Komputer for Alle 1998 #6/1998 CD 6 (Gul).iso/web/ffa/wwwenv~1.org/arrs/digest/news6~12.htm/text0001.txt

Text File | 1998-04-02 | 121.9 KB | 2,865 lines

Procter & Gamble CEO Hit With Pie in Columbus OH by PETA member
.c The Associated Press
by KEITH ROBINSON

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An animal-rights activist walked onto a stage and pushed
a tofu cream pie into the face of the chairman of Procter & Gamble Co. as he
was receiving an award from the governor Thursday night.

The woman, a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, followed
John E. Pepper to the podium during the awards banquet. She hit him with the
pie and said: ``Procter & Gamble poisons animals! Shame on you, John Pepper!
Shame on you!''

An audience of about 200 people witnessed the episode. Police detained the
woman for questioning.

Michael McGraw, a spokesman for PETA in Norfolk, Va., identified the woman as
Melynda Duval of Virginia Beach, Va. McGraw said he did not know her age.

McGraw said the reason for the attack was the Cincinnati-based company's
continued use of live animals in laboratory product testing.

``Sometimes a polite word doesn't do it,'' he said. That's why we sometimes do
unusual things, such as slinging tofu cream pies.''

Pepper was one of seven recipients of a Governor's Award, given each year
during the annual meeting of the Ohio Newspaper Association. The awards were
presented by Gov. George Voinovich, who was on the stage at the time of the
attack.

Pepper wiped the pie from his face, accepted a plaque from Voinovich and
started an acceptance speech by saying: ``This will be a memorable event for
more reasons than one.''

On Feb. 4, pranksters in Brussels, Belgium, hit Microsoft Corp. Chairman
Bill Gates with three pies.

AP-NY-02-12-98 2210EST

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 01:48:08 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Groups Oppose Genetic Rule Proposal
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Groups Oppose Genetic Rule Proposal
.c The Associated Press

by PEGGY FIKAC

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Meet ``Fishberry'' - part fish, part strawberry - and, if
he really existed, potentially an organically labeled nightmare.

That is the opinion of Greenpeace activists and others protesting proposed
federal standards for organic foods during a hearing convened by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.

To help make their point, they brought along an activist costumed as a fish-
headed strawberry - an example of what might happen through genetic
engineering.

In real science, plants with genes from common soil bacteria produce their own
pest-killing toxins, allowing farmers to skip the use of chemical sprays. But
opponents say insects may become resistant to the bacteria more quickly if
they constantly are exposed to the plants, which would hamper the
effectiveness of new crop sprays that are also bacteria-based.

Some also have said that the foods resulting from genetically engineered
plants may have harmful side effects. Among other changes, they want the new
regulations for organic foods to ban use of genetic engineering in products
labeled ``organic.''

``Consumers, organic farmers and the whole organic industry don't want this
stuff. But the USDA has hijacked the process to keep from placing any kind of
stigma on genetically altered foods,'' Greenpeace spokesman Bill Jackson said
Thursday.

The Sierra Club says a proposal for allowing genetically engineered food to be
deemed organic conflicts with current practices and the expectations of
consumers.

``If the USDA's proposed rules are adopted as written, consumers will lose all
faith in the 'organic' label, and a $3.5 billion industry in organic products
will be threatened,'' said Carl Pope of the Sierra Club.

The Texas Agriculture Department said the state's organic certification
standards could be significantly weakened if the proposals are adopted as
written.

Under the state organic certification program, ``consumers are assured the
products they buy labeled as 'Texas Organic' are truly organic,'' said state
Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry. ``National standards should not create
any doubts for consumers but rather maintain the high level of confidence now
set in Texas.''

USDA spokesman Andy Solomon emphasized that what the agency has put out is a
draft, not a final rule for organic labeling.

Even the initial proposal does not suggest allowing the use of genetically
engineered organisms, but asks for public comment on whether they should be
included, he said.

``We're very much engaged in a process now of seeking broad public
participation and input. ...Nothing is final,'' Solomon said.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman earlier this month delayed action on
the labeling rules to allow more time for public comment. The deadline is now
April 30.

The USDA has received hundreds of objections to the possibility that products
undergoing irradiation, genetic engineering and fertilization with sewage
sludge could be put under the organic label.

Growers also have said the rules would allow the organic label for livestock
fed with up to 20 percent non-organic feed, and that loopholes would allow
synthetic pesticides that never have been permitted.

AP-NY-02-13-98 0116EST

Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 23:02:00 -0800 (PST)
From: The Fund For Animals <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Re:  (US-CA) Cruelty alleged in chef's preparation of exotic entree
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>

Please write to the California Fish & Game Commission, 1416 -9th St,
Sacramento, Calif 95814. fax [phone]. On April 1, they will vote on
a ban on the
importation of turtles and frogs for the live animal markets. Ask them
to vote yes on the ban and to stop the illegal trade in wildlife for
the Chinatown restaurants. Also, write to SF District Attorney Terence
Hallinan, 850 Bryant St, San Francisco, Cal 94103 fax [phone] to
prosecute for felony
animal cruelty against the Grand Palace Restaurant, 950 Grant Ave, SF
94108. Also demand action from Carl Friedman, SF Animal Care & Control,
1200 - 15th St, SF 94103 and Mayor Willie Brown, City Hall, SF 94102,
fax [phone].H F or more info, call The Fund for Animals at
415/474-4020 or e-mail me. We are all sickened by this horrendous
killing and hope that something positive comes of it for the benefit of
the thousands of animals involved in this brutal trade. Also, look at
your own city to see if live animal markets are starting. PS The Fund
for Animals, along with others, are suing the markets for violations of
anti-cruelty and health laws. That suit will be heard in April.
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 22:55:01
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Cool Britannia becomes a hot spot
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, February 14ty, 1998

Cool Britannia becomes a hot spot
By A J McIlroy

BRITAIN enjoyed its warmest February day on record yesterday, bringing
spring in winter and confusing nature. The top reading of 19.6C (67.3F) at
Worcester eclipsed the previous highest of 19.2C in Cambridge 18 years ago.

London, where people flooded into the parks, had its warmest recorded
February day - 19.4C beating the previous best of 18.5C. Children built
sandcastles on beaches all around the coast as Mediterranean resorts were
put in the shade. Rome managed 17C, Athens 19C and Gibraltar only 16C.

Plants, birds and [other] animals have been fooled into thinking that
spring is already with us. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
said birds had been singing for two weeks and many, including robins,
blackbirds and song thrushes, were already breeding. "They will be in
trouble if the cold returns," said a spokesman. "Some young would die."

Anne Jenkins, of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, said: "There's
no point in hibernating. They could start mating and the hoglets could be
born in snow. They would just get abandoned."

A Meteorological Office spokesman said: "The warm weather is going tolast
into early next week. But even the cooler weather we expect later next week
will be milder than normal."

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.

Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 22:59:14
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [FR] French hunters protest at EU curbs
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, February 14ty, 1998

French hunters protest at EU curbs
By Julian Nundy and Charles Clover

FRENCH field sports bodies expect more than 100,000 supporters to march
through Paris today in protest against European legislation that threatens
to curtail the shooting season for wildfowl.

The march organisers say they have hired 2,400 coaches and four trains to
bring supporters to Paris.

British field sports enthusiasts who are planning their own march in London
on March 1 have been warned that the European legislation could also affect
them.

The commission is trying to stop French wildfowlers shooting ducks and
geese on the foreshore in February, which British law permits until Feb 20.

Seven EU states are affected by the commission's interpretation of a
directive which says that birds should not be shot once the migration
season has begun. Non-compliance proceedings served on France could lead to
the European Court.

Dr Yves Lecocq, secretary- general of the European Hunters' Union, said:
"The implication is that the French government has no alternative but to
change its law and shorten the season. There is talk about February being a
time of spring migration, but this is the coldest time of year."

One of the hunters' particular" opponents is the actress Brigitte Bardot
who, at the opening of every season, heads for south-western France to
stage her protests.

The south-west is home to one of the most cruel forms of hunting in France.
This is for the small ortolan bird which is considered a delicacy. The
bird, too small to be shot since this would tear away most of its flesh, is
caught in wire traps.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.

Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 23:07:48
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [US/UK] Think about the clone's interests, urge scientists
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, February 14ty, 1998

Think about the clone's interests, urge scientists
By Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent

THE rights of the clone are in danger of being ignored in the debate about
whether to clone humans, leading ethical thinkers and scientists said
yesterday.

Brought into the world as a carbon copy of someone else who could be
several decades older, deeply confused about the identity of his or her
parents, the clone's life would be a traumatic one, they said.

Yet the ethical debate, particularly in America, has instead considered the
issue in terms of adults' rights to have children in any way they choose,
the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in
Philadelphia was told.

"Cloning should be about 'is it good for the clone?'," Arthur Caplan, of
the University of Pennsylvania, told the meeting. "It might not be in your
interests to be a clone because you are taking the greatest genetic test
ever foisted on people," he said. "You will see biologically what happens
to you in your parents.

"As they go through life you will know that you will become bald at 40 and
depressed at 50 and die of stomach cancer at 62. . . . If we already worry
about whether it's right to release the results of Alzheimer's or breast
cancer tests to people when they want to know - well, the clone
involuntarily knows a lot more because he is going to have all this
biological information thrust upon him. The focus has to be, is it in the
interests of the person to be made in this way? That's very hard for
Americans because our emphasis has always been on the individual rights to
procreate.

"People may have the right to do what they want in the bedroom but when
they have to use unusual means to make children then society has an
interest in whether it is in the child's interests to be made in this way."

Likening the use of reproductive technologies in America to the Wild West,
he said: "I would not be optimistic that this country is going to be able
to do a good job with reference to cloning."

Another problem for clones would be in working out who their parents were.
Already this is proving to be an important question for children born as a
result of in-vitro fertilisation and who have begun long searches for their
biological parents.

A baby cloned from another adult would share that person's parents,
biologically speaking, but there would also be surrogate mothers and others
to consider, said Lori Andrews, of the Chicago-Kent School of Law. "There
are 13 different legal parental combinations where you could have between
one and 10 parents," she told the meeting.

Dr Ian Wilmut, of the Roslin Institute in Scotland, leader of the team that
cloned Dolly the sheep, said the phrase "is it good for the clone?" was the
best way he had heard for summarising the ethics. He said: "I have not
heard of a reason for copying people that I find ethically acceptable. By
contrast, there are some other techniques that I think deserve a lot of
careful thought."

One, he said, was a technology that emerged 10 years ago but was now being
viewed seriously in the wake of the Dolly achievement. "It could benefit
women who carry a serious genetic disease in their DNA; not in the nucleus,
where most of a person's DNA is, but in the mitochondria, elsewhere in the
cell."

It would soon be possible to take a fertilised egg from the woman, remove
the nucleus of the cell and transplant it into the egg of another woman who
did not carry serious diseases in her mitochondria. The resulting baby
would carry nuclear DNA from its mother and father but mitochondrial DNA
from the other woman.

Dolly the cloned sheep is been transformed again - into a woolly jumper.
Her first fleece is to be made into a sweater which will go on show at the
Science Museum in London from March 13. Scientists at the School of Textile
Industries at Leeds University are preparing and dying the wool, which will
be knitted by a firm in nearby Ilkley. It will be officially presented to
the museum by the actress Jenny Agutter - a carrier of cystic fibrosis.

The competition to design the jumper was launched in September by the
museum and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The research surrounding Dolly may
help towards an eventual cure for the disease, the museum said.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.



Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 23:13:04
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [US] Chocolate theory melts away
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, February 14ty, 1998

Chocolate theory melts away
By Aisling Irwin, Science Correspondent

CLAIMS that chocolate soothes unrequited love and creates "chocaholics"
have little basis in fact, a psychologist said yesterday.

Dr Paul Rozin, of the University of Pennsylvania, said the science of
chocolate was running out of control. "People like chocolate because it
tastes good," he said. "It has nothing to do with the pharmacological
effects."

About 40 per cent of women say they crave chocolate - and about half of
those say they crave it during their menstrual cycle. Dr Rozin tested the
reason for their craving by isolating the active ingredient in chocolate -
theobromine - and feeding it to volunteers in the form of pills.
Theobromine is a relative of caffeine and is known to be a mental stimulant.

"The pills didn't satisfy the craving," Dr Rozin reported. "There is some
craving at certain stages in the menstrual cycle and there may be a
hormonal element to that," he said. But the effect, if present, is weak.

Dr Rozin told the association that he had concluded that chocolate craving
was not the result of the depletion of some brain chemical but merely the
desire to experience the food's aroma, taste and texture.

Chocolate is unique because it is virtually the only food to melt at body
temperature - which produces a sensation people like as it coats the inside
of the mouth.

"People treat chocolate like a tempting toxin. They should just think
'yum'," he said.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.

Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 23:33:38
From: David J Knowles <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [UK] Believe me, we do care
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

>From The Electronic Telegraph - Saturday, February 14ty, 1998

Believe me, we do care

Michael Meacher, the Environment Minister hits back at critics who accuse
the Government of
ignoring rural concerns

THERE are many rural myths. The most recent is that this Government doesn't
understand or care about the countryside. But unlike many myths, this one
has no basis in reality. Labour does care about the countryside, and the
people who live in it, because we care about the whole of our country and
all of our people. Rural communities have distinctive characteristics, but
the problems they face are, in many respects, the same as those of urban
areas. The countryside should not be parcelled up as if it is somehow
separate from the rest of society.

Labour's rural vision has five strands. First, we believe in a living
countryside. By that we mean that we should not conserve it in a historical
time warp as a museum or theme park.

We need to keep rural communities functioning - by including rural areas in
our plans for educational improvement, for integrated transport, for a
national childcare strategy: rural schools, for example, will particularly
benefit from our proposals to link every school to the Internet. Crucial to
the survival of rural communities is affordable housing for those who grew
up there and have no wish to leave. We are releasing local authority
capital receipts - the money they have from selling council housing in the
past - to help provide homes which the children of rural families can
afford to live in.

Secondly, we believe in a working countryside, where jobs are available and
the residents are not forced to commute or move into town. Overall
employment in rural areas has increased in recent years, but this picture
masks pockets of real deprivation. Our new deal for the unemployed covers
rural as well as urban areas. The new regional development
agencies will, among other things, promote employment and economic
opportunity, and have a specific remit to serve rural areas. And the
national minimum wage will cover the countryside too, to ensure that those
who live in rural areas get a fair share of our country's growing prosperity.

Third, we recognise that town and country are one nation. Many of those who
live in the country rely on towns for their work; many of those who live in
towns rely on the countryside for relaxation and leisure. Nowhere is this
interdependence clearer than in the debate about where to build the
millions of new homes we need. We are determined to build as many as
possible of these in existing urban areas, to prevent wherever possible
urban sprawl and the loss of green field sites. But we cannot do this
successfully unless more people choose to live in towns, and for this we
need to improve the urban environment. Our plans for an integrated
transport system will help both rural and urban areas.

Fourth, we believe in maintaining and celebrating the beauty and richness
of the countryside. When Tony Blair and John Prescott rewrote clause four
of our Party constitution, they included for the first time a commitment to
preserve and enhance our environment. We have made plain our determination
to protect the rich variety of plants and animals - what is
called biodiversity - of the British countryside.

Our manifesto promised that we would increase protection for wildlife, and
we will. At the same time, I have asked the Countryside Commission, the
Government's official advisers on landscape protection, to bring forward
proposals to increase the safeguards for areas of outstanding natural beauty.

It was a Labour Government, 50 years ago, that introduced the first
national parks into England and Wales, to preserve our most beautiful
areas. We will take forward that legacy, ensuring that wider areas of
natural beauty are protected.

Finally, we believe in a countryside open to all. That is why we are
determined to increase access, so that the beauty and tranquillity of rural
Britain can be enjoyed by the many, not the few. Let me dispel some of the
myths that you will be hearing in coming weeks about our access proposals.
They will not mean people trampling through the gardens of rural dwellers:
we are talking about limited and carefully defined areas. They will not
mean a licence for people to behave exactly as they like on other people's
property: increased access will be coupled with a duty of care on the
walker. Access will be for people, not for their motor vehicles, and not
necessarily for their dogs.

Our proposals, which we will publish very soon, are balanced and
reasonable. That is why we are determined to secure our objective -
increased access for the millions who enjoy walking and relaxing in
Britain's beautiful landscapes.

⌐ Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1998.

Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 23:55:58 PST
From: "Cari Gehl" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Re:  Conrail Spills Oil, Shoots Beavers
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Content-Type: text/plain

Someone posted this action alert either in late January or February to
the AR-News mailing list and I in turn, posted it to
rec.animals.wildlife on the net.  Now I have someone who is asking for
further verification of the the facts in this alert.  Unfortunately, I
deleted the original post from my Forwarded folder last week as I was
running out of space.  Now I don't even know who originally sent the
post!

If anyone has a copy or if you are, or know who posted it to the list,
please e-mail me here at:

[e-mail]

Thanks much!

Cari Gehl

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 23:59:48 PST
From: "Cari Gehl" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (NY) Burned Kitten Dies
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Content-Type: text/plain

While looking for news articles on the Conrail oil spill, I ran into
this article on the Syracuse Post-Standard web site.  Does anyone have
any more info on this (addresses to write to, updates, etc.)?

Thanks and take care,
Cari Gehl

-----------------------------------------
Burned Kitten Dies

Cruel act that killed Cindy prompted a reward offer and a site on the
Worldwide Web.

Published Feb. 11, 1998, in The Post-Standard.

By PETER ORTIZ

A kitten that galvanized supporters from around the world after it was
set on fire last week in Syracuse died Tuesday morning.

Cindy was about 6 months old when she was found engulfed in a ball of
flames by a Syracuse man riding his bicycle in the 600 block of South
Salina Street Feb. 4. Dr. Robert Putnam of the Fayetteville Veterinary
Hospital said Cindy died of general organ failure due to toxins from the
burns she suffered.

"She certainly has touched a lot of people, and I just wished she could
have pulled through," Putnam said.

Cindy's story touched people in Canada and as far away as South Africa
after a Syracuse couple created a Web page detailing her plight. Pilot
Towers and Joan Conley said they decide to create the Web page to inform
people and take pressure off the veterinarian staff who were bombarded
with phone calls.

A pet owner from South Africa said she would donate blankets and food to
her local SPCA in honor of Cindy. Other Web browsers expressed sympathy
and outrage. About 400 people had visited the Web page by Tuesday.

"We have had private e-mail from people who want to adopt and from
people who want to work on legislative measures" against animal cruelty,
Conley said.

Syracuse police say they have a possible suspect in the burning, but no
arrest has been made yet.

Betsie Puffer, animal cruelty investigator, said she hopes Cindy's death
encourages people to report cases of animal cruelty.

"Thankfully she is not suffering anymore," Puffer said.

Cindy's killer can face a misdemeanor count of unjustifiable killing of
an animal, Puffer said. The maximum penalty under the charge is one year
in jail or a $1,000 fine, she said.

The Central New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
has offered a $1,000 award to anyone with information that leads to an
arrest in the kitten burning.

Cindy suffered severe burns throughout her body and lost most of her
hair.

Donations that have been sent for Cindy's care will probably go toward
her burial at Pet Haven Cemetery, Putnam said.

Contributions in care of cruelty investigations for the SPCA's
Prosecuting Animal Cruelty Together (PACT) program can be sent to the
Central New York SPCA, 5878 E. Molloy Road, Syracuse 13211. The phone
number is 454-3469 or 454-4479.



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______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 18:11:05 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (USA) re NADAS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

AnimalTalk ALERT (Special Edition)
(Permission Granted To Quote/Forward/Reprint Any Or All Of This
ALERT/Newsletter)

Following received from---

     [e-mail] (Eric Mindel @ LCA)
    Last Chance For Animals

For the animals.

Dick Weavil
[e-mail]

QUOTE

<<JACKSON COUNTY AMENDS ORDINANCE TO GIVE SANCTUARY TO
LIVESTOCK-CHASING DOGS

DEATH-ROW DOG'S OWNER CONSIDERING COUNTY'S CONDITIONS TO SPARE
DOG'S LIFE

LONG INVOLVED IN THE CASE, LAST CHANCE FOR ANIMALS REMAINS IN
OREGON AND IN COMMUNICATION WITH DOG OWNER AND ATTORNEY

MEDFORD, OR-- Less than a week after Last Chance For Animals (LCA)
assisted in the production of the February 5 'Hard Copy' story that first
nationally aired the plight of Nadas, a dog sentenced to death in
September 1996 for chasing a horse, Jackson County Commissioners were
overwhelmed with calls and faxes from across the country of outraged animal
lovers.  Tonight, County officials amended a local ordinance, which no longer
absolutely mandates the dog's death and County counsel has given dog owner
Sean Roach an opportunity to spare the dog's life by sending it to a Utah
sanctuary.

At time of this release, 21 year old Sean Roach is in a Medford hotel
room with LCA President Chris DeRose, talking about his options with his
attorney via phone and discussing what is best for his dog.  Sean states,
"They [the County] have put a lot of extremely harsh conditions on what I
need to do so they don't kill Nadas, and it seems like they want to make
sure they have the last word.  I just need to make sure that none of it is
going to hurt my dog."  Two conditions of the County's offer reportedly of
concern to Sean are his pledge to never again see his dog and that the Utah
sanctuary can never place Nadas into a private home.  Additionally, to save
his dog's life, Sean must waive all rights to sue the County for
constitutional violations and defamation of character.

LCA has been in regular communication with Sean's attorney Robert
Babcock, has discussed the case with Jackson County officials, and has
discussed the case and applicable state statute with the Governor's office.
LCA offered a proposal to Jackson County on February 8 to resolve the
situation, including a suggestion to amend the ordinance and relocate Nadas
out of state.  On February 12, despite the similarities of the County's
solution, Jackson County rejected LCA's proposal. Working with LCA's Chris
DeRose, Hard Copy has been closely following developments in the case and
aired a second piece on February 12.

Chris DeRose (Last Chance For Animals) and Sean Roach (Nadas' owner) are to
appear on NBC's Today Show on February 13 (this morning).

Please contact Last Chance For Animals at 310-271-6096 for most recent
developments surrounding Nadas and Sean Roach.  Go to
www.arkonline.com/nadas.htm for background "../REDIRE~1.HTM" tppabs="http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/digest/information.">>

UNQUOTE
=====================================================================
========
                   /`\   /`\    Rabbit Information Service,
Tom, Tom,         (/\ \-/ /\)   P.O.Box 30,
The piper's son,     )6 6(      Riverton,
Saved a pig        >{= Y =}<    Western Australia 6148
And away he run;    /'-^-'\
So none could eat  (_)   (_)    email: [e-mail]
The pig so sweet    |  .  |
Together they ran   |     |}    http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
Down the street.    \_/^\_/    (Rabbit Information Service website updated
                                frequently)

Jesus was most likely a vegetarian... why aren't you? Go to
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4620/essene.htm
for more information.

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

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 09:46:26 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Urge Tide NASCAR Driver to Help Stop Animal Tests
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

Urge Tide NASCAR Driver to Help Stop Animal Tests

Please ask NASCAR driver Ricky Rudd to urge Procter & Gamble (P&G) to
stop all animal tests not required by law. Sponsorship is everything in
the racing world, and, while Ricky reaps the benefits of having Tide as
a sponsor, animals are suffering and dying in P&G laboratories.

Write a nice letter to:

Ricky Rudd
c/o Kirby Boone
124 Summerville Dr.Mooresville, NC 28115tel.: [phone]
fax: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 09:47:17 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Help Stop Animal Abuse in Taiwan
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

Help Stop Animal Abuse in Taiwan
Abandoned Dogs Are Being Buried or Cremated Alive or Drowned

The appalling conditions of Taiwan's more than 2 million abandoned dogs,
which the World Society for the Protection of Animals stated "could be
the worst in the world," has caused great concern worldwide.

The country's standard methods of destroying dogs are by starvation,
electrocution, drowning in cages, poisoning, live burial, or cremation.

Please contact the government of Taiwan and ask it to stop the barbaric
torture and killing of abandoned dogs by instituting guidelines for
humane euthanasia. Write:

Premier Vincent Siew, Executive Yuan
No. 1, Sec. 1, Chung Hsiao E. Rd.
Taipei, Taiwan
fax: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 09:51:04 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
Subject: Kim Basiner Calls for Suspension of RBBB License
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

KIM BASINGER CALLS ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
TO SUSPEND RINGLING BROTHERS'  LICENSE

Death of Baby Elephant Prompts Star's Action

For Immediate Release:
February 12, 1998 á
á
Contact: Mary Beth Sweetland 757-622-7382á
á
Norfolk, Va. -- Academy Award nominee and long-time PETA supporter Kim
Basinger has asked Secretary of Agriculture Daniel Glickman to suspend
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus' license to perform until the
January 24 death of a baby elephant is fully investigated.

Ringling employee whistleblowers told PETA that a 3-year-old baby
elephant named Kenny was forced to perform in three shows in
Jacksonville, Fla., although the circus knew he was ill. According to
the employees, the baby was "dizzy" and "wobbly on his legs" during the
performances and was "wailing" throughout the day. Circus officials
admitted that Kenny was sick enough to have been given antibiotics that
morning and that he died in his stall soon after the third performance.
Ringling hauled Kenny's body away during the night and did not announce
his death.

In her letter to Secretary Glickman, written on behalf of PETA, Ms.
Basinger states, "This elephant most likely suffered more anguish and
misery than we will ever know. As a mother myself, I cannot fathom the
thought of this poor, sick baby cruelly and prematurely removed from his
mother's side, being shunted from town to town in railway cars and
shackled when not performing."

Ms. Basinger has been a stalwart friend to elephants and in 1992
testified before Congress on the abuse of animals in circuses. In 1997
she met with Secretary Glickman to discuss the cruel training methods
and treatment of elephants used in circuses.

                                 -30-
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 11:01:14 -0500
From: Constance Young <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: AR-class (at the New School for Social Research)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

I was scheduled to teach a distance learning course, "Society and Animal
Rights" through the New School For Social Research in New York this
Spring but it was cancelled because of insufficient enrollment.  I think
the problem was that the class was being offered in the Department of
Science and Mathematics.

The course, which is conducted over the Internet, will be offered again
in the Fall -- this time in the Department of Society and Culture. Iwill
present an overview of the major animal rights issues and open it to
discussion and individual research.  The syllabus is flexible and will
reflect the students' interests. You may contact me for more information
([e-mail]).             Constance Young

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 12:12:02 -0400
From: Ty Savoy <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (Ca) Author Offers Veggie Heart-Health Cookbook
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

        AUTHOR OFFERS HEALTHY MEALS FOR THE HEART

By Judy Creighton, The Canadian Press -- Valentine hearts, flowers and
dreams of romance aren't the only thoughts on the Rose Reisman's mind.

        Heart Disease is "rampant" among members of her family so Reisman is
constantly aware that a diet low in fat, cholesterol and sugar is absolutely
essential to avoid becoming a victim herself.

        Her new cookbok, Rose Reisman's Light Vegetarian Cooking, is in
bookstores "I lost my father due to a sudden heart attack when I was 16 and
his sister and brother also had coronary heart disease," says Reisman, who
is 44 and found her cholesterol skyrocketing nine years ago.

        "I am quite small and I run and I did enjoy eating meat," she said.
But she decided to change what she ate and except for the occasional meal
opted to become a vegetarian.

        "I did not want to give up dairy or eggs because I really enjoy
these foods," she says, "and that would make me a total vegan which was not
my goal."

        The mother of four children, Reisman was a little stumped last
summer when her eldest daughter, Natalie, 14, came home from camp announcing
she had decided not to eat "anything with a face."

        "I asked her why she wanted to stop eating meat considering she
liked the chicken fingers at MacDonald's and Natalie said that it was no
longer cool. I thought, I can't fight this but maybe I can get her to eat
properly."

        Reisman was working on her eighth cookbook at the time ans it
happened to be vegetarian. Her daughter's decision gave her the inpetus to
include the necessary nutrients to a growing teenager.

        "I try to watch Natalie's dairy intake because her body is stil
building bone, so I choose low-fat yogurts, milk and cheeses."

        Although the book is vegetarian, it includes traditional fare such
as pizza, minestrone, risotta, quiche, and desserts that appear rich in
calories. However, a mocha fudge roll with chocolate fudge filling has only
5 grams of fat and 300 calories.

        Some of the proceeds from every cookbook that Reisman has written
are donated to the National Breast Cancer Fund (NBCF). This provides direct
financial support for breast cancer prevention, treatment and research
accross Canada. To date, her books have raised $600,000 for NBCF.

        Reisman demonstrates her cooking skills on television each Wednesday
at 1 p.m. on Free for the Asking on the Life Network. As host of the show
which reruns every Sunday at 11 a.m., she deals with topics such as
nutrition, food, fitness and wellness.



Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 08:20:24 -0800
From: "Eric Mindel @ LCA" <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Cc: <[e-mail]>
Subject: Nadas about to become an interstate traveler
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hi all,

Yesterday, Sean Roach's attorney, Robert Babcock, submitted the signed
documents required to give up Nadas to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in
Utah.  Roach and Jackson County now have a legal contract that Nadas will
not be killed, and Babcock anticipates the dog will be moved to Best
Friends some time within a week.

According to Babcock, Roach had to agree to the following conditions:  1)
Nadas can never be adopted into another home from Best Friends, 2) Roach
cannot sue the County for any actions or behavior involving this case.  The
earlier reported condition of Roach not being allowed to visit the dog was
not specified in the final offer drafted by Jackson County.

However, Best Friend discourages visits from Sean out of concern for the
dog's well-being... that Nadas will become confused and distressed every
time Sean were to visit and leaves.  I tend to agree with this but also
recognize it would likely be very healthy for Sean to have one last visit
with Nadas after his roller coaster of emotions for the past year and a
half.

NOTE:  Nadas is just one dog that was sentenced to die under the
livestock-chasing state statute.  Every year, hundreds of dogs are killed
in Oregon under this law.  Nadas is the "poster dog" to the whole issue
that we need to continue to address until the law is amended to better
protect dogs AND livestock.

eric



Eric Mindel
Last Chance For Animals
8033 Sunset Blvd, Suite 35
Los Angeles, CA  90046
ph 310-271-6096
fx  310-271-1890
www.LCAnimal.org

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 09:36:36 -0800
From: "Anne S. Shih" <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: [Fwd: Taiwan]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------F65D5A3257F12DC79E11C3F4"

This is a letter I got from Joy Leney of WSPA.  They are the
organization that is working with the Taiwanese government on the stray
dog issue.

Anne
--
My favorite site:
http://www.earth.org.hk

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From: Joy Leney <[e-mail]>
To: "Anne Shih (E-mail)" <[e-mail]>,
        "Jyrki Raikka (E-mail)" <[e-mail]>,
        "Mine Sharp (E-mail)" <[e-mail]>,
        "Vicky Lynn (E-mail)" <[e-mail]>
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Dear All

Please see the latest information re: Taiwan.

I must emphasise that there is still much to be done regarding the
welfare of dogs in Taiwan, but the government are taking steps to create
change. It is important to keep sight of the overall picture and not
continue to focus on one or two bad pounds, however we will continue to
monitor the situation through LCA.

Please contact me if you need further information. I am sorry that I am
not always able to respond quickly to you, but I am away from the office
more than 60% of the time, so as you can imagine the  work builds up
considerably whilst I am away, also I work on many issues in other
countries besides Taiwan.

Thank you all for your on-going support and concern for the stray dog
situation and very best wishes for your own projects re: Taiwan.

Joy Leney.






Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA2\Attach\TaiJan981.doc"
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 12:59:55 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Waterfowl Season Report
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit


A/w local Okla. City hunting news:

Oklahoma's 1997 thru 98 waterfowl season will go down as being
good, but probably not as good as it could have been if El Nino
hadn't interfered with traditional weather patterns.
Call it El Nino, call it the mildest winter in decades, call it
what you will, this winter wasn't really winter at all for the northern
Great Plains.  And winter, or lack of it, usually dictates how many
ducks and geese migrate thru Okla.
With waterfowl populations high, the state saw lots of birds, but not
the record nos. reported for a/w the Okla. Wildlife Dept.
Mike O'Mellia, migratory bird biologist for the dept., said "Last
summer, meteorologists were predicting a mild, dry winter for the
Northern Plains, and that's exactly the type of weather our neighbors
to the north experienced.  Ducks and geese are pushed south when
the air temperatures freeze lakes and rivers and snow covers up
food sources.  During especially mild winters, like this one, many of
those birds delay migration or don't migrate farther south than
Nebraska or Kansas.
"One reservoir in South Dakato reported a count of 300,000 mallards
in Decembers.  That's almost unheard of.  We also got lots of rain
late in our season.  That unusual winter precipitation flooded marshes,
pastures and creek bottoms, providing a lot of quality habitat which
resulted in birds being widely scattered.  Small groups of birds
were almost everywhere, but that was part of the problem for hunters
seeking concentrations of waterfowl."  He also added that hunters
who were mobile and hunted a variety of locations reported the best
success.
The key is to find local concentrations of birds rather than hunt in
the same spot thruout the season, O'Meilia said.  Hunters will
probably see media reports in the coming months that question
the validity of duck population counts.  But O'Meilia is quick to
take exception to those criticisms.
"I'm sure some people will question the Fish and Wildlife Service's
population nos. based on how well they did this season, but individual
hunting success isn't always an accurate reflection of population,"
he said.

                                                          For the Animals,

                                                          Jana, OKC
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 13:00:02 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Oklahoma Snow Goose Hunting Report
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit


A/w Okla. City hunting news:

The snow goose population has grown so much in the past 10
years that the birds are destroying Artic nesting habitat, leading
biologists to worry that they entire ecosystem could suffer
long-term consequences.
A/w Mr. Mike O'Meilia, migratory bird biologist for the Okla. Wildife
Dept, "Snow goose nos have increased to the point that they're
permanently degrading the fragile Artic environment by overgrazing
Artic breeding colony sites.  If drastic measures are not taken,
continued irreversible damage will occur to habitat that not only
supports snow gesse, but also is critical for a variety of other
migratory bird species."
Hunters can "assist" (?) with population control by hunting the birds
during the second split of Oklahoma's snow goose season.  This
season runs thru Feb. 27th with a daily bag limit of 10.  A/w
O'Meilia, the state offers the most liberal hunting season, 107 days,
and limits currently allowed by federal law.  However, he fears it
won't be enuf.
"I believe hunters must continue to be an integral part of the solution,
but I don't think they can have a big enuf impact given the current
regulations and framework.  A number of extreme methods (?)
are being discussed as possible solutions, but these are extreme
times for snow geese.  We must act before it is too late."
Some of the solutions waterfowl managers are considering include
extending the time period that hunting is allowed and the actual
season length to maximize hunting opportunity.  Also, for a part
of the snow geese seaon, officials are considering legalizing
the use of live decoys, baiting and electronic calls.  Changes in
refuge management practices, including allowing additional snow
goose hunting on refuges, will help thin nos.
Snow geese in Oklahoma are most commonly found in the eastern
portion of the state, with large nos. of birds frequently seen
feeding in crop fields next to refuge areas.

                                                         For the Animals,

                                                         Jana, OKC
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 14:11:28 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Animal rights activists protest milk contest
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit

By Marsha Jaquays, February 9, 1998
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animal rights activists protest contest;
prompt discussion among shoppers

Joe Taksel tried to blend into the crowd as he stood in line at
Bloomingdale's Fashionable Milk Drinker Search Sunday at Town Center
mall.

He quietly checked to make sure film was loaded in the camera that was
strapped across his chest and then he turned on his video camera to
record.

He had wanted to appear as if he was an ordinary tourist who wanted to
take pictures as he tried to become named Boca Raton's most Fashionable
Milk Drinker.

But Taksel was anything but ordinary.

He graciously accepted his cup of milk and took his seat before the
professional photographer.

But as soon as he gulped back the milk, he spit it and sprayed across
the floor in Bloomingdale's.

"Pooh - this taste likes something that came out of a cows stomach,"
Taksel said.

As he was subdued by security personnel, he wasn't shy about letting
them know he represented the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida.

"Milk is for babies, and cow's milk is for baby cows," Taksel said.
"Humans, like cows, can get all the calcium they need from plant foods."


Taksel and other animal rights activists protested the milk mustache
promotion. They passed out pamphlets in the store and in the parking lot
of Bloomingdale's which claimed that cows are bred to be forcible
artificially inseminated to induce lactation.

Beth Kleinman didn't have a chance to see the pamphlets, but as a
vegetarian she was outraged by the animal rights activists tactics.

"I won't eat anything that has been killed, but I do think that cows
milk is a healthy and nourishing and a gift from God," said Kleinman,
who was visiting her parents in Boca Raton. "The people here, who are
participating in the contest, are here for fun. Those animal rights
activists need to keep politics out of Bloomingdale's."

For Fran Izzo, it wasn't about politics, it was personal.

Her mother recently suffered a stroke and Izzo attributes her illness to
the affects of dairy products. She believes that soy milk, soy cheese,
rice milk and nuts are good alternative sources of calcium.

The Bloomingdale's at Town Center was the last on an 18-store national
tour; it was also the only location where protesters raised questions
about animal cruelty, officials said.

"We have never had a response like this," said Marianne Langan, a home
economist retained by Bloomingdale's. "Taking milk from a human mother
is not cruel and it is not cruel to take milk from a cow, either."
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 07:28:43 +1100
From: Lynette Shanley <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Animal Cruelty Attack
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Sun Herald 15/2/98
Activists are trying to close down one of Australia's most famous medical
research centres by pressing its sponsors with allegations of its cruelty
to animals.

They have demanded the Commonwealth Bank, accountants Ferrier Hodgson,
Macquarie Bank and others withdraw financial support from Microsearch
Foundation, pioneer of microsurgery techniques.

The Foundation enjoys the support of NSW Governor Gordon Samuals, Lady
Sonia McMahon, former CSR chairman Allan Coates, Macquarie Bank's David
Clarke, Ferrier Hodgson senior partner Ian Ferrier and Commonwealth Bank
chairman Tim Besley.

The foundation used animal experiments to pioneer the replacement of limbs
and digits by micrsurgery, foetal surgery, fertility problems, nerve
grafts, reversal of vasectomies, and tubal ligations, regeneraion and
microlaser surgery.

Yhe acticists action was prompted by the removal of the Internation Primate
Protection league president Lynette Shanley from the foundation's animal
care and ethics committee.

Such committees were set up by the state government to access animal
experiments.

"I rang the minister for Agriculture Richard Amery's office and they told
me that Microsearch said I had leaked information to the press". Miss
Shanley said. "I have only commented about allegations made public by the
government".

Its founder and medical director, Professor Earl Owen, said Miss Shanley
had not been sacked.

The committee had been unworkable because Miss Shanley would allow no work
with animals, he said.

The Commonwealth Bank spokewoman Lyndall Fraser said the bak was deleighted
to support the foundation.

The foundation uses rats and rabbits in experiments.

End of article.

The system in Australia allows an experiment to go through even if I
disagreed. The rest only had to vote yes. I raised questions about
experiments which was my job. Does this mean all other animal activists in
Australia just say yest to experiments.

I am not ashamed of being sacked.


Lynette Shanley
International Primate Protection League - Australia
PO Box 60
PORTLAND  NSW  2847
AUSTRALIA
Phone/Fax [phone] 554026
EMAIL [e-mail]
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 07:54:54 +1100
From: Lynette Shanley <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Sorry about the typing errors in my previous post. I was led to beleive the
article would be sympathic to the AR movement. I was a bit upset at the time.


Lynette Shanley
International Primate Protection League - Australia
PO Box 60
PORTLAND  NSW  2847
AUSTRALIA
Phone/Fax [phone] 554026
EMAIL [e-mail]
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 07:03:29 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: New Report indicates RHD may affect people
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

News Report
Source :Rabbit Information Service (Western Australia)
Date: 14th February 1997

A new CDC report indicates that the incidence of illness in some humans (who
were part of a small RCD/RHD health study in Australia ) increased greatly
after RCD escaped onto the Australian mainland. RCD or rabbit calicivirus
disease
(renamed thus by Australian authorities to be less emotive than the true
name for the disease - rabbit hemorrhagic disease -ref BRS RHD report 1994)
escaped onto mainland Australia in September 1995.

The CDC report is now available on the USA CDC website of Emerging
Infectious Diseases Volume 4 Number 1 January - March 1998 titled
Calicivirus Emergence from Ocean Reservoirs:  Zoonotic and Interspecies
Movements.

The URL for this report is

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol4no1/smith.htm

and the CDC report is also mirrored at

http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/alprof.htm

The Australian human health study included blood testing and a health
questionnaire of persons with low and high  or no exposure to RCD.
Increases in ill health ranged over several symptoms which
included "any illness, flu/fever, diarrhea/gastroenteritis,
neurologic symptoms , rashes/skin and bleeding/hepatitis".
In many cases, incidence of illnesses in those with "High exposure"
to RCD/RHD was nearly double that of those with "Low exposure" in the
two six month periods compared in this test.

The first 6 month period (mentioned in Table 2 of the CDC report) contained
the month RCD/RHD escaped from Wardang Island in South Australia (September
1995) and the second six month period lay in the time period when heavy
RCD/RHD infestation of the Australian continent was evident after RCD/RHD
spread across vast areas by epidemic and human interference.

Australia is allowing the deliberate spread of RCD/RHD as a biological control
agent of wild European rabbits. Dr Brian Walker, a senior CSIRO spokesperson,
stated on "60 Minutes" in 1996 that no guarantees could be given that RCD/RHD
would never infect any other species. The Australian Government has written that
the "benefits [of spreading RCD/RHD] outweigh the risks [of potential
infection / danger to other species]". Recent reports by South Australian
environmentalist Mr John Wamsley and recent reports from Tasmania, indicate that
native animals have already died from infection by RCD/RHD based on visual
observation (whole colonies of native animals died as RHD swept through
areas of Australia).

The CDC report (Calicivirus Emergence from Ocean Reservoirs:  Zoonotic and
Interspecies Movements) has the following preamble :

"Caliciviral infections in humans, among the most common causes of
viral-induced vomiting and diarrhea, are caused by the Norwalk group of
small round structured viruses, the Sapporo caliciviruses, and the hepatitis
E agent. Human caliciviruses have been resistant to in vitro cultivation,
and direct study of their origins and reservoirs outside infected humans or
water and foods (such as shellfish contaminated with human sewage) has been
difficult. Modes of transmission, other than direct fecal-oral routes, are
not well understood.
In contrast, animal viruses found in ocean reservoirs, which make up a
second calicivirus group, can be cultivated in vitro. These viruses can
emerge and infect terrestrial hosts, including humans. This article reviews
the history of animal caliciviruses, their eventual recognition as zoonotic
agents, and their potential usefulness as a predictive model for
noncultivatable human and other animal caliciviruses (e.g., those seen in
association with rabbit hemorrhagic disease). "

The report is vital reading to those interested in the future health of all
species in Australia.

End

=====================================================================
========
                   /`\   /`\    Rabbit Information Service,
Tom, Tom,         (/\ \-/ /\)   P.O.Box 30,
The piper's son,     )6 6(      Riverton,
Saved a pig        >{= Y =}<    Western Australia 6148
And away he run;    /'-^-'\
So none could eat  (_)   (_)    email: [e-mail]
The pig so sweet    |  .  |
Together they ran   |     |}    http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
Down the street.    \_/^\_/    (Rabbit Information Service website updated
                                frequently)

Jesus was most likely a vegetarian... why aren't you? Go to
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4620/essene.htm
for more information.

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

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 18:25:36 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Circus hits back at Basinger's call for closure
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit


VIENNA, Va., Feb 14 (Reuters) - Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
fought on Saturday an effort by actress Kim Basinger to close the show down
after the death of a baby elephant last month.

The nation's biggest circus denied the baby Asian elephant named Kenny had
been mistreated. The animal died Jan. 25 in Jacksonville, Florida, after
performing two shows the day before.

The lobby group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said on
Friday that Basinger had written to Agriculture Secretary Daniel Glickman
urging him to suspend the circus' license to exhibit animals.

``Based on Ringling Bros. employees' sworn affidavits before (United States
Department of Agriculture) inspectors, there was no indication that Kenny was
'dizzy' or 'wobbly on his legs' or that he was 'wailing,''' the circus
responded in a statement on Saturday.

``In response to Basinger's statement concerning Kenny's treatment, Kenny's
condition was carefully monitored at all times by Ringling's veterinarian and
staff. Kenny was never treated cruelly or prematurely removed from his
mother.''

Circus veterinarian Gary West said Kenny died from a gastrointestinal
infection but the exact cause of the illness was not known.

Ringling Bros. said it had co-operated fully with the agriculture department
in its investigation. The circus said it was proud of its record of animal
care and ``for the past 30 years has never been cited for a violation of the
Animal Welfare Act.''

Basinger, nominated this week for an Academy Award for best supporting actress
for her role in the film ``L.A. Confidential,'' is a long-time critic of the
treatment of circus animals and has been working with PETA on the issue.

``This elephant most likely suffered more anguish and misery than we will ever
know,'' Basinger wrote in her letter.

REUTERS
17:17 02-14-98

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:35:36 -0500
From: "Bina Robinson" <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>
Subject: address correction for MRMC
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Sorry.  My address book was out of date.

The correct address for the Medical Research Modernization Committee is

PO Box 2751   Grand Central Station        New York NY 10163-2751

New phone number too.  212-579-3477
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:27:18 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Animal organ transplants
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Patient: Animal Organs Not Accepted

By PAUL RECER
.c The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Science may be ready to transplant animal organs into
humans before society is ready to accept the procedure, according to a San
Francisco man who was grafted with the bone marrow of a baboon.

Jeffrey Getty, an AIDS patient, said his health improved markedly after he
received an experimental transplant of baboon bone marrow, but he found that
people were horrified at the idea.

``We're not ready to have part human, part animal people walking around,''
Getty said Saturday. ``There is some deep-seeded psychological barrier against
it.''

Getty, speaking at the national meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, said his experimental transplant of baboon bone marrow
was an attempt to place within his body a partial animal immune system that is
resistant to the virus. For a time, it seemed to work.

``I did get better, but we don't know if that was because of the baboon bone
marrow,'' he said. ``We couldn't find baboon DNA (genes) in me after three
weeks. It apparently was rejected.''

What he did find was a visceral reaction against the transplant by many
people. He said he endured jokes, angry comments and signs of revulsion.

``We react on a subconscious level to the thought of people who are part
animal,'' said Getty. ``I don't know where it is coming from.''

He calls the December, 1995, baboon transplant a success because it proved
that the procedure could be performed safely.

``That was a good sign because that means that one day technology will allow
people to have animal organs,'' he said.

Getty said the baboon transplant was a last ditch effort to combat his HIV, a
disease he has had for 18 years. After the transplant, Getty said his viral
load, the amount of HIV virus in his blood, dropped to zero and his immune
system got stronger.

In the last few months, however, Getty said his condition has gotten worse and
he now is taking experimental anti-viral drugs.

Dr. Suzanne T. Ildstad, a transplant surgeon at the Allegheny University of
the Health Sciences, said that Getty is pioneer in xenotransplantation, the
transfer of animal organs into humans, that eventually may be the only
solution for people who need new hearts, kidneys and livers.

Ildstad said that the number of human donor organs has remained about the same
1988, while the need for such transplants continued to grow.

``Three hundred thousand Americans, candidates for transplants, die every year
without even getting on the waiting list,'' she said. About half of all heart
transplant candidates die before they get can find a donor.

The only solution, she said, is to learn how to transplant organs from pigs or
other animals.

AP-NY-02-14-98 1710EST

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed
without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.  All active
hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:30:33 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Ringling's statement
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Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Refutes PeTA and Basinger's False
Allegations

VIENNA, Va.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Feb. 14, 1998--Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey, in response to false allegations issued by PeTA and Kim Basinger,
wants to set the record straight in regard to the tragic death of Kenny, a
3-1/2 year-old male Asian elephant, on Jan. 24th, in Jacksonville, Florida:

-- Ringling Bros. has fully cooperated with the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) investigation into Kenny's death.

-- After Kenny's death, Ringling Bros. promptly notified the USDA and a full
necropsy was performed to determine the cause of death. Results revealed the
elephant died from what appeared to be a bacterial or viral gastrointestinal
infection, but the specific agent was not identified from culture and
histopathology tests. The results were shared with the USDA. Ringling Bros.
also issued a press release as soon as these results were obtained.

-- Kenny did not perform three shows as alleged by PeTA. During the third
show, Kenny accompanied the other elephants into the arena and stood outside
the ring during the elephant act because it was more comfortable for Kenny to
stay with the herd than to be separated from them.

-- Based on Ringling Bros. employees sworn affidavits before USDA inspectors,
there was no indication that Kenny was "dizzy" or "wobbly on his legs" or that
he was "wailing."

-- In response to Basinger's statement concerning Kenny's treatment: "Kenny's
condition was carefully monitored at all times by Ringling's veterinarian and
staff, and he was examined and treated as soon as any signs of change in
behavior occurred. Kenny was never treated cruelly or prematurely removed from
his mother. Ringling Bros. animals are treated with the greatest care and
respect, and young elephants are kept with their mothers throughout the
appropriate weaning period."

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is proud of its record of animal care and
for the past 30 years has never been cited for a violation of the Animal
Welfare Act. It meets all federal, state and local guidelines for the care and
treatment of its animals.

CONTACT:

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

Public Relations, 703/448-4120

KEYWORD: VIRGINIA

BW1377  FEB 14,1998
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:32:46 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: more Ringling problems
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Mauled British tiger trainer's condition improves

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Feb 13 (Reuters) - Richard Chipperfield, the British
animal trainer mauled by a circus tiger last month, has been upgraded from
critical to good condition, a hospital official said on Friday.

Bayfront Medical Center spokesman Rob Sumner said Chipperfield had been moved
from the neuro intensive care unit to another unit in the hospital.

Chipperfield, 24, suffered serious head injuries when attacked on Jan. 7 by
one of the tigers he and his brother Graham performed with at the Ringling
Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

The brothers, members of one of England's oldest circus families, were posing
with 12 tigers for publicity pictures at the time of the attack.

Graham Chipperfield, 28, killed the 350-pound (158 kg) tiger with a shotgun
immediately after the attack. He quit the circus a few days later.

Doctors said Richard Chipperfield was making good progress in his recovery and
was expected to be in the hospital at least two more months.

``He's a very determined man,'' Sumner said. ^REUTERS@

00:42 02-14-98

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.  All rights reserved.  Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similiar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.  Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon.  All active hyperlinks have been inserted
by AOL.
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:40:09 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: lynx to become "endangered"
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Rare lynx headed for protection under U.S. law

DENVER, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The lynx will be listed under the Endangered
Species Act, U.S. officials said on Thursday, in a move likely to limit
logging practices on federal lands in parts of a few western states.

Still to be determined is whether the rare feline, which historically lived in
forests across the northern United States but whose population numbers under a
thousand now, will be listed as endangered, the most serious classification,
or threatened.

``Lynx need old, undisturbed roadless forest for its dens,'' said Bill Snipe,
legal director of Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group that sued the
federal government to get the lynx, an elusive wild cat, listed.

The lynx, which weighs between 20 and 30 pounds (10 and 15 kg), historically
roamed 16 northern states but is believed to remain in small populations in
only a few.

Some 400 lynx are believed to be in Montana, about 100 in Washington and maybe
50 or so in Maine, Snipe said. A handful may be found in Idaho, Michigan and
Minnesota.

Lynx tracks have also been spotted in Colorado, a sure sign the animal may
still be living in the state, Snipe said.

State officials in Colorado have been mulling a plan to reintroduce the
species in the state by bringing it in from Canada, much the way the gray wolf
was reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park and the wilds of Idaho.

Under an out-of-court settlement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and a coalition of 13 environmental groups, the federal government will
publish a proposed rule to list the animal by June 30.

A final listing decision will come a year later after groups, individuals and
affected industries have a chance to comment. The agreement must still be
submitted to a federal judge in Washington, D.C. for approval.

Butch Bernhardt, spokesman for the Western Wood Products Association, a trade
group in Portland, Oregon, said western logging companies now only take about
11 percent of their product from national forests, down from 40 percent at the
beginning of the 1990s. He cited environmental restrictions and a move toward
multiple use of the forests as reasons for the decline. ^REUTERS@

08:04 02-13-98

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.  All rights reserved.  Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similiar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.  Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon.  All active hyperlinks have been inserted
by AOL.
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:41:14 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: antibiotics in animals threaten humans
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Antibiotics in animals threaten humans, expert says

Release at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT)

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The widespread use of antibiotics in farm
animals is helping the spread of drug-resistant germs and should be phased
out, a German expert said on Thursday.

Although evidence of this was clear, most countries had done little or nothing
to stop farmers from dosing pigs, cattle and chickens with unnecessary drugs,
Wolfgang Witte of the Robert Koch Institute in Wernigerode, Germany said.

``All of the pathogens usually found in hospitals are affected, as well as
mycobacteria (which include the tuberculosis bug) pneumococci and
Enterobacteriacae (which include E coli and salmonella),'' Witte wrote in a
commentary in the journal Science.

There is a good reason that farmers feed drugs to their stock. ``Animals
receiving antibiotics in their feed gain four to five percent more body weight
than animals that do not receive antibiotics,'' Witte wrote.

In fact, animals get many more drugs than people do. ``In Denmark in 1994, 24
kg (53 pounds) of ... (the antibiotic) vancomycin were used for human therapy,
whereas 24,000 kg (53,000 pounds) of the similar (antibiotic) avoparcin were
used in animal feed,'' Witte wrote.

``From 1992 to 1996 Australia imported an average of 582 kg (1,300 pounds) of
vancomycin per year for medical purposes and 62,642 kg (138,100 pounds) of
avoparcin per year for animal husbandry.'' But he said this was not necessary.
Better hygiene could lead to healthier farm animals as well -- something
argued by organic farmers who eschew crowded factory farming.

In 1969 a British panel called the Swann Committee decided that antibiotics
used to treat people or drugs closely related to medical antibiotics -- which
could make bacteria resistant -- should not be given to animals. The World
Health Organization reinforced the recommendations in 1997.

``That the Swann committee's resolution needs repetition after 28 years
indicates that we have not seen sufficient adherence to the principles
stated,'' Witte wrote.

This was a global problem, Witte added. ``Meat products are traded worldwide,
and evolving bacterial populations do not respect geographical boundaries.''

It was not enough for some countries to develop controls. ``In the countries
of the developing world, which are responsible for about 25 percent of world
meat production, policies regarding veterinary use of antibiotics are poorly
developed or absent,'' he said.

``In Southeast Asia use of antimicrobials in shrimp farming is unregulated.''

Vancomycin is one of the strongest antibiotics known and is the last line of
treatment for some resistant bacteria. But cases of vancomycin-resistant
bacteria have worried doctors in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Bacteria can evolve resistance when an incomplete or light course of drugs
allows just a few to live. But they can also give resistance to one another.
Bacteria such as the very common E coli can meet up and swap genes, and pass
resistance to new bacteria. ^REUTERS@

14:38 02-12-98

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.  All rights reserved.  Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similiar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.  Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon.  All active hyperlinks have been inserted
by AOL.
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:42:48 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: ultrasound in feedlots
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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FEATURE-Ultrasound comes to the feedlot

By Bob Janis

DENVER, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Ultrasound, the technique employed by doctors to
look at human fetuses in the womb, is being used by a growing number of U.S.
cattlemen to get a peek at steaks and roasts yet to come.

The technique, discussed at a recent cattle industry meeting in Denver, is
designed to take the guesswork out of the optimum time in the feedlot to
finish fattening cattle for market. In this case, it is not a fetus the cattle
experts are looking at but the amount of fat and marbeling under the hide.

"What we hope to do is make feedlot cattle as profitable as we can make them
and improve the quality and consistency of the end product to the consumer,"
Lynn Locatelli, a veterinarian with Twin Forks Clinic in Benkelman, Nebraska,
said.

By taking an ultrasound picture of cattle 60 to 70 days before they are sold
from a feedlot to a meat processor, managers can more accurately judge the
animals' quality than the current practice of "eyeballing," she said.

Locatelli said traditional methods of evaluating potential carcass quality can
result in more than one-third of cattle in a pen being marketed 25 days away
from optimal quality.

If an animal leaves the feedlot with too much fat it means a loss of money
both for the lot and for the slaughterhouse, which has to trim it away. Too
little fat leaves some cuts unsuitable for consumer tastes.

CATTLE FEEDER CAN ADJUST RATI0NS

After a steer or heifer has its ultrasound reading taken, a computer delivers
a picture that shows how much back fat and marbling is hidden under the hide.
A cattle feeder can then adjust rations and feeding schedules to finish the
animal at an optimum level.

Locatelli said the process has an accuracy rate of up to 80 percent, depending
on breed and genetic characteristics.

Ultrasound scanning is conducted when cattle are moved through chutes for
normal feedlot maintenance so there is no extra work, she said. "We can run
comfortably at 70 (head) an hour and can go to 90 an hour if the facilities
are good and the cattle cooperate. It's not a big time-consuming project and
it's not stressful on the cattle."

Tom Holtorf, general manager of Schramm Feedlot, a 12,000-head operation in
Yuma, Colorado, said the ultrasound system saves money and can really help
feeders in tough markets. "It gives our feeders a little more confidence in
what we're doing because it's a little more predictable," he said.

John Brethour, a beef cattle scientist at Kansas State University's Fort Hays
Experiment Station, said he developed software for livestock ultrasound
evaluations in 1986, adapting technology that had been around since the late
1950's.

"Actually, the machine she (Locatelli) uses was originally made as a low-cost
machine for obstetricians," Brethour said. He said he used a research feedlot
at KSU to develop the automated machine.

"She can get her image and in a matter of a few seconds the information is all
processed and tells how many days to feed that animal, what his grade
potential is going to be, sorting and what pen to put him into," Brethour
said.

There are 20 cattle ultrasound machines being used commercially across the
country that evaluate about 20,000 cattle a month or more, he said.

00:00 02-13-98

Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.  All rights reserved.  Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similiar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.  Reuters
shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any
actions taken in reliance thereon.  All active hyperlinks have been inserted
by AOL.
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:45:42 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: hunter demonstration
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Some 130,000 Hunters March in Paris

By JEAN-MARIE GODARD
.c The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) - Led by a pack of dogs and a wild pig, at least 130,000 hunters
marched across Paris on Saturday to protest a European directive limiting the
bird-hunting season. It was among the biggest demonstrations in recent years.

The marchers, who came to the capital from all parts of France, including the
Mediterranean island of Corsica, sounded hunting horns and tossed firecrackers
the length of the protest route, halting traffic for hours on main
thoroughfares, including the Boulevard du Montparnasse.

Men with whips drove forward a pack of dogs and a wild pig, traditionally
hunted by French farmers, at the head of the parade.

Police estimated the crowd at 130,000 people; organizers put the figure at
150,000.

The hunters are angry over a European directive limiting the hunting season
for migrating birds until the end of January. French hunters want it extended
until the end of February.

The hunters also are angry over what they perceive as an anti-hunting
environment in Brussels, EU headquarters, and in France. French Environment
Minister Dominique Voynet of the Green Party was castigated in banners and
chants and hung in effigy.

AP-NY-02-14-98 1701EST

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed
without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.  All active
hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:48:21 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: Oprah Plaintiffs Change Damages
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

NOTE the cavalier way that Mark Babineck misreports things,
and uses "loaded language" to make claims that are controversial,
such as that BSE has not been detected in the USA."
--------------------------------------------


Oprah Plaintiffs Change Damages
By MARK BABINECK

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) - Now it's Oprah Winfrey's turn.

The talk show host's attorneys plan to begin calling witnesses Wednesday
morning in defense of allegations that her television show was responsible for
a drop in cattle prices that cost a group of Texas cattlemen millions of
dollars.

The cattlemen rested their case in their beef defamation trial Friday after 18
days of testimony spread over four weeks.

Attorneys finished two days of arguments over what damages, if any, Ms.
Winfrey, her production company and a vegetarian activist guest should pay
after cattle prices slumped after her April 16, 1996, show on mad cow disease.

Once the plaintiffs rested, defense attorneys immediately filed motions asking
U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson to grant a directed verdict in their
favor.

``There's a lot of material to be covered here,'' Judge Robinson said,
inspecting the thick filings from the bench. She then recessed for the holiday
weekend and ordered the jury to return Wednesday morning.

Lawyers will argue the directed verdict motions outside the jury's presence on
Tuesday.

One of the cattlemen spent much of Friday explaining why he had lowered by
almost $4 million his estimate of how much the ``Oprah'' show cost him.

Bill O'Brien stuck by his initial estimate of $4.5 million in damages, based
on what he says were changes in the value of cattle he and associates owned
before and after the show.

But O'Brien also said they lost just $525,000 in actual sales in the
succeeding three months.

Ave Tucker, an accounting consultant hired by the cattlemen, increased his
estimate of co-defendant Paul Engler's losses. Tucker said Engler has lost
$6.5 million, which is $700,000 more than his attorney claimed in opening
statements.

Engler's claim stems from the fact that he sold off an unusually high amount
of his stock in the futures market directly after the show. He also claims
$1.5 million in losses on the cash market in the days following the program.

Ms. Winfrey's lawyer, Charles Babcock, implied that Engler wouldn't have lost
as much money had he simply held onto his cattle, rather than hedge by selling
futures.

``We're asked to pay the first element of damages (on the cash market) because
prices went down, then we're asked to pay again (on the futures market)
because they went back up,'' Babcock said.

In asking the judge for a directed verdict, Ms. Winfrey's lawyers said the
cattlemen's attorneys failed to prove that she and her show falsely disparaged
perishable food products. Furthermore, they argued that the state's ``veggie
libel'' law, itself, is unconstitutional.

Texas is among 13 states that have laws protecting agricultural products from
slander.

The cattlemen are suing because they say the 1996 show gave activist Howard
Lyman too much leeway in saying that U.S. cattle were at risk for mad cow
disease.

Other guests on the show pointed out that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, as
mad cow disease is formally called, never has been detected here.

AP-NY-02-14-98 0413EST

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 20:16:06 EST
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Dog Survives Vicious Assault With His Spirit Still Intact
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
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Bartlesville, OK, USA:  Gondo the dog landscapes yards on weekdays, cheers
girls' softball players each summer and generally spreads good will among
teams visiting the city each year.

Known for his extraordinary trust, Gondo also has held fast to his role as
man's best friend, despite a brutal attack four weeks ago that shattered his
hip in six places and almost took his life.

Now recovering from a hip operation, Gondo is expected to be back on the
fields this season serving as the mascot for the girls' softball team the
Blazers.

"I can't imagine anyone hurting him, because of the way he is," said Gondo's
owner, Benny McClintock. "This dog, he's just an exception of loyalty and
trust-
worthiness. That's just the way he is; it hasn't changed him at all."

A German Shepherd mix breed, Gondo has been McClintock's close companion since
he rescued the dog six years ago from an area ranch where a litter of puppies
had been dumped. Gondo quickly became an assistant at Hadco Lawn and Landscape
Maintenance where McClintock works, sometimes accompanying him on jobs.

And it was at the Hadco office, which Gondo considers home, where he met his
second brush with death in early January.

Sometime during late afternoon or early evening, someone lured Gondo to the
fence and then hit him forcefully with what authorities think was a club
containing two nails, McClintock said.

The nails left long holes in Gondo's bone, and fragments of his hip are
missing. Veterinarian Tom Loafman operated to save Gondo's life and his limb.

Initially, McClintock thought Gondo would have to be euthanized because of the
medical costs and intensive procedures required.

But Gondo's spirits rallied under Loafman's care, and the doctor even slashed
his fees from $700 to $400 to save the dog.

A few other people have chipped in for the dog's medical bills.

The most likely suspects are some neighborhood youths who have in the past
thrown rocks at the dog and shot a BB gun at him.  McClintock sees the
incident as an especially cold-blooded act because the assailants most likely
had to pet the dog to get him to stay by the closed fence long enough for them
to beat him with the club.

Bartlesville police are continuing to investigate Gondo's attack, and
McClintock is considering taking up offers from community members who wanted
to post a reward for conviction of the offenders.

McClintock said of the neighborhood youths, "Gondo will bark at them, but he
won't bite them. And they all know him; they've all petted him before."

Gondo's ballpark duties include wearing a Blazers T-shirt and shorts, posing
for pictures and trading pins with players from visiting teams.

He also performs tricks, including rollovers, flipping and catching things and
getting things that are put on his nose.

Gondo got his stitches out last week, and he's adjusting to the smaller living
quarters McClintock had to create to restrict the dog's movements so he can
heal.

Despite the attack, Gondo remains happiest when he resides at the landscaping
headquarters, so McClintock is letting him stay in his "home."

Gondo is expected to regain some use of his leg, but he'll never be the same
physically. McClintock just hopes the sweet spirit that remained unchanged by
the attack doesn't lead to Gondo's downfall.

"That's my greatest fear," McClintock said. "There's a chance it could happen
again. He's still just as trustworthy as ever. If you come up to the fence,
he'll come up to be petted. He thinks you are his buddy."


-- Sherrill
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 09:58:52 +0800
From: bunny <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Transcripts-BSE/CJD "The Brain Eater" TV program
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

BSE: THE BRAIN EATER, TRANSCRIPTS - USA

Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 14:28:22 -0800

Source: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy


For those wishing to see the transcript of Tuesday night's TV program on
BSE, the web address is as follows:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2505braineater.html
=====================================================================
========
                   /`\   /`\    Rabbit Information Service,
Tom, Tom,         (/\ \-/ /\)   P.O.Box 30,
The piper's son,     )6 6(      Riverton,
Saved a pig        >{= Y =}<    Western Australia 6148
And away he run;    /'-^-'\
So none could eat  (_)   (_)    email: [e-mail]
The pig so sweet    |  .  |
Together they ran   |     |}    http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm
Down the street.    \_/^\_/    (Rabbit Information Service website updated
                                frequently)

Jesus was most likely a vegetarian... why aren't you? Go to
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/4620/essene.htm
for more information.

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

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 20:44:30 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: School Makes `Mad Cow' Discovery - how prion works
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

School Makes `Mad Cow' Discovery - how prion works
By PAUL RECER
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Researchers have found how one form of prion, the abnormal
protein thought to cause mad cow disease, is able to start a process that
causes a massive destruction of brain cells.

A team from the University of California, San Francisco, says it has
discovered a type of prion that attaches to a key structure in neuron cells
and triggers a signal that causes the cell to die.

Dr. Vishwanath R. Lingappa, the study's lead author, said that the research
reveals a process ``that is at the heart of at least one prion disease.'' But
he said it is not clear if the same process occurs in all prion diseases.

A report on the study is published today in the journal Science.

A prion is an abnormal form of a protein that is present in the brains of
humans, animals and birds.

Nobel laureate Stanley B. Prusiner, a team member, has established a theory
after many years of research that abnormal prions cause the widespread death
of neurons, resulting in disorders such as scrapie in sheep, mad cow disease
in cattle and a fatal brain disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in
people.

The theory is that a mutated form of prion attaches to normal prions in the
brain and causes mutations. This leads in turn to massive and progressive
destruction of brain cells and, eventually, death.

Although the theory remains controversial, Prusiner was awarded the Nobel
Prize last year for his prion research.

In the latest study, the California researchers used a form of mutated prion
that is different from the mad cow prion to search for an explanation of how
the proteins cause disease.

Lingappa said they found that when the abnormal prion is made in the cell, it
becomes stuck in a structure called the endoplasmic reticulum, a membrane that
makes proteins and moves them around within the cell.

When the prion is lodged in the membrane, said Lingappa, it triggers a signal
that causes the cell to die.

``What we have found is why cells die in some prion diseases,'' said Lingappa.
``In these diseases, the prion gets made in a form that turns on a signaling
event to other parts of the cell. Apparently, neurons are triggered to die in
this way.''

He said the disease mechanism on a molecular level is one that has not been
seen before in studies of fundamental cell processes.

Lingappa said the process was discovered when a mutated type of prion was
placed into the brains of newborn laboratory rats. The animals died within 60
days.

A study of the rats' brains linked the deaths to abnormal prions stuck within
the internal membrane of neuron cells.

Researchers then tested specimens from patients who died of a brain disorder
called Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease, or GSS. Lingappa said that the
abnormal prion was found in this brain tissue.

GSS is a rare disease that destroys the brain in a way close to Creutzfeldt-
Jakob disease.

Lingappa said the prion linked to GSS is not infectious, while prions that
cause mad cow disease and Cruetzfeldt-Jakob can be spread from one victim to
another.

A variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob is thought to have caused the death of 23
people in Britain since 1995. Scientists believe the victims contracted the
disease from eating meat infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or
mad cow disease. The export of British beef was banned in 1996 because of the
disease.

But GSS, said Lingappa, apparently is not infectious and results from an
inherited mutation.

``We're dealing with a disease where a mutation in the prion protein causes
cells to die,'' he said. ``We don't know how this relates to the other prion-
associated diseases.''

Dr. Frank O. Bastian of the University of South Alabama, an expert in the
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, said he is uncertain whether the experiment
reported by Lingappa will prove to be important in combating the disease.

``It is unclear if this really advances the understanding of the prion protein
disease process,'' said Bastian.

AP-NY-02-06-98 0223EST

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 20:45:45 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Acorns key to Lyme disease, study finds
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Acorns key to Lyme disease, study finds

Release at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT)

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Acorns, and not deer, may be the key to how big
a risk Lyme disease is, researchers reported on Thursday.

How many acorns are produced by oak trees in a forest may eventually determine
how many infected ticks are out there to spread the disease, which can cause
fever and sometimes permanent physical damage to victims, they said.

Writing in the journal Science, Clive Jones and Rick Ostfeld of the Institute
of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, said they hoped to eventually
come up with a way to predict the risk of Lyme disease.

``What our data suggests is that the risk of Lyme disease might be higher two
years after an acorn crop, so it is potentially feasible to risk-rate the
forest,'' Jones said in a telephone interview.

Just as the U.S. Forest Service posted signs telling of a high, medium or low
risk of forest fires, perhaps they could post signs warning of the relative
risk of being bitten by a tick infected with Lyme disease, Jones suggested.

But not quite yet. ``The final link between the number of infected nymphs
(ticks) -- the ones that get on you and bite you -- we haven't tied that one
down yet,'' he said.

What Jones's team did find was that acorns are important to populations of the
mice that infect the ticks in the first place, and the deer that pick up the
ticks and carry them to places from which they get onto people.

Oak trees produce large crops of acorns every two to five years, but produce
few or none at all in between. These acorns are the major food source for
white-footed mice, as well as white-tailed deer.

Mice and deer both carry the black-legged tick. Mice infect the ticks with the
spirochete bacteria that causes Lyme disease -- Borrelia burgdorferi.

``Adult ticks feed and mate on white-tailed deer before dropping to the ground
in autumn, laying eggs the following spring or early summer,'' they wrote.

The more acorns there are around, the longer the deer spend in the woods and
the more likely the ticks are to get on them.

Jones's group did an experiment when the acorn crop was light in 1995, adding
acorns to some areas and sticking some into mouse nests. Sure enough, the
mouse population grew too.

Furthermore, there were more ticks on the mice where acorns had been added.

So would removing mice solve the problem? Probably not, said Jones. Not only
would it be hard to do, but the mice also eat gypsy moths.

``This introduced insect periodically undergoes outbreaks that defoliate
millions of hectares (acres) of oak forests, decreasing tree growth, survival
and mast (acorn) production,'' they wrote.

In a second experiment, Jones's team showed that removing mice (which they
trapped and moved elsewhere) allowed gypsy moths to proliferate.

``Our results provide strong support for the idea that a chain of events links
acorns to gypsy moth outbreaks and Lyme disease risk,'' they wrote. As is
often the case with real-life nature, these links are complex.

Lyme disease is spread to humans by ticks from deer and is prevalent in the
northeastern United States and Canada. It usually starts with a rash, followed
by fever and headache and in some cases can lead to heart, joint or neurologic
disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a record 16,461 Lyme
disease cases in the United States in 1996, a 41 percent increase from 1995.

Its name is taken from the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where it was first
identified in 1975. ^REUTERS@

14:26 02-12-98

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 20:46:54 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Antibiotics in animals threaten humans, expert says
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Antibiotics in animals threaten humans, expert says

Release at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT)

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The widespread use of antibiotics in farm
animals is helping the spread of drug-resistant germs and should be phased
out, a German expert said on Thursday.

Although evidence of this was clear, most countries had done little or nothing
to stop farmers from dosing pigs, cattle and chickens with unnecessary drugs,
Wolfgang Witte of the Robert Koch Institute in Wernigerode, Germany said.

``All of the pathogens usually found in hospitals are affected, as well as
mycobacteria (which include the tuberculosis bug) pneumococci and
Enterobacteriacae (which include E coli and salmonella),'' Witte wrote in a
commentary in the journal Science.

There is a good reason that farmers feed drugs to their stock. ``Animals
receiving antibiotics in their feed gain four to five percent more body weight
than animals that do not receive antibiotics,'' Witte wrote.

In fact, animals get many more drugs than people do. ``In Denmark in 1994, 24
kg (53 pounds) of ... (the antibiotic) vancomycin were used for human therapy,
whereas 24,000 kg (53,000 pounds) of the similar (antibiotic) avoparcin were
used in animal feed,'' Witte wrote.

``From 1992 to 1996 Australia imported an average of 582 kg (1,300 pounds) of
vancomycin per year for medical purposes and 62,642 kg (138,100 pounds) of
avoparcin per year for animal husbandry.'' But he said this was not necessary.
Better hygiene could lead to healthier farm animals as well -- something
argued by organic farmers who eschew crowded factory farming.

In 1969 a British panel called the Swann Committee decided that antibiotics
used to treat people or drugs closely related to medical antibiotics -- which
could make bacteria resistant -- should not be given to animals. The World
Health Organization reinforced the recommendations in 1997.

``That the Swann committee's resolution needs repetition after 28 years
indicates that we have not seen sufficient adherence to the principles
stated,'' Witte wrote.

This was a global problem, Witte added. ``Meat products are traded worldwide,
and evolving bacterial populations do not respect geographical boundaries.''

It was not enough for some countries to develop controls. ``In the countries
of the developing world, which are responsible for about 25 percent of world
meat production, policies regarding veterinary use of antibiotics are poorly
developed or absent,'' he said.

``In Southeast Asia use of antimicrobials in shrimp farming is unregulated.''

Vancomycin is one of the strongest antibiotics known and is the last line of
treatment for some resistant bacteria. But cases of vancomycin-resistant
bacteria have worried doctors in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Bacteria can evolve resistance when an incomplete or light course of drugs
allows just a few to live. But they can also give resistance to one another.
Bacteria such as the very common E coli can meet up and swap genes, and pass
resistance to new bacteria. ^REUTERS@

14:38 02-12-98

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 21:47:45 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Farmers Scale Back Popular Cotton
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Farmers Scale Back Popular Cotton
.c The Associated Press

By CURT ANDERSON

WASHINGTON (AP) - As corporate ``casual Fridays'' have expanded to more days
of the week, and as khakis gained in popularity among baby boomers, demand for
cotton has been strong in recent years. But farmers figure to plant a lot less
of it this spring.

Depressed prices at the farm level have led American cotton growers to scale
back acreage by 12.3 percent compared to last year. The 1998 crop is forecast
at about 12.1 million acres compared to about 13.8 million acres in 1997,
according to the National Cotton Council.

``We, along with the entire industry, were anticipating a decline in cotton
acreage this year,'' said Kent Lanclos, economist with the council. ``At
current prices, many growers are finding that competing crops such as corn and
soybeans offer greater profit potential than cotton, with less risk.''

Indeed, mid-December cotton spot market prices fell to 64.7 cents a pound,
compared to 72 cents a pound in December 1996. Futures prices are at their
lowest levels in four years.

At the same time, cotton's share of the retail market is growing, as jeans
continue to sell well - one quarter of all cotton clothing sold is denim - and
more people are wearing casual clothing at work.

Industry market research shows that cotton commands 59 percent of the U.S.
apparel market, a 15 percent increase since 1980. The No. 2 fiber, polyester,
has plummeted from 31 percent to 19 percent over the same time span.

This rising demand led farmers across the Sun Belt to plant the second-largest
U.S. cotton crop ever in 1997, with production estimated at 19 million bales.
The big crop was more than enough to meet demand - when combined with strong
world production - and prices began to fall.

That translates into thinner profit margins for farmers.

``Until demand begins to tax the world's capacity to produce, or until prices
fall to levels that prompt resources to be directed to other enterprises, I
believe we can expect a buyer's market to prevail,'' said William Lovelady,
outgoing president of the Cotton Council.

Still, cotton analysts were unprepared for a planting intentions survey
indicating U.S. farmers would produce only about 16 million bales this year.

``Cuts of this magnitude were surprising,'' Lanclos said.

The biggest acreage reductions will occur in the region that includes
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, where a 21 percent
combined drop is forecast. Louisiana alone will plant roughly 192,000 fewer
acres in cotton this year, a 30 percent decrease.

There is much other uncertainty for cotton growers. The financial crisis in
Asia could put a crimp on U.S. exports to those countries and hurt U.S.-made
products by making available more clothing from Asia, at cheaper prices, than
otherwise would be available for American consumers.

Overall, cotton exports are projected to drop 17 percent from last year's
levels. Changes proposed by President Clinton in the fiscal 1999 budget could
reduce that still more.

The budget would cap a major cotton export subsidy program at $140 million.
Another $110 million that had been expected for the program would be shifted
into programs to help farmers use environmentally sound cropping and grazing
methods and to help pay commissions for crop insurance.

``We're reducing export subsidies, but we're increasing payments to farmers in
other ways,'' said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Richard Rominger.

Agency economists estimate the cap would reduce exports by only about 100,000
bales out of a projected total of more than 6 million bales. But cotton-state
lawmakers in Congress are not pleased.

``The competitiveness of some of our cotton producers may be harmed,''
said Sen. Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican who chairs the
Senate Appropriations Committee panel on agriculture.
``I don't think we're going to approve that.''

AP-NY-02-14-98 1205EST

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 21:51:23 -0500
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Ringling Brothers Press Release Denies PETA charges
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Ringling Brothers Press Release Denies PETA charges
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Refutes PeTA and Basinger's False
Allegations

VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 1998--Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey, in response to false allegations issued by PeTA and Kim Basinger,
wants to set the record straight in regard to the tragic death of Kenny, a
3-1/2 year-old male Asian elephant, on Jan. 24th, in Jacksonville, Florida:

áááá -- Ringling Bros. has fully cooperated with the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) investigation into Kenny's death.

áááá -- After Kenny's death, Ringling Bros. promptly notified the USDA and a
full necropsy was performed to determine the cause of death. Results revealed
the elephant died from what appeared to be a bacterial or viral
gastrointestinal infection, but the specific agent was not identified from
culture and histopathology tests. The results were shared with the USDA.
Ringling Bros. also issued a press release as soon as these results were
obtained.

áááá -- Kenny did not perform three shows as alleged by PeTA. During the third
show, Kenny accompanied the other elephants into the arena and stood outside
the ring during the elephant act because it was more comfortable for Kenny to
stay with the herd than to be separated from them.

áááá -- Based on Ringling Bros. employees sworn affidavits before USDA
inspectors, there was no indication that Kenny was "dizzy" or "wobbly on his
legs" or that he was "wailing."

áááá -- In response to Basinger's statement concerning Kenny's treatment:
"Kenny's condition was carefully monitored at all times by Ringling's
veterinarian and staff, and he was examined and treated as soon as any signs
of change in behavior occurred. Kenny was never treated cruelly or prematurely
removed from his mother. Ringling Bros. animals are treated with the greatest
care and respect, and young elephants are kept with their mothers throughout
the appropriate weaning period."

áááá Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is proud of its record of animal care
and for the past 30 years has never been cited for a violation of the Animal
Welfare Act. It meets all federal, state and local guidelines for the care and
treatment of its animals.

CONTACT:

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Public Relations, 703/448-4120

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 19:11:28 -0800
From: Andrew Gach <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Idea of animal organ transplants horrifies many
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Idea of animal organ transplants horrifies many, patient says

The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA, February 14, 1998

Science may be ready to transplant animal organs into humans before
society is ready to accept the procedure, according to a San Francisco
man who received the bone marrow of a baboon.

Jeffrey Getty, an AIDS patient, said his health improved markedly after
he received an experimental transplant of baboon bone marrow, but he
found that people were horrified at the idea.

"We're not ready to have part human, part animal people walking around,"
Getty said Saturday.  "There is some deep-seeded psychological barrier
against it."

Getty, speaking at the national meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, said his experimental transplant of baboon
bone marrow was an attempt to place within his body a partial animal
immune system that is resistant to the virus. For a time, it seemed to
work.

"I did get better, but we don't know if that was because of the baboon
bone marrow," he said.  "We couldn't find baboon DNA (genes) in me after
three weeks. It apparently was rejected."

What he did find was a visceral reaction against the transplant by many
people. He said he endured jokes, angry comments and signs of revulsion.

"We react on a subconscious level to the thought of people who are part
animal," said Getty. "I don't know where it is coming from."

He calls the December, 1995, baboon transplant a success because it
proved that the procedure could be performed safely.

"That was a good sign because that means that one day technology will
allow people to have animal organs," he said.

Getty said the baboon transplant was a last ditch effort to combat his
HIV, a disease he has had for 18 years. After the transplant, Getty said
his viral load, the amount of HIV virus in his blood,
dropped to zero and his immune system got stronger.

In the last few months, however, Getty said his condition has gotten
worse and he now is taking experimental anti-viral drugs.

Dr. Suzanne T. Ildstad, a transplant surgeon at the Allegheny University
of the Health Sciences, said that Getty is pioneer in
xenotransplantation, the transfer of animal organs into humans, that
eventually may be the only solution for people who need new hearts,
kidneys and livers.

Ildstad said that the number of human donor organs has remained about
the same 1988, while the need for such transplants continued to grow.

"Three hundred thousand Americans, candidates for transplants, die every
year without even getting on the waiting list," she said. About half of
all heart transplant candidates die before they get can find a donor.

The only solution, she said, is to learn how to transplant organs from
pigs or other animals.

-- By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 22:45:00 -0500
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Patient: Animal Organs Not Accepted
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from Associated Press http://wire.ap.org
---------------------------------------------------
 02/14/1998 17:10 EST

 Patient: Animal Organs Not Accepted

 By PAUL RECER
 AP Science Writer

 PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Science may be ready to transplant animal organs
 into humans before society is ready to accept the procedure, according to
 a San Francisco man who was grafted with the bone marrow of a baboon.

 Jeffrey Getty, an AIDS patient, said his health improved markedly after
 he received an experimental transplant of baboon bone marrow, but he
 found that people were horrified at the idea.

 ``We're not ready to have part human, part animal people walking
 around,'' Getty said Saturday. ``There is some deep-seeded psychological
 barrier against it.''

 Getty, speaking at the national meeting of the American Association for
 the Advancement of Science, said his experimental transplant of baboon
 bone marrow was an attempt to place within his body a partial animal
 immune system that is resistant to the virus. For a time, it seemed to
 work.

 ``I did get better, but we don't know if that was because of the baboon
 bone marrow,'' he said. ``We couldn't find baboon DNA (genes) in me after
 three weeks. It apparently was rejected.''

 What he did find was a visceral reaction against the transplant by many
 people. He said he endured jokes, angry comments and signs of revulsion.

 ``We react on a subconscious level to the thought of people who are part
 animal,'' said Getty. ``I don't know where it is coming from.''

 He calls the December, 1995, baboon transplant a success because it
 proved that the procedure could be performed safely.

 ``That was a good sign because that means that one day technology will
 allow people to have animal organs,'' he said.

 Getty said the baboon transplant was a last ditch effort to combat his
 HIV, a disease he has had for 18 years. After the transplant, Getty said
 his viral load, the amount of HIV virus in his blood, dropped to zero and
 his immune system got stronger.

 In the last few months, however, Getty said his condition has gotten
 worse and he now is taking experimental anti-viral drugs.

 Dr. Suzanne T. Ildstad, a transplant surgeon at the Allegheny University
 of the Health Sciences, said that Getty is pioneer in
 xenotransplantation, the transfer of animal organs into humans, that
 eventually may be the only solution for people who need new hearts,
 kidneys and livers.

 Ildstad said that the number of human donor organs has remained about the
 same 1988, while the need for such transplants continued to grow.

 ``Three hundred thousand Americans, candidates for transplants, die every
 year without even getting on the waiting list,'' she said. About half of
 all heart transplant candidates die before they get can find a donor.

 The only solution, she said, is to learn how to transplant organs from
 pigs or other animals.

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 22:50:34 -0500
From: allen schubert <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Subject: (US) Study Questions Beliefs on Fat
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

from Associated Press http://wire.ap.org
---------------------------------------------------
 02/14/1998 15:52 EST

 Study Questions Beliefs on Fat

 By DANIEL Q. HANEY
 AP Medical Editor

 PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The often repeated advice that everyone should eat
 less fat and more carbohydrates is coming under challenge.

 New research finds that cutting fat levels much below the typical
 American diet probably won't lower the risk of heart disease for the
 majority of adults, and it might even increase the hazard for some.

 On average, fat makes up 34 percent of the calories in the American diet,
 and this is already close to the level recommended by major health
 organizations. The American Heart Association suggests that 30 percent or
 less of calories should come from fat.

 Nevertheless, ``there is a movement toward even further fat
 restriction,'' said Dr. Ronald Krauss of the Lawrence Berkeley National
 Laboratory at the University of California.

 He noted that many individuals, sometimes with the encouragement of
 doctors and other health professionals, believe that if a low-fat diet is
 good, an even lower fat one should be better still.

 Krauss is head of the heart association's nutrition committee, which
 writes the organization's dietary guidelines. At a meeting Saturday of
 the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he presented new
 evidence of why very low fat diets may be good for some but bad for
 others.

 He said his data suggest that about one-third of the U.S. population may
 benefit from reducing fat intake below 30 percent. Another one-third will
 neither be helped nor harmed by this. And the final third may actually
 increase their risk of heart disease.

 Krauss noted that evidence in favor of lowering fat and replacing it with
 carbohydrates comes from studies that look at average cholesterol levels
 across large population groups.

 ``These fail to reflect the tremendous amount of individual variation,''
 he said.

 Just how someone's cholesterol level responds to diet depends, at least
 in part, on the genes that he or she inherits. Probably many genes are
 involved, and no one knows what they are.

 However, once these genes are identified, Krauss said it should be
 possible to tailor people's diets to match the needs of their genetic
 profiles.

 One factor in all this appears to be the kind of low-density lipoprotein
 cholesterol, or LDL, that people produce. While LDL is generally known as
 the bad cholesterol, since it increases the risk of clogged arteries, it
 comes in two varieties.

 By far the worse is what experts call small, dense LDL. Between 20
 percent and 30 percent of adults make this kind of LDL. It is part of a
 syndrome that also often includes low levels of HDL, the protective good
 cholesterol, and high triglycerides, among other things.

 Those with small, dense LDL have what's known as a pattern B cholesterol
 profile. Their risk of heart disease is about three times higher than the
 majority of Americans, who have larger LDL and are considered to be
 pattern A.

 Krauss put 105 men on a low-fat diet in which 24 percent of calories came
 from fat. This is close to what's typically achieved with AHA's more
 rigorous Step 2 diet, intended for those who have trouble lowering their
 cholesterol.

 He found that men with pattern B cholesterol responded strongly to the
 low-fat diet, significantly improving their cholesterol levels. However,
 those with more normal pattern A showed little or no benefit.

 Indeed, about 40 percent of them actually shifted from pattern A to
 pattern B. Their protective HDL dropped significantly, and they developed
 the small, dense LDL.

 ``This may give some caution to very low-fat diets in these
 individuals,'' said Krauss.

 For now, doctors cannot easily determine whether their patients are
 pattern A or pattern B, although Krauss said such tests should soon be
 available.

 Dr. Jan Breslow of Rockefeller University questioned whether the
 apparently damaging effects seen among the pattern A men on low-fat diets
 truly will put them at higher risk of heart trouble.

 He noted that large population studies generally conclude that the less
 fat people eat, the lower their risk.

 ``This is a big raging debate,'' he said, that will require more research
 to settle.



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