1) (US-?) Monk Seals cling to survival in the Leeward Islands by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 2) (US) Bengal Tiger Attacks Trainer by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 3) Full Story by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 4) Full Story by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 5) (US) U.S. Battles WTO Over Beef Hormones by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 6) Full Story by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 7) Full Story by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 8) Full Story by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 9) Full Story by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 10) Full Story by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 11) Fw: APHIS Press Release USDA Announces Wisconsin's Accredited-Free Tuberculosis by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 12) Fw: APHIS Press Release USDA Proposes to Revise Regulations for Importing Coffee by "radioactive" <radioactive@bellsouth.net> 13) Salmonella found in meat (Victoria,Australia) by bunny <rabbit@wantree.com.au> 14) ISAHAYA BAY IS DYING IN JAPAN by nagaoaki@leda.law.osaka-u.ac.jp (Aki Nagao) 15) (HK) Greenpeace in HK by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 16) (HK) Fisherfolk hail deity Tam Kung by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 17) (SG) Do not avoid chicken to fight cancer, say doctors by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 18) (SG) Cancer: Case for macrobiotics by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 19) (TH) Farmers make peace with their enemy by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 20) (TH) Attempt to curb preventable illnesses by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 21) (JP) Global warming may cause malaria outbreak in western Japan by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 22) RFI:Commercial Slams Vegetarians/PathMark (US NYS) by Pat Fish <pfish@fang.cs.sunyit.edu> 23) (IN) Vandalur Zoo to create new 'genetic lines' by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 24) (IN) Trouble in the fish market by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 25) Chinese Circus by jwed <jwed@hkstar.com> 26) (US) Brucellosis...wildlife to livestock concerns by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 27) (US) McDonald's 55-Cent Big Mac a McFlop by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 28) (US) Dogcatcher Cleared in Stray Deaths by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 29) (US) Circus Goes On After Tiger Attack by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 30) (KP) `Bangsaeng' Urged to Be Ecosafe by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 31) veg survey by "H. Morris" <oceana@ibm.net> 32) Re: Nigerian hangings by Shirley McGreal <spm@awod.com> 33) Ocean Spray Action Alert by bchorush@paws.org (pawsinfo) 34) (US) Beef Exports Shouldn't Raise Prices by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 00:04:53 -0400
>From: allen schubert <alathome@clark.net>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US-?) Monk Seals cling to survival in the Leeward Islands
Monk Seals cling to survival in the Leeward Islands Base on Midway wiped out 90 percent
May 8, 1997 Web posted at: 11:30 p.m. EDT
From Correspondent Greg Lefevre
LAYSAN ISLAND, Leeward Islands (CNN) -- The most endangered seals in the world, Hawaiian Monk Seals, are clinging to survival in the last ocean wilderness in the Western Pacific.
There are an estimated 1,200 of the seals left, some of them captives in ponds in Hawaii and remote Laysan where they are being raised by scientists bent on keeping the species alive.
"They are on the brink, but there is a chance to bring them back," says Birgit Winning of Oceanic Society Expeditions.
The seals were hunted to extinction in their only other known habitats in the Adriatic Sea and the Caribbean and are, in Winning's words, "very fragile."
It is widely believed that Monk Seals got their name because they prefer to live in isolation. In fact, virtually every outside influence adversely affects the monk seals' life cycle, their breeding and, ultimately, their population.
Underwater, they move shyly away from approaching humans, darting behind rocks or coral outcroppings. On shore, a basking seal wants nothing to do with an itinerant albatross.
"They don't like to spend time up on the beach with other animals," says Stan Minasian of the Marine Mammal Fund.
Base on Midway wiped out 90 percent
Killed off elsewhere by hunters, pushed [fish] out of the Hawaiian Islands by progress, the monk seals were nearly wiped out in the Leeward Islands by the U.S. Navy, which set up a base in their midst on Midway Island.
"The population at Midway has plummeted by 90 percent because of the human disturbance," Winning said.
The few remaining seals are further endangered by factors so unusual it almost seems as if fate has a grudge against them.
For one thing, a small group of extremely aggressive males injures and sometimes kill mating females.
Also, the very coral reefs that protect the seals sometimes poisons them. During dredging or storms, coral releases a toxin that collects in fish and eels, the seals' preferred food.
"Monk seals, when they eat the eels, can die from ciguatoxin poisoning," Minasian said.
For decades, Midway Island's status as a military base made it off-limits to scientists who wanted to study the seals.
Now, volunteers who pay to join scientific expedition to do such things as putting bands on birds will be able to gather data on seals for the first time in decades. The idea is to help biologists keep this shy and rare seal from slipping off into history.
BROAD TOP CITY, Pa. (AP) -- A circus trainer's bright new suit may have
caused a Bengal tiger to attack him during a performance, a coroner said.
Wayne Franzen, founder of the Franzen Brothers Circus, died within minutes
after suffering a punctured lung and neck wounds during Wednesday's attack
before an audience of 200 children and their families.
Franzen was wearing the suit for only the second time, and James
Zangaglia, chief deputy coroner for Cambria County, said the tiger apparently lunged at the
costume.
Witnesses said the animal, one of three in the cage, attacked Franzen when he turned his back, then dragged him around the ring by the neck.
``My father should have known better,'' said Brian Franzen. ``We ran in
there, and I was hitting the cat in the head with a pipe, but it was too late. He was
already dead.''
The 50-year-old Franzen started the circus 24 years ago after leaving his
job as a school teacher in Wisconsin.
A trapeze artist and a novelty seller quit after Franzen's death, leaving
13 employees. The afternoon show in central Pennsylvania was canceled Thursday but the
night show was held, minus the tiger act.
``We have to take in money,'' said Brian Franzen. ``Otherwise, I wouldn't
have money to feed the animals or move the circus.''
The big cat, Lucca, appeared calm in its cage Thursday. Brian Franzen said he intends to return Lucca to the show when an insurance company completes its investigation of his father's death.
``I go up there and it purrs to me. It doesn't understand what happened,''
------------------------------ 05/08/1997 23:30 EST
U.S. Battles WTO Over Beef Hormones
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States, in a decision that could have major ramifications on global farm trade, has won a preliminary victory before
the World Trade Organization in a bitter fight with the European Union over the use of hormones in beef.
U.S. officials, who have seen the initial decision, said a three-judge WTO
panel has held that the European Union's ban on U.S. beef treated with growth
hormones is not based on sound science.
``Our argument was that in the name of food safety, the EU instituted a discriminatory and protectionist regime that closed its market to foreign
imports of beef. Based on our review of the draft panel report, it appears the panel
has come down on our side,'' said one U.S. official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The 60-page ruling has not been made public but was provided to U.S. and European trade officials earlier this week. Both sides have 30 days to
file comments and then the WTO panel will issue its final ruling, which can then be
appealed by the losing side to a WTO appeals panel.
But if the preliminary outcome is upheld on appeal, it would represent a
major victory for American agriculture interests who have argued for years that the EU
ban was an unfair trade barrier because it was not based on scientific fact.
It could also set a precedent in the interpretation of a new set of trade
rules that went into effect in January 1995 prohibiting countries from erecting trade
barriers to agricultural products that are not based on sound scientific evidence.
The United States, the world's biggest exporter of farm products, pushed
hard during the last round of global trade negotiations, known as the Uruguay Round,
to get just such protections written into international trade rules.
In addition to the dispute over beef hormones, the United States is
proceeding with WTO cases challenging restrictions against other American agricultural
products, including a Japanese ban on import of certain types of American apples.
Under WTO rules -- if the United States position is upheld on appeal --
European countries would either have to drop their ban on American beef containing
hormones or provide trade compensation in the amount of the injury to American
producers.
The U.S. beef industry contends it is losing $250 million annually in
potential sales in Europe because of the ban.
While the Geneva-based WTO was attacked by American critics as a threat to American sovereignty, the United States has brought more cases than any other nation -- a total of 26 since the beginning of 1995. Most of those have
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Reuter) - New Zealand said Thursday
it would ask China about reports from conservation groups that
Beijing is building a 200-boat fishing fleet to exploit
lucrative toothfish grounds in the Southern Ocean. ``We have no information about the Chinese fleet ourselves
but ... it is something we will be asking the Chinese
authorities for some comment on,'' senior Foreign Affairs
official Stuart Prior told a news conference. ``Clearly it would
be a development of some significance.'' The World Wildlife Fund said it had information from the
conservation monitoring group Traffic that China was building
the fleet to cash in on the lucrative species. China has not signed the 1980 Convention on the Conservation
of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which is designed
to protect the environment in that region. Toothfish, first named five years ago as the Patagonian
toothfish, was identified as a rich commercial catch only two
years ago. It is a long fish with a large mouth and believed to
be bottom dwelling, living off cod. It lives for up to 25 years. In Japan it is sold as ``mero,'' fetching $7,000 a ton. The issue would be discussed at the Antarctic Treaty
Consultative meeting in Christchurch this month. ``The matter is of very considerable significance for the
Antarctic Treaty because the treaty is imposing considerable
compliance costs on countries, commercial organizations, tourist
operators, and if they see operators working without those
costs, you have an incredible situation.'' New Zealand had already begun talks with France, Australia
and South Africa about sharing information about how to control
the problem but Prior said control was difficult because of the
