Virus H5N1 Discovered in Smuggled Poutry, Vietnam Prepares
Vietnam Net Bridge
13 Aug 2006
Photo Courtesy of Vietnam Net Bridge
As recent bird flu outbreaks have occurred in neighboring Thailand, Laos, Viet Nam is taking extra precautionary measures to seize smuggled poultry and test samples in vulnerable areas.
One of the 30 samples of chickens smuggled to northern border province of Lang Son was tested positive for the H5N1 virus, said Lang Son authorities Friday. Meanwhile, 60 test samples of chickens at the local market all tested negative for the deadly bird flu virus.
As many as 70,000 kg of chicken and over 180,000 eggs smuggled across the border have been recently culled by regional authorities. Over 1.2 out of 3.5 million poultries have been vaccinated in Lang Son province, the bordering region with China. The same amount of animals along the border and farms will receive the vaccine in the near future.
Veterinary officials say that up to 1,000 liters of chemical substance and 500 kg of chemical powder are ready to cope with the possible bird flu outbreak. Across the land, veterinary departments of the central provinces of Da Nang, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh are all preparing proactive measures to fight against the virus in case of an outbreak.
Group Cries Foul Over Beach Issue
The Republican
13 Aug 2006
Ted LaBorde
The Coalition to Prevent the Destruction of Canada Geese is crying foul over recent statements here indicating geese are to blame for closing the town beach because of high bacteria levels in the water last month.
"It is not unusual to blame geese for problems like this," said Sharon P. Pawlak, the coalition's Northeast coordinator. "But, geese are blamed unfairly, and the public is being misled," she said. The town beach officially opened for the season July 20 but was closed less than a week later by Southwick Health Director Thomas J. Fitzgerald after water samples showed high levels of E. Coli bacteria.
Fitzgerald, when asked for a theory on the cause of the high levels, said he believed it was caused by geese and other water fowl. He had noted more than a dozen geese and other waterfowl and birds on the beach while taking samples of the water prior to July 20. But, Pawlak said "without DNA testing it is unfair to blame geese. The bacteria could have been caused by anything."
Scientists Call Mercury Pollution a Worldwide Threat
AXcess News
13 Aug 2006
Friday, Scientist ratified a declaration at an international conference on mercury pollution saying it threatens the health of people, fish, and wildlife everywhere, from industrial sites to remote corners of the planet, but reducing mercury use and emissions would lessen those threats.
The "conference declaration" was released on the final day of the Eighth International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant. The scientists also declared that a significant portion of the mercury deposited near industrial sources comes from those sources rather than from natural sources and that evidence of mercury's health risks is strong enough that people, especially children and women of childbearing age, should be careful about how much and which fish they eat.
"The declaration essentially says that mercury pollution is a problem of global magnitude," says James Hurley, assistant director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Aquatic Sciences Center and a co-chair of the conference.
Federal Government Ramps Up H5N1 Wild Bird Monitoring
Agriculture Online
09 Aug 2006
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced their departments are expanding wild bird monitoring for H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) beyond Alaska through cooperative agreements and projects made with the lower 48 states, Hawaii and other Pacific islands.
"We are working on several fronts to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza around the world and here at home," Johanns said. "Because we cannot control wild birds, our best protection is an early warning system and this move to test thousands more wild birds throughout the country will help us to quickly identify, respond and control the virus, if it arrives in the United States."
Kempthorne noted a robust monitoring effort helps to ensure early detection should migratory birds carry the virus to North America. "These coordinated federal and state testing programs will be important this fall as birds now nesting in Alaska and Canada begin their migration south through the continental United States," Kempthorne said.
Clawing Back Their Habitat
Wiltshire
11 Aug 2006
Photo Courtesy of Wiltshire
It's not unusual to find the British being dominated by their more aggressive American counterparts. But this time it's nothing to do with the relationship between Tony Blair and George Bush, but a battle being waged in our streams and rivers.The British whiteclaw crayfish is being threatened with extinction by the more dominant American signal variety. The threat has prompted environmental experts to carry out a rescue mission this week in the By Brook area in Ford, near Chippenham - a threatened tributary of the Avon.
The crayfish were stored in cooled tanks and taken to a new home in the Mendips where it is hoped they will flourish. The American signal crayfish were originally brought to the UK for food, but carelessness led to them being introduced into rivers where the whiteclaws are now suffering. The signals carry the crayfish plague, a disease which has wiped out much of the native population.
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