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AR-NEWS Digest 532
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/07/97, "Scientists learned much from Vilas monkeys"
by Steve Barney
2) NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/08/97, "UW Execs, Animal Activists Meet"
by Steve Barney
3) NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/08/97, "100 March in Defense of Monkeys"
by Steve Barney
4) NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/05/97,
"If apes are our close kin, how can we condone primate experimentation?"
by Steve Barney
5) NZ - Rabbit Smoothies Help Spread Deadly Rabbit Virus
by bunny
6) (NZ)MP suggests amnesty for rogue farmers spreading rabbit
disease
by bunny
7) (US) Biological Pest Control Not Simple
by allen schubert
8) Verdict in Whiskers the Cat Torture Case
by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
9) RE: King Royal Appeals for Help
by "D'Amico, AnnMarie"
10) Big Apple Import Application
by PAWS
11) Florida: Protest Youth Deer Hunt
by Michael Markarian
12) Cleveland, OH: Rally Against Deer Hunts
by Michael Markarian
13) FDA Reform
by DDAL@aol.com
14) Feast for Beasts fundraising dinner
by "Zoocheck Canada Inc."
15) Another Coulston Chimp Dead
by eklei@earthlink.net
16) N.M. Game Commission meeting Sept. 25-27
by Michael Markarian
17) Turtle lovers unite - we need your help!!!!
by Turtleresq@aol.com
18) Joe
by Hillary
19) (U.S.) Snowmobile ban to protect wolves in national park
authorized by court ruling
by klaszlo@juno.com (Kathryn A Laszlo)
20) Re: King Royal Appeals for Help
by LTGJTG@aol.com
21) The Risks of Captive and Performing Elephants
by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
22) FOOD BYTES #2
by bunny
23) (NZ)Copy letter from USA scientist to NZ re rabbit disease
by bunny
24) Coyotes and sheep ranchers
by Andrew Gach
25) Human Guinea Pigs in Sweden
by Andrew Gach
26) The AMA against dogs and cats
by Andrew Gach
27) (NZ)Legalisation of RHD - New Zealand
by bunny
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 00:16:13 -0500
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/07/97, "Scientists learned much from Vilas monkeys"
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970924001613.007a3e70@uwosh.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
--
WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL
Sunday, September 7, 1997
[TITLE] Scientists learned much from Vilas monkeys:
Some of those studies
Influenced activists
for animal rights
By John Welsh
Wisconsin State Journal
She was slower and less agile than her com-
panions in the Vilas Zoo monkey house.
But the short life of the rhesus monkey
named Azalea says a lot about the social life of
primates, including us humans.
Born with a condition similar to Down syn-
drom among humans, Azalea never mastered
normal monkey activities like running, climb-
ing and jumping.
But instead of making her vulnerable, her
weaknesses brought out the assistance of her
monkey companions, who groomed her fre-
quently and rescued her from the spinning
wheel when she had trouble getting out.
As animal rights protesters today march on
Azalea's former home at Vilas Zoo, her life and
other similar behavioral studies of primates
offer a surprising common ground between re-
searchers and activists.
Some animal rights activists embrace the
work of former UW-Madison researcher Frans
de Waal, who has written several influential
books that discuss the critical thinking that pri-
mates are capable of and the empathy they
show for one another.
De Waal's latest work includes an extended
description of AzaleaÆs life.
For activists, the behavioral studies show
non-human primates to be capable of skills and
thought processes that many would never have
dreamed of decades ago. For them, that should
give pause before we use these animals for ex-
perimentation.
ôI think de Waal and others have done some
good work," said Dr. Ray Greek, a former Uni-
versity Hospital anesthesiologist who came to
Madison this weekend as part of the "Ape
Army" protest at the Wisconsin Regional Pri-
mate Research Center .
Scientists, however, counter that the find-
ings from de Waal and others would not be pos-
sible without that research
"I agree we are very close to those animals,ö
said R Timothy Mulcahy, associate dean of the
UW-Madison Graduate School. "But we didnÆt
learn that without the research."
Before de Waal and others, a theme in pri-
mate studies was that they were
very agressive animals.
Considered one of the country's
top primate behavioral scientists,
de Waal argued that the monkeys
may often fight, but they also
make up and those reconciliation
rituals are a vital part of monkey
society. His most recent book,
"Good Natured: The Origins of
Right and Wrong in Humans and
Other Animals,ö discusses the pos-
sibility that morality may not be
just a human trait but one shared
by many animals and that can be
linked to the evolutionary pro-
cess.
De Waal, who was here from
1981 to 1991, now works at the
Yerkes Regional Primate Re-
search Center in Atlanta.
"I'd say that the development
of my interest in primate reconcil-
iation and eventually morality
was shaped to a great extent by
those years watching rhesus and
stumptailed macaques at Vilas,"
de Waal said in an interview con-
ducted through E-mail last week.
"In those 10 years I did very fruit-
ful work."
Today's planned march, which
starts at noon at the zoo monkey
house, will travel to the Wisconsin
Regional Primate Research Cen-
ter on Capitol Court. Organizers
expect more than 100 marchers.
This is the fourth stop on a na-
tional tour of the seven federally
funded primate research centers
by the Ape Army.
While much of the focus of that
group is targeted on the medical
research done at centers like the
Wisconsin Regional Primate Re-
search Center's two large labs in
Madison, the research center's
Vilas Zoo exhibit has not escaped
the controversy.
Earlier this summer, the center
admitted it had repeatedly vio-
lated its 1989 pledge not to re-
move monkeys from Vilas and use
them in invasive experiments.
The center also said declining
federal funding for behavioral
studies meant that it was consid-
ering ending its relationship with
the zoo. Local animal rights activ-
ists want the university to hand
over control of the exhibit to the
zoo with an appropriate amount
of money to keep it going.
File photo
[Caption]Slower and less agile than her com-
panions, Azalea was tended to by
other monkeys at the Vilas Zoo.
UW-Madison journalism pro-
fessor Deborah Blum, who won a
Pulitzer Prize for a series of arti-
cles on the controversy involving
monkeys and medical research,
said the 150-member monkey
colony at the free-admission Vilas
Zoo is a community treasure.
"It's the best zoo exhibit of
monkeys I've ever seen," she said.
"You have an actual society
there."
One person who has a unique
perspective on that society is
Nichelle Cobb, the last researcher
to complete a behavioral study at
Vilas. Cobb, who is finishing her
doctorate in biological anthropol-
ogy, said an influencing factor in
her decision to come to UW-
Madison was de Waal's 1989 book,
"Peacemaking Among Primates."
She spent more than 1,000
hours over two years cataloging
the movements of a group of
rhesus monkeys for her study on
the behavioral differences be-
tween male and female monkeys
before the age of 3.
"It becomes a little soap
opera," she said of her observa-.
tions of the monkey group, which
ended earlier this year.
Cobb said she is surprised and
disappointed that it appears that
no further behavioral studies will
be done at Vilas.
ôI didnÆt think IÆd be the last.
ItÆs a strange feeling,ö she said.
ôThere is a lot more that facility
has to offer.ö
*Web sites*
Those wanting to learn more
about the controversy around the
use of monkeys in research can
turn to competing computer Web
sites. UW-Madison officials, and
members of the "Ape Army" have
set ones up to present their sides
of the issue.
Here are the locations:
UW-Madison ù www.wisc.edu/
news/primate/
Ape Army ù orednet.org/
(tilde)mnorthcu/
When (tilde) appears in a Web
address, it refers to the squiggly
symbol just above the tab key on
your computer keyboard.
--
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 00:16:32 -0500
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/08/97, "UW Execs, Animal Activists Meet"
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970924001632.007ac3c0@uwosh.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
--
Capital Times
Copyright (e) 1997, Madison Newspapers Inc.
Monday, September 8, 1997
TAG: 9709080341
EDITION: Second
SECTION: Local/State
PAGE: 2A
LENGTH: 92 lines
HEADLINE: UW EXECS, ANIMAL ACTIVISTS MEET
BYLINE: By Jason Shepard Correspondent for The Capital Times
TEXT:
TEXT: UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward shocked animal rights
activists this morning by agreeing to meet with them -- behind
closed doors.
The out-of-state activists, as part of a weeklong protest
against animal research at the University of Wisconsin, have
demanded a public debate with officials at the Wisconsin Regional
Primate Research Center over the necessity of their research.
Activists previously said they did not expect to get any
response from the university, but this morning in Bascom Hall,
Ward and Graduate School Dean Virginia Hinshaw surprised the
activists by appearing in person to accept a letter urging the
public debate. They then met for about 15 minutes in private.
Ward and Hinshaw agreed to the meeting only after two news
reporters left.
Afterward, Ward said the meeting was "amicable," but he
would not commit to having a public debate on the issue of animal
research.
"I'm open to it," he said. "It depends on the format."
Ward also said he will have to talk with UW primate center
scientists about the proposal.
He said he supports UW scientific research, but added that the
activists play an important role by raising "serious moral
concerns."
Ward said he will respond to the activists in writing.
The two activists who took part in the meeting could not be
reached immediately afterward for their opinion on how the
discussion went.
A public debate has been demanded by activists because they
feel they would succeed in winning public opinion to their side.
They maintain that animal research is not crucial to solving the
problems of human health.
The benefits of animal research have been greatly exaggerated,
said Craig Rosebraugh of the Liberation Collective, based in
Portland, Ore., before the meeting with the UW administrators.
"We think if they are really so proud of their achievements,
they should be jumping at the chance to make us look like
fools," he said.
"When they are taking more and more of our money and are
killing more and more animals, we have a right to at least talk
to them," added Michael Budkie, director of Stop Animal
Exploitation Now!
The weeklong animal rights protest peaked Sunday with a march
from the Henry Vilas Zoo to the primate center, where activists
burned an effigy of a famous former UW scientist. The protest was
organized in part by the Madison-based Alliance for Animals and
is part of a national yearlong protest against the country's
seven regional primate centers.
The Madison protest continues this week. The primate center
has been closed to the public as a security measure.
Security was also tight today at Bascom Hall. Ten minutes
before the two protesters arrived, two security guards in suits
walked the halls and stood watch outside the chancellor's office.
An estimated 100 people participated in Sunday's protest,
which began at the zoo and ended at the primate center's facility
on the south side of the UW campus, where an effigy of former
monkey researcher Harry Harlow was burned.
Although UW and city police watched the protest march and
demonstrations, university police said no one was arrested and no
citations were issued.
Protesters participated for a variety of reasons. Some said
they strongly believe animals have a right not to be harmed at
the hands of humans. Others came to attack the scientific
validity of animal research.
A Madison anesthesiologist, Ray Greek, publicly challenged
primate center officials to debate the scientific merits of
animal research. Greek maintains that animal research is not
vital to solving problems of human health.
Many people interviewed Sunday came to support the specific
troop of monkeys currently being housed at the zoo. Those 158
monkeys are owned by the UW and have been historically kept at
the zoo for observational research and as an educational tool for
the public. They have been in the spotlight this summer after UW
officials said they wanted to abandon the facility and might sell
the monkeys.
"The primary, burning issue right now is to make sure these
animals stay here," said Paula Rinelli, who has lived in Madison
more than 25 years.
Tina Kaske, executive director of Alliance for Animals, has
called on the university to donate the monkeys and the facility
to the zoo and establish an endowment to fund them.
Others participated in the Sunday protest because they were
angry at the university for using zoo monkeys in deadly research,
a violation of a 1989 agreement between the UW and the zoo.
University officials admitted the violation after an
investigation by The Capital Times.
"I was shocked to hear that these monkeys were being used in
research," said Andrea Carpenter, a UW graduate student who was
holding a sign calling for compassion for the monkeys. "To use
these monkeys for research contradicts the very essence of what a
zoo is for. The fact that the UW broke its promise is very bad."
This weekend's protest at the UW was the fourth protest around
the country organized by Pick Bogle, a middle school teacher and
animal rights activist from Oregon state.
ILLUSTRATION; David Sandell/The Capital Times
Animal rights and monkey research protesters carry placards
Sunday around the Henry Vilas Zoo's monkey house.
ENHANCER: allen
KEYWORDS: LTW ANIMAL SCIENCE HEALTH RESEARCH
DEMONSTRATION ETHICS
--
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 00:16:21 -0500
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/08/97, "100 March in Defense of Monkeys"
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970924001621.007aabe0@uwosh.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
--
Capital Times
Copyright ⌐ 1997, Madison Newspapers Inc.
Monday, September 8, 1997
TAG: 9709080219
EDITION: First
SECTION: Local/State
PAGE: 2A
LENGTH: 86 lines
HEADLINE: 100 MARCH IN DEFENSE OF MONKEYS
BYLINE: By Jason Shepard Correspondent for The Capital Times
TEXT:
TEXT: Kathy Koppa was excited as she went to her first day of
work in March 1996 at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research
Center as an animal caretaker, feeding and caring for monkeys.
But she said she saw monkeys with eyes missing, some that bit
their legs until they bled, others that lived in complete
isolation and would scream and press their bodies against the
door of their cage when any sign of life appeared.
"They were dying for attention, and the isolation was driving
them crazy," Koppa recalled in an interview during an animal
activists' protest Sunday.
She said she went home after her first day and awoke during
the night from nightmares. She went into her supervisor's office
the next day, burst into tears and quit the job.
"I thought I could make their lives a little more
tolerable," she said. "I was naive and I was wrong."
Koppa was one of an estimated 100 people who participated in
the protest that began at the Henry Vilas Zoo and ended at the
primate center's facility on the south side of the University of
Wisconsin campus, where an effigy of famed former UW monkey
researcher Harry Harlow was burned.
Continuing protests are planned this week, including a
confrontation with UW-Madison Chancellor David Ward scheduled for
this morning.
Koppa's story was one of many among the crowd, whose members
came for a variety of reasons. Although UW and city police
watched the protest march and demonstrations, university police
said no one was arrested and no citations were issued.
Some protesters said they strongly believe animals have a
right not to be harmed at the hands of humans. Others came to
attack the scientific validity of animal research.
A Madison anesthesiologist, Ray Greek, publicly challenged
primate center officials to debate the scientific merits of
animal research. Greek maintains that animal research is not
vital to solving problems of human health.
Many people interviewed Sunday came to support the specific
troop of monkeys currently being housed at the Zoo. Those 156
monkeys are owned by the UW and have been historically kept at
the zoo for observational research and as an educational tool for
the public. They have been in the spotlight this summer after UW
officials said they wanted to abandon the facility and may sell
the monkeys.
"The primary, burning issue right now is to make sure these
animals stay here," said Paula Rinelli, who has lived in Madison
more than 25 years.
Tina Kaske, executive director of Alliance for Animals, has
called on the university to donate the monkeys and the facility
to the zoo and establish an endowment to fund them.
Others participated in the Sunday protest because they were
angry at the university for using zoo monkeys in deadly research,
a violation of a 1989 agreement between the UW and the zoo.
university officials admitted the violation after an
investigation by The Capital Times.
"I was shocked to hear that these monkeys were being used in
research," I said Andrea Carpenter, a UW graduate student who was
holding a sign calling for compassion for the monkeys. "To use
these monkeys for research contradicts the very essence of what a
zoo is for. The fact that the UW broke its promise is very bad."
This weekend's protest at the UW was the fourth protest around
the country organized by Rick Bogle, a middle school teacher and
animal rights activist from Oregon state.
Prior to the UW protest, primate center officials were worried
about security measures. Ward signed a special order Aug. 26 to
limit access to the primate center building and the Harlow Center
for Biological Psychology. The two buildings were ordered closed
except to employees and researchers from Sept. 6 to Sept. 14.
The Sunday protest drew many Madisonians, and others drove
hours to participate.
Angie Davis and Allison George of Minneapolis, for instance,
said they came to Madison for the weekend to lend their support
to protecting animals here.
"People just need to get the information about what happens
to these animals," Davis said, as a person next to her held a
poster of a laboratory photograph of a monkey with screws drilled
into its skull. "Parents need to know that the monkeys their
children come to this zoo and watch can end up like that."
ILLUSTRATION: DAVID SANDELL/THE CAPITAL TIMES
Animal rights and monkey research protesters carry placards
Sunday around the Henry Vilas Zoo's monkey house.
FILE PHOTO
One of the troop,
ENHANCER: allen
KEYWORDS: UW ANIMAL SCIENCE HEALTH RESEARCH
DEMONSTRATION ETHICS MADISON
--
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 00:16:02 -0500
From: Steve Barney
To: AR-News@envirolink.org
Subject: NEWSWIRE: WRPRC, 09/05/97,
"If apes are our close kin, how can we condone primate experimentation?"
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970924001602.007ac810@uwosh.edu>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
--
_Isthmus_ (ISSN 1081-4043), Vol. 22, No. 6, September 5-11, 1997
[TITLE] If apes are our close kin, how can
we condone primate experimentation?
By ERIK NESS
The Ape Army is coming to town,
with plans to stage a full-fledged
strike that even Gandhi could
love.
Starting Saturday, Commandant
Rick Bogle and more than 100 stuffed
toy monkeys will be sitting shiva in
front of the UW Primate Research
Center as part of a nationwide road-
trip to protest primate experimenta-
tion at all seven of the country's re-
gional primate centers.
Bogle, a schoolteacher from Oregon
state who just moved to Wisconsin
started his odyssey with a handful of
stuffed monkeys in Beaverton, Ore.,
then moved on to Seattle and Boston.
At each stop he has collected another
30 or so monkeys donated by sympa-
thizers and other activists. After Madi-
son the monkeys will continue-their
campaign at Tulane, in Louisiana;
Davis, California; and finally the
Yerkes Regional Primate Center at
Emory University in Atlanta. By the .
time it's over, Bogle will have spent
more than 1,000 hours on his vigil.
>From Bogle's perspective, the tim-
ing of his Madison stop is good. The
UW primate center is already reeling
from revelations that it broke faith
with the Vilas Zoo when it took rhe-
sus and stump-tailed macaques from
the popular zoo community and ei-
ther sold them or used them for ex-
periments here in Madison. But Mon-
keygate has focused more on contrac-
tual obligations and administrative
cover-up than the ethical questions
raised by animal testing.
Stopping testing on primates is the tacti-
cal mission of the Ape Army, and local ani-
mal activists hope to ratchet up pressure on
the center while Bogle is in town. More than
100 activists from Madison, Minnesota and
surrounding areas are expected for a Satur-
day workshop on civil disobedience. On
Sunday the group will gather at the Vilas
Zoo monkey house at noon, then march to
the primate complex between Orchard and
Randall streets just north of Regent Street.
Bogle has high hopes for his brigade, which
will be in Madison through Sept. 14.
"We need to step back and look at all pri-
mate research," he declares. "We need a
moratorium."
[Drawing by DAVID MICHAEL MILLER]
In the best of times, being human has
never been an ethically easy proposition
(see slavery, professional sports, Bill Clin-
ton). But slowly, painstakingly, we have
largely put an end to outright human
bondage, and we struggle to get beyond big-
otry. Is there safe haven for monkeys and
apes as well?
Ape Army activists hope so and make
their case by pointing out how close hu-
mans are to apes. We know they are
cousins, but these guys want us to embrace
primates as close kin.
Genetically, the great apes share 97% or
more of our DNA. We have already commu-
nicated with chimpanzees and gorillas who
have been taught sign language. Kanzi, a
bonobo trained by primatologist Susan Sav-
age-Rumbaugh, exhibits the language capa-
bilities of a 2 I/2-year-old human child.
There is even a political movement to give
the great apes-chimpanzees, bonobos,
orangutans and gorillas-the basic moral
and legal protection that (many) human be-
ings currently enjoy: the right to life
the protection of individual liberty
and the prohibition of torture. The
Great Ape Project has offices world-
wide, its own book-length manifesto
and supporters as diverse as Jane
Goodall and Douglas Adams (of Hitch
hiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame).
Bogle has taken the Great Ape Pro-
ject a step further: he wants to protect
all primate species, monkeys and
apes. "We're talking about beings that
kiss their babies and nibble on their
toes and get frightened by the same
things that we get frightened of," says
Bogle. "They go crazy over the same
things that make us go crazy."
Bogle recalls teaching sixth-
grade social studies class, when
he and his kids talked about
the horrible things that hap-
pen in the world. "We
talked about the Holo-
caust and the Khmer
Rouge and slavery. My
kids consistently said
things to me like 'Why
did people let that
happen?' I had noth-
ing to say to them."
But when he attend-
ed an environmental
law conference and
learned about the
50,000 primates used
every year for experi-
mentation in this coun-
try, Bogle felt he needed
to take a stand.
It is significant to Bogle
that just inside the door of
the Wisconsin Regional Pri-
mate Center is a plaque com-
memorating the work of Harry
Harlow, a psychologist at the UW
from 1930 until 1981, and a rallying
point for animal rights activists. Harlow
began his work with monkeys by adapting
an IQ test for them, and went on to explore
the developmental importance of love
touch, and community.
"His approach was very direct," writes
Deborah Blum (a recent addition to the UW
journalism department) in her acclaimed
book, _The Monkey Wars_. "The easiest way to
investigate a loving heart is to break it; the
shortest cut to explore a relationship is to sev-
er it. After all, loss, grief, fear, stress are visi-
ble and measurable reactions."
Harlow's methodology was poignantly bru-
tal: he separated young monkeys from their
mothers. To study the bond between infants
and mothers he provided two surrogates: one
made of wire, with a bottle and another of ter-
ry cloth. The monkeys clung
to the terry cloth mother un-
less they were hungry, prov-
ing that food alone did not
create the maternal bond.
As his deprivation studies
progressed, so did Harlow's
flair for the macabre. To test
the mother-infant bond, he
built surrogates that cata-
pulted the infant away and
the "iron maiden," which
stabbed the infant with sharp
spikes. But the infants came
back. He built "rape racks" to
create "monster mothers"; he
completely isolated monkeys
for months and years in "pits
of despair."
"What he found out is that
the reaction in these baby
monkeys is the same thing
we would expect if we did
the same thing to human ba-
bies," says Bogle. "It shows
us that these are not beings
that are alien to us. They are
so close in their psychologi-
cal reactions."
Joe Kemnitz interim di-
rector of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Cen-
ter, counts himself among those who respect
Harlow the scientist. "Some of those concepts
that came out of his work are now regarded as
so intuitive, and they're ingrained in us," he
says. "It's easy to overlook the fact that we did-
n't really appreciate that at the time."
Kemnitz, noting the important similarities
between humans and primates, doesn't see a
way around using primates for testing because
there is no way in the lab to duplicate the com-
plex interactions of the human body: "It's very
exciting to be able to study a human-like ani-
mal." And while infecting primates may seem
brutal, he says some things just can't be studied
any other way, such as the progression of AIDS.
"We need to understand the very early events
in the infection," he says. "In humans you don't
get a chance to see them right after infection."
He also says that all monkey research is
"thoroughly reviewed" and that monkeys are
treated as humanely as possible: They're giv-
en pain medication, therapy, as well as good
nutrition and veterinary care. Does Kemnitz
think apes, perhaps even monkeys, will be ac-
corded the kind of rights and protections that
Bogle and others want for them?
"I honestly do not foresee a day when they
would be treated as equals relative to our own
species," says Kemnitz. "I just don't think that
society is close to that
I point."
"The animals are becom-
ing increasingly important
because of their similarities
to us," he says. "My personal
philosophy includes recogni-
tion of a hierarchy. I can rec-
ognize a human being and I
can recognize a monkey. I
put more intrinsic value on
the life of the human than
the monkey, and by the same
token I put more intrinsic
value on a monkey's life than
I would a rat or a mouse."
But science is no longer
united about the efficacy of
animal research. Opponents
say that animals are only
rough models of human sys-
tems and as a result are eas-
ily manipulated. Use a dif-
ferent animal, a different
method, and you can proba-
bly find evidence to support
almost anything. They argue
that research dollars should
be spent on epidemiological
studies of humans instead.
According to a report
from the Medical Research
Modernization Committee in New York, by
1963 human studies showed strong links be-
tween cigarette smoking and lung cancer. But
despite 50 years of trying, researchers had
been unable to generate good animal data to
support the link. Because the human and ani-
mal data differed, many researchers distrust-
ed the more relevant human data. "As a re-
sult," the report concludes, "health warnings
were delayed for years, while thousands of
people died of lung cancer."
Whatever the science says, the bottom line
for Bogle is ethics: "They say it's so important
to use them because they're so much like us,
but we need not have moral concern for them
because they're not so much like us," he says.
"I don't get that."-
--
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 18:30:08 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: NZ - Rabbit Smoothies Help Spread Deadly Rabbit Virus
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970924181955.2cc705d8@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Forwarded on to ar-news from private emial received from NZ:
------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Marguerite,
I received this news article today from a contact in
the South Island, unfortunatley he didn't give me the
name of the paper or date this article was published.
Rabbit Smoothies Help Spread Virus
by John Keast
in Fairlie
South Canterbury farmer Philip Mackay used
a home blender to mix his deadly RCD cocktails.
Mr Mackay, of Streamlands Station, on Thursday
admitted he was part of a group of farmers who had
spread the virus in South Canterbury.
He said he and Peter Innes, of Black Forest Station,
mixed the liver, spleen, and heart of infected rabbits with
100ml of water in a blender. Othere used the same recipe.
The potent mixture was first injected into rabbits. The rabbits
died but the spread of the disease was slow.
Mr Mackay said they then mixed their concoction with bait
-carrots and oats, and the virus spread quickly.
On Thursday the pair summoned the Ministry of Agriculture
official Ron Walker and Canterbury Regional Council chief pest
inspector Graham Sullivan to inspect a pile of dead and dying
rabbits at Streamlands, 30km inland from Burkes Pass.
Stunned officials were told the virus had been spread throughtout
the South Island and parts of the North Island.
Mr Mackay said he and Mr Innes worked in secret for six weeks
to perfect their mixture.
Other farmers were also experimenting. They got infected rabbit
organs from Otago two days after the ministry declined an
application to bring the virus into New Zealand.
After experiments on rabbits on their property, the deadly
cocktail was spread among trusted friends. Soon, people in other
areas of the South Island were approached-cautiously and
secretively. Farmers were first asked their opinion on RCD.
Up to 30 farmers were involved in the South Island. Once the
virus mixture was supplied, the receiver would enlist the help
of other like-minded people. So began the spread of the virus
-long sought by farmers in the MAckenzie and Otago.
Government and council officials were amazed on Thursday to
learn that the virus had been spread throughtout Otago, South
and Mid-Canterbury, Malborough and parts of the North Island.
Any effort to stop it would be futile because the virus wouls appear
somewhere else.
Mr Mackay said yeaterday he did not know how widespread the virus
was in the North Island, but that it would appear soon on Molesworth
Station, and in the Waitak.
He said he was sure he and others had done the right thing in helping
spread the virus. He and otheres lived in fear that they might be
prosecuted under strick biosecurity laws. MAF chief veterinary officer
Dr Barry O' Neil told Mr Mackay late on Thursday that he would not
be prosecuted.
The Ministry was more interested in seeking those who brought the
virus into New Zealand.
Mr Innes told officials on Thursday that the virus was not brought
into New Zealand by a New Zealander, and that it had been in
the country since before the decision to ban it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I have also been informed farmers are going down to
the Haldon road mail "Urquhart and Co in Fairlie to get
the virus. When they come back they ring up people and
don't say who they are. They then tell them, if they want
the virus, its under the Wai Bridge in a box, they do this
to avoid identification. Mr Satherwaite from Muller Station
was one of the first to bring the virus into Malborough.
===========================================
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: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 18:33:46 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (NZ)MP suggests amnesty for rogue farmers spreading rabbit
disease
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970924182333.2cc739fc@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>From The Southland Times (New Zealand)- September 23, 1997
Amnesty would ensure biosecurity
By Paul Focamp á
AN amnesty should be offered for the farmers who illegally introduced the
rabbit calicivirus disease to New Zealand earlierthis year, Invercargill MP
Mark Peck says.
Normally offenders should be pursued and prosecuted but speed was necessary
to restore New Zealand's biosecurity, Mr Peck said.
The longer it took to find out how RCD was introduced, the more likely
another breach would occur.
Offering an amnesty should bring the culprits forward and an explanation on
how they breached New Zealand's border controls more quickly than an
investigation into their alleged importation, he said.
Customs officials could then move to protect New Zealand's borders from
other outbreaks.
If there were gaps in the system, New Zealand was vulnerable from foreign
agents sabotaging the country's reputation for disease-free exports, Mr Peck
said.
"Let's not forget the Rainbow Warrior."
It was ironic farmers demanded vigi lance at the borders to keep diseases
such as foot and mouth out, yet South Island farmers deliberately breached
those borders to bring RCD in to the country illegally.
However, southern list MP Eric Roy said the culprits should be pursued.
Until it was known how the virus was brought in, New Zealand was vulnerable
to bioterrorism and industrial espionage.
Both MPs said they did not condone the illegal introduction but could
understand the frustration of farmers as they battled against rabbits.
There was anecdotal evidence the disease was in New Zealand up to three
weeks before the Agriculture Ministry released its decision not to allow
introducion of the disease.
Mr Roy said there were rumours Cromwell-Tarras farmers reported good rabbit
kills from 1080 poisoning to mask the presence of RCD.
===========================================
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: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 07:29:33 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Biological Pest Control Not Simple
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970924072931.006c8c88@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
of possible interest to those intested in organic farming and pesticides...
from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
09/24/1997 01:54 EST
Biological Pest Control Not Simple
By JOE BIGHAM
Associated Press Writer
SHAFTER, Calif. (AP) -- Biological pest control seems simple enough: Just
find good bugs that like to gobble up the bad bugs that have been
chomping on your crops.
The reality is a whole lot more complex, as scientists are learning at
the Shafter Cotton Research Station near Bakersfield, Calif.
For example, they're trying to find non-native parasites that can survive
in the San Joaquin Valley and kill aphids that thrive in cotton fields.
``We have found parasites that kill aphids year around. Now, we're
testing species to see which are compatible in our area,'' says Kris
Godfrey, a researcher for the state Food and Agriculture Department.
The research is pinpointing two species of tiny wasps. One type imported
from Florida is just 1.5 millimeters long; the other, from Japan, is 2
millimeters long. A millimeter is about the thickness of a paper clip.
Tests of those wasps last year were inconclusive, says Godfrey. She ran
into a perplexing problem this spring.
``We can't find them,'' she says. ``Maybe they don't like the San Joaquin
Valley or they survived (winter) in only small numbers.''
John McLaughlin of the U.S. Agriculture Department says the imported
wasps may just be taking a long time adjusting to California's climate.
``On the other hand, biological control reduction is a bit of a
crapshoot,'' McLaughlin says. ``So, you don't release just one species;
you try to introduce several.''
With that concept in mind, Godfrey says parasites that eat cotton aphids
in other parts of the world also will be brought to Shafter for testing.
Her husband, Larry Godfrey of University of California-Davis, is looking
at aphids from a different perspective -- that of the plant.
``We're trying to see what effects aphids have on plant physiology,'' he
says.
There is some indication that low levels of aphids may not damage the
plant extensively, but it also is possible aphids inject a toxin or
directly affect physiology or photosynthesis.
Larry Godfrey says a study in Fresno County last year showed that a field
heavily infested with aphids suffered a drop in the photosynthesis rate
after the plant had more than 500 aphids per leaf. The leaf temperature
also increased about 2 degrees.
In another attempt to find good bugs, predator mites have been released
in hopes of control damaging spider mites. However, releasing 2,000
beneficial mites per acre didn't reduce the spider mite population below
that of a control plot, says Rami Colfer of UC-Davis.
``We're trying to find what conditions predator mites work best under,''
Colfer says. ``We're studying different release rates. Do they work? And
if so, is it economically feasible?''
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 97 07:49:42 UTC
From: SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US
To: ar-news@Envirolink.org
Subject: Verdict in Whiskers the Cat Torture Case
Message-ID: <199709241255.IAA22158@envirolink.org>
Stillwater, OK, USA: A LeFlore County man accused of torturing Whiskers
the cat, has pleaded no contest to animal cruelty and was sentenced to
three years of probation, District Attorney Rob Hudson said Tuesday.
William Buckey Britton, 22, who will NOT have a criminal record if he
successfully completes probation, made a "sizeable contribution to the
Stillwater Humane Society," prior to his sentencing, Hudson said.
Britton, of Howe, was on leave from a Marine Corps boot camp and was
staying at the same apartment complex where Whiskers lived when the
incident happened last year, prosecutors said.
Britton was charged with torturing Whiskers sometime around Aug. 2 or
3, 1996, by cutting off the cat's right ear, cutting the tendon on his
right front leg, cutting the pads on his rear feet and shaving his
body, court documents said.
When Whiskers, a black-and-white, 1-year-old male cat, was found
Aug. 3, 1996, in the parking lot of an apartment complex, he couldn't
walk because his hind paw pads had been sliced almost off, authorities
said.
An affidavit by Stillwater Police Detective Les Little alleged that Britton
admitted to a friend that he had committed the crime.
Britton was scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 3 before Associate District
Judge Robert Murphy, Jr., but instead he appeared last Thursday before
Special District Judge Charles Meyers, Hudson said.
Regarding the plea bargain, the district attorney said Tuesday: "I wanted
him to have a felony hanging over his head and undergo counseling. That's
been accomplished. If he ever does anything like that again, we'll yank
his chain."
Mary Dickey, Stillwater animal control supervisor, said: "I'm sorry
to hear he got a deferred sentence. I wish it would have been at least a
suspended sentence so he would have a criminal record."
The maximum penalty for animal cruelty is a five-year prison term and a
$500 fine.
-- Sherrill
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 09:50:08 -0400
From: "D'Amico, AnnMarie"
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, paws@CapAccess.org
Subject: RE: King Royal Appeals for Help
Message-ID: <199709241346.JAA26012@envirolink.org>
Good Morning Activists...
Lets keep King Royal on their knees and make them pay for the daily
abuse and suffering they inflict on helpless animals. Selfserving
degenerates don't deserve sympathy nor respect.
Animal abusers must pay and pay heavily for their atrocities. Make
their lives as miserable and painful as they have made the lives of the
animals. It's their turn...MAKE THEM PAY NOW.
Don't let up...keep the pressure on. Flood USDA with calls and letters.
TKS -- AM
----------
From: PAWS[SMTP:paws@CapAccess.org]
Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 1997 8:20 PM
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: King Royal Appeals for Help
The following open letter to the circus industry has appeared in
the
September 22nd issue of Circus Report. Gigi Davenport, wife of
John
Davenport, owner of King Royal Circus, is appealing for support
from the
circus industry. She asks people to write not only to Congress
but also
to the Mayor of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Zoo, and to Steve
Kendall's
Animal Care Association, who, apparently, will also receive
contributions
for King Royal's legal expenses.
Please renew your calls and faxes to the USDA, demanding that
King
Royal's permits be revoked AND that the animals still on the
road with
King Royal be confiscated. These animals are still performing
in the
Mid-West now and, according to recent eye-witness reports, they
are in
precarious health. Please demand that these animals--including
the young
elephant Mickey-be removed to a safe haven and NOT simply be
sold to
another traveling show. Write:
Mike Dunn
Assistant Secretary
USDA
14th St. and Independence Ave. SW
AG-0109
Washington, DC 20250-0109
(202) 720-4256
(202) 720-5775 fax
Letter appearing in Circus Report, September 22, 1997, No. 35,
Vol.25, p. 9:
"Dear Showfolks of America,
Please take a minute of your time and read this letter. I have
written to
as many Circus People and Circus Fans that I know personally and
some who
I do not know.
I would first of all to introduce myself. My name is Gigi
Davenport and
for those who do not know me, I live on The King Royal Circus
and when I
say LIVE, I mean it, I have been with the Davenport shows for 20
years
and am proud to say that. Some days aren't as great as others,
but for
the most I'm pleased and happy raising my family here.
I am married to John Davenport and we have two children; Sophia
and
Willie and my husband has two children from a previous marriage;
Benjamin
and John.
My husband is Terrell Jacobs' son, so he is a very strong
Believer in
Keeping Animals in the Circus business. He has taught his
Children to
work Animals and make sure they are well taken care of, our
daughter
wants to be a veterinarian to help take of the Animals on our
Show.
We are very Proud of our Children and our Circus, but as I am
writing
this letter, we meaning The King Royal Circus are Fighting for
our Life
and by saying Life I mean Every Living Animal on Our Circus and
every
Circus out there, because The Activists are getting the best of
us and we
Feel like we are alone, but I refuse to fall without a Fight.
I know the Circus Industry has been hit hard by Activists and
the
business this year has not been as good as we would have liked
it to be,
but we cannot sit back and let these uninformed Radicals run OUR
LIVES!!
We have to Fight Back TODAY!
I cannot say say it any plainer than that, Please Help keep King
Royal
and ALL the other WILD ANIMAL CIRCUSES ALIVE. King Royal
Circus is
trying very hard to Fight for the Rights to have Animals on our
Show and
we need your Help and Support.
We recently had an elephant die, it died of samonela poisoning.
Ben was
taking it home to be looked at by our Vet when it passed away.
We flew another driver in to help Ben get home quicker, he flew
into
Albuquerque, NM. Ben parked the truck and trailer across from
the
airport and walked across to pick up his relief driver, he did
not leave
the Animals unattended in a parking lot nor did they suffocate
in an air
tight trailer, there was a groom on hand and the windows of the
trailer
were all open for air. Ben was gone approximately 20 minutes
inside the
airport, when he returned to the rig the police were there
demanding that
the door be opened for inspection so Ben opened the door and the
police
saw the dead elephant and called the zoo for help and
information on what
to do about this problem.
At that time we could not get through to them to let them go
home. They
hooked a wrecker to our truck and pulled it a few blocks to a
place
behind the zoo and then charged us for it, when our truck was
very
capable of moving itself. But you are at the mercy of the police
and can
only do what they say at the time. The next day it was all over
the news
that the elephant suffocated and was abandoned, then we got the
news that
the zoo was going to help us out because they didn't really want
them
there. Then they decided with all the media that they would try
to keep
the other two elephants and llamas, so now we are in a custody
battle for
our Animals.
The local Animal Activists saw it on the news and that is how
this became
so blown out of shape. Even our lawyer can't believe the mess
this is and
how it has got there.
The USDA is involved and has suspended by husband's license for
21 days,
and at one time told me I could work my Animals in the show, but
now they
have decided not to let me or Javier Martinez work because of
association.
On day they (the USDA) tell us one thing and the next they tell
us
another, so we are trying very hard to do what they tell us as
best we
can, but they keep changing the rules on us. We are learning as
we go,
but we are also getting tired of fighting. We want our Animals
Back from
the Albuquerque Zoo, But we need help.
Please take time to call or write us and let us know that you
are there
for us and they we are doing the Right Thing to keep fighting
for our
Animals and let us know how your feel about what you have read
and have
seen on TV about this matter or any other matter concerning
animals.
My husband said to me, "Times are changing and people are
changing and
maybe we need to change also, maybe animals aren't going tobe in
circuses
becuase people don't want them to be, the majority will rule
some day and
maybe that time is here." Anyone who knows my husband John D.
T.
Davenport knows that the most important thing in the world to
him is his
animals and his circus and in that order. So when he said that
to me, It
really broke my heart to hear that.
I want to thank you for taking time to read this and please let
me know
how you fell. I'm going to show my husband if anything that
there are
people on his side and that peopel do care.
Best Wishes Always and God Bless,
Sincerely yours,
Gigi"
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 10:04:17 -0400 (EDT)
From: PAWS
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Big Apple Import Application
Message-ID:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
The Big Apple Circus has applied for a permit to import two Patagonian
sea lions from Switzerland. According to a notice in the Federal
Register on August 29, 1997:
"The subject permit is requested under the authority of the Marine Mammal
Protection Act of 1972, as amended....The applicant requests
authorization to import two male marine mammals from Switzerland where
the animals are currently maintained at Conny-Land, a public display
facility in Lipperswil, for exhibit during its 1997-1998 season. During
their 14-month stay in the United States, the animals willbe accompanied
by their trainer, Roberto Gasser of Conny-Land. When the sea lions are
not traveling with the circus, they will be maintained at the applicant's
new facility in Walden, NY. At the conclusion of the tour, the animals
will be re-exported to Conny-Land." Written or faxed comments must be
received on or before September 29, 1997. Comments should be addressed
to Chief, Permits and Documentation Division, F/PR1, Office of Protected
Resources, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD. 20910...or faxed
to (301) 713-0376 (accompanying hard copy must be postmarked by September
29th.)
The Working Group for the Protection of Marine Mammals in Switzerland
(Arbeitsgruppe zum Schutz der Meeres Sauger--ASMS) has already submitted the
following comments:
September 3, 1997
Position paper referring the Big Apple Circus application for the import
of two Patagonia Sea Lions from Conny-Land, Lipperswil, Switzerland
ASMS is strongly opposed to the plans of the Big Apple Circus to import
two Patagonia Sea Lions from Conny-Land, Lipperswil, Switzerland for a
traveling show. These two wild caught animals will be used for the
purpose of public display during the 1997-1998 season and will travel
with their trainer Roberto Grasser. We suppose that the animals of
concern will be Adolph and Oskar, which are also used for traveling shows
in Switzerland. During the last stay of Circus Conelly in Zurich,
Roberto Gasser even went on a shopping tour with Adloph in one of the
most frequented shopping malls.
ASMS has brought a criminal charge against ConnyLand regarding the
holding conditions Adolph has been exposed during the Circus season in
Switzerland. He has to stay in a cage as small as 2.2m x 3m x 1.2m for
at least 23 hours per day in a car parked just beside the road. We
assume that the holding conditions of the animals in the car in the US
will be more or less the same.
Patagonian sea lions are highly developed and social animals which should
not be kept in captivity. In the wild the males live in harems with
around 9 females. Most of the time of the day, they spend socializing
with the members of the group. Towards the end of the mating season the
males even do help to care about the babies. These magnificent animals
should not be abused for amusement and business. ASMS believes that the
dignity of Patagonian sea lions in captivity is infringed. Similar as
the dolphins they are forced to unworthy tricks for food and affection of
the trainer. These shows are far from being educational.
Furthermore, ConnyLand is one of the worst dolphinariums all over the
world. In fact, it is attached to a night club where the dolphins are
exposed to disco music and lights every night from 8 pm to 2 am. During
the day, the dolphins have to perform in 5 shows.
ASMS therefore asks and encourages everyone to express strong concerns on
the import application of Big Apple Circus. Your support will be highly
appreciated.
Noelle Delaquis
Working Group for the Protection of Marine Mammals
Arbeitsgruppe zum Schutz der Meeres Sauger--ASMS
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 07:57:39 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Markarian
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+animalrights@earthsystems.org,
en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Florida: Protest Youth Deer Hunt
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970924112334.2b573fec@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
FLORIDA ACTION ALERT
STOP TEACHING CHILDREN TO KILL!
The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission is sponsoring a special
"Youth Deer Hunt" for children ages 8 through 15. This program was initiated
in 1985 -- the first special youth hunt held in the U.S. -- and is held
annually in October at two military bases in northern Florida.
The sale of hunting licenses continues to decline in Florida and accross the
country. Today only 2 percent of Florida residents are licensed hunters. The
Youth Deer Hunt is intended as a recruitment tool by the Game and Fresh
Water Fish Commission to reverse this trend of dwindling support for
bloodsports. Research indicates that people who do not begin hunting before
their late teens will most likely never hunt at all. The hunting industry,
the firearms industry, and your state officials are doing everything in
their power to recruit young children and turn them into lifelong customers.
Members of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, The Fund for Animals,
and other groups and concerned individuals will protest the Youth Deer Hunt.
Please join us and help bring to these children a message of compassion and
respect for animals.
WHEN:Friday, October 10, at 1:00 p.m.
WHERE:Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission
Northeast Regional Office
Lake City, Florida
DIRECTIONS: From Hwy. I-75, take Exit 82, Route 90 East, for 6 miles.
OR: From U.S. Route 441, take Route 90 East for 3 miles.
The building is opposite the airport.
If you need more information, please contact the Animal Rights Foundation of
Florida at (954) 968-7622.
Thank you for your help!
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 07:57:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Markarian
To: ar-news@envirolink.org, seac+animalrights@earthsystems.org,
en.alerts@conf.igc.apc.org
Subject: Cleveland, OH: Rally Against Deer Hunts
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970924112313.2b57a452@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
CLEVELAND ACTION ALERT
MetroParks and Cuyahoga Valley Both Slated to Kill Deer!
The Cleveland MetroParks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreational Area
(CVNRA) plan to slaughter more than 600 deer this coming November. The plans
are based on poorly compiled data and incomplete research, and we need your
help in several ways to save the deer!
(1) Attend a public rally for the deer. Please bring your family and friends!
Saturday, October 11, 1997
11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Egbert Picnic Area in the Bedford Reservation
For more information on the rally please call In Defense of Deer at (216)
581-3410.
(2) Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers opposing the deer
slaughter.
(3) Write to the three MetroParks Board Commissioners listed below, and tell
them you oppose the deer killing plan. Tell them you intend to boycott the
zoo and all other MetroParks activities, and you will not support any future
tax levies for the parks.
John O'Toole, President
4101 Fulton Parkway
Cleveland, OH 44144
FAX: (216) 642-8826
Fred Rzepka, Vice President
4101 Fulton Parkway
Cleveland, OH 44144
FAX: (216) 439-6710
David Whitehead, Vice President
4101 Fulton Parkway
Cleveland, OH 44144
FAX: (216) 447-3567
Here are a few points you may wish to make in your letters:
* Proponents of the deer hunt claim there are 7,000 to 8,000 deer in the
CVNRA, Bedford, and Brecksville Reservations, yet independent biologists
believe there are only 1,500.
* Hunting proponents claim that deer are detrimental to other animal and
plant species in the parks, yet they have not even completed any studies on
this premature conclusion. There is no evidence of threats to any specific
animal or plant species due to deer activity.
* Hunting is only a "band-aid" approach to deer-human conflicts. Hunting
reduces deer populations for the short-term, but less competition for food
among surviving deer causes increased nutritional health and increased
reproduction. Scientific studies indicate that hunted deer populations
reproduce at double or triple the rates of nonhunted populations.
* Hunting does not solve the problems of deer-vehicle collisions or deer
browsing gardens. Killing some deer does not stop the surviving deer from
crossing the same roads or eating the same plants. Many states (such as New
Jersey) donate deer repellents to farmers and homeowners, and others (such
as Washington and Minnesota) have installed roadside reflectors that have
effectively reduced deer-vehicle collisions by 88-91 percent.
* In a highly residential area, hunting is dangerous for our family members
and companion animals. Each year, more than 200 people are killed in hunting
accidents, and another 1,500 are injured ù many are nonhunting bystanders.
People who enjoy spending time in our parks should not be held hostage by
fear of being struck by a stray bullet.
Thank you for speaking out on behalf of the deer!
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 11:24:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: DDAL@aol.com
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: FDA Reform
Message-ID: <970924111816_1331957837@emout04.mail.aol.com>
Dear Activists,
Thank you for your calls, e-mail and letters to both the House and Senate.
Your input has brought "national uniformity" or cosmetics pre-emption to the
forefront of discussion in the FDA Reform bills.
Today the Senate will vote to pass S. 830, their version of FDA Reform. It
contains compromise language on cosmetics pre-emption that narrows states'
opportunities for acting to safety issues (ensuring that states will be
unable to pass laws codifying what "not tested on animals" means). In
addition, states will be unable to place additional requirements on
manufacturers for labels, packaging or other public information if the FDA
has already acted. This language contains several points that are not
compromises for industry!
However, we still have several opportunities to make our concerns known. The
House Commerce Committee will be marking up FDA Reform bills (specifically
the amendment to H.R. 1411, also known as the "Chairman's Mark") tomorrow.
It is expected that they will accept the Senate compromise language. But,
several members of the Commerce Committee have not made their minds up.
Please let them know that cosmetics are the least regulated product under
FDA's purview, the Senate compromise is still pre-empting states from taking
action and that consumers want accurate information on whether the
ingredients and/or the product have been tested on animals.
You may obtain the members of House Commerce and further information on the
bills at www.house.gov/commerce/. Please contact them today through e-mail
or the Capitol Switchboard at 202/225-3121.
Thank you,
Sara Amundson
Doris Day Animal League
t: 202/546-1761
f: 202/546-2193
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 11:34:02 -0400
From: "Zoocheck Canada Inc."
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Feast for Beasts fundraising dinner
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970924113350.006ae83c@idirect.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Tickets are now available for Zoocheck Canada's fundraising dinner Feasts
for Beasts. Join us for an evening of fun, fabulous food and great prizes
on October 7 at 7:00 pm.at the Sher-E-Punjab Restaurant, 351 Danforth
Avenue, in Toronto.The evening's entertainment will be provided by Barry
Kent MacKay and his hilarious journey into the world of animal
reproduction: "Lust, Passion and Animal Sex". Tickets are just $35. Payment
can be made in advance by VISA, American Express, MasterCard, cheque or you
can pay at the door. For more information contact: Zoocheck Canada at
416-285-1744; zoocheck@idirect.com or use snail mail: Zoocheck Canada 3266
Yonge Street, Suite 1729, Toronto Ontario M4M 3P6. Hope to see you on
October 7!
Zoocheck Canada Inc.
3266 Yonge Street, Suite 1729
Toronto, ON M4N 3P6 Canada
Phone: 416-285-1744 Fax: 416-285-4670 or 696-0370
E-mail: zoocheck@idirect.com Web site: http://web.idirect.com/~zoocheck
Registered Charity No. 0828459-54
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 14:05:12
From: eklei@earthlink.net
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Another Coulston Chimp Dead
Message-ID: <3.0.1.16.19970924140512.30b79fd2@earthlink.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
In Defense of Animals
131 Camino Alto, Suite E
Mill Valley, CA 94941
415-388-9641 (voice)
idausa@ix.netcom.com (email)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COULSTON BODY COUNT RISES: ANOTHER CHIMPANZEE DEAD
Infectious Disease Outbreak Responsible for Latest Incident
Alamogordo, NM (September 24, 1997) -- Another healthy
chimpanzee has died at the New Mexico-based Coulston Foundation
(TCF), In Defense of Animals (IDA) announced today, making her the
30th known primate to die from "unexpected" causes at TCF since
1993. The death comes on the heels of a staff upheaval in which
four veterinarians, a pathologist and the facility's director of
enrichment have quit TCF in recent months.
According to IDA, a 25-year old chimpanzee named Panda died in
July from Shigella, the infectious disease which raged through TCF
facilities this summer and was characterized in a U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) inspection report as a "public health risk."
Panda is the fifth known chimpanzee to die in just seven months at
TCF. She had recently arrived at TCF from New York University's
Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates
(LEMSIP), one of at least 100 chimpanzees sent by the university to
TCF. In January, another LEMSIP chimp, Jello, perished after being
anesthetized at TCF. Circumstances surrounding Jello's death also
appear to violate the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
"How many more chimpanzees must die before the government
steps in to stop the negligence and rampant violations of federal
laws at TCF?" said IDA program director Suzanne Roy.
IDA today filed new complaints with the USDA and the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) charging that the latest chimpanzee
death, and the Shigella outbreak that caused it, raise disturbing
questions about TCF's veterinary care, quarantine protocols,
apparent lack of a training program, and the risk posed to public
health described in a recent USDA inspection report. The AWA
mandates that research facilities provide adequate veterinary care
and training, and that quarantine measures be instituted if an
infectious outbreak occurs.
In the complaints, IDA cites sources who charge that TCF's
chief veterinarian denied to the facility's own animal care staff
the existence of the Shigella outbreak, even though the infectious
disease had, in fact, erupted in all three chimp housing buildings
at TCF's Lavelle Road site. The USDA itself confirmed the outbreak
in a July 31, 1997 inspection report that cited concerns about
human contamination and infection. (Shigella can cause extreme
gastrointestinal illness, even death, in both humans and nonhuman
primates; the young and elderly are the most vulnerable.) TCF's
lack of drainage and waste control sufficient to contain the
outbreak were cited by USDA as a violation of the AWA.
"TCF's apparent failure to be honest with its animal care
staff about the outbreak of a serious and infectious illness places
not only the surviving chimps in the colony at risk, but also
personnel who have direct contact with the animals," said Roy, who
noted that without information about the Shigella outbreak, TCF
staff could not take proper steps to contain it.
The IDA complaint also asks the federal government to
investigate complaints by sources that TCF's training program is
extremely deficient. These sources have told IDA that TCF
management forces inexperienced animal care staff to provide
unsupervised physical exams, clinical care and research support on
chimps. According to the sources, TCF management failed to train
personnel to properly care for the chimpanzees. Adequate training
is mandated by the AWA and has been promised to the TCF staff by
its management. This lack of training and support, IDA said, may
help explain TCF's extraordinarily high staff turnover. Since May
1994, ten veterinarians with combined decades of clinical chimp
experience have left TCF.
"TCF's staffing turmoil, apparent lack of a training program
and its failure to deal properly with the outbreak of a dangerous,
infectious disease are a recipe for disaster," said Roy.
"Unsupervised and inexperienced animal care staff cannot possibly
make life-and-death clinical care decisions or provide research
support."
"This facility clearly does not provide the adequate
veterinary care mandated by the AWA," Roy continued. "The abysmal
situation at TCF not only jeopardizes the surviving chimpanzees,
but also calls into question the quality of the research being
tested there."
Panda's death is the latest in a series of "unintended" chimp
and monkey deaths at TCF. In July 1995, USDA filed formal charges
against TCF for multiple violations of the AWA, including the
overheating deaths of three chimps. In June 1996, TCF settled the
charges by agreeing to pay a $40,000 fine -- the second-largest
ever assessed against a research facility -- and promising to cease
and desist from violating the AWA. However, only months later,
more chimps died under circumstances again indicating extreme
negligence. The deaths of two of those chimps -- Jello, in January
1997, and Echo, two months later -- are currently under active
investigation by USDA.
TCF has received over $8 million from a contract with the NIH
to maintain HIV-infected chimps. The contract requires TCF to
comply with USDA's primate care regulations. Ironically, the
current contract was signed by TCF's president the very day that
Echo was killed by a chimpanzee in an adjacent cage -- an incident
that demonstrated clear violations of the regulations the NIH
contract required TCF to obey.
IDA is a national animal protection organization with over
65,000 members based in Mill Valley, California.
# # #
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 12:45:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Markarian
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: N.M. Game Commission meeting Sept. 25-27
Message-ID: <2.2.16.19970924161103.5f77fdf4@pop.igc.org>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
This is short notice, but it is from the New Mexico Department of Game and
Fish and may be of interest to New Mexico activists:
"The State Game Commission will consider going to a statewide
drawing in 1998-99 for deer licenses at its meeting Sept. 25 at Glorieta
Conference Center. Commissioners will also hear recommendations for other
1998-99 big-game seasons, but are not expected to act on any regulations
until the October 27-29 meeting in Santa Fe.
The Sept. 25 meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the Glorietta
Conference Center and may continue into second and third days, if necessary.
Other agenda items include recommendations to change outfitter/guide
regulations; to revoke hunting, fishing and trapping license priveleges of
convicted game law violators; discussion of private-land elk authorizations;
and an amendment to regulations governing the department's process of
secondary and private-land license sales.
. . . One item on the agenda is whether the full license and
application fee should be required up front for 1998, or the $6-only fee
continued. The commission will also hold extended discussions on the entire
1998 big-game hunting structure, including seasons, bag limits and hunter
numbers. The public may attend and participate."
Further information is available on the Game and Fish Department home page:
http://gmfsh.state.nm.us/
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 18:52:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: Turtleresq@aol.com
To: Rockincpa@aol.com, Melissa458@aol.com, ar-news@cygnus.com,
LASPCA1RC@aol.com, scorps1@ix15.ix.netcom.com, bjacobs@marin.k12.ca.us,
andrea.gaski@wwfus.org, turtle@orsp1.adm.binghampton.edu,
104343.3532@compuserve.com, erj@vetmed1.vetmed.ufl.edu,
raw@zoology.unp.ac.za, orgcurherps@denverzoo.org, davetsp@iafrica.com,
honolulu@earthlink.net, devold@badlands.nodak.edu, ASalzberg@aol.com,
Melissa@aol.com, Turtlezoo@aol.com, 100105.555@compuserve.com
Subject: Turtle lovers unite - we need your help!!!!
Message-ID: <970924185145_116504585@emout14.mail.aol.com>
AmericanTortoise Rescue will be testifying before the Calif. Fish & Game
Comission a week from Friday in regard to putting a ban on the importation of
live turtles to be sold in live food markets throughout the state. There are
two important reasons - first is the danger of salmonella from touching and
ingesting the turtles - dead or alive. The second is because they are
winding up in lakes throughout the state and screwing up the indiginous
populations. I need the names of lake etc. thatare dumping grounds. If
anyone has an evidence to support either of these claims, I am collecting to
add to my ammunition. Thanks. Susan Tellem, President 800-938-3553 or
TurtleResQ@aol.com. Send mail to 5757 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 655, LA, CA
90036. Thanks.
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 19:01:59 -0700
From: Hillary
To: veegman@qed.net, ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Joe
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970924190154.00749188@pop01.ny.us.ibm.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Joe-
I want to invite you to the city for an animal rights get-together to
celebrate my birthday...Oct 10, 8 pm at the Candle Cafe on the Upper East
side....i know it's hard for you to get into the city, but if you're free
that night, we'd love to have you!
Let me know, okay/
Hillary
At 10:30 PM 9/23/97, veegman@qed.net wrote:
>New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance
>PO Box 174
>Englishtown, NJ 07726
>(732) 446-6808
>
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>September 23, 1997
>
>
>Contact: Joe Miele (201) 368-8271
>
>Militant Anti-Fur Protest In Parsippany
>
>PARSIPPANY -- Animal rights activists will descend upon the Fur Mart this
>coming Saturday, September 27 to protest the atrocities inherent in the fur
>trade.
>
>Members of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance (NJARA) say that the Fur
>Mart will be a target of regularly scheduled demonstrations. "There is no
>excuse for wearing fur" says Joe Miele, Chairman of NJARA's Anti-fur
>Committee. "Fur is the ultimate symbol of greed and cruelty. Killing
>animals because their skin is more beautiful than ours cannot be tolerated
>in a civilized society."
>
>Past anti-fur actions taken by NJARA have included parades through busy
>city streets, large scale protests and demonstrations, and acts of civil
>disobedience.
>
>
>
>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 19:32:49 EDT
From: klaszlo@juno.com (Kathryn A Laszlo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (U.S.) Snowmobile ban to protect wolves in national park
authorized by court ruling
Message-ID: <19970924.195058.13847.0.KLaszlo@juno.com>
Published Sep 24, 1997
Appeals Court affirms agency's authority in Voyageurs snowmobile ban
Dean Rebuffoni
Star Tribune
Minneapolis/St. Paul
The National Park Service has authority to ban snowmobiles in parts of
Voyageurs National Park to protect timber wolves, a federal court ruled
Tuesday in St. Paul.
The decision, by a three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, reverses a January 1996 ruling by U.S. District Judge James
Rosenbaum. Acting on a lawsuit by snowmobilers, he ordered the Park
Service to reopen certain closed areas in Voyageurs to snowmobiles,
ruling that it hadn't proved the machines have harmed wolves in the park.
The federal government didn't appeal Rosenbaum's ruling, but seven
environmental groups did. They argued that the Park Service has
discretionary authority to keep snowmobiles and wolves apart, even if
there's no clear evidence that the machines have harmed the animals.
The appellate judges agreed. They criticized Rosenbaum's interpretation
of federal law, saying he relied solely on one statute -- the Endangered
Species Act -- in lifting the snowmobile ban while neglecting to consider
other laws and regulations that give the Park Service considerable
discretion to restrict the machines.
"The regulations designating routes for snowmobiling in the park
specifically grant the park's superintendent the discretion temporarily
to close routes and lake surfaces to snowmobiling after taking into
consideration, among other factors, park management objectives," the
judges said.
They also said that while evidence of harm to Voyageurs' wolves from
snowmobiling is not definitive, "it does provide a rational basis on
which the Park Service could have concluded that the partial park
closures were a reasonable solution to the problem of wolf harassment."
The case stems from a 1994 suit by the Minnesota United Snowmobilers
Association, the state's largest coalition of snowmobile clubs. Its
president, Jeff Mausolf of Duluth, said Tuesday that the association's
directors will consider appealing the decision when they meet next month.
Among the seven environmental groups is the Voyageurs Region National
Park Assocation. Its executive director, Jennifer Hunt of Minneapolis,
said the ruling is "a great decision for the park, the Park Service and
for users of the park in the wintertime other than snowmobilers."
Hunt said the decision will help resorts and other businesses by
attracting more cross-country skiers, snowshoe enthusiasts and winter
campers.
The ruling comes a week after the National Park Service said it will
impose a moratorium on the use of personal watercraft in Voyageurs and
elsewhere throughout the park system. The moratorium, which will begin
next month and is expected to remain in effect into next spring, was
prompted by widespread complaints about noise, pollution and safety
problems.
Voyageurs Superintendent Barbara West said the Appeals Court decision
"restores our ability to manage the park in light of less-than-perfect
information."
She added, "When we don't what the consequences of something will be,
prudence dictates that we take some action to protect park resources.
This ruling allows us to be prudent and gives us a lot more flexibility
to manage the park the way we think it's supposed to be managed."
The partial ban on snowmobiles was imposed in January 1993, before West
became superintendent. The Park Service acted on the advice of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, which said that while snowmobiles do not harm
wolves, the machines provide access to remote wolf habitat for people who
could intentionally or unwittingly harm the animals.
There are an estimated 35 wolves in Voyageurs, and in winter they
especially prefer to hunt deer on the ice of certain bays.
Initially, the Park Service imposed a mandatory ban on snowmobiles on
6,540 acres of bays. West modified that last winter, asking snowmobilers
and other recreationists to voluntarily avoid 11 bays covering a total of
4,393 acres. That's about 5.5 percent of the total acreage open to
snowmobiles in Voyageurs.
West said she hasn't decided how to limit snowmobiling in Voyageurs this
winter. She has invited snowmobilers and others to attend meetings next
month to discuss the issue.
This is the third time in recent years that Rosenbaum has been reversed
by the Appeals Court in decisions affecting Voyageurs or the nearby
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA). The earlier reversals were
on his rulings that the environmental groups could not intervene in the
snowmobile case and that trucks again could haul motorboats across three
BWCA portages.
Appeals Court judges Gerald Heaney, Pasco Bowman and Lyle Strom heard
arguments in the snowmobile case last December, but postponed issuing
their decision because of negotations that have been underway since last
September to try to resolve the long dispute over how Voyageurs should be
managed.
The negotiations, by a committee of diverse interests, are stalled
because of sharp differences between environmentalists and supporters of
personal watercraft and snowmobiles.
The committee was to have met this week, but that session has been
postponed until late November.
Copyright 1997 Star Tribune | Minneapolis-St.Paul
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 20:07:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: LTGJTG@aol.com
To: paws@capaccess.org, owner-ar-news@envirolink.org, ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Re: King Royal Appeals for Help
Message-ID: <970924185438_-1364140851@emout04.mail.aol.com>
Does anyone have an address where Gigi Davenport and the King Royal Circus
may be contacted? I would like to write to her, as a "radical activist" she
so desperately (and misguidedly) fears.
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
_ Laura
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 17:28:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo)
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: The Risks of Captive and Performing Elephants
Message-ID: <199709250028.RAA25883@k2.brigadoon.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
The Progressive Animal Welfare Society has posted an illustrated listing of
The Risks of Captive and Performing Elephants to our web page.
This list includes injuries to elephants, circus and zoo visitors and
employees and members of the public from 1983 to August 1997, and was
collated from several other similar lists prepared by Peta, IDA, CEASE and
Performing Animal Welfare Society.
This list may be useful to present to circus sponsors, Chambers of Commerce,
Municipal Governments and others to help convince them of the dangers to the
public presented by circus and zoo elephants.
The list may be viewed at: http://www.paws.org/activists/risks.htm
or may also be accessed from a button on our home page at: http://www.paws.org
This list is also linked to an action alert re. King Royal Circus.
For more information contact Lisa Wathne 425-787-2500 ext 811 or
lwathne@paws.org
Bob Chorush Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 (425) 787-2500 ext
862, (425) 742-5711 fax
email bchorush@paws.org http://www.paws.org
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 09:41:09 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: FOOD BYTES #2
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970925093038.2a5f6230@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
FOOD BYTES
News & Analysis on Genetic Engineering & Factory Farming
Issue #2 (Sept. 24, 1997)
by: Ronnie Cummins, Pure Food Campaign USA
email: alliance@mr.net
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1527
____________________________________________________________________
Recent Developments of Note:
* Grain Cartels Sabotage Trade in Non-GE Crops
* USA and EU Battle on Beef Tallow and Mad Cow Issues
* Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?
* Let Them Eat Feces: Agribusiness Moves to Restrict Food Labeling in the USA
____________________________________________________________________
Grain Cartels Secretly Trading in Non-Genetically Engineered Crops
Because of mounting consumer concern, especially in Europe, a growing
international trade has begun to develop in corn and soybeans--as well as
products derived from these grains--which are tested, certified, and
labeled as non-genetically engineered. Genetic ID in Fairview, Iowa and TNO
Nutrition in the Netherlands, two labs testing for genetic contamination,
report a "brisk business" as food buyers and manufacturers scramble to meet
increasing consumer demands for non-ge products. Polls in the USA, Europe,
Canada, Australia, Japan, and other industrialized nations continue to find
80-90% of consumers demanding mandatory labeling of genetically engineered
foods--mainly so that they can avoid buying them. Sales of organic or
"biological" products are rapidly increasing, partly in response to the
gene foods controversy.
The world's largest grain multinationals (Cargill, Continental, Archer
Daniels Midland, Bunge, Central Soya, etc.) continue to claim publicly that
it is "impossible," or at at least "economically impractical," to separate
out and label gene-altered and regular grains. But recent behind-the-scenes
surveys of numerous grain handlers and grain dealers in the USA tell a
different story. The bottom line is that Cargill, ADM, and the other grain
cartels are already segregating or sourcing non-ge soy and corn and
supplying it secretly to some of their major European customers. Companies
such as Tesco, the largest supermarket chain in the U.K., seem to have
already made "backroom deals" with the cartels to supply them with all the
non-ge grains they need--as long as they, the buyers, agree to keep their
sources secret.
This way Tesco gets a marketplace advantage over its other British
supermarket rivals by being able to advertise that it has a full line of
non-ge products, while the grain cartels avoid risking the loss of their
dominant market share to independent grain brokers and shippers. These
"independents" have already begun to sell significant amounts of non-ge
grains to European buyers such as SPAR, the Austrian-based supermarket
chain. Also, under this biotech and cartel-friendly arrangement, the US
Department of Agriculture and the Clinton Administration can still claim
that "segregating" ge and non-ge grains and foods are impossible; while
European Commission and other EU authorities have a handy excuse to back
off from demanding that the US government require mandatory segregation of
gene-altered crops.
Inside sources in the US point out that the chemical, biotech, and seed
giants appear to have begun to selectively "spike" or mix their ge seeds
with their conventional hybrid seeds. This makes testing more difficult and
bolsters their often repeated claim that testing for genetic contamination
is "impossible." Another tactic is to leave enough residues of grain in
barges and grain elevators and in the cargo holds of ships so that
independent brokers have a hard time fulfilling non-ge contract obligations
that require near-100% purity. Yet another recent tactic has been to
facilitate the selling off of all of Brazil's soybean reserves so that the
country has no choice now but to accept cargoes of American grain in which
ge and non-ge soybeans are mixed together. This situation will then lead
to the elimination of a law currently on the books in Brazil which makes it
illegal to import genetically engineered soya. Of course this will also
prevent independent Brazilian grain traders from "stealing" new customers
in Europe and Japan away from the cartels.
A Continental Grain spokesperson in Chicago admitted to the Pure Food
Campaign in August that they are "taking orders" for certified non-ge grain
for next year's crops. In addition the PFC has learned that a number of
major US food multinationals have begun making preparations to segregate
and test their products, so as to avoid consumer boycotts--both overseas
and in the US. But again, why all the secrecy? First of all, according to
food industry experts, besides their cozy realtionship with the agri-toxics
and biotech companies, the grain cartels and the factory farm food
manufacturers fear setting a precedent. If they bow to "irrational"
consumer demands to separate out biotech foods and grains, then what is to
prevent customers from demanding that they do the same thing with
chemically contaminated grains and foods?
____________________________________________________________________
US and EU Fight Over Beef Tallow/Mad Cow Safety Precautions
One again the US is threatening to take the European Union to the World
Trade Organization (WTO) over a food safety issue, this time claiming that
European demands for increased Mad Cow Disease (BSE) beef tallow
precautions are nothing more than protectionist trade restrictions.
European Union scientists stated Sept. 18 that the United States had
"probably been free" of BSE in the past but that, given lax US procedures
for manufacturing beef tallow, (by boiling whole carcasses including
brains, eyes, and spinal tissue) there was "no guarantee" that a US version
of Mad Cow Disease would not eventually contaminate beef tallow, widely
used in the manufacture of drugs and cosmetics. The EU Scientific
Veterinary Committee stated that "the committee cannot guarantee that
cattle from the United States have not been exposed to and thus do not
carry BSE infectivity, though there is no positive evidence that they do
so." The EU ruling threatens to shut off $100 million in beef tallow
exports to Europe. The EU ban on US beef tallow exports comes in the wake
of a May 1997 ruling by the WTO that Europe must accept beef exports from
the US--even though most Europeans object strenuously to the US practice of
using artificial hormone implants in cattle to stimulate faster growth.
In the US, groups such as the Center for Media and Democracy (publishers of
PR Watch), the Consumers Union, and the Pure Food Campaign have warned that
the nation's animal feeding practices appear inadequate to fully protect
the public from BSE and other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
(TSEs). These groups, joined by family farm organizations such as Family
Farm Defenders, and animal protection organizations such as the Humane
Society, have repeatedly demanded that the US government stop the feeding
of all rendered animal protein to all animals, as Great Britain has done. A
May 12 national news program on ABC News warned that the human form of Mad
Cow Disease (called CJD or Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) seems to be on the
increase in the USA, although factory farm interests and government
authorities continue to deny this. A new book arriving in bookstores Nov.
1, Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here, (see announcement below)
will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire of this controversy.
____________________________________________________________________
- ANNOUNCING AN IMPORTANT NEW NON-FICTION BOOK -
Mad Cow U.S.A.
Could the Nightmare Happen Here?
"This first-rate work of investigative journalism is the real story of mad
cow disease. Reads like a detective story."
Dr. Timothy B. McCall, M.D., author of
Examining Your Doctor: A Patient's Guide to Avoiding Harmful Medical Care
"This looming disaster is no Sci-Fi scenario.
A fabulous and urgently needed warning."
Nicols Fox, author of
Spoiled: The Dangerous Truth about a Food Chain Gone Haywire
The November 1st publication of Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare
Happen Here? will shatter the belief that government and industry would
'never let it happen here.' This is the true and terrifying tale that
agribusiness wants to censor.
Authors Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber reveal a world of
brilliant scientists, callous industry, courageous victims and cowardly
bureaucrats. All are united by a mysterious new killer disease threatening
a global epidemic - unless we heed this book's warning.
In Britain the meat industry's feeding practice of 'animal
cannibalism' has unleashed a fatal Alzheimers-like dementia that is killing
a growing number of young victims who ate contaminated beef from mad cows.
Some experts predict hundreds of thousands of Britons may die in the
decades ahead due to the long and invisible incubation period of this
brain-destroying illness, called 'new-variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.'
Mad Cow U.S.A. explains how mad cow disease and nvCJD have emerged
as a result of modern, intensive factory farming. Europe has, for the most
part,
banned the feeding practices that spread this emerging disease. However, here
in the U.S. the dangerous practice of 'animal cannibalism' continues with
government approval.
Mad Cow U.S.A. exposes the deadly game of "dementia roulette" being
played with our food supply, demonstrating how previously unknown risks can
become catastrophic. The U.S. already has its own versions of the
brain-wasting disease killing cows and people in Britain. The threat of a
U.S. epidemic persists as each year billions of pounds of rendered fat,
offal, meat and bone meal are fed back to cows, pigs, chickens and pets.
Rather than invoking the "precautionary principle" to protect human
health, the powerful U.S. food lobby is waging war against free speech by
legislating "food disparagement laws" in more than a dozen states,
criminalizing those who speak out for food safety. The first lawsuit is
currently proceeding against Oprah Winfrey for her show examining U.S. mad
cow risks.
Government cover-up in Britain and industry and bureaucratic
collusion in the U.S. have kept these threats hidden from American view.
Until now, when Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber answer the question of
Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?
The authors
Sheldon Rampton is a Princeton graduate and investigative
journalist; this is his third book. John Stauber is founder of the Center
for Media & Democracy, a non-profit organization dedicated to reporting on
the 'propaganda-for-hire' industry of public relations. Stauber and
Rampton write and edit the quarterly PR Watch. < www.prwatch.org >
They are also co-authors of the recent acclaimed book Toxic Sludge
Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, now in
its fourth printing from Common Courage Press. The authors live in
Madison, Wisconsin.
Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could The Nightmare Happen Here?
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
Publication date November 1, 1997 Price: $24.95/Cloth
Common Courage Press, Monroe, ME (207)525-0900
ISBN: 1-56751-111-2 Email: comcour@agate.net
For Review Copies and Author Interviews
Contact Greg Bates of Common Courage Press
Phone: 207-525-0900 Email: comcour@agate.net
For more information on Mad Cows, TSEs, and America's new anti-activist
food slander laws see the web sites of the Pure Food Campaign and PR Watch
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1527
http://prwatch.org/
____________________________________________________________________
Let Them Eat Feces: Agribusiness & Government Move to Weaken US Food
Labeling Laws and Irradiate Beef
Once again Corporate America's food giants find themselves scrambling to
restore public confidence in the wake of the latest outbreak of e-coli
0157, which the press has dubbed the "hamburger disease." In August, after
several dozen consumers in Colorado were poisoned by the e-coli feces in
their burgers, 25 million pounds of hamburger meat had to be recalled from
the Hudson Foods Corporation. Even the giant chain Burger King was forced
to stop serving hamburgers in their restaurants briefly. In interviews with
the press, the government Centers for Disease Control (CDC) admitted that
food poisoning has reached epidemic proportions in the US, with up to 80
million consumers per year being poisoned, mainly by feces and
bacteria-contaminated beef, poultry, eggs, and fish. National polls in the
US have found 80% of all consumers expressing concern about food safety
issues such as e-coli and salmonella, pesticide residues, artificial growth
hormones, and genetic engineering.
Statistics over the past 4 years indicate that up to 35% of America's
hamburger meat may be contaminated by feces, with up to 1.5%-3.5% likely
containing the deadly e-coli 0157. In 1993 the Foundation on Economic
Trends sued the USDA over the e-coli and meat contamination issue--forcing
the government to begin placing warning labels on all 2 billion packages of
fresh meat sold in the USA each year. Statistics on salmonella and feces
contamination of poultry and eggs are even worse, with the Clinton
Administration announcing in July 1996 that the government's long-term
goals were to reduce feces residues on poultry to just under 50%!
In addition, an investigative article in US News and World Report on Sept.
1 reported that cattle and other animals are now being fed raw manure on a
massive scale--as a low-cost alternative to alfalfa, hay, and other
traditional feeds. And now, after a year of media reports on the BSE
epidemic in Europe, the US news media appear finally to be waking up to the
fact that literally billions of pounds of dead and diseased animals and
waste body parts continue to be rendered and fed back to America's farm
animals and pets. No wonder sales of organic foods and natural, free-range
meats have skyrocketed over the past 5 years. No wonder the USA has had to
resort to using the WTO to try to force its beef on Europeans, who have
banned all US beef imports since 1988. Even Boris Yeltsin, certainly not
known for his consumer activism, briefly halted half a billion dollars in
chicken imports from the USA to Russia in 1996, citing widespread feces and
salmonella contamination. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sept. 18 that
Clinton has sent USDA secretary Dan Glickman to Russia to deal with the
"growing backlash" against food exports to Russia, "especially poultry."
Reacting to the ongoing crisis in public confidence, the Clinton
Administration and America's food multinationals have decided to take
drastic action. Not drastic action in the sense of implementing stringent
food safety measures. The drastic actions they have in mind are entirely
different: to crack down on and intimidate the media and food critics; to
restrict or to take away altogether consumers' rights to know what's been
done to their food; and finally to start using nuclear waste to irradiate
America's feces-tainted meat, poultry, and produce. In future issues of
Food Bytes we will look into some of these food safety issues in greater
detail.
End of Food Bytes #2 (Sept. 24, 1997)
____________________________________________________________________
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Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 10:09:13 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (NZ)Copy letter from USA scientist to NZ re rabbit disease
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970925095843.2f674e44@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
September 15, 1997
Invited Comment on Proposed Deregulation of Rabbit Haemorrhagic
Disease/Rabbit Calicivirus
To:
Honorable Simon Upton, Minister of Biosecurity
through Karen Joyce, Ministry of Agriculture
Copies to:
Honorable Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister
Honorable Nick Smith, Minister for Conservation
AN OPEN LETTER
From:
Professor Alvin W. Smith, Head
Laboratory for Calicivirus Studies
Has the Honorable Minister of Biosecurity and those in Cabinet who advocate
legalizing the current illegal spread of RHD
considered the following?
1. What is New Zealand's responsibility under international treaties
addressing the wanton spread of contagion?
RHD has spread as an epidemic crossing national borders and continents into
40 nations. All have gone to considerable
expense first to prevent its' introduction; then, when this failed, to
control it's effects or eradicate it. The remaining nations of
our global community all have attempted to prevent RHD introduction with the
exception of Australia, and now seemingly
New Zealand. Both of these nations, Australia through a kangaroo court type
legalization and New Zealand by turning a blind
eye to the clandestine and criminal introduction of the haemorrhagic agent,
followed by Ministry level encouragement for the
illegal spread of the disease. The epidemics which advocate groups in both
of these countries have wantonly created within
their borders has greatly multiplied the probability of haemorrhagic disease
spreading to other countries. The greater the
environmental burden of RHD the more efficient the spread and diseases are
not stopped by, nor do they respect, national
boundaries. The "go it alone" and cavalier disregard for responsible global
citizenship demonstrated by RHD advocates
smacks of a fortress mentality or isolationism that is at odds with the
words (now seemingly very empty) of the Federated
Farmers Policy Handbook (October 1996) "The achievement and maintenance of a
disease-free status for New
Zealand animals and plants must be accorded the highest priority by the
Government and regulatory agencies in
order to protect public health and export markets. The introduction of
threatening exotic diseases must be
prevented..."
2. Has the legal challenge to existing regulatory safeguards become so
perverted and so self-serving that the meanings of the
words "safe" and "effective" are to be redefined to mean whatever is useful
for some special interest group? Such words surely
are not just toys in word games where their meaning and the intent they
fostered in the drafting of various animal safety acts
and biosecurity acts and regulations is to be stripped away by redefinition.
And this to satisfy special interest groups intent on
legalizing their own criminal acts and using the established authority of a
constitutional government to accomplish this?
Look at the words of the Honorable Simon Upton, Minister of Biosecurity in
his 9 September 1997 letter. He states
"Cabinet has decided that, given that rabbit calicivirus" (my parentheses -
he means Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease) "is
now widely distributed in New Zealand" (my parentheses - he means
purposefully and knowingly spread as a criminal act)
"it would be desirable to promote responsible, safe, and effective use of
the virus." Who could disagree that it would be
desirable to promote responsible, safe, and effective use of RHD? But what
empty words. There is no amount of "spin" that
can overcome a fundamental truth. Simply stated there is no "responsible,
safe, and effective use" of RHD when used as a
biologic agent and this has a solid base in the scientific information now
available. Please examine the three words
"responsible" use, "safe" use, and "effective" use on a basis of scientific
evidence and facts.
Responsible Use:
This should mean use in a way proven not to be harmful i.e., safe and known
to result in common benefit, i.e., beneficial.
Lacking this, responsible use should mean NO USE. In New Zealand responsible
use has no meaning at all. A raw soup
composed of diseased rabbit parts thought to contain a highly contagious
virus that kills by causing massive liver failure and
hemorrhage is prepared in the kitchens of homes using food processing
utensils. This is mixed with nondiscriminate baits such
as grains and carrots and broadcast over the country-side, sometimes by air
drop. The government now entertains making this
a legal and "responsible" act when the origins of the infectious agent are
unknown, the content of the mix is unknown, the
dosages delivered are unknown, the species being exposed are unknown, the
doses needed to infect non-rabbit species are
unknown, the contamination of soils and waters and the persistence of the
viruses under these conditions are unknown, and the
effect on the hated rabbits is even unknown. It is an untested and
unapproved method of using RHD even in Australia where it
is registered only as an injectable.
Knowing all of this, officials have given "side-door" approval and a "wink"
to an outlaw operation within their own nation and
now suggest redefining the epitome of "irresponsibility" as legally
"responsible." And what about "safety" as a component of
"responsible" use?
Safe Use:
Much has been written about this and some hard data is now available. Dr.
Novotony just published observations in a
prestigious peer-reviewed journal reporting that RHD is not host-specific.
This had previously been reported in China. In
Australia, eleven of 34 test species receiving token exposure (in comparison
to the amount of virus they contact during natural
exposure) developed antibody responses ranging in increases of up to 17 fold
in just 14 days. The most acceptable and
rational explanation is that some were infected but none of these
experiments were repeated to confirm this. Why? Isn't it
because properly designed and executed experiments would have been virtually
certain to confirm infections in at least some of
these species? Of most interest here to New Zealand on Page 151 of the
Import Application we see written this statement:
"The development of antibodies by the Kiwi parallels results from other
species tested in Australia suggesting that
birds in general are more likely to produce antibodies to RCD antigen than
are mammals." If one breaks this
"science-babble" code it simply means "we think birds are more susceptible
to RHD infection than non-rabbit mammals."
Specifically, this is because antibody response in birds to only 180,000
molecules of virus capsid protein that is, the 1,000
rabbit lethal dose administered (180 molecules/virus, i.e., 1,000 infective
virions) would be likely to occur only if the virus
infected the birds and multiplied. This would increase the number of protein
molecules, thereby subjecting birds to much higher
doses and causing an antibody response. New Zealand with her avian treasury
of unique species will surely be especially
sensitive to this compelling piece of evidence. Don't forget that at AAHL,
RHD was transmitted to a sentinel rabbit in a test
cage housing birds experimentally infected with RHD.
There are also anecdotal accounts of RHD having spread to other species but
these have not been properly investigated. In a
display animal show in Western Australia, rabbits died of RHD and at the
same time the guinea pigs also died with signs of
bleeding. There have been numerous reports of crashing populations of birds
of prey, as well as cat and fox populations in
RHD infected areas. In Tasmania, concurrent with RHD passing through an
area, an entire colony of bandicoots disappeared.
Safety regarding human infection is even more troubling. The available data
has been re-examined in various ways and
continues to show increased illnesses associated with RHD exposure.
Furthermore, in Mexico, one exposed worker
developed antibodies (most likely the result of infection), 4 of 5
calicivirus groups are now known to cause disease in humans,
and the official language has changed from "RHD will not affect humans" to
"the risk of human infection is low." We are never
told what "low" means. Is it one in hundreds, thousands, or millions?
Scientist will affirm that when a person becomes infected,
the progeny virus shed by that person will be much better adapted to a new
human host. Therefore, once an event in a new
host occurs, the law of odds for the virus to infect others of the same
species shift by quantum leaps. These are the scientific
facts and the genesis of virtually every new epidemic. Political positioning
may result in some decision makers disregarding
them, but the facts don't change and don't go away. Now, what about
"responsible" use as it relates to effective use?
Effective Use:
One of the requirements for any biological product registration is proof of
efficacy. There are now many documented accounts
of RHD failure to control or reduce rabbit numbers in Australia even on it's
initial spread. In other words, it's effect is less
reliable than most critics of the program predicted. So much so that the
chief proponent in Australia, Brian Cooke, was
reported in the New Zealand press as openly admitting to Dr. O'Hara that he
will not recommend further spread in Australia
ostensibly because of poor performance. But, one must also be aware that the
likelihood of RHD spread to non-rabbit species
is quite high and knowledge of such events having taken place could also
cool Dr. Cooke's enthusiasm for further spread of
the biologic agent he has advocated for rabbit control.
In New Zealand, we hear rumors of weeks of spreading the disease and of
lacing 1080 treated carrots with RHD where kill
rates could appear quite high from the 1080 effect alone. In short, the
effectiveness of the RHD approach to rabbit control is
completely unreliable.
Therefore, when a product is unreliable for the intended effect, and shown
by existing research evidence to not be safe, how
does the New Zealand Government Cabinet "promote responsible, safe, and
effective use of the virus?"
To return to the direct quote of the Minister of Biosecurity, he continues
"people will not be forthcoming with information
if they feel they are under legal threat. There needs to be a good flow of
reliable information." There are several
observations here. Information on the human health threat could only be
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Additional bits of that data are still being withheld. The people were
deceived regarding the result and meaning of the evidence
for cross-species transmission and human health risk. There has been no
in-depth attempt to trace natural exposure resulting in
probable infection in either animals or people. The diagnostic tools for
doing the needed epidemiologic work-ups on
non-rabbits and human exposures are very unreliable, but still are not being
routinely used to document unwanted effects. All
of this, plus the disease itself is unreliable.
Shouldn't we all be asking why the Honorable Minster of Biosecurity feels
the need for "a good flow of reliable information"
when he has disregarded a huge flow of reliable information simply because
it does not support his pre-determined position?
RHD should not be legalized. Authorities in New Zealand should not be
stampeded into believing RHD is reliable or even
effective as a biologic agent where it's lethal effect may be purposefully
confused with that of 1080 simply to cover-up poor
performances. Furthermore, if the criminals (is that the right word for
those who purposefully break the laws of the land?) who
have spread and continue to brag of spreading the disease are stopped, and
if the MAF would initiate intense control efforts,
there is still a chance that RHD could be controlled or eradicated in New
Zealand.
As an outsider, I can only watch with much sorrow and in utter amazement as
this crumbling of law and order takes place in a
country that loves law and order even more than my own. And I can only pray
that somehow truth and honor will prevail, that
your carefully crafted laws will be upheld, and those in the government and
in the country-side who have grabbed control to
institute policies based on utter ignorance and personal greed will be
accorded their just rewards.
|Return to: Calicivirus Home Page|
Please mail comments concerning this page to vetmedw@ccmai
===========================================
Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148
Email> rabbit@wantree.com.au
http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)
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Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 20:23:16 -0700
From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Coyotes and sheep ranchers
Message-ID: <3429D924.5C5@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Ranchers giving coyotes some room to roam
The Christian Science Monitor
JORDAN, Mont. (September 22, 1997 6:33 p.m. EDT) - Last year, coyotes
killed 40 percent of rancher John McKerlick's sheep. This year, it may
be worse. He won't know until later this week, when his flock returns
from its summer pastureland on the open range of eastern Montana. But by
all accounts, the number of coyotes in the area has dramatically
increased.
He feels he has no choice but to call on federal agents to kill coyotes
that kill his sheep. And many of his fellow ranchers are no different.
Naomi Barer Fink, however, is. She and her husband have declared a
cease-fire on local coyotes, turning to nonlethal methods to safeguard
their flock.
Conservationists say the differences between how Mr. McKerlick and the
Finks tend to their flocks marks a change in how society views
predators.
After a century of treating them as competitive vermin - with taxpayers
spending hundreds of millions of dollars since 1931 to kill millions of
coyotes - a new movement is afoot to recognize the ecological role
predators play in the environment.
At the forefront of this movement is a three-year-old experiment called
Predator Friendly Wool. The Finks sell their wool through a cooperative
that gets premium prices for wool if the producers refrain from killing
coyotes, bears, mountain lions, and other predators during the year
prior to shearing.
In place of traps, bullets, and poisons, they use a llama (which will
fight coyotes), protective fencing, and daily vigilance. As a result,
the Finks' sheep losses have been cut by about 75 percent from what they
were five years ago.
"The idea of marketing Predator Friendly Wool is a positive alternative
to the wars being waged between the environmental and agricultural
communities," says Becky Weed, a Predator Friendly grower in Belgrade,
Mont., who founded the Growers Cooperative.
By year's end, Ms. Weed's profitable cooperative, which takes in wool
from seven accredited Predator Friendly ranchers, will have processed
15,000 pounds of fleece and doubled in size - taking in wool from 14
ranchers.
Predator Friendly advocates admit it is not a panacea for all ranchers.
But critics are blunter. Ranchers like McKerlick, who have larger flocks
that graze in open areas, say the program is risky.
"It is nothing more than a scam to lull the public into believing that
letting predators run free works," says Bob Gilbert of the Montana Wool
Growers Association. "Once they get the government to stop predator
control, the ... sheep industry will be in real trouble."
Indeed, some consider coyotes a major threat to the wool industry
nationwide. Montana is symptomatic of this problem, Mr. Gilbert says: In
the past 25 years, the number of head of breeding stock in the state has
dropped from 1 million to 300,000.
"Despite the fact that we've seen record prices and improvements in the
wool market, longtime ranchers are still getting out of the business,"
he notes. "From what I've been hearing, predators are the primary
reason, and the top predator is the coyote."
Others say this destructive relationship need not continue. Biologist
Bob Crabtree, who has studied coyotes for 13 years, argues that the
tradition of shooting any coyote on sight has actually exacerbated
problems for ranchers and contributed to a tripling of coyote presence
in North America.
He contends that when coyotes are killed haphazardly, it causes a
breakdown in the animal's social structure, causing more coyotes to
breed and their territory to expand.
Further, by eradicating rodents, which vie for grasses with livestock,
ranchers are eliminating coyotes' primary natural food source, which
means they often turn to sheep to feed their young. He calls the goals
of Predator Friendly a "win-win" solution.
So do many free-market economists, happy that the project takes resource
users off federal subsidies. "I wholeheartedly support what Predator
Friendly is doing," says Terry Anderson of the Bozeman, Mont.-based
Political Economy Research Center.
BY CARLA NEASEL, the Christian Science Monitor
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 20:26:23 -0700
From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Human Guinea Pigs in Sweden
Message-ID: <3429D9DF.16F8@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Swedes reportedly used in dental tests
Reuter Information Service
STOCKHOLM (September 22, 1997 11:15 a.m. EDT) - More than 400 "mentally
deficient" Swedes were fed one of the sweetest substances available in
the 1940s to test the causes of dental decay, a Swedish newspaper
reported Monday.
The report in the "Dagens Nyheter," published just a month after
revelations of mass sterilizations of Swedish women in the same
newspaper, said the legal experiments were carried out between 1946 and
1951.
"The complete history of Swedes' good teeth is like the history of mass
sterilisation; well documented but hardly known," the newspaper said.
A special caramel was manufactured especially for the experiments,
designed to be too big to swallow but which stuck to teeth and gradually
melted.
Its maker described the caramel: "As far as we can tell, this is the
most dangerous and stickiest toffee available."
The sweets were fed to 436 unsuspecting "mentally deficient" patients at
Vipeholm Hospital near the southern Swedish university town of Lund from
1946 to 1951.
During the experiments, the patients were constantly fed the sticky
toffee and some had saliva tests taken up to 36 times a day.
"No-one knows how much this hurt the Vipeholm patients. Probably no-one
asked," Dagens Nyheter said. The patients included children.
The newspaper said the experiments produced one of the most important
pieces of research on teeth, concluding that sweets were damaging for
teeth and that they could be eaten, but only occasionally.
In Sweden the research produced the term "Saturday sweeties," meaning
sweets could be eaten by children once a week. In the United States it
produced the phrase, "All the sweets you like but only once a week."
The project began in the same year that mass sterilization of Swedish
women peaked. Revelations that Sweden sterilized thousands of poor and
educationally inferior women against their will until as late as 1976
prompted international outrage last month.
The sterilizations took place as part of an attempt to improve the
genetic make-up of Swedes and has been likened to Hitler's attempts to
introduce a pure-blooded race by eliminating "inferior" types.
The paper said that, as with the sterilizations, Swedish authorities
appeared to completely ignore any ethical issues.
"The patients were unable to understand the aim of the experiments or
the consequences and everything indicates that relatives were never
asked for permission," the newspaper said.
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 20:34:13 -0700
From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: The AMA against dogs and cats
Message-ID: <3429DBB5.7B80@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Study finds unrecognized human health risk from pets
Reuter Information Service
CHICAGO (September 22, 1997 11:33 a.m. EDT) - Cats and dogs can carry at
least 30 infectious diseases that may be transferred to humans, but pet
owners and health care workers are often unaware of the threat, a study
says.
"Fortunately, despite close contact with these pets the number of (such)
illnesses in humans is relatively low," said the report from
Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Rootstown, Ohio.
"There are more than 110 million pet dogs and cats in the United
States," the study said. "These pets are found in 70 percent of
households and have been directly or indirectly linked with the
transmission of at least 30 infectious agents to humans.
"Pet owners often are not aware of and most health care workers are not
trained to recognize these ... diseases," said the report published in
the "Archives of Internal Medicine," a journal issued by the American
Medical Association.
James Tan, author of the report, suggested pets should not be allowed to
defecate on beaches or playgrounds; that animal feces be immediately
removed from yards and playgrounds and not be used as fertilizer; that
hands be washed after contact with a pet; and that medical attention be
sought for every animal bite, no matter how small.
------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE:
To put things into perspective: the probability of acquiring an
infection during a two-day hospital stay is significantly greater than
that of acquiring one of the 30 infection from a companion animal during
a lifetime.
The AMA must have a grudge against dogs and cats, judging by its
recurring alarms about dog bites and zoonotic diseases. Perhaps it's
trying to scare impressionable people into giving up their four-legged
friends, boosting the pool of "random-source" animals.
Andy
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 11:56:59 +0800
From: bunny
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (NZ)Legalisation of RHD - New Zealand
Message-ID: <1.5.4.16.19970925114625.111f72aa@wantree.com.au>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I have just found out that an Order in Council was
passed on the 22/9/97 to legalise RHD in New Zealand.
Regulations
1. Title and commencement- (1) these regulations may be cited as the
Biosecurity (rabbit calicivirus) Regulations 1997.
These regulations come into late force the day after the date of their
notification in the Gazette. ( The Gazette notice was on 23/9/97).
2. Section 21 of the Animals Act 1967 not to apply to rabbit calicivirus
- For the purpose of the saving provision relating to section 21 of the
Animals Act 21 1967 that set out in the third scedule of the Biosecurity
Act 1993, the organism known as Viral haemorrhagic disease of rabbits,
or rabbit calicivirus, is to be treated as an organism established in New
Zealand.
===========================================
Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148
Email> rabbit@wantree.com.au
http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)
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