Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news45~1.htm/text0000.txt

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>The Age
Melbourne Online
6 July 97
Making a conservation dollar, koala-style
By SUE HEWITT of the Sunday Age


KOALAS are cute, cuddly and unquestionably commercial. While other native
species are close to extinction, koala supporters are cashing in on the
koala's appeal.

Pot bellied, hanging on to a tree with one paw as the other stretches for
another mouthful of gum leaves, the koala is the teddy bear of the
Australian animal world.

The Australian Conservation Foundation's Mr Peter Wright says other species
aren't so lucky.

The northern hairy-nosed wombat suffers, for example. There  are only 67
snuffling around the forests in Queensland and few  people realise this
species is heading toward extinction.

 But the koala has friends. Lots of them. The Australian Koala Foundation is
one, and tomorrow it launches Koala Week to raise funds for research. It
also runs the Australian Koala Fund  and Friends of the Australian Koala
Foundation Inc. The foundation is not just a feel-good organisation.
Australian Securities Commission records show that the Brisbane-based
company had an accumulated profit at the end of the 1996 financial year of
$1.04 million.

In the same year it raised $938,062 and spent $1.2 million on payments to
employees, researchers and suppliers.

The foundation is big business, according to Ms Sue Arnold, of Australians
for Animals, which raises about $20,000 a year.

``They don't acquire koala habitat, they don't fund koala carers, they don't
fund koala hospitals, they don't mount legal challenges to protect koala
habitat,'' she says. ``What do they do?''

The foundation's chairman and founder, Mr Barry Scott, says the organisation
funds koala research projects. Its staff is also preparing a koala atlas for
south-eastern Australia,, which will identify koala habitat the foundation
believes must be protected.

Mr Scott says criticisms of his organisation could be a case of jealousy.
``We compete with many other organisations in the  marketplace for funds,''
he says.

This week the foundation will sell koala badges and ``tattoos'' to raise money.
Ms Arnold says the foundation gets most of the koala dollars.
She says the koala, while vulnerable in some areas, is not endangered and
there are other species that needed urgent protection.

There are five critically endangered species, 17 endangered  species and 31
vunerable species, according to Ms Felicity Faris, of the World Wildlife
Fund for Nature Australia.

``The koala is considered as a species in the lower risk or nearly
threatened. There are many species which need immediate and urgent attention
before the koala,'' Ms Faris says.

The public's perception of the koala's status is skewed.

Some areas of the country are overpopulated with koalas while in other areas
they are at risk, says Mr Graeme Coulson, a Melbourne University department
of zoology ecologist.

 ``In some parts of NSW and south Queensland the koala is quite threatened
and could die out,'' he says.

On Phillip Island and French Island, koalas have reached high numbers and
are degrading their own habitat. ``The koala is both endangered and not.
There is no single solution,'' Mr Coulson says.


Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 00:31:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Down's babies used in vaccine experiments
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


>From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, July 6th, 1997

Down's babies used in vaccine experiments
By Victoria MacDonald, Health Correspondent

BABIES and young children with Down's syndrome were used as guinea pigs by
British doctors in 1960 to test an experimental vaccine for measles.

The children, who were living in institutions for the "severely subnormal",
were subjected to the experiments because the doctors said it was "useful"
having them in hospital where they could watch over them for adverse
reactions. One of the children died seven days after being vaccinated from a
common side-effect of measles, but the doctors described it as coincidental
in their report.

Llewellyn Smith, Labour MP for Blaenau Gwent, said last night that he would
press for an adjournment debate tomorrow. Mr Smith, who has campaigned for
two years on behalf of children damaged by vaccines, said that to use
mentally handicapped children as guinea pigs was "to say the least
scandalous. It is totally unacceptable in any society which calls itself
civilised. There must be an inquiry into how this could have happened. I do
not see how it could have been justified."

Only two of the doctors who did the experiments at the Fountain Hospital in
Tooting, south London, and at Queen Mary's Hospital, Carshalton, Surrey, are
still alive. Dr Inez Aldous, retired in Ipswich, said: "The benefits were
tremendous with these children living in very poor circumstances, and
measles was a disaster."

Professor Neville Butler, of the International Centre for Child Studies, in
Bristol, said: "It was neither here nor there that they were Down's syndrome
children." He could not remember much about the tests except that he did not
think there was more chance of a Down's syndrome child suffering a reaction
than any other child. He said: "The makers of the vaccine had thought it was
all right. Certainly I do not think it would be done today on children who
are mentally retarded. The measles vaccine has reduced the number of
children dying throughout the world and you could argue that without trials
like that people would never have known what to do."

The research was uncovered in an investigation by Richard Barr, a solicitor
with Dawbarns, who is representing families of children said to have been
damaged by the measles, mumps and rubella combined vaccine. Mr Barr has been
trying to find out what safety tests were done on the measles vaccine given
to millions of children.

Dr Andrew Wakefield, of the Royal Free Hospital, London, who fears the
measles vaccine can lead to children developing Crohn's disease, a serious
inflammatory bowel disorder, and autism, said he was shocked by the 1960
experiment.

"This is both a practical and an ethical issue. You cannot extrapolate from
brain-damaged children to normal infants," he said. "The question you have
to ask is can we apply the same standards now as to then? I do not see why not."

Dr Richard Nicholson, editor of the Bulletin of Medical Ethics, said:
"People try to say that you cannot apply the same ethical standards today as
you could in the 1960s. You have to do research with proper safeguards in
place and the safeguard was there in 1960 but it was largely ignored by
doctors."

The research involved 77 children aged between one and 11. They were
described by the doctors as severely subnormal "in the imbecile and idiot
range". 56 of the children were given one of three live measles vaccines.
The others remained unvaccinated as "controls".

Most of the children developed mild measles with fever and a rash. Nine had
marked reactions including bronchopneumonia and photophobia, a reaction to
light. One boy, said to be severely mentally retarded with a history of
epilepsy, died on the seventh day. A post-mortem examination revealed
bronchopneumonia and appendicitis.

The results of the research led to the Medical Research Council's Vaccine
Committee creating a trial of the safety and efficacy of the measles vaccine
in 1963. This is seen as one of the definitive vaccine studies upon which
vaccine policy is based.

The trial was arranged in 32 areas throughout Britain and involved 36,000
children from 10 months to two years of age. But adverse effects were only
monitored for three weeks. Nine months after the trial began the measles
vaccine was offered to all unvaccinated children.

In October 1988, the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccination was
offered for the first time. The measles component was based on the 1960 and
1963 study. Although the vaccine used today is weaker than doses used on the
children in 1960, researchers believe that this does not mean that it cannot
cause underlying, long-term health conditions. Jackie Fletcher, who set up
the organisation JABS after her son was damaged after vaccination, said:
"The more I go into this the more horrific it becomes."

Gavin Smith, now 15, received the measles vaccine when he was 30 months old.
When he was six he developed SSPE, a rare fatal swelling of the brain caused
by persistent measles infection. His parents Yvonne and Phil, of Edlington
in Doncaster, were told by Gavin's consultant that it was caused by the
measles vaccine. He is totally paralysed and has already lived several years
longer than expected. Mrs Smith said: "These studies are disturbing. Nobody
told us then that there might be any problems."

The Department of Health refused to answer any questions on the ethics of
using children with Down's syndrome to experiment on. It said the Joint
Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, an independent committee which
advises the Government, had looked at the measles vaccine three times in the
last two years and found no evidence to question its safety.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.


Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 00:31:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [CA[ West Edmonton Mall
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


Hi Everyone,

Just caught a commercial on TV for West Edmonton Mall, in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada. As perhaps most are aware, the mall is the world's largest shopping
centre, and is "home" to four Atlantic Bluenose Dolphins.

The ad gave the address of the mall's web home page, and from this I
accessed the following dealing with the dolphins:

Frequently Asked Questions

Here is our top ten list of the most frequently asked questions we get from
the public at the Dolphin Lagoon:

10. How smart are dolphins?

Dolphins have demonstrated impressive memory and cognitive abilities and
some scientists have placed their intelligence between a 6 and 8 year old
child. However, it is important to remember that dolphins and humans view
the world very differently, and their concept of intelligence may not be the
same as ours.

9. How long can dolphins hold their breath?

Dolphins usually breathe once or twice per minute but can hold their breath
for as long as 7 or 8 minutes.

8. How do dolphins sleep?

Dolphins do not sleep. They only seem to doze for a few minutes at a time,
resting near the surface, and reawakening occasionally to take a breath.

7. How old can dolphins get?

Dolphins can live to a maximum of 50 years. In the same way, a person can
live 110-115 years. Few dolphins or people live to their maximum life span.
Due to predation, disease, and infant mortalities, the average life span for
a dolphin is closer to 17 years. Remember that this figure takes into
account infant mortalities. Once a dolphin reaches adulthood, it can usually
be expected to live around 35 years. The average and maximum life span are
similar for wild and captive dolphins.

6. How easy is it to train dolphins?

Each dolphin is different; some learn faster than others. It can take weeks
or years to teach dolphins new behaviors.

5. Are dolphins always friendly and playful?

Many people are surprised to learn that dolphins can be aggressive. Disputes
over dominance and territory, as well as aggression towards females is
common in dolphins.

4. Are dolphins in captivity constantly bombarded by their sonar signals
which bounce off walls driving the dolphins insane?

Dolphins use echolocation (sonar) mainly to find food, and they have
excellent control of this sensory system. They do not constantly broadcast
their echolocation nor does any echo they receive drive them "insane".
Dolphins in captivity routinely echolocate on toys, trainers and each other.

3. Can captive dolphins be successfully rehabilitated and released into the
wild?

The vast majority of dolphin releases to date have been unsuccessful,
resulting in the death of the dolphin or the need to be recaptured. The
inability to prepare the dolphins for life in the open ocean, and the
problems in monitoring the dolphins after release makes releasing dolphins
unwise. It must also be noted that there is no scientific evidence that the
dolphins
need to be released in the first place.

    2. How well can dolphins see?

Dolphins have excellent eyesight, with vision being the second most
important sense after echolocation. In terms of their visual acuity, it has
been proposed that dolphins can see better than we can both in and out of
the water. However, one factor that remains unclear is whether or not
dolphins can see in color.

    1. How can dolphins jump so high?

Dolphins are very powerful animals being made of mostly muscle. Their
locomotive power comes from a large muscle mass called the peduncle located
just anteriorly to the flukes. It is this set of muscles that enable
dolphins to jump clear of the water, sometimes reaching a height of more
than 15-20 feet.


Author: Jeff Weiss
⌐1995 West Edmonton Mall

No surprise, but In case you would like to contact them and congratulate
them on keeping four dolphins in the mall for the entertainment of shoppers,
or whatever else, the mall's e-mail address is: <[e-mail]>

David

Date: Sun, 06 Jul 1997 08:36:51 -0400
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (EG) Cairo Zoo conditions raise hackles of animal rights
  activists
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from CNN web page:
-----------------------------------
Cairo Zoo conditions raise hackles of animal rights activists

                     Officials promise to fix the
                     problems

                     July 5, 1997
                     Web posted at: 10:56 p.m. EDT (0256 GMT)

                     From Correspondent Gayle Young

                     CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- After years of international
                     complaints about the Cairo Zoo, Egypt is promising
                     to clean up its animal act.

                     A recent tour by representatives of two major
                     animal rights groups, though, showed how far the
                     zoo has to go.

                     Elephants are chained
                     in place almost every
                     day of their lives.
                     Large animals are kept
                     in small concrete
                     cages without even a
                     bowl of water to
                     quench their thirst.

                     Uneducated keepers routinely provoke the animals,
                     in an effort to earn tips from zoo patrons. Polar
                     bears suffer in Egypt's 100-degree heat. One of
                     them, disfigured by disease, is forced to eat
                     carrots instead of fish.

                     "They're kept enclosed in tiny
                     Victorian cages. There are no
                     amenities for the animals to entertain
                     themselves," says naturalist Richard Hoath. "The
                     zoo complains about lack of funding and lack of
                     resources, but how much does a dead tree cost?"

                     The 100-year-old zoo is one of the most popular
                     and crowded on the African continent, and it makes
                     money. Officials say that on some holidays it has
                     as many as 2 million visitors.

                     Egyptian officials say they are ready to use some
                     of the zoo's revenue to improve living conditions
                     for the animals. But critics say much of the money
                     has been used to create landscaped walkways for
                     people, rather than new habitats.

                      The zoo does have an enclosure for six
                                lucky lions, who can run on grass and
                     drink from a man-made pond. But 42 other lions
                     remain confined in their cement cellblocks.

                     A pair of 2-week-old cubs were separated from
                     their mother. Animal rights groups asked that they
                     be reunited, and they were. And one of the animal
                     rights activists garnered a promise that the
                     disfigured polar bear would be transferred to
                     another zoo.

                     Zoo officials say they want to cooperate, and
                     they've agreed to accept advice from international
                     consultants to make the zoo better.


Date: Sun, 06 Jul 1997 23:30:14 +0800
From: jwed <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Traders join cruelty-free campaign
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

by Fiona Holland, Sunday Morning Post, 6th July, 1997.

     Traditional Chinese Medicine traders joined forces with animal welfare
campaigners yesterday to stamp out the use of endangered species and
substitute herbal alternatives for animal parts.
     The International Fund for Animal Welfare and EarthCare launched the
"Cruelty Doesn't Cure" campaign to urge Chinese Medicine Practitioners to
stop using and prescribing animal parts.
     The National Association of Chinese Medicine and the Chinese Association
of Medicine and Philosophy in Hong Kong have thrown their support behind
the initiative.
     The Fund's China Director, Jill Robinson, said the campaign encouraged
doctors to "think twice and save a life" and use plant derivatives instead
of animal parts.
     One of the first to pledge his support was Dr Fong Bong Chor of the Tung
Chai Chinese Medicine Clinic, who said there was no need to use any animal
parts.
     Practitioners taking part in the initiative will receive campaign stickers
reading: "Cruelty-free Traditional Chinese Medicine sold here. This store
has pledged not to sell products which use endangered species or
unnecessary animal derivatives in their preparation."
     While the campaign focuses on practitioners, an initiative to raise
awareness among consumers of Chinese Medicine will be launched by EarthCare
and British-based conservationists, the Global Survival Network next year.



Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 15:21:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [CA] Xenotransplatation conference
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

VANCOUVER, BC - The fourth International Congress of Doctors and Lawyers for
Responsible Medicine was held Saturday in the Robson Square Conference Centre,

Speakers included Dr Raymond Greek, an anesthesiologist from Kansas, Dr
Mineim A. Fadall, a Cardio-Vascular and Thoracic Surgeon from Los Angeles
and Dr Andre Menache, from Israel.

A speech from Michael Mansfield QC, one of the top lawyers in Britain.

Mansfield appologised for not being able to attend in person, but what he
had to say came in the wake of a "revitalizing" election result and the
verdict in the McLibel trial.

"There are already signs of a prepardeness to treat animals and the
environment with the respect they deserve," he said in a statement read out
by Dr Menache.

"The complete ban on handguns, foxhunting and Tony Blair's exhaltations at
the recent Earth Summit," he said.

Speaking about the McLibel trial, Mansfield noted how the principalled stand
by Helen Steel and Dave Morris has been an example to us all - particularly
a younger generation who have been "so bereft of moral leadership under
years of a sleaze-ridden Conservative government."

Mansfield also spoke about the conditions that pigs raised for human organ
transplants, noting that keeping such pigs in sterile conditions, probably
steel cages devoid of any stimulation threatened no-one. Neither did cutting
off the uteruses of sows so the piglets could be born into a plastic bubble
to reduce the number of pathogens.

Reducing the number of useless experimentatal failures involving the
transplantations of pig hearts into baboons, the transplanting of pig
kidneys into 15 mongrel dogs and the transplantation of rabbit hearts into
the necks of 17 new-born piglets would probably not away anyone, as it would
probably seen as an argument on failure rather than the moral objections.

"Both heart disease and cancer are mainly diet-related," said Mansfield,
"the more meat you eat, the more likely you are to suffer from both."

He noted that the meat industry would try to deny this and would also
attempt to confuse anyone who tried to make the connection between the two.
They are using the same tactics as the tobacco industry has managed to
polish to perfection over the years, he said.

"So, you can carry on eating pigs as heartily as you like, and when poor
creatures finally destroy your heart, we'll chop the heart out of another
pig and replace it."

He also noted the fact that despite their high inteligence, pigs are shown
no compassion, but they are considered to be genetically close enough to
save our lives.

David J Knowles
Animal Voices News

[More on the conference when I've had chance to review all the tapes]



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