Wildlife Disease News Digest

Condors Being Poisoned by Hunters' Ammunition [Audio Broadcast]
npr
28 Jun 2007
G Kohl

The leading cause of death in North American condors is lead poisoning from spent ammunition, according to new research. Two studies suggest that condors ingest the lead when they dine on carcasses and gut piles left by hunters.

Now, wildlife officials in Arizona are trying to persuade hunters to switch to lead-free ammunition in an attempt to save the endangered bird.

>>>TO AUDIO BROADCAST

Is Bird Flu A Real Threat? How To Tell Fact From Fiction About This And Other Emerging Disease Threats
Medical News TODAY
27 Jun 2007

When it comes to bird flu, Ebola fever, "mad cow" disease, SARS or any number of emerging health threats, it's easy to get caught up in the furor and fear. But at the end of the day, a group of special scientists say what's really needed is common sense. So is the threat real? "Whether the bird flu virus will spread to North America is unpredictable at this time," says Corrie Brown, Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) and a University of Georgia professor of veterinary medicine.

"Although the likelihood of this mutation is unlikely, history cautions us to the possibility. The longer the bird flu virus is in circulation, the greater the risk for a pandemic." For years, veterinary pathologists have been on the front lines, preventing these diseases from spreading from animals to humans, and creating vaccines for those that make that critical leap that turns an emerging threat into a real one.

>>>FULL ARTICLE

Rachel Carson's Birthday Bashing
Salon.com
29 Jun 2007
K Weir
Images Courtesy of Salon.com, National Geographic

Rachel Carson has been shouldering a lot of blows lately, especially for a woman who has been dead more than 40 years. Last month marked the 100th birthday of the woman whose 1962 book, "Silent Spring," is credited with launching the modern environmental movement. While environmentalists paused to celebrate Carson's legacy, those politically opposed to environmental regulation took the opportunity to engage in some birthday-bashing.

They blame Carson and her successors for millions of deaths by malaria -- deaths, they say, that could have been prevented if she hadn't scared the world away from the potent pesticide DDT. Foremost among the finger-pointers is Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who blocked bills to honor Carson and name a Pennsylvania post office for her. Coburn's Web site links visitors to Rachel Was Wrong, a site hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (a free-market think tank known for, among other things, disputing evidence that human activity is driving climate change).