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HavenWorks.com/animals - Animal News |
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 Julie
MacDonald
 Stephen
Johnson
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Animal News Sources: 
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Business
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Government
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Politics
- 2008
Election - 
Family
- 
Health
- Safety
- 
Environment
- 
Air
- 
Water
- 
Soil
- 
Labor
- Animal
- Farmers
- 
Energy
- Transportation
- 
Automakers
- Consumer
- 
History
- "Business
Lobby Presses Agenda Before ’08 Vote." ... "Business
lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections,
are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety,
labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals
from the [Republican President] Bush administration than from its successor."
... "Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration,
poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced
by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration
to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and
medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government
to relax pollution-control requirements." ... "The Federal Register typically
grows fat with regulations churned out in the final weeks of any administration.
But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the
possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White
House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in
14 years." ... "At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are
trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of
hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade
officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs — standards
far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect
riders in a rollover." ... "At the Interior Department, coal companies
are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt
from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." ...
"Some of the biggest battles now involve rules affecting the quality of
air, water and soil." (1, 2)
-By Robert Pear -NYTimes
Julie
MacDonald
- Animals
- Environmental
- 
Science
- Politics
- Agricultural
- Business
- 
California
- 
WVa
- "7
federal wildlife decisions to be revised: A [Republican
President Bush] political appointee had overruled recommendations by staff
scientists on endangered species. She quit under a cloud." ... "Federal
wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered
species and critical habitat made by an Interior Department political appointee
who quit in the spring amid charges of improper meddling in scientific
decisions." ... "California's arroyo toad and red-legged frog could regain
protection that federal biologists determined was crucial to their survival,
according to a letter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent Friday to
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman [West Virginia Democratic Representative]
Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.). Rahall released the letter publicly Tuesday."
... "Former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald, a civil
engineer from California with no formal training in natural sciences, routinely
questioned and sometimes overruled recommendations by biologists and other
field staffers, according to documents, interviews and a review by the
department's inspector general. The review outlined instances in which
MacDonald advocated altering scientific conclusions in ways that led to
reduced protection for imperiled species and that favored developers and
agricultural businesses. And she was rebuked for providing internal documents
to lobbyists." ... "Under her direction, proposed habitat protection for
the endangered arroyo toad, a tiny amphibian that once inhabited many Southern
California creek regions, was slashed by 93%. Similarly, the protected
area proposed for the threatened California red-legged frog was reduced
from 4.1 million acres to 450,000 acres." -By Janet
Wilson -LAtimes
Humanity
- 
Global
- Environmental
- Science
- Disaster
- Politics
- 
UN
- Earth
- 
Climate
- Animals
- Rivers
- "Environmental
failures 'put humanity at risk': · UN report
bemoans lack of urgency by governments· Five-year study involved
more than 1,400 scientists." ... "The future of humanity has been put at
risk by a failure to address environmental problems including climate change,
species extinction and a growing human population, according to a new UN
report." ... "In a sweeping audit of the world's environmental wellbeing,
the study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that governments
are still failing to recognise the seriousness of major environmental issues."
... "The study, involving more than 1,400 scientists, found that human
consumption had far outstripped available resources. Each person on Earth
now requires a third more land to supply his or her needs than the planet
can supply, it finds." ... "Meanwhile, biodiversity is seriously threatened
by the impact of human activities: 30% of amphibians, 23% of mammals and
12% of birds are under threat of extinction, while one in 10 of the world's
large rivers runs dry every year before it reaches the sea." ... "The report
- entitled Global Environment Outlook: Environment for Development - reviews
progress made since a similar study in 1987 which laid the groundwork for
studying environmental issues affecting the planet." ... "It addresses
a number of areas where environmental degradation is threatening human
welfare and the planet, including water, over-fishing and biodiversity
- where the UNEP says a sixth, human-induced, extinction is under way."
-By Martin Hodgson
-Guardian.co.uk
Water
- Emergency
- Weather
- Environment
- History
- Farm
- Animals
- 
Food
- 
Georgia
- 
Alabama
- 
North
Carolina - 
Tennessee
- 
Kentucky
- "Southeast
drought hits crisis point." ... "Outdoor watering
bans already cover the northern third of Georgia and dozens of cities,
counties and towns in surrounding states. Farmers are selling cattle because
pastures have dried up. Alabama's Elmore County had to bring in floating
pumps and barges to extend its water intake pipe farther out into shrinking
Lake Martin. Georgia might have to do the same at Lake Lanier, Atlanta's
main water source." ... "Although rain is due today across parts of the
region, it will barely dampen the 16-month drought. Through September,
it is the region's driest year in 113 years of record-keeping. In five
of the six worst-hit states, rain totals this year are close to a foot
below normal." ... "It is the driest year on record for North Carolina
and Tennessee, second-driest in Alabama and third-driest in Kentucky. A
tree-ring study this summer of Tennessee's rainfall history shows this
is the third-driest year for the state in at least 350 years, behind only
1839 and 1708." -By Patrick O'Driscoll and Larry Copeland
with contributions by Jordan Schrader, Marty Roney, Leon Alligood, Ron
Barnett, Jessie Halladay, Matt Reed, and Jennie Coughlin
-USATODAY
World
- Animals
- Plants
- 
- "Gorillas
and coral at top of endangered list." ... "The world's
animal kingdom continues to be jeopardized as more than a hundred new species
make it onto the endangered list." ... "The western gorilla, a Chinese
dolphin and even coral are all at the top of the World Conservation Union's
(IUCN) priority cases, according to the organization's Red
List[*] released Wednesday."
... "Furthermore, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of
all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world's assessed plants are also
endangered." ... ""This year's IUCN Red List shows that the invaluable
efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said Julia Marton-Lefèvre,
the IUCN's director general in a news release. "The rate of biodiversity
loss is increasing and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and
stave off this global extinction crisis. This can be done, but only with
a concerted effort by all levels of society.""
-CTV.ca
Human
- Animal
- Brain
- Health
- Genetics
- "The
Beam of Light That Flips a Switch That Turns on the Brain."
... "It sounds like a science-fiction version of stupid pet tricks: by
toggling a light switch, neuroscientists can set fruit flies a-leaping
and mice a-twirling and stop worms in their squiggling tracks." ... "Light
stimulation every 200 milliseconds generates electrical activity, right,
in an area of the brain associated with depression." ... "But such feats,
unveiled in the past two years, are proof that a new generation of genetic
and optical technology can give researchers unprecedented power to turn
on and off targeted sets of cells in the brain, and to do so by remote
control." ... "These novel techniques will bring an “exponential change”
in the way scientists learn about neural systems, said Dr. Helen Mayberg,
a clinical neuroscientist at Emory University, who is not involved in the
research but has seen videos of the worm experiments." ... "“A picture
is worth a thousand words,” Dr. Mayberg said." ... "Some day, the remote-control
technology might even serve as a treatment for neurological and psychiatric
disorders." (1, 2)
-By Ingfei Chen -NYTimes
Gordon
Smith - 
Dick
Cheney - Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Federal
- 
Investigation
- History
- Portland
- 
Ore
- California
- 
Fish- Food
- 
Farmers
- Business
- "Smith
backs Cheney on salmon kill controversy." ... "[Oregon
Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon], is siding
with [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney over a massive fish kill on
the Klamath River in 2002, saying there is no evidence it was caused by
water diversions to farmers." [The Klamath River runs through Oregon and
California] ... "Smith also defended Cheney's role in intervening with
federal officials to help farmers in the Klamath Basin and cast doubt that
the salmon die-off caused sharp commercial costal [coastal] fishing restrictions."
... "The House Natural Resources Committee is investigating whether Cheney
exerted improper political influence to override scientifically based management
of the water resources." ... "Environmentalists, often at odds with Smith,
say his stance contradicts a study by the California Department of Fish
and Game, which found that the water diversions played a key role in the
deaths of some 77,000 salmon." ... "The California Fish and Game report
cited several factors leading to the fish kill, the largest in recorded
West Coast history." ... "There were larger-than-normal salmon returns,
warm water and low river flows that combined to crowd the fish, hastening
the spread of disease." ... "The report concluded that, "River flow and
the volume of water in the fish-kill area were atypically low," and that
the river flow was the only factor controlled by humans." ... ""It's stretching
credibility to claim that the flow management decisions by the [Republican
President] Bush administration in 2002 had nothing to do with the low flows
in the Klamath River," said Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild, a Portland-based
environmental group." -AP
via -kgw.com
Noteworthy
- Wireless
- 
Radio
- History
- 
Electronic
- Tech
- Human
- Animals
- 
WalMart
- Business
- Consumer
- Civil
Liberties - Politics
- "Microchips
in humans: High-tech helpers or Big Brother surveillance?"
... "City Watcher.com, a provider of surveillance equipment, attracted
little notice itself -- until a year ago, when two of its employees had
glass-encapsulated microchips with miniature antennas embedded in their
forearms." ... "The "chipping" of two workers with RFIDs -- radio frequency
identification tags as long as two grains of rice, as thick as a toothpick
-- was merely a way of restricting access to vaults that held sensitive
data and images for police departments, a layer of security beyond key
cards and clearance codes, the company said." ... "But the news that Americans
had, for the first time, been injected with electronic identifiers to perform
their jobs fired up a debate over the proliferation of ever-more-precise
tracking technologies and their ability to erode privacy in the digital
age." ... "Thirty years ago, the first electronic tags were fixed to the
ears of cattle, to permit ranchers to track a herd's reproductive and eating
habits. In the 1990s, millions of chips were implanted in livestock, fish,
pets, even racehorses." ... "Microchips are now fixed to car windshields
as toll-paying devices, on "contactless" payment cards (Chase's "Blink,"
or MasterCard's "PayPass"). They're embedded in Michelin tires, library
books, passports and, unbeknownst to many consumers, on a host of individual
items at Wal-Mart and Best Buy." ... ""We're really on the verge of creating
a surveillance society in America, where every movement, every action --
some would even claim, our very thoughts -- will be tracked, monitored,
recorded and correlated," says Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology
and Liberty Program at the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington
D.C." -AP
via -CNN
Portland
- 
Oregon
- River
- Animal
- Electric
- Company
- History
- "Utility
blasts its Oregon dam to make way for fish." ...
"The largest dam removal in the Pacific Northwest in 40 years began on
Tuesday with blasts of 4,000 pounds of explosives, the dam's owner, Portland
General Electric, said." ... "The Marmot Dam on the Sandy River about 40
miles east of Portland [Oregon] was built almost 100 years ago along with
the nearby 16-foot-high Little Sandy Dam, which will be destroyed next
summer, the utility said." ... "Removing the two dams will allow the Sandy
to flow freely from Mt. Hood to the Columbia River." ... "When the dams
were built, they ruined a natural fish run that biologists say the fish
will rediscover and repopulate once the dams are removed, [Portland General
Electric spokesman Mark] Fryburg said." (1, 2)
-By Bernie Woodall -Reuters
WATCH
- 
Rick
Berman - Corporate
- 
Lawyer
- Marketing
-
Psychology
- Politics
- Food
- 
Safety
- Consumer
- Health
- Science
- Government
-Enforcement
- People
- Unions
- Animals
WATCH
"Meet Dr. Evil [Rick Berman]: Companies pay him to fight animal
rights, healthy food, unions, even Mothers Against Drunk Driving. But lobbyist
Rick Berman says he's just taking the other side. Morley Safer reports."
-60
Minutes
Julie
MacDonald
- Government
- Animals
- Justice
- Science
- Politics
- Industry
- Seattle
- 
Washington
- West
Virginia - "Decisions
on species to be reviewed: Methods of Interior official
who resigned in question." ... "In the wake of the resignation of a [Republican
President] Bush administration official who was rebuked for meddling in
scientists' calls about protecting endangered species, federal officials
on Friday announced plans to re-examine eight decisions influenced by the
disgraced official." ... "Environmentalists labeled the administration's
move a "token effort designed for damage control."" ... "Friday's announcement
by Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, comes less
than three months after the resignation of Julie MacDonald, an Interior
Department official in charge of the wildlife service. She had been chastised
by the agency's inspector general for bullying agency scientists and leaking
information to industry groups." ... "The most recent controversy in the
Northwest involved a Washington, D.C.-based team of [Republican President]
Bush administration officials, including MacDonald, who overruled a panel
of Northwest-based experts and reduced by one-fifth the amount of acreage
protected as "critical habitat" for the spotted owl." ... ""People's bells
should go off when the folks in an agency's regional office are overruled
by political appointees in D.C.," [Seattle, Washington attorney from Earthjustice,
Kristen] Boyles said. "I don't believe the region is always right, but
I believe they are paying attention to the science because they are the
scientists." ... West Virginia Democratic Representative Nick Rahall: ""What
we have learned to date raises concerns about political tinkering with
science that has affected perhaps 100 endangered species-related decisions
-- and goodness knows what else -- that deserve further scrutiny," Rahall
said Friday." ... "Environmentalists noted that Hall was agreeing to review
only about a third of the cases in which misconduct by MacDonald was alleged."
-By Robert McClure and John Heilprin
-AP -SeattlePI.NWsource
Global- Food
- Safety
- 
US
- 
Canada
- China
- 
Colorado
- Animal
- Agriculture
- Industry
- Consumer
- Government
- Law
- Enforcement
- Money- Politics
- "Some
hunger for food labels: After recalls, shoppers want
to know the origins of globalized groceries." ... "Take a look at the meal
you put on the table tonight, and you'll likely be looking at an international
effort. The steak may have come from a cow raised in Colorado, while the
carrots were grown in Canada and the apple juice imported from China."
... "Many consumers consider the globalization of the food chain a good
thing; you can get any food you want any time of the year. But several
recent recalls of tainted food have some shoppers questioning exactly where
their food comes from and how safe it is." ... "Figuring out where the
food on grocery store shelves comes from isn't always easy." ... "Country-of-origin
labels -- telling shoppers the country in which a product was grown, caught
or raised -- would do that but right now they're required only on seafood.
Labels for meat, produce and peanuts won't start until September 2008."
... "America's food safety problem is complicated but starts with this:
We are importing more food and the government agencies charged with keeping
food safe don't have enough funding or resources, said Chris Waldrop, director
of the food policy institute for the Consumer Federation of America." ...
"Country-of-origin labeling for meat and produce was supposed to take effect
three years ago. But lobbyists, primarily for the beef industry, enlisted
the help of congressional Republicans to delay the change. Trade associations
are still fighting it." (1, 2)
-By Sue Stock -NewsObserver.com
US
- Country
- Animal
- Farm
- Food
- Industry
- Politics
- Consumer
- Safety
- "Labeling
Fight Put Off As Farm Bill Markup Proceeds." ...
"Advocates of labeling [food by country-of-origin], which was mandated
by the 2002 farm law, were bracing for a Republican amendment to the new
farm bill (HR 2419) that would have weakened the requirement." ... "Since
the 2002 law was enacted, congressional Republicans, backed by the meatpacking
industry, have delayed implementation of the labeling mandate."
-CQ.com
US
- 
Massachusetts
- Canada
- Car
- Travel
- Pet
- Animal
- Mitt
Romney
- 2008
Election - "Romney
Accused of Mistreating Family Dog." ... "[2008 election
Presidential candidate Mitt] Romney placed his family dog, an Irish setter
named Seamus, into a kennel lashed to the top of his station wagon for
a 12-hour family trip from Boston [Massachusetts] to Ontario [Canada] in
1983. Despite being shielded by a wind screen the former Massachusetts
governor erected, Seamus expressed his discomfort with a diarrhea attack."
-By Glen Johnson -AP
via -SFGate.com
Dick
Cheney - Special
Report - Government
- 
Terrorism
- Torture
- Economy
- Environment
- Air
- Water
- Food
- Animal
- Politics
- "Angler:
The Cheney Vice Presidency." ... "Dick Cheney is
the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office of vice president.
This series examines Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role
in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment."
Food
- Safety
- Animal
- Agriculture
- Companies
- Government
- Law
- Politics
- 
Kansas
- "U.S.
government fights to keep meatpackers from testing all slaughtered cattle
for mad cow." ... "The [Republican President] Bush
administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing
all their animals for mad cow disease." ... "The Agriculture Department
tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can
be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western
state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its
cows." ... "Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone
should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform
the expensive tests on their larger herds as well."
-AP via -IHT.com
Ala
- Terrorism
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Free
Speech - Liberty
- 
Military
- Environmentalist
- Animal
- Abortion
- "Ala.
terror Web site angers activists." ... "The Alabama
Department of Homeland Security has taken down a Web site it operated that
included gay rights and anti-war organizations in a list of groups that
could include terrorists." ... "The Web site identified different types
of terrorists, and included a list of groups it believed could spawn terrorists.
The list also included environmentalists, animal rights advocates and abortion
opponents." ... "The site included the groups under a description of what
it called "single-issue" terrorists. That group includes people who feel
they are trying to create a better world, the Web site said. It said that
in some communities, law enforcement officers consider certain single issue
groups to be a threat." -By Bob Johnson
-AP via -Yahoo
Health
- Science
- Consumer
- Food
- Drug
- Safety
- Terrorism
- Emergencies
- Lawmakers
- Politics
- Animal
- Pets
- 
Pennsylvania
- Colorado
- 
Michigan
- Calif
- Kan
- Mass
- "FDA
plan to close field labs draws fire." ... "A Food
and Drug Administration plan to close seven of 13 field laboratories has
angered some lawmakers, government workers and safety advocates, who fear
the move will chase away skilled veteran employees and hurt the FDA's ability
to respond to public health emergencies." ... "The FDA's field labs inspect
and analyze food, drugs, animal medications and feeds, medical devices
and other health products." ... "The labs check for compliance with federal
guidelines, protect consumers from unsafe, ineffective and mislabeled products,
and help investigate public health threats such as product tampering, bio-terrorism,
food-borne illnesses and contaminated blood supplies." ... "Several of
the facilities helped investigate the recent pet food scare and E. coli
and salmonella outbreaks in spinach and peanut butter. On the heels of
these crises, the proposed lab closings have been met with strong suspicion."
... "Over the next several years, the FDA wants to close labs in Philadelphia
[Pennsylvania]; Denver [Colorado]; Detroit [Michigan]; Alameda, Calif.
[California]; Lenexa, Kan.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Winchester, Mass
[Massachusetts]. Those operations and an estimated 250 employees would
then be moved to five multi-purpose "mega-labs" that could handle all types
of FDA testing." ... "But some fear that fewer labs would delay the testing
of food, biological medical products or drugs in the event of a public
health emergency." -By Tony Pugh
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
World
- US
- 
Brazil
- Animals
- Food
- Environment
- Business
- "Vanishing
honeybees mystify scientists." ... "Go to work --
and vanish without a trace." ... "Billions of bees have done just that,
leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists
are mystified about why." ... "The phenomenon was first noticed late last
year in the United States, where honeybees are used to pollinate $15 billion
worth of fruits, nuts and other crops annually. Disappearing bees have
also been reported in Europe and Brazil." ... "Commercial beekeepers would
set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or three
weeks to find the hives bereft of foraging worker bees, with only the queen
and the immature insects remaining. Whatever worker bees survived were
often too weak to perform their tasks." ... "Since about one-third of the
U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees,
this constitutes a serious problem, according to Jeff Pettis of the U.S.
Agricultural Research Service." -Reuters
via -CNN
Julie
A MacDonald
- Science
- Politics
- Business
- Government
- Land
- Animal
- Environmental
- Law
- "Report
Faults Interior Appointee: Landowner Issues Trumped
Animal Protections, IG Says." ... "A senior [Republican President] Bush
political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific
field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed
confidential information to private groups seeking to affect policy decisions,
the department's inspector general concluded." ... "The investigator's
report on Julie A. MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife
and parks -- which was triggered by an anonymous complaint from a Fish
and Wildlife Service employee and expanded in October after a Washington
Post article about MacDonald -- said she frequently sought to reshape the
agency's scientific reports in an effort to ease the impact of agency decisions
on private landowners." ... "The IG noted that MacDonald "admitted that
her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational
background in natural sciences" but repeatedly instructed Fish and Wildlife
scientists to change their recommendations on identifying "critical habitats,"
despite her lack of expertise." -By Juliet Eilperin
-WashingtonPost
Julie
A MacDonald
- Government
- Animal
- Water
- Environmental
- Science
- Law
- Investigation
- Oil
- Industry
- 
E-Mail
- "Report
Says Interior Official Overrode Work of Scientists."
... "A top-ranking official overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service at
the Interior Department rode roughshod over agency scientists, and decisions
made on her watch may not survive court challenges, investigators within
the Interior Department have found." ... "Their report, sent to Congress
this week by the department's inspector general, does not accuse the official,
Julie A. MacDonald, the deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and
parks, of any crime. But it does find that she violated federal rules when
she sent internal agency documents to industry lobbyists." ... "The inspector
general also found that Ms. MacDonald had sent internal government documents
by e-mail to a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation — a property-rights
group that frequently challenges endangered-species decisions." ... "She
twice sent internal Environmental Protection Agency documents — one involving
water quality management — to individuals whose e-mail addresses ended
in chevrontexaco.com, the report said." -By
Felicity Barringer -NYTimes
Global
- Climate
- Ocean
- Animal
- Food
- Environment
- Science
- People
- Business
- Politics
- "Some
happy that a family film flaunts dire facts." ...
"Michael Hirshfield has long struggled to get across his earnest but wonky
message: that global warming and overfishing are killing off the oceans'
food supply." ... "Then, along came the animated movie "Happy Feet" and,
voila, tens of millions of youngsters -- and their parents -- across the
country are suddenly aware that man-made problems are threatening the penguins
near the South Pole, and almost everything else in the South Seas." ...
"The blockbuster film, the top box-office hit for the past three weekends,
is about emperor penguins struggling to survive with a depleted food supply,
and one tap-dancing penguin's epic search to learn what is causing the
colony's fish to disappear." ... "A study published recently in the journal
Science predicted that if overfishing of depleted seafood populations continued
at current rates, the world would run out of commercial stocks by 2048."
-By John Donnelly
-Boston/Globe
California
- 
Elderly
- Disaster
- Energy
- Food- Work
- Water
- Animal
- Oregon
- 
Wildfire
- "At
least 132 deaths likely linked to heat Calif. heat wave."
... "At least 132 deaths, mostly elderly residents, were likely linked
to a nearly two-week heat wave in California, county coroner's offices
reported Friday." ... "Both Northern and Southern California had been gripped
by triple-digit temperatures since July 16, with the Central Valley suffering
the most with temperatures as high as 115." ... "Before this week, the
utility's highest peak energy use was recorded at 5,661 megawatts. The
heat wave created a demand of 6,165 megawatts — shocking officials who
predicted usage wouldn't top 6,100 megawatts for another four years." ...
"In Northern California, a wildfire near the Oregon state line was threatening
major power transmission lines between California and the Pacific Northwest."
... "Farmers have been struggling as well, trying get work crews into the
fields in the early mornings to avoid the worst of the heat and running
water misters to keep cattle from dying. Vegetables, fruit and even wine
grapes could be affected." -By Olivia Munoz
-AP via -SFGate.com
World
- Fuel
- Ocean
- Animals
- Food
- Science- Seattle
- Washington
- "High
acidity infiltrates the oceans." ... "Corals and
shelled sea creatures face an uncertain future in oceans made increasingly
corrosive by the industrial emissions that fuel global warming, a government
report warned Wednesday." ... "Human activities, chiefly the burning of
fossil fuels, have upset a natural balance in ocean acidity, concludes
the report called Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and
Other Marine Calcifiers: A Guide for Future Research." ... "From corals
to sea snails to microscopic plankton, the creatures affected underpin
many ocean food chains, say the authors of the report, a document reflecting
the views of 50 top experts in ocean chemistry. The research was sponsored
by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other
federal agencies." ... ""We have very clear evidence, and there is no doubt
this is occurring," says report co-author Richard Feely of the NOAA Pacific
Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle [Washington]." -By
Dan Vergano -USATODAY
Fuel
- World
- Animals
- Ocean
- Science
- History
- "Report
Warns about Carbon Dioxide Threats to Marine Life."
... "Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning are
dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms,
including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and support oceanic
biodiversity. A landmark report released today summarizes the known effects
of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on these organisms, known as marine
calcifiers, and recommends future research for determining the extent of
the impacts." ... ""It is clear that seawater chemistry will change in
coming decades and centuries in ways that will dramatically alter marine
life," says Joan Kleypas, the report's lead author and a scientist at the
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. "But we are
only beginning to understand the complex interactions between large-scale
chemistry changes and marine ecology. It is vital to develop research strategies
to better understand the long-term vulnerabilities of sensitive marine
organisms to these changes."" ... "The report, "Impacts of Ocean Acidification
on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers," warns that oceans worldwide
absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and
1994. Oceans are naturally alkaline, and they are expected to remain so,
but the interaction with carbon dioxide is making them less alkaline and
more acidic. The increased acidity lowers the concentration of carbonate
ion, a building block of the calcium carbonate that many marine organisms
use to grow their skeletons and create coral reef structures." ... ""This
is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least
the past 650,000 years," says Richard Feely, one of the authors and an
oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL)
in Seattle." -UCAR.edu
World
- Animals
- Ocean
- Environment
- Health
- Fuel
- [9.5 MB PDF]
- "Impacts
of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers:
A Guide for Future Research." [+]
... "Research findings of the past decade have led to mounting concern
that rising atmo-spheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations will cause
changes in the ocean’s carbonate chemistry system, and that those changes
will affect some of the most fundamental biological and geochemical processes
of the sea. Thanks to the efforts of large-scale physical and biogeochemical
ocean programs such as WOCE, JGOFS, and OACES, ocean-wide changes in the
carbonate system are now well documented. Since 1980 ocean uptake of the
excess CO2 released by anthropogenic activities is significant; about a
third has been stored in the oceans. The rate of atmo- spheric CO2 increase,
however, far exceeds the rate at which natural feedbacks can restore the
system to normal conditions. Oceanic uptake of CO2 drives the carbonate
system to lower pH and lower saturation states of the carbonate minerals
calcite, arago-nite, and high-magnesium calcite, the materials used to
form supporting skeletal structures in many major groups of marine organisms."
-By Joan A. Kleypas, Richard A. Feely, Victoria J.
Fabry, Chris Langdon, , Christopher L. Sabine, Lisa L. Robbins and et.
al. -UCAR.edu
Food
- Health
- Animals
- Business
- "As
'organic' goes mainstream, will standards suffer?
Advocates are cheered by the growing appeal of organic foods. But shoppers,
confused by labels, don't always get what they think they paid for." ...
"In February, a Consumer Reports article examined which organic foods offered
the most benefit. With certain fruits and vegetables - including apples,
peppers, cherries, peaches, and potatoes - the likelihood of pesticide
residue is much higher, it concluded, so buying organic makes a big difference.
Produce which showed little difference between organic and conventional
kinds included asparagus, bananas, broccoli, and onions." ... "The United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued standards for organic products
in 2000, although some critics question how strictly they're applied. But
the market for organic food is anything but simple. Many organic producers
never bother to go through the process of becoming certified, while other
producers use labels such as "free-range" or "natural" that conjure up
bucolic images but may mean very little." ... ""People use certain terms
loosely, and consumers are fooled," says Joe DePippo, president of FreeBird,
which produces antibiotic-free organic chicken raised on small family farms.
"Consumers associate free-range with organic, and rightfully so, but there's
some market for free-range that's not organic. And to just think that you
can have chickens running free all over the field - it's just not practical.""
-By Amanda Paulson -CSMonitor
Animal- Psychology
- Science
- California-
"Songbirds
can sing, but can they learn grammar?" ... "The simplest
grammar, long thought to be one of the skills that separate man from beast,
can be taught to a common songbird, new research suggests." ... "Starlings
learned to differentiate between a regular birdsong "sentence" and one
containing a clause or another sentence of warbling, according to a study
in Thursday's journal Nature. It took University of California at San Diego
psychology researcher Tim Gentner a month and about 15,000 training attempts,
with food as a reward, to get the birds to recognize the most basic of
grammar in their own bird language." ... "Yet what they learned may shake
up the field of linguistics." -AP
via -USATODAY
Government
- Animal
- Environment
- Politics
- Wyoming
- 
Montana
- 
Idaho
- "Court
Upholds Dismissal of Wyo. Wolf Suit: Federal Appeals
Court Upholds Dismissal of Wyoming's Wolf Lawsuit." ... "A federal appeals
court upheld the dismissal of Wyoming's lawsuit against the federal government
over how wolves should be managed in the state after their removal from
Endangered Species Act protection." ... "Wyoming filed suit after the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service rejected its plan for managing wolves in 2004.
The agency is requiring Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to submit acceptable
plans for managing the animals before it will remove them from the endangered
species list." ... "The Montana and Idaho plans were accepted. Wyoming's
was rejected in part because it would classify wolves as a potential nuisance
that could be shot on sight outside the Yellowstone area." ... "An intervener
in the case on Wyoming's side did not rule out appealing to the U.S. Supreme
Court." (1, 2)
-By Mead Gruver with
contributions by Jennifer Byrd -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Abramoff
- 
Pombo
- 
DeLay
- 
Texas
- California
- Animal
- Environmental
- Legislation
- Money
- "Foe
of Endangered Species Act on Defensive Over Abramoff."
... "After finally getting a bill through the House last fall that would
eliminate habitat protections on more than 150 million acres, [California
Republican Richard] Pombo has never been closer to reaching his goal. But
as the Senate prepares to take up his measure this year, Pombo finds himself
on the defensive, with his ideology increasingly viewed as extreme and
his connections to industry and to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff under
scrutiny." ... "Pombo's critics have focused on his campaign's reliance
on donors from industries that stand to benefit from his legislation. Just
months before the mining proposal made it out of Pombo's committee, a former
committee aide who once worked for Abramoff's firm and is now a lobbyist
for mining interests hosted a $1,000-a-head fundraiser for Pombo." ...
"The Times reported earlier this year that Pombo joined forces with former
House Majority Leader [Republican] Tom DeLay of Texas in efforts to squelch
a federal banking investigation of Texas financier Charles Hurwitz. Pombo,
who had previously received a campaign contribution from Hurwitz, has contended
that the investigation was unfounded and abusive." ... "A Massachusetts
tribe and client of Abramoff's that donated $20,000 to Pombo received the
congressman's help seeking federal tribal recognition. Pombo supported
the resumption of commercial whaling while accepting thousands of dollars
in international travel from a private foundation funded by the seafood
industry and a whaling association." ... "According to data compiled by
the Campaign Finance Analysis Project, Pombo has, during his congressional
career, collected more than $800,000 from agriculture, timber and fishing
interests. The building industry has given him $205,000; oil and gas, $169,000;
mining, $55,000; and casinos and gambling, $147,000." ... "Pombo denies
any improprieties and says he has no fear of being tainted by the Abramoff
scandal. "I met the guy a few times. He never lobbied me on anything. Never
set foot in my office." -By Bettina Boxall with contributions
by Maloy Moore -LAtimes
Ocean
- Animals
- "Oregon
Surfer Punches Shark in the Nose." ... "A surfer
says he reacted on instinct when he punched a great white shark that grabbed
his leg near the northern Oregon coast." ... "He said he learned from television
shows including the Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" that a shark's nose
is its most sensitive area." -AP
via -WashingtonPost
South
Korea - Stem
Cell - Cloning
- Animals
- "S.Korean
panel says stem-cell result fabricated." ... "South
Korea's most famous scientist quit under a cloud on Friday and could face
prosecution after investigators said results in a landmark 2005 paper on
producing tailored embryonic stem cells were intentionally fabricated."
... "A panel from Seoul National University has been examining the work
of Hwang Woo-suk, hitherto regarded in South Korea as a hero for bringing
the country to the forefront of stem-cell and cloning studies -- and the
world the first cloned dog." ... "Roe [Jung-hye, Seoul National University's
research office chief,] said the panel would now also investigate the dog
cloning and a 2004 academic paper on cloning the first human embryos for
research that has also fallen under suspicion." (1, 2)
-By Jon Herskovitz and Kim Yeon-hee -Reuters
Environment
- Animals
- Terrorism
- Civil
Righs - Law
- Politics
- 
Indiana
- "F.B.I.
Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show." ... "Counterterrorism
agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance
and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly,
groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and
poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show." ... "But the documents,
coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush
had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted
charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly
blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful
protest." ... "One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis
[Indiana] planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community
Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic
ideology." A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location
of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals." (1, 2)
-By Eric Lichtblau -NYTimes
Washington
- Animals
- Water
- Science
- "Efforts
to protect orcas may have wide impact: Public urged
to comment on the conservation plan." ... "Early next year comes the first
step in determining how much punch the "endangered" label will carry for
the oft-ogled orcas [in Washington state's Puget Sound]. Federal officials
are asking the public to speak up in the next few weeks." ... "But the
agency isn't likely to do anything soon about an expanding whale-watching
fleet, and what orca advocates call a growing underwater cacophony of boat
noise hobbling the whales' ability to find prey and communicate." ... "Orca
advocates want all that dealt with under the new endangered designation,
but that's unlikely, according to Fisheries Service spokesman Brian Gorman."
... "Environmentalists, who had to sue the Fisheries Services to force
the endangered species listing, say that's exactly what they're afraid
of." -By Robert McClure
-SeattlePI.NWsource
Animals
- Water
- Science
- "Study:
Arctic Killer Whales High in Toxins." ... "Killer
whales have the highest concentration of man-made toxins of all Arctic
mammals tested in Europe because of the oceangoing predators' taste for
fatty fish, according to a study released Monday." ... "Man-made toxins,
such as PCBs, build up in animal fat and become more concentrated in moving
up the food chain. Most toxins, often from household products, are carried
to Arctic waters by ocean currents, winds, or in migratory fish and animals."
-AP via -Forbes
Animals
- Plants
- Science
- "Extinction
alert for 800 species." ... "Researchers have compiled
a global map of sites where animals and plants face imminent extinction."
... "The list, drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups, covers almost
800 species which they say will disappear soon unless urgent measures are
taken." ... "Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
the researchers say protecting some of these sites would cost under $1,000
per year." ... "They come together under the umbrella of a relatively new
organisation, the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), whose aim is exactly
what the name implies." -By Richard Black -BBC
/News
Norway
- Animals
- Science
- "Arctic
orcas highly contaminated: Killer whales have become
the most contaminated mammals in the Arctic, new research indicates." ...
"Norwegian scientists have found that killer whales - or orcas, as they
are sometimes known - have overtaken polar bears at the head of the toxic
table." ... "The Norwegian Polar Institute tested blubber samples taken
from creatures in Tysfjord in the Norwegian Arctic." ... "The chemicals
they found included pesticides, flame retardants and PCBs - which used
to be used in many industrial processes." -By Paddy
Clark -BBC
/News
Animals
- Plants
- Science
- "Extinction
"Hotspots" Revealed in New Study." ... "Extinct."
... "This moniker of doom is destined for 794 species of animals and trees
currently eking out an existence in 595 sites around the world, conservationists
warned today." ... ""All these are spots where extinction is likely to
strike next if we don't do anything," said Taylor Ricketts, director of
science for the World Wildlife Fund in Washington, D.C." ... ""That 'if
we dont do anything' is the big part of this idea," he added. "These places
present the most clear opportunity to slow down and stem the extinction
episode we are in now."" ... "Ricketts and colleagues with the recently
formed conservation group Alliance for Zero Extinction will publish their
findings in the December 20 issue of the research journal Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences." (1, 2)
-By John Roach -NationalGeographic>News
Animals
- Pets
- Genetics
- "Genetic
Secrets of Man's Best Friend Revealed." ... "Scientists
have decoded the dog genome. A boxer named Tasha, selected for her high
degree of inbreeding, has had her genetic secrets puzzled out and then
compared to partial genetic pictures of other breeds of dog and other mammals.
It has been a long wait for humanity's first companion, domesticated from
grey wolves at least 15,000 years ago." ... "Researchers first broke up
Tasha's genome into small sections of genetic material, deciphered the
makeup of each of those bits, and then pieced them together into a complete
genetic map--the so-called whole genome shotgun strategy. Tasha's high
degree of inbreeding simplified the task of decoding her 2.4 billion-letter
genetic code by reducing the differences between her 39 chromosome pairs.
The fact that she is a female, however, left the team without a picture
of the canine Y chromosome." -By David Biello
-ScientificAmerican
US
- Canada
- Animals
- Health
- "U.S.
Bans Imports of Some Canadian Poultry." ... "Federal
agriculture officials banned poultry imports from mainland British Columbia
on Monday after Canadian officials reported finding a duck at a poultry
farm that was infected with the flu." ... "Canadian authorities have said
that the virus that afflicted the duck was a mild North American strain
and not the virulent strain that has killed wild and commercial bird flocks
all over Asia, as well as more than 60 people." -By
Gardiner Harris -NYTimes
Animals
- Law
- "Grizzlies
Around Yellowstone to Lose Federal Protections."
... "Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park should be removed
from the endangered species list after 30 years of federal protection,
the Department of Interior said Tuesday." ... "Environmental groups are
split over the issue. The National Wildlife Federation supports ending
the protections, saying it would highlight the success of the endangered
species law. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and
other groups say that too many threats still exist for the bears."
-AP via
-LAtimes
US
- Canada
- 
Alaska
- Oil
- Animals
- Politics
- "U.S.
House drops plans to drill in Arctic refuge." ...
"In a move certain to please Canadian politicians as well as environmentalists
on both sides of the border, U.S. House leaders abandoned plans late yesterday
to push for oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge." ... "They dropped
from a budget bill a provision that would open the refuge to drilling as
a salve to moderate Republicans because they feared it would jeopardize
approval of a sweeping legislation today." ... "Canadian politicians and
activists have lobbied against the plan because it would affect a migrating
caribou herd." ... "Prime Minister Paul Martin said last month that the
environmental damage from opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil development would far outweigh any modest addition
to U.S. crude supplies." -By Oliver Moore
-GlobeAndMail
Hawaii
- Scuba
- Water- Animals
- Business
- "The
Dangers of Hawaii's Fish Industry." ... "Every year.
more than half a million of the state's most beautiful fish are taken our
reefs and sent to aquarium tanks around the world. It's a multi-million
dollar industry that's been mostly unregulated. Now, some say it's time
for a radical change." ... "For decades now, the aquarium fishing industry
in Hawai'i has been basically a free-for-all. Get a boat, some dive gear
and a $50 permit and you're in business." ... "In the past 20 years, the
state's total catch of aquarium fish has quintupled. Last year, the industry
reported catching nearly 750,000 fish, grossing more than $3 million in
sales." ... "Aquatic biologist Bill Walsh of the Department of Land and
Natural Resources says that's not counting renegade fish collectors who
don't report their catches." ... "Walsh is recommending banning aquarium
fish collecting on at least 20 percent of all island coastlines. He's also
recommending statewide bans on a few specific fish and a possible limit
to the number of fish collectors." -By Keahi Tucker
-KGMB9
Gordon
Smith - Oil
- Money
- Politics- Wildlife
- Alaska
- Washington
- Oregon
- "Senate
endorses oil drilling in Alaska wildlife refuge."
... "Senate opponents to drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge failed Thursday
to strip the measure from a massive budget package as supporters of exploration
argued that the oil is needed to help break America of its import habit."
... "Environmentalists, who believe strongly the refuge should continue
to be off limits to oil companies to protect the area's wildlife, had acknowledged
that it was a long shot to get the provision killed and now are concentrating
on defeating the overall budget bill." ... "The Democratic Party of Oregon
issued a statement criticizing [Oregon Republican Senator Gordon] Smith's
decision to vote for a budget package that includes the drilling." ...
""Gordon Smith has again shown the dishonesty of his slick campaign ads
and so-called independence in the U.S. Senate," said Kelly Steele, the
party's communications director. "When the chips were down, Gordon Smith
bowed to the will of the Bush White House, and broke another promise to
Oregonians."" ... "[Washington state Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell:]
"Using backdoor tactics to destroy America's last great wild frontier will
not solve our nation's energy problems and will do nothing to lower skyrocketing
gas prices," Cantwell argued. She dismissed industry arguments that the
refuge can be drilled with little if any adverse impact on the environment
or wildlife." ... "The Prudhoe Bay oil fields, just to the west of ANWR
[Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] and the Alaska oil pipeline
have resulted in 504 spills a year since 1996 and there's no reason to
assume greater protection in the refuge, maintained Cantwell. " -By
H. Josef Hebert with contributions by Matthew Day
-AP via -kgw.com
Alaska
- Animals
- "US
proposes protections for imperiled right whales."
... "Some of the world's last Pacific right whales will get special protections
in the Bering Sea to boost the animals' chances of avoiding extinction,
the National Marine Fisheries Service said on Tuesday." ... "A 36,750-square-mile
(95,000 sq-km) area, just outside of southwestern Alaska's salmon-rich
Bristol Bay, would be designated as critical habitat for Pacific right
whales under the NMFS proposal." ... "If the designation becomes official,
federal agencies would be required to work with NMFS to ensure that no
activities in the area destroy or threaten the whales' habitat. The proposal
is subject to public review through January 2, NMFS said." ... "The mammals
are the most endangered large whales in the world, with no more than 100
believed to exist, according to the agency."
-Reuters via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
Iceland
- Animals
- Marketing
- "Iceland
woos America with lamb and skyr." ... "Fermented
shark should probably go. Same with beefy hunks of whale meat and lamb
smoked over dried sheep dung." ... "And you don't have to be a marketing
wizard to guess that dense strips of smoked puffin won't sell well in a
nation where stuffed versions of the seabird nest in children's bedrooms."
... "Still, that leaves plenty of food that might be attractive. Fishermen
pull tons of pristine cod from North Atlantic waters every year, selling
it fresh or preserved with salt. Icelandic lamb has never eaten a mouthful
of grain or seen a syringe of antibiotics. The country's butter is deeply
yellow with a high fat content, produced from cows with a pure lineage
that can be traced back to Norwegian Viking herds." ... "The trick is finding
a way to sell it to America's food elite. A group of Icelandic agricultural
and tourism officials think they've found the angle in a clunky but straightforward
slogan: "Sustainable Iceland since 874."" -By Kim
Severson -NYTimes
via -azcentral.com
Global
- Animals
- UN
- "Millions
could die from bird flu pandemic, UN says." ... "Southeast
Asian nations approved the creation of a regional fund to fight bird flu
and other animal diseases, officials said on Friday, as the United Nations
warned the virus could mutate and kill up to 150 million people." ... "They
said the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) will also endorse
a global plan to contain avian influenza, which has killed 66 people in
four Asian countries since late 2003 and led to an estimated $15 billion
in losses for the poultry trade." -Reuters
via -IHT.com
Hurricane
Katrina - New
Orleans - Louisiana
- Animals
- Pets
- TX
-
- "Pets
Homeless, Too, After Katrina." ... "Tales of survival
coming out of New Orleans include the rescue of dogs, cats and other family
pets that had to be abandoned by families fleeing the rising water." ...
"Evacuees transported from Louisiana to Texas were not allowed to take
their pets with them. Some were forced to leave their pets on the side
of the road while they boarded buses. Others were lucky enough to hide
small pets in their shirts, pants and bags." ... "Nearly 400 animals arrived
this way. Once passengers arrived at the Astrodome, however, they were
not allowed inside with pets. The Houston SPCA sent volunteers to meet
the buses and take the pets back to its shelter until the owners could
care for them again."
-CBSNews
Hurricane
Katrina - New
Orleans - Louisiana
- Animals
- Pets
-
- TX
-
- "Sad
story of boy and his dog grips nation." ... "Among
the thousands of crushing moments from last week's deadly hurricane, one
image brought the anguish home to many: a tearful little boy torn from
his dog while being shuttled to safety." ... "It tugged at the heartstrings,
prompting an outpouring from around the country of people on the hunt for
both the boy and his dog Snowball in hopes of a reunion." ... "The boy
was among the thousands sheltered at the [New Orleans, Louisiana] Superdome
after the hurricane. But when he went to board a bus to be evacuated to
Houston [Texas], a police officer took the dog away. The boy cried out
-- "Snowball! Snowball!" -- then vomited in distress. The confrontation
was first reported by The Associated Press. Authorities say they don't
know where the boy or his family ended up." ... "Many of the animals --
dogs, cats, ferrets and birds -- that police collected at the Superdome
were herded into a stairwell until the human evacuation was complete. Of
the 50 animals rescued from the Superdome on Sunday, not all of them survived."
-By Matt Sedensky with contributions by Paul J. Weber
and Brian Skoloff -AP
via -Boston/Globe
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans -
- Animals
- Pets
-
- "Pet
rescue in New Orleans is gathering steam." ... "With
progress made in evacuating people from New Orleans [Louisiana], some are
turning their attention to other living creatures affected by the flooding
-- pets." ... "People left thousands of dogs, cats and other family pets
behind in the rush to escape either Hurricane Katrina or the flooding that
followed." ... "Many of those animals sit forlornly on the rooftops of
flooded homes, slowly starving to death as rescue boats ignore them, looking
for people instead. Some have even tried swimming to boats, only to be
rebuffed by the rescuers." ... "One fear is that after seven days in the
hot sun, with no food and drinking nothing but polluted water, the dogs
might be dangerous." ... "On dry land, stray dogs have formed packs to
scavenge the city for food." -With contributions by
Jed Kahane and Paul Bliss -CTV.ca
Animals
- Genetics
-
-
- "Chimp
genome could reveal human secrets: What sets us apart
from apes? At latest count, about 4 percent of our DNA." ... "Scientists
announced yesterday that they had completed analysis of the genome of a
chimpanzee, humanity's closest genetic relative, and found that the gap
between humans and chimps is about 10 times smaller than the one between
rats and mice." ... "''The philosophical goal is that we all want to know
what makes us human," said researcher Tarjei S. Mikkelsen of the Broad
Institute of MIT and Harvard, which helped sequence the chimp genome. ''The
pragmatic goal is that it will help us understand diseases and conditions
that are unique to humans."" -By Carey Goldberg
-BostonGlobe
-
- 
- 
- 
- 
- Animals
- Food
- "WHO
Presses China Over Bird Flu Samples." ... "Chinese
authorities have yet to release samples gathered in the western province
of Qinghai, where at least 6,000 migratory birds have died, Wadia said."
... "Over the last two years, hundreds of millions of birds, including
poultry and wild birds, have died or been slaughtered across Asia because
of the H5N1 bird flu virus, which also has infected some humans, killing
more than 55 people in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, which
reported three new human deaths from bird flu Wednesday." ... "Health experts
have warned that migratory geese and gulls in Qinghai could be poised to
spread the virus to India, Australia, New Zealand and eventually Europe
when they fly south this summer." -By Alexa Olesen
-AP via -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- Animals
- Food
- Genetics
- "China
holding out on bird flu." ... "The Chinese government
has not provided information requested urgently by international health
experts about recent avian flu outbreaks in birds, which now threaten to
spread the highly lethal virus to previously unaffected countries, according
to UN officials and independent researchers." ... "World Health Organization
officials and other international health organizations have asked the Chinese
government for details about three outbreaks in the remote western provinces
of Qinghai and Xinjiang. In seeking to head off a potential human pandemic,
international health experts said they require samples of the bird flu
virus, analyses of its genetic makeup and specifics about the extent of
the infection and efforts to contain it."-WashingtonPost
via -Newsday.com
- Animals
- "Scientists:
Life on Mars Likely." ... "Not so long ago it was
unthinkable for respectable scientists to talk about life on Mars. Such
talk was best left to X-Files fans. But no longer." ... "Evidence is building
to suggest biological processes might be operating on the red planet, and
life on Mars, many scientists believe, is now more a likelihood than merely
a possibility." -By Rowan Hooper
-Wired
- Animals
- "Mystery
of German exploding toads: Toads in an area of northern
Germany are being killed off by a mysterious disease - they are exploding."
... "Thousands of the amphibians have died in recent days in a pond in
Hamburg's Altona district, with their bodies swelling to bursting point."
... "The toads' entrails are propelled for up to a metre (3.2ft), in scenes
that have been likened to science fiction."-BBC
/News
Animals
- Psychology- Georgia
- Des-Moines
- 
- "Great
apes to learn human behaviors." ... "The first two
bonobos will make the 16-hour road trip from the Language Research Center
at Georgia State University to their new $10 million, 13,000-square-foot
home near downtown Des Moines later this month. All eight --three females
and five males -- will arrive at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa by mid-May."
... ""If you want to find a human-like creature that exists in a completely
natural state ... that creature is the bonobo," said [Dr. Sue] Savage-Rumbaugh,
an experimental psychologist who is one of the world's leading ape-language
researchers." -AP
via -CNN
- Animals-
"Democrats:
HSD Omits Right-Wing Threats: Democrats: Homeland
Security Department Omits Threats From Right-Wing Terror Groups." ... "The
Homeland Security Department is focusing on possible terror threats from
radical environmental and animal rights activists without also examining
risks that might be posed by right-wing extremists, House Democrats said
Tuesday." ... "The document does not address threats posed by white supremacists,
violent militiamen, anti-abortion bombers and other extremists that Rep.
Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., called "right-wing hate groups."" -By
Lara Jakes Jordan -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Animals
- "A
'Wholphin' Is Born." ... "A rare whale-dolphin mix
has given birth to a playful female calf, said officials at a Hawaii water
life park." ... "The calf was born on Dec. 23 to Kekaimalu, a mix of a
false killer whale and an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Officials at Sea
Life Park Hawaii said they waited to announce the birth on Thursday because
of recent changes in ownership and operations at the park."" (1, 2)
-AP
via -CBSNews
- 
- Food
- Cloning
- Animals
- Connecticut
-"Produce
from cloned cattle 'safe': Milk and meat from cloned
cattle appear safe for human consumption, a pilot study has found." ...
"Scientists in the US and Japan found that meat and dairy products from
a bull and cow cloned using the "Dolly" technique met industry standards."
... "The team says its results suggest cloning techniques could be used
to boost food production, particularly in developing countries." ... "Two
beef and four dairy clones were used in the research, all derived from
a single Holstein dairy cow and a single Japanese black bull." ... "The
scientists, led by Jerry Yang from the University of Connecticut, compared
the produce with that from normal animals of similar age and breed."-BBC
/News
- Animals
- Robots
- "Octopus
Arms May Point Way to New Robot Designs." ... "Octopuses,
those boneless, brainy, denizens of the deep, use their arms for some tasks
in much the same way humans do, according to a new study." ... "Understanding
how the octopus controls eight flexible arms all at once could be the basis
for
developing the next generation of flexible robotic arms—long a goal among
robotics engineers." ... ""Our specific aim in this project is to learn
from nature how to build and control a flexible-arm robot," said Binyamin
Hochner, a biologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem [Israel] and one
of the co-authors of the study. "And indeed our studies show how the octopus
simplifies the complex problems associated with controlling flexible arms
that have an infinitely large number of degrees of freedom. This in turn
inspires the development of new strategies for the control of flexible
robotic arms."" -By Hillary Mayell
-NationalGeographic>News
- Animals
- "More
Evidence of Skull's Link to Humans: Remains Believed
To Be From Earliest Known Ancestor." ... "Scientists who three years ago
discovered a nearly complete 7 million-year-old skull in central Africa
have dug up additional evidence supporting the conclusion that the skull
belonged to the earliest known human ancestor." ... "The new findings --
two jaw bones and an upper premolar tooth -- lend credence to the proposition
that the creature was probably among the first hominid, or human-like,
primates to live after humans and chimpanzees diverged from each other
a little more than 7 million years ago." -By Rick
Weiss -WashingtonPost
Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Animals
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment-
"Human
damage to Earth worsening fast-report." ... "Humans
are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt
collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones"
in the seas, an international report said on Wednesday." ... "The study,
by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted
or over-exploited two thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends,
ranging from clean air to fresh water, in the past 50 years." ... "Ten
to 30 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species were already threatened
with extinction, according to the assessment, the biggest review of the
planet's life support systems." -By Alister Doyle
-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org
/Newsdesk
-
-
- -
-
-
-
- Food
- Animals- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "U.N.
Study: Earth's Health Deteriorating: U.N. Study Warns
Growing Populations, Economic Activity Have Strained the Earth's Ecosystems."
... "Unless nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands
for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of forests,
fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks
over the next 50 years, it warned." (1, 2)
-By Catherine McAloon with contributions by Kenji
Hall -AP via
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- Animals
- Food
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment-
"World
ecosystems in danger, UN warns." ... "The world's
sources of fish and fresh water are so rundown that they can no longer
sustain current or future demands, according to a first international report
card on the world's environment published today." -By
Lydia Adetunji -FT.com
-
-
-
-
- Animals
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment-
"Report
on Global Ecosystems Calls for Radical Changes: Earth's
Sustainability Is Not Guaranteed Unless Action Is Taken to Protect Resources,
Experts Say." ... "Many of the world's ecosystems are in danger and might
not support future generations unless radical measures are implemented
to protect and revive them, according to the most comprehensive analysis
ever conducted of how the world's oceans, dry lands, forests and species
interact and depend on one another." ... "The new report collates research
from many specific locales to create the first global snapshot of ecosystems.
More than 1,300 authors from 95 countries participated in the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, whose results are being made public today by the
United Nations and by several private and public organizations." -By
Shankar Vedantam-WashingtonPost
- Animals
- "Scientists
recover T. rex soft tissue." ... "A 70-million-year-old
Tyrannosaurus rex fossil dug out of a hunk of sandstone [in Montana's Hell
Creek Formation] has yielded soft tissue, including blood vessels and perhaps
even whole cells, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday." ... "When they
[the paleontologists] got it into a lab and chemically removed the hard
minerals, they found what looked like blood vessels, bone cells and perhaps
even blood cells." -Reuters
via -MSNBC
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Stem
cell therapy safety boosted: A new way of growing
human embryonic stem cells in the laboratory will reduce the risk that
their use in therapy could go wrong, say scientists." ... "At present the
cells are cultured using live animal cells which carries the risk of contamination
with viruses and other harmful agents." ... "Researchers at Advanced Cell
Technology in Boston have developed a method which avoids the use of animal
cells." ... "The Advanced Cell Technology team has developed a way to replace
the use of animal cells with a sterile protein matrix." ... "Tests on stem
cells cultured using the new technique for six months showed that they
retained their ability to form different tissues." ... "Dr Stephen Minger
of King's College London, who created the first embryonic stem (ES) cell
line in the UK, said the new work was a step forward." ... "However, he
said that the culture medium was still derived from animal sources." ...
""This might be cell free and serum free, but it is not animal free.""-BBC
/News
Richard
Pombo
- Government
- Animal
- Land
- Law
- Politics
- California
- "Profile:
Rep. Richard Pombo." ... "Congressman [Richard Pombo,
California Republican] finds fault with federal environmental rules." ...
"He chairs the House Resources Committee, which drafts many of the nation's
most important environmental laws and oversees 700 million acres of public
land. The budgets of the Forest Service, the National Park Service and
other land management agencies must be vetted by his panel. In Washington,
he's as powerful a player on environmental issues as the Interior Secretary
or the Environmental Protection Agency administrator." ... "Last week,
his committee began the first of several hearings on proposed changes to
the Endangered Species Act. For the last 12 years, Pombo has been on a
mission to rewrite the law, which he argues saves few species and tramples
on the rights of farmers, ranchers and other landowners." ... "Pombo's
selection as Resources Committee chairman last year frightened the nation's
largest environmental groups, which have long clashed with the congressman.
Now those groups are gearing up to challenge Pombo and block his effort
to rewrite the Endangered Species Act." ... ""He doesn't believe in the
Endangered Species Act," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra
Club. "He doesn't believe we should protect our wildlife heritage."" -By
Zachary Coile -SFGate.com
-
-
- Psychology
- "A
primate primer: Boys will be boys, as girls ape mom:
Chimps shed light on roots of sex-based learning differences in human youngsters."
... "The girls watch their mothers closely. The boys horse around. Researchers
have found sex-based learning differences in chimpanzees that are similar
to those observed in human children." ... "This means, the scientists said,
that sex-based learning differences likely have a biological basis that
dates back to the last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees." ...
"There is still debate, however, over whether biology or culture plays
a larger role in the learning differences that have been observed between
the sexes in humans." -By Anne McIlroy
-TheGlobeAndMail.com
- 
-
-
- "Mass
Extinction Not Inevitable." ... "Two new studies
published this week in Science
that show steep declines in bird, butterfly and plant populations across
Great Britain provide the strongest proof yet that we are in the midst
of the sixth great extinction of life." ... "The British analyzed six surveys
covering virtually all of their native species populations over the last
40 years. They discovered birds and native plants had declined 54 percent
and 28 percent respectively while butterflies experienced a shocking 71
percent decrease." ... "According to scientists, there have been five prior
mass
extinctions in the past 450 million years. The last was 65 million
years ago, when the dinosaurs and tens of thousands of species disappeared,
likely as a result of a comet or large asteroid hitting the Earth." -By
Stephen Leahy -Wired
- "Mad
Cow Quandary: Making Animal Feed." ... "In the month
and a half since a case of mad cow disease was discovered in Washington
State, Americans have been learning more than they wanted to know about
what cattle in this country have been eating." ... "Though consumers may
imagine bucolic scenes of nursing calves and cows munching on grass or
hay, much of American agriculture no longer works that way. For years,
calves have been fed cow's blood instead of milk, and cattle feed has been
allowed to contain composted wastes from chicken coops, including feathers,
spilled feed and even feces." ... "Though the United States banned the
use of cow parts in cattle feed in the 1990's, it still permits rendered
matter from cows to be fed to pigs and chickens, and rendered pigs and
chickens to be fed back to cows. Critics say that in theory, that sequence
could bring mad cow disease full circle, back to cows." -By
Denise Grady-NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "New
restrictions ban ill cattle in food supply." ...
"The Agriculture Department dramatically upgraded the country's defenses
against mad cow disease Tuesday, banning meat from all so-called downer
cows and promising to create a nationwide animal tracking system, steps
long advocated by critics." ... "These are ``very aggressive actions,''
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Tuesday, one week after the first
case of mad cow disease surfaced on U.S. soil in a Washington state Holstein
slaughtered on Dec. 9." -APvia
-StarTribune.com
- "U.S.
Reports First Case of Mad Cow Disease." ... "The
first U.S. case of the deadly mad cow disease, which devastated parts of
the European agriculture industry in the 1990s, was found in a sick animal
in Washington state, the Bush administration said on Tuesday." ... ""A
single Holstein cow from Washington state was tested as presumptive positive
for BSE or what is widely known as mad cow disease," U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Ann Veneman said at a news conference." (1, 2)
-By Randy Fabi and Richard Cowan-Reuters
-
- GENETICS
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Sperm
from stem cells fertilize egg: Lab-grown reproductive
cells could lead to fertility treatments." ... "Mouse sperm grown from
stem cells have successfully fertilized eggs. Laboratory-grown human sperm
could follow." ... "The achievement follows the production of fertile eggs
from stem cells earlier this year. It could lead to alternative ways to
help infertile couples conceive by in vitro fertilization. Such cells could,
for instance, help parents who have genetic defects to give birth to normal
children." -By Helen R. Pilcher -Nature.com
- CLONING
NEWS
- "Mule
foal is first member of horse family to be cloned."
.. "The first member of the horse family to be cloned is a mule named Idaho
Gem, the genetic brother of a champion racer. Researchers say two other
mule clones are expected to be born this summer." ... "The May 4 birth
of Idaho Gem adds mules to the barnyard of cloned animals that already
included sheep, cows, pigs, cats and rodents." ... "Cloning a mule is particularly
unusual because such animals, hybrids from a donkey and a horse, are almost
without exception sterile and unable to produce young." -By
Paul Recer -AP
via -SFGate.com
Animals
- "Court
upholds man's use of eagle feathers for religious practices."
... "In a case that weighed freedom of religion against the government's
ability to protect bald and golden eagles, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals on Monday upheld a lower court's ruling that the seizure of
the feathers violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act."
-AP via -CNN
WEST
NILE VIRUS
- "West
Nile: On The Move: The disease is migrating
quickly and in a surprising direction [west]." ... "Even for a disease
that moves on wings — of birds and mosquitoes — the West Nile virus is
spreading with remarkable speed." ... "Last week it struck with a vengeance
in Louisiana, infecting at least 58 residents and killing four — prompting
Governor Mike Foster to declare a statewide emergency." -By
Alice Park -TIME.com
- Animals
- "Pirate
or Policeman? High Seas Activist Says He Fights
to Uphold Law." ... "Capt. Paul Watson has been accused of a lot, including
attempted murder, but he says he was shocked when someone quoted him as
saying taking a human life to protect endangered species would just be
"collateral damage."" ... "Watson, a former member of the Norwegian and
Swedish merchant marines and of the Canadian Coast Guard, says his fight
is to uphold the law, so he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
in 1977 to protect marine wildlife from poachers and fishing and whaling
being carried out in violation of international law." -By
Dean Schabner -ABCNEWS.com
Karl
Rove - Gordon
Smith - Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- River
- Animals
- Agricultural
- Corporation
- Government
- Hatch
Act - Law
- 2002
Election - WVa
- California
- Portland
- Oregon
- "Oregon
Water Saga Illuminates Rove's Methods With Agencies."
... "In a darkened conference room, [Republican President Bush] White House
political strategist Karl Rove was making an unusual address to 50 top
managers at the U.S. [United States] Interior Department. Flashing color
slides, he spoke of poll results, critical constituencies -- and water
levels in the Klamath River basin." [The Klamath River runs from Oregon
into California] ... "At the time of the meeting, in January 2002, Mr.
Rove had just returned from accompanying [Republican] President Bush on
a trip to Oregon, where they visited with a Republican senator facing re-election
[2002]. Republican leaders there wanted to support their agricultural base
by diverting water from the river basin to nearby farms, and Mr. Rove signaled
that the administration did, too." ... "Three months later, Interior Secretary
Gale Norton stood with [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith in
Klamath Falls and opened the irrigation-system head gates that increased
the water supply to 220,000 acres of farmland -- a policy shift that continues
to stir bitter criticism from environmentalists and Indian tribes." ...
"Though Mr. Rove's clout within the administration often is celebrated,
this episode offers a rare window into how he works behind the scenes to
get things done. One of them is with periodic visits to cabinet departments.
Over the past two years Mr. Rove or his top aide, Kenneth Mehlman -- now
manager of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign -- have visited nearly every
agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data
and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial
races that could be affected by regulatory action." ... "On [January] Jan.
5, Mr. Rove accompanied the president to an appearance in Portland [Oregon]
with Mr. Smith. The president signaled his desire to accommodate agricultural
interests, saying "We'll do everything we can to make sure water is available
for those who farm."" ... "The next day, Mr. Rove made sure that commitment
didn't fall through the cracks. He visited the 50 Interior managers attending
a department retreat at a Fish and Wildlife Service conference center in
Shepherdstown, W.Va. [West Virginia] In a PowerPoint presentation Mr. Rove
also uses when soliciting Republican donors, he brought up the Klamath
and made clear that the administration was siding with agricultural interests."
... "His remarks weren't entirely welcome -- especially by officials grappling
with the competing arguments made by environmentalists, who wanted river
levels high to protect endangered salmon, and Indian tribes, who depend
on the salmon for their livelihoods. Neil McCaleb, then an assistant Interior
secretary, recalls the "chilling effect" of Mr. Rove's remarks. Wayne Smith,
then with the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, says Mr. Rove reminded
the managers of the need to "support our base."" [note: the Hatch Act prohibits
political activities in federal offices.] ... "A National Marine Fisheries
Service biologist, Michael Kelly, has asked for protection under federal
"whistle-blower" laws, saying he was subjected to political pressure to
go along with the low-water plan and ordered to ignore scientific evidence
casting doubt on the plan. This month, a federal judge ruled the administration
violated the Endangered Species Act in the way it justified the water diversion."
-By Tom Hamburger -WallStreetJournal
via -OregonWild.org
- Animals
- "Giant
squid washes up on beach." ... "Scientists in Australia
are investigating what may be a new species of giant squid, after one of
the deep sea creatures washed up on a Tasmanian beach over the weekend."
-CNN
- 
- 
- "The
Eagles Have Landed: Hundreds of the Birds Descend
on Iowa's Red Rock Lake." -By Alex Chadwick
-NPR /News/Shop!
-Morning Edition
- CLONING
NEWS
- "Cloned
Dolly has arthritis: Dolly, the world's first
cloned sheep, has arthritis, one of her creators has said."
-CNN /sci-tech
- 
- 
- Animals
-
- "Birds
'missing' after US bombing." ... "Ornithologists
in Pakistan fear that populations of birds whose migration route takes
them over Afghanistan may have been devastated by the weeks of bombing
there." -By Jill McGivering -BBC
/News
- CLONING
NEWS
- "Report:
Most of cloned cows healthy: Twenty-four of
30 cloned cows were alive and apparently normal after one to four years,
scientists report."-Reuters
via -CNN
- CLONING
NEWS
- "Investigation
claims clones are completely normal." But there are
doubters. Of the "24 "normal" animals, for example, from almost 500
cloned embryos implanted into 250 cows, only 110 of which became pregnant.
Of those, 80 miscarried, leaving the 24 survivors and another six that
died at, or soon after, birth." -By Andy Coghlan
-NewScientist.com More at: Science
(vol 294, p 1893)
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Eeek!
There's a Mouse Cell in My Stem Cells! It looks
like the President's 60 precious stem cell lines may be mixed with rodent
cells. But don't worry, researchers say. This is standard procedure."
-By Jessica Reaves -TIME
Rick
Berman - Corporate
- 
Media
- Marketing
- Food
- Safety
- Animals
- Workers
- Consumers
- Health
-Science
- Politics
- Law
- Enforcement
- CLONING
NEWS
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Dolly's
Legacy: Nuclear transfer--used to clone Dolly
and now owned by Geron [Corporation]--may help scientists develop more
potent stem-cell therapies." -ScientificAmerican.com
"Animal Planet :: News" - http://animal.discovery.com/news/news.html "CBBC Newsround | Animals" - http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/animals/default.stm "ANIMALS & NATURE" - http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/animals.html
IowaGreatApes.org
