5/4/05

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1.  Woodpecker Thought To Be Extinct Rediscovered! 
2.  Montana Passes COOL Legislation 
3.  Unapproved GMO Rice Found In China 
4.  Geese Potential Vector For Anti-biotic Resistance

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WOODPECKER THOUGHT TO BE EXTINCT REDISCOVERED!  

America's largest woodpecker, the Ivory-billed "woody," long thought to be extinct, has been rediscovered in the bottomland forests of Arkansas!  Never common, the Ivory-billed was one of the first creatures listed as endangered when the Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973, sounded an alarm warning of it's impending extinction.  It had not been definitively sighted in the U.S.  in 60 years and many people believed that it had been lost forever due to logging of its old-growth bottomland forest habitat.  A compelling description of a sighting that surfaced last year in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge prompted intensive research by Cornell.  Last week scientists released conclusive evidence, in the form of a brief video of one of the birds in flight.  Still teetering on the brink of extinction, the US Departments of Agriculture and Interior have formed a rapid response partnership, pledging habitat restoration funds through the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program.  Commenting on this endangered species success story, Jamie Rappaport Clark, Vice-President for Defenders of Wildlife said, "In the end, these incredible birds remind us of a fundamental truth of biology - life finds a way, if we just give it enough room" For more information, see: www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/> www.sciencemag.org www.defenders.org/releases/pr2005/pr042805.html www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/index.html#ivorybilled 

MONTANA PASSES COOL LEGISLATION 

Since corporate agriculture lobbyists in Washington continue to block implementation of the popular mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat, family farmers in Montana decided to take matters into their own hands.  Earlier this month the Montana legislature passed a law requiring that meat sold in Montana be labeled as to its country of origin, starting in September 2006.  The passage was applauded by the Montana Farmers Union and other family farm and sustainable agriculture groups across the nation.  Montana Farmers Union President Brooks Dailey said, "The passage of this state law sends a clear message to the (Bush) administration that we will not stand idly by as it refuses to implement a law the U.S.  Congress has already passed." The bill, passed in 2002, has been not been implemented due to trans- national corporate meat packers who fear loss of the ability to manipulate international beef prices by "sourcing" the least expensive meat. www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/ 04/14/build/state/66-meat-labels.inc 

UNAPPROVED GMO RICE FOUND IN CHINA 

Two weeks ago, Greenpeace's office in China released laboratory findings showing that an unapproved strain of genetically modified rice (Shanyou 63) is being produced in China's Hubei province.  The GE rice produces a pesticide that can cause allergic reactions in humans.  Greenpeace found that the rice is being labeled "anti- pest", not GE, and has being illegally sold on the internet, at privately owned seed stores, and even government stores for the past two years.  Just yesterday, Science magazine published a research paper detailing negligent oversight of test sites in Hubei for the same GE rice.  The paper describes situations where farmers cultivated the GE rice without the assistance of technicians and finds several cases where small farmers grew both GE rice and conventional rice on the same farm.  This contrasts with GE test sites in other countries which are closely monitored and carefully separated from conventional varieties.  Greenpeace predicts that 13,500 tons of GE rice could be released into the food chain this year if action is not taken.  1,200 tons have already been distributed, and it is unclear if the unapproved GE rice has reached international markets. Read Greenpeace's Press Release: www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/new-study- points-to-likely-sou Read more about how the story broke two weeks ago: www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/17/news/rice.html 

CANADA GEESE A POTENTIAL VECTOR FOR ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE 

Researchers in Georgia have found Canada geese that spend time near waste lagoons can pick up and shed antibiotic-resistant E.  coli.  The researchers swabbed and sampled the feces of four resident flocks of geese: one in a park, one in an industrial setting, one that spent a lot of time near a swine waste lagoon, and one in an agricultural setting not near a waste lagoon.  Many of the samples from the lagoon flock were found to harbor antibiotic- resistant strains of E.  coli.  "Furthermore, 72 per cent of those isolates were resistant to more than one antibiotic; 48 per cent were resistant to three or more drugs." Rates of antibiotic-resistance were "much lower" in birds in the non-lagoon agricultural flock.  "The park birds tested clean." The researchers cautioned, however, that their results only prove a "theoretical risk" that geese could transmit pathogens from waste lagoons to humans, pets or other wildlife; "it doesn't confirm whether in reality they are part of a chain of transmission leading to human infection, says Dr.  Todd Weber, director of the office of antimicrobial resistance at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control." Another researcher added, "It would be inappropriate to get people concerned about going into parks with geese around them," but "Is it worth general hand hygiene principles like washing your hands?  Absolutely!" www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=5cf2051f-43cb-4a3f-9807- 701959a03fa6

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Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
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