Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news40~6.htm/text0001.txt

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Health group wants warning labels on egg cartons

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (May 15, 1997 10:31 a.m. EDT) -- A health advocacy group
wants the government to require labels on egg cartons warning consumers
that raw or undercooked eggs can cause food poisoning.

But the egg industry says such a warning would give a false impression
that all eggs are contaminated and suggests instead a continuing public
education campaign urging consumers to treat eggs like any other
perishable commodity.

"The egg is one of nature's most nutritious, economical and versatile
foods," says the American Egg Board in Park Ridge, Ill. "With proper
care and handling, it poses no greater risk than any other perishable
food."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest claimed on Wednesday that
eggs are the primary contributor to food poisoning outbreaks, "with
hundreds of thousands of Americans getting sick" every year.

The government says between 128,000 and 640,000 cases of food poisoning
are caused yearly by a strain of salmonella called enteritidis
associated with eggs. Salmonella causes diarrhea and systemic infections
in victims and can be fatal, especially among the very young and
elderly.

As a result, the center has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration
to require egg cartons to carry labels saying: "Caution: Eggs may
contain illness-causing bacteria. Do not eat raw. Cook eggs until the
yolk is firm."

If followed, the warning would relegate to the past the practice of
children licking the bowl of cake or cookie dough prepared with raw
eggs, or their parents eating sunny-side-up eggs with runny yolks.

But the industry's Egg Nutrition Center says it has stressed that
message in consumer education materials for a dozen years.

"Keep eggs refrigerated and cook them thoroughly before eating," said
executive director Donald McNamara. "It's the standard things
recommended for any perishable item."

But American Egg Board President Louis B. Raffel said statistics from
the government's Centers for Disease Control show only 10 deaths
associated with salmonella in the years 1995 and 1996.

Still, he said, "one death is too many."

Caroline Smith DeWaal, CSPI food safety director, acknowledged that only
a small fraction of the 45 billion eggs produced annually in the United
States are contaminated. But, she said, consumers don't know which ones
will make them sick.

Raffel said the egg industry has joined with the Clinton administration,
other food industry associations and consumer groups to develop a major
public service campaign to education consumers on safe food handling.

Meanwhile, the CSPI says consumers should:

-- Cook eggs until the yolks are firm -- not rock hard, just firm.

-- Thoroughly cook egg dishes like French toast and omelettes.

-- Don't let kids eat raw cookie dough or cake batter that contains raw
eggs.

-- Use only pasteurized eggs for Caesar salad, homemade mayonnaise,
eggnog and meringue.

The CSPI said that until the 1980s, eggs generally were safe. But then
salmonella enteritidis entered the production chain, and now
contaminated eggs are found from coast to coast.

Although the Agriculture Department checks eggs for quality, the FDA is
responsible for controlling any harmful bacteria found in them. But, the
center said, the cash-strapped agency is able to inspect egg plants only
an average of once every 10 years.

By JOHN D. McCLAIN, Associated Press Writer
Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 21:14:15 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: "Homosexual" seagulls?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Gulls sometimes unite to save species

Scripps-McClatchy Western

LOGAN, Utah (May 15, 1997 11:19 a.m. EDT) -- Life is impossible if
you're a single seagull trying to raise chicks in a world full of
predators and aggressive neighbors.

"These gulls have to go out daily to feed, and if you leave your eggs or
chicks undefended for even a few minutes, when you come back they won't
be there," says Michael Conover, a professor of wildlife science at Utah
State University. "If you are a gull, there is no such
thing as a single-parent family."

And that, says Conover, is why some females form homosexual pairs with
other females in several species of terns and gulls. Female-female pairs
are found in up to 2 percent of California gulls -- Utah's state bird --
and up to 5 percent of ring-billed gulls, which also are
common in Utah.

During two decades of research, Conover found female gulls form same-sex
pairs when too few males are present, possibly due to pollution.

"There is some female-female pairing in almost every gull colony in
Utah," Conover says. "It's a natural phenomenon in gulls. Female-female
pairing seems to occur because of a shortage of males. It is an adaptive
strategy gulls adopt when they can't find a male mate."

Gulls in female-female pairs sometimes mount each other, but their
alliance "is not a sexual behavior," Conover says. Each female in the
pair will copulate with a male who already has a female mate. Then the
homosexual females share a nest and lay their eggs in it.

"The two females will share incubation and chick-rearing
responsibilities," says Conover. "One will babysit while the other is
out feeding."

Conover's research was highlighted recently in a Science News magazine
article about animal homosexuality. "Some of these homosexual activities
appear to boost reproduction," the magazine said, citing gulls as an
example.

Discovery of the first known homosexual birds -- female-female pairs of
western gulls on California's Channel Islands -- was reported in 1977 by
George Hunt Jr., a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the
University of California, Irvine.

Conover followed with studies in Washington state and Oregon,
discovering female-female pairing among California and ring-billed gulls
in 1979 and among Caspian terns in 1983.

"Faced with the option of no mate and no offspring, these females pair
up and take the future into their own hands," Hunt says. "There is more
flexibility in the mating systems they employ than any of us reckoned."

Conover grew up in Homestead, Fla. His parents were scientists. His love
of fishing, bird-watching and hiking prompted him to major in biology at
Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. But he abandoned plans to enter
fisheries science because "I get deathly seasick."

So he switched to wildlife ecology, earning master's degrees in zoology
and psychology and a doctorate in zoology from Washington State
University, where he started studying seagulls. He continued the
research during a fellowship in Irvine while on leave from his job
at a Connecticut research facility.

Hundreds of thousands of California, ring-billed and Franklin's gulls
nest in Utah; millions of gulls from more than a dozen other species
winter here or migrate through Utah.

"Gulls are sort of the white rats of ornithology" because they nest in
colonies and are highly social, making it easy for scientists to study
behavior among hundreds of birds, he adds.

Seagulls nest within a couple feet of each other, so if a fox or other
predator attacks, "you'll have 20 or 30 gulls all diving at him. But on
an individual basis, these gulls can't stand each
other. So you have a lot of territorial fights among these birds. If a
chick wanders into their territory or is left undefended, they will kill
it, pecking it to death."

In an experiment published in 1984, Conover and Hunt concluded: "The
formation of female-female pairings enhances the ability of females to
raise young when they are unable to find male mates."

Conover and Hunt used small rockets to hurl large nets over one colony
of ring-billed gulls and four California gull colonies in Oregon and
Washington. They captured up to a third of the males, "put them in jail
for three weeks and let them go," Conover recalls.

Because male and female seagulls look similar, researchers count the
number of female-female pairs by looking for nests with four to six
eggs. Nests of female-female pairs contain twice as many eggs as the two
to three eggs found in nests of heterosexual pairs.

Compared with neighboring colonies, Conover and Hunt found more four- to
six-egg nests -- and thus female-female pairs -- in colonies from which
males had been removed.

Conover got more evidence by examining collections of stuffed gulls and
gull eggs in museums across the country. He found male shortages and
female-female pairings in several gulls species.

Male shortages and female-female pairs are found in several gull species
but not others, and often in areas where the insecticide DDT polluted
the environment before it was banned in the United States in 1972.

The theory is that the pesticide -- first used in 1939 -- feminized
young male gulls, leaving them unable to reproduce or perhaps unable to
return to their colonies.

By studying museum collections, Conover learned female-female pairings
and shortages of males happened only since the 1940s and 1950s in
western gulls, herring gulls and Caspian terns. Yet he found evidence of
same-sex pairs and male shortages in other species a century ago, before
DDT existed. So Conover doubts pollution is the cause of male
shortages and, ultimately, of female-female pairings.

Hunt, however, insists "pollution is still a possibility." He notes
female-female pairing in gulls off California's coast became less
frequent starting a decade after DDT was banned.

Another theory explaining female-female pairing is that males simply die
younger than females because they spend so much time fighting for
territory they have less time to forage and fatten up to survive winter.

"By being aggressive, you may increase the probability of starving,"
Conover says.

Since arriving in Utah in 1990, Conover has spent some of his time
studying same-sex pairings among ring-billed gulls near Bear Lake on the
Utah-Idaho border.

Conover placed bands on chicks of female-female and male-female seagull
pairs, then waited for them to grow up. Gulls that migrate often return
to nest near where they were raised.

To date, he has found five offspring of heterosexual pairs, "and all
five have mated with members of the opposite sex. So far we have found
four chicks that were raised by a female-female pair and have come back
and nested as an adult. Two mated with males and two have formed
female-female pairs."

Conover expects to continue the study for years as he tries to determine
if same-sex pairing in seagulls is an inherited trait or learned
behavior.

All gull species look similar, except each has a unique color for its
eyes and for a ring-shaped mark around each eye.

"Research has shown females are not born with an innate knowledge of
what species they are," Conover explains. "Instead, females look at
their father and his eye and eye ring, and when they grow up they will
try to mate with a bird that looks like their father.

"The question with female-female pairs is if females are looking at
their father to decide who to mate with, what happens if there is no
father there? One possibility is that female-female pairing is a learned
trait. . . . When chicks raised by two females grow up, maybe they
search for a female to mate with rather than a male" because they're
looking for a gull that resembles mom instead of their absentee dad.

Conover says female-female pairs occur in gull species where males and
females look so similar that scientists can tell them apart only by
making a small incision, then inserting a scope to examine the gull's
reproductive organs.

So he says it is possible even gulls can't distinguish guys from gals,
and females simply may pair with the biggest unmated gull they can find,
which sometimes is a female because the biggest females are larger than
the smallest males.

By LEE SIEGEL, Salt Lake Tribune

==================================================================

The term "homosexual" is misleading and unsupported in this context.
The fact that two females share a nest to assure the survival of their
chicks, when there's no eligible male, has nothing to do with sexual
preferences.

Incidentally, wolves worked out this problem a long time ago.  The cubs
are raised up by the entire pack and when the mother goes out to hunt,
another female (a "nanny") stays with the litter to protect them.

Andy
Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 21:17:02 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Taste and Diet
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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JANET ASIMOV: Accounting for tastes for food

Los Angeles Times Syndicate

(May 15, 1997 11:49 a.m. EDT) -- Although the proverb says there's no
accounting for tastes, taste for food has been under investigation.
Research shows that while many people now try to develop a taste for
healthy foods, in the future we may have to change much more.

All animals, including bacteria, possess receptors that sense edible and
inedible chemicals in their environments. Since life on Earth began in
the ocean, these receptors received chemical stimuli through a liquid --
and they've been doing it ever since. Even land animals taste through
moisture -- can you taste much when your nose and/or
tongue are dry?

When you "taste" something you are usually smelling it too. If a bad
cold knocks out your sensitivity to odors, what's left is the ability to
taste bitter, sweet, sour and salt.

The taste buds of a fish are on its body surface, but land-dwelling
vertebrates have them on the tongue (and a few in the throat and
palate). The raised areas on tongues are called papillae, each of which
contain many taste buds.

Humans have 50 to 150 taste receptor cells in each taste bud. The total
number of taste buds on the tongue seems to be inherited, with the
average number being about 5,000.

The location of taste buds on the tongue determines what they sense:
Front for salty and sweet, sides for sour, and back for bitter.
Sensations from each taste bud go to the brain via two nerves -- the
trigeminal nerve for touch, temperature, and pain; the facial nerve for
taste.

We are all born liking what tastes sweet, according to studies by
Israeli researcher Joseph Steiner. Babies also have an inborn dislike
for what tastes bitter.

According to Linda Bartoshuk of Yale University, the degree of your
ability to taste is correlated with the number of taste buds per square
centimeter of your tongue. Half the human population are medium tasters;
one-quarter each are nontasters and supertasters.

After applying a blue dye to tongues, researchers found that nontasters
have about 11 taste buds per square centimeter but supertasters have up
to 1100!

Supertasters usually dislike very bitter foods, as babies do, but they
also dislike very sweet foods -- and food that is too hot in
temperature, or too slick with fat. Although being finicky can make life
complicated for supertasters, they also tend to be thinner than
nontasters.

As someone who thinks fat tastes and feels icky, it doesn't bother me to
report on the amazing results of research by Richard D. Mattes, of
Indiana's Purdue University.

Mattes has shown that merely tasting fat will increase the concentration
of blood triglycerides (triglycerides are implicated in coronary artery
blockage). Tasting, not swallowing.

This effect occurs whether or not you consciously taste the fat. But be
of good cheer, for triglycerides are not raised if the tongue gets
low-fat foods that taste fatty but are not.

In general, however, humans are not very picky about food. It's no
accident that there always seem to be plenty of cockroaches, rats, and
humans because all three are omnivores -- animals that will eat a wide
variety of animal and plant foods.

Omnivores can make do in hard times when more specialized feeders
starve. Omnivores do take some risks in trying new foods, but the risks
are decreased if new foods are first eaten in small samples, part of a
varied diet.

According to psychologist Paul Rozin of the University of Pennsylvania,
omnivores learn about negative consequences of food in spite of the fact
that "some digestion usually must occur before the effects of the food
manifests itself. Nature seems to have given us a special learning
ability to bridge this gap."

Rozin points out that the most powerful determinant of distaste is
nausea, in contrast to other negative consequences (like allergies) that
"may cause you to stay away from that food but not to dislike it."

You usually think food tastes terrible if it once made you nauseated, or
if your culture labels it as poisonous, disgusting, or prohibited.
According to Rozin, disgust about animal food may come from the
superstitious notion that "you are what you eat," but I think the
increase in vegetarianism stems from health concerns or the wish to
reduce the killing of animals.

It's good to taste veggies with pleasure, but we should remember that
they are not grown in tanks of sterilized water with artificial
fertilizers. Like Mother Nature, farmers recycle animal feces into
manure. The remains of butchered animals are used not only for
fertilizer like bone meal but also for animal feed (turning animals into
cannibals).

These practices may now be very dangerous, according to "Deadly Feasts,"
the eye-opening book by Richard Rhodes. TSE (transmissable spongiform
encephalopathy) is an incurable disease that devastates the human
nervous system up to 20 years after exposure, and always kills. It can
be acquired from similarly infected animals.

We are all vulnerable to TSE, thanks to inefficient animal-testing, the
common use of animal fertilizer and the practice of putting animal
products into animal feed.

We must find safer ways to dispose of millions of tons of animal waste.
We could also reduce the amount of animal waste by ignoring our taste
preferences for meat and eating fewer animals. We must also improve
tests for TSE and find safer fertilizers for the vegetables we will have
to eat.

Tofu, anyone?
Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 21:29:17 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Insects used in fruit juice production
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Why Do They Call Fruit Punch Bug Juice? Here's a Possibility

               By ELIZABETH SEAY
    Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

As a vegetarian, Lucy Peluso says she's "neurotic about
reading labels." So when the 28-year-old law clerk was
working late at her judge's chambers in Hauppauge,
N.Y., one night last week, she checked the ingredients
of her Ocean Spray Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice Drink.

Unfamiliar with the word "cochineal," she grabbed a
dictionary and was horrified at the definition: "a red dye
made from the dried bodies of female cochineal insects."

Her call to Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. in
Middleboro, Mass., quickly rousted a
customer-relations manager, who confirmed that the
color does come from an insect -- albeit one approved
by the Food and Drug Administration. Ms. Peluso says
she still sees red when she thinks about it. She feels that
vegetarians and meat-eaters alike should know about
the bug. "I'm sure they don't want to eat insects," she
says. "It's just not normal."

Ocean Spray counters that it is quite normal. "We use
cochineal because it's natural and completely safe," says
John Lawlor, a spokesman. Ocean Spray puts cochineal
-- or its close cousin carmine -- in its Ruby Red, Ruby
Red & Tangerine, Kiwi Strawberry and Island Guava
juices.

Indeed, colors extracted from cochineal give a magenta
hue to dozens of products, from aperitifs to lipsticks to
pill coatings and fruit yogurt. The insect, found on
cactuses in Central and South America, has a brilliant
history; it has made bright stripes on Mayan cloaks,
Mexican serapes and early U.S. flags. The very words
"crimson" and "carmine" stem from a Sanskrit term for a
dye-yielding bug.

Dye makers stress that the red is extracted from the bug.
"Some people have the misconception that it's a
ground-up insect," says Harry Meggos, vice president of
technical service at Universal Foods Corp.'s
Warner-Jenkinson. "You consume a molecule that gives
a color."

Even so, the North American Vegetarian Society of
Dolgeville., N.Y., plans to alert readers about cochineal
in its next Vegetarian Voice. While it's not strictly an
animal product, says co-director Brian Graff, "it's not the
kind of thing you'd expect to see in your drink."

Others are concerned for religious reasons. Susan
Krasner, president of Cinema Beaute cosmetics, has put
out a line of lipsticks that don't contain cochineal or
other animal products forbidden by Jewish law. "Insects
are not kosher," she says.
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 00:53:21 -0400
>From: "radioactive" <[e-mail]>
To: "Animal Rights" <[e-mail]>
Subject: US TO ACQUIRE LAND IN ALASKA FROM EXXON FUNDS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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     charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

U.S. to acquire land in Alaska from Exxon funds

    WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will
sign an agreement Monday to use $15.2 million from the Exxon
Valdez oil spill settlement fund to buy coastal lands and fjords
in Alaska, the department said Thursday.
    About 32,000 acres will be bought for Kenai Fjords National
Park and the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge to protect
fish and wildlife species harmed by the 1989 oil spill in
Alaska's Prince William Sound.
    The land is to be bought with English Bay Corporation, a
Native Alaskan corporation.
    ``This is an extraordinary agreement that protects valuable
habitat for Kenai Fjords National Park as well as archaeological
and cultural sites important to Alaska Natives who were directly
affected by the oil spill,'' Babbitt said in a statement.

^REUTER@



Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 00:55:19 -0400 (EDT)
>From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: WI TRAPPING BILL- LETTERS NEEDED
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Please note:  Though the Fund for Animals has already posted a notification
regarding this bill, we thought a reminder would not be out of line.

___________________________________________________________________

                                                     ACTION ALERT

                           HELP RESTRICT TRAPPING IN WISCONSIN!
                    ****LETTERS NEEDED IN SUPPORT OF AB 282****

The furbearing animals of Wisconsin need your help NOW!  Representative
Rebecca Young (D- Madison) introduced Assembly Bill 282 in April and the bill
currently has eight co-sponsors.  If passed, this bill will limit the sale of
traps, prohibit trapping in cities, villages and in the right-of-way of any
public thoroughfare and would require trappers to post warning signs at trap
sites.

Please write to the Chairman of the Assembly Natural Resources Committee,
Representative DuWayne Johnsrud, and ask him to support AB 282.  In addition,
contact your legislators TODAY and urge them to co-sponsor AB 282.

Points you may want to include in your letter:

*  Leghold traps have been banned in over 80 countries and restricted or
banned in Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and
Florida.

*  Leghold traps and snares are indiscriminate.  For every target animal
trapped, at least two other non-target animals, including dogs and cats, are
trapped.

*  Leghold traps and snares cause extreme suffering and pain to their
victims.  Animals caught in leghold traps can endure fractures, ripped
tendons, edema, blood loss, amputations, and starvation.

*   In a national poll conducted in November 1996, it was shown that 74% of
Americans believe leghold traps should be outlawed.

To obtain the name of your district representative or senator please call
1-800-362-9472.

       Senator________Representative DuWayne Johnsrud
        P.O. Box 7882Assembly Natural Resources Committee
           Madison, WI  53707State Capitol
                           Madison, WI  53702

      Rep. (Last name A-L)Rep. (Last name M-Z)
        P.O. Box 8952P.O. Box 8953
       Madison, WI  53708Madison, WI  53708

For more information about upcoming committee hearings and status reports on
the bill, please contact the Alliance for Animals at [phone].  For
more information about trapping issues, contact Camilla Fox at API at (916)
731-5521.  Tips for contacting public officials are available on the
Legislation page of the Animal Protection Institute's Web site
<http://www.g-net.com/api/ContactingOfficials.htm>.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 14:04:24 +0800
>From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [Aust]Red fox pelt order received from Eastern Europe
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Red fox pelt order received from Eastern Europe

15th May 1997 (The Countryman [WA])

An Adelaide company has won a contract to export 10,000 fox pelts to
Eastern Europe this winter, reviving a fur trade which was almost destroyed
by financial problems in the break-up of the Soviet Union in th Early 1990's

The export contract has again put a value on Australia's foxes because
professional shooters get up to $20 for each top quality dried pelt and
lesser amounts for lower quality skins.

The Adelaide Wool Company at Gilman will supply red fox furs to Poland and
the Czech Republic. The first shipment is due to leave Adelaide at the end
of May.

Mr Bob Amos, managing director of Adelaide Wool Company, said the shipment
was the first significant order since the Eastern European fur trade
collapsed in
the early 1990's.

"Five to 10 years ago we were exporting up to 100,000 fox furs a year, but
financial problems in Eastern Europe after the break-up of the Soviet Union
meant the industry collapsed almost overnight," Mr Amos said.

"In recent years conditions in the Eastern Europe have improved and furriers
are again looking overseas to help keep up with demand."

"People in Australia don't realise that fur coats are essential to survive
winters in Eastern Europe and many Europeans replace their fur coats on an
anual basis."

He said the return of the Eastern Europe market could not have come at a
better time for Australian farmers, who were facing mounting problems after
an explosion in fox numbers in recent years.

"Foxes in Australia are vermin and are presently in plague proportions,
causing havoc among native marsupials and considerable damage to the sheep
industry at lambing time," he said.

"The release last year of the calicivirus and drop in rabbit numbers in
Australia has increased this pressure, so the return of the fur trade comes
at a very opportune time."

Mr Amos said that in the 1970's, Australia had been a significant exporter
of fox pelts which helped keep animal numbers in the wild in check. But the
collapse of the Eastern European market and a fashion swing against fur meant
the price for skins collapsed and fox shooting stopped.

Australian red fox produces a commercial quality fur generally used for
trimmings.

Mr Amos said the latest order came from the sale of 500 fox pelts last year
and could be the start of a significant upswing in exports.

It is still early days and any significant swing in currency exchange rates
could quickly snuff out the present revival," he said.

"But we are hopeful it will again be a significant industry."

Mr Amos said shooting would resume in earnest once the colder weather had set in
and the foxes had grown their winter coats.

End

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kia hora te marino, kia whakapapa pounamu te moana, kia tere ai te karohirohi
i mua tonu i o koutou huarahi.
                              -Maori Prayer

(May the calm be widespread, may the sea be as the smooth surface of the
greenstone and may the rays of sunshine forever dance along your pathway)



                       ("\''/").___..--''"`-._
                       `9_ 9  )   `-.  (     ).`-.__.`)
                       (_Y_.)'  ._   )  `._ `. ``-..-'
                     _..`--'_..-_/  /--'_.' .'
                    (il).-''  ((i).'  ((!.-'



Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 22:45:36 -0700
>From: [e-mail] (Elephant Advocates)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Los Angeles Activists Protest Elephant Ride (US)
Message-ID: <v01530506afa1a3abbf1e@[207.217.4.46]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

ELEPHANT ADVOCATES
NEWS RELEASE

DATE:           May 15, 1997
CONTACT:        Debbie Famiglietti, [phone]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Activists to distribute protective face gear to circus-goers

Los Angeles, CA - Activists from Elephant Advocates, a local animal rights
group dedicated to the removal of elephants in traveling shows, will
leaflet and protest an elephant circus act and ride sponsored by the
Farmer's Market, 6333 West 3rd Street @ Fairfax Ave., Friday the 16th, at
3:00 p.m. & Saturday the 17th, at 12:00 p.m.  A press conference will be
held at 3:30 p.m. on Friday the 17th, in front of the L.A. Circus tent in
the parking lot of the Farmers Market.

Elephant Advocates has called for cancellation of the elephant act as it
poses a tuberculosis (TB) threat to people, but USDA officials said they
have no authority to stop the exhibit.  Thai, the elephant being trucked in
for the circus has been exposed to TB.  She was used in the movies, "Dumbo
Drop" and "Larger than Life." For five months, Thai was housed with Calle
who has tested positive for TB.  They lived together at the facility that
is hiring out the elephant, "Have Trunk Will Travel", owned by Gary
Johnson.  Calle is a Los Angeles Zoo elephant currently being treated for
TB at the San Francisco Zoo.

Annie (who just died with active TB at the LA Zoo on 3/22) and Calle were
Johnson's circus elephants.  Johnson swapped Annie and Calle for three
juvenile elephants at the LA  Zoo.

Putting a  child on the back of an elephant is dangerous because of the TB
risk and the threat of elephant rampages.  We've all seen Hard Copy
videotape of the elephants who just couldn't take it anymore and ran out of
the circus ring. The circus elephant, Tyke, killed her trainer, then
rampaged.  The ride elephant, Janet Kelly, stampeded into a parking lot and
stomped her trainers' car.  Both elephants were slowly shot to death in the
streets.

Elephant Advocates founder, Debbie Famiglietti states, "after years of
being pulled around with a bull hook, chained by the legs and prodded to
perform degrading tricks, is it any wonder they turn on their captors?  The
elephants are protesting their slavery and so are we."

According to Dr. Patrick Ryan, Chief Veterinarian, LA County Health Department ,
"[TB] infected...circus and zoo animals...can present a risk to people and
other animals."

Even these disposable face masks we are wearing and distributing will not
fully protect people from active TB in elephants, and it certainly won't
protect them during a rampage, but we are trying to make a visual point.
Famiglietti states, "the best thing people can do for elephants and
themselves is to boycott all circuses with elephant acts."

-30-

Deborah Famiglietti


Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 22:50:54 -0700
>From: [e-mail] (Elephant Advocates)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Protest Elephant Ride in Los Angeles
Message-ID: <v01530507afa1a52f1a44@[207.217.4.46]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Activists unable to attend the demonstration can protest the elephant
act/ride taking place this weekend at the Farmer's Market in Los Angeles by
calling:

L.A. Circus
[phone]
a temporary number set up for this temporary circus


Jennifer Marsan, Marketing Director
Farmers Market
6333 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Wk: [phone]
Fx: [phone]
sponsored the elephant ride

###

Deborah Famiglietti


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 03:22:33 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish <[e-mail]>
To: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Digital Dolphins- Computer Animal Actors
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 Animal Acts: Giving Innovators Overdue Credit

Related to the reported death of a dog for a motion picture, Vadivu Govind
wrote:

>Computer generated images are becoming an important aspect of film-making
>and in preventing the use of animals for entertainment purposes. This means
>advancement not just in technology but in compassion.


  Years before it was popular, or even considered technically feasible,
NBC's "SeaQuest DSV" took just such an approach to creating a dolphin
character.  The program is set in the early part part of the 21st century,
when beef eating and vivisection are outlawed, and the human race depends on
oceanic resources to survive.

  Like "Star Trek" before it, the program places high value on moral themes,
including, albeit inconsistanly, animal rights and vegetarianism.  PETA's
first issue of "GRRR!" gave the program mostly favorable reviews, for the
producer's use of animatronic dolphins in most of the portrayals of Darwin,
SeaQuest's leading cetacean.

  What PETA didn't know, was that many of the underwater dolphin sequences
were rendered on computers.  Beyond the Emmys that were given to the Video
Toaster (an Amiga with special FX video card), no recognition has ever been
given to the groundbreaking Amiga computer nor NewTek's LightWave 3D
software for their contribution to the animals.  NewTek worked closely with
SeaQuest FX artists to create software that would create realistic
biological and underwater effects.  The under-$800 Amiga computer with
LightWave software provided proof-of-concept that set the entire industry on
a new course, making digital animals in films like Jurassic Park and Jumanji
possible.

  "SeaQuest DSV" was canceled several years ago, but reruns are aired on the
SCI-FI channel Monday-Friday at 8PM and Midnight EST-US.


 The Amiga with the Video Toaster card, LightWave 3D and Video Flyer
software makes a complete video FX and non-linear video editing system.
Sadly, since 1994, the Amiga computer has gone through several protracted
acquisitions, with Gateway2000 expected to announce ownership on May 17th in
London.  CPEA expresses grave concern over the Amiga's status as an
"ethical" platform due to Gateway's questionable history.  On a positive
note, Gatewaye has said that Amiga Technologies will continue as an
independent company.


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:00:57 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Update: Poutry in Pakistan
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"


Thanks to Dr Wedderburn for writing!
Dr Wedderburn is from this list and can be reached at <[e-mail]> and
you can check out probably the world's first bilingual (in Chinese and
English) animal rights site at <http://www.earth.org.hk/>.
Thanks to others who wrote in as well. We CAN make a difference in places
far away!

Vadivu
_________________________________________________________

> Pakistan Link
16 May 97
Letters to the Editor

                         Facts about chicken meat
                        Dr John Wedderburn Hong Kong

     I enjoy reading your newspaper on the net! Your website is simple
     and elegant and user-friendly.
          In your May 12 issue, I read "Pakistan's poultry industry
     faces crisis after wedding ban". Poultry farmer, Khalid Hasan
     Ansari, was quoted as saying "there is need to create awareness
     that white meat is healthier and people should start eating it as
     in other western countries." As a physician of 32 years standing
     and as a professional with a special interest in disease related
     nutrition, I hope I can humbly offer some comments on this.
          Many people know that beef and other red meats are full of
     saturated fat, cholesterol, antibiotics and growth hormones. They
     think chicken is the better meat. But they do not know that
     chicken contains the same amount of cholesterol as beef (25 mg
     per ounce)(1). About 90% of factory farmed chickens are also
     likely to be contaminated with leukosis (chicken cancer) (2), or
     the dangerous salmonellosis, which has also been found in as much
     as 90 percent of federally inspected poultry in America (3).
     According to the Food and Drug Administration, poultry is the
     number one source of food-borne illness, causing an estimated
     1,680 deaths in America each year (4) and millions of cases of
     "stomach upset" or "food poisoning."
          Several studies show that the risk for several cancers such
     as breast, prostate and ovary, and for heart diseases and other
     chronic diseases increases with higher consumption of animal
     products.
          The Cornell-China-Oxford Project on Nutrition, Health and
     Environment is the most comprehensive project on diet and disease
     ever done. The diets of rural Chinese were found to be more
     plant-based and much lower in fat and animal protein and much
     higher in fibre than American diets. The former were found to
     suffer from much less chronic degenerative disease like
     atherosclerosis, cancer and osteoporosis. Chinese who consumed
     more animal-based foods than others had a significantly higher
     occurrence of these diseases.
          US$61.4 billion has been estimated as the annual medical
     outlay attributable to meat consumption in USA. (6) This is
     considered a serious underestimate by some experts (e.g. Dr
     William Harris "The Scientific Basis of Vegetarianism" - ISBN 0-
     9646538-0-X). Can Pakistan afford this? Should it?
          The West is learning the health hazards of meat the hard way
     and is looking to the East to learn lessons from traditional
     plant based Eastern diets. The way to avoid slipping down the
     slope the West fell down in terms of chronic disease and health
     costs lies in traditional diets. Affluence should not be allowed
     to draw people magnetically to the follies of the West.
          Cancer and other chronic diseases are about to take the
     human population by storm as a recent World Health Organisation
     Geneva report states (The Straits Times, May 6 1997, "Cancer
     cases to double in 25 years: WHO".) We can stand and watch this
     happen to ourselves and our loved ones and be comforted by
     listening to traditional advocacy of meat and dairy products. Or
     we can try to digest the fact that a healthy vegetarian diet is
     really the way to go for good health. The price to pay for
     medical orthodoxy and "moderation" is too much in this case - are
     we ready to pay with human lives?


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:01:17 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Danger beef 'may have been sold'
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Internet Edition
16 May 97
     Danger beef 'may have been sold'
      RHONDA LAM WAN  and NAOMI LEE


     More than 300 kilograms of beef possibly infected with a deadly strain of
E-coli bacteria could have been sold to the public, the Department of Health
warned yesterday.

 Samples taken on May 10 from the Sun Luen On shop in Western and the Hop
Lee shop in Aberdeen tested positive for the bacteria on Wednesday.

 This came after the fatal E-coli 0157:H7 bacteria was also found at a
wholesaler and the Sun Luen On shop in samples taken on May 6.

 The beef came from a cow slaughtered at the Kennedy Town Abattoir and
distributed between the Hop Lee and Sun Luen On shops which have the same
operator, the Urban Services Department said.

 Dr Monica Wong Man-ha, the Department of Health's acting assistant director
(hygiene), said the Hop Lee shop was closed on Tuesday, but only after more
than 300 kg of the infected beef could have been sold.

 "It takes three to four days to sell a cow . . . so we believe some may
have been sold," she said, urging people to cook any suspect meat thoroughly.

 Dr Wong said that cross-contamination was the most likely cause of
infection, with workers transferring the bacteria from meat to meat by using
the same knives.

 Director of Urban Services Elaine Chung Lai-kwok said that her officers had
stepped up inspections at abattoirs since March when the first E-coli was found.

 But she agreed with Legislative Councillors that insufficient samples were
being taken.

 "The current practice of taking two meat samples in a monthly inspection is
not adequate," she added.

 The Urban Services Department was considering tougher penalties for licence
holders of restaurants and fresh provision shops.

 The operator of Hop Lee and Sun Luen On shops, who identified himself as Mr
Lo, said they washed the meat with tap water and cut it up for sale.

 Urban Councillors yesterday recommended that the Urban Services Department
be given the power to close factories failing to maintain hygiene, and to
introduce tougher penalties, a new complaints hotline and regulations
obliging food operators to use their own name when applying for a licence to
increase their responsibility.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:01:11 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Whale meat probe
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Hong Kong Standard
16 May 97
New probe call on whale meat
By Yonden Lhatoo

THE World Wildlife Fund for Nature Hong Kong is calling for further
investigations into the illegal sale of whale meat in the territory's
Japanese restaurants.

It wants to determine whether whale is being smuggled in from Japan.

A new report on illegal whale meat trade by TRAFFIC, the WWF's wildlife
trade monitoring program, says its investigators were promised whale in
seven of 27 Japanese restaurants surveyed.

However, investigations by the government found only one of seven
restaurants touting whale was serving the real thing.

``Trade in Hong Kong is probably not large enough to pose a threat to
whales, but it is a problem,'' said WWF Hong Kong executive director David
Melville.

``We would like restaurateurs and the public to remember that selling or
buying whale meat in Hong Kong is against the law.''

The report said that because Japan was cited as the main source of whale
promised by local restaurants, further investigations were needed to
determine if it was being smuggled from Japan.

The report pointed out that ``seriously flawed'' legislation was making the
illegal trade ``too easy'' in Asian countries such as Japan and South
Korea.

It said Japan was the world's largest market for whale.

While Japan's legal domestic market was supplied by scientific whaling and
bycatch _ whales caught inadverdently _ as well as from old stocks of
frozen meat, the lack of an inventory and a voluntary system of registering
bycatch created a loophole that made detecting illegal meat virtually
impossible.

The report called on Japan and South Korea to clarify and strengthen laws
governing bycatch and to implement a system so that illegal meat could be
identified by DNA testing.


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:01:23 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Councils urged to close low-grade factories
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Hong Kong Standard
16 May 97
Councils urged to close low-grade factories
By Ella Lee

THE graded food operators' licensing system came under fire on Thursday as
legislators and councillors called for the abolition of premises with the
lowest grade.

Food from the low-grade premises was usually not fit for human consumption,
the critics said.

The call came after the C-graded Dai Yick food factory in Hung Shui Kiu was
found to be the source of several cholera cases in the territory.

Under the licensing system of the Urban and Regional Councils, premises are
classified into three categories, A to C, based on hygiene conditions.

Grade A factories are considered the best and are only subjected to
inspection every six to eight weeks.

Those with Grade B licences are inspected every three to four weeks.

Grade C premises, described as those being maintained to a standard of
hygiene ``below acceptable levels'', are the worst and are inspected every
two weeks.

Health inspectors who raided the Dai Yick factory earlier this week were
shocked to find flies and grease everywhere and poultry feet scattered
around.

The factory used water from a well believed to have been contaminated by
excrement seeping from two dry toilets nearby for washing and food
preparation.

Legislator Dr Leong Che-hung, who represents the medical profession, on
Thursday called on the councils to abolish Grade C licences.

``If that factory (Dai Yick) is our standard for a Grade C licence, I don't
think we should have allowed them to exist at all.''

Dr Leong said the two municipal councils should require all Grade C
premises or factories to upgrade their standards.

More than a quarter _ or 189 food factories out of 732 in the New
Territories licensed by the Regional Services Department (RSD) _ are
C-graded.

In urban areas, there are 1,196 Grade C food premises and factories _ 13.1
per cent of the 9,179 establishments.

Chairman of the Regional Council's environmental hygiene select committee,
Ting Yin-wah, said he had been pushing for abolition of Grade C food
premises and factories for the past year.

Mr Ting said the RSD should not renew the licences of these factories and
premises once their old licences expired.

But he said political factors had made long-term action difficult.

``In the long term, all those places with a Grade C licence should be
closed down. But it will take a year for the law to be amended and public
consultations held, as well as for the premises and factories to upgrade
their standards.''

Mr Ting said the committee had pressed the RSD to disclose the list of all
Grade C food premises and factories so councillors could conduct spot
checks.


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:01:28 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Factory `conformed' to top-level standards
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Hong Kong Standard
16 May 97
Factory `conformed' to top-level standards
By Jimmy Cheung

PRELIMINARY inspections by Regional Services Department officials on the
second food factory tipped as a possible cholera source found no evidence
of sub-standard hygiene, although workers admitted well and tap water in
the premises had been mixed at one time.

RSD superintendent (environmental health) Law Kai-chung on Thursday said
hygiene at the Dor Bo Food Factory in Tuen Mun was good.

``The freezer and hygiene are in good order. Preliminary evidence suggests
that the factory has kept a certain level of maintenance,'' he said after
visiting the factory with regional councillors Chan Shu-ying and Cheung
Yuet-lan.

The inspection followed an announcement by Director of Health Margaret Chan
Fung Fu-chun that information given by cholera victims had suggested the
factory could be the second source of the disease after the Dai Yick food
factory in Yuen Long.

The Dor Bo factory suspended operations and destroyed more than two tonnes
of fried chicken and duck feet _ favourite snacks in the territory _ after
a raid by the Health and Regional Services departments on Wednesday.

Dr Chan said tap and well water had been mixed, which could cause
contamination.

But Mr Law said he found no evidence that tap water had been mixed with
well water.

He said the factory's hygiene had been ranked Category A, the highest, and
it had a good record.

A worker at the factory, who gave his name only as Mr Chan, said well and
tap water had gone into the same water supply in the past. But, he said,
the two water sources had been separated and well water was being used only
for cleaning the floor.

``I firmly believe that our food is cholera-free and everything here
absolutely conforms to government hygiene standards,'' Mr Chan said.

But he barred reporters from entering the factory. A television news crew
complained that its video tape had been damaged by workers as they followed
officials inside the factory.

Health officials said a warning requiring immediate disinfection of the
well had been issued and no operations would be allowed pending tests.

Officials laid charges against the factory on Wednesday after discovering
its walls were dirty.


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:01:33 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Inspection team probe call
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Hong Kong Standard
16 May 97
Inspection team probe call
By Cynthia Wan


AN Urban Councillor is urging an investigation into health inspectors
responsible for Category C food outlets, as the Regional Services
Department launched an internal investigation into the effectiveness of
periodic inspections of food outlets.

The department would look into the effectiveness of inspections and the
performance of health inspectors, Assistant Director of Regional Services
Lai Kwok-tung said on Thursday at a special meeting of the council's
environmental health select committee on the cholera scare.

Councillor Wong Kwok-hing said the RSD should also look into possible
corruption.

He urged the department to probe inspectors responsible for visiting
Category C food factories.

Referring to the Dai Yick outlet he said: ``I can't imagine a food factory
can produce food in such a terrible condition where all the tools and
equipment are stained and filthy. Why, according to their (health
inspectors) professional knowledge, these obvious violations are
acceptable?''

Members of the two municipal councils assailed health inspectors for
turning a blind eye to filthy conditions in some food-processing centres.

Regional Councillor Thomas Pang Cheung-wai said individual inspectors might
not be serious enough in carrying out their tasks.

``After so many inspections on the (Dai Yick) food factory there have been
few prosecutions and no improvement,'' he said.

There are about 200 health inspectors carrying out regular and spot checks
on food premises across the territory.

There are now 20 Category C food production plants under the USD and 189
under the RSD.

Food premises are inspected every two to eight weeks according to their
different classifications.

The two councils also urged the prosecution of sub-standard food production
plants and the imposition of heavier penalties.


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:01:43 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Whaling station profitable
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Internet Edition
16 May 97
     Having a whale of a time
     EDWARD PETERS

     Fifteen years ago shrimp fisherman Jamie Bray sat on the dock at Tofino, on
the west coast of Vancouver Island, and contemplated a bleak future.

 Debarred from the profession he had followed since leaving school by
stringent new government quotas, he had only a boat and the sea as his
assets and scant idea of what to do with them.

 "There are some hot springs nearby and I thought I might be able to take
people out there, but then I met another fishing guy, and he said that's
what he was doing," said Mr Bray.

 "Then he said 'I saw a coupla whales when I was out there today, why don't
you try that?'."

 Back in 1982 tourists were few and far between in Tofino, still very much a
one-shrimp town.

 But with no alternative Mr Bray set up his fledgling whaling station, and
scouted for business round the local motels, whose managers could barely
hide their amazement that anybody would pay to go look at a fish.

 "But when I got back from my first trip there was a line of guys on the
dock all wanting to come out with me," reported Mr Bray.

 Nowadays Jamie's Whaling Station has expanded to include a fleet of three
regular vessels and three inflatables - Ocean Thunder, Pacific Lightning and
Devilfish   - and there's also Jamie's Whaling Station Gift Shop.

 He runs harbour jaunts ("an adventure unto themselves") fishing trips and
tours to the hot springs, as an influx of visitors to the nearby Pacific Rim
National Park has ensured there is a good supply of tourist dollars to go
round all Tofino's former fishermen.

 But of all his excursions, it is Jamie's Whale Watching that pulls in
sightseers from all over.

 From March onwards, 20,000 or more Grey whales cruise past Tofino on their
annual northern migration, completing an 8,000-kilometre route that starts
in Baja, Mexico, where they mate and subsequently calve after 13 months'
gestation, and up to the Bering and Chukchi Seas off Siberia.

 By the beginning of May the cavalcade of leviathans has passed, but up to a
dozen stick around in the Clayquot Sound off Tofino, moving from bay to bay,
browsing on the two tonnes of small crustaceans and tubeworms they consume
each day.

 "There was one baby whale that got so used to us coming by it used to
wriggle along under the boat, so everybody used to rush up to the bow to see
him come up," said Mr Bray.

 "Then he'd exhale and it would go all over everybody. It used to stink like
hell but they all loved it like it was a baptism or something."

 Getting decidedly close to nature is the major attraction of whale
watching, and there is little to compare with the earthy pleasure of
chugging along on the open sea amid a school of 15-metre long, 40-tonne
whales as they dive 50 metres to feed off the bottom, then rise and break
the surface like prehistoric submarines.

 Gargantuan yet somehow gentle, performing like hired hands for Jamie's
Whaling Station yet utterly elemental and wild.

 Not everybody who antes up the C$70 fee (about HK$400) is entirely wild
about the idea though. "There was this guy who used to bring me groups from
mainland China," said Mr Bray.

 "He used to ship them in on a bus and put 'em on the boat, and they'd be
huddled up down below being seasick while he was on deck yelling and all
gung ho.

 "I think the only bit they enjoyed was getting a certificate to say they'd
done it when they got back on dry land.

 "After a few times I called up to say I liked the revenue but I just didn't
want to run those sorts of tours anymore. They weren't enjoying it and I
wasn't enjoying it either."

 But the vast majority of whale watchers, from Asia, Europe and the United
States, come away thrilled and so just about everyone is a winner.

 Mr Bray guarantees sightings and anybody who is out of luck is given a
voucher - valid for 100 years - for another trip.

 All fares are subject to a $2 surcharge that is donated to research on
whales and wildlife rehabilitation. And Mr Bray himself is not too unhappy.

 "My pleasure comes from taking people out and showing them the whales. I
hurt my back fishing so I'm able to take it easier now.

 "In fact, I guess the government did me a favour when they put me out of
business."

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:02:01 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (LK) Society to rescue cattle from slaughter
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Daily News
Friday 16, May 1997
Society to rescue cattle from slaughter

     THE Kandy Humanitarian Society has launched a program to mark the
     ``wesak week'' by rescuing as many head of cattle as possible from
     slaughter houses in and around Kandy.

     The Society says, that it has already rescued 220 heads of cattle and
     have handed them over to caretakers who are expected to liaise with
     the society.

     The Society has also drawn up a program to encourage unemployed youth
     to take to dairy farming. They are given the cattle free. They are
     provided with facilities and the knowhow in dairy farming and are
     encouraged in home gardening where the inputs would be compost manure
     from the cattle shed



Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:02:11 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (MY) Apes Spared
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>The Straits Times
     MAY 16 1997
     MALAYSIA FILE


     APES SPARED: Hundreds of monkeys at the Terendak Camp in Sungai
     Udang, Malacca, would be spared the firing squad, The Star
     reported yesterday. The army has decided not to shoot them as
     they have become an attraction for visitors and patients at the
     army hospital. A senior officer was quoted as saying that the
     animals had also speeded up the recovery rate of patients,
     especially children.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:02:06 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (LK) Tanneries' environmental cost
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Daily News
Friday 16, May 1997
Re-locating tanneries in Bata-Ata by compromising bio-diversity
By Tharika Goonathilake


The first rays of the rising sun quietly appeared in the distant horizon as
the last stars of dawn slipped gracefully away. And, in the rising light
the Kalametiya lagoon shone in all its glory. Bathing the sea and
mangrove-skirted lagoon in the morning light.

Situated on the south-eastern coast, between the town of Tangalle and Yala
National Park the Kalametiyava lagoon is rather isolated and this accounts
for its rare beauty and rich bio-diversity.

The area is also a haven for wildlife, particulary for a number of rare
birds which has led to the site gaining fame as a wetland of a very special
ecological interest to Sri Lanka. Infact, it is currently a bird sanctuary.

But, many people fear that the move to relocate the main tanneries from
Colombo to Bata-Ata in close proximity to the Kalametiya lagoon will
threaten the very ecosystem which sustains the livelihood of these fishing
communities and pose a serious threat to the environment.

In Sri Lanka, over 13 tanneries manufacture leather from raw hide. All of
them are located in the Colombo and the Gampaha districts but due to the
severe environmental problems and numerous protests by people living in the
vicinity of these tanneries, plans are under way to relocate all these
industries in Bata-Ata.

The move aimed at tackling the problems of pollution through the
establishment of a main treatment plant while ensuring the productivity of
these industries by bringing them to one location under the guidance of the
Ministry of Industrial Development is no doubt commendable.

But, what most environmentalists fear is that the consequences of bringing
these industries to a rich ecological site like Bata-Ata may be
counter-productive since tanneries produce large amounts of highly toxic
and polluting waste products.

Villagers say that the environmental impacts notably pollution could
destroy the lagoon and the sea around it taking away the main resource on
which their livelihood depend.

Though on the positive side it must be said that relocation of such a large
industry in Bata-Ata could boost local employment and give a strong input
to infrastructual investments.

The Mihikatha Institute, one of the main environmental lobby groups
protesting against the move, is of the view that certain conditions that
should be adhered to before the establishment of such a high polluting
industry has not been taken into consideration by the Central Environment
Authority (CEA) when granting approval.

``The CEA has issued the necessary licence known as EPL (Environmental
Protection Licence) to these tannery industrialists without proper
investigations, violating conditions laid down in the licence itself,''.

According to an official of the Mihikatha Institute, the shortcomings in
the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report conducted by these
industrialists has not been taken note of.

The CEA instead had issued the licence (EIA) putting down the
`shortcomings' as certain `conditions' that have to be adhered to before
they commence their industrial activities in Bata- Ata.

``They have issued the licence in spite of the EPL not being completed.
This is a violation of the Environmental Act itself'' an official of the
Mihikatha Institute said.

The Institute also points out that measures introduced in the EIA to tackle
pollution are not sufficient. Especially since chromium used in the tannery
process is highly dangerous and is known to increase the risk of lung
cancer and other harmful skin diseases.

Though measures such as planting a large number of trees around the
industrial site (to minimise the release of putrid emissions) and the
establishment of a large scale central treatment plant to purify the
tannery water before being released to the sea are cited as methods that
will be adopted by these industrialists to address problems of pollution,
officials of the Mihikatha Institute and the majority of the villagers
believe otherwise.

People in the area also argue that the emissions from raw hide storage and
the production processes, may release unbearable odours.

According to villagers numerous requests and representations had been made
to certain authorities to consider the establishment of a salt factory in
Bata-Ata since there are many salterns in the area but unfortunately no one
has been interested in exploring this possibility.

Meanwhile an official representing these industrialists when contacted by
the `Daily News' said that most of these allegations were unfounded.

``We have taken note of all these problems and every effort will be taken
to minimise the risk to the environment. These industries undoubtedly
generate a lot of pollution but we have mentioned the measures that will be
taken to redress these problems.

These are high income generating industries and they bring in a lot of
foreign exchange as well as provide employment to a large number of people.
These environmentalists are blowing things out of proportion,''he said.

What ever the arguments one thing is clear. Development is necessary and so
is the environment. If a conflict arises between these `champions of
nature' and the `champions of development', those who are affected are
undoubtedly the people. So the solution lies in compromising and not losing
one at the expense of the other.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 04:05:26 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Pat Fish <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Farmers Charged for Starvation (US NY)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


Farmers Leave Cows and Pig to Starve, Wander
by Patrick Fish

WEST TURIN, NY-- May 10 1997    State Police in Lowville discovered
approximately 30 cows wandering along Highmarket Road.  A check of the
barn revealed 8 dead and decaying cows and one dead pig.

 Police discovered that the owner of the farm, Gilbert Young, 55, of
Ringwood NJ had hired Patrick Schoff, 48, of West Road in Constableville,
NY, to act as caretaker for the farm.  Young had previously lived on
Highmarket Rd.

 A day later, each man was charged with allowing bulls to run at large,
and nine counts of failing to provide proper sustenance, all of which
are only misdemeanors under the NYS Agriculture and Markets Law.
No other charges of cruelty were filed against the men.

The case will be handled by the Lewis County DA's office.  Calls for a
tough prosecution of this case should be directed to DA James P. O'Rourke
(315-376-5390, Fax=315-376-5390).

 Chances for justice are low, as a year earlier, the same rural area hosted
a school meeting featuring "Putting People First" anti-animal activist
Kathleen Marquardt.  Her campaigning helped elect LeRoy Platt, a former
Posse Comitatus and Oneida County Patriot Society member, to the local
school board on a pro-gun, anti-animal, anti-ecology, anti-UN platform.



Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 09:35:18 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: RFI: (US) Our recent encounter with an animal rights violation
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

posted for--and send replies to--dave & marie magyar <[e-mail]>  :
------------------------------------------------

My husband and I were recently involved in a criminal court proceeding
regarding a grotesque animal rights violation that we unfortunately
witnessed on Trick or Treat Day 1996.  The witness testimony and evidence
collected were enough to have the man brought to trial but unfortunately
his defense lawyer demanded an exhumation of the cat that the defendants'
friends refused (he mutilated his friend's cat).  Thus, the charges were
plea bargained down to criminal mischief and the charge of animal cruelty
was dropped although it was clear from the evidence that this man committed
a most heinous crime and his only saving grace was a very wise defense
attorney.  During this entire period, my family has been subjected to
humiliating stares, nightmares, and break-ins on our automobiles.

It has been very clear to both of us that this man is a butcher with
absolutely no remorse and obviously his friends agree with this lecherous
behavior because he continues to visit them regularly.  We truly believe in
"what comes around goes around," but it is very difficult for us to accept
that we were dragged into this, having no choice, and we were then cheated
out of justice.

Is there a possibility for civil litigation in this case?  Can we have this
man held responsible for his heinous actions?  Can you help us?  Is there
someone that you know of that can help us receive some type of justice from
this mess?

Thank you so much for taking the time out to read this.  We very much
appreciate all of your consideration and time.

Thank you,

David & Marie Magyar
1138 Furnace Street
Hellertown, PA  18055
phone#: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

(please note that you can obtain the full story of this incident at
<http://www.magyars.com/pages/dave/story.html>)


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 08:22:25 -0700 (PDT)
>From: [e-mail] (pawsinfo)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Marineland Co-Owner Goes to Trial June 11 [CA]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

5/15/97

JOHN HOLER, CO-OWNER OF MARINELAND, NIAGARA FALLS (CANADA) ON TRIAL
JUNE
11, 1997 ON CARELESS DRIVING CHARGE

John Holer, one of the owners of Marineland, Niagara Falls, goes to trial
June 11, 1997 on a careless driving charge. Mr. Holer struck Holly Penfound
on Sept. 1, 1996 with his four-wheel drive truck while she was peacefully
leafleting at the exit of Marineland. Ms. Penfound was participating in an
international protest held in association with Gadfly '96 to highlight the
suffering of whales, dolphins, bears and deer at the marine park.

In a meeting held several weeks ahead of the protest, animal activists
indicated their concern for the safety of protesters in view of John
Holer's past threatening behaviour. In apparent recognition of this
concern, the police indicated that they had already discussed this with
John Holer and obtained his agreement to stay right away from protesters.
In a discussion at that meeting regarding leafleting the area, the police
and the Mayor of Niagara Falls suggested that demonstrators do so at the
exit of the park, the very location where Ms. Penfound was standing when
she was struck.

Several Cetacean Freedom Network members witnessed the incident in which it
was alleged that
John Holer drove directly toward Ms. Penfound, entering the exit area
driving the wrong direction. Although Ms. Penfound was able to jump to one
side, she was still struck in the shoulder by the mirror of Mr. Holer's
vehicle. Ms. Penfound was taken to the hospital by ambulance, and later
released -- shaken up, but fortunately, without suffering serous bodily harm.

A criminal investigation was launched by Niagara Regional Police a week
after the incident with much urging from Holly Penfound, two lawyers who
are assisting her (Lesli Bisgould and Jeff House) and dozens of Cetacean
Freedom Network
members. Numerous letters of complaint were sent to the Niagara police,
Canadian politicians, and Canadian embassies and tourism agencies in other
countries regarding the sharp treatment of protesters by police on Sept. 1,
including the arrests of Ben White, Steve Hindi, Janet Allan, Mark McAlpine
and Wayne Mercier. This contrasted with the way the police dealt with John
Holer and his security staff, including the failure of the police to
protect protesters from Mr. Holer, and to hold him immediately accountable
for his actions.

To illustrate, Steve Hindi was arrested within a short time following an
incident the day of the Marineland protest in which a security guard
alleged that Mr. Hindi spat on him (a charge of which he was recently
acquitted). Yet the police took several weeks to lay a charge against John
Holer. At that, the accused was charged for the less severe offence of
careless driving, rather than the criminal charge of dangerous driving. The
latter would have incorporated the element of deliberate intent on the part
of Mr. Holer.

Holly Penfound and the two organizations which she represents -- Zoocheck
Canada and the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies -- would like to
express their sincere appreciation for the concern shown by Cetacean Freedom
Network members
regarding the John Holer incident, as well as ongoing support for the local
campaign to end the suffering of the whales, dolphins, bears, deer and
other animals kept at Marineland, Niagara Falls. Thank you.


Zoocheck Canada Inc.
3266 Yonge Street, Suite 1729
Toronto, ON M4N 3P6
[phone]  Ph    [phone]  Fax
E-Mail:  [e-mail]
Web Site:  http://web.idirect.com/~zoocheck
Registered Charity No. 0828459-54





Bob Chorush  Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 [phone] ext
862, [phone] fax
email [e-mail]      http://www.paws.org

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 11:32:00 -0400
>From: "radioactive" <[e-mail]>
To: "Animal Rights" <[e-mail]>
Subject: AIRCRAFT SPREAD DEADLY VIRUSES
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
     charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Aircraft spread deadly viruses, report says


    LONDON (Reuter) - Aircraft could be spreading dangerous
viruses around the world in the sewage from on-board toilets,
U.S. researchers reported.
    Researchers who took samples of the waste pumped from
commercial aircraft were horrified to discover that nearly half
contained infectious viruses that survived the chemicals in the
sewage tanks, New Scientist magazine said Thursday.
    ``It was a bit of a jolt for us,'' the magazine quoted Mark
Sobsey, an environmental scientist at the University of North
Carolina, as telling a meeting of the American Society for
Microbiology in Miami Beach.
    Sobsey's group had been asked by the World Health
Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to look
for viruses in aircraft heads. They did not find polio, to their
relief.
    But they did find enteroviruses that cause stomach upset and
fever.
    ``The range of illnesses that can be transmitted by the
world's airlines is quite worrisome,'' Sobsey said. He was
concerned hepatitis viruses could be spread in this way, as well
as bacteria and parasites.
    Sobsey said airline waste in the United States was treated
in commercial sewage plants, which do not always kill all types
of virus.
    ``That means one to 10 percent of the viruses survive and
are discharged into the environment,'' he said. ``We think
there's a risk.''
    He suggested adding stronger chemicals to all aircraft
toilets.
^REUTER@



Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 11:33:51 -0400
>From: "radioactive" <[e-mail]>
To: "Animal Rights" <[e-mail]>
Subject: CHOLERA, DEADLY BACTERIA MAKE HK WATCH WHAT IT EATS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
     charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 Cholera, deadly bacteria make HK watch what it eats


(Recasts, adds details of other disease outbreaks)
    By John O'Callaghan
    HONG KONG, May 15 (Reuter) - With a restaurant, noodle shop
or market on every corner, Hong Kong clearly loves its food.
    But an outbreak of cholera in chicken feet and deadly E.coli
bacteria in beef has caused a scare and is making people more
careful about what they eat, doctors and health officials said.
    Cholera has sent eight people to hospital in the past week.
    A government spokesman said on Thursday that health
authorities would launch a sweep on hundreds of food factories
following the cholera outbreak.
    Health officials traced the disease to batches of chicken
and duck feet -- favourite snacks in the territory -- produced
by a factory where sewage from the staff toilets had leaked into
well water used to process the food.
    Health inspectors seized 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) of poultry feet
from the fly-infested factory on Wednesday and ordered it to
disinfect the well.
    The penalties don't seem to deter offenders in Hong Kong.
The factory had been prosecuted four times for violating hygiene
standards and faced fines of HK$350 to HK$1,000 (US$45 to $130).
    Another processed food factory suspected of supplying
cholera-laced chicken and duck feet was ordered to suspend
production on Thursday.
    Health officials have warned Hong Kong's 6.4 million
residents to either dump poultry feet they bought or cook them
thoroughly.
    But a local newspaper said checking the factories was not
enough.
    ``The real problem is the disclosure of the unwholesome
procedures followed by at least some local suppliers, and by the
way they have been able to go on operating,'' the South China
Morning Post newspaper said in an editorial on Thursday.
    ``It is, for example, deeply worrying to learn that a shop
where the deadly E.coli bacteria has been found twice in two
months can go on trading, even though it has been prosecuted
nine times in the past.''
    The shop in question, a wholesale butcher's, was also the
source of meat contaminated with the deadly O-157 strain of
E.coli that was sold at an upmarket Yoahan department store in
March.
    The strain was blamed for the deaths of at least 11 people
in Japan and 20 in Scotland earlier this year.
    Another butcher shop in the same area was also found to be
selling contaminated meat. Both shops have had their stock
confiscated but no other action has been taken.
    The health department warned on Thursday that about 300 kg
(660 lb) of beef tainted with E.coli has been on sale for
several days.
    Hong Kong has rules on food preparation but health officials
must ensure offending factories and butcher shops follow the
regulations, Dr Lee Kin-hung, president of the Hong Kong Medical
Association told Reuters.
    ``I'm sure the Urban Services department have their eyes
wide open now and it depends on what follow-up actions they are
going to take,'' Lee said.
    ``The rules are there but it's how frequently you inspect
the place and how diligently you proceed with prosecution.''
^REUTER@



Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 08:51:31 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Mike Markarian <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Singapore cats
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I thought the list may be interested in these web sites. -- Mike

>Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 13:20:51 +0800
>From: Janalee <[e-mail]>
>Organization: Expats For Cats
>To: [e-mail]
>
>Hello, what a wonderful organization!  I am sure there are more urgent
>animal causes than mine, but I'm hoping to do something about this
>situation before it becomes an emergency.  If you wouldn't mind taking a
>look at my site and seeing if it could fit into your page somewhere, I'd
>really appreciate it.  I am trying to do something about the stray cat
>situation in Singapore.  I have two web sites, one for letters to the PM
>and one to help the cats.  They are listed below.  Thank you very much
>for your time.
>
>Janalee
>--
>http://www.best.com/~mtyler/expats.htm   Expats For Cats
>http://www.wnm.net/~jana/cats.html --  Singapore Cats Need Help
>"How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven."
>                                       -Robert A. Heinlein
>
>

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 12:12:19 -0400 (EDT)
>From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Fwd: FOUR MORE CALIFORNIA CONDORS RELEASED
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

>From U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:

---------------------
Forwarded message:
 >From:[e-mail] (Mitch Snow)
 Sender:[e-mail]
 Reply-to:[e-mail]
  To:[e-mail]
Date: 97-05-15 14:26:06 EDT

This message is from the fws-news listserver.  Please DO NOT
REPLY (it just confuses the computers).

Subscribers can't reply or send their own messages to the
fws-news listserver. This listserver is designed mainly as a
"one way street" for the rapid dissemination of information
concerning the Service and its activities, rather than for
gathering feedback.  To contact us, see the explanatory note
at bottom of the message.
============================================================
   Jeff Cilek or Bill Heinrich, The Peregrine Fund 208/362-3716
     Jeff Humphrey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 602/640-2720
         Tom Bauer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 505/248-6911
     Rory Aikens, Arizona Game and Fish Department 602/789-3214
             Mike Small, Bureau of Land Management 801/628-4491

May 14, 1997

             FOUR MORE CALIFORNIA CONDORS RELEASED
     -JOIN SPECIES' RECOVERY EFFORT OVER SOUTHWEST CANYONS-

     Four of the nine California condors being held atop the 1000-foot
Vermilion
Cliffs north of the Grand Canyon were released this morning.  At 7:00 a.m.,
Peregrine Fund biologists lifted the door of the condor pen and the birds
cautiously hopped from their shelter and onto the lip of the cliff.  As the
last
bird emerged, all four unfolded their 9-foot wings to initiate their maiden
flights.  Peregrine Fund biologists, Mark Vekasy and Shawn Farry, reported
that
the "the four made a number of short flights and are now perched on the talus

slope near the base of the cliff."

     The nine condors have been held in a netted adjustment pen since shortly

after they were transported from the Los Angeles Zoo to the Bureau of Land
Management administered cliff site on April 29, 1997.  The four most
subordinate
condors were selected for release today with the hope that they will
socialize
more easily with the existing birds.  The remaining captive birds will be
released after biologists evaluate their behavior, weather conditions and the

results of today's release.

     The two-year old condors are the oldest to be released in the wild.
 Since
older, more mature birds could immediately soar greater distances than their
younger counterparts did when released last December, biologists chose to
release them in small batches.  "By releasing these birds a few at a time, it

will give them the opportunity to gradually assimilate with the existing
population.  The younger condors have performed well since their release last

December; these older birds could learn much from the existing birds as the
two
groups begin to socialize" said Bill Heinrich, Species Restoration Manager of

The Peregrine Fund.  The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit conservation
organization conducting the release in northern Arizona.

     Since December, the five original condors have greatly extended their
range.  They have soared below the north rim of the Grand Canyon and been
spotted over Lake Powell and Page, Arizona.  Each of the five condors
regularly
returns to the Vermilion Cliffs and has inspected the new arrivals.
 Researchers
will continue to monitor the condors' movements and study how the groups
interact and assimilate.

                               ###


(EDITORS:  An uncertain release schedule prevents program biologists from
offering media coverage of this release.  File photographs are available from

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or by accessing The Peregrine Fund's
website
at www.peregrinefund.org.)


Condors Released May 14, 1997 at Vermilion Cliffs

      Tag NumberSexHatch DateHatch Location
      #16Male4/13/95San Diego Wild Animal Park
     #19Female4/17/95San Diego Wild Animal Park
     #27Female2/2/95San Diego Wild Animal Park
     #28Female2/21/95The Los Angeles Zoo*

*All birds were held at the Los Angeles Zoo facility prior to being
transported
to the Vermilion Cliffs


===========================================================
News releases are also available on the World Wide Web at
http://www.fws.gov/~r9extaff/pubaff.html  They can be reviewed in
chronological order or searched by keyword.

Questions concerning a particular news release or item of
information should be directed to the person listed as the
contact. General comments or observations concerning the
content of the information should be directed to Craig
Rieben ([e-mail]) in the Office of Public
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Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 12:47:05 -0400 (EDT)
>From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Okla.City Shelter Emergency Adoption Event
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


There's no room to grow at the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter,
so an emergency "Save A Pet" adoption is planned this saturday.
Dogs of all ages, breeds and sizes will be available from noon to
4 pm in the parking lot of Jumbo Sports South, 7202 S. Interstate 35.
Cats will not be taken to the site, but many can be seen at the
shelter, 2811 SE 29th.  Shelter hours are noon to 5:45 pm tuesday
thru saturday.
A/w a spokesperson, "There are just swamped with all kinds of
puppies and kittens."
Shelter veterinarian Sally Ryan said about 90 animals are ready for
adoption.  The crowded conditions only allow space for about half
the number of newly acquired dogs and cats.  "What that means
is we're having to euthanize more animals that might be good
adoption candidates."
Ryan said adoptions have been down, as the shelter's population
has increased.  In April, 187 animals found new homes, yet
1,214, including 227 sick or injured, came into the shelter.  In
comparison, 870 animals were brought in during April 1996.
One reason the total number increased this year may be
tranquilizers are being used to capture some evasive strays.
She also said that officials are working to bring in more potential
adopters.  A $1 million three-phase renovation project is under way.
  The fee for adopting a dog is $57 and for a cat, $50.  All available
animals have received a health check, including a spay or
neuter operation.  Anyone 60 or older pays $27 to take home
any animal.

                                                    For the Animals,

                                                    Jana, OKC

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 14:07:49 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Admin Note--Subscription Options
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

routine posting............

Here are some items of general information (found in the "welcome letter"
sent when people subscribe--but often lose!)...included:  how to post and
how to change your subscription status (useful if you are going on
vacation--either by "unsubscribe" or "postpone").
---------------------------------------------------------------

To post messages to the list, send mail to [e-mail]
POSTING

To post a *news-related item* (no discussions), send your message to:

     [e-mail]

Appropriate postings to AR-News include: posting a news item, requesting
information on some event, or responding to a request for information.
Discussions on AR-News will NOT be allowed and we ask that any
commentary either be taken to AR-Views or to private E-mail.
------------------------------------------

***General Subscription Information***
ALL THE FOLLOWING SHOULD NOT be sent to ar-news !!!
(send them to [e-mail])
For all commands, use a blank Subject line.
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To request a digest version, send mail to [e-mail]
with the following single line:

     set ar-news mail digest

To switch back to immediate mail, and to get copies of *your* postings
also, send the following command:

     set ar-news mail ack

or the following to not get your own postings:

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To see how you are set up ***(and to see if you are still subscribed!)***, use

     set ar-news

To temporarily stop mailings, use:

     set ar-news mail postpone

To re-enable it, use ack, noack, or digest as above.

To unsubscribe, use:

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or:

     signoff ar-news

If you have to subscribe again, use:

     subscribe ar-news first_name last_name   (use false name if you want!)

If you have problems, please contact:

     Allen Schubert
     [e-mail]


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 10:44:51 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Mike Markarian <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Dick Randall
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I read today with sadness that Dick Randall has passed away at the age of
72. Dick was an Animal Damage Control trapper and aerial gunner until he
quit in 1971, and devoted the rest of his life to exposing the cruelty of
the agency. His grisly photographs of trapped coyotes and skinned foxes have
been used by nearly every animal group that fights trapping. Dick testified
before Congress numerous times about the cruelty and nonselectivity of the
steel-jaw leghold trap. His efforts will be sorely missed.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 11:50:32 -0700 (PDT)
>From: [e-mail] (pawsinfo)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Miami Seaquarium Dolphin Birth/Death - Info Requested
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Miami Seaquarium Dolphin Birth/Death - Info Requested

The following appeared in the Miami Seaquarium newsletter Winter 1996/1997
Edition:

***********

In the pre-dawn hours of Friday October 25th, Miami Seaquarium welcomed the
birth of a male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (scientific name: Tursiops
truncatus) at the Top Deck Dolphin Stadium. BeBe, one of the original stars
of the Flipper television series filmed at the Miami Seaquarium is the mother.

"Both the calf and mother appear to be doing great," said Michael Renner,
chief veterinarian at Miami Seaquarium. "BeBe is an experienced mother and
she is taking excellent care of her baby."

When dolphin calves are born they weigh about 25 to 40 pounds and are about
four feet in length. They are born underwater and are immediately assisted
to the surface for their first breath of air. The mother will nurse her calf
for 12 to 18 months.

Nursing is done underwater. It only takes place for a few seconds at a time
but is repeated often. Within three moths, the mother will begin sharing
solid foods with her calf. At Miami Seaquarium calves will usually begin
taking food from trainers within six months.

This is BeBe's eight calf. BeBe, who is 40 year sold, was the second dolphin
born at Miami Seaquarium. Twelve of the 19 dolphins at Miami Seaquarium were
born at the park.

BeBe and her calf can be seen at the Top Deck Stadium from 9:30 a.m. to 6
p.m. daily.

********

BeBe died about two weeks ago. Radio news reports originating from the Miami
Seaquarium stated the cause of death to be "old age"; not very likely for a
nursing mother mammal.

What has happened to her 7 month old calf, which MSQ says should be nursing
for an additional 5-11 months?

Does anyone have detailed information re. BeBe? Necropsy reports? Veterinary
inspections?

This death certainly seems to belie MSQ vet's opinion that "Both the calf
and mother appear to be doing great."

If you have information or details re BeBe or her newborn male calf, please
contact the sender at [e-mail]


Bob Chorush  Web Administrator, Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
15305 44th Ave West (P.O. Box 1037)Lynnwood, WA 98046 [phone] ext
862, [phone] fax
email [e-mail]      http://www.paws.org

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 15:13:11 GMT
>From: NAVS <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Intel Endorses Animal Cruelty at Science Fair
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

National Anti-Vivisection Society
Contact: Marcia Kramer
         1-800-888-NAVS
         e-mail: [e-mail]


News Release: May 15, 1997

Hi-Tech Giant Endorses Animal Cruelty

     Intel Corporation, the Santa Clara, California-based producer of high-tech
computer chips, has become the sponsoring organization of the largest
science fair
competition that continues to award prizes to high school students who
perform painful
and cruel experiments on live animals. The International Science and
Engineering Fair
(ISEF), which is being held this year in Louisville, Kentucky, is now called
the "Intel
ISEF," with Intel awarding three scholarship prizes of $40,000 each to top
student
projects.
     Despite the widespread acceptance of humane standards for science fair
projects,
developed and endorsed by Westinghouse, Kodak and other science fair
sponsors, ISEF
has refused to consider adopting standards that would stop mice, rats and
gerbils from
being injected with cocaine and other drugs, irradiated, subjected to
intensified magnetic fields and being surgically mutilated. Many such
experiments end, intentionally or unintentionally, with the death of the
animals.
     In the past year, ISEF prizes were awarded to one student who injected rats
with
morphine sulphate and another who injected rats with bovine serum albumin
solution
(causing severe hives) and then placed them in a chamber with light and
vibrations to test the psychological impact. With three million students
competing in local science fairs to qualify for just over 1000 places in the
international competition, the number of animals sacrificed in the name of
education and science multiplies enormously. This year one project that made
it to the final competition was studying cannibalism in starving planaria
(earthworms), which involved both starving, then irradiating animals while
still alive.
     With their new name sponsorship status, Intel is in a position to change the
standards that encourage students to inflict pain and suffering on animals.
Just as
Westinghouse instituted guidelines 30 years ago to prevent harm to animals
in science fair experiments, so should Intel begin taking responsibility for
teaching school children that all life has value, and that the death of
other creatures is not justified as a means to winning a prize.
     Let's congratulate instead the hundreds of compassionate students who choose to
make their mark on the scientific world by exploring alternatives to animal
experimentation.


Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 15:22:04 -0700
>From: Martin Acuna <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: AA (Houston, TX) Harris Co. Animal Control sells pets for medical research
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

The Houston SPCA desperately needs you to call the Harris County
Commissioners at 713-755-5000 and tell them you oppose the sale of pets
from Harris County Animal Control to medical research laboratories.
Tell the Commissioners that animal shelters should be the last humane
refuge for stray, abandoned, or unwanted pets. Pets should be given a
chance at life in new adoptive homes.
Tell the commissioners that they are betraying the public's trust by
selling pets for research, and you oppose this barbaric, primitive
practice.
Please attend the Harris County Commissioners court meeting on Tuesday,
May 20, 1:45 pm at 1001 Preston. All you need to do is stand up, state
your name and address, and tell the commissioners you oppose the sale of
pets to medical research labs.
Further details can be found at http://www.neosoft.com/~hspca/news.htm
Thank you for caring
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 17:39:54 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Fwd: request for info (urgent!!)'
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From private e-mail...send responses to:  [e-mail] (melissa)
-------------------------------------------------

hello,
  My name is Melissa Burdick and I'm writing in request for some
information I need. We have a project at school, a speech, and I chose
animal rights as my topic. I was wondering if you could give me some
information about anything that's going on somewhere in Cleveland,
Ohio?? Also, any other information you think would be useful in a speech
about animal rights-please e-mail to me. Thank you for your time!

                                    sincerely,
                                      missie

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:14:05 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Debbie Leahy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Mazolla's Bear Act Returns
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

   MAZOLLA'S BEAR ACT RESURFACES IN MICHIGAN

Last April, Mazolla and his World Animal Studios appeared at the
Gibraltar Trade Center (GTC) in Mt. Clemens, MI with his bear
display for photo shots with the public.  The police were notified
and confiscated the bears (one adult and one 2-1/2-month-old cub)
because it violated local ordinances.  The bears were temporarily
housed at the Detroit Zoo.

IAA just received a complaint that this pathetic bear display is
now appearing at the GTC in Taylor, MI and Lakota the bear was
surrounded by crowds of people for 32 hours within a three
day period.

According to GTC general manager, Jim Harget, Mazolla claimed the
Mt. Clemens incident was completely cleared up, the Mt. Clemens
police department offered him an apology, and accused the Detroit
Zoo of injuring the adult bear.  Mazolla also claimed to have filed
lawsuits against the Detroit Zoo and the three officers involved in
the arrest.

Phone calls to the Detroit Zoo director, Ron Kagan, and arresting
officer Sgt. Dan Fields, revealed Mazolla's story to be a lavish
fairy tale.

When the bears were brought to the zoo, Mazolla was disorderly and
threatened police using the adult bear as a weapon.  When police
drew their guns in self-defense, Mazolla keeled over faking a heart
attack and was brought to the hospital.  Zoo officials found the
550-pound adult bear to be overweight (Mazolla feeds him forty
loaves of bread per day).  Neither bear was injured while in
custody of the Detroit Zoo.

The Mt. Clemens police department DID NOT offer an apology to
Mazolla.  Sgt. Dan Fields stated Mazolla was the "most foul-
mouthed, abusive, arrogant, disruptive" individual he's dealt with
in 23 years of police work.  Mazolla currently has three criminal
charges pending against him from the Mt. Clemens incident,
including violating city ordinances and creating a disturbance.
Witnesses also report Mazolla smacked his bear in the head.  No
lawsuits have been filed against the zoo or police.

GTC's Jim Harget was not concerned that he was misinformed by
Mazolla and intends to allow the bear exhibit to continue.

IAA posted an alert in February regarding World Animal Studios
traveling with Super Sales.  Thanks to the efforts of many other
groups, within a week Super Sales terminated its contract with
World Animal Studios and provided IAA with written assurances that
neither Mazolla nor World Animal Studios would have animal displays
at any future shows it sponsored.

This is a miserable life for the bears and puts the public's safety
in jeopardy.  The bears, tethered on a leash, are unmuzzled and
have their teeth and claws.  Let GTC know how you feel about their
lack of concern for the truth, animal welfare, and public safety.

Complain to:

Jim Harget, general manager and Susan Lenz, owner
Gibraltar Trade Center
15525 Racho
Taylor, MI  48180
Phone) 313/287-2000
Fax) 313/287-8330
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------

Debbie Leahy
Illinois Animal Action
P.O. Box 507
Warrenville, IL  60555
630/393-2935

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 21:01:04 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA: BLOODY FUR-WEARERS "TRAPPED BY GREED" AT MACY'S
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
---------------------------------
BLOODY FUR-WEARERS "TRAPPED BY GREED" AT MACY'S

Screaming "Fashion Victims" Risk Arrest to Protest Fur

      For Immediate Release:
      May 13, 1997

      Contact:
      Jason Baker 757-622-7382, ext. 490

      Albany, N.Y. -- Carrying a giant banner reading, "Trapped by Greed,"
PETA members--armed
      with steel-jaw leghold traps--will protest fur at Macy's:


Wednesday, May 14
12 noon
Macy's at Crossgate Mall, south entrance


      The fur foes--some "caught" in steel traps--will dare shoppers to
"put themselves in animals'
      shoes" before purchasing pelts.

      Furriers are feeling the chill of PETA's anti-fur efforts, with sales
down by more than 50 percent
      since 1991. PETA has shown helped consumers that animals are trapped,
drowned, or beaten to
      death in the wild, and gassed, strangled, or electrocuted on fur
farms to make the garments.

      "Fur was a status symbol now it's a social liability," says PETA's
Lisa Lange. "No matter how
      they try to spin it, furriers' profits are still half of what they
were in the late eighties." According to a
      1995 Associated Press poll, most Americans surveyed say killing
animals for fur is always wrong.

      Broadcast-quality video footage of animals on fur farms and in traps
is available.



Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 21:04:22 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA: CAVEPEOPLE WIELD CLUBS OUTSIDE MACY'S
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
-----------------------------------
CAVEPEOPLE WIELD CLUBS OUTSIDE MACY'S

 "Neanderthals" Lead Anti-Fur Protest

      For Immediate Release:
      May 13, 1997

      Contact:
      Jason Baker 757-622-7382, ext. 490


      Boston -- Boston -- Behind a giant banner reading, "Only Cavepeople
Wear Fur," members of
      People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)-- wielding clubs
and draped in animal
      skins--will exhibit their primitive apparel outside Macy's department
store:


Wednesday, May 14
12 noon to 1 p.m.
350 Washington St. (at Summer Street)

      Fur used to be the only thing to keep primitive people from freezing.
Today's lightweight
      synthetics--like Gortex--are much more efficient at keeping people warm.

      PETA's Anti-Fur Campaign has kept fur sales cold by keeping consumers
focused on the fact that
      fur-bearing animals are trapped, drowned, or beaten to death in the
wild and gassed, strangled,
      or electrocuted on fur farms. According to a 1995 Associated Press
poll, the majority of Americans
      surveyed believe killing animals for fur is always wrong.

      Fur sales have plummeted more than 50 percent over the past 10 years.
According to Fur World,
      sales topped $2.1 billion in the late 1980s, but dropped to a flat $1
billion last year.

      "Neanderthals weren't known for their fashion sense," says PETA's
Lisa Lange. "Fur-wearers
      look just plain silly walking around in coats that belong in a
natural history museum."
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 21:06:27 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA: RUSH-HOUR COMMUTERS GET ANTI-FUR MESSAGE
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
---------------------------------
RUSH-HOUR COMMUTERS GET ANTI-FUR MESSAGE

 PETA's Rocky Raccoon Says: "Fur Is Dead"

      For Immediate Release:
      May 14, 1997


      Contact:
      Jason Baker 757-622-7382, ext. 490

      Salt Lake City -- Looming over morning rush-hour traffic, "Rocky
Raccoon," PETA's 7-foot-tall
      anti-fur mascot, will unfurl a giant banner reading, "Fur Is Dead,"
which will hang:


Thursday, May 15
8 a.m. sharp
Off of the 6400 South 20 overpass (facing east) above I-215


      Rocky's eye-opening message is to remind consumers that animals are
trapped, drowned, or
      beaten to death in the wild, and gassed, strangled, or electrocuted
on fur farms to make the
      garments. Furriers are feeling the chill of PETA's anti-fur efforts,
with sales down by more than 50
      percent since 1991.

      "Fur was a status symbol now it's a social liability," says PETA's
Lisa Lange. "No matter how
      they try to spin it, furriers' profits are still half of what they
were in the late eighties." According to a
      1995 Associated Press poll, most Americans surveyed say killing
animals for fur is always wrong.

      Broadcast-quality video footage of animals on fur farms and in traps
is available.
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 21:10:44 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA: "GOLDEN GIRL" RUE McCLANAHAN:'FUR TARNISHES
  OKLAHOMA MUSEUM'
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
--------------------------------
"GOLDEN GIRL" RUE McCLANAHAN:'FUR TARNISHES OKLAHOMA MUSEUM'

Actress Pens Letter to Historical Society


      For Immediate Release:
      May 14, 1997

      Contact:
      Joey Penello 757-622-7382, ext. 372

      Salina, Okla. -- Oklahoma native Rue McClanahan, known as the sexy,
stylish "Blanche" on TV's
      The Golden Girls, is speaking out against her least favorite
accessory--fur.

      On behalf of PETA, the Emmy Award-winning actress has written a
letter to the Oklahoma
      Historical Society, asking them not to proceed with plans for a "fur
museum." She suggests "a
      less violent part of our past" be memorialized.

      If work on the museum continues, McClanahan would like Blake Wade,
the society's director, to
      work "with PETA to create an exhibit that shows the animals' side of
the story."

      According to McClanahan, the fur industry's use of cruel and barbaric
leghold traps has made
      animals "the ultimate fashion victims."
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 21:13:43 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA: "GILL" THE FISH URGES KIDS TO BOYCOTT FISHING
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
---------------------------------
"GILL" THE FISH URGES KIDS TO BOYCOTT FISHING

PETA's "Save Our Schools" Campaign Hits Biloxi


      For Immediate Release:
      May 15, 1997

      Contact:
      Michael McGraw 757-622-7382, ext. 310

      Norfolk, Va. -- Biloxi, Miss. -- In a campaign aimed at getting kids
to leave rods and reels behind
      as they leave for summer vacation, "Gill" the fish--PETA's
6-foot-tall "Save Our Schools"
      mascot--will greet students outside two Biloxi elementary schools on
Friday, May 16:

7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.
Our Lady of Fatima
Elementary, 320 Jim Money Road
2:40 p.m. to 3:10 p.m.
Nativity of the Blessed Virgin
Mary Elementary, 1046 Beach Blvd.

      Why the flap over fishing? Fish feel pain--they have neurochemical
systems like humans and
      sensitive nerve endings in their lips and mouths. They begin to die
slowly of suffocation the
      moment they are pulled out of the water. And fishing hurts other
animals, too, like birds and otters
      who swallow hooks and plastic bait or get tangled in lost fishing line.

      Another reason to forgo fish? Fish are caught and killed by the
billions for their flesh, but many of
      them exact a little revenge: According to the Centers for Disease
Control, 80,000 people get sick
      and many die each year from eating contaminated fish. Fish flesh
often contains toxic levels of
      mercury and PCBs--carcinogens that have been linked to many kinds of
cancer.

      "Kids should be encouraged to enjoy nature without tormenting or
killing animals," says PETA's
      Dawn Carr.

      Gill is encouraging kids to get hooked on harmless outdoor pastimes
like hiking, canoeing,
      mountain-biking, snorkeling, or camping. His stop in Biloxi concludes
a week-long tour that
      included schools in Miami; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Tallahassee, Fla.;
and Mobile, Ala.



Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 21:16:15 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA: "COLUMBO" ASKS POLICE NOT TO ENLIST ELEPHANTS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
-----------------------------------------
"COLUMBO" ASKS POLICE NOT TO ENLIST ELEPHANTS

      For Immediate Release:
      May 15, 1997

      Contact:
      Joey Penello 757-622-7382, ext. 327

      Albuquerque, N.M. -- Peter Falk is working on a new case, and this
one involves an unlikely
      cast of characters--the Fraternal Order of Police and circus
elephants. On behalf of PETA, TV's
      lovable "Lieutenant Columbo" has asked his real-life counterparts to
reject the use of elephants in
      police fundraising activities.

      In a letter to the national president of the Fraternal Order of
Police, Falk notes the increasing
      number of incidents in which elephants try to escape the life of
chains and beatings they endure in
      the circus. "You do not have to be a detective," the Emmy-winner
writes, "to know that after years of
      confinement, chains, and beatings with bullhooks, these animals are
naturally going to rebel."

      Since these incidents routinely result in death or injury to
elephants and humans, Falk would like
      to spare the animals, the officers, and their communities the ensuing
trauma.

      Falk, who reprises the role of "Columbo" in an ABC-TV movie this
week, is a long-time animal
      rights activist. His letter to the Fraternal Order of Police follows.
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 21:18:26 -0400
>From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA: SCHOOL PRINCIPAL THREATENS PETA MASCOT
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
--------------------------------
SCHOOL PRINCIPAL THREATENS PETA MASCOT

  "Gill" to Get "All the Hostility" Principal Can Direct

      For Immediate Release:
      MAY 15, 1997

      Contact:
      Michael McGraw 757-622-7382, ext. 310,
      or pager 888-202-2835

      Mobile, Ala. -- Gill the fish--PETA's 6-foot-tall dancing mascot--and
his human sidekick are
      making waves in Mobile today, as they visit schools asking kids not
to fish.

      "They will be met with some violent parents, police, and all the
hostility I can direct to them. ... I
      do not want them here, and you better not let them come," said
Maryvale Elementary principal
      Joyce Hunter--in a phone message left this morning at PETA's
headquarters in Norfolk,
      Va.--regarding Gill's visit.

      Gill is wrapping up a week-long tour of schools in Florida, Alabama,
and Mississippi and has
      been warmly received by many teachers and students along the way.

      Why the flap over fishing? Gill wants students to know that fish feel
pain--they have
      neurochemical systems like humans and sensitive nerve endings in
their lips and mouths. They
      begin to die slowly of suffocation the moment they are pulled out of
the water.

      "Kids should be encouraged to enjoy nature without tormenting or
killing animals," says PETA's
      Dawn Carr.

      Undeterred by Principal Hunter, Gill will greet students at the
school at 1901 N. Maryvale St., at
      2:25 p.m. today to encourage them to get hooked on harmless outdoor
pastimes like hiking,
      canoeing, mountain-biking, snorkeling, or camping.
Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 10:51:51 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Shop and abattoir face E-coli charges
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Internet Edition
17 May 97
     Shop and abattoir face E-coli charges
     NAOMI LEE


     An abattoir and two shops could face prosecution after an investigation
into how beef infected with the fatal E-coli 0157:H7 bacteria came to be put
on sale.

 Inspectors were collecting evidence to find out whether the two parties
should be held responsible for the infected meat, said the Department of Health.

 Acting assistant director (hygiene) Dr Monica Wong Man-ha said all samples
from the Sun Luen On shop in Western and the Hop Lee shop in Aberdeen had
been inspected.

 Both shops had been found selling the infected meat this week.

 Samples taken from the Kennedy Town Abattoir which supplied the meat were
also being checked.

 Health Department staff were now compiling a report before seeking advice
on what legal action could be taken.

Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 10:52:01 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Taskforce to overhaul surveillance of hygiene
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>South China Morning Post
Internet Edition
17 May 97
     Taskforce to overhaul surveillance of hygiene
     JANE MOIR and NIALL FRASER


     A taskforce has been set up to overhaul the territory's hygiene
surveillance system - including inspections, enforcement and penalties - in
the wake of the cholera outbreak, Governor Chris Patten announced last night.

 Director of Health Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun will head the taskforce,
comprising representatives from the Urban and Regional Services, Government
Information Services and Housing Department, which will monitor procedures
"as a matter of urgency".

 "We need to look at education, we need to look at standards of inspection
and surveillance, we need to look at enforcement and penalties, we need . .
. to look at training," Mr Patten said.

 "These are not things that should happen in a city like Hong Kong and we
must do everything we can to make certain that Hong Kong has the standards
of food hygiene which it deserves."

 Yesterday, three more cholera cases were detected at hospitals and health
authorities confirmed another suspected case. So far, nine cholera cases
have been confirmed, including a 76-year-old man in critical condition.
Three other people are suspected of having the disease.

 A spokesman from the Health and Welfare Branch said last night branch
Secretary Katherine Fok Lo Shiu-ching would report regularly to the Governor
on the taskforce's work.

 The body, which has already met to discuss handling of the cholera
outbreak, will investigate hygiene laws and standards, methods of
surveillance and inspections, and the penalty system.

 Legislators, regional councillors and health officials have condemned the
current monitoring system as out of date and unacceptable.

 This follows revelations Regional Services Department hygiene inspectors
failed to spot two food factories, including one in Yuen Long linked to the
cholera outbreak, using well water contaminated with human excrement for
food preparation.<P>
 Regional Services Department Assistant Director Lai Kwok-tung admitted
yesterday substandard licensing requirements were drawn up about 20 years
ago. The New Territories were relatively undeveloped and many premises
licensed then were still operating, he said.

 Hygiene inspectors continued to sweep the territory's 499 food factories
yesterday. Three such factories in rural areas are licensed to use well
water for food preparation. Others must use the water only for cleaning.

 By yesterday afternoon, Department of Health officials had contacted the
200 retailers, food outlets and shops known to have received chicken and
ducks' feet from the Dai Yick factory in Yuen Long.

 Another 260 outlets selling produce from the Jackpot factory in Tuen Mun
were also contacted and instructed to dump the produce.

 Authorities still fear some shops may have sold contaminated produce after
health inspectors blitzed both factories on Wednesday.

 Cholera symptoms - vomiting and diarrhoea - show about 12 hours after
contaminated food is eaten. Microbiologist Dr Yuen Kwok-yung said more
people might become infected.

Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 10:52:06 +0800 (SST)
>From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (LK) Protection of the law for animals
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>Daily News
Saturday 17, May 1997
Letters to the Editor
Protection of the law for animals


If animals are to be protected from cruelty, they must be brought under the
shelter of the law and be effectively protected by it.

In fact animals in Sri Lanka are protected by law under the legislative
enactment called the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance. Yet, the
reality is that this law is rarely implemented and even when it is, it is
ineffective, not being updated for nearly a century.

With regard to food animals in particular, since independence, successive
governments, instead of updating the law and carrying out the protection of
animals without any religious or communal bias, have been manipulating the
issue of the handling and slaughter of animals and playing up to the
religious susceptibilities of different communities.

Therefore, today we see how the fate of food animals tragically veers from
being snatched from slaughter on Poya days, (only to be slaughtered the
following day) while on other days, particularly those of religious
festivals, to being slaughtered by the hundreds in the most cruel manner.

It must be stated that cases of cruelty inflicted on animals even openly on
the streets, abound during the season of Hadj. The reason for this is the
practice of leading animals by foot to homes for sacrificial slaughter.
Even the Police tend to turn a blind eye to instances of cruelty committed
openly on the road by people leading animals to slaughter because they seem
to think that the law is to be ignored during religious festivals.

We understand Hadj is a festival of the people of the Islamic faith when
they slaughter cattle, sheep and goats as a sacrificial offering to Allah.
In Sri Lanka people of the Islamic faith purchase animals and the suppliers
send these animals led by hired men to the homes of the buyers. The animals
delivered to homes in Colombo are usually sent from distances of about
eight to ten miles away. The men hired to lead these animals are evidently
chosen for their brutality. Instead of leading the animals gently, and
allowing them to rest a while on the way, these brutish men drive the
frightened animals to walk fast beating them with big sticks until their
bodies are bruised and swollen and they twist their tails, until the bones
are broken in several places.

On the day before Hadj last month, while driving on Duplication Road I
encountered two animals being led by two young men. Having seen the way the
men were twisting their tails and beating them to walk faster, and
observing the state of extreme exhaustion the animals were in, I asked the
men to stop and give the animals a rest. They refused, upon which driving
my car slowly I went along with them. After walking about less than quarter
mile one of the animals collapsed on the road through exhaustion. To my
horror one of the men started beating the fallen animal trying to make it
get up. I immediately intervened, with the help of several sympathetic
passers by and also by a member of Gal Gava Mithuro who had her salon
nearby.

We hailed a passing police vehicle and the officer passed the message to
the Kollupitiya police.

Seeing for themselves the state of the animals and with members of two
animal welfare organizations willing to lodge complaints, the police
ordered the men to lead the animals to the Kollupitiya police station, this
time slowly and without beating.

The two men were produced in courts the next day on the charge of cruelty
to animals and ordered to pay the maximum fine which was just Rs. 250 each.
The Magistrate ordered the police to investigate the papers carried by the
men claiming ownership of the animals. At the next hearing, the magistrate
not being satisfied with the papers produced by the men, ordered the police
to amend the charges adding a new charge of theft. The two animals were
handed to the custody of Sathva Mithra.

What we have tried to show here is that cruelty to animals can be stopped
only by law and the police enforcing the law. The protection of animals
cannot be left in the hands of different communities. Whenever we speak to
a person of the Islamic faith about cruelty to food animals they will not
only condemn it, they will tell us how kindness to animals is taught in the
Quoran. But they refuse to accept the reality as it happens in society
today, especially the cruelties perpetrated on animals by meat traders
belonging largely to their faith. In the case of Buddhists, they will blame
it all on the Muslim community. They do not seriously question the
contribution by Buddhists in sustaining a huge trade in meat by selling of
animals for slaughter, and the consumption of meat by them.

The important thing is to acknowledge that animals are sensitive beings
that feel pain and suffer when tortured. As a civilized society let us
afford them protection through strong, effective laws, honestly enforced. I
am sure there will be many people from every community, reasonable and
compassionate enough to support this view.

SAGARIKA RAJAKARUNANAYAKE,
Sathva Mithra.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:03:22 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Alice in Wonderland
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Mouse Helps Explain What Makes Humans Tick

          By NICHOLAS WADE

New York Times, May 16, 1997

Oh dear, oh dear, I shall be too late," the White
Rabbit exclaimed as he examined his fob watch.

The rabbit overheard by Lewis Carroll's Alice during her
adventures in wonderland now has a real-life counterpart: a
mouse whose biological clock has been genetically reset to
run at a 28-hour cycle instead of 24 hours.

Deranging the daily rhythm of a mouse is not some perverse
goal of modern science but rather a means to a larger end, the
understanding of the biological clocks that govern the daily
lives of everything from microbes to man.

The biological clock in humans governs rhythms like the
sleep-wake cycle, the daily ebb and flow of many hormones,
and the variations in mental alertness. It resets itself daily
according to the amount of light perceived. Without a
well-adjusted clock, the human condition can get very jagged,
as is evident when changing a work shift or flying through too
many time zones for the clock to keep pace.

The biological clock has long defied analysis, in part because
the basic rhythmicity is generated at the deepest levels of the
cell. In mammals, the master clock is in the suprachiasmatic
each eye cross over. The nucleus, about the size of a pinhead,
consists of some 10,000 nerve cells, each containing a tiny
clock at the level of its genes and proteins.

Biologists have identified a few individual components of the
clocks used by fruit flies and by a microbe called Neurospora,
which makes bread mold. But possession of the genes for
these components did not, as is often the case, help fish out
the counterpart genes in mice or humans.

In frustration, a bold new approach was conceived seven
years ago by Dr. Joseph Takahashi of Northwestern
University in Evanston, Ill. In fact it was a bold old approach,
that of trying to find timekeeping genes in mice with the same
mass screening method that was used to find the gene in fruit
flies in 1971. But mice are far harder to work with than fruit
flies.

The method is to serve meals laced with a heavily mutagenic
chemical that randomly changes DNA all along the genome.
By screening enough fruit flies or mice for defects in their
biological clock, the researcher can hope to find one with an
aberrant clock, and then rummage around in its genome to see
which gene was disrupted.

A large facility was built to watch -- for a month -- hundreds
of mice running on wheels. Wheel-running affords an accurate
signal of the animals' internal clock since laboratory mice like
to take exercise regularly and will start punctually to the
minute at the same time each night.

Takahashi and his team expected to have to screen several
thousand mice before hitting on one with a broken clock. But
fortune smiled upon their mouse-deranging endeavors, and it
was mouse No. 25 turned up incurably tardy. No other
seriously clock-deranged mouse has yet shown up. "We were
incredibly lucky," Takahashi said.

The mutant mouse had a basic daily rhythm about an hour
longer than normal mice, caused by a single defective gene,
which Takahashi named the Clock gene. Descendants bred to
have two defective copies of the Clock gene, one from each
parent, had a daily rhythm four hours longer than normal.

Takahashi and his team discovered the clock-deranged
mouse three years ago and then set about trying to identify the
damaged gene, a snippet of genetic material hiding
somewhere within the three billion units of DNA that make up
the mouse's genome. The project took a 10-member team
three years.

In Friday's issue of the journal Cell, the researchers report
having laid hands on the gene and describe the molecular
features of the protein it specifies. Dr. David King led efforts
to pinpoint the location of the gene. Dr. Marina Antoch
directed a clever method of proving the gene's function: she
fixed the clock in mutant mice by substituting a correct piece
of DNA.

Of great interest to specialists is the finding that one stretch of
the protein, known as a domain, resembles a domain seen in
the clock proteins of the fruit fly and the bread mold, even
though the overall protein structures have little similarity. This
bolsters the expectation, hitherto unsupported, that since
circadian rhythms are an ancient behavior in all living creatures
they should have a common basic mechanism.

The common domain is one that enables the protein to
activate certain genes strung along the cell's DNA, though the
target genes have not yet been identified. Just how this
constitutes the mechanism of a clock remains to be
determined. From what is known of the fruit fly and bread
mold clocks, ingenious schemes have been suggested in which
a Clock gene makes a protein, which links up with another
protein and then turns off the gene in a daily feedback loop.

Dr. Steven Reppert, who studies circadian rhythms at the
Massachusetts General Hospital, said the Takahashi team's
work is "really a tour de force," adding, "This is the first
molecular entry into the mammalian clock."

Dr. Charles Czeisler, a neuroendocrinologist at the Brigham
and Women's Hospital in Boston, described the finding as "a
landmark discovery which holds great promise for
understanding the underpinnings" of the human biological
clock.

Some people are night owls, others are alert in the mornings,
a difference that may have a genetic basis. "Given that a
Clock gene has now been identified in mice, one can begin to
tease apart whether these differences in human behavior may
have a genetic basis," Czeisler said.

Takahashi's team found that the normal version of the Clock
gene in mice is made up of 24 sections, known as exons. In
the mutant mouse they created, a single unit of DNA was
changed, causing one of the exons to be lost from the
processed version of the gene. Loss of the exon resulted in a
protein with one part missing, which slowed the clock.

Progress in Clock gene research has been gathering pace
after a slow start. The two clock genes so far known in the
fruit fly are called Period, found in 1971, and Timeless, found
in 1994. The bread mold gene Frequency was discovered in
1978. Two more bread mold genes, dubbed White collar-1
and White collar-2, were reported earlier this month by a
team led by Jay Dunlap and Jennifer Loros at the Dartmouth
Medical School in Hanover, N.H.

=============================================================

"Bold new research" or "bold old research?"  I don't know how bold it is
to use mice as praxis for people but "new" is the last word I would
use.

To give credit where credit is due, the terms "deranged" and "Alice in
Wonderland" are very well chosen, -- though they should be applied to
the researchers, not their animal victims.

It must be a tough job to be a newspaper science writer.  You don't only
have to sell every piece of crap that comes out of the laboratory as
earth-shaking discovery; you also have to be cute and entertaining in
order to sell the paper.

Andy
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:09:29 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: How about a drug that promotes common sense?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

New drug not meant for touch-up weight loss, researchers say

Reuter Information Service

LONDON (May 16, 1997 1:19 p.m. EDT) - A new obesity drug that crossed
the first hurdle of approval this week is not for summertime slimmers,
the developers warned Friday.

But even with a limited market, Hoffman-La Roche Inc hopes its Xenical
(orlistat) will bring $1 billion in annual sales in the United States
alone.

Xenical takes a whole new approach to weight reduction. Instead of
reducing appetite or trying to speed up metabolism, it stops the body
from absorbing fat.

It got initial approval from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
advisory panel on Thursday.

Jayson Dallas, medical director at Roche for Xenical in Europe, said the
company was also waiting for approval from the European Medicines
Evaluation Agency (EMEA).

In the meantime, the company was being deluged with requests for
information from dieters and their doctors.

"One thing that we are at pains to point out is that the drug is
targeted at people whose weight is a risk to their health," he said. In
other words, only the severely obese should be prescribed the drug if
and when it becomes available.

"It's a long-term thing. It's not what you take before you go to the
beach for a couple of weeks. It's not a crash diet," Dallas added.

For an obesity drug, a class of medicines that does not have a good
track record, Xenical has marked effects.

It works by reducing absorption of fat by about 30 percent --
technically it inhibits pancreatic lipase. It must be taken with meals
to work.

Tests on 5,000 volunteers in Europe and the United States showed those
put on a "modest" diet and Xenical lost up to 10 percent of their body
weight -- that was more than 20 pounds (10 kg) for patients weighing 220
pounds (100 kg).

Their diet was moderate in fat by Western standards. Britons and
Americans get up to 40 and sometimes even 50 percent of their calories
from fat. The volunteers ate a diet with 30 percent of calories from
fat.

At first everyone lost weight -- even those given sugar pills or
placebos. But the placebo group later started putting the weight back
on.

"People on Xenical kept that weight off for up to two years," Dallas
said.

The drug also helped control what Stuart Dollow of Roche called "dietary
indiscretions." "If a patient takes a high-fat meal, relatively quickly
afterwards they get a diarrhoeal effect," he
told a recent obesity conference. "It does modify behaviour."

Xenical also slightly lowered blood cholesterol and blood sugar --
something the Roche scientists cannot yet explain. But they are
delighted -- high cholesterol and high blood sugar can lead to the
dangerous health effects of being overweight such as heart disease and
diabetes.

"Even a five percent reduction in your weight can have marked effects on
things like your blood pressure and your blood cholesterol," Dallas
said.

"The main problem that we are going to face is making sure that peoples'
expectations are real. This is not something that you can eat what you
want and carry on and lose weight," he added.

"I think it's very important that we discourage people who want to lose
10 pounds (five kg) very quickly from using this."

By MAGGIE FOX, Reuter

================================================================

Millions of people will dole out hundreds of bucks and put up with the
unpleasant side effects, taking a drug that cuts fat absorption by 30
percent.

How about cutting fat *intake* by 30 percent instead?  Oh yeah, that
would be bad for business!  Not only would Hoffman-La Roche be out of
the anticipated billion dollar revenue, but hamburger joints and meat
producers would also lose sales.

Andy
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:33:50 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: The FDA's double standard
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

FDA warns laxative life-threatening

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (May 16, 1997 4:55 p.m. EDT) -- Americans should not use an
herbal laxative sold as part of the "Arise & Shine" dietary supplement
line because it may cause life-threatening heart problems, the Food and
Drug Administration warned Friday.

The herbal laxative, called "Chomper," is believed responsible for
hospitalizing a young Massachusetts woman about a week ago, the FDA said
in a strongly worded national consumer warning.

Laboratory analysis uncovered "powerful substances which are found in a
number of poisonous plants" and "may result in severe, potentially fatal
heart block even in otherwise healthy individuals," the FDA said.

The FDA discovered ingredients that are similar to the potent cardiology
drug digitalis and that can disrupt normal heart rhythms, eventually
blocking the normal electrical stimulation that keeps the heart pumping,
said Elizabeth Yetley, FDA dietary supplement chief.

Chomper is part of a five-product kit called the "Arise & Shine Cleanse
Thyself Program," Yetley said. It is sold by mail, through health-food
stores and on the Internet.

Taking the tablet "will elevate you toward greater good health, vitality
and energy," said one advertisement Yetley discovered.

The otherwise healthy Massachusetts woman had taken the tablet for
several days before developing nausea and then serious heart-rhythm
abnormalities. She has been discharged but is being monitored for
further effects, the FDA said.

Consumers should not buy or consume the product, and should immediately
seek medical help if they have ingested Chomper and experience nausea,
vomiting, dizziness, headache, confusion, low blood pressure, vision
disturbances or abnormal heart rate or rhythms, the FDA said.

The FDA said it is investigating whether other consumers have suffered
injuries after using Chomper, and whether to take further action.

The FDA said Chomper is sold by Arise & Shine in Mount Shasta, Calif. A
message left with the firm's sales center was not immediately returned.

====================================================================

The FDA wasted no time issuing a warning about the side effects of a
herb supplement.  That's its job, right?  Yet when there are indications
that a prescription drug developed by one of the giant pharmaceuticals
may be injuring or killing hundreds of people, the FDA cautions the
public "not to panic," but continue taking their medications.

Andy
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:54:13 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Sheep farmers warned of looming epidemic
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

>From The Electronuc Telegraph - Saturday, May 17th, 1997

Sheep farmers warned of looming epidemic
By David Brown, Agriculture Editor


A LIVESTOCK disease brought to Britain in a cargo of goats from Germany
seven years ago is spreading rapidly through flocks of sheep, veterinary
scientists warned yesterday.

They said that Britain is on the verge of an "epidemic" of Caseous
lymphadenitis (CLA), a bacterial infection that can be fatal and causes
abscesses on the skin and damage to the lungs, lymph nodes and other organs.
Vets urge that all affected sheep are destroyed.

People can also contract CLA, though such cases are rare. Four outbreaks
have been confirmed recently among pedigree sheep on farms in Northumberland
and the Scottish Borders.

As the sheep-shearing season gets under way, farmers have been urged to look
for signs of the disease.

Graham Baird, of the Scottish Agricultural College, St Boswells,
Roxburghshire, said: "We are getting close to an epidemic. This disease is a
test of what happens when you have totally open borders in Europe."

Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:54:16 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Student find swells bat population in Britain
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronuc Telegraph - Saturday, May 17th, 1997

Student find swells bat population in Britain
By Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent

TWO students believe they have stumbled across a new mammal in the British
Isles - a tiny, three-ounce bat living in an old stables in County Antrim.

The discovery will disconcert experts still recovering from news of another
new bat announced fortnight ago. Before that no new mammals had been found
in the British Isles for more than 50 years.

Experts disagreed yesterday about whether the new bat, a Nathusius'
pipistrelle, is living here permanently or has hidden itself in a temporary
nest on its way from the Baltic states.

"They might have discovered a mating roost before going back to have their
young in Europe," said Prof Paul Racey, Regius Professor of Natural History
at Aberdeen University. But if they remain there over the summer the experts
will have to concede that the bat is now
living in Britain.

The bats, so small they will fit into a matchbox, were found by Jon Russ and
James O'Neill, from the Queen's University of Belfast.

Mr Russ said: "We were checking along woodland edges and found a roost of
common pipistrelle bats. But then I heard a trilling noise on the detector
which was very distinctive from the others. We held the net up and caught
one and were amazed to find it was a Nathusius' pipistrelle.

"It is a very cute, furry creature. It is strange to think that they may
have been here all he time and nobody knew, but then bats constitute a
quarter of all mammals and we know virtually nothing about them."


⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:54:18 -0700 (PDT)
>From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Nuisance the seal might force nuclear plant to shut down
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, May 17th, 1997

Nuisance the seal might force nuclear plant to shut down
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

NUCLEAR Electric may have to shut down its Dungeness B nuclear power station
in Kent to evict a seal which has taken up residence in one of the plant's
reservoirs.

The company said yesterday that the shutdown could cost ú250,000. The 800lb
adult female grey seal, nicknamed Nuisance, was chasing a shoal of fish when
she was sucked into a reservoir that holds sea water drawn in from the
Channel. The water is used to condense
steam from the turbines in the 1,200 megawatt twin-reactor nuclear station.

A spokesman said a filter over the cooling water intake was thought to have
been damaged by a trawler, allowing Nuisance to be sucked down a
200-yard-long, 6ft-wide pipe into the forebay, a triangular holding tank.

The forebay, which is 60 ft deep, 30 yards long and has vertical sides, has
become a lunchtime attraction as the station's employees go to watch
Nuisance's antics.

The good news for Nuisance is that, with 130 million gallons of water being
drawn in every hour, there are plenty of fish to eat. The bad news is that
there are strong currents deep in the tank and she has nowhere to rest.

The tank is too dangerous for divers. Nuclear Electric is planning to lure
the seal on to a suspended wooden platform. A net will be dropped over
Nuisance and the platform removed by crane.

First, they have to wait for her to become tired. This could take some time.
"I am told by marine experts that seals can swim for four weeks non-stop,"
said the spokesman.

If all else fails and she refuses to rest on the platform, Nuclear Electric
said it was prepared to shut down the plant for a day to capture her. The
plan is to send Nuisance to Norfolk. The station also intends to put a
special grill on the end of the intake pipe to ensure the seal cannot return.

This is not the first time that sea life has caused problems for nuclear
power stations. Sprats have put Dungeness A out of action on several
occasions. The tiny fish clog the filters used to clean the reactor's
cooling water.

Asiatic clams knocked out Arkansas Nuclear One power plant in Russelville,
Arkansas. And the St Lucie plant in Florida had to be shut down when it was
hit by a 14-square-mile slick of Cloverleaf and Cannonball jellyfish. The
plant had to be closed for 11 days at a cost of about ú7 million.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 20:56:14 -0700
>From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: A late apology
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Clinton to apologize to victims of syphilis experiments

The Associated Press

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (May 16, 1997 10:19 a.m. EDT) -- For decades, Fred
Simmons suffered from syphilis without knowing it because the government
had decided not to tell him. Now, at 100, he is in a forgiving mood.

"I'm going to go up there, shake the president's hand and tell him I'm
doing all right," Simmons said as he left for the White House on
Thursday.

On Friday, President Clinton will offer an apology to Simmons and three
other men -- ages 91 to 100 -- for one of the most shameful episodes in
American history: the 40-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which poor
black men were unwittingly denied treatment for the disease they knew as
"bad blood." The experiment was aimed at learning exactly what syphilis
does to the body.

For a long time, Simmons was not all right. He suffered years of
discomfort. One month nearly 50 years ago, he could not eat or walk,
bled from sores and nearly starved to death.

Some feel that the apology to the four survivors and other victims comes
25 years late and hundreds of miles from where it should be issued.

"They thought he was going to die, but then one day he started getting
better," said Simmons' grandson, Michael Simmons. "There was never any
cure. We just prayed a lot. That worked better than anything."

Simmons was among the 399 black men from rural southern Alabama who
signed up for medical care in the 1930s, unaware they had syphilis. All
of them were denied penicillin, the standard treatment for the disease
since 1947. An additional 200 or so who did not have syphilis were used
in a control group.

Those who were infected left thousands of descendants, many of whom had
to deal with the stigma of coming from a family with a known history of
syphilis.

"The way they treated him and the way they treated us, it was horrible,"
said Dora Banks, 90, the daughter of a syphilis victim. "I don't even
like to think about it anymore."

Herman Shaw, another survivor headed for the White House, said he felt
like a guinea pig as government doctors subjected him to spinal taps and
blood tests he thought would cure him of his illness.

A 1972 article by The Associated Press exposed the study. The AP
reported that 28 of the men who signed up for the supposed treatment had
died of syphilis and 100 others had died of syphilis-related
complications.

At least 40 wives had been infected and 19 children contracted the
disease at birth. Hundreds of others watched as the disease ravaged
their loved ones.

In the final stages, syphilis produces rubbery tumors that form large,
crusty ulcers on the skin. The disease also eats away at bones, the
liver, the heart and the brain and can cause paralysis, blindness
and deafness.

David Allen recalled hearing stories about the slow death of his
grandfather, Benjamin Rockamore.

"He lost teeth, broke out in rashes, all kinds of stuff," Allen said.
"At the end he couldn't eat. My mother said it was terrible to watch.
And to know he was used like that ... it was very inhumane."

The experiments contributed to a mistrust of government among blacks and
added to suspicions that diseases such as AIDS are part of a genocidal
conspiracy.

A study by a University of Alabama professor found that black people who
are aware of the Tuskegee experiment are more reluctant to take part in
government-run medical experiments.

The government has never actually admitted wrongdoing, though it has
distributed about $10 million to more than 6,000 survivors and their
family members after settling a 1973 class-action lawsuit.

Shaw, 94, said: "For so long, we began to think nothing was going to
happen -- that we had reached the end of the ballgame. This is late, but
it will help quite a bit."

By EDDIE PELLS, Associated Press Writer



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