Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news5~19.htm/text0043.txt

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From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
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Subject: [UK] Sheep export plan opposed
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, September 13th, 1997

Sheep export plan opposed


A PLAN to export 4,000 live sheep a week to the continent  from Whitby,
North Yorks, has met strong opposition.

Scarborough council's harbour committee, which agreed in principle to the
export of live animals in 1980 but has not received an application until
now, is under pressure to refuse permission when it meets on Wednesday.
Whitby councillor, Dorothy Clegg, expressing the feelings of protesters,
said yesterday: "In my view the export of live animals is nothing less than
cruelty and we cannot allow it."

But the plan, drawn up by a Hull shipping agent, has the support of several
councillors keen to encourage business in Whitby, an unemployment blackspot.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.

Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:49:19
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
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Subject: [CA] Monkey saga reflects serious problems in health funding
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>From The Vancouver Sun - Friday, September 12th, 1997

By Mark Kennedy
Southam Newspapers

OTTAWA - The fate of 115 research monkeys is just the latest in a string of
emotional controversies that have swirled around Canada's health protection
branch.

Fundong has dropped from $237 million in 1993-94 to $136 million this year.
By 1999 - 2000, the branch will get $118 million. The cuts have prompted a
restructuring of operations and raised public concern that the health of
Canadians could be in danger.

The monkeys, who were to be killed next week because they could no longer
be afforded and who then received a repreive after a public outcry, are
part of a much larger story.

Canada's equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversees the
safety of everything from food and drugs to cardiac pacemakers and condoms.
The Health Canada branch also stands watch for emerging diseases such as
AIDS and ebola.

The result of the cuts and restructuring, critics and some and the branch's
own scientists say, is the quiet dismantling of the branch. They point to:

- The closure of labs that study food contaminants and drug reactions

- The transfer of food inspectors to a new agency that is mandated to keep
the food supply safe, but also promote the food industry.

- An internal review to determine whether its division that regulates drugs
and medical devices should be turned into a "special operating agency"
loctaed outside the health department.

Once these changes are in place, the branch could lose most of its
regulatory power and be reduced primarily to a disease watchdog, with the
Laboratory for Disease Control at its core. That surviving entity would
likely be renamed the Centre for Public Health and serve mostly as a source
of information on epidemics.

"We're in the final phase of deregulation," says Dr Michelle Brill-Edwards,
a former Health Canada bureaucrat who now heads an Ottawa-based public
interest group. "This is the phase of actually dismantling the structures
that provide the basis for employees of the department to uphold the Food
and Drugs Act."

Brill-Edwards alleges the government has capitulated to powerful
pharmacutical companies, the food industry and chemical firms that produce
seeds and fertilizer for the agriculture sector.

She says Canadians will no longer have one health-safety branch managed by
a senior bureaucrat who acts as a "quarterback" in times of crises -
coordinating food inspectors, drug regulators and epidemiologists. In
short, no one will be in charge.

Dr. Shiv Chopra, a drug regulator in the branch, agrees. He says regulators
are increasingly pressured to conduct speedy drug reviews, and there has
been a philisophical shift toward providing a "service" to the industry.

"There has been a constant pressure to downgrade the role of the Food and
Drugs Directerate and to redefine the client."

About 75 food research scientists were so alarmed this summer that they
signed a petition and had one of their own, Dr. Bobn Dabeka, deliver it to
Health Minister Allan Rock's office.

Their letter predicted "disastrous health and economic implications" that
would "seriously affect the future health of Canadian infants, children and
adults." They maintained their action was not motivated simply to protect
their jobs [many are being relocated elsewhere in government] but by a
sincere desire to protect public safety.

Rock has said only that he is studying the overhaul he inherited with the
portfolio in June.

Dr Joe Losos, assistant deputy ministerof the health protection branch,
says the bureau is responding to budget cuts and focussing on emerging
priorities.

"We're a vibrant organization. But we can't stand still. So we have to
redesign."

New Democrat health critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis accuses the government of
slowly dismantling the branch to hide its larger deregulatory agenda from
the public.

"It's a very clever approach. It's done bit by bit and people won't get a
sense of what's happening until the damage is done."

The 115 monkeys, now repreived, were part of a 20-year study on how monkeys
react over time to low levels of lead and mercury. The end of the project
would also dash researchers' hopes that they could learn more about human
dementia.

Debeka, of the food labs, argues the government will never get this kind of
long-term, expert research done by contracting a university professor and
his students to do the work.

"The work we do is relevant. You can end up with enormous health-care
savings."

But Losos says the research can be done eleswhere. "We've never had the
monopoly on science."


Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:50:10
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Science is sexier than ever
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, September 13th, 1997

Science is sexier than ever

To coincide with the British Association meeting at Leeds University,
Graham Farmelo analyses our hopes and fears for a brave new world

SCIENTISTS have an image problem. People worry that they are playing God,
spending too much money on the wrong things - or so we are told. In fact,
things aren't as bleak as they seem.

Although some people are fearful of what science has in store, an
impressive 81 per cent believe they are fortunate to live in a fast-moving
scientific age, 30 per cent more than the
number who felt the same way almost 40 years ago.

That's one of the astonishing results of this year's Gallup survey of
public attitudes to science, the 10th commissioned by The Telegraph. There
are plenty of surprising findings
here for the scientists to debate with the public at the annual meeting of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, now under way in
Leeds.

Many will be surprised to see a topic as unfashionable as pollution-free
transport top the list of funding priorities, receiving support from a
remarkable 92 per cent of the public. Most will be taken aback by the
concern over the scientists' new ability to manipulate life, through
cloning and by genetically altering crops and animals bred for food
consumption.

Everyone will be intrigued by the contrasting attitudes of men and women -
not only are women usually more concerned than men about advances in
medical science, they are also invariably more reluctant to spend money on
technological research.

As the information technology revolution gathers momentum, computers are
becoming more intelligent by the year. "We shall be lucky if they keep us
as pets," said Marvin Minsky, the American artificial intelligence guru.
The survey shows that six out of every 10 people are concerned that they
might soon be in the same position as the astronauts in the film 2001: A
Space Odyssey, where they were outwitted by HAL, the smooth-talking
computer. Men and women are equally perturbed by this prospect.

But, predictably, people seem less worried about computer technology than
about what is probably going to be the most revolutionary technology of the
next century, when it will be
commonplace for biologists to tinker with the very stuff of life. The
survey is shot through with the public's aversion to science that seems
contrary to the natural order of things - advances with a distressingly
high "yuk factor".

People seem ill-disposed towards the idea of artificial wombs, the use of
human tissue taken from aborted foetuses and even research that aims to
extend life indefinitely. In each case, two out of every three people are
troubled by the very idea of these things. Scientists have a lot of work to
do if they are to make such developments palatable and to bring them into
the mainstream of medical science. At the moment, I suspect that they give
most people the creeps.

Women are particularly unhappy about some of these attempts to interfere
with nature. They are far more concerned than men about the use of animal
organs in transplant operations and about the ability to predict an
individual's risk of disease, which is becoming possible
through genetic screening. This procedure could have a huge impact on
health services in the coming decade, when it may become more widely
available if the professionals judge it to be worthwhile and if patients
want it.

The survey demonstrates that the public have some surprising views on how
money should be spent in the technological research labs. The public seem
remarkably utilitarian in their attitude to new ideas. Four people in five
want to find safer ways of harnessing nuclear power and of making
artificial organs for transplants. In addition, almost two in three are
eager to develop ways of enabling people to work from home (teleworking).
Perhaps this reflects further concern about the state of our transport system.

Virtual reality - the computer generation of almost life-like, simulated
environments - has yet to capture the public imagination, but it can be
only a matter of time before this obsession of many young people is shared
more widely. I wonder how many of the survey's participants realise what
may be possible with this technology: in your own home, you might be able
to do anything from virtually wrestling with a dinosaur to making virtual
love to your favourite film
star. If this technology does come on stream, the writer JG Ballard has
warned that "it will represent the greatest challenge to the human race
since the invention of language".

But perhaps virtual reality is only the latest boy's toy of new technology
and so has limited appeal. Women are certainly far less keen than men to
invest more money in it. More
surprising still is that they are even less interested than men in
supporting work on producing pills to help people avoid putting on weight:
only about one adult in three thinks such work is important.

This finding will be especially puzzling to those in the slimming industry,
which manages to sell products and services to people who desperately want
to weigh less but who normally don't lose anything in the long term except
money.

Most people seem happy to reap the benefits of living in a scientific age
even if they have concerns about the direction of future research,
particularly in biomedicine, which is
poised dramatically to change our lives in the coming century. It is
important that specialist scientists take heed of these worries and that
they address them in open dialogue with the rest of us.

The author is head of exhibitions at the Science Museum, London

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 17:50:45
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Conservation fails birds most at risk
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Monday, September 15th, 1997

Conservation fails birds most at risk
By A J McIlroy

CONSERVATION programmes to rescue the country's most endangered species of
birds are failing, according to a report by the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds.

A sample survey of 18 of its 65 initiatives to help UK native birds shows
that only seven are making satisfactory progress.

Six action plans are in difficulties and involve birds in the society's Red
Category of most-threatened species. The species in trouble are the
bittern, black grouse, capercaillie,
grey partridge, and hen harrier.

A further five programmes are rated "probably satisfactory". These involve
conservation of the song thrush, skylark, Scottish crossbill, crested tit
and the chough.

Satisfactory progress is being made with the white-tailed eagle, stone
curlew, roseate tern, red kite, corncrake, Montagu's harrier, and the cirl
bunting.

In their report, Birds in the Balance, which is published today, the
society details the progress of each of the sample programmes. The
"unsatisfactory" category makes gloomy
reading.

In England, the bittern, one of the most endangered of all the UK species,
had confirmation of only 11 males compared  with 22 last year. The decline
is linked to a poor breeding
season followed by a severe winter.

The population of the black grouse is also in rapid decline, at 6,350 males
down to a quarter of what it was a decade ago due to overgrazing of habitat
and collisions with deer fencing. A programme to conserve the capercaillie
has been set back for similar reasons.

In spite of monitoring, public education, enforcement and research into the
effects of forestry, hen harrier numbers are also down. Persecution of the
bird is rife, with up to 74 female harriers killed illegally every year.

The dramatic decline in grey partridge, down to 150,000 pairs in 1992,
continues with blame falling on pesticides, the loss of hedgerows and
ungrazed grasslands.

There is better news for some other species. In Scotland, the corncrake has
enjoyed another good breeding season, with at least 610 male birds counted,
while in Wales, red kites have reached the milestone of 100 breeding pairs.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:17:53
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Experts to check risk of a CJD epidemic
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, September 16th, 1997

Experts to check risk of a CJD epidemic
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor

AN expert panel has been set up to weigh the risk of an emerging epidemic
of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease linked to beef infected with mad cow disease,
the Government said yesterday.

Sir Kenneth Calman, Chief Medical Officer, announced the formation of a
sub-group of the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee to review
data on "new variant" CJD so
that any emerging trend could be identified as soon as possible.

"There is still a lot we do not know about this disease, including
information on incubation, route of infection, level of exposure required
to cause disease and the role of genetic
susceptibility.

"One obvious question is how many cases of new variant CJD are there going
to be," said Prof John Pattison, the committee chairman.

Head of the new sub-group will be Prof Peter Smith, of the London School of
Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who gave a warning earlier this year that
there remains the potential for
a 100,000-case epidemic of new variant CJD.

The Department of Health yesterday published the fifth annual report of the
national Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease surveillance unit. A total of 23 variant
CJD cases have come to light since the new strain became known in March
last year, although the official figure stands at 21. "The rate at which
new cases appear has remained pretty consistent,"
said Prof Pattison.

One case, that of Clare Tomkins, 24, from Tonbridge, Kent, attracted
considerable publicity as a vegetarian who had not eaten meat for 11 years,
when the first confirmed case was
published in 1986.

However, Prof Pattison said that the likeliest explanation is exposure to
beef products before 1985. "It is likely that in the early days, when
numbers were very low, and nobody had recognised this disease, we missed
one or two. The agent must have been around since 1981."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:25:49
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK]Sprouting broccoli 'helps fight off cancer'
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, September 16th, 1997

Sprouting broccoli 'helps fight off cancer'
By Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent

A TABLESPOON of broccoli sprouts eaten every day could give powerful
protection against cancer, scientists claim today.

The three-day-old sprouts, grown in the same way as alfalfa or bean
sprouts, contain high proportions of a substance known to boost cancer
protection. Scientists say that while
vegetables such as mature broccoli also contain the substance, a handful of
the sprouts can provide up to 50 times more of it than an equivalent weight
of mature broccoli. They are testing broccoli seeds to see which varieties
contain the highest proportions.

Scientists have known for some time that broccoli - and other vegetables
such as cauliflower and cabbage - contain the chemical sulforaphane which
is known to boost the body's natural cancer-fighting abilities.

The drawback has been that mature broccoli contains highly variable amounts
of the substance and there is no way of telling which plants are going to
be high producers. Even
broccoli with a high concentration of the chemical does not furnish enough
when it is eaten in average amounts.

They compared the contents of broccoli sprouts with 22 varieties of fresh
and frozen broccoli on sale and found that the sprouts had more consistent
concentrations of the substance as well as being more potent.

Finally the researchers tested broccoli sprout extract on rats exposed to
carcinogens and found that it reduced the incidence of tumours and their
size. The work is published in
today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Broccoli sprouts have never been commercially available," said Prof Paul
Talalay, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

 "I don't know why. They are just baby broccoli. They taste delicious. They
have rather more of the sharpness that we find in types of compounds that
are responsible for anti-cancer activity which are not unlike mustard."

But he warned: "Most seeds are sold for growing commercially and are
treated with pesticides and fungicides.That's not suitable for these
purposes. We are very anxious
to make them available as soon as possible to the public."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 19:34:29
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK/US] The falcons have landed at JFK
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>From The Electronic Telegraph - Tuesday, September 16th, 1997

The falcons have landed at JFK
By Charles Laurence in New York

THIRTEEN falcons with six falconers to control them have been put on the
payroll at New York's Kennedy Airport in the latest effort to protect
passengers' safety.

Their job is to frighten away seagulls and vast flocks of migrating birds
which could cause serious accidents if sucked into jet engines. The airport
managers have brought the
4,000-year-old art of falconry into the world of jet engines and radar
beacons after struggling for years to control birds.

Two teams of falconers, each with specially equipped vans,  now patrol
around the clock, ready to release a peregrine falcon. "Just the sight of
an actively hunting falcon is enough
to scare away almost any bird within half a mile," said Thomas Cullen, one
of the falconers, on patrol with a bird called Basil.

The falcon programme was introduced last year, and airport authorities say
it was so successful that they now propose to make it permanent. A ú140,000
annual contract with the
falconers has been approved.

A measure of success was that while Department of Agriculture pest control
officers shot 6,700 hazardous birds the year before, the number dropped to
2,000 once the falcons were introduced.

"It is worth spending a little to save major costs from damage to aircraft
and, God forbid, loss of life or limb," said  Albert Graser, the Port
Authority manager of airport operations and security.

The authority said other airports in Europe, Taiwan and Canada had
experimented with falcons, but none on the scale of the team at Kennedy.
The US air force is also running trials on the technique. Kennedy is
particularly vulnerable to bird intrusion because it is built on a seashore
which is a natural breeding and feeding ground for birds.

The National Park Service has set up a huge bird sanctuary next door at the
Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Canada geese and migrating swallows
both use Jamaica Bay
as a resting station on their journeys from north to south and back again.

Fifty thousand swallows are expected at the airport's north east corner
next month. But the greatest hazard is now reported to be thousands of
laughing gulls, a species hunted almost to extinction for its feathers but
now rebounding.

Their numbers have multiplied since the Park Service launched a breeding
programme early in the 1980s, and there are at least 3,000 nests within a
mile of the main Kennedy runway. The Federal Aviation Administration says
bird strikes cause about ú250 million in damage to civilian and military
aircraft every year in America.

In 1995, 24 people died when an air force surveillance jet crashed after
four geese were sucked into its engines.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:22:44 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (CA-TW) Town welcomes hog plant
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>CNA Daily English News Wire

CANADIAN TOWN WELCOMES TAIWAN HOG PLANT

Ottawa, Sept. 11 (CNA) Mayor David Carpenter of Lethbridge, southern
Alberta, welcomed the building of a Taiwan-invested hog processing plant
Thursday, saying it marked a special day that will be recorded "among the
highlights of our city's history."

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for Yuan Yi (Canada) Co. Ltd.'s
US$10.9-million investment project, which will hire as many as 800 in full
production, Carpenter said, "It is a day that will long live in our memories."

The mayor spoke highly of the Lee family, which is making a bold move from
southern Taiwan to Canada, saying he has been impressed "not only by their
business acumen, but by their warmth, their graciousness and their concern
for their new community." He added that Yuan Yi will make a
wonderful addition to Lethbridge's corporate family.
"Yuan Yi has put Lethbridge on the map -- world wide -- but particularly in
Taiwan and Japan," he told a gathering of well-wishers, including those from
Japan who have been Yuan Yi's customers since 1977, when Lee Chi-Hsiang took
over the board chairmanship of the company.

The mayor said many communities across Canada vied for the honor of being
selected as host community. He was proud that his city was chosen, for many
factors.

He said that Lethbridge won not merely because of its advantages in terms of
hog production and processing but also because the city "offers something
special in the way of infrastructure, in the way of support and in the way
of lifestyle that is available here and nowhere else."

Construction of the frozen pork processing plant on a 50-acre site is
scheduled for completion next spring, so it will start exporting to Japan in
the fall of 1998. Yuan Yi has also opted to buy 14 acres of adjacent land to
build a frozen vegetable processing facility.

Lethbridge, population 60,000, lies 217 km southwest of Calgary and boasts
such successful companies as Sakai Spice, Canbra Foods and York Foods. The
small community also has both a college and a university. (By S.C. Chang)

Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:23:07 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (MO-HK) Bullfighters return to animal groups' anger
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>Hong Kong Standard
16 Sept 97
Bullfighters return to animal groups' anger
By Renato Reyes

LAST year the cavaleiros won hands down.

They sprinted on horses around a soccer pitch, stabbed their spears on a
charging beast and raised their sombreros amid spectators in a makeshift
arena across the Hotel Lisboa in Macau.

Except for bad weather, the show went on without a hitch.

The men on horseback had their bulls and ate them too.

Now they are back once more for another round of bullfighting that animal
rights groups failed to stop.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty (SAC) to Animals and the
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Hong Kong acknowledged that
their campaign made little impact last year.

People paid to watch the bullfights, with some estimates placing their
number at around 25,000.

``The attitude of the people was quite lethargic,'' Jill Robinson, IFAW
Representative in Hong Kong and China, said.

``That sort of attitude makes profits for the bullfights.''

But it's not over yet as the IFAW and SPCA try a new approach to woo people
away from thebullfights. But is it going to work this time?

Last year the two organisations focused on getting one of the major
sponsors, the Sociedade de Tourismo E Diversoes de Macau, to withdraw its
support.

They appealed to casino magnate Stanley Ho, who controls the company, to
intervene.

But Mr Ho, a former SPCA president, proved to be more a businessman than an
animal lover.

``We didn't have any control over him,` SPCA spokeswoman Amy Chow said. ``We
could only appeal to him.''

But the two groups failed to organise a concerted campaign against the
bullfights.

Whatever assault they delivered was more sporadic than organised, like the
few scattered commentsthey made every time the media came calling to get
their reaction to the issue.

``We didn't make a big thing of the bullfights,'' Ms Chow says. ``We didn't
want to give them free publicity.''

In fact, the bullfights proved to be more popular than the animal rights
campaigners first thought.

Ms Robinson and a handful of student volunteers held protests at the venue
but to no avail.

But from the moment the cavaleiros arrived in their fancy outfits on their
trusty steeds the waiting crowds were riveted.

There is something about a bullfight that sparks an animal-like curiosity
among the public.

They feel they must see for themselves a form of entertainment they only
usually see on television.

In fact, bullfights are among the favourite attractions of tourists who
visit Spain and Portugal.

Although the arena was not filled last year, the bullfights made enough
money to entice back the bullfight organiser, Taurus.

It will hold five shows on the weekends between 27 September and 5 October
at the same 5,000-seat bullring on Macau Workers' soccer pitch.

The organisers have even added a new treat by featuring the first woman
bullfighter on horseback, Marta Manuela, to ride in Macau.

``This is a typical response,'' Ms Robinson says. ``When people go to Macau,
they go to the bullfights because it is something to do there.''

She says the Chinese people they surveyed at the gates of the arena told
them they were ``dismayed'' after seeing the bullfights. ``They said they
were not going back,'' she says.

Ms Chow says Chinese people know nothing about the cruelty of bullfighting
because it is part of a culture alien to them.

The challenge now for animal rights activists is to mobilise the converted
and convince the curious to stay away from the bullfights. ``We are
launching a hard-hitting advertising campaign this year at least to deter
people from buying tickets,'' Ms Robinson says.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the International
Fund for Animal Welfare have enlisted the help of a pop group, Beyond, and
an advertising company, J Walther Thompson, to help educate the public about
the cruelty of bullfighting.

J Walther Thompson is designing the posters which will be posted at bus
terminus and the Star Ferry.

Animal rights volunteers are also trying to get the support of people in
malls and on the Internet since the end of July, when they started the
campaign. The campaign will culminate in a press conference on 22 September
and in protests during the bullfights.

``If we have posters, the public will know that they should not go,'' Ms
Chow says.

 The campaign, although a bit tame compared to the aggressive tactics of
animal rights groups in the West, may be enough to convince some people in
Hong Kong to condemn the bullfight.

Letters to newspapers expressing outrage at the bullfights were pouring in.
One reader said she would rather see the bullfighter go down in the ring
than the bull itself.

``They couldn't let the bull fight more than once. He would soon learn which
was the man and which was the cape _ though this wouldn't bother me too much
since I'd be rooting for the bull anyway.''

The controversy has become heated, even comical, as some people have reacted
to the bullfighting hysteria and condemned, as one reader calls it, this
show of ``political correctness that verges on misanthrophy''.

Miguel Aurelio, a cigar-chomping, steak-eating man, says he plans to watch
the bullfight and no amount of campaigning will convince him to stay away.

``What's a few drops of blood, or even a dead bull, compared with centuries
of history and culture,'' he says.

``The next thing you know they will want to ban meat-eating and we will all
have to eat vegetables all day and wear plastic shoes,'' he says.




Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 11:23:13 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (MO-HK) Woman versus beast in bullfight
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>South China Morning Post
Tuesday  September 16  1997

     Bullfight organisers billing event as woman versus
     beast

     OLIVER POOLE

     Bullfight organisers in Macau trust a female touch will attract crowds
to the bloody
     event plagued last year by bad weather and animal rights protesters.

Portuguese cavaleira Marta Manuela, 24, will be one of the top bullfighters
appearing
     in the five-day $5 million fiesta aimed at attracting tourists.

     Ms Manuela is the world's only female cavaleira - Portugal's most
prestigious level of
     mounted bullfighters who ride horses as they challenge the 500-kilogram
animals.

     Two dozen bulls and three horses are being flown in especially for the
event, which will
     be held on September 27 to 28 and October 1, 4 and 5.

     Last year, the tournament was condemned by students and animal rights
protesters and
     a purpose-built stadium was two-thirds empty during the opening touradas.

     Another day was cancelled because of heavy rain.
Campaigners have this year promised to petition Macau's Governor and plan to
protest
     against the event.

     But organiser Jose Pinto said he was not concerned about campaigners:
"Last year we
     had an average of 4,000 people per show, compared to only a dozen
protesters. I
     think we can conclude they have no meaning."

     Any protests or attempts to disrupt the spectacular would be "all part
of the show", he
     said.

     He said the event had broken even last year on ticket sales. It is
hoped 70 per cent of
     spectators at this year's fiesta will come from Hong Kong. Visitors to
the enclave
     dropped by eight per cent in the first seven months of this year.

A 6,000-seat bamboo arena has been built alongside the Avenida Infante
D'Henrique
     for the fiesta. Tickets range from $90 to $400.

     A procession through the enclave has been organised for 5 pm on
September 26.

     The Macau Government has contributed $2.5 million towards the event.

     The bulls are expected to arrive four to five days before the contest