Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news63~1.htm/text0000.txt

Text File | 1998-04-02 | 37.3 KB | 866 lines

>The Electronic Telegraph
18 Jan 98
Animal tests bring hope of Ebola cure
                  By Victoria Macdonald, Health Correspondent

                 SCIENTISTS have successfully immunised animals against the
fatal Ebola  virus, raising hopes for the first time that a vaccine can be
developed for
humans.

                  There is currently no cure for the disease, which causes
its victims to bleed to death and has been described by scientists as one of
the worst plagues
to afflict humanity.

                  Now researchers at the University of Michigan in America
have announced  a breakthrough in vaccine development following successful
trials on guinea  pigs. Reporting their results in Nature Medicine, the
scientists from the
departments of biological chemistry, internal medicine and the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute said they had been able to protect the animals
against the virus.

                  The next step will be to carry out tests on primates
followed by toxicity
tests on humans. The researchers are hopeful that there is now a chance of
developing a method of protecting people against Ebola and preventing its
spread.

                  The method is called genetic immunisation, in which
scientists use a gene to trigger the production of Ebola-fighting
antibodies. Efforts against the
disease have in the past been more traditional. Live or passive vaccines - of
the sort used for smallpox and rubella - have been injected.

                  But these have failed, leading scientists to use plasmid
DNA - which allows bacteria to change its genetic structure to survive -
encoded with Ebola
proteins.
As with all immunisations, the scientists have had to ensure that they show
the body's disease-fighting system enough of the virus to recognise it as an
enemy but not so much that it triggers the disease.

                  The animals were immunised and then injected with the
virus two months later. They remained almost totally protected against
Ebola. A control
group that was not immunised all died. Finding a method of immunising
people against Ebola is crucial to preventing its spread.

                  The disease is largely found in Zaire, Sudan, Gabon and
the Ivory Coast
but the ease with which it is transmitted has prompted global concern that it
will not be contained in those areas for much longer.

                  In 1996, four cases were reported in Johannesburg, South
Africa. Two
hundred people were put in isolation and public health experts' warnings
that viruses were only a plane-ride away were suddenly taken seriously. A
worldwide alert was issued and in Britain isolation units were told to
prepare themselves.

                  Ebola is a haemorrhagic disease which, like Aids, is
spread through blood and bodily fluids. Eighty to 90 per cent of patients die.

                  The development of a vaccine would protect people in
high-risk areas and  and aid scientists seeking a cure.


⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.


Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 14:00:07 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Food poisoning from fish
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"



>The Sunday Times
18 Jan 98

First it was bird flu, now poisonous coral-reef fish

     HONGKONG -- Health officials warned the public yesterday to be wary of
eating
     large coral-reef fish after about 50 people contracted food poisoning.

     A Health Department statement said fish such as tiger grouper and
flowery cod were  suspected to contain ciguatoxin, believed to have caused
people to fall ill in the past fortnight.

     The fish would have built up large amounts of the toxin through eating
poisonous algae,  the statement said.

     All the victims of the bout of food-poisoning have recovered after
receiving treatment,     it added. It advised the public to avoid eating the
viscera, especially liver and gonads, of big coral-reef fish, where the
toxin is most concentrated.

     It said the symptoms of "ciguatera poisoning" included vomiting,
diarrhoea, hot flushes     and pains in joints and muscles.

     The fish warning came amid a scare over bird flu, which has been blamed
for six deaths     in Hongkong.

     On Friday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the bird flu
hadbeen detected     in ducks and geese.

     Up till now, the H5N1 virus had been found only in chickens in
Hongkong, leading to     the slaughter of 1.5 million birds.

     But the WHO said its researchers, teamed with those from Hongkong
University, had diagnosed the strain in about 10 domestic and wild ducks and
wild geese out of 1,800     fowls tested.

     The WHO stressed the results could not determine the source of the
virus, nor if the     island's farm-raised ducks were afflicted. -- AFP.

Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 11:38:22 EST
From: JanaWilson <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Okla/Texas Women's Fishing Group Ceases Operation
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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A/w local OKla. City outdoor news:

Bass'n Gal (which is the women's equivalent of the Bass Anglers
Sportsman Society) has ceased operations because of the
difficulty involved in obtaining corporate sponsorships said
Ms. Sugar Ferris, the organization's founder and president.
Bass'n Gal has run a bass fishing tournament tour for women since
1976.  The organization was based in Arlington, Texas and at
one time it had 32,000 members and staged 9 major tournaments
yearly.  Lately the number of tournaments had been reduced to
six a year.
Oklahoma's Lake Tenkiller, the home lake of one of Bass'n Gal's
biggest stars, Chris Houston, was a frequent stop on the Bass'n Gal
circuit.  Houston, of Cookson, the wife of TV angler and BASS
pro Jimmy Houston, said Ferris notified her by phone that Bass'n
Gal was folding.  "It's sort of end of an era," said Houston.
Houston plans to retire and will leave the sport as the second-
leading money-winner on the women's tour.
Several other Oklahoman were Bass'n Gal regulars, but none
had achieved the success enjoyed by Houston.  Although women
can fish the BASS tour, Houston said no one has indicated an
interest in promoting tournaments strictly for women.
Ferris, 61, who had heart surgery two years ago, said she
was just "worn out" by the never-ending effort to attract and
keep corporate sponsors.
"The decision to end the operation did not come easily, but I felt
it was the thing to do," said Ferris.  "My grief is for all the women
of the nation who love the sport.
"Sponsors don't want to give you a long-term commitment, yet
they want to dictate how your tournaments are run.  The industry
says it wants more women involved in fishing, but the industry
does won't support our programs."
Bass'n Gal started several innovations in tournament angling,
including the first five-fish limit and the "paper tournament"
concept on lakes where a lot limit made it illegal to keep
certain-sized fish.  The fish were measured and released.  A
certain formula reduced the measurement to pounds for the weigh-in.
Lake Tenkiller was one of those lakes.
Ferris said she came up with the idea after attending a men's
tournament where the wives passed the time playing bingo
while waiting for weigh-in.

                                                   For the Animals,

                                                   Jana, OKC


Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 11:38:16 EST
From: JanaWilson <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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A/w local Oklahoma City hunting news:

The Oklahoma Trappers and Predator Callers Association will
have another fur sale on Sat., Feb. 7th, at the Agri-Civic Center
in Chandler, Okla.  Registration begins at 8 am with an auction
following at 9 am.  There will booths for the fur dealers. For more
information please call [phone].

A two-man team of waterfowlers took four Canadan Geese weighing
nearly 18 lbs to win the Greater Oklahoma Goose Scramble.  This
first-ever event was held on Jan.10th with weigh-in festivities held
in Yukon, Okla.  Mr. Paul Cornett of Fort Cobb and Mr. Richard
Russell of Yukon checked in a cumulative weight of 17 lbs. The
hunters had been "situated" in a western Oklahoma pit blind
overlooking a wheat field with 75 decoys.  By 8 am they had
reached their limit and were headed back to Yukon for the official
weigh-in.  Mr. Larry Stinchcomb who is the event organizer said
the goose hunting tournament will be an annual fund-raiser for
The BBC Charities which is a non-profit organization working for
youth education in the outdoors.

Oklahoma's affiliate of the National Wild Turkey Federation is
publishing a newsletter for members called "The Turkey Roost,"
which contains a schedule of upcoming events and other
"news of interest" to area turkey hunters. The newsletter is
edited by Mr. Mike Lambeth and Mr. Troy Bean of Broken Bow,
Okla. is now president of the state group.

                                                          For the Animals,

                                                          Jana, OKC
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 12:08:04 -0500
From: Nikolas Entrup <[e-mail]>
To: AR-NEWS <[e-mail]>
Subject: CIRCUS BAN - SUPPORT NEEDED
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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This is an urgent request for support:

Hi,

just got a message that Viennese authorities have an internal meeting
discussing proposed circus guidelines and a draft regulation which would
ban the keeping of wild animals in circuses in the county of Vienna,
Austria. The BAD PART is that the government in Vienna has now officially
stated NOT to ban elephants, tigers and lions as they are a cultural
necessity in circuses. Therefore the Austrian animal protection
organisation RespekTiere asks you for urgent support. We need short
writings from SCIENTISTS, INSTITUTIONS and ORGANISATIONS to STRONGLY URGE
FOR A BAN ON WILD ANIMALS IN CIRCUSES. PLEASE SPECIFY THE DEMAND TO
PROHIBIT ELEPHANTS, TIGERS and LIONS and that VIENNA SHALL PROHIBIT ALL
WILD ANIMALS TO BE KEPT IN CIRCUSES!!!
Please fax your a writing to:
RespekTiere
Nicolas Entrup
P.O.Box 97
1172 Vienna
Austria
Tel.Fax. + 43 1 479 14 09
if the fax is not working email your writing to: [e-mail]

TILL MONDAY NIGHT (19th January 1998). If you can not do it till then, your
fax is still welcomed and I will pass them on to the authorities.

Further actions will be taken soon.
Thanks for your support.
Cheers

Niki Entrup
RespekTiere
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 12:46:01 EST
From: Snugglezzz <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: America's Wildlife Love Affair "Strong"
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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Tulsa World, OK, USA: Jamie Rappaport Clark, director of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, said summing up a recent major national survey, "America's
love affair with wildlife continues to be strong.

"Whether they're anglers, hunters or just wildlife-watchers, Americans enjoy
wildlife and, equally important, commit their time and resources to its
conservation. Our economy also benefits from the $100 billion spent on
wildlife-related recreation."

Florida has the most anglers in the nation, according to the preliminary
overview from the 1996 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-
Associated Recreation. Michigan had the most hunters and California had the
most wildlife-watchers.

Other data showed that Michigan had 934,000 hunters, followed by Texas with
913,000, and Pennsylvania with 879,000. Wisconsin was fourth with 665,000
hunters and New York was fifth with 642,000.

Residents of the West North Central region, which includes Iowa, Kansas,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, had the highest participation
rates for hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching.

(If having a "love affair" with wildlife means killing it, I'm sure glad none
of these people have any love for me.)

-- Sherrill
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:19:11 -0500
From: "Bina Robinson" <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Caras & Blakemore to address conference
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
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January 17/98 posting by Americans for Medical Progress Eductation
Foundation

Colin Blakemore (noted British vivisector), President of the British
Association for Advancement of Science and Roger Caras, President of
American SPCA, will share the honors as keynote speakers at the annual
conference of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Resarch ito be held in
Boston March 27-28.
The theme of the conference is "Innovative Biomedical Techniques"
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:30:57 -0800
From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Wildlife in Kenya
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Kenya's quest for harmony between man and wildlife

Scripps Howard
NAIROBI, Kenya, January 18, 1998

Kenya needs reform -- for the sake of its wildlife as much as its human
population.

The low-cost, mass-market safari over which Kenya had a global monopoly
for so long might have made tour operators and the state a great deal of
money, but it cost its game parks dear. In the Masai Mara, herds of
minibuses drive off-road, destroying fragile habitat, and park only feet
away from harassed predators.

Cheetah, in particular, have become so stressed out that their numbers
are diminishing. Two elephants had to be shot after they charged a
tourist who insisted on a close-up photograph; one lodge persists in
pumping its waste into a water hole used by elephant for drinking. A
tourist jogging in another park was eaten by a lion.

Much of Amboseli, another of Kenya's great parks, is a desert, its
vegetation wiped out by an over-concentration of elephant. When it was
declared a national park in the 1970s, the Masai were forbidden to graze
their cattle there. In retaliation, they speared elephants that strayed
onto their group ranches bordering Amboseli, thus forcing the animals
into the much smaller national park area. The Masai also poisoned lions
because they attacked their cattle, and the few that
remain find it too difficult to hunt in such open terrain. Rhino have
also been wiped out.

Kenya's tourist industry, which makes up 37 percent of its gross
national product, is in crisis.  Political uncertainty in the run-up to
last month's election decimated an industry already badly hit
by emerging competition from Tanzania and South Africa.

Now various solutions are being bandied about. Dr. David Western,
director of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), believes the only solution
is to steer tourism away from its emphasis on the "Big Five" -- lion,
leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino -- and the flagship national parks.

Kenya is unusual in that three-quarters of its wildlife is to be found
outside the parks, much of it on land owned by the Masai. Thus, in order
for this new policy to work, the Masai have to be convinced that
eco-tourism will benefit them. In practical terms, they need literacy
skills -- today fewer than five percent are literate -- and to be made
aware of how they can influence their environment in a positive way.

"This is the single most important element in determining how much
wildlife survives into the next century," says Western. "If we develop a
level playing field for the Masai, the wildlife stands a chance."

This wooing of the local communities in Kenya is, as in the rest of
Africa, a radical about-face.

Since colonial days, people have been systematically driven off their
land to make way for wildlife.  "They have always treated us as pests,"
says Koikai Oloitiptip, Masai leader of the group ranches
which surround Amboseli.

His brother, Kenyatta Oloitiptip, is secretary of the Kimana Community
Wildlife Sanctuary, a Masai-owned group ranch which KWS hopes will be an
example the rest of the country will follow.

Kimana borders Amboseli, and its vegetation and wildlife are in a much
healthier state than that of the national park. It also covers a crucial
wildlife migration corridor between Amboseli and its neighboring park,
Tsavo, and has a natural salt-lick.

There are three tented camps in Kimana, run by a Nairobi-based operator
who pays the Masai about $1,600 a year. But the main camp is empty of
guests, and only five of the tents are standing.  Kenyatta Oloitiptip
blames last year's pre-election violence in Mombasa and the recent
country-wide floods.

But there are other problems that pose a deeper threat to the dream of
Masai-owned tourist camps: although the Kimana camps have been running
for almost two years, most salaries are still paid by KWS. What benefit
the Masai are gaining from eco-tourism still comes largely from the
foreign donors that fund KWS. And, more importantly, the Masai
themselves are divided.

When the Group Ranch Act was passed in 1974, existing heads of
households were registered as member/owners. At that time, there were
143 members; now there are 843.

"It took a war to register the younger men," says Koikai Oloitiptip.
"They threatened the elders with their spears. They would have killed
them."

Still, another 10,000 remain unregistered and a potential threat to the
sanctuary. Without even the promise of benefits from eco-tourism, they
are planting crops and grazing cattle, activities which sit
uncomfortably with wildlife: lion and leopard prey on cattle, which are
all-important for the Masai, who are traditionally nomadic pastoralists.

Another difficulty is the low level of literacy among the Masai because,
in the past, elders refused to allow them to enter the state education
system for fear it would destroy their culture. Unable to
read or understand leases, they are regularly cheated by tour operators
who bring tourists onto game-rich Masai land and pay the Masai little or
nothing.

The Masai Mara, for instance, brings in some $56 million a year. Only a
small proportion of that trickles down to the community -- much of it is
siphoned off by tour operators and Masai "leaders" and middle-men.

Kenya comes belatedly to the community-versus-wildlife conundrum, having
been shored up -- far longer than less well-endowed African countries --
by the wealth of its wildlife, its lavish donor funds and huge earnings
from tourism.

The decision to rely on eco-tourism as a way of benefiting local people
is not the easiest route, dependent as it is on transparency of
accounting and democratic involvement of local communities.  Also,
eco-tourism is vulnerable to political instability, as the present
crisis shows.

The option taken by most of the rest of Africa -- trophy hunting on
communal lands (lucrative, cheap to run and clearly accountable) --
isn't open to Kenya, where hunting was banned after the predations of
the big white hunters in the earlier part of the century.

But wildlife will die out anyway unless their human neighbors deem it in
their interest to allow them living space.

By LIZ McGREGOR, Scripps Howard News Service
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:37:36 -0800
From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Another cancer treatment breakthrough - in theory
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Researchers celebrate breakthrough in cancer treatment

1998 Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO, January 17, 1998

Years of research into safer and more potent cancer treatments may have
begun to pay off with advances that use the body's own defenses.

Biotechnology companies gathering in San Francisco this week to discuss
progress in bringing new drugs to market say some of their most
promising research involves monoclonal antibodies, which
are natural immune system chemicals that have been altered for use as
cancer drugs.

Because they originate in the human body, they are far less toxic than
chemotherapy and radiation, and several companies are steaming ahead to
develop therapies based on them.

Among some of the recent developments are the approval late last year by
the Food and Drug Administration of Rituxan, the first monoclonal
antibody for cancer. Rituxan, which targets non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, was
developed by IDEC Pharmaceuticals and Genentech Inc.

Coulter Pharmaceutical Inc. also has developed a similar drug for
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that shrinks tumors and in some cases puts
patients in whom other treatments have failed into complete
remission -- meaning there is no sign of cancer in their bodies.

At the Hambrecht and Quist Healthcare Conference here, Coulter President
Michael Bigham said the company would seek FDA approval of Bexxar this
year and predicted it would become the "gold standard" of treatment in
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Genentech has applied this science to other cancers and plans to file
for FDA approval of a new breast cancer drug in a few months. It is also
working on a related drug designed to starve cancer tumors by cutting
off their blood supply.

Similar research is underway at a handful of other biotech companies,
including ImClone Systems Inc., which is working on monoclonal
antibodies for breast, head and neck, lung and prostate cancers.

"This is a genuine advance," Dr. Robert Cohen, Genentech's associate
director of molecular oncology, said of this building body of research.

"Is it a cure for cancer? I don't think so. But the hope is that we will
eventually be able to cure some patients who wouldn't otherwise be
cured."

Monoclonal antibodies are designed to fight cancer the way the body's
natural immune system fights other diseases. Years ago, researchers
found they could make antibodies to fight cancer by injecting foreign
proteins into mice and then harvesting the agents the mice secreted in
defense.

The problem was that these antibodies did not make effective treatments
for humans: since they came from mice, the human body would reject them.

But over the past decade, scientists at IDEC and Genentech found a way
around that problem. They isolated the active ingredient in the mouse
antibody and attached it to a human antibody so that it would be better
tolerated.

That breakthrough eventually led to the development of Rituxan, a drug
that selectively targets cancerous cells while avoiding most of the
surrounding healthy tissue. In theory, this means the treatment is less
toxic than traditional radiation or chemotherapies.

In practice, however, this is still not the case. Doctors are
recommending Rituxan be used in combination with other drugs like
chemotherapy to give the patient the best possible chance of
recovery.

"Drug combinations are the name of the game in cancer treatment," said
Genentech's Cohen.  "There are very few examples of any cancer drugs
being effective when used by themselves."

By ANDREA ORR, Reuters.
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 09:21:32 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Rabbit film and virus spread
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

For Australia Only - ABC TV - Wednesday night (21/1/98) "Celia"

This week on ABC TV on Wednesday 21st january at 10.55 pm (Perth time),
they are screening "Celia" and have given the movie 4 stars.
The write up for "Celia" says  "A young girls pet rabbit has to be destroyed
as part of an effort to combat a plague"
The movie stars Rebecca Smart and Nicholas Eadie

Considering the impending approval of RCD (rabbit hemorrhagic disease) coated
baits in Australia (4 out of 5 main calicivirus groups already infect humans)
and considering the wide "host range" of some caliciviruses - (where some
caliciviruses from the family Caliciviridae has been found in many "hosts" -
often by a chance discovery when a sick animal or human is found and the
right tests are done to detect a calicivirus - by chance) - this movie is
shown at a most relevant time for Australia. If RCD was suddenly found to
infect humans, would they force rabbit owners to surrender their pets for
euthanasia?

The USA USDA will kill any rabbits infected (and others?) should RHD/RCD
ever reach its shores - this is USDA policy - for they will not allow the
RCD vaccine.

The USDA would rather search for antibodies and infectivity and kill all
exposed rabbits according to USDA literature. What if such tests for RHD/RCD
antibodies can't differentiate between lethal RCD and non-lethal-RCD
(related strain) antibodies as has happened in Australia lately?

How many rabbits (uninfected by lethal RCD/RHD) would be slaughtered for
having the antibodies caused by contacting the non-lethal strain of RCD that
has been found recently in rabbits in Australia as well as Europe?

The non-lethal strain of RCD may have existed in Australia for many years,
perhaps carried in on migrating birds (as many other viruses arrive with
migrating birds in many countries). The recently discovered non-lethal
strain of RCD is suspected of conferring some immunity to some wild European
rabbits that have refused to die from deliberate infection with RCD/RHD by
Australian authorities. Indeed globally, the matter is food for thought.

End
========================================================
Rabbit Information Service,
P.O.Box 30,
Riverton,
Western Australia 6148

email>  [e-mail]

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
(Rabbit Information Service website updated frequently)

     /`\   /`\
    (/\ \-/ /\)
       )6 6(
     >{= Y =}<
      /'-^-'\
     (_)   (_)
      |  .  |
      |     |}
 jgs  \_/^\_/

It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
 - Voltaire
















Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 20:29:50 EST
From: Perlow <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Howard Stern show
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

I was channel searching on  television and came across the Howard Stern show
on E - Entertainment Channel. If you looked behind the guests speaking you
could see a poster on the wall of a bare topped female with the message "Give
Fur the Cold Shoulder."  Even though the views could see it, obiviously Robin
could not.
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 21:26:50 EST
From: Marisul <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US)LA Times: "US Researchers Use Cow's Eggs to Clone 5 Species Embryos"
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

>From the Los Angeles Times, Monday, January 19, 1998

U.S. Researchers Use Cow's Eggs to Clone 5 Species' Embryos
By Robert Lee Hotz, Times Science Writer
á
     Using cow's eggs as incubators, scientists at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison successfully cloned five different species, including
primates, in an experiment that ethics experts expect will intensify an
international furor over human cloning.
áááááThe new findings, which were to be presented Monday at a research meeting
in Boston, offer evidence that the unfertilized eggs of one species can be
combined with adult cells taken from a wide variety of animals, including
sheep, pigs, rats, cattle and rhesus monkeys, to create viable embryos.
áááááSo far, all the pregnancies to date have resulted in miscarriages, the
researchers acknowledge. The Wisconsin scientists do not yet know whether they
need to simply refine their techniques or whether, as a matter of fundamental
biology, nature was rejecting their creations.
áááááNonetheless, several experts said it is the first independent
confirmation of the technique used by researchers at the Roslin Institute
outside Edinburgh, Scotland, to clone Dolly à the world's first mammal made
from an adult cell. Other researchers who cloned animals in an effort to
duplicate that feat have used embryonic or fetal tissue, not fully developed
adult cells.
áááááBut the Wisconsin experiment also takes the cloning of mammals into a new
dimension by using the technology to combine different species, several
experts in reproductive biology said.
áááááMoreover, it suggests the molecular machinery responsible for programming
genes within the cytoplasm of an egg may be similar in all mammals, the
Wisconsin researchers said. That offers the possibility that eggs of one
species can be used as a universal incubator for cloning any adult mammal
cell, including à theoretically, at least à those of human beings.
áááááIf perfected, the new technique one day could have broad applications,
from the development of customized tissue cell lines for human transplants, to
more efficient ways of genetically engineering farm animals, the Wisconsin
scientists said. It offers a way to revive species threatened with extinction.
áááááThe findings also raise a host of questions about whether this technique
could, or should, be applied to human beings. The research is so new that no
one has any clear idea what utility there might be in using human cells to
create transpecies clones, by transplanting a human nucleus into an animal
egg, or vice-versa.
ááááá"If it turns out you can do this so readily in other species, perhaps it
can be done in humans this quickly as well," said John Robertson, an expert in
biomedical ethics at the University of Texas and co-chairman of the ethics
committee of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.
ááááá"It may be much too soon to even think of any human applications, but it
indicates how quickly the science seems to be progressing here," Robertson
said.
áááááWith public expectations and fears running so far in advance of any
actual experimental evidence, the newest research will almost inevitably
heighten concerns over cloning experiments, several experts said.
ááááá"To me, this new research is simply further indication that the (cloning)
technique has capabilities that are going to be relevant for human beings
sooner rather than later," said Alexander Morgan Capron, a biomedical ethics
expert at the University of Southern California and a member of a presidential
bioethics commission.
áááááWell aware of the public attention drawn to any cloning research, the
Wisconsin researchers themselves were anxious to downplay their findings by
emphasizing that their results are the preliminary findings of a highly
experimental undertaking.
áááááThe researchers said in interviews that they have yet to produce any
offspring with their technique, just a series of unsuccessful pregnancies in
the host animals.
áááááThey are presenting their results in two research papers to be given at a
meeting Monday of the International Embryo Transfer Society.
ááááá"The science is interesting but any application is a long ways away,"
cautioned cloning pioneer Neal L. First, in whose Wisconsin laboratory the
research was conducted by Tanja Dominiko and Maisam M. Mitalipova. Even so,
the university already is seeking to patent their process.
áááááWhen they started, the Wisconsin group was simply trying to duplicate the
cloning experiment that resulted in Dolly, First said.
áááááBut the researchers chose to vary the experiment by using material from
two different species, transplanting the nucleus of a cell from the ear of a
grown sheep into an unfertilized cow's egg. When that experiment showed some
promising results, they immediately duplicated it with other species.
áááááIn each instance, the resulting creation appeared to be guided by the
genetic programming of the new nucleus, so that a rodent nucleus produced a
rodent embryo and a monkey nucleus produced a monkey embryo, even though each
was growing in the cradle of a bovine egg.
ááááá Several experts, including embryologist Steen Willadsen à whose 1986
success in making multiple genetic copies of sheep by splitting cells from
developing embryos foreshadowed recent cloning breakthroughs à questioned
whether the Wisconsin technique would ever produce living offspring.
áááááThe nucleus from one species and the egg of another may appear at first
to combine successfully, but there may be too much of a genetic mismatch for
any resulting embryo to survive to term, Willadsen said.
ááááá"The biology of it will have to be sorted out," Willadsen said. "There is
no guarantee that it will be useful."
áááááThere are so many unanswered questions about what it would mean for the
health and safety of any creature created in this way that any human
applications are only speculative, experts agreed.
ááááá"Could this be tried in people?" asked medical ethics expert Arthur L.
Caplan at the University of Pennsylvania. "In theory, it could, but it would
be dangerous to try because we don't know what the difference in the egg
environment would do to any organism."

Copyright Los Angeles Times
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 11:17:31 +0000
From: jwed <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (HK) Compulsory microchipping
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

South China Morning Post - Monday  January 19  1998
Dog owners urged to get pets chip shape - by BRENDAN DELFINO

Dog owners have been urged to get their pets microchipped because less than
a quarter have been tagged so far.

The Agriculture and Fisheries Department said in the year since
microchipping became mandatory only about 30,000 dogs had been tagged.

Senior veterinarian Dr Les Sims said the figure was less than the
department's target of a third of Hong Kong's estimated 120,000 pet dog
population. The figure excludes strays.

"We wanted to have about a third of the dog population microchipped so this
figure is probably a bit low," Dr Sims said.

"Lots of factors come into it but essentially we need to do more publicity,
make people aware they must get their dogs chipped as we will start doing
more random checks."

He said the chips helped reunite about 30 strays with their owners during
the year. The rice grain-sized chip, inserted in the back of the neck by
needle, contains data on the dog's owners and its vaccination history.

Nelson Lam, of the Hong Kong Kennel Club, said he believed some owners were
reluctant to get their dogs chipped because of concerns over possible
side-effects or pain for the animal.

"But we have since seen there is no real discomfort to the dogs and this
should be publicised and we should get all dogs chipped," Mr Lam said.

SPCA deputy executive director Dr Cynthia Smillie said the number of owners
bringing their dogs in for chipping fell throughout the year.

"We started off very well with 586 dogs brought to us for chipping [at the
beginning of last year] but that dropped to just 313 by September," she said.

Dr Smillie said paperwork and procedures should also be streamlined because
some simple tasks, such as changing ownership, were "a bit of a headache".



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