AR-NEWS Digest 504 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) (TW) Tycoon plans park for stray dogs by Vadivu Govind 2) [UK] Anger at pressure to build 'mad cow' furnaces by David J Knowles 3) Kibbutz Or-Haner will raise apes for labs (ISRAEL) by erez ganor 4) (US) The next bad beef scandal? [manure and dead cats] by allen schubert 5) (US) HIDDEN RISKS by allen schubert 6) State of CA vs. Tom Valter Sentencing by IGHA/HorseAid Volunteer 7) (US) Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News by JanaWilson@aol.com 8) (US) Oklahoma's Dove Season Preview by JanaWilson@aol.com 9) ProMED Digest - BSE/CJD issues by Vegetarian Resource Center 10) Biocontrol at work by Andrew Gach 11) Antibioti-resistent staph infection spread by hospitals by Andrew Gach 12) (CN-HK) Rodent parts seen as tiger bone substitute by Vadivu Govind 13) (HK) Flu panel may look at pig farms by Vadivu Govind 14) Altered food worries consumers by Vadivu Govind 15) (US) More superbugs infecting U.S. consumers by allen schubert 16) (US) Two Injured at Bullfight Gone Awry by allen schubert 17) Smuggled Amazon animals found dead at Lima airport by Andrew Gach 18) The only effective way by Andrew Gach 19) Deadly Medicine by Andrew Gach Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 15:51:41 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (TW) Tycoon plans park for stray dogs Message-ID: <199708240751.PAA01326@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >The Sunday Times AUG 24 1997 Forget the dog house, tycoon plans park for Taiwan's strays ECCENTRIC Taiwanese tycoon Ke Tsu-hai has bought a huge plot of land to house Taiwan's stray dogs and plans to use it as the backdrop for a film, "Extraordinary Mission", the Taiwanese version of "101 Dalmatians". To date, he has adopted more than 400 stray dogs, the China Times Express reported. It costs NT$2 million (S$107,400) a month to feed and clean them. The park for the stray dogs and the film project would set him back further by another few million, but the tycoon was not put off by the high costs, said the newspaper. Pointing to 10 boxes of shares piled in a corner of his room, he revealed that he had made a lot of money on the stock market recently. He said he was angry with the government for treating the strays like "trash" and for exterminating them indiscriminately. He wanted the dogs to live out their lives in his park in the Linkou industrial area, roaming freely on its 49,500-sq-m grounds (about half the size of Haw Par Villa) and fed by more than 10 park rangers. The movie "Extraordinary Mission", he said, would bring the problem of Taiwan's stray dogs international attention. In the film, the bad guys would be the presidential guards, Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian and police officers, all bent on killing off the stray dogs. Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 01:48:34 -0700 (PDT) From: David J Knowles To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] Anger at pressure to build 'mad cow' furnaces Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970824014858.26ff971a@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, August 24th, 1997 Anger at pressure to build 'mad cow' furnaces By Greg Neale and Graham Hind COUNCILS have accused the Government of pressuring them to approve the building of controversial incinerators in its attempt to end the mad cow disease outbreak. The accusations come after a senior civil servant wrote to every chief planning officer in the country, saying extra incinerators were urgently needed to destroy the carcasses of hundreds of thousands of cattle slaughtered under the drive to wipe out BSE. In the letter - a copy of which has been passed to The Sunday Telegraph - Dr Brian Marker, a senior official in the minerals and waste planning division of the Department of the Environment, says the Government "considers it important that additional incineration capacity should be provided urgently". While Dr Marker's letter says that such incinerators "will not receive special, or less demanding treatment" from pollution control authorities, it urges councils to be "alert for opportunities to contribute to the provision of additional capacity". Before the election there was a "green welly" revolt in many shire counties - often including those with senior Conservative figures - against proposals to build incinerators. Since the election, a majority of councils have continued to resist applications by would-be incinerator operators. Experts say burning cattle remains is the best way to destroy the prion protein, thought to be responsible for the disease. Council officers contacted by The Telegraph said they felt under pressure to agree incinerator plans. Only two new incinerators have so far been approved for trial burning to begin - at Langar, Notts, and Flagg, Derbyshire. Villagers in Flagg, which is in the Peak national park, are divided over the issue. Sheenagh Mudford, a spokesman for an action group fighting the incinerator plan, said: "We accept that carcasses will have to be disposed of, but surely it should be at a secure industrial site, not next door to a village in a national park?" © Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 14:54:38 +0300 From: erez ganor To: "ar-news@envirolink.org" Subject: Kibbutz Or-Haner will raise apes for labs (ISRAEL) Message-ID: <340020FE.313A449E@netvision.net.il> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A second farm for monkeys raised for lab experienses is being build these days in Kibbutz Or-Haner in Israel. The American company Primatis World Wed who is dealing with animal tests has established contact with the kibbutz and offerd to supply young monkeys that will be raised in Israel and later distributed to labs in other countries. The monkeys will be raised in cages in a site of a wadi hidden from the eyes, about 3 kilometers from the kibbutz but still on its territories. The Israeli Vet' authority togeter with the Israeli Nature reservation Authority approved the facility. A minority of Kibuttz members is getting organized against the brutal and the exploitation of these animals just for the sake of few more Shekels in the Kibbutz account. Moshe Dardick the secretary of Kibbutz Or-haner said the deal is not final yet and we are still negotiating with the american company. he doesn't understand what the whole fass about since the kibbutz is raising calves who get slaughtered and no one cares. is that better? he also said that the experiments are not killing the monkeys and after all it is all for the sake of human society. The Israeli Nature reservation Authority approved the application of the kibbutz after they were found fullfiling the standards set by Israel and by the International treaty. The firts Israeli Farm was established few years ago in Moshav Mazor not far from the Ben-Gurion International Airport, and distributes its monkeys to destinations in Europe and America. The animals are delivered by El-Al the Israeli National Airline, after European Airlines refused to ship this kind of Cargo. the Kibbutz Phone number is + 972 - 7 6802511 Fax No' +972 -7 6802602. Please fax your protest letters to the Kibbutz secretary. Also please send copies to the Israeli Embassies in your countries. Thanks for your support, Erez Ganor The Israeli Cetacean Freedom Group P.O.Box 3139 Roshon le-Zion 75308 Fax: +972 8 8691135 E-Mail: e_ganor@netvision.net.il Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 09:13:08 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) The next bad beef scandal? [manure and dead cats] Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970824091305.0068e3b8@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" read what they really eat... from US News Online: ----------------------------------------- The next bad beef scandal? Cattle feed now contains things like manure and dead cats Learn more about how to keep your food safe BY MICHAEL SATCHELL AND STEPHEN J. HEDGES It was about as exciting as things get in quiet Columbus, Neb. Last week, just a few days after their arrival, a SWAT team of agricultural inspectors forced the closing of the town's Hudson Foods Co. plant, declaring that a jumbled record system and questionable procedures made it difficult, if not impossible, to determine how E. coli bacteria had tainted the hamburger patties fashioned there. The bad meat, the inspectors found, came from one of seven slaughterhouses that supplied Hudson on June 5. Just which one wasn't immediately clear. Hudson recalled 25 million pounds of its meat, and Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman offered assurances that the plant would not open until "far more stringent safety standards" had been adopted. "All evidence at this point," he added, "indicates that we have contained the outbreak." Glickman's declaration may have been a tad premature. The true extent of the Hudson hamburger contamination will remain a mystery until inspectors know exactly which plants supplied the beef. From there, they will have to investigate further to determine if Hudson's suppliers also sent bad meat to other food companies. What is indisputable, however, is that the problems at Hudson represent only one of many threats to the nation's meat supply. Bargain breakfast. Agriculture experts say a slew of new and questionable methods of fattening cattle are being employed by farmers. To trim costs, many farmers add a variety of waste substances to their livestock and poultry feed--and no one is making sure they are doing so safely. Chicken manure in particular, which costs from $15 to $45 a ton in comparison with up to $125 a ton for alfalfa, is increasingly used as feed by cattle farmers despite possible health risks to consumers. In regions with large poultry operations, such as California, the South, and the mid-Atlantic, more and more farmers are turning to chicken manure as a cheaper alternative to grains and hay. Lamar Carter is one such cattle farmer. Carter recently purchased 745 tons of litter scooped from the floors of local chicken houses, stacking it 12 feet high on his farm near Dardanelle, Ark. After allowing the protein-rich excrement to heat up for seven to 10 days, Carter mixes it with smaller amounts of soybean bran, and feeds this fecal slumgullion to his 800 head of cattle. "My cows are fat as butterballs," Carter says. "If I didn't have chicken litter, I'd have to sell half my herd. Other feed's too expensive." Health officials are not as enthusiastic. Chicken manure often contains campylobacter and salmonella bacteria, which can cause disease in humans, as well as intestinal parasites, veterinary drug residues, and toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. These bacteria and toxins are passed on to the cattle and can be cycled to humans who eat beef contaminated by feces during slaughter. A scientific paper scheduled for publication this fall in the journal Preventive Medicine points to the potential dangers of recycling chicken waste to cattle. "Feeding manure that has not been properly processed is supercharging the cattle feces with pathogens likely to cause disease in consumers," says Dr. Neal Barnard, head of the Washington, D.C.--based health lobby Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an author of the article. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta estimates there may be as many as 80 million incidences of food-borne illness each year in the United States, and about 9,000 deaths. Salmonella accounts for 4 million cases, of which 500 to 1,000 are fatal. Campylobacter, which causes acute gastroenteritis, afflicts between 4 million and 6 million people annually, killing about 100. E. coli, the bacteria that was found in the tainted Hudson Foods beef, causes up to 250 fatalities and triggers serious illness in up to 20,000 people annually. At least 17 people have fallen ill from eating contaminated Hudson beef. Agricultural refuse such as corncobs, rice hulls, fruit and vegetable peelings, along with grain byproducts from retail production of baked goods, cereals, and beer, have long been used to fatten cattle. In addition, some 40 billion pounds a year of slaughterhouse wastes like blood, bone, and viscera, as well as the remains of millions of euthanized cats and dogs passed along by veterinarians and animal shelters, are rendered annually into livestock feed--in the process turning cattle and hogs, which are natural herbivores, into unwitting carnivores. The kitchen sink. Animal-feed manufacturers and farmers also have begun using or trying out dehydrated food garbage, fats emptied from restaurant fryers and grease traps, cement-kiln dust, even newsprint and cardboard that are derived from plant cellulose. Researchers in addition have experimented with cattle and hog manure, and human sewage sludge. New feed additives are being introduced so fast, says Daniel McChesney, head of animal-feed safety for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, that the government cannot keep pace with new regulations to cover them. No accurate statistics exist on how many farmers feed poultry waste to their cattle. Roger Hoestenbach, former president of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), which sets standards for the animal-feed industry, estimates it occurs to some degree in half to three quarters of the states. Regulating the safety of the nation's animal feed is the FDA's responsibility, but the agency only monitors interstate commerce. Waste products are rarely shipped over long distances, because transportation costs wipe out the savings from using cheaper materials. Manure is not used by the large, commercial livestock-feed manufacturers because they would be required to perform expensive tests to detect pathogens and toxins. But farmers don't have to use commercial feed; they are free to feed their animals anything they choose, and many use poultry litter. Distasteful as it may seem, chicken and turkey droppings can be fed safely if handled properly. This involves correctly stacking the manure for four to eight weeks while the naturally generated heat raises temperatures to 160 to 170 degrees Fahrenheit, high enough to destroy bacteria and toxins. However, farmers rarely--if ever--check the temperatures of manure piles or test to make sure the waste is pathogen free, according to interviews with university extension experts, state and federal agriculture officials, livestock feed-industry regulators, and beef growers in large poultry producing states. Some farmers say they feed chicken manure raw to cattle straight from the broiler house, which virtually ensures problems. Others "go by the smell" to judge when it is ready. Studies of manure-feed safety, argue the authors of the Preventive Medicine report, have been conducted largely in controlled environments, not in the casual, unregulated conditions on most farms. Few studies address public health aspects, and there is an overall dearth of published information. "Feeding manure may not be aesthetically pleasing, but it is safe if you process it properly," says the FDA's McChesney. "If you don't, it's like playing with matches around gasoline." Rodney Noel, secretary of the AAFCO feed-standards group, agrees there is a serious regulatory gap. "There should be some decent production oversight of these types of byproducts," he says, "particularly when there is a possibility of contamination." Mad cows. The contents of animal feed are attracting more attention as a result of the outbreak of so-called mad cow disease in Great Britain and concern that similar problems could occur here. More than a dozen Britons died after eating beef from cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The cattle are thought to have contracted the disease by eating rendered brains and spinal cords of sheep infected with a condition called scrapie. While scrapie is far less common in the United States, on August 4 the FDA ordered a halt to feeding all slaughterhouse wastes to U.S. cattle and sheep as a BSE safety precaution. Seventy-five percent of the nation's 90 million cattle had been eating feed containing slaughterhouse byproducts, so the ban raises the possibility that more farmers and feed manufacturers will turn to cheap additives like manure and other questionable waste products. The Department of Agriculture recently instituted a high-tech regime of meat inspections to catch bacteria like E. coli, but those procedures are still being introduced into packing plants. In addition, the department is hobbled by old laws, as it was in the Hudson Foods case: It couldn't legally close the company's Columbus plant once problems were discovered but could only recommend the company suspend operations. Hudson complied, but the department's inability to act unilaterally, Glickman said, was a frustration. "One of the biggest loopholes out there is the fact that I do not have authority to order a recall of bad product or bad meat," he said. That may change if the administration succeeds in pushing through a legislative fix this fall. Consumers, meanwhile, who generally know little or nothing about what happens to meat on its way to their table, also have no way to learn if their beef has been fattened on chicken droppings. And maybe they don't want to know. With Linda Kulman Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 09:16:35 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) HIDDEN RISKS Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970824091632.006d57ac@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" useful for listing the hidden toxins most people don't know about from US News Online: ----------------------------------- HIDDEN RISKS I'll take that burger well done! Learn more about how to keep your food safe Food-borne illness sickens up to 80 million Americans each year. Four common causes: E. coli. Flourishes in cattle intestines. Meat (usually ground beef) can be contaminated by fecal contact during slaughter. In humans, can cause cramping and diarrhea, progressing to kidney failure in severe cases. Prevention: Cook ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, other beef to 145-170 degrees. Salmonella. Can be present in raw meat. Symptoms of illness include nausea, vomiting, cramps, and fever. Prevention: Wash cutting surfaces and hands and cook meat thoroughly as above. Campylobacter. Found mainly in raw chicken, the bacteria can pass to cattle that feed on chicken manure, and then to humans if slaughter involved fecal contact. Prevention: Cook chicken to 180 degrees Fahrenheit; for beef, see above. Toxic heavy metals. Arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury can collect in cattle organs and tissues. Effects on humans who eat tainted beef are uncertain. Prevention: Unclear. Some experts call for removal of more heavy metals from waste before it is used as feed or fertilizer.--L.K. Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 07:11:41 -0800 From: IGHA/HorseAid Volunteer To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: State of CA vs. Tom Valter Sentencing Message-ID: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Valter's motion for a new trial was denied and the motion to reduce the four felony convictions to misdemeanors was also denied. He was given 5 years felony probation and a $5,000.00 fine with a court order to maintain humane practices in his training of horses, a violation of which would result in his being sent to state prison. The civil lawsuit filed by Peggy Arnone and Katie Thompson against Mary Anne Hogan who rescued their horse, Zooloog from Valter's torture has been dismissed, as have all criminal charges against Ms. Hogan. Contributions to offset the legal expenses and other costs of this rescue effort may be sent to: American Society for Animal Protection, 29201 Heathercliff Road, Suite 118, Malibu CA 90265 Two weeks ago, Mrs. Tom Valter sent IGHA/HorseAid e-mail threating us with a civil lawsuit unless we removed our account of this case from our Web site, but we refused. It must be stressed that the brave actions of one very caring animal lover named Mary Ann Hogan resulted in the charges being filed that led to this conviction. More info: http://www.igha.org/news.html Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 13:16:50 -0400 (EDT) From: JanaWilson@aol.com To: Ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News Message-ID: <970824131649_2082164271@emout03.mail.aol.com> A/w local Oklahoma City hunting news: Public hearings will be held across the state on proposed hunting regulations for the 1998 season. This includes one authorizing a 16 day deer gun season. The meetings will be held this next week thru out Oklahoma. Hunters who plan to take advantage of the Sept. teal season must obtain a state duck stamp in addition to the federal stamp. This year's Oklahoma Waterfowl Hunting Stamp features a pair of common goldeneye standing on a snowy bank. State duck stamps cost $4 and are available at hunting and fishing license dealers thruout the state. A benefit archery shoot is scheduled for sept. 7th at the Rocky Mountain Archery Range near Stilwell in northeastern Okla. The proceeds goto help defray medical expenses of a two year old cancer victim Haylie Beach of Westville. Both men and women's eventrs are planned as well as contests for younsters. Every year deer are missed or wounded because hunters have not taken the time to make sure their rifles are shooting where they aim. Two "Sight-In Days" will be held by the Oklahoma City Gun Club. Bring ear protection and plenty of ammo. Club members will be on hand with spotting scopes to assist shooters. For the Animals, Jana, OKC Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 13:40:59 -0400 (EDT) From: JanaWilson@aol.com To: Ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Oklahoma's Dove Season Preview Message-ID: <970824134049_-66534914@emout18.mail.aol.com> A/w Oklahoma City hunting news: The Oklahoma dove season could be over before it starts if the cool weather holds. Since the dove season begins on 1 Sept., it usually heralds the arrival of the first serious cool front since sometime in March. Brisk weather may be enjoyable for football fans but doves head south on the first north wind. Oklahoma has had several cool fronts this August. If they had occured a bit later it would have been too much for the doves. Although the season continues thru October, if the weather turns cold doves will be so scarce that most hunters will simply not bother. Migrants from the north never take up the slack. However, the Oklahoma Wildlife Dept encourages everyone, especially beginners, to take advantage of one of the easiest hunts available in the state. And if any birds are still here, both residents and non-residents can even hunt Sept. 6th thru the 7th without a license. "Free Hunting" has been authorized that weekend by the Wildlife Commission. (There is a daily bag limit of 15.) According to Mr. Alan Peoples, assistant Chief of Game, "Unlike some other types of hunting, dove hunting is an easy sport to get started in. Dove hunting is offered on many public hunting areas, and many private landowners allow courteous hunters to hunt doves on their property, so finding a place to go isn't that difficult." A 12-guage or 20-gauge shotgun with improved cylinder of modified choke and ammo with No. 8 or 9 shot are usually recommended. Hunting tactics are fairly basic as well, although they do vary by area of the state. Out in the western part of the state water is often in limited supply during dove season. Cattle tanks, windmills, small ponds and even puddles can produce fast action when birds come in to water in the morning and the evening. Active feed fields shouldn't be overlooked either. Active is the keyword, since dove feeding and flight patterns tend to shift radically thru out the season. Prehunt scouting is the only way to pin down what fields the birds are using. And don't forget the recently picked agricultural fields. Crops such as wheat, corn, sorghum, millet and rye are important food sources where the birds can be found. Weedy areas containing sunflowers, croton, ragweed and pigweed are also excellent bets. For the Animals, Jana, OKC Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 15:51:15 -0400 From: Vegetarian Resource Center To: AR-News@envirolink.org, Veg-News@envirolink.org Subject: ProMED Digest - BSE/CJD issues Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19970824155115.007300a4@pop.tiac.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 10:06:13 -0400 (EDT) From: "Gary Greenberg, MD" Subject: OEM: New controversy on CJD / BSE in UK ---------- Forwarded message ---------- ProMED Digest Saturday, 23 August 1997 Volume 97 : Number 212 In this issue: PRO/AH/EDR> Anthrax, human - Zimbabwe (Mashonaland) PRO/AH/EDR> Influenza, bird-to-man, first case? PRO/AH> Lyme's disease - Canada (Saskatchewan) PRO/AH> Rabies, fox - USA (Buffalo) PRO/AH> Vibrio poisoning, shellfish - USA PRO/AH/EDR> Influenza, bird-to-man, first case? (03) PRO/EDR> Typhoid - Dominican Republic (03) PRO/ALL> ProMED-mail award to outstanding contributors PRO/AH> CJD (new var.), vegetarian - UK See the end of the digest for information on how to retrieve back issues. ... From: ProMED-mail@usa.healthnet.org Date: Sat, 23 Aug 1997 23:06:23 -0400 Subject: PRO/AH> CJD (new var.), vegetarian - UK CJD (NEW VAR.), VEGETARIAN - UK ******************************** A ProMEd-mail posting [1] Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 20:30:50 -0700 Via: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy From: "Hans G. Andersson" Subject: New nvCJD victim - Vegetarian Here's latest nvCJD news from British press: A YOUNG woman who has been vegetarian for the past 12 years has the new strain of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease which scientists have linked to "mad cow" disease. The case is highly unusual because the first clinical case of BSE was recorded in cattle only in 1986 - a year after Clare X, now aged 24, stopped eating meat. ( Vet. Colin Whitaker's first BSE case was reported in April 1985. Nathanson, Wilesmith et al. reports suspected cases of BSE from N Yorkshire, Kent, W Sussex, Hampshire, Somerset, Cornwall, Devon and Dyfed in 1985. Source: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE): "Causes and Consequences of a Common Source Epidemic", American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 145, No 11, June 1, 1997) Her father said last night that he was told of the diagnosis a week and a half ago by Professor John Collinge, professor of neuro-genetics at Imperial College, London, and at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, where he heads a specialist unit investigating CJD. Her father said: "My daughter is still alive, but Professor Collinge told me there was no doubt about the diagnosis, which was done by a biopsy of the tonsils. There seems little doubt that she must have caught CJD from mechanically recovered meat eaten before 1985. When we told doctors she had been a vegetarian since 1985 there were a few raised eyebrows. They were very very surprised. Clare was a very strict vegetarian, though she did eat cheese and drink milk. She would not even eat biscuits if the packet showed that they contained gelatine or animal fat, for example. We used to joke that she was a bit of a pain about it." Professor Collinge was abroad and not available for comment last night, but Robert Will, head of the CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh, said that it was not impossible that people could have been exposed to BSE in meat products before 1985. "Although the first clinical case of BSE in cattle was not diagnosed until 1986, cattle incubating the disease could have been entering the food chain before then," he said. Another possibility was that Miss X might unwittingly have eaten food that contained animal fat or mechanically recovered meat derived from cattle spinal cord or brain. "We simply do not know all the kinds of food such material might have gone into," Dr Will said. An even more intriguing possibility suggested by the case is that the new strain of CJD might not, after all, have been caused by BSE, but Dr Will said he did not think that likely. Most scientists agree that circumstantial evidence of a link is very strong. Mr X said that Clare, who worked in the pet department of a garden centre near her home in Tonbridge, Kent, and was engaged to be married, first showed symptoms of the disease early last year. "She was a healthy seven stone [Appoximately, 20 lbs if my memory serves me right. Mod. pc] and then we noticed she began losing weight," Mr X said. "Clare looked as though she was becoming depressed. She cried all the time and we realised she had lost a stone in weight. "She was diagnosed as suffering from depression and was on anti-depressants for ten weeks, but they made no difference. Clare was then given electro-convulsive therapy at a pyschiatric clinic and her weight dropped to little over five stone." Brain specialists at the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells first suspected that Miss X had CJD earlier this year. She is now in an advanced stage of the disease and needs 24-hour home nursing. Source: The Times, August 22, 1997 - --- Hans G. Andersson, NYC -- hasse@sprynet.com Editor, Ebola section of OUTBREAK http://www.outbreak.org/ *** [2] Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 13:50:02 +0100 Via: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy From: Oz Subject: Re: New nvCJD victim - Vegetarian In message <1.5.4.32.19970824030023.0072a78c@mail.massey.ac.nz>, Rachel Shepherd writes >Interesting. Presumably she also came into contact with pet food and animal- based fertilisers. Hmmmmm. Fair comment. Indeed in many old-fashioned pet shops smaller quantities were sold from 25kg bags loose using a small scoop to hand-fill small paper bags. It is most unlikely that masks would be worn. However it's hard to believe that a serious vegetarian such as the young lady has been described as would work in such a place, or handle such products. Whilst the fairly strong circumstantial evidence is that nv-CJD is from BSE, it is as well to bear in mind that it is still yet unproven. - -- Hotz de Baar England *** [3] Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 14:36:05 +0200 Via: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy From: Roland Heynkes Subject: Re: New nvCJD victim - Vegetarian This is really bad news because it demonstrates, that even very careful consumers seem to have been without any chance to avoid a lethal BSE infection. The first cases have been observed by a field veterinarian in 1985. Therefore there must have been infective cattle many years before. >"When we told doctors she had been a vegetarian since 1985 there were a few raised eyebrows. They were very very surprised.< I was surprised too at the first moment. But there is no scientific reason to be surprised. (1.) It is in practice impossible to avoid products with animal origin. You can hardly find drugs or cosmetics without tallow or gelatine. Also in food, ingredients of cattle, sheep or pig origin are ubiquitous. It is impossible to produce gelatine free of infectivity from BSE affected cattle and british raw material has been used until 1996. Nobody can say, if tallow, produced from BSE cattle is really free of infectivity. Who knows how tallow is produced exactly. And is there really a substancial difference between the infectivities of meat and milk? For both there is only one report of successful transmission in the scientific literature. (2.) According to the prion theory the incubation time is largely determined by the dosis at the earliest uptake of infectious agent. After the first few human prion proteins have been converted by cattle prions, the reaction goes on at least one order of magnitude faster with human prions which convert human prion protein. Once this process has been started, further infections with foreign prions needs to be very heavily to further increase the speed of the process substancially. Therefore for those who became infected before 1985, it is not really relevant, if they became vegetarians later on. > An even more intriguing possibility suggested by the case is that the new strain of CJD might not, after all, have been caused by BSE, but Dr Will said he did not think that likely. Most scientists agree that circumstantial evidence of a link is very strong.< This is correct, but it is also possible that the so called new variant of CJD is not really new and occured from time to time long before BSE became a problem. Brown,P.; Rodgers-Johnson,P.; Cathala,F.; Gibbs,C.J. Jr. and Gajdusek,D.C. reported already 1984 in "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of long duration: clinicopathological characteristics, transmissibility, and differential diagnosis. - Annals of Neurology 1984 Sep; 16(3): 295-304", that 33 of 357 histopathologically verified cases belonged to a special type of CJD with very long clinical course (often several years instead of only a few months), younger age at onset (average, 48 years), and lower frequencies of myoclonus (79%) and periodic electroencephalographic activity (45%). I doubt that all this cases have been shown not to belong to the group of nvCJD. - --- Roland Heynkes *** [4] Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 22:23:44 -0400 Via: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy From: "Robert A. LaBudde" Subject: More bizarre news on BSE Excerpted from FSNET (D. Powell, Univ. Guelph): BRITAIN-CHARCOAL COWS Aug. 21/97 AP LONDON -- A north England utility is, according to this story, filtering some of its water supply through the bones of sacred cows that have been burned into charcoal and horrified vegetarians are turning off their taps. Yorkshire Water PLC is cited as saying it uses only bones imported from India, where cows are considered sacred and allowed to live out their natural lives. Their old, brittle bones make perfect raw material for charcoal filters. Using cattle from Western societies that slaughter them young for beef would not work so well because "their bones, like a human baby's, are still relatively soft," Yorkshire Water was cited as saying in a statement. Yorkshire Water added that, "we can't undertake to supply water which meets individual dietary needs or individual religious, ethical or medical needs." The company assures that because all bones are imported, there is no way any of Britain's mad cows -- believed to cause a rare but fatal human brain ailment -- could end up as water filter. A spokesman for the Vegetarian Society, which campaigns against the use of animal products, was quoted as saying, "Vegetarians throughout Yorkshire will be sickened by this move. It is impossible for the consumer to choose their water supply. Therefore, we are left in the frightening situation where we can no longer trust what comes out of our taps." Yorkshire Water spokesman Norman Hurst refused to answer questions. - --- Robert A. LaBudde "Robert A. LaBudde" ..........................................mhj/pc - -- Send all items for posting to: promed@usa.healthnet.org (NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help, etc. to: majordomo@usa.healthnet.org. 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Contact "postmaster@usa.healthnet.org" 1994 CONTENTS is 6 kilobytes; 1994 TOPICS is 10 kilobytes 1995 CONTENTS is 49 kilobytes; 1995 TOPICS is 89 kilobytes 1996 CONTENTS is 100 kilobytes; 1996 TOPICS is 140 kilobytes Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 16:18:39 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Biocontrol at work Message-ID: <3400C14F.4BAC@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Weevils go 'haywire' in biocontrol project Copyright © 1997 Nando.net Copyright © 1997 Reuter Information Service WASHINGTON (August 21, 1997 6:40 p.m. EDT) - A weevil introduced in North America to control rampaging European thistles has gone haywire and started preying on native plants, scientists reported on Thursday. They said the case illustrated the dangers of using living organisms to control pests, and recommended that U.S. authorities be more careful about what they let into the country. European milk thistle and other, similar, species had long been the bane of farmers and ranchers. "It is just a hideous weed," said Don Strong, a professor of biology at the University of California at Davis. "It renders rangeland and agricultural land unusable because these thistles are so spiky and noxious that cattle can't eat them. They are very aggressive colonizers of open ground." So in the late 1960s, experts came up with what seemed like a good idea -- introduce something from the thistles' native land that eats them. Enter the weevil Rhinocyllus conicus. But the weevil liked all kinds of thistles, and started eating native North American species, Svata Louda at the University of Nebraska and colleagues at the University of Tennessee reported in the journal Science. "Weevils significantly reduced the seed production of native thistle flowerheads," they wrote. Writing a commentary on the findings, Strong called the weevil scheme "a biocontrol project gone haywire." He said the weevil really did prefer the European thistles. "But it builds up populations on those and it goes over and clobbers the natives," he said in a telephone interview. "The fear is that it is evolving to specialize on the natives." Strong and Louda's team both said the case taught a serious lesson about the dangers of importing alien species. Scientists will have to check more closely on what the controllers really eat, how far they will spread and other possible ecological effects, they said. "The potential risks to both biodiversity and ecological stability are high when a mistake occurs," Louda wrote. Strong noted that public concerns about such issues were much stronger elsewhere. "Europe and Australia and New Zealand are way ahead of us on this," he said. "I think it's time for an open public discussion on biological control. We've got funky regulations in the United States and a poorly developed apparatus for contemplation of what organisms we introduce for biological control." Free markets made this difficult, Strong added. "But this is an issue about free markets that we have to address." By MAGGIE FOX, Reuters Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 16:25:22 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Antibioti-resistent staph infection spread by hospitals Message-ID: <3400C2E2.4ECC@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria shows up in U.S. The Associated Press ATLANTA (August 21, 1997 9:22 p.m. EDT) -- A staph germ that has resisted medicine's drug of last resort has shown up for the first time in the United States, the government said Thursday. "The timer is going off," said Dr. William Jarvis, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We were concerned it would emerge here, it has emerged here and we are concerned we're going to see it popping up in more places." A strain of staphylococcus aureus bacteria found in a Michigan man in July showed an intermediate level of resistance to vancomycin -- one step from immunity to the drug, the CDC said. The CDC and the Michigan department of health would not identify the man or say where he lives. The patient, who suffered kidney failure, had been taking vancomycin for half a year for a recurring infection from an abdominal catheter used for kidney dialysis. He now is being treated with a combination of drugs, including vancomycin, Jarvis said. The Michigan discovery came three months after a similar resistant strain was found in Japan. In May, the CDC reported that a 4-month-old Japanese infant developed staph after heart surgery. That strain of staph also showed an intermediate resistance to vancomycin, and the baby was treated with other drugs. Jarvis said the new strain is rare and should not deter people from seeking hospital care. "The majority of people aren't going to be in danger of getting this," Jarvis said. Nonetheless, U.S. hospitals were alerted to watch for the strain here. "Now that you have two in such a short time, there will be heightened concern," said Richard Schwalbe, director of clinical microbiology at the University of Maryland. Staph bacteria are the No. 1 cause of hospital infections. They are blamed for about 13 percent of the nation's 2 million hospital infections each year, according to the CDC. Overall, the 2 million infections kill 60,000 to 80,000 people. The bacteria can collect on clothing, blankets, walls and medical equipment. Hospital workers can pass them on by hand, and they can cling to tubes inserted into the body. To combat their spread, many hospitals across the country have restricted use of their most potent antibiotics and isolated their sickest patients. Dr. Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said there's no reason hospitals can't eradicate resistant staph. "These are unique, special strains that can be eradicated," said Haley, former chief of the CDC's hospital infections branch. "There needs to be aggressive surveillance in hospitals. Once you see it, don't let it stay and spread around the hospital until you can't get rid of it." For patients, the rise of drug-resistant germs means that the medicine they get for their infection may not make them better, forcing doctors to switch to one or more of the 100 antibiotics now on the market. However, many fear the time is growing near when there will be no alternative antibiotic to turn to. Penicillin was a wonder drug that killed staph when it became available in 1947. Within a decade, some strains grew resistant, a development attributed to overuse of antibiotics and the failure of some patients to take their medicine properly. Then came methicillin in the 1960s, then vancomycin, which was so potent it was regarded as the "silver bullet" against staph. "There's going to be a lot of throwing up of arms with doctors saying now we have to live with this," Haley said. "That is not true. We must fight it vigorously. We are also going to have to be much more stingy with our use of vancomycin." Pharmaceutical companies are working to develop new antibiotics. An experimental new antibiotic called Synercid, made by Rhone-Poulenc, killed the strain found in the Japanese infant. In lab tests, it was effective on the strain of staph in the Michigan man, but tests showed his bacteria were not resistant to other antibiotics. Synercid has not been approved yet for general use in the United States. --By TARA MEYER, Associated Press Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 10:48:55 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (CN-HK) Rodent parts seen as tiger bone substitute Message-ID: <199708250248.KAA01327@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >South China Morning Post Internet Edition Monday August 25 1997 Rodent parts seen as tiger bone substitute FIONA HOLLAND An international conference is to be told how rodent parts can be used instead of tiger bone in traditional Chinese medicine. The conference, which organisers hope will become an annual event, will focus on substitutes for tiger bone, used to cure rheumatism. Organisers said the rodent was found in Tibet, but details would only be disclosed at the December conference. The symposium will also be looking at substitutes for musk. Extracted from musk deer, it is used to treat seizures and fever, and is also a key ingredient in perfume. The species, which occurs in China, the Indian sub-continent and Russia, numbers more than 700,000. Experts estimate that the demand for musk on the mainland runs at up to 200,000 deer a year. "These things are being harvested at a shocking rate, so we are very worried. It is a crisis situation," said Judy Mills, director of TRAFFIC East Asia, the World Wide Fund for Nature trade management programme. "Musk is probably a far more important medicine than either tiger bone or rhino horn. There are at least 300 patented Chinese medicines containing musk." Annual demand for musk in China is between 500 and and 1,000 kilograms. But farmed musk deer - up to 2,000 are in captivity in China - produce only 10 kilograms of musk a year. Scientists from the mainland's Ministry of Public Health and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences will attend the symposium, jointly organised by TRAFFIC East Asia and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 10:49:53 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (HK) Flu panel may look at pig farms Message-ID: <199708250249.KAA03776@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 25 Aug 97 Flu panel may look at pig farms By Ceri Williams THE inquiry into the influenza strain that may have killed a three-year-old boy could be extended to pig farms in a bid to trace the source of the infection. Government officials say they expect to know by Wednesday the results of samples taken from about eight chicken farms for the H5N1 strain. Dr Thomas Sit Hon-chung, senior veterinary officer of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, said they may also check pig farms, depending on their results. ``We will only be checking the pig farms if it becomes necessary when we see the results of the samples from the chicken farms.'' The move comes after it was revealed that the investigation has also been extended to the mainland where the virus is suspected to have originated. The owners of local farms hit by the strain in April had brought their chickens from farms in Guangdong that were hit by an H5N1 flu outbreak in February and March. Director of Health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said last week pigs had served as intermediate host of flu viruses in the past, which allowed avian viruses to jump to humans. ``So we need to do more investigations even on pig farms, to see whether the pigs have been infected with H5N1.'' Medics say cross-species infections are known in Hong Kong with Streptococcus meningitis suis (swine) bacteria found in pigs' noses causing possible death in people. The bacteria in pigs can cause inflammation of the brain membrane if inhaled by humans and the condition can be fatal if untreated Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 10:51:17 +0800 (SST) From: Vadivu Govind To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Altered food worries consumers Message-ID: <199708250251.KAA08699@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Hong Kong Standard 25 Aug 97 Altered food worries consumers THE prospect of a salad made from non-squashy tomatoes and genetically manipulated sweetcorn, followed by a glass of milk from the udder of a turbo-cow, sends a shudder down the spine of many consumers. There is a wide range of controversial issues concerning genetic engineering of plants and animals. While enthusiasts look forward optimistically to a biotechnologically designed future, many opponents are afraid, warning against research run amok and incalculable risks to health. After a great deal of argument the European Union's new food directive came into force in mid-May this year. However, the new food labelling requirements, though intended to provide the consumer with more information, did not satisfy consumer and environmental organisations on account of various gaps in definition. Unlike genetic engineering in pharmaceuticals research, the scepticism about genetically treated foodstuffs and plants remains considerable. Critics complain that too little is known about the risks resulting from the new processes and that foodstuffs whose ingredients are no longer identifiable could be dangerous. The use of micro-organisms and bioengineering methods in food processing are nothing new. It has been customary for centuries. Everyday products like bread, cheese, yoghurt and fruit juice are made with the help of natural micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungi. Production can be further boosted by genetic intervention. Food additives and enzymes are also manufactured from genetically manipulated micro-organisms. Intervening in the genetic make-up produces fruits which stay fresh for longer or plants resistant to herbicides. Some see this as the way to solve the problem of feeding growing population numbers. A team of research scientists in Tuebingen, southern Germany, for instance, recently succeeded in modifying the molecular structure of a food plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, to enable it to withstand heat and stress better, and thus produce a yield even in hot regions. ``Even though the amount of energy consumed in manufacturing protective proteins represents a certain disadvantage for the plant, this was made up for by its increases stress resistance,'' said Professor Friedrich Schoeffl. Even so, many of the questions raised by opponents of genetic engineering remain unanswered. ``Despite 3,000 experiments worldwide to grow genetically crossed food plants in the open, it is stillnot clear to what extent genes providing resistance to antibiotics and herbicides can migrate from the modified plants into the eco-system,'' warns Heinrich Sandermann, director of the Institute of Biochemical Plant Pathology at the Research Centre for Environment and Health in Oberschleissheim. ``Other risks are the accidental crossing of cultivated and wild plants, possibly turning cultivated plants into wild ones, and the increased production of toxic substances. Things look somewhat different in the animal world. Although goats, sheep and cows are well on the way to becoming suppliers of raw materials for the pharmaceuticals industry, for example as a type of bio-reactor supplying medicines along with their milk, they are not much in demand at present as suppliers of genetically manipulated meat. For the time being, the EU has slammed a moratorium on the turbo-cow, and experiments to develop giant pigs failed largely on account of the cruelty to animals involved. - DPA Features Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 23:13:59 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) More superbugs infecting U.S. consumers Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970824231357.006e1c0c@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from Mercury Center web page: ----------------------------------------------- Posted at 6:31 p.m. PDT Sunday, August 24, 1997 More superbugs infecting U.S. consumers WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Consumers who cannot stomach the thought of a pink hamburger after last week's record recall of meat should take a closer look at the fruit, salads and other fresh foods on the dining table. The deadly E.coli:0157 bacteria blamed for the recall of 25 million pounds of hamburger from Hudson Foods Inc.is one of a growing number of superbugs infecting consumers, food experts said. Salmonella, cyclospora, hepatitis A and other foodborne diseases are occurring more frequently as food imports have exploded. Consumer groups claim that foodborne illnesses make some 33 million Americans sick each year, killing about 9,000. So far, 18 people have become ill from eating E.coli-infected hamburgers produced by Hudson's Columbus, Nebraska, processing plant. Agriculture Department investigators took a break over the weekend from their probe into how the beef patties may have been contaminated after handing plant managers a list of questions late Friday, department officials said Sunday. Meanwhile, Hudson announced that the Columbus plant has lost the fast-food business of top customer Burger King Corp., calling it a ``serious disappointment.'' The hamburger recall has been front page news for days, but the outbreak caused by the tainted beef has been small compared to a rash of recent foodborne illnesses. Last spring, some 200 students and teachers in Michigan became sick from hepatitis A after tainted frozen strawberries from Mexico were used in the federal school lunch program. In May, the United States suspended imports of raspberrries from Guatemala after an outbreak of cyclospora, a tiny parasite that survives even chlorine rinses. Although USDA, food experts and consumer groups agree the American food supply is the safest in the world, they also said consumers need to be more careful preparing and cooking food. Some consumer groups insist a new federal agency is needed to safeguard the nation's food supply because of the complicated jurisdiction shared by the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration. ``Rare hamburgers are definitely out,'' Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said, adding that last year there was a ``bumper crop'' of foodborne illnesses in the United States. U.S. food imports of fruits, vegetables and meats have doubled in the past five years as the number of FDA food inspections have fallen sharply due to budget cuts. A recent government audit found the USDA was unable to keep up with inspections of fresh produce imported annually from Mexico as a result of the NAFTA trade agreement. Of foodborne illnesses, scientists agree the worst appears to be E.coli:0157, a strain of the bacteria first identified in 1982. It causes bloody diarrhea, severe cramps, dehydration, and in some cases, kidney failure. Four children died of the bacteria in 1993 after eating tainted hamburgers at the Jack in the Box restaurant chain. But the same strain of E.coli has also been found in unpasteurized milk that came in contact with animal feces, and in fresh produce that was fertilized with animal manure. ``Irradiation and better technology are the answer,'' Frances Smith of Consumer Alert said. ``It's a needle in the haystack problem ... I don't think if you brought in twice the number of inspectors you would be able to find all the E.coli.'' But other experts said the rising numbers of illnesses simply reflect improved surveillance systems, a better understanding of bacteria and more thorough reporting of cases to health agencies. Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 23:41:51 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Two Injured at Bullfight Gone Awry Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970824234149.006e3e60@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from AP Wire page: ------------------------------------- 08/24/1997 23:35 EST Two Injured at Bullfight Gone Awry LOWELL, Mass. (AP) -- A 1,400-pound bull broke free from a trailer at a bullfight on Sunday, ran a quarter mile through busy streets, knocked over a motorcyclist and gored a police officer before it was shot dead by authorities. A bystander helped rescue the injured officer by pulling his car between him and the bull, Lowell police spokesman Patrick Cook said. The officer was in good condition Sunday night after having an operation at Lowell General Hospital, a nursing supervisor said. Another person was injured by another bull at the event, an annual Portuguese festival attended by several hundred people. Police later shut down the festival in this city of about 103,000 people, 22 miles northwest of Boston. The trouble began at 2:30 p.m. when the bull broke free from a trailer at the compound of the Holy Ghost Society, which holds the annual fights under a rodeo permit, Cook said. Unlike their Spanish counterparts, Portuguese bullfighters do not kill the animals. Officer Kenneth Shaw, who was patrolling the festival, chased the bull through a parking lot, down a side street and across busy Route 38, which is lined with fast food restaurants. Robert Sutton, a gas station attendant, said he saw the bull run by on Route 38. ``It was a black bull just trotting up the street. There were about 25 people trying to catch it,'' he said. Shaw fired several shots at the bull, which knocked over a motorcyclist, Cook said. Cornered in a vacant lot, the bull then turned on Shaw and gored him through the thigh and knee, flipping him through the air. At that moment, bystander Paul Bizzeria pulled his car between Shaw and the bull, Cook said. Shaw's partner, Barbara Malec, helped Shaw while the bull charged the car. Two other officers arrived and shot the bull. Two hours later, as the bullfights continued at the compound, a bull handler was injured by another bull and taken to the hospital. There was no word on the handler's condition. Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 20:41:57 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Smuggled Amazon animals found dead at Lima airport Message-ID: <3400FF05.2037@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Peru uncovers Amazon animals set for smuggling Reuter Information Service LIMA (August 24, 1997 6:28 p.m. EDT) - Peru's environmental police on Sunday discovered hundreds of rare Amazon jungle animals stuffed into boxes, ready to be smuggled to the United States. Nearly half of the 787 animals -- including iguanas, chameleons, alligators, tortoises, colored frogs, anaconda and boa constrictor snakes -- were found dead from suffocation in a storage hold opposite Lima's international airport. The traffickers, taking advantage of a burgeoning illegal trade in exotic Amazon species, had brought the animals from the northern jungle city of Iquitos before drugging them and leaving them in boxes with Chilean airline Lan Chile. "The destination was the U.S. aquarium company Tower Group, and the cargo was intended to arrive at Los Angeles in the United States," ecological police official Helar Yomona said. Peru outlaws the shipping abroad of any jungle species, which bring high prices on the international market. According to the ecological police, anacondas sell for about $25,000, while boas range from $10,000 to $12,000, and other jungle species command $500 to $1,000. "What is happening is that with all the publicity around the films 'Jurassic Park' and 'Anaconda', there is high demand for reptiles abroad, so their price has gone up," ecological police official Manuel Arellano said. "The sad thing is that there is an 80 percent probability that these species die far from their natural habitat," he said. The animals rescued alive on Sunday were taken to a Lima zoo. Police were trying to find the smugglers. Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 20:51:19 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: The only effective way Message-ID: <34010137.E8@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mouse is engineered to assist MD research St. Louis Post-Dispatch ST. LOUIS (August 24, 1997 2:34 p.m. EDT) -- Washington University scientists have engineered a mouse that will enable intensified study of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The development could lead to better treatments and quicker understanding of the mechanisms of the disease, the researchers say. The study was reported in today's issue of the journal Cell. Among the authors were Joshua Sanes and Dr. R. Mark Grady, both of the university's School of Medicine. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a muscle disease, mostly strikes boys. It usually kills them before age 20 after gradually weakening their muscles, including those needed to breathe. "This is another step toward the answer for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy," said Debbie King, program services coordinator with the St. Louis office of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. "Anyone hearing about this would certainly be more hopeful. It's hope that keeps all of our families going right now." The MDA sponsors the annual telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis. This year's telethon is set for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Put simply, Duchenne results from a gene defect that acts as the blueprint for one of the building blocks of healthy muscle fibers. That building block is a protein known as dystrophin. The St. Louis researchers worked with two kinds of mice. One naturally lacked the gene for dystrophin. From the other kind of mouse, they removed the gene responsible for a different muscle protein, called utrophin. They bred the two kinds of mice to create a mouse that was deficient in both proteins. This mouse exhibited the same symptoms as a human with Duchenne. *** "The only effective way to develop new therapies is to test them in an experimental animal with symptoms of the disease," Sanes said in a statement made public by the university. *** [emphasis mine - AG] The MDA supported the research along with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. By WILLIAM ALLEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch =================================================== Apparently, certain Washington U. researchers never heard of clinical research. Andy Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 20:57:52 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Deadly Medicine Message-ID: <340102C0.3C48@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Liposuction deaths show danger of quest for eternal youth The Associated Press Experts provide advice about liposuction LOS ANGELES (August 24, 1997 1:52 p.m. EDT) -- Judy Fernandez wanted the looks she had before she gave birth to three sons, and cosmetic surgery seemed to offer an acceptable trade-off: 12 hours of surgery costing $20,000 -- for a renewed face and body. She was 47 and in good health, and her sister-in-law, Marilyn Larsen, says her motives were obvious: "As a society, we really are encouraged to stay young, to look 40 at 60." But Fernandez never woke up from the liposuction and cosmetic procedures at "A New You Plastic Surgery Medical Group" in Irvine. She died March 17 from what the Medical Board of California called an overdose of anesthesia, fluid overload and a fatal dilution of the blood. The case is one of three liposuction deaths currently under investigation in California -- just the tip of the iceberg, experts say, in a burgeoning, unmonitored field driven by a quest for perpetual youth. The risks of cosmetic surgery are increasing as it becomes more accessible to the middle class, experts say. With more doctors in a variety of specialties offering the procedures, some are pushing the margins of safety -- often in private, outpatient surgical suites hidden from scrutiny. It was in just such a setting that Rosemarie Mondeck, 39, of San Diego, died June 21, 1994, from cardiac arrest after tummy liposuction at a La Jolla dermatologist's office. Deputy Attorney General Steven Zeigen said Dr. Nina Su, working without an anesthesiologist, administered too much epinephrine, a drug used to control local bleeding. "Once Mondeck started to crash, (Su) didn't know what she was doing," Zeigen said. The board temporarily suspended Su's license on April 24 pending results of a disciplinary hearing. Says her attorney, Richard K. Turner of Sacramento: "I don't think she did anything wrong." Tammaria Cotton, a 43-year-old municipal court clerk from Los Angeles, suffered massive blood loss and died of cardiac arrest June 22, 1996, hours after obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Patrick Chavis removed fat from her stomach, bottom and thighs. At one point, he left her to recover at his Lynwood office with only a nurse and a worried husband nearby. At the state board's request, a judge on June 19 temporarily suspended Chavis' license pending a disciplinary hearing. Chavis' attorney Robert D. Walker contends the state's case is based on incomplete records. On its face, tumescent liposuction is simple: a doctor injects a combination of saline solution, a local anesthetic like lidocaine, and epinephrine to reduce bleeding, until the area becomes taut. Then, the surgeon makes a small incision and inserts a tubelike device called a cannula to suction out fat. The procedure seemed so routine to Mrs. Cotton, who'd heard about it from her beautician and church friends, that she didn't even tell her husband until the night before her surgery. "It was just liposuction!" cried Jimmy Cotton, a police officer, as his wife died in a hospital emergency room. No organizations track such incidents. But Dr. Richard Ruffalo, past chairman of the department of anesthesia at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach, says "For every case in which a death occurs, there's at least 15 to 20 cases where severe injury has occurred." Dr. Frederick M. Grazer, a Newport Beach plastic surgeon, says money is the root problem, especially as doctors' fees are limited by managed care. "Many doctors who were never interested in plastic surgery ... take a weekend course and become interested in things they can bill upfront without insurance," Grazer said. "They have increased the envelope to see how much they can inject in a patient and how much they can take without killing them." Under the proper conditions, liposuction -- now the No. 1 cosmetic operation in the country -- is safe, says Grazer, past president of both the California Society of Plastic Surgeons and American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. By various estimates, anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 are performed annually in the United States. Grazer is waging a campaign to alert colleagues to potential overdoses from too much lidocaine injected into patients also receiving intravenous anesthesia. Overloading these patients with fluids can create pulmonary edema, a flooding of the lungs. Grazer related the story of an East Coast doctor whose patient died at home hours after liposuction. Grazer explained that the lidocaine overdose was delayed because levels in the blood peak eight to 10 hours after surgery. In response to Fernandez's death, the state has at least temporarily revoked the medical licenses of Dr. William Earle Matory Jr., an experienced plastic surgeon, and Dr. Robert Ken Hoo, an anesthesiologist nine months out of residency. The state says Matory injected 14 to 15 liters of anesthetic-laced fluids and suctioned nearly 10 liters of fat. Meanwhile, Hoo administered nearly 19 liters of intravenous fluids. The 5-foot-3 woman walked in at 150 pounds. She died at 183, swollen from forehead to toes. Her surgery -- done by a surgeon whose lawyers cite a flawless 21-year record and an anesthesiologist whose lawyers say was taking his cues from the surgeon -- has shaken the community of cosmetic surgeons. The irony is that Fernandez, of La Habra, did everything right. She found a reputable, board-certified plastic surgeon. She used an accredited outpatient surgical center. She discussed the procedures with the surgeon for a year and saw good results with her mother's facial surgery. So what went wrong? Some doctors say removing 10 liters of fat was excessive. Dr. Ronald Iverson of Pleasanton, Calif., president of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, says he never removes more than 8 liters. "There really isn't any paper, any book or any set of guidelines ... out there that tell you what is proper," said Dr. Guillermo Castillo of Champaign, Ill., president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery. Although Iverson and other plastic surgeons keep blood replacement nearby to counter blood loss, there was none in the Fernandez case, the Medical Board found. And, Matory performed very complex surgery outside a hospital, which Grazer and several colleagues found to be "showing very poor judgment." But it should be noted that no surgery is risk-free. Matory performed an ambitious combination of full-body liposuction, a minifacelift, brow-lift and laser skin resurfacing of the face, neck and chest. "The public can't expect absolute protection and perfection because when you operate on the human body, whether you're doing a gallbladder or a facelift, you're injuring the body's tissue," Grazer warns. -- By JANE E. ALLEN, AP Science Writer