and they did not know what the intermediate host was. Assistant Director of Agriculture and Fisheries Liu Kwei-ken said: ``All of the infected chickens died of the disease but we do not yet know the effect it has on humans.'' Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:47:20 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (HK) Flu complications can kill: doctors Message-ID: <199708210347.LAA10310@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 21 Aug 97 Flu complications can kill: doctors By Maureen Pao INFLUENZA itself may not be fatal but its complications can kill, doctors say. And of the three types _ A, B and C _ type A is the most serious and can affect animals and humans. Dr Raymond Lai Wai-man, a microbiologist at United Christian Hospital, said flu was generally transmitted through the air, but sometimes secretions carrying the virus could be the culprit. With an incubation period of one to three days, flu could be contagious for three to five days after a patient exhibited symptoms. Dr Lai said the usual symptoms, preceded by the onset of fever, were headaches, fatigue, muscle pain and respiratory-tract problems such as coughing, a sore throat and runny nose. Dr Lai said most patients recovered without treatment within about a week. The best a doctor could do was treat the symptoms. Although influenza was generally not fatal, complications associated with it could be. The most serious of those included viral and bacterial pneumonia, acute inflammation of the heart muscle and inflammation of the pericardium, or membrane surrounding heart. Dr Lai said such complications accounted for only 4 to 5 per cent of cases. Those most at risk were the elderly and sufferers of chronic heart or lung disease or diabetes. Other complications included Reye syndrome, which occurred in children and was associated with aspirin use to treat a fever. Others included encephalopathy _ the impairment of the central nervous system _ and liver failure. Prof John Tam Siu-lun of the Chinese University's Department of Microbiology said the classification of virus strains was done according to the antigens on the surface of the influenza virus. The ``H'' referred to haemaglutinin, the ``sticky'' end of the virus that sticks to cell membranes, while the ``N'' referred to neuraminidase, an enzyme that acts to break down sugars in red blood cells. Influenza A's most distinguishing characteristic is its ability to change into new strains, with a new strain appearing in humans every 10 to 15 years. Prof Tam said although antigens could mutate, a person's body retained partial immunity against the new viruses via the antibodies created to fight older strains. Major pandemic, or worldwide epidemic, strains of influenza A include the Asian flu of 1957 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968. Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:47:31 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (HK) Death not linked to outbreak: farmers Message-ID: <199708210347.LAA04853@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 21 Aug 97 Death not linked to outbreak: farmers By Antoine So FARMERS near the border who lost 4,500 chickens to H5N1 in April say their birds were not responsible for the death of a boy from the virus. ``That's a big joke,'' Mr Lee, 60, a chicken-farm owner at Nim Wan Road, Lau Fau Shan, said. ``I have been with chickens for more than 20 years. Look, I'm still very healthy, ain't I?'' According to the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, three chicken farms in Lau Fau Shan were hit by H5N1 in April. More than 4,500 chickens died as a result. The department would not reveal the exact locations of the three farms but said the necessary isolation of the virus had been in place. Farmers and the department's laboratory staff had not been infected, it said. Mr Lee and another farmer said they were not aware of the April outbreak. Mr Lee said most of his 20,000 chickens were imported from the mainland, but he dismissed the possibility he had brought in sick poultry. Like other farmers, he took precautions and had immunised his fowls against a variety of diseases. Chickens would receive four innoculations against common diseases like influenza _ on the day of their arrival and at regular intervals afterwards. They birds would then be raised for 50 more days on average before they would go to the market. ``This is my living. Of course I don't want them to die, so I have all of them injected right after they arrive,'' Mr Lee said. The H5N1 outbreak has killed 1.7 million chickens in Guangzhou since February, costing farmers more than 10 million yuan. Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:47:26 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (HK) Border farms targeted in hunt by vets Message-ID: <199708210347.LAA15709@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 21 AUg 97 Border farms targeted in hunt by vets By Antoine So THE Agriculture and Fisheries Department will target poultry farms at the border as it tries to track down the H5N1 virus. Dr Barry Bousfield, the department's senior veterinary officer, said tests would also be made at the 1,500 poultry farms in Hong Kong. Dr Bousfield believed the death of the boy was an isolated case, and he defended the way the department had handled the April outbreak at three chicken farms at Lau Fau Shan. ``We checked this out, we isolated the virus, we typed the virus, we know it's H5N1,'' he said. ``None of the farmers got sick, none of my laboratory staff got sick, so I think it's hopefully just one odd issue.'' Dr Bousfield said poultry farms at the border would be scrutinised following the massive outbreak of H5N1 in Guangzhou in February. He said a person infected by the H5N1 virus would suffer from flu symptoms such as a severe cold, headache and an infection of the lungs. The virus would be more dangerous to the elderly and the young, who are usually less resistant to disease. Dr Bousfield said although there had been cases of pig influenza being transmitted to humans, cross-influenza contamination between poultry and man was quite rare. ``It's the first time I have heard of animal influenza directly infecting a human,'' he said. But Dr Bousfield warned that the development of cross-influenza infection between animals and man could be the result of a combination of viruses and the development of a new one, leading to the outbreak of a massive epidemic. ``Many scientists suspect that there is some actual cross-development of virus between animal and human. ``The animal virus recombines with the human virus to create a new dangerous virus. That will then be very worrying Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:47:40 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (HK) `Several' diseases cross species line Message-ID: <199708210347.LAA15145@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 21 Aug 97 `Several' diseases cross species line By Maureen Pao CROSS-SPECIES infections, also known as zoonoses, are not unknown in Hong Kong, medical experts say. Diseases such as rabies and ``swine flu'' _ a type of influenza A transmitted through the air, are types of zoonosis. ``When the path of the human crosses with that of the animal, when development encroaches upon the habitat of the animal, cross-species diseases may happen,'' Hong Kong Medical Association infectious diseases spokesman Dr Lo Wing-lok said. But Dr Lo and other experts said the appearance of cross-species infections did not signal an epidemic and urged the public to remain calm. Prof John Tam Siu-lun of Chinese University's Department of Microbiology said: ``Once you have a virus crossing the species barrier, such as from birds to humans, there's the possibility the brand new virus the human population has never encountered before can spread. ``But right now it is a very isolated case.'' Dr Lo said such diseases could be transmitted several different ways. For example, leptospirosis, a kind of bacteria, was spread from rats via a liquid medium, usually urine or water. He said several times a year, people in Hong Kong, usually labourers working in ditches or gutters, contracted the disease, in which the bacteria actually breaks the skin. Streptoccocus meningitis suis (swine) bacteria, commonly found in pigs' noses and throats, caused inflammation of the brain membrane if inhaled by humans after being expelled from pigs. Victims could die if the disease was not detected soon enough, Dr Lo said. Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:47:45 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (HK) Hospital staff ignorant of outbreak Message-ID: <199708210347.LAA16376@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 21 Aug 97 Hospital staff ignorant of outbreak By Mable Keung MOST of the medical staff of Queen Elizabeth Hospital know nothing or very little about the new infectious virus that caused the death of a three-year-old boy at the government hospital in May. Many confessed ignorance about the new infectious and potentially lethal disease. Few heard the news on radio or television after the hospital itself announced the discovery of the disease on Wednesday. But they accepted the risk as part of their job. ``There is always the possibility of getting infected,'' one said. ``It's the nature of our job and we have to accept it. We cannot worry too much.'' Doctors and nurses agreed they had to take extra precautions in the wake of the fatal virus' discovery. ``We will be reminded to wear gloves, if we have any wound, while performing our duties,'' another said. They were concerned that the hospital told the media of the outbreak before staff. ``I would say I would have preferred the hospital to have immediately notified us since, after all, we are the ones who actually have close contacts with patients,'' one nurse said. Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:48:03 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: HK could become centre of pandemic Message-ID: <199708210348.LAA16228@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 21 Aug 97 HK could become centre of pandemic By Maureen Pao HONG KONG could become the epicentre of a world epidemic if the new strain of virus has spread, influenza research scientist Professor John Tam Siu-lun has warned. ``If a new strain, that humans have never encountered before, spreads from human to human, we have serious decisions to make,'' said Prof Tam, a leading member of the Chinese University's Microbiology Department. One step would be to make infection-blocking drugs, such as Amantadine, available to the public. Prof Tam said Amantadine can prevent influenza if taken continuously during an epidemic. But he warned these drugs only prevent infection and are not a cure once the disease takes hold. The most important step would be for organisations such as the World Health Organisation or the United States' Centres for Disease Control to develop a preventative vaccine for the new strain, called H5N1. However, vaccines at best give only 70 per cent protection and can be quickly outpaced by new strains. Influenza experts, including the University of Hong Kong's Kenneth Shortridge, have suggested that the ecosystem of the southern China region, including Hong Kong, may allow variant virus strains to mingle, making epidemics more likely. China and Hong Kong have historically been considered ``flu zones'', and health organisations have set up numerous surveillance centres in the region. Prof Tam explained that the theory is based on the fact that animals and humans live in close proximity in the region. In addition to being infected by a typically ``human'' strain of influenza, a person may also contract ``equine'' or ``swine'' strains at the same time. Known as ``supra-infection'', or co-existing infections by different strains of viruses, this condition may result in the mingling of viruses to create wholly new strains. Prof Tam said the current case might provide evidence to support this theory. Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:48:08 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (TW) Ivory smuggling highlights ignorance of animal preservation laws Message-ID: <199708210348.LAA16048@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >CNA Daily English News Wire IVORY SMUGGLING HIGHLIGHTS IGNORANCE OF ANIMAL PRESERVATION LAWS Taipei, Aug. 16 (CNA) Customs police, in the first six months of this year, seized more than NT$170 million (US$5.92 million)-worth of smuggled goods, including drugs, guns and ivory products, in 93 major smuggling cases. Chao Kuo-an, deputy director general of Customs, said on Saturday that of these cases, 56 were committed by travelers entering Taiwan, 36 of which were in connection with illegal bringing of ivory products. Chao said this revealed Taiwan tourists liked to purchase ivory souvenirs while overseas, bringing them home unaware that they were violating the Wild Animal Preservation Law. According to the latest statistics by the Directorate General of Customs, the 93 smuggling cases also included 19 involving drugs and seven involving guns and ammunition. There were several cases involving mainland alcohol and agricultural products. A total of 6,719 kg of heroin, 292 kg of amphetamines, 15 pistols, and 761 bullets were also seized during the six-month period, the statistics show. Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Council of Agriculture (COA) said on Saturday that they burned 1400 tons of smuggled agricultural products last year, down 36 percent from the year-earlier-level. The decline in the amount of seized contraband was attributable to strengthened coast guard patrols and customs examination systems, part of the efforts to improve social order, the spokesman said. (By Elizabeth Hsu) Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 11:48:47 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Vitamin C said to help protect memory Message-ID: <199708210348.LAA15336@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >CNA Daily English News Wire VITAMIN C SAID TO HELP PROTECT MEMORY Canberra, Aug. 20 (CNA) High intakes of vitamin C and betacarotene across a lifetime may protect human memory functions from deterioration and stave off dementia, according to a new study. The study by University of Basel geriatrics Professor Hannes Staehelin of Switzerland on Swiss men and women for 20 years found those who had high levels of these antioxidant vitamins in their blood performed better in memory tests. Staehelin, who will present a research paper at the World Congress of Gerontology in Adelaide this week, told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) Tuesday that disturbances in memory functions related to aging could be linked to increased oxidative stress with aging. "It's quite clear that neurons in the brain cells are challenged by free radicals and that the aging process itself is linked to free radicals," he said. "It appears that antioxidants actually protect the neurons from damage," he said. Although the usefulness of these vitamins is increasingly accepted, he said, it's difficult to prove. He said a study in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on dementia has shown people with low betacarotene intake have a higher rate of dementia. "Our study is unique because it involves a 20-year follow-up. We have observed that antioxidants have a long-term effect, but how important intake is in later years is not so clear," he said. The study involved testing 442 healthy elderly people aged 65 to 94 years on aspects of memory and matching the results with vitamin blood levels. It found vitamin C and betacarotene were significant predictors of ability in tests of vocabulary and betacarotene in tests of recognition. Antioxidants are ideally obtained from natural sources such as fruits and vegetables, but supplements might be necessary, Staehelin told the AAP. (By Peter Chen)