AR-NEWS Digest 509 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Drug researchers accused of fraud by Andrew Gach 2) Human guinea pigs by Andrew Gach 3) CROSSPOSTING--Admin Note by allen schubert 4) SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS--Admin Note by allen schubert 5) RCD controls lifted (New Zealand) by bunny 6) (US) Beefeaters Not Shy After E. Coli by allen schubert 7) (US) CJD?-- Journal: Squirrel Brains Dangerous by allen schubert 8) (US) Farmer Finds Organic Profitable by allen schubert 9) Doctors Warn Against Regional Dish: Squirrels' Brains by Liz Grayson 10) Join Moody Gardens in Honoring Anthropoligist Richard Leakey by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US 11) Correction by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US 12) National Cattlemen's Beef Ass'n./Nat'l. Pork Producers Council by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US 13) unsubscribe ar-news by hsusga@ix.netcom.com (HSUS Government Affairs) 14) (US) Oklahoma Animal Collector's Death by JanaWilson@aol.com 15) [UK/CA] Meningitis and fish link found by doctors by David J Knowles 16) [UK/RU] Envoys accused on beef by David J Knowles 17) [UK/IN] Surgeons gave man pig's heart by David J Knowles 18) [UK] Shot deer put out of its misery by hunt by David J Knowles 19) Watch Court TV Tonight by PAWS 20) King Royal's Animals by PAWS Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 21:01:27 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Drug researchers accused of fraud Message-ID: <34064997.5211@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Researchers accused of swindling medical school The Associated Press AUGUSTA, Ga. (August 28, 1997 09:28 a.m. EDT) -- Dr. Richard Borison and Bruce Diamond appeared to have it made at the Medical College of Georgia. The two had published widely and won dozens of research contracts from pharmaceutical companies to study drugs aimed at fighting Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. They also drove luxury cars and lived lavishly. Prosecutors say that's because they swindled more than $10 million from 1988 to 1996 and disregarded patient safety in their quest to get results. Both men have pleaded innocent. Relatives of patients enrolled in their studies are outraged. "I just feel like we've been betrayed," said Janis Huckeba, whose husband was in two studies for drugs to combat Alzheimer's. "The more I learn about them, the more I feel like it's a slap in the face." Borison was chairman of the college psychiatry department; Diamond was a professor but not a medical doctor. The 172-count indictment issued in February includes charges of theft, bribery, tax evasion, conspiracy and racketeering. They're each free on $1 million bail as they await trial. Neither have returned phone messages seeking comment. The men amassed almost half a million dollars worth of antiques, art and other amenities for their homes, such as a $32,000 stone lion fountain, a $1,000 palace rug and four bronze doors adorned with a lion's head worth $16,000, the indictment said. "I plead him guilty to having good taste," said Borison's lawyer, Michael Garrett. The two men tried to flee and contacted people in other countries for help, according to affidavits from a state investigator. When Diamond was arrested in February outside an Augusta bank, he was carrying $9,900 in cash, a packed suitcase and a new passport. The affidavits include a March 1996 letter to them from an accountant in London. The letter reads: "As you are aware, I have built up a wealth of very useful contacts -- worldwide. In your case, I also know of others in the same line of business who I am sure could help. I recommend you try and make the finals of Wimbledon!?" At least once, Borison and Diamond told the Medical College that they had ended a study because of a lack of patients, while they actually continued it on their own, said Malcolm Kling, the school's interim vice president for research. The two also asked the drug companies to make their checks out to fictitious firms to divert money that should have gone to the school, the indictment said. Some drug companies didn't care who got paid as long as the research was done, according to the investigator's affidavits. "He's world renowned," Garrett said of his client, Borison. "Most of the drug companies dealt with him because of who he was, not because he was at the Medical College of Georgia." William Kennedy, vice president of Zeneca Inc. of Wilmington, Del., said his company chose Borison and Diamond to do studies on its schizophrenia drug, Seroquel, because of that personal reputation. But some patients were enrolled in the study only because of the Medical College, their relatives said. "We constantly hear about their studies," said Ms. Huckeba, of North Augusta, S.C. "The reputation the college has, you just don't question it." Both the indictment and a separate report by the Food and Drug Administration found flaws in the researchers' practices. Diamond and others with no medical training diagnosed patients and decided dosages for experimental drugs, the FDA report said. Patients' charts indicated they'd been seen by a doctor when they hadn't, and Diamond routinely forged Borison's signature on lab reports and other documents, the FDA said. Diamond also was charged in several counts with prescribing drugs without a license. The FDA said any possible misconduct did not affect conclusions about the effectiveness of seven prescription drugs they tested. However, it is investigating their conclusions in several pending drug applications. When one patient attempted suicide while on an experimental drug for schizophrenia, Borison and Diamond tried to buy the silence of a study coordinator so she would not file a complaint, the indictment said. "The charges of patient neglect are cruel and absurd," Garrett said. "Those allegations hurt him more than the allegations of stealing." Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 21:05:32 -0700 From: Andrew Gach To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Human guinea pigs Message-ID: <34064A8C.2A3D@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Pentagon acknowledges health risk to vets treated with radium The Associated Press WASHINGTON (August 28, 1997 09:05 a.m. EDT) -- The Defense Department is acknowledging, after years of hesitation, that thousands of U.S. servicemen given nasal radiation treatments in the 1940s and '50s may be at risk for health problems. The Pentagon made the acknowledgement Wednesday in releasing a lengthy report on Cold War-era military radiation research projects that used human subjects. The Pentagon said it was working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to identify and notify servicemen who participated in the radiation treatments. It made no mention of untold numbers of children of military personnel given similar treatments with radiation for inner-ear problems in the 1940s and '50s. The Pentagon did not admit that the radiation caused any health problems among servicemen. In fact it continued to point to studies that said evidence of long-term health problems associated with this treatment were inconclusive. It acknowledged, however, a "significant risk" of such linkages. Some scientific studies have suggested that the nasal radiation treatments could have created higher risk for head and neck cancers. Other projects among more than 2,300 military radiation studies and experiments documented in the Pentagon report included the use of Mennonite conscientious objectors in experimental taste tests of irradiated foods in 1956. Also, Alaska Eskimos were given radioactive iodine-131 in an Air Force-sponsored study of thyroid activity in men exposed to cold in the 1950s. The government has been negotiating compensation for some of the Alaska natives. Stewart Farber, a Rhode Island public health scientist who has pressed the government for years on the nasal radiation treatments, said the Pentagon should take a more aggressive approach to finding those who were given the treatment. "Steps to notify ... treated veterans are decades overdue," Farber said Wednesday. The Pentagon report said the number of servicemen involved was in the thousands. Available records did not identify most by name, so it was unclear how many eventually would be alerted and given medical examinations. Most apparently were Navy submariners and Army pilots. They were particularly vulnerable to inner-ear problems from exposure to drastic pressure changes. Marvin Baumstein was a 27-year-old Army Air Force gunner when he was given a series of radium treatments through his nostrils in 1945 to shrink his adenoids and cure a temporary hearing loss from a B-24 bomber training flight. It worked, Baumstein said in an interview Wednesday, but he later developed cancer of the larynx. He was a cigarette smoker but he believes the radium treatment caused his cancer. "I would like my kids to know the Army was responsible," he said in the barely audible voice of a man who had half of his larynx removed. In the 1940s and '50s it was common practice in civilian and military medicine to use radium to treat sinus inflammations and to shrink swollen adenoids. Typically, a rod containing 50 milligrams of radium was pushed through each nostril and placed against the opening of the eustachian tubes for six to 12 minutes. Repeated over a period of months, this would shrink the adenoids. The eustachian tubes help the ear to drain and balance pressure on the inner and outer ear. The military stopped using the treatment when pressurized aircraft cabins came into use and questions arose about possible harmful health effects. The Pentagon said the VA will contact veterans whose military files show they received the radiation treatment. They will be advised to tell their doctor of the past treatment "so it may be considered when they receive medical examinations," the Pentagon said. The Army Air Force used radium treatments on an unspecified number of airmen. A 1944-45 study by the Army Air Force treated 2,289 servicemen at Drew Air Field in Tampa, Fla. Doctors administered the treatment at several other sites, including Gulfport Army Air Field in Mississippi; Esler Field in Louisiana; Dyersburg Army Air Field in Tennessee, Stuttgart Army Air Field in Arkansas, and Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma. The Navy used it on submarine crewmen with ear-pressure problems, including 732 men involved in a 1940s study by researchers at the Submarine Medical Research Laboratory in New London, Conn. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 00:45:47 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: CROSSPOSTING--Admin Note Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970829004545.006f2084@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Time to crack down again... Please do not "crosspost" when posting to AR-News! While crossposting is often frowned upon on many lists, on AR-News it can lead to a "degradation" of the "news" concept. Crossposting to other lists and/or individuals when posting to AR-News may be convenient for the poster, but may later cause problems for AR-News. Many people quickly go for the reply option and, depending on software, may "default" through options asking "reply to all?" or "reply to all recipients?"--this is one cause of comments/discussion/chat interfering with the "news" of AR-News. Not everyone has unlimited access or time to the internet, therefore many people subscribe to a "news" list for news, not discussion. Please remember this when posting to AR-News. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 00:46:51 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS--Admin Note Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970829004649.006f18c4@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Routine post......... 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: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 13:16:13 +0800 From: bunny To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: RCD controls lifted (New Zealand) Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970829125901.2c4f5ba8@wantree.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Fri, 29th August 1997 RCD Areas To See Controls Lifted Agriculture Officials are ending attempts to quarantine the killer rabbit virus RCD. Officials and Government ministers met today to consider whether to extend controls they had placed on a number of properties in the Otago area. The decision followed confirmation that the RCD outbreak is now known to be on at least 20 properties in the MacKenzie Basin, Omarama and Otago areas. A number of farmers say they have been spreading the disease by hand and there are reports that the virus has been sent to North Canterbury, Blenheim and the North Island. MAF has now abandoned, for the time being, thoughts of quarantining the whole of the South Island and attempts to stop the spread of the rabbit virus RCD MAF chief vet, Barry O'Neil, also says that restrictions in Cromwell would be lifted as from Saturday. He says there is no purpose in pursuing attempts to contain the virus at this stage. There is still uncertainty if the disease is spreading geographically by itself and Mr O'Neil says there is no confirmation of rabbit deaths caused by RCD in the North Island and he says MAF will be carrying out further field tests to learn more about how RCD is spread. (29.8.97) =========================================== Rabbit Information Service, P.O.Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 Email> rabbit@wantree.com.au http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm (Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently) /`\ /`\ (/\ \-/ /\) )6 6( >{= Y =}< /'-^-'\ (_) (_) | . | | |} jgs \_/^\_/ Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 08:00:02 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Beefeaters Not Shy After E. Coli Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970829075959.006e6aec@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from AP Wire page: ------------------------------------------------ 08/29/1997 01:28 EST Beefeaters Not Shy After E. Coli By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press Writer LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Labor Day is prime time for beef -- and that won't change this year despite a possibly deadly bacteria that caused the nation's largest-ever meat recall. ``It hasn't scared me,'' said grocery shopper Jack Holland of Atlanta. ``I haven't made a big change in my buying habits. As a matter of fact, I'm going in to buy something to grill out for the weekend.'' Americans traditionally consume 57.5 million pounds per day, or nearly a quarter-pound for every person in the country, over the Labor Day weekend. That's 20 percent more beef than the average daily consumption of 46 million pounds. Beef sales in stores across the country have remained strong in spite of the E. coli outbreak that sickened more than a dozen people this month in Colorado, said Timothy Hammonds, president of Food Marketing Institute, an association of 15,000 supermarkets. Retailers are not cutting prices on beef any more than they normally would on a holiday weekend, Hammonds said. Prices for beef products nationwide have remained about the same compared to last year, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which represents 230,000 cattle producers. The E. coli contamination was traced to a Hudson Foods Inc. plant at Columbus, Neb., where the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now investigating food safety practices. The contaminated meat is believed to have come to the plant from an outside supplier. While there have been no deaths or serious illness reported, the plant has been shut for a week and 25 million pounds of beef was recalled. ``Most people see this as an isolated incident,'' said A. Dwayne Ball, a marketing professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who specializes in consumer research. That's the case for Robert DeBuck, an electrical contractor from Edgewood, N.M., who was having lunch Thursday at a Blake's Lota Burger in Albuquerque. ``I would be more concerned about being struck by lightning. I think more people die from lightning and bumble-bee stings than from eating a bad hamburger,'' said DeBuck, chomping into his burger. In New Orleans, Ira Hayes was stocking up for the weekend at a local grocery store. ``I've given some thought to it but I've got to eat meat,'' Hayes said. ``I've got to have it. I'll just make sure it's well done and hope for the best.'' Hammonds said the recall has made consumers more aware about how to safely cook meat. ``I think people do understand that ground beef needs to be properly cooked and if it is properly cooked it kills the E. coli bacteria,'' he said. Food safety experts recommend cooking ground beef to 160 degrees to kill the bacteria. Burger King, a prime victim of the beef scare, is heading into the Labor Day weekend hoping meat lovers will go for the new Big King sandwich it introduced Thursday. It has 75 percent more beef than the Big Mac. Last week, Burger King pulled all the hamburger meat supplied by Hudson Foods from its stores and said it would no longer buy beef from the Arkansas-based company. Spokesman David Nixon said sales still trail pre-recall levels. But for people looking to fire up the grill for the last big cookout holiday of the year, beef will definitely be on the menu. ``They're going to look at the meat, poke it, smell it, and they're going to buy it,'' said Renold Jackson, who works in the meat department at a Schwegmann supermarket in New Orleans. ``And they're going to hope to God that it don't kill them.'' Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 08:06:51 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) CJD?-- Journal: Squirrel Brains Dangerous Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970829080648.006e6acc@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" poss CJD link from AP Wire page: ----------------------------------- 08/29/1997 07:11 EST Journal: Squirrel Brains Dangerous LONDON (AP) -- U.S. researchers believe they may have found a link between the consumption of squirrel brains, a practice found in some rural parts of the United States, and a lethal brain ailment in humans. Scientists at the University of Kentucky worry that Creutzfeldt- Jakob Disease, which can kill humans within months after symptoms first appear, may be contracted by eating the brains and nervous system tissue of squirrels. A tentative warnings against eating squirrel brains was published today in this week's issue of The Lancet, a British medical journal. In Britain, mad cow disease, which has led to the deaths of several people in Europe and forced the slaughter of vast numbers of cattle, also is suspected as a cause of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Joseph Berger, Erick Weisman and Beverly Weisman of the University of Kentucky reported on five patients, aged between 56 and 78, who had been diagnosed as having Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. All of them reported that they had eaten squirrel brains. Among 100 people of similar age who had no neurological disease, 27 reported eating squirrel brains, the researchers said. Some residents of rural regions in the United States, including Kentucky, scramble the squirrel brains with eggs, or add them to a stew known as ``burgoo,'' the researchers said. A big unanswered question is whether the disease occurs in squirrels, the researchers said. A rare disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease afflicts only about one person in a million, usually striking victims age 50 or older. It develops slowly. But once symptoms appear, it destroys the brains of its victims, who lose muscle control and mental ability, and die within a few months. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 08:07:25 -0400 From: allen schubert To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Farmer Finds Organic Profitable Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970829080722.006ea5d8@clark.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" from AP Wire page: ------------------------------------ 08/29/1997 01:46 EST Farmer Finds Organic Profitable By JOE BIGHAM Associated Press Writer WINTERS, Calif. (AP) -- Russell Lester finds organic farming good for business as well as for the environment. Lester, who grows 230 acres of certified organic walnuts, said he stopped spraying walnuts because the spray schedule ``was out of sync'' with his almonds. ``Come to find out, I didn't have many pests when I stopped spraying,'' he said. ``I felt it was because of the softer usage of chemicals.'' His crop's worm count was a low 1 percent without sprays, convincing Lester to switch his orchard to organic and get certified in 1992. He says yields remain comparable to walnuts that are sprayed regularly. Lester has embraced biological techniques since his family sold their century-old fruit and nut ranch in Santa Clara County, Calif., and resettled near Winters in the early 1980s. He uses cover crops as a host for insects which eat pests that could damage his crop. ``We have thousands and thousands of employees out here to eat our bugs,'' Lester said of the insects. ``So we've got to provide employee housing and food'' by keeping a cover crop on the ground. Besides, the cover crop keeps the hard clay in one orchard from cracking, a cheaper solution than spreading gypsum at $200 an acre. Lester also has a small chipping machine that grinds up limbs during pruning and blows tiny chips back onto the ground. ``There's lots of nutrients in these branches,'' he says. And recycling is better for both the air and ground than burning the prunings, Lester said while conducting a tour of walnut orchards that use biological methods in the Sacramento Valley, 80 miles northeast of San Francisco. ``If you've ever seen anything grow on a burn pile, good luck; it's real toxic,'' Lester said. ``Recycling puts it back into the ground where it goes back into the trees in a few years. ``It's a continuous loop. In the meantime, it's a soft and beautiful soil. Adding this organic material to the soil is really good for it.'' Ground water that irrigates his trees also gets recycled in a basin the size of a swimming pool at the lower end of his orchard. A couple of innovative ideas are being tried around this pond. Robert Bugg, a University of California entomologist, has planted nearly extinct trees and bushes there to attract beneficial insects, particularly during seasons when the ground cover is gone. ``The whole idea is to have a perennial insectary -- something out there blooming for our employees (beneficial bugs) when there's nothing in the orchard,'' Lester explained. ``We're trying to create little islands of habitat.'' Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 04:50:25 -0500 From: Liz Grayson To: ar-news Subject: Doctors Warn Against Regional Dish: Squirrels' Brains Message-ID: <3406CD1C.242A@earthlink.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit August 29, 1997 NYT Kentucky Doctors Warn Against Regional Dish: Squirrels' Brains By SANDRA BLAKESLEE octors in Kentucky have issued a warning that people should not eat squirrel brains, a regional delicacy, because squirrels may carry a variant of mad cow disease that can be transmitted to humans and is fatal. Although no squirrels have been tested for mad squirrel disease, there is reason to believe that they could be infected, said Dr. Joseph Berger, chairman of the neurology department at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Elk, deer, mink, rodents and other wild animals are known to develop variants of mad cow disease that collectively are called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In the last four years, 11 cases of a human form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, have been diagnosed in rural western Kentucky, said Dr. Erick Weisman, clinical director of the Neurobehavioral Institute in Hartford, Ky., where the patients were treated. "All of them were squirrel-brain eaters," Weisman said. Of the 11 patients, at least six have died. Within the small population of western Kentucky, the natural incidence of this disease should be one person getting it every 10 years or so, Weisman said. The appearance of this rare brain disease in so many people in just four years has taken scientists by surprise. While the patients could have contracted the disease from eating beef and not squirrels, there has not been a single confirmed case of mad cow disease in the United States, Weisman said. Since every one of the 11 people with the disease ate squirrel brains, it seems prudent for people to avoid this practice until more is known, he said. The warning, describing the first five cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, will appear in Saturday's issue of The Lancet, a British medical publication. The disease in humans, squirrels and cows produces holes in brain tissue. Human victims become demented, stagger and typically die in one or two years. The people who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Kentucky were between 56 and 78, lived in different towns and were not related, Weisman said. The cause of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies is hotly debated. Many scientists believe that the infectious agent is a renegade protein, called a prion, which can infect cells and make copies of itself. Others argue that a more conventional infectious particle causes these diseases but that it has not yet been identified. In either case, the disease can be transmitted from one animal to another by the eating of infected brain tissue. Such diseases were considered exotic and rare until 10 years ago, when an outbreak occurred among British cattle. Tens of thousands of animals contracted a bovine variant called mad cow disease, and their meat along with bits of brain tissue was sold as hamburger. Thus far 15 people in Britain have died of a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy that they seemed to have contracted from eating infected meat. Most people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are elderly, but the British victims were all young, which alarmed public-health officials. The outbreak in western Kentucky has occurred in older people, Weisman said, "which makes me think there may have been an epidemic 30 years ago in the squirrel population." Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies have a long latency period, he said, which means many people in the South may be at risk and not know it. Squirrels are a popular food in rural Kentucky, where people eat either the meat or the brains but generally not both, Weisman said. Families tend to prefer one or the other depending on tradition. Those who eat only squirrel meat chop up the carcass and prepare it with vegetables in a stew called burgoo. Squirrels recently killed on the road are often thrown into the pot. Families that eat brains follow only certain rituals. "Someone comes by the house with just the head of a squirrel," Weisman said, "and gives it to the matriarch of the family. She shaves the fur off the top of the head and fries the head whole. The skull is cracked open at the dinner table and the brains are sucked out." It is a gift-giving ritual. The second most popular way to prepare squirrel brains is to scramble them in white gravy, he said, or to scramble them with eggs. In each case, the walnut-sized skull is cracked open and the brains are scooped out for cooking. These practices are not related to poverty, Berger said. People of all income levels eat squirrel brains in rural Kentucky and in other parts of the South. Dr. Frank Bastian, a neuropathologist at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, said that he knew of similar cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia. Squirrel-hunting season began last week, and it lasts through early December, Berger said. He and Weisman are asking hunters to send in squirrel brains for testing, including those taken from dead animals found on the roadside. A mad squirrel would be more likely to stagger into the road and be struck by vehicles, Berger said. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 97 07:40:24 UTC From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Join Moody Gardens in Honoring Anthropoligist Richard Leakey Message-ID: <199708291246.IAA04215@envirolink.org> Richard Leakey is the 1997 Moody Gardens ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP AWARD winner. Known for his important discoveries concerning the origin of man as well as his efforts to save the African elephant from extinction, Leakey will speak in the Moody Gardens Convention Center, Galveston, Texas, USA. Public is invited, reservations required. Call: 1-800-582-4673, ext. 209. Schedule: 7:00pm - 8:00pm Tour of the Rainforest Hot hors d'oeurves served and cash bar 8:00pm - 9:00pm Assemble in the IMAX theatre for viewing of "Tropical Rainforest" and Presentation of Environmental Award Charge: $21.00 Date: Fri, 29 Aug 97 08:00:00 UTC From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Correction Message-ID: <199708291256.IAA05118@envirolink.org> Sorry - I just noticed I spelled "Anthropologist" wrong in the Leakey announcement. I should have proofread before sending! --Sherrill Date: Fri, 29 Aug 97 09:33:00 UTC From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: National Cattlemen's Beef Ass'n./Nat'l. Pork Producers Council Message-ID: <199708291434.KAA13145@envirolink.org> The National Cattlemen's Beef Association and The National Pork Producers Council are going after kids who are going down the vegetarian path. Dorothea Vafiadis, director of communications for the council, says, "If we target teens, they'll be consumers tomorrow." The beef and pork industries, along with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, have developed a pamphlet, "Visiting People on a Dairy Farm" with the intent to send to schools to counter the "emotional" message of animal rights. The pamphlet compares a dairy farm to a sports team with cows as "star players." The idea is to convince kids that the livestock industry is no more cruel than their favorite sports teams. -- Sherrill Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 10:35:31 -0500 (CDT) From: hsusga@ix.netcom.com (HSUS Government Affairs) To: ar-news@envirolink.org.unsubscribe.ar-news Subject: unsubscribe ar-news Message-ID: <199708291535.KAA02588@dfw-ix7.ix.netcom.com> Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 12:41:13 -0400 (EDT) From: JanaWilson@aol.com To: AR-news@envirolink.org Subject: (US) Oklahoma Animal Collector's Death Message-ID: <970829123913_418142421@emout11.mail.aol.com> This was in a local Oklahoma City news source: Forty-five animals have been killed after they were found in poor conditions at the home of Pittsburg County man, Mr. Charles Curtis, whose body was discovered after it had been partly multilated by his pets. And most of the animals were dogs. A goat with badly split hooves was also destroyed. Investigating deputy Brad Inman from the sherif's dept. said dogs found inside the home had no food or water. They drank the toiletes dry. The body of Charles Curtis, 68, was discovered Monday by a mechanic who arrived to repair a vehicle at the house near Indianola. Investigating officers say Curtis was last known to have been alive Thursday. And no foul play is suspected in his death. Deputies called McAlester's animal control for help restraining about 30 dogs found inside the home. Five dogs were taken to Reneger Animal Hospital for adoption efforts. For the Animals, Jana, OKC Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 11:04:44 From: David J Knowles To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK/CA] Meningitis and fish link found by doctors Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970829110444.2f97311a@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, August 29th, 1997 Meningitis and fish link found by doctors By Roger Highfield, Science Editor FISH have been found to be capable of causing a life-threatening form of meningitis, which could mark the emergence of a new type of disease as a result of the spread of aquaculture. "This is probably a new, emerging pathogen," Dr Don Low of Mount Sinai and Princess Margaret hospitals in Toronto, Canada, said yesterday. He said he expected jumps of fish disease to humans to increase with the spread of fish farming, for instance in Scotland. "With this will come opportunities for bacteria which previously did not have an opportunity to cause infection in accidental hosts like ourselves," he said. Reporting in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Low and his colleagues said they found nine cases of infection in Toronto hospitals due to tilapia taken from several fish farms in America. Only one of the cases resulted in meningitis. In the other instances, victims developed swelling around the infection and fever-like symptoms. They recovered after antibiotic treatment. © Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 11:15:55 From: David J Knowles To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK/RU] Envoys accused on beef Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970829111555.2f977a6e@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, August 29th, 1997 Envoys accused on beef VLADIMIR Zhirinovsky, the Russian ultra-nationalist, has demanded the expulsion of the British and Belgian ambassadors, saying they should take the blame for the illegal importation of British beef into Russia. During a protest outside Moscow's main McDonald's restaurant, he trampled on several hamburgers, declaring that the chain spearheaded an "invasion of Western poison into Russia". Alan Philps, Moscow © Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 11:17:54 From: David J Knowles To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK/IN] Surgeons gave man pig's heart Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970829111754.2f970406@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, August 29th, 1997 Surgeons gave man pig's heart TWO doctors in India are to go on trial for transplanting a pig's heart into a 32-year-old man who later died. Dhaniram Baruah, an Indian, and Jonathan Ho, a doctor from Hong Kong, face manslaughter charges that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail. © Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 11:11:21 From: David J Knowles To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] Shot deer put out of its misery by hunt Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19970829111121.2f972160@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" >From The Electronic Telegraph - Friday, August 29th, 1997 Shot deer put out of its misery by hunt By Charles Clover, Environment Editor HUNTING groups criticised the National Trust yesterday after a wounded stag was found wandering on Trust land up to three days after it had been shot with a high-powered rifle that destroyed half its face. The deer, seen by walkers near the village of Triscombe in the Quantock Hills, Somerset, was tracked down and despatched by the Quantock Staghounds, which still provides a call-out service despite being banned from hunting on Trust land last April. National Trust staff were accused by the British Field Sports Society of failing to notice the distressed animal. The society warned that such instances would increase as farmers carried out their own deer culls. Examination by a vet, Tom Gliddon, showed the stag had been shot through the back of the head and that maggots had infested the wound while the animal was still alive. Mr Gliddon said the injuries meant the stag had been unable to eat or drink. It had been shot between 48 and 72 hours before it was found. "This deer could have been shot by anybody, even [a] professional stalker. I hope this is not the start of a trend." He said it would be unacceptable if the kind of suffering endured by the stag was to be repeated among a large number of animals. Warren Davis, a Trust spokesman, said: "It is ridiculous to suggest the Trust has no way of dealing with these incidents. The Trust hired its own stalker three months ago. You might as well say why did someone call out the RAC* rather than the AA*." © Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997. [Note: The RAC, for those not familiar with UK acronyms, is the Royal Automobile Association, and the AA is the Automobile Association - not the other AA !] Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 15:37:57 -0400 (EDT) From: PAWS To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Watch Court TV Tonight Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII PAWS' Director Pat Derby will be interviewed tonight on "Court TV." The piece will be live--at 5:30-6:00 pm California time and will discuss the King Royal case. Tune in if you can. Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 17:09:40 -0400 (EDT) From: PAWS To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: King Royal's Animals Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII PAWS has sent the following letter to the USDA, urging that agency to confiscate the animals remaining in King Royal's custody because we believe they are in a life-threatening situation. Please continue to write and call the USDA, demanding that the animals that are still on the road with King Royal be confiscated and sent to a place of permanent safety. These animals must not be sold or transferred to other circuses or traveling shows. Mr. Mike Dunn USDA 14th St. and Independence Ave. SW Box AG 0109 Wash, DC 20250 Dear Mr. Dunn, Thank you for your continuing concern for the King Royal animals and for your determination that there by a swift and just resolution to this case. I am writing today to inform you that, during the past week, PAWS has been given a recently-recorded video tape of the second King Royal unit, which is traveling with several animals, including Mickey, a male Asian elephant; Boo, a female Asian; two other young African female elephants; a firaffe; a pygmy hippo; two zebras; and several llamas. While it is not possible to make any really accurate evaluations of the animals' condition based on a video tape, we have been told by the observers who took the tape that the smallest African elephant has the same diarrhea that was seen in Heather before she went down and, subsequently, died. this is the same condition that prevails with Donna and Irene, the two elephants currently at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. This severe diarrhea is indicative of the presence of salmonella and is, therefore, a cause for major concern in these animals. Also on the video, it is apparent that the smaller African elephant is very underweight and that Mickey, too, seems to be undersized. It is highly likely that the same conditions that prevailed in the animals seized in Albuquerque also exist with the other group. As you know, the condition of the animals in that trailer was horrendous. In fact, a zoo representative told me that these animals had been chronically neglected and, for example, that the skin of Donna peeled off in great chunks when they bathed her, indicating a total long-term lack of skin care. Based on what I can see in the new video, I am inclined to believe that these same conditions must pertain with the animals still on the road. Given the past history of other King Royal animals--the elephant Joy, for example, and the giraffe who died in Texas--I have grave concerns about the safety of the remaining animals in King Royal's custody. I am, therefore, urging you to act swiftly in the interest of these remaining animals, as I believe their situation is, indeed, life-threatening, as was Heather's. I would also like to remind you that Heather, Donna, Irene, and the vehicle in which they were traveling were inspected by a USDA inspector in Las Vegas two weeks prior to Heather's death. Everyone now agrees that the vehicle was inappropriate. This further corroborates what I have said before: I do not believe that the USDA is capable of monitoring these traveling circuses in a way that meets the standards of and enforces the Animal Welfare Act. Last year, for example, PAWS sent you an urgent letter in regard to Joyce and Hattie, the hawthorn Corporation elephant traveling with Circus Vargas. Unfortunately, the USDA "experts" misdiagnosed these elephants so badly that they later died of tuberculosis while still on the road. I hope this won't be case with the remaining King Royal animals. I urge the USDA to immediately seize these animals and place them in protective custody. PAWS is prepared to assist in any way necessary. I hope to hear from you as soon as possible. Sincerely, Pat Derby Director