1) (US) Poultry Plants Shut During Testing by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 2) (US) Groups Battle Over Olestra by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 3) (US) Turner Plans To Breed Wolves by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 4) (SG) Mac-perks for hospital by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 5) (MY) Two tiger cubs saved from brink of starvation by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 6) (MY) Animal beauty contests by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 7) (HK) Aquarium fish in hot water by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 8) Great Ape Project WWW Update by Michael Garner <GAP@envirolink.org> 9) (US) Olestra snack chips draw more consumer complaints by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 10) (MY) Animal beauty contests by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 11) Conflict Between Creatures by Jean Colison <jcolison@CapAccess.org> 12) Dog Is Considered Personal Property: No Animal Cruelty Charges Filed by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US 13) Hunters Prepare Their Own Ballot Initiatives by MINKLIB@aol.com 14) All cotton wearers take notice by shadowrunner@voyager.net 15) Sympathetic Fur Story on MSNBC's WWW Site by Lawrence Carter-Long <LCartLng@gvn.net> 16) No More Monkey Business for Health Canada by Sean Thomas <sean.thomas1@sympatico.ca>
----------------------------------- 07/15/1997 21:37 EST
Poultry Plants Shut During Testing
By CHUCK BARTELS Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- At least four Arkansas poultry plants have been shut down this week because of dioxin in chicken feed, temporarily idling about 2,100 workers.
Federal officials ordered producers who used the feed contaminated with dioxin to keep the chickens from being killed while they are tested. About 1 million birds are in limbo, said Travis Justice of the Arkansas Farm Bureau.
Officials found unusually high levels of dioxin in two Tyson chickens last fall and traced the dioxin to ball clay from a Mississippi mine. Two Arkansas feed makers used the clay, which prevents feed from clumping, and sold it to chicken growers as well as some catfish farmers and egg producers.
Dioxin is considered a probable carcinogen at high enough levels, but the Food and Drug Administration said the danger was in cumulative lifetime exposure, not in eating a few chickens raised on the feed.
The chickens fed the contaminated feed may be salvageable.
``They could separate out fat where (dioxin) might be concentrated and sell the portion below the acceptable level,'' Jacque Knight, spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture in Washington, said Tuesday.
At Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc., Archie Schaffer III said the company is still waiting to hear from USDA on what to do with the birds. Two Tyson kill houses in Pine Bluff are closed due to the dioxin problem.
``Those chickens were fed that feed a month or more ago. You can't get that feed out of them once they eat it,'' Schaffer said.
Two of 80 chickens tested in September were found to have three to four parts per trillion of dioxin; the acceptable standard is less than one part per trillion for meat.
Tyson is the world's largest poultry producer and Arkansas is the nation's leading poultry-producing state. About 35,800 people are employed in the poultry production in the state.
A ConAgra plant in Batesville that makes frozen dinners stopped production on Monday but its 1,300 employees were back at work Tuesday making non-chicken meals. The company's plant in El Dorado remained open but idled 100 slaughter workers, said ConAgra spokeswoman Lynn Phares.
A Townsends of Arkansas plant in Batesville also closed Monday. It is expected to reopen Wednesday.
Catfish and egg producers who used the contaminated feed were also instructed not to ship affected products, but catfish was later exempted.
-------------------------------------- 07/15/1997 19:04 EST
Groups Battle Over Olestra
By RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The food fight over the fat substitute olestra resumed Tuesday with accusations and counter-claims being slung across the central Indiana test market.
In dueling news conferences an hour apart, Procter & Gamble Co. and the Center for Science in the Public Interest continued their months-long battle over the fat substitute used in a variety of snacks.
CPSI claimed olestra snacks have left thousands of local consumers complaining of stomach cramps, diarrhea and other unpleasant side effects.
But P&G, which makes olestra under the brand name Olean, says the claims are based on emotion.
``That's clearly the case of people falsely attributing their ailments to olestra products. Just because they got sick doesn't mean it was because of the product,'' said Dr. Greg Allgood, a senior P&G researcher.
Allgood said a recent P&G study found no difference in the rate or severity of digestive ills between people who ate full-fat snacks and those who consumed olestra snacks.
Olestra is a synthetic chemical made of sugar and vegetable oil that contains molecules too large for the human body to digest. The Food and Drug Administration required P&G to label olestra products with the warning that they ``may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools.''
P&G is building a factory in Cincinnati, where it is based, to make olestra. But it isn't the only company producing olestra products. Last year, Dallas-based Frito-Lay began test-marketing olestra chips in three Midwestern cities.
To make its case about olestra's safety, P&G enlisted former Gov. Otis Bowen, a medical doctor and former secretary of Health and Human Services, as a paid consultant.
Bowen said he and his wife, Carol, regularly eat olestra products without any side effects.
``I have no question that the people who've complained were sick, but I question that they are putting the right cause to it,'' said Bowen, who served as governor from 1973-81 and in the second-term cabinet of the Reagan administration.
CSPI, best known for attacking the fat in movie theater popcorn and Chinese food, says olestra is dangerous, acts as a laxative and robs the body of nutrients.
For its part, the group tapped Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind., who has asked the FDA to appoint a new, independent commission to review the safety of olestra. Carson wants more prominent warning labels on olestra products.
``My position is that if it makes one person sick, we need to take a hard look at what this is doing on the market in the first place,'' Carson said from her Capitol Hill office.
CSPI says a telephone survey of 543 Indianapolis adults found that about a third had tried Fat-Free Pringles, P&G's olestra-containing chips. About 7 percent of those reported digestive ailments after eating the chips.
Based on that survey, CSPI estimates that 18,000 to 54,000 Indianapolis area residents have experienced symptoms after eating olestra products.
``Business people have had to leave work, some children couldn't go to school, some people defecated in their clothing,'' said Michael Jacobson, CSPI's executive director.
Still, Jacobson admits that short of a scientific study, it's impossible to link any particular digestive ailment to olestra products.
Nancy Sixsmith, a Noblesville resident who spoke at CSPI's news conference, says she has no doubt that the Fat-Free Pringles she ate caused a bout of diarrhea she suffered while driving home from work.
``I can tell you I'll never eat them again,'' she said.
----------------------------------------- 07/15/1997 13:48 EST
Turner Plans To Breed Wolves
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) -- Ted Turner plans to breed endangered Mexican gray wolves on a ranch he owns.
Mike Phillips, executive director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, said three to five pens could be completed on the Ladder Ranch by the end of the year.
The pens, each one-third to one-half acre, would be designed to breed wolves for possible release into the wild or to house wolves that have been recaptured for some reason.
Turner hired Phillips to promote conservation on the media mogul's properties, which include three ranches in New Mexico. Phillips oversaw the release of Canadian gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park during the past 2 1/2 years.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt earlier this year approved the eventual reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf on public land in Arizona and New Mexico.
Two tiger cubs saved from brink of starvation By Syed Azhar
KUANTAN: Two three-month-old male tiger cubs on the brink of starvation were
found by several Indonesian plantation workers in an oil palm plantation at
Gambang here on Sunday.
The cubs wolfed down a chicken each in under five minutes after they
were captured and taken to the plantation office, said estate supervisor
Chan Teck Ngoh.
"The cubs were so hungry that they continued eating for at least one hour
and lapped up two bowls of water," said Chan, 52.
One of the workers, who only wanted to be known as Marsini, stumbled
upon the cubs while looking for a branch to tie up a broken sprayer.
"While I was looking for the branch in the belukar at about 10am, I heard growls from among the bushes and saw the cubs huddled together.
"I quickly ran away as I was afraid that their mother could be nearby," said Marsini, 19, adding that he went back with his co-workers after making sure the mother was not around.
"We organised ourselves into two groups and set out to capture the cubs," he said at the AI plantation site office here yesterday.
Marsini said they had to use a palm oil frond to lure the 20kg cubs out.
"It took us at least 30 minutes to capture the cubs and we were lucky as they were too weak to give any resistance apart from the occasional growl,"
he added.
The cubs were then brought to the plantation's main office about 1km away
and kept in separate cages.
After ensuring the cubs had not been injured, Chan said he alerted
plantation owner Tee Keng Sing, who then attempted to call the Wildlife
Department in Temerloh on the same day.
However, Tee only succeeded in getting through on Monday, and five officers
from the department came to check on the condition of the cubs yesterday.
According to one of the Wildlife Department officers, Shamsudin Darus, the cubs were still suckling.
He said the cubs were of the Panthera tigris species, also known as the Malayan tiger.
