Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news41~8.htm/text0016.txt

Internet Message Format | 1998-04-03 | 95.0 KB

From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Restaurant linked to infection allowed to reopen
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Hong Kong Standard
21 MAy 97
Restaurant linked to infection allowed to reopen

THE Health Department has allowed the New Kwong Tong Seafood Restaurant _
which employed two food handlers who caught cholera _ to reopen for business
after it was shut last week.

But the restaurant will not open until Thursday to allow staff to attend a
health seminar.

The restaurant is also being sterilised and its kitchen wares, eating
utensils, air-conditioning units and washrooms are all being cleaned.

Two male employees, 56 and 38, and a boy, 6, who ate on the premises have
been identified as cholera carriers, but they show none of the infection's
symptoms.

The two workers are known to have travelled to the mainland between 7 and 9
May. Both fell ill on 10 May.

The restaurant's manager, who gave his name as a Mr Hui, said the restaurant
lost $3 million during its three-day closure.

Meanwhile, the Urban Services Department (USD) on Tuesday revealed the
restaurant's Western branch received three summonses for hygiene violations
before cholera was discovered in Tuen Mun.

Director of Health Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun again said health authorities
should be given greater power to shut down food premises which are suspected
of being sources of infectious disease.

``We want to act early to prevent infectious diseases, to look at sources,''
she said.

Dr Chan is heading an interdepartmental special task force which is
considering measures such as raising penalties, reviewing the licensing
system, closing loopholes in the law and strengthening the
inspection system to improve food hygiene.

A crackdown on 4,237 licensed food producers and suppliers in urban areas
found no premises with poor hygienic conditions, Director of Urban Services
Elaine Chung Lai-kwok said, adding
USD officers had begun a four-day inspection of all unlicensed food factories.

An Employees Retraining Board spokesman said the authority was planning to
launch more basic food hygiene courses for catering industry workers.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 14:53:14 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (HK-MY) Seized terrapins find a home
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Hong Kong Standard
21 May 97
Seized terrapins find a home

THE temple terrapins seized by the Agriculture and Fisheries Department late
last month will soon
have a new home in a Malaysian wildlife reserve.

The Malaysian government has agreed to accept the giant turtles, seized on
29 April from a Wan
Chai flat, and they will soon be flown to the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah,
in East Malaysia.

But a veterinary officer responsible for the care of the tropical turtles,
Thomas Sit, said on Tuesday
one of the 10 turtles died recently of an infection caused by injuries
suffered before the seizure.

The remaining turtles have been housed in a pond at a department depot.

``The turtles are in good condition and seem to enjoy having access to the
pond,'' Mr Sit said.

Meanwhile, the owner of the flat where the turtles were seized on Tuesday
was spared a jail term.

Eastern Magistrate James Lee Chung-yin jailed businessman Ng Keung, 43, for
two months,
suspended for two years, after Ng told him he was reluctant to perform
community service as he
was busy and sick.

Ng, who pleaded guilty to illegal trading in 10 live turtles and inflicting
cruelty to them, also was fined
$1,000 and ordered to pay $5,000 costs.

The court heard the 10 turtles discovered in Ng's home at Morrison Hill
Road, Wan Chai, had been
caused unnecessary suffering.

When two department officers posed as buyers to approach Ng on 28 April they
found the aquatic
turtles on the tiled floor of his flat.

Initially Ng offered to sell them for $12,000 each but next day offered them
for $6,000 if they
bought all of them.
Ng was arrested after he told officers he did not have a licence to sell them.


Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 14:53:19 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: (HK)  Cholera crisis riddle as tests draw a blank
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>South China Morning post
Wednesday  May 21  1997
     Cholera crisis riddle as tests draw a blank
     JANE MOIR


     The search for the source of the cholera outbreak looks set to continue
after two more cases were confirmed yesterday and test results from two food
factories linked to thoutbreak came up blank.

     Although the Department of Health suspected cholera bacteria to be
rampant at the  Yuen Long and Tuen Mun food factories condemned for
breaching hygiene standards, cultures taken so far have tested negative.

     That would be impossible if the water was to blame for the outbreak,
Society of
     Infectious Diseases spokesman Dr Lai Jak-yiu noted.

     Director of Health Dr Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun said samples taken
from the
     factories, which prepare chicken and duck feet, were "heavily
contaminated" with
     E-coli and coliform bacteria.

     More test results are pending, a health spokesman said, adding that
investigations         into the two cases confirmed yesterday would be
conducted immediately.
The two latest victims - a 91-year-old woman in poor condition and a 69-year-old
     woman - are both at Princess Margaret Hospital.

     A second worker from the New Canton Restaurant in Tuen Mun was
confirmed as a cholera carrier yesterday. Again, no cholera has shown up in
samples from the
     restaurant.

     And a six-year-old boy was also confirmed as a carrier yesterday. His
mother is one of the 13 other confirmed victims.

     Meanwhile, legislator Dr Leong Che-hung lambasted a taskforce set up to
scrutinise the handling of cholera outbreaks. He said it had failed to take
follow-up action after  the 1994 outbreak which put 56 people in hospital.
"It's not been properly monitored, there are too many black spots," he said.

Seafood suppliers have ignored Department of Health recommendations to take
water
     from Ko Teng Hau in Sai Kung, and not the cholera-infested waters of
Causeway Bay or Aberdeen. Plans to enforce this were shelved in 1995.

     So far this year, only seven suppliers have applied for permits to
collect water from Sai Kung. Six applied last year, and four in 1995. The
permits last a week.

     The Legislative Council's health panel is due to hold a special meeting
tomorrow. Dr Leong said he would press for hygiene laws to be changed
"overnight".



Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 00:30:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Runway moles dig in after raid by bailiffs
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[Interestingly all the links from this page are to sites opposing the runway
extension and include FoE Manchester, Urban 75, and the Coalition Against
Runway 2]

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, May 21st, 1997

Runway moles dig in after raid by bailiffs
By Nigel Bunyan


A DAWN raid by black-clad security men yesterday launched the operation to
evict environmental protesters from the site of Manchester Airport's planned
second runway.

Teams of men deployed by the under-sheriff of Cheshire began moving into
woodland fringing the Bollin Valley shortly before 4am. They quickly
overpowered the more visible of the 'eco-warriors' living in two out of six
treetop camps established during the past 16 weeks.
But, to the sound of whistles, cat-calls and the frequent roar of aircraft
taking off from the existing runway, they spent much of the rest of the day
consolidating their position.

The under-sheriff, Randal Hibbert, is anxious not to order full assaults on
the protesters' network of tunnels until more of the adjacent trees have
been vacated and felled. In the meantime, compressed air is being pumped
into tunnels thought to be occupied by up to 20
protesters. The tunnels, which are said to have provisions for up to two
months, are also being monitored for the presence of methane gas.

The entire eviction of around 100 protesters, many of them veterans of
similar protests at Honiton, Newbury and the M65 near Blackburn, Lancs, is
expected to stretch at least into next week. By the time Operation Fulcrum
was launched security men had surrounded the
protesters' camps - Zion Tree, Sir Cliff Richard OBE Vegan Revolution,
Flywood, River Rats, Jimi Hendrix and Wild Garlic - with miles of steel-mesh
fencing. Journalists were given only restricted access, and protesters
claimed that "legal observers" were not allowed on to the site at all.

In the initial raid the under-sheriff's men targeted the Zion Tree and Jimi
Hendrix camps. They removed 20 protesters, most of whom had been sitting or
lying around a camp fire. A green and red flag had fluttered above the crown
of Zion Tree. But shortly after 9am a phalanx of climbers, wearing white
boiler suits and helmets, tore it down.

Less than seven hours after Operation Fulcrum began Mr Hibbert, who had been
unable to use earth-movers because of the risk of tunnels collapsing,
claimed that it was going "basically according to plan".

He rejected claims by protesters that his 60-strong team of sheriff's
bailiffs, tree climbers and tunnellers had been armed with truncheons and
staves. Nor, he said, had they been heavy-handed. One woman protester had
sprained her ankle when she slipped, another suffered injuries to her wrists
when she struggled to free herself from handcuffs, and a television
journalist had complained of being struck about the head. The latter
complaint was being investigated by police.

There was "nothing sinister" in the fact that some of his team had been
wearing black balaclavas under their helmets, he said. This was simply to
ensure that their identities did not become known to protesters.

Mr Hibbert confirmed that 11 people had been arrested for obstructing an
under-sheriff in his duty. He went on: "Safety and security have been at the
top of the list of our priorities in planning this eviction. I am told that
the tunnels are in some respects dangerous - dangerous to the protesters and
dangerous to the tunnellers who have got to get them out.

"Timing depends very much on the progress on this particular site. The
tunnellers cannot start until the trees have been taken down. Until we get
into the tunnels we do not know how long it will take to get the people out.
We are talking at the moment about days rather than
hours."

The Bollin Valley protesters have predicted that the authorities will find
it far more difficult to evict them than their counterparts at other sites.
As well as constructing a series of tunnels, some of them said to be up to
50ft deep and 100ft in length, a number have attached
themselves to "lock-ons" - metal spikes set into concrete.

Some protesters complained that they had been beaten with truncheons as the
eviction gained momentum. One, who gave his name as Rob, said: "We got
kicked and they weren't gentle about it. They had massive truncheons and
they were using them to get rid of us."

Another, Phil, said he had been down a tunnel when the bailiffs moved in. "I
had been sleeping about 5ft down the tunnel and I was woken up by the
voices," he said. "They were hammering on the door to the tunnel with a
sledgehammer and I 'locked on' to a pipe in the
tunnel so they couldn't pull me out. They were shouting and swearing and
said I would get really injured if I didn't come out.

"They said they had CS gas and they sprayed a sort of liquid down the
tunnel. But it didn't sting so I didn't think it was CS gas. They broke the
door open and I was hit on the head and arms with a truncheon. I unlocked
myself from the pipe and they pulled me out and handed me over to the police."

Jeff Gazzard, a long-term anti-runway campaigner from the Manchester Airport
Environmental Network, accused the under-sheriff's men of "a violent assault
on peaceful protesters". He
claimed that both police and bailiffs had reneged on an agreement that he
should act as a mediator. After being ejected from the site, he said: "This
is completely one-sided. They have broken their agreement to let us on-site.

"It was allegedly because of comments I made to the media, but how the
under-sheriff could possibly have heard those when he is on the site this
morning I don't know. We are going to see the police to see if we can come
to a fresh agreement."

Mr Gazzard complained that video cameras, which protesters had intended to
use to record the bailiffs at work, had been banned from the site. He said:
"We thought we had an agreement that we could monitor the safety of our
colleagues and friends. This facility has
been withdrawn on a whim. This must raise questions over what the
under-sheriff has to hide by denying access to independent observers."

Mr Hibbert's teams halted the eviction at 6pm. They were due to resume their
work at 8am today.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 00:30:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Store to sue over 'wildlife killer claim'
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, May 21st, 1997

Store to sue over 'wildlife killer claim'

JOHN Lewis, the department store chain, is suing anti-field sports
protesters over a leaflet accusing it of being "wildlife killers".

At the centre of the row is the group's 3,000-acre estate at Leckford
Abbass, Stockbridge, Hants, where staff are invited to shoot pheasant, duck
and other birds.

The National Anti-Hunt Campaign has been handing out the leaflet at
demonstrations after ignoring requests to delete certain claims. John Lewis
is taking exception to comments in the leaflet and details it contains
including the number of times a week the estate is used and  the number of
birds shot.

Neil Hansen, campaign spokesman, said: "It is a pathetic attempt by John
Lewis to shut us up. But we will not be silenced."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 00:30:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Anger as farmer rips out hedges
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, May 21st, 1997

Anger as farmer rips out hedges
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor




FURTHER evidence emerged yesterday that farmers are pulling out hedges
before rules come into effect on June 1 requiring them to seek permission
from local authorities.

Conservationists said that two lengths of hedge totalling more than 200
yards had been removed at Dilwyn, Herefordshire, by Derek Lewis, a farmer
and parish council vice-chairman. The incident follows the removal of 1,300
yards of hedge earlier this year in the neighbouring parish of Weobley and a
series of similar incidents in the county.

The removal came as the Council for the Protection of Rural England
published an action pack showing how to survey hedges for evidence  that
they will be protected by the new legislation. The guide tells volunteers
how to identify hedgerow species such as hornbeam, wild service tree, black
poplar and field maple and record them on survey cards for local planners.

Local residents said they were "disgusted" by the timing of the hedge
removal at Dilwyn, which was at the height of the nesting season. But Mr
Lewis said: "There were no birds in the hedge. We checked. Otherwise I
wouldn't have pushed it down. I'm a nature lover. There is no law at the
moment to stop you taking out hedges."

One hedge formed the side of a green lane and the other divided a glebe
field which Mr Lewis had recently bought from the church.

David Lovelace of the Council for the Protection of Rural England said: "It
is ironic that this was a hedge which was unlikely to be protected by the
way the guidelines have been written."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 00:30:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Cloned sheep's fleece to aid charity
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, May 21st, 1997

Cloned sheep's fleece to aid charity
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

DOLLY, the world-famous sheep that was cloned from an adult cell, was
sheared for the first time yesterday to help raise money for charity.

The 10-month-old Finn Dorset sheep produced enough wool for a hat, jumper
and pair of mittens. The fleece will be auctioned later this  year by the
Cystic Fibrosis Trust to draw attention to the life-threatening inherited
disease. The shearing took place at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, where
Dr Ian Wilmut and colleagues made history with Dolly in February.

They paved the way to unprecedented genetic manipulation of farmyard
animals, more cheaply, quickly and accurately than before. Geordie Bayne,
the world champion shearer, was slow and deliberate in removing Dolly's
fleece. "Dolly is quite a large sheep and there was quite a lot of fleece,"
said Dr Harry Griffin of the Institute. "She was not fazed by her experience."

Dolly can help cystic fibrosis sufferers in two ways, said Dr Martin Scott,
medical director of the trust."There is the potential for increased
availability of rare life-saving drugs which reduce inflammation in the
lungs of CF patients. Secondly, we hope Dolly will teach us more about how
genes work and help us find an eventual cure for CF."

PPL Therapeutics, which collaborated with Roslin to create Dolly, recently
began clinical testing of a drug to treat cystic fibrosis, purified from
milk from sheep that had been genetically altered using a traditional
method. Each animal has been altered with a human
gene so they make the drug in their milk.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 00:30:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Unhygienic abattoirs face closure
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, May 21st, 1997

Unhygienic abattoirs face closure
By David Brown, Agriculture Correspondent

ABATTOIRS will be closed if they do not comply with hygiene standards
designed to protect the consumer, the Government warned yesterday.

Jeff Rooker, the food safety minister, ordered the Meat Hygiene Service to
get tough with slaughterhouses which were damaging public confidence in
food. He told Johnston McNeill, chief executive of the MHS, which is
responsible for enforcing abattoir regulations, that he should "be in no
doubt where the Government's priorities lie."

"The service should work with industry to eliminate the poor practices that
are still too common," he said. "Every piece of meat that we eat must be
produced to the highest of standards."

About 31 abattoirs in England alone - about three per cent of the total -
which operate under special derogations from regulations are most at risk
from the new policy. In March, 45 MHS employees were disciplined and three
dismissed for failing to follow rules intended to stop the spread of BSE.
Earlier, there were accusations that a report condemning hygiene standards
in abattoirs and which could have prevented the E coli outbreak in Scotland
which killed 20 people was suppressed by the then Agriculture Minister,
Douglas Hogg.

Concern has been expressed that rules ordering removal of specified bovine
offal from carcasses have not been followed rigorously.

The MHS welcomed Mr Rooker's call. It pointed out that the proportion of
abattoirs operating outside required standards had been reduced from 70 per
cent in 1993 to only three per cent.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 00:30:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [US] White House Millie dies
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Wednesday, May 21st, 1997

White House Millie dies
By Hugo Gurdon in Washington

MILLIE, the springer spaniel whose grip on America's affections proved more
durable than that of her owner, George Bush, has died at the former
president's home in Kennebunkport, Maine. "The family are very sad," a
spokesman said.

During her tenure at the White House between 1989 and 1993, the presidential
pet often hogged the news, making headlines as a drug abuser in 1992 after
being prescribed steroids to treat her lupus.

Nevertheless, she was a useful foil for Mr Bush's patrician humility.
Struggling to fend off Bill Clinton's challenge in 1992, Mr Bush used the
slogan "Millie, not Willie" in a plea to voters to retain the status quo.

The spaniel's most striking achievement was to become a best-selling author
in 1990. Millie's Book . . . as Dictated to Barbara Bush instantly sold out
of its 135,000 first printing and eventually raised  ú600,000 for charity
after the dog undertook a publicity tour of the
nation's television studios.

It included pictures of Millie with the Queen, with other dignitaries and on
Air Force One. In another picture, which showed Mr Bush's politically fatal
inability to loosen up, the then president is seen playing with Millie and
her puppies, still wearing a suit and neatly knotted tie.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 16:05:24 +0800
From: jwed <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (Cn) Hong Kong to get beefed up food supply
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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China Daily 21st May 1997

INLAND areas will continue to supply fresh food to Hong Kong and Macao
through three express trains that have run for 35 years, officials promised
yesterday in Beijing.

After the two territories return to the motherland, respectively in July 1,
1997 and December 31, 1999, the food supply from inland areas will be
strengthened, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation and
the Ministry of Railways vowed in a meeting commemorating the 35th
anniversary of the operation of the three trains.

The trains, starting from Jiang'an of Hubei Province, New Longhua of
Shanghai and Zhengzhou of Henan Province, now transport 99 per cent of
poultry and livestock, and over 50 per cent of frozen meat, aquatic
products, vegetables and fruits to the Hong Kong market.

Date: 05/21/97
Author: Dian Tai

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 16:05:12 +0800
From: jwed <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (Cn) Awareness of need to protect wildlife spreads
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China Daily  21st May 1997

EARLIER this spring, a villager cutting firewood near his house in a remote
mountain area found a sick giant panda lying on the ground. He ran to a
nearby wildlife protection station 30 kilo-metres away to report his
discovery.

Several hours later, the giant panda was receiving emergency treatment, and
15 days later, it was released in the woods, completely recovered.

The villager lives in San-guanmiao, a village in Northwest China's Shaanxi
Province. Sanguanmiao is located in the center of the Foping National
Natural Reserve which is home to more than 60 giant pandas.

According to Zhan Jian, administration chief of the reserve, during the
past decade the reserve has cured 14 sick giant pandas, most of them first
found and reported by local villagers.

"In our reserve such rare animals and birds like the giant panda, takin and
golden pheasant are often seen near villagers' houses, and the villagers
usually treat them in a friendly manner, thanks to their raised awareness
of wildlife protection," he said.

He said that such awareness spread even more after the reserve was selected
as one of 10 demonstration reserves in China to be aided by the Global
Environment Facility nearly two years ago.

"Earlier this year, we decided to confiscate the villagers' hunting rifles
to better protect wildlife. After only a little persuasion and education,
all the rifles of the more than 300 villagers living within our reserve
were soon handed over without delay," Zhan said.

In the Shennongjia National Natural Reserve in Central China's Hubei
Province, the Reserve Administration is also enjoying good co-operation
with the local villagers.

Zhan Quanyi, director of the Reserve Administration, said that whenever
heavy snow cut off the mountain area in recent years, the local villagers
were always mobilized by the government to do something to help the wildlife.

"Usually villagers put some food on the main mountain passes outside their
villages," said the director. (Xinhua)
Date: 05/21/97


Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 17:07:44 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (JP) Human egoism and the silence of the pets
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>Asahi Shimbun
21 may 97

POINT OF VIEW:Human egoism and the silence of the pets

In early April a maker of pharmaceuticals for animals in Toyama Prefecture
went bankrupt, leaving 440 cats and dogs in the lurch. After this was
reported, an animal rights group in Toyama got more than 3,000 messages
nationwide from volunteers willing to take in the unwanted animals.

The collapse of the firm--the Blue Cross Animal Blood Center in
Oya-be--aroused sympathy over the fate of animals that had been abandoned
for human convenience. However, even this expression of sympathy reflected a
measure of human egoism.

The 240 dogs involved included 70 beagles, 50 Siberian huskies, and 30 each
of golden and Labrador retrievers. Among the 200 cats were 80 Persians, 30
chinchillas and 20 American shorthairs.

Of the 3,000-odd people who offered to foster these animals an overwhelming
majority, or 2,800, asked for dogs. In other words, there was just one dog
available for every 12 applicants.

As for the cats, the "competition" was just about even, with about 200
people asking for the same number of felines.

The surprise is that 80 percent of those who asked for dogs singled out
golden and Labrador retrievers.

Visitors taking a firsthand look at the animals included not only residents
of Toyama but people from neighboring prefectures such as Ishikawa and
Nagano. There were even many from more distant prefectures, such as Shizuoka.

"I have to see the dogs before I can decide which one I want," a visitor
demanded, speaking offensively to former employees who were taking care of
the animals as volunteers. Another visitor complained, "I can't accept
animals chosen at random."

I cannot help but feel that maybe these people were trying to pick cats and
dogs as if they were visiting a pet shop or something. They seemed hooked on
the pet craze, though there were peoplewho have a genuine desire to protect
animals.

The pet boom is also part of the reason why so many dogs and cats had come
to the center. Although most of the beagles had been reproduced to supply
blood, many other dogs, including Siberian huskies, had been sold off by
breeders and pet shops because their prices had dropped.

The center had fed those animals in order to supply blood or use them as
guinea pigs.

As the pet boom overheated, there developed two groups of animals--those who
take blood and those who give it. I wonder how many pet lovers are aware of
this.

The pet boom is creating stress in cats and dogs, which are becoming
"humanized" as they show symptoms similar to those of humans.

Pets that undergo surgery often need a blood transfusion. So, as in the case
of human patients, their blood types must be identified. That is why Blue
Cross had commercially developed, for the first time in the world, a
chemical agent for determining animal blood types. The center had also
started developing blood products for animal use.

The firm had taken large amounts of blood from cats and dogs for use in
research and development. Had it succeeded in commercial production of blood
products, far more blood would have been taken from the animals.

In fact, Blue Cross had plans to set up a blood bank for pet dogs and cats.
Also, it had produced animals with rare blood types or certain antibodies
and raised them in rooms with almost no windows.

There is a world of difference between these two groups of cats and
dogs--those that are kept as man's companions and those that are held for
experiment and blood supply. At the root of this all is human egoism.

The reports of the abandoned animals have sent a wave of sympathy across the
nation. But what happened before and after reflects not so much real love
for animals as expediency and selfishness on the part of humans.

Animal rights groups, in particular, are raising questions about the need to
raise animals for blood transfusions and experimentation.

In the meantime, the more healthy among the ill-fated animals are being
handed over to prospective owners. The North Japan Animal Welfare
Association in Toyama is examining the eligibility of applicants to make
sure they do not desert their adopted animals.

The whole episode brings up the question of the correct relationship between
man and animals in an urban setting, a theme that should be discussed in
depth. If abandoned cats and dogs could speak, they would probably cry out,
"Human beings are so irresponsible!"

The author is a reporter in Asahi Shimbun's Toyama Bureau.


Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 17:07:51 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (IN) Tanneries and pollution
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>The Hindu
''Pollution abatement by TN tanneries
               impressive''
               Date: 21-05-1997 :: Pg: 05 :: Col: a
               CHENNAI, May 20.

               The initiatives taken by the leather industry in Tamil Nadu
in cooperation
               with the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) and the
National
               Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to minimise
               pollution load in tanneries and ensure safe discharge of
effluents are
               impressive, according to Michel Aloy, Chairman of the Environment
               Commission of the International Union of Leather
Technologists and
               Chemists Societies (IULTCS) and Chief (Environment) of CTC,
France.

               In a statement issued here, Mr. Aloy says: I have gone
through a report
               appearing in your widely read newspaper regarding treatment
of tannery
               effluent in the State of Tamil Nadu and the measures
currently under way
               under the guidance and support of the Central Leather
Research Institute,
               Chennai, and the National Environmental Engineering Research
Institute,
               Nagpur.

               Among the various services rendered by CTC France to the leather
               industry in France and elsewhere in the world, assistance in
effective
               treatment of tannery effluent is a major activity. CTC has
been for 25 years
               in the business of providing technical assistance and
guidance to tanneries
               in different parts of the world in efficient treatment of
tannery effluent to
               enable the tanners to conform to the pollutant discharge
standards.

               I am somewhat surprised at the statement (quoted in a report
in THE
               HINDU dated May 7/May 8, 1997) that no viable and safe method of
               disposal of chrome-bearing sludge has yet been identified
anywhere in the
               world. In many countries, including the USA, sludge
containing trivalent
               chrome (as is the case with tannery sludge) is not declared
as hazardous at
               all. It is certainly well within the scientific capability of
institutions like the
               CLRI and NEERI to provide competent solutions to disposal of
chrome-
               bearing sludge.

               I have been watching with considerable interest and
admiration the various
               initiatives taken by the leather industry in Tamil Nadu in
dealing with the
               problem of tannery pollution. In the last five years I have
visited this part of
               India many times and I am truly impressed by the tremendous
progress
               achieved by this industry in abating pollution caused by
tanneries. I would
               consider some of the steps taken by the CLRI recently as
challenging but
               in the right direction.

               Making an audit of such a large number of tanneries and
guiding them on
               adopting measures that will help reduce pollution load is
indeed welcome.
               With such competent scientific institutions as the CLRI and
NEERI guiding
               the tanners of Tamil Nadu in tackling the problem of tannery
pollution, I
               believe that the State should be able to comprehensively
resolve this
               problem soon enough.

               I may add that in Europe, countries like Spain, France,
Germany, Italy and
               the U.K. continue to process a considerable quantity of hides
and skins
               and these do treat and discharge effluent conforming to their
respective
               national standards. To say that tannery effluent is not
treatable is an
               unacceptable statement.

               Dr. T. Ramasami, Director, CLRI, is an internationally
recognised scientist
               in his field of specialisation and I wish him great success
in the task he has
               undertaken.




Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 07:09:46 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US)  Albatross dying on menu of flotsam
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from CNN web page:
-----------------------------------
                     Albatross dying on menu of flotsam

                     May 20, 1997
                     Web posted at: 11:31 p.m. EDT (0331 GMT)

                     From San Francisco Bureau Chief Greg Lefevre

                     SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- In the Pacific Ocean,
                     hundreds of miles from anywhere, hundreds and
                     perhaps thousands of albatross are dying, choking
                     on plastic.

                     Albatross pluck fish and squid from the ocean
                     surface, and floating there, too, is the world's
                     garbage. Amid the bones and feathers of albatross
                     carcasses can be spotted bright-colored bottle
                     caps and cigarette lighters.

                     Albatross eat the garbage. "Their idea is that
                     anything that is floating is likely to have food
                     value," said marine biologist David Ainley.

                     "If they eat too much plastic, they ... feel full.
                     Then they don't eat real food, or don't eat enough
                     food, so they lose weight."

                      Fuzzy albatross chicks are especially
                              vulnerable. Some albatross scoop up fish
                     eggs clinging to flotsam, ingesting both.

                     "Albatrosses can often ingest floating plastic,
                     bring it back and feed the chick, and often times
                     albatross chicks can die because their stomachs
                     are full of plastic and they can't get food," said
                     Steve Bailey of the Oceanic Society.

                     Scientists can't yet tell precisely how seriously
                     the population is affected by the plastic
                     pollution. The birds live up to 50 years, so
                     population trends are slow to emerge.

                     The ocean currents seem to bring the plastic from
                     everywhere. It is dumped from ships at sea. It
                     washes down the rivers of Asia. It is washed off
                     the beaches of Central America.

                     International treaties are beginning to help. Bans
                     on overboard dumping have cut the plastic
                     pollution by about half in less than a decade, and
                     limits on drift nets radically reduced the numbers
                     of birds tangled in nets.

                     But new perils continue to emerge, the latest
                     including long fishing lines with baited hooks.

                     "These albatross are eating the bait and then
                     getting hooked, then drowning when the thing goes
                     down to the bottom," Ainley said.

                     The irony? The albatross shows no fear of humans.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 07:19:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Debbie Leahy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Dissection Survey
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

There's a dissection choice bill in Illinois that was recently passed in the
House and will likely be voted on by senators this week. Today's Chicago
Sun-Times is conducting a phone poll ... "Should biology students be
required to dissect animals?"  The NO phone number is 312/408-3642.
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 07:38:48 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Manatee Facility Filling up
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------
 05/21/1997 05:32 EST

 Manatee Facility Filling up

 FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Manatees that cannot live in the wild are
 filling up facilities set aside for their care, forcing wildlife
 officials to seek places outside Florida that are suitable to the
 endangered animals.

 ``The rehabilitation facilities are crowded beyond their capacity to care
 for the animals, so we're looking at alternatives,'' said Robert Turner,
 manatee rehabilitation coordinator at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

 The wildlife service has never moved manatees out of Florida, where five
 facilities care for 50 or so animals that have been injured or orphaned.

 While many will eventually be returned to their natural habitats, about a
 dozen cannot be released to the wild because they've been in captivity
 too long, were too badly injured or were orphaned too young.

 ``If somebody can build a good facility that meets the standards we have
 in Florida, we're not opposed to them receiving permanent captives,''
 said Kipp Frohlich of the Florida Office of Endangered Species.

 So far the Columbus Zoo in Ohio is the only facility that has talked
 seriously about the idea. Its board of directors has approved a $25,000
 feasibility study.

 Other offers have been rejected.

 ``I've been approached in the past by facilities that wanted to display
 manatees, and I told them that's not going to happen,'' Turner said.
 ``But now we're in a position where we need help.''

 Earlier this year, scientists counted 2,229 of the endangered sea cows in
 Florida waters. A record 415 manatees died in Florida last year; 151 of
 those perished in Southwest Florida between March 5 and April 27 due to
 red tide toxin.

 Manatees are now at five facilities in Florida: Florida Lowry Park Zoo in
 Tampa, Sea World in Orlando, Epcot in Lake Buena Vista, the Miami
 Seaquarium and the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 07:44:14 -0500
From: "JBeam" <[e-mail]>
To: "AR-News" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Dissection opinion poll
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

WMAQ, a large Chicago talk-radio station, has a daily opinion poll, todays
(5/21) question is: "Do you think students should be required to dissect in
biology classes?"
To register a NO vote dial:  312-733-67NO (try to do by 5 pm CST).

The reason for the poll is that a bill introduced by the Illinois Humane
PAC is being debated in the state Senate, it won handily in the House and
stands an excellent change of passing.  Please call and register a NO vote,
you do not have to talk to anyone, it is an automated message counter.
Thanks much!!

Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 00:51:28 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Wgtn Animal Action)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: KAIMANAWA HORSES: Ten arrests in weekend of protests in New Zealand
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Last year after a huge controversy just a few weeks before the
election, the New Zealand Government announced it had postponed a
plan to kill over a thousand Kaimanawa wild horses by shooting
them from helicopters. Recently they announced they would round up
the horses and offer them to good homes and the rest would be sent
to the slaughterhouses. They say its up to 'horse lovers' to find
homes for them, and have placed adverts in all the papers saying
"Adopt a Horse". Of course very few people have the land and the
skill to take in a wild horse and the issue is not one of finding
homes for the horses as they already have a home in the wild. So
in practise this new plan means over 1200 wild horses will be
rounded up and auctioned off to slaughterhouses, leaving less then
500 in the wild. The roundup started last wek and this is a report
of the protests.

 ==============================================================
Monday night after a weekend of protesting in Taihape (small country
town in the central North Island). The Department of Conservation has
started rounding up over 1000 wild horses and transporting them to
yards until they can be auctioned for slaughter. The horses live in
the Kaimanawa ranges which is mostly army exercise land apart from
the northern foresty bit which belongs to the local Maori tribe.
Actually the whole lot belongs to the Maori but the govt confiscated
it bit by bit up to as recently as the 1970's. The horses have been
there since last century.

We stayed a wee way out of town at a local Marae (For overseas
readers a Marae is a Maori community meeting place which is used
for all sorts of ceremonies etc and is the center of life for the
Maori in the area). The Meeting house we slept in was all carved
and painted and had one of the painted beams in the inside of the
roof had an unpainted bit where some people can see a wild horses
face in the wood if they look hard enough and the horse wants to
be seen...

After we dropped all our stuff off we all drove up to the desert
Road which is the main road going up the North Island and goes
through the army training area. The Kaimanawa Horse Action Network
(KHAN) had organised a demo on the main highway. We stood around
most of the day waving signs etc at passing traffic. We were on a
main highway in the middle of miles and miles of tussock grass and
wind. It was cold. It was dull.

That night back at the Marae the vegans did all the cooking for
everyone as it seemd the only way to guarantee vegan food.  Later
that night some other protesters from nearby towns arrived and they
had managed to find out the useful info we needed.  They had gotten
past the army guards and seen the Department of Conservation (DoC)
staff with 24 horses in a holding pen in the hills behind the army
base. The DoC staff recognised them from previous protests and had
them thrown off army land.  Sunday was looking more hopeful now.  We
had places to go and people that needed to be protested at.

On Sunday we had cars all over the place waiting for any sign of the
trucks. After hours of waiting and some more ineffective
protesting on the desert road we got a call from one of the lookout
cars that they had spotted two truckloads of horses being removed
out of the army base roads and they took off after them. We all
piled into cars and raced off after the trucks. After a very
confusing half hour chase through some back country roads four
carloads of protesters caught up with the truck and the lookout
car behind it. Eventually we came to a straight bit of road and two
cars passed the truck and blocked the road ahead of it. The truck
rewversed and smashed into one of the cars behind it. Then a
pickup truck that was the lead protest car got a puncture as it
pulled out in front of the truck. Five people jumped out of the
secnd car and leapt onto the cab of the truck. One person locked
herself by the neck to the front bumper of the truck and another
chained herself to the side of it. The driver revved his engine
like he was going to start moving again. As there were two people
locked on to the truck including one under the cab about five
people climbed up and started banging on the windows and shouting
that there were people under the truck. Two people climbed on the
roof of the cab as well. Eventually the Taihape cops showed up
(all two of them) and asked us to leave. We said no. They called
for back up from another police station and some boltcutters. After
about half an hour the back up cops arrived but they forgot the
boltcutters. There was a really cool freelance TV cameraperson who
was following us around all weekend and so he was filming
everything and interviewing the two people chained onto the truck.
(He had a fourwheel drive truck loaded with radio scanners camping
gear, scuba diving stuff, climbing equipment, everything. This guy
was prepared to do anything and go anywhere for a story and he was
chasing us around all weekend and sold all the footage to TV3 so
we were the lead story on the national news tonight).
We could see the horses in the truck and at first they seemed calm
but after a while they started getting nervous and it was going to
be dark soon so we decided to let the truck go so the horses could
be unloaded in daylight. We had made a big impact, got good
stories for the media and shown that we were not afraid to risk
arrest, disrupt the transporters etc.

The cops said they would allow us to follow the truck to the holding
pans so off we went. As usual the cops lied. About ten minutes down
the road the cops put their cars and trucks across the road between
us and the trucks. We all jumped out of the cars and started
walking down the road. The cops formed a line and some arguing
happened and some pushing and shoving. There were several attempts
to go through the police lines. After a while it was totally dark
and the cops had arrested two for obstructing a road way, which was
very strange since it was the cops who were obstructing the
roadway. By this time there was traffic building up on both sides
of the roadblock and the locals were very pissed off. We were all
sitting on the road and two people were down the road in the police
van. Eventually Hapi arrived. Hapi is this old Maori guy who is
campaigning to save the horses and had organised the Marae for us
to stay on.

We eventually decided to return to the Marae and plot our next move.
Some people went down to the cop station to get the prisoners out
and the rest of us returned to the Marae and listened to Hapi tell
us stories of the horses, the damage done to the land by DoC's
poisoning (1080 poison) and the history of the land confiscations
and the army etc. He was really cool and we stayed up all night
listening to his stories. He was also really encouraging all the
protesters to get more serious and was very supportive of us young
vegan hooligans and was stressing the importance of unity between
all the different levels of protest and different issues and how
they were all connected. Hapi also was also saying to some of the
older more conservative activists that they have to be prepared to
get arrested alongside us young ones and they had to realise that
there tactics of petitions, lobbying and waving placards were not
getting anywhere and they should be thinking of ways to be more
effective. He also had more info on what DoC were planning and
stuff like that.

  The next day the army and DoC were having a press conference
inside the army base so we couldnt be present. The Minister of
Conservation was there and a whole lot of other scum. As soon as
we got to the gates of the army base we all suddenly went through
the gate and up the drive. An army officer ran up to us and started
telling us we were trespassing. One of the KHAN leaders
 went over to shake his hand and try to be
respectable, a few of us ran across the road and into where the
media were all assembled. We noticed that everyone had ignored the
army guy and the KHAN leader and followed us. There were lots of
cops and military police around and reporters from 24(!) media
organisations. Me and one other person started doing an interview
for Radio New Zealand and then some cops came up to me and said
"you are trespassing get out or you will be arrested". He gave me
three warnings and then grabbed me. I was led to the van by two
cops. A few seconds after I was in the van, the door opened and the
cops threw the KHAN guy into the van. Then we heard lots of
screaming and yelling and the cops started throwing heaps of
people into the van. It turned out that after the first two arrests
six women all sat down and locked their legs together so they
couldnt be moved. The cops then attacked them in front of all the
media. One woman was dragged by her ears (!!!!!!) into the van,
another was thrown in so hard her jacket was badly ripped and
another had a huge clump of her hair ripped out when the cop
pulled her hair. Another nearly got her shoulder dislocated.

We were all taken to the military police station and held for an
hour or so. Then we are driven to the Taihape Police station where
we were processed (The two males were taken by soldiers in an army
van) and released that afternoon. Later we all came home to
Wellington or other towns.

We are all in court in Taihape next month. Eight for trespass and
two also have obstruction charges from yesterday.

===============================================================
The govt has been controlling the media very well and we are having
lots of trouble getting our side of things out into the media so
if any overseas groups can put pressure on the NZ government please
get in touch with us.

Wellington Animal Action
PO Box 6387,
Te Aro,
Wellington,
Aotearoa/New Zealand
[e-mail]
NZ-phone-[phone]



Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 07:58:51 -0600 (MDT)
From: Jennifer Kolar <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: DON'T PAVE OUR PARKS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-MD5: ++AKkn9/YC0tNLBnPQUcYg==



Folks,
Please take a moment today to save our remaining wild places - make a
quick call to the White House.  Please contact the Southern Utah
Wilderness Alliance if you have questions
Dave Crawford

-Jen Kolar
----------------------------------------------------------
  ACTION ALERT!            ACTION ALERT!

 DON'T PAVE OUR PARKS!
Contact the White House Today.  Tell President Clinton that we don't
want our national parks and wildlife refuges paved.  Urge him to veto
any appropriations bill if the Stevens Rider (R.S. 2477) is attached.
 White House Comment Line:  [phone]


The Appropriations bill is now in conference committee, and may reach
the president's desk as early as Wednesday, May 21.  SO MAKE YOUR
PHONE CALLS NOW!  Congress is working to get a final bill signed by
Clinton before the Memorial Day recess so your calls today are
critical!

The White House comment line is only open 9-5 EST on weekdays.  So
call during the day on Wednesday and leave your 30-second message with
the White House operator.

********
The reason this issue is getting so many people so hot under the
collar is simple:  it has the ability to undo a generation of
conservation, all with the stroke of a pen.  Look at the situation
they are putting the President in:  veto this bill, and hold up aid
for the victims of the flooding, or sign in and create a legacy of
roads in wilderness areas, national parks, and national monuments.


Putting the R.S. 2477 Pave the Parks Rider in a flood relief bill is
cynical and opportunistic politics at its worst.
*********


All of you belong to other organizations, subscribe to other lists,
and participate in your local and digital community in hundreds of
ways.  Please take a few moments after making a call and let a few
others know what is happening in their name and what they can do to
stop it.  Send a message to your friends, post an alert to a
discussion group-whatever you think best.

MORE ON THE BILL:
One week ago, the Senate passed its Emergency Supplemental
Appropriations bill.  Attached to the bill was an anti-environmental
rider sponsored by Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK).  The Stevens rider
reinstates an 1866 law that allows states to claim rights-of-way to
build highways through our national parks, military bases, wildlife

refuges, wilderness areas and other public lands.
Newspapers nationwide have already decried the Stevens Rider as sneaky
and destructive:

 "Using these tactics...[is] a disservice to thousands of people who
have already been victimized through the forces of nature." Rochester,
MN Post-Bulletin, May 5

"What could be more sensibly apt than anonymity for members of
Congress who plan to vote in a conference committee... on what might
be termed the Flood relief, Anti-Shutdown & Bulldoze the Parks
Bill?... Dear Congressperson: Consider a fashion tip if your voting
record includes a go-ahead for, let's say, a state highway ... through
the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. If so, you'll need a mask."
 San Francisco Examiner, May 11

HISTORY
RS 2477 was originally a clause in the Mining Act of 1866.  It allowed
for highway construction across any public lands that were not being
used for resource extraction or military purposes.  When the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) was passed in 1976, RS 2477 was
repealed.  Congress had realized that the frontier was gone, and that
new land management practices were needed for the modern age.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE RIDER
Senator Stevens' rider on RS 2477 would legitimize any right-of-way
claim on public land in which there is repeated traffic of vehicles,
cleared trails, or even pack animal routes.  New highways could
legally be built in national parks, monuments, Indian reservations and
wilderness areas. Indeed, in Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument alone, there are already more than 5,000 pending right-of-way
claims in anticipation of this legislation.

A Department of Interior report details nearly 3000 miles of new roads
that would be built in Alaskan national parks under the rider, as well
as more than 3000 miles of new roads within Alaskan wildlife refuges.

For more information, contact the Southern Utah Wilderness
Alliance(202) 546-2215, [e-mail]


==========================================================
Roger Featherstone -- Director
GrassRoots Environmental Effectiveness Network
A project of Defenders of Wildlife
1101 14th St. NW, Suite 1400,  Washington,  DC  20005
[phone] x290  fax:[phone] e-mail:  [e-mail]
check out our web page at:  http://www.defenders.org/grnhome.html
==========================================
For correspondence regarding our listserve and GREENLines
contact: [e-mail]  (NOT [e-mail])
================================

------------- End Forwarded Message -------------

Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 01:29:04 -0400
From: [e-mail] (Wgtn Animal Action)
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Web site for Wild Horses info (Aotearoa/New Zealand) (fwd) (fwd)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

 Hi all,  a person in NZ has done a web site with background info on
the Kaimanawa Wild Horses and also updates as they happen. The
media are being really one sided in favour of the official govt
line that the most humane option for the wild horses is to send
them to the slaughterhouse otherwise they will get sick or starve
to death in the wild. The only media doing any work is TV3 who
sneaked into the farms today where the horses are being held and
filmed fifty horses breaking out of the fences and injuring
themselves. Lots of horses were badly hurt and it totally destroyed
the govts nice "humane roundup" image they have been cultivating in
the media. The horses are really scared and are throwing themselves
into fences trying to escape. All the other media are going along
with the Department of Conservation propaganda. Any way here is the
address for more info . . . .

http://www.nzsail.co.nz/wildhorses/

Wellington Animal Action
PO Box 6387, Te Aro
Wellington, New Zealand


Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 10:49:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: AIDS information available
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

The latest issue of our magazine is available to any who would like a copy.
 It deals with the issue of AIDS, covering various aspects of the disease
including the flaws in the existing "animal models", the machinations of
vested interests groups attempting to turn animal activists and AIDS
activists against one another, and the triumphs of various non-animal methods
in the fight against AIDS.

If anyone would like a copy, please send me a mailing address.

Andy Breslin
American Anti-Vivisection Society
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 12:51:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Fwd: Vegan film
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Regarding the vegan film issue:  There was a rumor about a year and a half
ago that Fuji had developed photographic film which did not contain gelatin.
 The rumor grew as several large animal protection organizations spread what
they thought was good news, but in the end it was confirmed as a rumor.  (The
rumor, as I originally heard it stated that kelp and seaweed were used to
replace gelatin.  I do not know whether there is a kernal of truth to this
aspect of the rumor, and whether these sources could produce materials
possessing the desired qualities, or whether this was in any way researched
by Fuji)  There is no gelatin free film on the market, to my knowledge.  My
understanding is that, although the development of non-gelatin film would not
be particularly technically difficult, there are strong economic factors at
play.  Gelatin is, of course, dirt cheap as it is a slaughterhouse byproduct.
 Materials with comparable desirable physical qualities are much more costly.
 I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from writing to Fuji and asking that
they push ahead with the development of such film, but I don't have the
address handy.

peace,
Andy


Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 13:51:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Fwd: Manatee Facility Filling up
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

In a message dated 97-05-21 05:36:03 EDT, AOL News writes:

 << Subj:Manatee Facility Filling up
  Date:97-05-21 05:36:03 EDT
  From:AOL News
 BCC:LMANHEIM

 .c The Associated Press

       FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Manatees that cannot live in the wild
 are filling up facilities set aside for their care, forcing
 wildlife officials to seek places outside Florida that are suitable
 to the endangered animals.
       ``The rehabilitation facilities are crowded beyond their
 capacity to care for the animals, so we're looking at
 alternatives,'' said Robert Turner, manatee rehabilitation
 coordinator at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
       The wildlife service has never moved manatees out of Florida,
 where five facilities care for 50 or so animals that have been
 injured or orphaned.
       While many will eventually be returned to their natural
 habitats, about a dozen cannot be released to the wild because
 they've been in captivity too long, were too badly injured or were
 orphaned too young.
       ``If somebody can build a good facility that meets the standards
 we have in Florida, we're not opposed to them receiving permanent
 captives,'' said Kipp Frohlich of the Florida Office of Endangered
 Species.
       So far the Columbus Zoo in Ohio is the only facility that has
 talked seriously about the idea. Its board of directors has
 approved a $25,000 feasibility study.
       Other offers have been rejected.
       ``I've been approached in the past by facilities that wanted to
 display manatees, and I told them that's not going to happen,''
 Turner said. ``But now we're in a position where we need help.''
       Earlier this year, scientists counted 2,229 of the endangered
 sea cows in Florida waters. A record 415 manatees died in Florida
 last year; 151 of those perished in Southwest Florida between March
 5 and April 27 due to red tide toxin.
       Manatees are now at five facilities in Florida: Florida Lowry
 Park Zoo in Tampa, Sea World in Orlando, Epcot in Lake Buena Vista,
 the Miami Seaquarium and the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park. >>


---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj:    Manatee Facility Filling up
Date:    97-05-21 05:36:03 EDT
From:    AOL News

<HTML><PRE><I>.c The Associated Press</I></PRE></HTML>

      FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Manatees that cannot live in the wild
are filling up facilities set aside for their care, forcing
wildlife officials to seek places outside Florida that are suitable
to the endangered animals.
      ``The rehabilitation facilities are crowded beyond their
capacity to care for the animals, so we're looking at
alternatives,'' said Robert Turner, manatee rehabilitation
coordinator at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
      The wildlife service has never moved manatees out of Florida,
where five facilities care for 50 or so animals that have been
injured or orphaned.
      While many will eventually be returned to their natural
habitats, about a dozen cannot be released to the wild because
they've been in captivity too long, were too badly injured or were
orphaned too young.
      ``If somebody can build a good facility that meets the standards
we have in Florida, we're not opposed to them receiving permanent
captives,'' said Kipp Frohlich of the Florida Office of Endangered
Species.
      So far the Columbus Zoo in Ohio is the only facility that has
talked seriously about the idea. Its board of directors has
approved a $25,000 feasibility study.
      Other offers have been rejected.
      ``I've been approached in the past by facilities that wanted to
display manatees, and I told them that's not going to happen,''
Turner said. ``But now we're in a position where we need help.''
      Earlier this year, scientists counted 2,229 of the endangered
sea cows in Florida waters. A record 415 manatees died in Florida
last year; 151 of those perished in Southwest Florida between March
5 and April 27 due to red tide toxin.
      Manatees are now at five facilities in Florida: Florida Lowry
Park Zoo in Tampa, Sea World in Orlando, Epcot in Lake Buena Vista,
the Miami Seaquarium and the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park.
      AP-NY-05-21-97 0532EDT
      <HTML><PRE><I><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2> Copyright 1997 The
Associated Press.  The information
contained in the AP news report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without
prior written authority of The Associated Press.<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3>
</I></PRE></HTML>


To edit your profile, go to keyword NewsProfiles.
For all of today's news, go to keyword News.
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 16:25:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Hog Farm Legislative Update
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>


According to local Oklahoma City news, a long-awaited corporate
hog farm bill made public late Tuesday will not weaken Oklahoma
Agriculture Department rules already in place, the House author
said.  The measure would apply only to new hog farms and those
already in operation would be grandfathered in.
But Rep. Jack Begley, Dem. from Goodwell, said he was unsure
whether the hog industry will endorse the measure.  "I'm not sure
they will like it.  The question is whether they will tolerate it.
It's pretty restrictive."
House Bill 1522 was distributed late Tuesday to the 18 House and
Senate members aassigned to develop the bill.  Both house are
expected to approve the measure Thursday and the measure would
also require the governor's signature.
Politically, the lawmakers want to end up with a bill that can be
passed, demonstrating that they have done something about the issue.
All session, lawmakers have been debating whether corportate hog
farms were unjustly disturbing their neighbors, with offensive odor
and waste contamination.
Late last week, the Agriculture Dept. cited several instances where an
earlier version of the bill would eliminate some rules and weaken others.
Gov. Keating said Monday that he would veto a measure that weakened
the current regulations.  This sent the bill's authors back to the drawing
board.
Late Tuesday, pork industry lobbyists were reviewing the bill in a
lawmaker's office, while those seeking regulations - those residents
living near the hog farms - were poring over the bill in the Capital
hallways.
It was also being reviewed by the Okla. Farm Bureau and the Farmer's
Union.  The AG's office had expressed concern that preliminary
provisions of the bill would not grant neighbors due process for
a public hearing.  The earlier version also killed an ag rule allowing the
dept. to require presite approval before a hog farm was built and allow
monitoring of construction.  Section 8 of the new bill would require
presite approval.
The proposed bill provides for a compromise concerning how far
future hog farms must be from a neighbor's home.  Rules adopted
by the ag. dept. call for setbacks of a half-mile for smalled hog farms
and three-quarters of a mile for larger farms.
The final version of the bill states hog farms that have fewer than
5,000 hogs could locate within a quarter-mile of a neighbor's house
in eastern Oklahoma and a half-mile in western Oklahoma.  The
dividing line would be the Indian Meridian, a topographical line that
divides the state.  This provision was sought by Rep. Jim Glover,
D-Elgin, who said farms in eastern Okla. are much smaller and
a half-mile setback would be prohibitive.

                                                For the Animals,

                                                Jana, OKC
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 16:33:47 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: U.N. Reports E. Coli Case Increase
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

E. Coli contaminated fruits and vegetables are also on the rise.
from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
 05/21/1997 13:16 EST

 U.N. Reports E. Coli Case Increase

 By ERICA BULMAN
 Associated Press Writer

 GENEVA (AP) -- Food-related E. coli infections, causing serious and
 potentially life-threatening illness, are on the rise, the U.N. health
 agency said Wednesday.

 The recently recognized Escherichia coli pathogen, already responsible
 for a multitude of deaths over the past few years, is likely to continue
 infecting people unless proper measures are taken, the World Health
 Organization said.

 Some 42 experts from 14 countries agreed at a World Health Organization
 (WHO) meeting that, even though E. coli is often linked to contaminated
 meat, a wider range of food may be responsible.

 Human or animal contact and exposure to animal manure have also been
 associated with the transmission of infection.

 ``Meat products should continue to receive prime attention in
 implementing control measures,'' said Dr. Fritz Kaeferstein of WHO's Food
 Safety and Food Aid Programme.

 ``However, fresh vegetables are becoming increasingly important as a
 source of food-borne transmission and we must develop prevention and
 control guidelines for ready to eat raw agricultural products,'' said
 Kaeferstein.

 The pathogen has hit industrialized as well as developing countries.

 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported five outbreaks of E. coli
 infections associated with contaminated lettuce in 1995 and 1996 as well
 as a large epidemic linked to unpasteurized apple juice in 1996.

 An E. coli epidemic in Japan in the summer of 1996, associated with
 contaminated white radish sprouts, affected over 9,000 people and killed
 12 children.

 A recent outbreak in Scotland was traced back to a popular butcher shop
 where contaminated beef products resulted in 496 cases of illness and 19
 deaths.

 Experts are worried about the long-term health effects E. coli infections
 can have on children. The pathogen can cause bloody diarrhea, and in more
 severe cases, can lead to kidney damage or failure and even death.

 Experts agreed that basic hygienic practices, such as the use of clean
 water in food preparation and improved hygiene in the slaughter process
 should serve as a foundation for preventative measures.

 Thorough cooking of food, pasteurizing milk and educating food handlers,
 slaughter-house workers and farm employees were also advised.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 23:01:22 +0100
From: "Matthias M. Boller" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: student animal rights activism: contacts wanted
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Forwarded message from: [e-mail] (Anita Krajnc)

>>>

I am writing an article on student animal rights activism for
Alternatives Journal and was wondering if anyone has contacts at
student rights groups and knows the history of student groups.  The
kinds of questions I am looking at are:

1.  History of student animal rights activism e.g.
-What kind of student resistance was there before student groups
formed?
-When did your student animal rights groups form?  (At least, in
Ontario I'm finding that most student groups formed in the late 1980s
and 1990s)
-What inspired your group to form and what kind of assistance did
animal rights NGOs provide? -Was the Oxford Group mainly a student
group? (Richard Ryder in Animal Revolution mentions an informal
Oxford Group was set up around 1970 including himself and Peter
Singer)

2.  ideas and campaigns
-What kind of campaigns has your student group organized?

3.  barriers encountered
-How successful/effective has the student movement been in terms of
student participation, of raising community awareness, and changing
University policy?
-What are the main barriers?

4.  prospects for animal rights and student rights
-What are the lessons learned in terms of running effective campaigns?
-How much networking is there among groups?
-How important is the Internet?

Please assist me in answering these questions and/or please refer me
to other possible interviewees. Thanks for your assistance.

Best regards,

Anita Krajnc
PhD candidate
Dept. of Political Science
University of Toronto
100 St. George St.
Toronto, ON
M3S 3G3
e-mail:  [e-mail]
phone:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
<<<

Please send any answers directly to the author Anita Krajnc
([e-mail]).

Best wishes,

Matthias

[e-mail]
Federal Association Against Vivisection -
People for Animal Rights Germany: http://www.tierrechte.de/

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 17:37:01 -0400
From: Shirley McGreal <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

        This article alludes to events that took place in Kisangani in
war-torne Zaire (now changing its name)

May 12, 1997 - Zambia Daily Mail p.1; and Times of Zambia, p.3):

`Ultimate Tribute'

        Kisangani - The last animal at Kisangani Zoo was given what its
keepers regard as the ultimate tribute when it died last month. They refused
to eat it.
        The animal, a crocodile, which zookeepers said had spent at least 20
years in captivity at Kisangani Biological Gardens, was instead dumed below
the picturesque Tsope Falls, where it drifted into the Zaire River from
where it originally came.
        "It hadn't eaten for a long time and was sick", said Moses Imwenza,
now the
only remaining keeper at the zoo. "You can't eat a sick crocodile, so when
it died we pushed it." ZANA/Reuter

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman
International Primate Protection League, POB 766 Summerville SC 29484 USA
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]
Web page (revised January 1997): http://www.sims.net/organizations/ippl/
April IPPL News is now out featuring news of Limbe Wildlife Sanctuary in
Cameroon
NOTE; THE OLD E-MAIL ADDRESS AT SC.NET WILL NOT BE IN USE AFTER 15 JUNE,
PLEASE DIRECT ALL E-MAIL TO [e-mail]

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 18:27:18 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US)PETA-MANURE DUMPED AT FUR FASHION SHOW
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
--------------------------------
MANURE DUMPED AT FUR FASHION SHOW

 "Fur Stinks" Protest Greets Glitterati

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

    For Immediate Release:
    May 19, 1997

    Contact:
    Jenny Woods 757-622-7382


    New York -- As if midtown doesn't smell bad enough on a hot
    afternoon, wait till New Yorkers get a whiff of PETA's latest
    protest.

    A truck flanked by banners reading, "FUR STINKS," will deposit a
    ton of manure at the entrance to designer Karl Lagerfeld's fur
    fashion show:

         Date            Time                     Place
     Monday, May 19 1:15 p.m. sharp  Manhattan Center, 311 W. 34th St.

    Lagerfeld is the number one target of animal protectionists for
    his unapologetic use of fur in his collections. Fashion's top
    designers, including Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Todd Oldham,
    and Donna Karan are saying "no" to fur.

    PETA has kept fur sales cold by showing consumers that fur-bearing
    animals are trapped, drowned, or beaten to death in the wild and
    gassed, strangled, or electrocuted on fur farms.

    "By continuing to work with fur, Karl Lagerfeld is telling the
    world that he has no respect for nature or animals," says PETA
    President Ingrid Newkirk.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 18:28:54 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) PETA-FUR FOES STORM OSCAR DE LA RENTA FASHION SHOW
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from PETA web page:
---------------------------------
FUR FOES STORM OSCAR DE LA RENTA FASHION SHOW

Seven Arrested As PETA Members Rush Door

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

    For Immediate Release:
    May 20, 1997

    Contact:
    Jenny Woods 757-622-7382


    New York -- When people crash a fashion show, it's usually to ogle
    models, but at Oscar de la Renta's fur show today, the uninvited
    guests tried to occupy the runway in protest.

    Seven members of PETA were arrested for disorderly conduct and are
    still in Midtown South precinct.

    Yesterday, three PETA members were arrested for dumping a
    truckload of manure outside Karl Lagerfeld's fur show. Lagerfeld
    and de la Renta are long-time targets of animal advocates for
    their continued use of fur. Most top designers, including Calvin
    Klein, Giorgio Armani, and Donna Karan, refuse to work with fur.

    PETA has kept fur sales cold by showing consumers how fur-bearing
    animals are trapped, drowned, or beaten to death in the wild and
    gassed, strangled, or electrocuted on fur farms.

Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 18:55:33 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) House Lifts Tuna Import Embargo
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from AP Wire page:
------------------------------
 05/21/1997 18:49 EST

 House Lifts Tuna Import Embargo

 By H. JOSEF HEBERT
 Associated Press Writer

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite warnings that thousands of dolphins will be
 killed, the House voted Wednesday to lift the tuna import embargo and
 redefine when to label canned tuna ``dolphin safe.''

 The legislation, which has sharply split the environmental community,
 would end a seven-year-old U.S. embargo of tuna that is caught by
 encircling with giant nets. Strongly supported by the Clinton
 administration, it now goes to the Senate where its prospects are
 uncertain.

 The 262-166 vote by the House capped an hour-long debate that had
 lawmakers disagreeing whether the bill would lead to more, or fewer,
 dolphins being killed by tuna fleets trawling the eastern Pacific Ocean.

 The bill would allow the continued use of the dolphin-safe label even if
 tuna is caught by encirclement, although an observer must verify that the
 nets killed no dolphins.

 Tuna encirclement has been blamed for the loss of millions of dolphins,
 which in the eastern Pacific swim with tuna. The U.S. import ban has led
 to a dramatic decline in dolphin deaths, from more than 100,000 in 1986
 to an estimated 2,700 last year.

 But supporters of the bill argued that the ban now is standing in the way
 of even stronger protection of dolphins under international agreement.
 Nearly a dozen countries, including Mexico, have said they would walk
 away from a voluntary dolphin protection agreement unless the U.S. market
 is reopened.

 If the U.S. ban is lifted, 11 other nations who have tuna fleets in the
 Pacific will agree to fishing practices that aim to not only protect
 dolphins, but also other marine life such as sea turtles that are often
 killed along with tuna, the bill's supporters argued.

 They rejected arguments that more dolphins would be lost by ending the
 embargo. ``If a dolphin is observed killed you can't label that tuna fish
 `dolphin safe','' said Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., a sponsor of the
 bill.

 But other lawmakers strongly disagreed and said the legislation amounts
 to the United States capitulating to Mexico, which has large tuna fleets.

 ``We are here because of international trade,'' said Rep. George Miller,
 D-Calif.

 Rep. David Bonior, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, accused supporters of
 the bill with trying to ``pull a fast one on the American public'' by
 changing the dolphin-safe label. He and other critics argued that even
 though no dolphin might be found dead in tuna nets, the mammals could
 still be severely harassed and injured, only to die later.

 The legislation has produced a sharp split among environmental groups.

 It has the strong support of such leading environmental organizations as
 Greenpeace, the Center for Marine Conservation and the Environmental
 Defense Fund. They all argue that the usefulness of the U.S. import ban
 has passed and that an international agreement will only help lower
 dolphin deaths.

 But other groups, including some that were key in exposing the slaughter
 of dolphins by tuna fishermen in the 1980s and early '90s, have strongly
 criticised the bill.

 ``It's the Dolphin Death Act,'' said David Phillips, director of marine
 mammal studies at the Earth Island Institute, which led the campaign
 against tuna fleets nearly a decade ago. He said his group and others are
 ready to resume a boycott of canned tuna if the legislation becomes law.

 ``American consumers do not want tuna caught by slaughtering dolphins,''
 said Phillips.
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 20:46:38 -0700
From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Drug Wars
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Lilly study prompts more debate in competitive schizophrenia drug market

The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (May 21, 1997 01:25 a.m. EDT) -- A study released Tuesday
could improve Eli Lilly & Co.'s efforts to market its schizophrenia drug
against a popular rival.

Final results of a head-to-head study showed Lilly's Zyprexa left
patients reporting fewer side effects and an improvement in their
symptoms when compared with Johnson & Johnson's market-leading
Risperdal. J&J and others questioned the validity of the study, which
was sponsored by Lilly.

"That removes a big hurdle for keeping patients on a drug," said Dr.
Robert Conley, an assistant research professor at the University of
Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. "It really should improve the
quality of life."

The schizophrenia market is a profitable one for drug makers, with 1
percent of the population believed to be suffering from the disabling
mental illness.

Lilly began selling Zyprexa in October and saw $105 million in sales
during the first three months of 1997. Some stock analysts expect its
revenues to reach $1 billion a year by 2000.

Lilly officials and some researchers portrayed the results as a triumph,
but critics noted that the Lilly study included higher dosages of
Risperdal, which can make side effects more prominent.

"I'm not at all convinced by this study that (Zyprexa) is a better drug
than Risperdal," said Dr. Michael Flaum, associate professor in
psychiatry at the University of Iowa.

The dose of 7.2 milligrams of Risperdal in the Lilly study was 50
percent greater than 4.7 milligrams used in U.S. clinical practice, J&J
subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutica said in a statement.

"We continue to believe that it is premature to draw any definitive
conclusions from this single trial, and these results need to be
balanced against the wide body of evidence supporting the safety and
efficacy of Risperdal," Janssen said.

Lilly spokeswoman Lori Roberts said the Risperdal dosing in the study
was consistent with its labeling. The 41 physicians in the study were
allowed to adjust dosing up or down for either drug to find the most
effective levels for an individual patient, she said.

Schizophrenia is characterized by relapsing periods of hallucinations,
delusions and withdrawal. One in 10 patients commit suicide. There is no
cure, but drugs, psychiatric therapy and stress reduction allow many to
live at home and to hold jobs.

Nearly twice as many Zyprexa patients -- 21.7 percent vs. 12.1 percent
for Risperdal -- experienced a 50 percent improvement in all symptoms
after 28 weeks, according to the study, presented at the annual meeting
of the American Psychiatric Association in San Diego.

Side effects, a major problem for schizophrenics taking medication, were
more noticeable under Risperdal, according to the study. After 28 weeks
of treatment, 31.1 percent of the patients on Risperdal were likely to
show side effects including uncontrolled tremors, facial ticks and
muscle rigidity associated with most anti-psychotic drugs, compared to
18.6 percent of Zyprexa patients.

Both drugs cost roughly $5,000 for a year's treatment.

The study compared data from 339 patients in nine countries who took one
or the other of the two drugs over 28 weeks. Lilly released preliminary
results in December.

"Lilly is going to play this up for all they can. They're going to try
to dominate the market," Flaum said.

After release of the study, Lilly stock rose $2.37 1/2 a share to close
at $92.50 on the New York Stock Exchange. J&J stock fell 37 1/2 cents to
$60.87 1/2.
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 23:50:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Fwd: Dissection Survey
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

In a message dated 97-05-21 17:06:00 EDT, EnglandGal writes:

 << Subj:Dissection Survey
  Date:97-05-21 17:06:00 EDT
  From:EnglandGal
 BCC:LMANHEIM

 There's a dissection choice bill in Illinois that was recently passed in the
 House and will likely be voted on by senators this week. Today's Chicago
 Sun-Times is conducting a phone poll ... "Should biology students be
 required to dissect animals?"  The NO phone number is 312/408-3642. >>


---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj:    Dissection Survey
Date:    97-05-21 17:06:00 EDT
From:    EnglandGal

There's a dissection choice bill in Illinois that was recently passed in the
House and will likely be voted on by senators this week. Today's Chicago
Sun-Times is conducting a phone poll ... "Should biology students be
required to dissect animals?"  The NO phone number is 312/408-3642.
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 20:52:24 -0700
From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Worm researchers explain human sexuality
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Research finds lust drives males to early grave

Reuter Information Service

LONDON (May 21, 1997 8:55 p.m. EDT) - Lust drives males to an early
grave and, if worms are anything to go by, men wanting to enjoy a long
life should stay at home and resist their sexual urges, a British
researcher reported Thursday.

Dr. David Gems said studies of a tiny worm, caenorhabdiris elegans,
showed the males exhausted themselves pursuing the females. When they
gave up the chase, males lived up to twice as long as females.

In nature, males in the majority of species, including man, do not live
as long as females. Longevity is governed by constitutional factors,
covering the basic physiology of species, and sexual behavior.

Sexual behavior includes the effects of reproduction, and conflict
between males including searching for mates, and holding and protecting
mates and territory.

The worm is normally hermaphrodite in the wild but there are a few
males. For the purpose of his research, Gems classed the hermaphrodites
as female, an article in the New Scientist magazine said.

"Essentially the males are like super-charged females. They move a great
deal more than the females searching for mates and their lifestyle is
shortened because of this," Gems told Reuters.

When healthy males were "crippled" by genetic mutation, they lived a
great deal longer. "It basically reversed the pattern of gender-specific
longevity. Males lived up to twice as long as females," Gems said.

When males were put together with females they lived for just over 10
days. But when individuals were isolated they lived for 20 days, longer
than the female average of 16 days. Isolating female
worms had no effect on their life span.

The genetically mutated males lived for 30 days but mutation had no
effect on the life span of females.

"If you look at nature, males do not live as long. Is this because they
age faster? Or is the higher mortality associated with sex? I would
suggest it was because of sex," Gems said.

"This (worm) is a basic organism but it gives ideas of what we can look
at in higher organisms."

The New Scientist quoted geneticist Armand Leroi of London's Imperial
College as saying Gems's work was the first time the difference in
longevities between males and females in one species had been dissected
in great detail.

Gems said there was already evidence that males in other species live
longer when sex is taken out of the equation. Male marsupial mice die in
just a few sex-crazed weeks, copulating five to 11 hours a day. But if
they are castrated they can live for years, he said.

Human eunuchs also live considerably longer than whole males. Gems said
men might be built to live longer than women if it were not for sex.

"This research lays open the fact that gender differences, as far as
constitutional factors are concerned, are unknown," Gems said. "Man
might be an instance where male constitutional factors are stronger than
females."

By ROBERT WOODWARD, Reuter
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 23:56:49 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Dissection in Illinois school
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

With regard to dissection choice bill in Illinois...

Illinois residents should, besides phoning their opinion in to the newspaper
survey, write, call or fax their senator at the state capital in Springfield.

Say that you are in favor of giving a student the choice to opt out of
dissection with no penalty.

To get the name, address, phone and fax #  (and maybe email) of your state
senator, call your local library's reference room, the League of Women
Voters, or your county courthouse.  Make sure to stress that you need the
name of your one ~State~ senator in Springfield, NOT your two U.S. Senators
in Congress in Washington, DC.

Good luck, Illinois!

Lynn Manheim
Letters for Animals
P.O. Box 7-AO
La Plume, PA  18440
 <A HREF="../../../tppmsgs/msgs22.htm#2241" tppabs="http://members.aol.com/DALI67/LforA.html">http://members.aol.com/DAL
I67/LforA.html</A>

 <A HREF="../../../tppmsgs/msgs22.htm#2232" tppabs="http://www.everybodys.org/archive/411/animals.html">Everybody's News
 LfA-bad charities </A>
---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj:    Dissection Survey
Date:    97-05-21 17:06:00 EDT
From:    EnglandGal

There's a dissection choice bill in Illinois that was recently passed in the
House and will likely be voted on by senators this week. Today's Chicago
Sun-Times is conducting a phone poll ... "Should biology students be
required to dissect animals?"  The NO phone number is 312/408-3642.
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 20:58:19 -0700
From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: FWD: Joanie Westie dies of Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Originator: [e-mail]

In the Sunday May 18 New York Times an obituary was published for Joanie
Westie, a "Big Star in the World of Roller Derbies" who died May 10 at
age 62.  The interesting part is that, according to her husband, Nick
Scopas, she died of a "rare brain disease", you guessed it,
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.  The Times makes no further mention of the
cause of death, nor does it remind its readers that this is the same
disease that caused such a furor among the French when a few of their
citizens died of it.  The reason for the French ire was of course that
scientists believe that CJ disease is linked to Mad Cow disease (bovine
spongiform encephalopathy)

The furor resulted in the banning of British beef from import into the
EU and the collapse of the British beef industry.  This was reported on
the front page of the New York Times.  Is it that NYT editors don't read
their own articles, or are they just being loyal protectors for
agri-business interests?

And I also wonder if the family is aware of the CJ - Mad Cow
connection?  If not, may be somebody in California should tell them (or
their attorney).  They live in Hayward California, near San Francisco.
In addition to her husband, Ms. Westie was survived by two step children
- Tracy Munoz of Hayward and Nick Scopas Jr. of Manteca CA.

CC: Jane Brodie, science editor at New York Times
    Park Slope Food Coop
    Michael Hanson, Consumers Union

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