Komputer for Alle 1998 #6

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Komputer for Alle 1998 #6 / 1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso / web / ffa / wwwenv~1.org / arrs / digest / news66~3.htm / __headers__.txt next >

Wrap

Text File | 1998-04-02 | 36.6 KB | 943 lines

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN//2.0"> <html> <head> <title>AR-NEWS Digest</title> </head> <BODY bgcolor=fbfaea text=#211818 link="#190748" alink="#FFFFEF" vlink="#401C92"> <center> <IMG SRC="IMAGES/HEAD.GIF" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/digest/images/head.gif" USEMAP="#toplinks" BORDER="0"><BR> <img src="IMAGES/YCBAR.GIF" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/digest/images/ycbar.gif"><a href="../INDEX~1.HTM" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/index.html"><img src="IMAGES/HOMEBAR.GIF" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/digest/images/homebar.gif" border=0></a><br></center> <map name="toplinks"> <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="345,27,393,54" href="../../../tppmsgs/msgs0.htm#14" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/envirohome.html"> <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="458,7,512,27" href="../SUPPOR~1.HTM" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/Support.html"> <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="401,7,446,26" href="../SEARCH~1.HTM" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/search.html"> <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="352,7,386,26" href="../ORGS~1.HTM" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/Orgs.html"> <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="298,7,337,25" href="../NEWSPA~1.HTM" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/newspage.html"> <AREA SHAPE="rect" COORDS="211,7,286,27" href="../SUB~1.HTM" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/sub.html"> </map> <center><TABLE cellspacing=15 border=0> <TR> <TD width=50 align=center> </TD> <TD width=400 align=left>  <pre> AR-NEWS Digest 665 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) [CA] 13 Arrested in Regina anti-fur demo by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 2) [CA] Candian Fur Stats by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 3) [UK] Porton Down alert for germ war on Britain by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 4) [UK] Britain's yogurt makers fight back against food police by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 5) [UK] Scientists warned of human BSE in 1988 by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 6) [UK] Bird flu passed directly to humans, researchers say by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 7) [UK] New smog threat as Indonesia bush fires spread by David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> 8) Fur coat to Juan Carlos I, King of spain by 2063511 <2063511@campus.uab.es> 9) by 2063511 <2063511@campus.uab.es> 10) Pork conference Demo by Ilene Rachford <irachfrd@erinet.com> 11) Wonders of sience - from mutant mice to legless humans by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 12) Communication among apes by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 13) Doctors fail to recommend lifestyle changes by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 14) Getty reflects on unexpected side effect by Mesia Quartano <primates@usa.net> 15) [CAT] Antifur protest in Barcelona by 2063511 <2063511@campus.uab.es> 16) (US) Oklahoma Weekly Hunting News by JanaWilson@aol.com 17) (US) Oklahoma Coyote Bird Dog by JanaWilson@aol.com 18) (US) Okla. Wildlife Dept. Financial Problems by JanaWilson@aol.com 19) (US) Oregon's major newspaper as bad as elected officials by "Bob Schlesinger" <bob@arkonline.com> 20) info request by "Leslie Lindemann" <LDTBS@worldnet.att.net> 21) protection for fish in Hawai'i nixed by legislators by "cathy goeggel" <arh@pixi.com> 22) Fwd: Re: (NY) Burned Kitten Dies by "Cari Gehl" <skyblew@hotmail.com> 23) Pace U. Law Conference on Animals in Entertainment by bstagno@ix.netcom.com (Barbara Stagno) Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 22:03:43 From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [CA] 13 Arrested in Regina anti-fur demo Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980214220343.357f2558@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" 13 Arrested in Regina anti-fur demo By David J Knowles Animal Voices News VANCOUVER, BC - 13 anti-fur activists were arrested Saturday afternoon after protesting outside a downtown Regina, Sask. fur shop. Darryl Vacat, of Regina-based People for Animals, said the protestors had laid two fur coats on the ground outside the entrance of the store. Police arrived on the scene and distributed leaflets stating out what the bylaws were, and ordered the coats to be picked up off the ground. This was done, but police then arrested 13 activists for blocking the doorway of the store. All 13 face charges of mischief. They were released later Saturday afternoon and will appear in court on March 19th. The Regina protest was one of several held throughout Canada Saturday. Similar protests were held in St. John's, Newfoundland; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Montreal, Ste.-Rita, Quebec; Bramptom; Durham; Guelph; Hamilton; Kingston; Kitchener-Waterloo; London; Oakville; Ottawa; Peterborough; st. Catherines; Toronto; Windsor (All Ontario); Winnipeg, Manitoba; Edmonton; Calgary (Alberta); and Victoria, BC. The protests mark the annual National Anti-Fur Day in Canada, coordinated by Don Roebuck of Action Volunteer for Animals. Roebuck said this year marks a decrease in the number of fur stores, wholesalers and manufacturers in Canada, as well as a decline in the number and value of pelts produced. Although the value in exports increased, Roebuck attributes this to an increase in exports to the USA due, in part anyway, to more aggressive advertising. On the downside, Eaton's department store continues to retail fur, and this year saw a return to fur retailing by The Hudsons Bay Company (trading as The Bay.) Both companies are on shakey financial ground, however, with Eaton's just emerging from near-bankruptcy and HBC having just taken over the operations (and debt) of K-Mart Canada. Both would be vunerable to a boycott. "Turnout was good throughout the country," said Roebuck. "Oakville, a suburb of Toronto, had a much better turnout than expected," He said. He added that the protestors in Victoria consisted of "Eight humans and one dog," agreeing it was good to see more than one species particpating. Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 22:44:55 From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [CA] Candian Fur Stats Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980214224455.357f022a@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Number and value of pelts produced in Canada Trapping Season Number Value ,000's of pelts $millions (CDN) 1983-84 2,870 41.8 1984-85 2,746 51.4 1985-86 2,683 50.5 1986-87 3,203 75.3 1987-88 3,287 65.0 1988-89 1,485 34.0 1989-90 áá 999 22.5 1990-91 áá 735 15.5 1991-92 áá 953 22.9 1992-93 áá 816 14.5 1993-94 1,061 23.1 1994-95 1,347 25.9 1995-96 1,115 25.1 Ranching Year Number Value ,000's of pelts $millions (CDN) 1983 1,519 49.0 1984 1,442 55.9 1985 1,483 48.5 1986 1,462 78.6 1987 1,358 57.5 1988 1,538 41.5 1989 1,590 30.0 1990 1.010 26.7 1991 áá 969 22.5 1992 áá 996 20.5 1993 áá 822 34.2 1994 áá 892 31.2 1995 áá 950 58.0 1996 áá 949 41.3 {Source: Livestock statistics, StatsCan, Catalogue No. 23-603. The fur season runs July 1st to June 30th of next year. Trapping stats are issued annually in May for the previous season. Ranching stats are issued annually in November for the preceding calendar year.) The numbers of fur retailers and wholesalers/manufacturers have declined over the past 10 years. In Halifax, the number of retailers went from 5 (1988) to 2 (1997); in Montreal, the number of retailers declined from 175 (1988) to 86 (1997) and the number of wholesalers/manufacturers went down from 315 (1988) to 175 (1997); in Toronto, retailers fell from a high of 141 (1988) to 57, and wholesalers/mfrs went from 125 (1988) to 43 (1997); in Edmonton, the figures went from 18 retailers (1988) to 9 (1997) and wholesalers/mfrs went from 8 (1988) to 6 (1997); while in Vancouver the figures fell for retailers from 32 (1988) to 9 (1997) and the number of wholesalers/mfrs fell from 23 (1988) to 6 (1997). [These figures were arrived at by checking the number of entries in the Halifax; Montreal (French); Toronto; Edmonton; and Vancouver Yellow Pages listed under the main fur industry categories.]á Thanks to Don Roebuck for providing the above figures. Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 23:12:18 From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] Porton Down alert for germ war on Britain Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980214231218.21a77bec@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, February 15th, 1998 Porton Down alert for germ war on Britain By Andrew Gilligan, Defence Correspondent GERM warfare experts from the top secret Porton Down laboratory have held talks with police and emergency service chiefs about contingency plans in the event of an Iraqi biological attack on Britain, The Telegraph has learned. In response to growing concerns about Iraq's biological arsenal, Porton Down is also developing a "new generation" of anti-biological agent vaccines designed to be quickly and easily taken through the mouth - implying at least a potential for civilian use. The action is being taken amid revelations that Saddam Hussein deployed substantial quantities of anthrax and other biological weapons in Kuwait for use against Allied soldiers during the 1991 Gulf war. The Telegraph has acquired details of a secret investigation by United Nations weapons investigators confirming that large quantities of weapons-grade anthrax were deployed in Kuwait and southern Iraq following Saddam's invasion of the Gulf emirate in August 1990. In his first interview since the Iraqi crisis began, the director of Porton Down, Paul Taylor, said work was "proceeding apace" on the newá vaccines. They were designed to be "easily-administered, often orally, have a rapid onset, fewer side-effects, and protect against more than one challenge". Mr Taylor refused to confirm the meetings with police, but The Telegraph has established that they have recently taken place, along with briefings to Home Office ministers. "We are working extremely long hours. Activity has been considerably stepped up. We have given advice and support to lots of people," he said. Asked if the "user-friendliness" of the vaccines implied preparations for mass civilian use in Britain, Mr Taylor said: "You might be right to say that they could be used by civilians, but we cannot decide that. We produce for the Armed Forces and it is up to ministers to decide whether to use them for civilians. They are not specifically designed for civilians but they could be applicable to them." Mr Taylor, who is Britain's Director of Biological and Chemical Defence, issued a warning about potential danger in the Middle East and generally, saying: "The threat is real. It is not hype. Saddam may well use weapons of mass destruction again." Porton will not say what stage the vaccines' development has reached, but it is understood that at least one, an anti-plague vaccine, is in or close to production. The vaccine is being created jointly with a biotechnology company, Cortecs International. Mr Taylor also revealed that Porton's capabilities were being used by the US for its own anti-biological warfare programme. Dr Jeremy Lucke, of the committee overseeing animal experiments at Porton, said that they had risen recently because of new work on plague and anthrax in response to intelligence from the Middle East. Any biological warfare attack on Britain is considered unlikely. If Saddam launches a biological strike during hostilities it may be aimed at Israel, a move which might win him Arab support but which would provoke massive, perhaps nuclear, retaliation by Tel Aviv. However, aá "terrorist" germ warfare attack on a Western country would be relatively easy to arrange and might never even be conclusively traced to Iraq. It would take little more than an aerosol spray and half a pint of the most potent nerve agent. ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998. Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 23:17:51 From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] Britain's yogurt makers fight back against food police Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980214231751.21a786cc@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit >From The Electronic Telegraph - Sunday, February 15th, 1998 Britain's yogurt makers fight back against food police By James Hardy, Home Affairs Editor POPULAR "bio" yogurts are under threat from Europe in a new attack on British foods. The yogurts, which account for nearly 60 per cent of sales in the ú500 million a year market, will have to be relabelled "fermented milk" under plans that look certain to be approved by Brussels. The move is the latest assault on British foodstuffs that have fallen foul of the European "food police" - from sausages to chocolate and crisps. Yogurt producers fear the bureaucratic battle over names could seriously damage sales. The "bio" product, a variation of ordinary yogurt, has captured more than half the British market in five years. "Fermented milk may be an acceptable term in France but over here it has connotations of a thin, liquidy product, probably full of lumps and certainly not appetising," said Dr Ed Komorowski, technical director of the Dairy Industry Federation. The row is being played out in closed meetings of Codex Alimentarius - an international body that sets food standards - at the instigation of a number of countries led by France and Italy. Dairy companies in Britain have pioneered the use of a new bacterial culture in "bio" yogurt with a milder taste than the more acidic product traditionally enjoyed on the Continent. While it has made rapid inroads into the British market, it has had a smaller impact in other European countries which have strict legal definitions of yogurt based on two other cultures. European producers are now insisting that "bio" yogurts are not the real thing and must be marketed as fermented milk. British offers of a compromise to use the term "mild yogurt" have been rejected as the campaign has gathered speed. Dr Komorowski, who has taken part in the bitter Codex negotiations, said Germany stood alone in supporting Britain. "In the UK we have no legal definition of yogurt, which has meant that over time we have evolved a product to meet the requirements of consumers. They are no longer rather harsh acidic products and are now milder and generally more pleasant than before," he said. "The immediate requirement if this proposal became law would be that these mild yogurts would be relabelled as fermented milk. That would confuse people and almost certainly dissuade them from buying the product. There would be short-term costs for changes in packaging but the real damage would be in loss of sales." British producers fear that the industry could lose tens of millions of pounds unless a compromise is reached at the next Codex meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, in May. Few admit publicly that they are fighting a lost cause. Mike Newitt, managing director of Bridge Farm Dairies in Mildenhall, Suffolk, one of the largest producers, said: "The Italians and French are insisting we must have fermented milk and everyone else is going in behind them. It affects the whole industry in Britain and it is a nonsense. We believe we have offered a totally reasonable compromise. We are saying that ours is a product recognised as yogurt by consumers in the UK but they are adamant that we are altering the nature of what yogurt is. It's like someone saying, 'You can't call ale bitter'." The British case is not helped by indifference on the wider world scene. Yogurt-eating is a predominantly European habit and other countries which have an opinion have proved hard to persuade away from supporting the traditional recipe. ⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998. Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 23:31:44 From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] Scientists warned of human BSE in 1988 Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980214233144.21a7b916@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >From The BBC Website - Friday, February 13, 1998 Published at 23:04 GMT Sci/Tech Scientists warned of human BSE in 1988 Scientists warned as early as 1988 that "millions" of people could be affected by a human version of BSE, according to confidential documents obtained by a BBC programme. While ministers maintained that British beef was safe to eat, scientists were uncertain about the dangers, in particular whether it was possible that BSE could be transferred to humans. The programme also makes it clear that independent scientists appointed by the government to investigate BSE were uneasy about denials that beef was safe. The document was written by civil servants for Sir Richard Southwood, Professor of Zoology at Oxford University, at the start of his inquiry into BSE in 1988. This was eight years before the link between mad cow disease or BSE and its human equivalent, new variant CJD was isolated. The paper told Professor Southwood that a test was urgently needed which could identify animals with BSE before they showed symptoms of the disease. "Otherwise, were there a hazard to humans, it could be 10 or more years before it is revealed by clinical disease, by which time thousands/millions might have been infected," said the report. The Southwood report concluded that the risks to human health were "remote and most unlikely". But it added "if our assumptions are incorrect the implications wouldá be extremely serious." The document reveals that eating meat was being considered as one theoretical route for BSE to pass between cow and human. Other suggested means of infection were contact with blood, body fluids and even animal hides. Sir Richard Southwood said: "We felt we were on the edge of something that could have enormous implications." Jim Hope, a scientist at the Neuropathogenics Unit, Edinburgh, said: "We were the experts. We didn't have many of the answers ... Rather than explain that to a general public it was thought better to give the impression that we had everything under control, which we didn't and which we never have." Details about the confidential report are revealed in the first part of the BBC2 documentary series Mad Cows and Englishmen to be broadcast on Sunday at 2005GMT. It also reveals that a government doctor diagnosed BSE 14 months before the disease was officially announced, and that another nine months passed before important tests were done. The official announcement of the first case of BSE was made in November 1986, but Carol Richardson, a pathologist at the Central Veterinary Laboratory, diagnosed the disease in September 1985 Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 23:38:55 From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] Bird flu passed directly to humans, researchers say Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980214233855.21a7cd4e@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >From The BBC Website - Friday, February 13, 1998 Published at 23:04 GMT Sci/Tech Bird flu passed directly to humans, researchers say The so-called "bird flu" outbreak in Hong Kong was spread directly from chickens to humans, researchers say. Scientists had previously said the transmission of viruses from birds to humans was impossible. But the virtually identical nature of the two viruses has led them to chance their minds. Writing in The Lancet medical journal, Eric Claas of the World Health Organisation National Influenza Centre, said the finding would raise concerns about a flu pandemic. Millions of people have died this century from flu. "This event illustrates the importance of intensive global influenza surveillance," he said. Mr Claas also ruled out the possibility of a carrier species passing the virus from chickens to humans. "If you look at the similarities of the two viruses it is very unlikely that there has been another species that could have acted as a mixing vessel," he said. The team of international virologists based at the WHO centre in Erasmus University, Rotterdam, compared the H5N1 virus, taken from the body of boy who died in the May outbreak of "bird flu" in Hong Kong, with the virus in a chicken. "Virus cannot spread among humans" What prevented the "bird flu" virus from escalating to the scale of a pandemic was its inability to spread between humans. No new cases of the virus have been reported in Hong Kong since the cull of all the former colony's chickens at the end of 1997. In all, 17 people contracted the disease and five have died. Mr Claas said: "The good thing about the virus is that it did not have the ability to spread from man to man. However, the potential danger, which is still present, is that it is very likely that the virus will still surface somewhere. "We're not sure whether it's going to happen now or in 10 years, but it is going to happen." Robert Belshe, of Saint Louis University Health Sciences Centre in the US, said in The Lancet's editorial that the research provided a stark warning to the governments of the world. "We need better vaccines. Recombinant protein vaccines and live attenuated vaccines each have their place in the control of influenza. These vaccines need to be studied and their manufacture regulated." ááááááááááááááááá Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 23:55:17 From: David J Knowles <dknowles@dowco.com> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: [UK] New smog threat as Indonesia bush fires spread Message-ID: <3.0.3.16.19980214235517.357f45c0@dowco.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >From The BBC Website - Friday, February 13, 1998 Published at 23:04 GMT World: Asia-Pacific New smog threat as Indonesia bush fires spread Forest fires are reported to be spreading out of control once more, in Kalimantan in the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. The resurgence of the bush and forest fires has raised fears that South-east Asia could soon be blanketed by another smoke haze. International experts say the Indonesian government does not have the people and equipment to put the fires out, and only rain expected in May will be sufficient to do the job. If the fires continue in Kalimantan and hotspots flare up in Sumatra, then Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand and the Philippines could see a repeat of the severe air pollution which blotted out the sun at the end of last year. The smog, which is caused by fire, drought and wind, could be a disaster for a regional economy already battered by a currency and banking crisis, say economists. Three months of choking, yellow smog between September and November caused a dramatic fall in visitors to the region, official figures show, and the impact on the economies from lost working days from sickness is only just being calculated. "We could be in for a repeat of last year if the fires keep burning," said Steve Tamplin, from the World Health Organisation in Manila. Nearly 500 separate forest fires are reported to be burning in Kalimantan, many of them started by farmers clearing bush for crops. This process has been happening on a small scale for decades but over the past few years land clearance has accelerated. Drought, made worse by the recent El Nino weather pattern that has parched crops across Asia, has helped spread the fires. Most land clearance happens in Indonesia's dry season, which, unfortunately, is when the wind tends to blow north towards its south-east Asian neighbours. Woon Shih Lai, director of the Meteorological Service Singapore, says the air over Singapore, Malaysia and other south-east Asian states should be clear until the end of March, but air pollution will then worsen. Mr Woon said thin smoke might even reachá Australia. "At this stage the fires are affecting Indonesia itself," he said. "But if the fires continue and the wind changes, those down winds might be affected." Smog nightmare Criticism of a slow response by governments to the smog pollution last year prompted several regional initiatives which scientists say may speed up firefighting efforts. But controlling fires once they have taken hold is difficult, particularly if, as in 1997, the fires catch hold of underground seams of peat. "Firefighters couldn't do very much to contain the fires once they got started," said Mr Tamplin. A new pall of smog would be a nightmare for crisis-hit south-east Asia. The Singapore Tourist Board expects tourism to drop by up to10% this year even without air pollution. Prolonged smog would mean emptier hotels, shops, restaurants and aircraft, but full doctors' surgeries and fewer people at work if respiratory ailments soar. Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 14:09:00 +0100 From: 2063511 <2063511@campus.uab.es> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Fur coat to Juan Carlos I, King of spain Message-ID: <01ITM0WEY6FW00HW4Q@cc.uab.es> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit >From EL PERIODICO DE CATALUNYA Almaty. -- the kings of Spain, Juan Carlos and Sofia, had supper last night in the Presidential Palace of Kazajsta'n invited by the Chief of State of that country, Nursulta'n Nazarbayev. The Spanish monarchs arrived at this capital in a technical scale in their trip of return from the Philippines. The King gave a book to Nazarbayev, that he flattered to the Monarch with a fur coat of leopard of snows and to queen with several made pieces of adornment in silver. My web against fur coats is: <http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/6506/pellcas.htm>http://www.geoc ities.com/rainforest/vines/6506/pellcas.htm Visiteu les meves pαgines / Visit my homepages <http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/6506>http://www.geocities.com/ra inforest/vines/6506 <http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/loge/3128>http://www.geocities.com/colo sseum/loge/3128 <http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/academy/2855>http://www.geocities.com/h ollywood/academy/2855 Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 14:18:23 +0100 From: 2063511 <2063511@campus.uab.es> To: AR NEWS <ar-news@envirolink.org> Cc: Linda <Ritva.Degerth@occuphealth.fi> Message-ID: <01ITM182H1AA00HW4Q@cc.uab.es> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit >From EL PERIODICO DE CATALUNYA TWO LYNGES APPEAR DEAD TO SHOTS IN THE PARK OF DO╤ANA Seville (Andalucia, Spain) -- Technicians of the Biological station of Do±ana found the died bodies of two lynges in two located property yesterday, respectively, in the national park and the natural park of Do±ana. All the indications aim that the causes have been firings of a firearm. The Iberian lynx, in spite of being in extinction danger, is the favorite prey of the furtive hunters who ronan Do±ana. -- R. B. If you would most information can write to enviromental spanish minister in: Or visit the oficial spanish governament website <http://www.la-moncloa.es/>http://www.la-moncloa.es (In spanish) My web against fur coats is: <http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/6506/pellcas.htm>http://www.geoc ities.com/rainforest/vines/6506/pellcas.htm Visiteu les meves pαgines / Visit my homepages <http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/6506>http://www.geocities.com/ra inforest/vines/6506 <http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/loge/3128>http://www.geocities.com/colo sseum/loge/3128 <http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/academy/2855>http://www.geocities.com/h ollywood/academy/2855 Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 10:10:04 -0800 From: Ilene Rachford <irachfrd@erinet.com> To: chickadee-l@envirolink.org, ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Pork conference Demo Message-ID: <34E72F7C.3455@erinet.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To those in the Dayton, Oh area... People/Animals Network (P/AN) will hold our annual demonstration at the Pork Conference in Downtown Dayton, Ohio at the Convention Center on Friday, Feb. 20 at 12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM. For more info: <mailto:irachfrd@erinet.com>mailto:irachfrd@erinet.com Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 09:38:25 -0800 From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Wonders of sience - from mutant mice to legless humans Message-ID: <34E72810.22FB@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mutant mice may hold secret to regenerating limbs Reuters News Service PHILADELPHIA, February 15, 1998 Heber-Katz started an experiment on multiple sclerosis, she bought several dozen specially bred mice for her work. She never dreamed they would open up the possibility that injured people might regrow lost limbs. It started with standard laboratory housekeeping. "I asked an associate to ear punch, to number, the animals," she said Saturday. This involves punching a small hole in the ears of the mice. But three weeks later when she checked the mice, there were no holes. "I came down and said, 'What did you do?"' Heber-Katz told a news conference. The associate shook her head and helped Heber-Katz punch more holes in the ears of the mice. Again a few weeks later, they checked the mice, and the holes had nearly healed. It wasn't just ordinary healing, but one in which "you could not find where the wound had been," Heber-Katz said. Heber-Katz, an immunologist, knew she was onto something. She consulted other scientists and realized the mice were not experiencing normal healing, which involves scarring, but tissue regeneration. It looked just like what happens in amphibians such as frogs, which can grow back lost limbs. Heber-Katz is presenting her findings for the first time to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in Philadelphia. She is not sure how she will translate her findings into actual therapy, but she and colleagues at the Philadelphia-based Wistar Institute, a private research facility funded in part by the National Cancer Institute, are trying to do just that. There seems to have been an evolutionary trade-off in mammals like mice and humans. Their bodies defend against tumors, but the same process may prevent the ability to regenerate limbs, Heber-Katz said. She hopes to find a way to turn it back on. One trick will be to turn it on without causing tumor growth. In normal scarring, the body builds up a protein matrix in between the layers of skin. In the mice, this matrix was being broken down. Genetic tests have pointed to seven possible genes -- one of which might also be involved in embryonic wound healing. Doctors know unborn babies in early development can be operated on in the womb and no scars will show when they are born, but this regenerative ability is turned off after birth. Heber-Katz thinks immune response is somehow involved. "One of the things that is missing in amphibians is a complex immune system," she said. The mice she was using are specially inbred to have auto-immune responses -- their immune systems turn on themselves, mimicking the effects of diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis. Two different versions of these mice showed the same effects, so she is not sure how much is due to the immune cells, and how much to other genetic mutations. She could not say why no one discovered the ear healing before, since ear punching is a common practice with laboratory rodents. T-cells, immune cells that fight invaders and kill abnormal cells like those seen in tumors, seem to be involved. The mice that heal are missing some types of T-cells. "(But) you can't just eliminate T-cells. You have to have the right mixture of genes," she said. Perhaps a mixture of gene and immune therapy could be used to stimulate the process, she said. First she has to see just what is going on in the mice. She has not gone so far as to cut off a whole ear or limb to see if it comes back, but she did snip off a short bit of tail -- about a centimeter (half an inch). About 75 percent grew back. "The regrown tail looks normal but we have not sat down and done a study," she said. Chopping off longer pieces of tail did not work so well. The mice started bleeding too heavily and the tissue had to be cauterized. "It didn't grow back," Heber-Katz said. By MAGGIE FOX, Health and Science Correspondent Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 09:44:01 -0800 From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Communication among apes Message-ID: <34E72961.5289@worldnet.att.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Communication skills among apes charted Reuters News Service PHILADELPHia, February 15, 1998 Language is not the exclusive domain of the human race, say researchers who contend that apes are skilled enough in the art of communication to instruct their young and organize meetings among adults. Although linguists believe language skills reside solely in the structure of the human brain, anthropologists have found the ability to communicate may be one of the evolutionary links between humankind and our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, apes. "They look like us, they think like us, they feel like us. They are like us," Georgia State University researcher Sue Savage-Rumbaugh said Saturday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Savage-Rumbaugh, one of the world's leading authorities on primate communication, studies chimpanzees and bonobos -- African pygmie chimpanzees -- at the Language Research Center in Atlanta, where communication between human and primate is conducted mainly though computer-generated images. She also has ventured out into the natural bonobo habitats in the jungles of central Africa. Apes in the wild smash plants as a way of marking trails between their feeding grounds and tree-top retreats, she said. There also is reason to suspect they use silent communication to decide when to leave the trees and where to gather afterwards. Meanwhile, results of studies at the research center suggest apes understand semantics and syntax so well that Savage-Rumbaugh wonders if they are unable to speak only because they lack a human voice tract. "When they can pour the milk into the juice, instead of pouring the juice into the milk, that's evidence for an understanding of language," she told a news conference. As a scientist, Savage-Rumbaugh has been derided by colleagues who contend that language is produced by an asymmetrical brain structure found only in humans. They argue that animals' faculty is mere instinct. But that, she contended, may parallel early scientific prejudices which cast African hunter-gatherers and other aboriginal peoples as having less well-developed brains than whites. Recently, her ideas and those of like-minded researchers have been boosted by a study that shows chimpanzees to have the same structural asymmetry as humans in an area of the brain associated with language comprehension. Preliminary evidence also suggests that bonobo mothers physically interact with their young offspring in ways similar to the instructive interaction of human mothers and infants, said Barbara King, a biological anthropologist at William & Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. In King's preliminary study of a female ape called Matata and her young offspring Elikya, the pair appeared to communicate through patterned body movements. For example, the mother appeared to teach the infant to walk by leading it across the floor while walking backwards. "What this evidence suggests is that we can learn about language origins by looking at species other than our own," said King, who stopped short of describing the body communication as language. She also cited similar studies by other scientists. "There is at least one (bonobo) mother that is routinely teaching her infant signals for when she wants to move off and join her group," King said. "She flexes her knees and looks back at the infant. And by doing this repeatedly ... teaches her infant to jump on her back. She does this by placing the infant up on a rock and having a practice session." By DAVID MORGAN, Reuters Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 10:00:44 -0800 From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> To: ar-news@envirolink.org Subject: Doctors fail to recommend lifestyle changes