1) 1 billion migrating birds die yearly flying into glass by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 2) Xenotransplants could lead to new AIDS by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 3) Clinical testing kills 17 human subjects by Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net> 4) Quick update, day of prayer, a quick call & as always...thanks by Buffalo Folks <stop-the-slaughter@wildrockies.org> 5) (UK) Superbug linked to antibiotics in cattle feed by Ty Savoy <Ty@north.nsis.com> 6) (US) Puppy Mill Closing Fills Shelter by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 7) (TH) Snake boxing by Vadivu Govind <kuma@cyberway.com.sg> 8) Actors: Support Health Research by AMPEF <AMPEF@aol.com> 9) Man's Best Fish? by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US 10) Puppy Mill by SDURBIN@VM.TULSA.CC.OK.US 11) Bear Baiting in Pakistan - Action item by Jill Hein <jillh@microsoft.com> 12) Bear hunt proposal protested (NJ) by Michael Markarian <mmarkarian@fund.org> 13) attn vermonters! by PDein81533 <PDein81533@aol.com> 14) NAVS Announces 9th edition of Personal Care For People Who Care by NAVS <navs@navs.org> 15) Shoprite giving away turkeys, letters needed by veganman@idt.net (Stuart Chaifetz) 16) MICHIGAN LEGISLATIVE ALERT by BSVILA <BSVILA@aol.com> 17) (US) Bob Barker Marching For Gorilla! by Hillary <oceana@ibm.net> 18) (US) PROJECT EQUUS -- News Alert! by allen schubert <alathome@clark.net> 19) The Great American Meatout axed at Publix Stores (Florida) by SMatthes <SMatthes@aol.com> 20) The Biggest Fish Story Yet: Let My Fishes Go! by Vegetarian Resource Center <vrc@tiac.net> 21) National Cattlemen's Beef Association: Summary of Facts about CJD, nvCJD and BSE by Vegetarian Resource Center <vrc@tiac.net> 22) Bob Barker, King Supporters March on Monkey Jungle by Vegetarian Resource Center <vrc@tiac.net> 23) Georgia Dept. of Agriculture Investigation Leads to Arrest for Animal Cruelty by Vegetarian Resource Center <vrc@tiac.net>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:24:20 -0800
From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: 1 billion migrating birds die yearly flying into glass
Message-ID: <3511FD84.1283@worldnet.att.net>
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1 billion migrating birds die yearly flying into glass, expert says
Reuters News Service
ALLENTOWN, Pa. March 19, 1998
Millions of birds will be killed striking plate-glass windows of city
buildings as they migrate across North America this spring, an American
ornithologist said Thursday.
Daniel Klem, biology professor at Muhlenberg College, said low-flying
woodland birds such as thrushes and robins travel at night and are
attracted to the bright lights of big cities like moths to fire.
"They come to the ground exhausted. Then they get deceived by the glass,
thinking the trees reflected in it are a point of safety or a place to
go perch. And they smash into it and die in large numbers," said Klem,
who has spent nearly 20 years studying the dangers that glass poses for
birds.
Unlike street-wise pigeons, migrating birds are most likely to be drawn
to cities in rainy spring weather when visibility is low and building
lights provide a welcome landmark.
Klem says a huge glass edifice like Chicago's 2.2 million square-foot
McCormick Place could be expected to kill at least 200 birds per
migration.
Robins already have been spotted on the lawns of the northeastern United
States this year. But migration is not expected to reach its peak in the
region until mid-May.
Klem says spring and autumn migrations are only part of a year-long
danger that birds face from glass, however, whether it be the
plate-glass of a city skyscraper or the living room window of a suburban
home.
In fact, the professor believes that over 1 billion birds -- about 5
percent of the North American bird population -- die each year by
crashing into windows and other glass fixtures.
Klem plans to present his research to the North American Ornithological
Conference next month in St. Louis.
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:28:15 -0800
From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Xenotransplants could lead to new AIDS
Message-ID: <3511FE6F.7877@worldnet.att.net>
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Animal-organ transplants could lead to new AIDS, group warns
Reuters News Service
LONDON, March 19, 1998
Doctors and lawyers warned Thursday that transplanting animal organs
into humans could lead to a deadly AIDS-like epidemic that could wipe
out billions of lives.
"The risk with these transplants is that you could unleash into the
human population an AIDS-like virus that you can catch as easily as the
common cold," said Dr Ray Greek of the campaign group Doctors and
Lawyers for Responsible Medicine.
The group, which has members worldwide, was launching a campaign in
London to ban xenotransplants -- the use of animal organs in human
transplants.
The procedure could save thousands of lives but put billions at risk by
transferring animal viruses to humans, Greek said.
"You have to weigh up the risks and benefits of saving several thousand
people a year against the possible annihilation of the human race," said
Greek.
Requests for human transplant organs are growing at 15 percent a year
and there are never enough human organs to go around.
Genetically engineered pigs, with organs approximately the same size as
their human equivalents, were thought to be the perfect solution, since
pigs breed quickly and have large litters.
But scientists from the National Institute for Medical Research in
London burst the bubble last year when they found two types of pig virus
-- called porcine endogenous proviruses -- capable of infecting human
cells.
The discovery heightened fears that new diseases could cross over from
animals to humans, as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is believed to
have done.
DLRM president Dr Andre Menache said potential transplant patients were
ill informed about the possible dangers of xenotransplants.
"People are still unaware; they don't realize the seriousness of the
risks," he said.
"They still believe that receiving an animal organ is better than the
risk of passing a virus from the animal organ to the wider population."
Menache said he believed it would be very difficult to stop the giant
chemical companies who are plowing millions of dollars into developing
xenotransplants from continuing their work because such huge potential
profits are involved.
"It's big business. Billions of dollars a year are spent on research
which will never yield results. We will never find all the possible
viruses, so the problem will never go away," Greek said.
Leaders in transplant technology, Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis
and its subsidiary, Imutran Ltd, have pledged to move into clinical
trials only when scientific, safety and regulatory issues have been
addressed.
But some scientists fear the development of "xeno-havens" in countries
with weak or no regulations on xenotransplantation, where cheaper organs
from baboons or chimpanzees that could be laden with dangerous viruses
could be used.
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 21:38:23 -0800
From: Andrew Gach <UncleWolf@worldnet.att.net>
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Clinical testing kills 17 human subjects
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Dutch stroke researchers reveal they abandoned tests after deaths
Reuters News Service
AMSTERDAM, March 19, 1998
Dutch medical researchers disclosed Thursday that they had stopped
testing a new stroke treatment following the deaths of 17 patients.
According to Utrecht University Hospital, where the tests were carried
out in 1996, another 36 patients suffered complications as a result of
the experiment.
It said the tests, to treat stroke victims with anti-coagulants more
usually associated with heart patients, ended in May 1996.
A total 1,316 patients were divided into two groups and given either
aspirin, a drug of proven benefit after a mild heart attack, or an
anti-coagulant.
In the second group of 651 people, 53 suffered severe complications and
17 of them subsequently died. In the aspirin group, six patients fell
ill.
Most of the deaths were in the Netherlands, although parallel tests were
reportedly carried out in Britain, Italy and Australia.
Researchers believed the anti-coagulant thinned the blood too much,
leading to internal bleeding.
So far, no complaints have been filed against the hospital.
"The families of the patients fully accept the consequences of the
research," a hospital spokeswoman said. "They were well informed about
the risks and knew bleeding could occur," she added.
Strokes are the second biggest killer in the Netherlands, affecting
around 26,000 people each year. Doctors believe the risk factors for
strokes and heart attacks are similar.
=========================================
Clinical trials are almost always preceded by animal tests. The reason
given is that preliminary animal testing protects human lives. The above
story shows the fallacy of this presumption.
About 80 percent of medical drugs that reach the clinical trial phase do
not get licensed and of those that do, many need to be withdrawn or
relabelled after widely used. Tragedies like the one that has now
