BOOKS: In The Name of Science

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

In The Name of Science:
Issues In Responsible Animal Experimentation
by F. Barbara Orlans, Oxford Univ. Press (200 Madison Ave., NY 10016)
1993, 304 pages, $39.95.
Christine Stevens of the Animal Welfare
Institute describes In The Name of Scienceas being “writ-
ten for scientists by a scientist.” Stevens is technically
right, as Barbara Orlans is certainly a respected scien-
tist––a former heart disease researcher at the National
Institutes of Health, now a physiologist at Georgetown
University––and she is primarily addressing her col-
leagues. But Orlans’ lucid writing is easily accessible to
anyone who might read ANIMAL PEOPLE, and ought
to be read by anyone who wants to be conversant on the
use of animals in science.

Read more

Biomedical research, teaching, and testing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

The report in our November issue
that a George Washington University team
had cloned human embryos was in error,
based on an erroneous article in The New York
Times. What the researchers actually did was
achieve artificial embryonic cell division,
which creates the possibility of conceiving
twins via in vitro fertilization.
Veterinarian/astronaut Dr. Martin
Fettman on October 30 performed the first
dissections in space, assisted by Dr. Rhea
Seddon, aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

Diet & Health

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Unhealthy diet follows smoking as
the leading cause of preventable death i n
the U.S., according to a new study co-
authored by Dr. Mcihael McGinnis, deputy
assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. McGinnis is
responsible for designing U.S. disease pre-
vention strategy. Preventable deaths account
for about half of the U.S. death rate. The
study appeared in the Journal of the American
Medical Association.

Read more

ANIMAL HEALTH

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

A mystery hantavirus that killed 26 peopleear-
lier this year could spread across the U.S., the November 5
issue of Science warned. The Pulmonary Syndrome
Hantavirus, as it is now called, PSH for short, was traced
to deer mice after killing 19 people near the junction of
Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado––and deer
mice range over most of North America. Cases have now
been confirmed as far north as Montana and the Dakotas,
as far west as coastal California, and as far east as
Louisiana. The southwestern outbreak may have occurred
as result of heavy rains in early 1992 that produced a
bumper crop of pinon nuts and grasshoppers, both staple
foods for deer mice, whose population exploded. The
Centers for Disease Control suspects the outbreak was
detected only because so many cases appeared at once.

Read more

Wildlife

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

A study of the efficacy of the Endangered
Species Act by wildlife biologists with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and the University of Idaho at Moscow
reported November 12 in Science that, “Few species have
actually recovered,” because population goals are set too
low in 60% of the cases where vertebrate populations can
be counted. “Even if population goals were achieved”
they added, “60% of the ESA’s threatened or endangered
vertebrate species would remain in peril, with roughly a
20% probability of extinction within 20 years or 10 gener-
ations, whichever is longer.”
The wild population of bonobo apes, or
pygmy chimpanzees, who are the closest relatives of
humans after the common chimpanzee, has fallen from
50,000 to under 10,000 in two decades; extinction is pro-
jected within seven years. Native to Zaire, bonobos are
threatened by habitat loss, meat poachers, and pet traders
who traffic in the orphaned infants. Young bonobos typi-
cally die within days when apart from their mothers. The
usual customers are visiting non-Africans, who buy
bonobo babies in misguided hopes of saving them, says to
primatologist Jo Thompson. But this encourages the
poachers to capture more. The human and bonobo DNA
sequences differ by only 2-3%.

Read more

Marine mammals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

U.S. president Bill Clinton told
Congress on October 4 that while the
Norwegian resumption of commercial whaling
in defiance of the International Whaling
Commission warrants trade sanctions, he
believes they should not be imposed “until we
have exhausted all good faith efforts to per-
suade Norway to follow agreed conservation
measures.” Clinton did, however, direct his
staff to inventory products imported from
Norway that might be placed under embargo.
Pending federal action, the Animal Welfare
Institute on September 28 called a boycott of
Norwegian fish, cheese, clothing, and sonar
equipment. Alaska governor Walter Hickel
meanwhile announced that he’s reached a deal
with Norway: Alaska won’t criticize
Norwegian whaling if Norway won’t join an
international tourist boycott called to protest
the impending Alaskan wolf massacre (see
“Wildlife,” page 12). Iceland confirmed
October 15 that it also intends to resume com-
mercial whaling soon, likewise defying possi-
ble sanctions.

Read more

HUNTING

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Despite the scarcity of ducks,
Ohio taxpayers are shelling out $40,000
to elevate Clark Road in Franklin
Township so that wildlife officials can
open dams on nearby Killbuck Creek
without flooding it, which in turn will
bring ducks closer to the road for the
convenience of hunters.
John Paul Self, 18, of
Grovetown, Georgia, was in critical
condition October 19 after Johnnie L.
Sinns, 18, shot him in the back of the
head as both allegedly tried to poach the
same deer from beside their pickup
truck. Sinns and a third alleged poacher,
Paul Albert Johnson, 17, were charged
with six misdemeanors including hunt-
ing under the influence of marijuana.
Johnson was also charged with posses-
sion of marijuana, while Sinns was
charged with felony misuse of a firearm.

Read more

Birds

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

Cowbirds, native to the
midwest, invaded California 10 to 15
years ago and are now blamed for extir-
pating at least four threatened or endan-
gered songbirds from key parts of their
range. Female cowbirds indirectly kill
as many as 48 young songbirds apiece
per nesting season by laying their eggs
in songbirds’ nests. The songbird par-
ents then raise the fast-hatching cowbird
offspring ––who push the songbirds’
own eggs out before they hatch.
Songbird species such as the Bell’s
vireo, willow flycatcher, yellow-breast-
ed chat, and white crown sparrow are
believed capable of withstanding losses
of 10% of their eggs, but decline quick-
ly when the losses exceed 20%. Studies
of white crown sparrow nests in San
Francisco’s Golden Gate Park indicate
losses to cowbirds may exceed 50%.
Hopes for the eventual recovery of the
highly endangered Bell’s vireo were
raised this year when one or two pairs
reportedly nested along the Ventura
River, near Santa Barbara, for the first
time since 1908––but a lone Bell’s vireo
seen in Monterey County, a former
stronghold of the species, failed to find
a mate. Bell’s vireos apparently haven’t
nested successfully there since the cow-
birds arrived, circa 1983.

Read more

Biomedical research

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

A George Washington University
research team revealed October 25 in
Science that it recently cloned and
destroyed a number of human embryos,
which were available for experimental use
because they had genetic flaws. It was the
most advanced genetic engineering experi-
ment to date using human tissue. The
announcement came less than a month after
300 scientists gathered in England to discuss
xenography––animal-to-human organ trans-
plants–– made theoretically possible after a
century of failures by implanting human genes
into animals raised as donors, which would
give the organs a human configuration and
help to overcome tissue rejection.

Read more

1 35 36 37 38 39 41