Untitled Document

Colombia resists court ordered halt to coca spray

Bogota, Colombia, July 1 (ENS)— A Colombian court has ruled that the aerial spraying of herbicides to eradicate coca and poppy crops violates the rights to a healthy environment, security and public health as guaranteed in the Colombian Constitution. Coca provides the raw material for cocaine, and opium is extracted from poppies.

The ruling by the Superior Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, Colombia, made public on June 25, ordered that the aerial spraying of glyphosate herbicides be suspended until the government complies with the environmental management plan for the eradication program.

For the rest of this article, please see www.ens-news.com.

Endangered Species of the Southern US
A weekly column by Shawn Gaynor
Mussels in murky waters

Mussels in murky waters

It is not always easy to see what is below the water in the streams and rivers of the Southern Appalachians.

Dams have slowed many of the rivers; silt and waste from mining, logging, road building, development, and (were it still exists) industry, cloud the waters further. “Agricultural run off,” whatever that happens to be, makes matters even more murky.

But hidden among the rocks, an extraordinary diversity of fresh water mollusks make their homes, or try to.

According to Ecologist Edward O. Wilson, the United States has the largest diversity of fresh water mollusks in the world. The rivers spilling out of the Southern Appalachian forests are especially diverse.

Wilson gives this example of just one stretch of river. “Muscle [sic] Shoals, a stretch of the Tennessee River in Alabama, once held a fauna of 68 mussel species. Their shells were specialized for life in riffles and shoals, shallow streams with sandy gravel bottoms and rapid currants. When Wilson Dam was constructed in the early 1920’s, impounding and deepening the water, 44 species were extinguished.”

It is unclear how many mollusks have been driven into extinction though the process of damming and water control in the Southern Appalachians, but what is clear is that many of those that remain are in decline from loss of suitable habitat and pollution.

“The biggest threat to endangered species is habitat loss,” said Marty Bergoffen, an attorney for the Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project (SABP).

Mollusks with names like Carolina Heelsplitter, and Appalachian Elktoe exist on the edge.

Others like the Upland Combshell are feared to be gone. Extinction is a difficult phenomenon to assess. It requires proving that a species no longer exists anywhere habitat conditions would allow it too. But, having not been found in almost 10 years, hope grows dim for the Upland Combshell.

The Appalachian Elktoe once common in the waters of Western North Carolina, and part of Eastern Tennessee, has been reduced to just a small portion of its original range. Pollution and damming of rivers has reduced this species to a fraction of its range.

The Appalachian Elktoe lives its life in swift moving waters feeding on microscopic food particles filtered from the water. As a larva, it attaches itself to a fish and later in life drops off onto the river bottom.

Because, filtering a microscopic diet causes the mussel to ingest whatever ends up in the water, excessive siltation of a waterway can clog its gills, and excessive pollution can weaken whole colonies.

Though a mussel may seem like a rather insignificant life to protect, the health of these species are a reflection on the health of our waterways.

Recently the SABP won lawsuits against the Fish and Wildlife Service forcing them to designate critical habitat for some of the endangered mussel species, including the Appalachian Elktoe. This prevents the alteration of designated Appalachian Elktoe habitat in a way that would impact the species recovery. Considering where this species lives, its protection could protect whole watersheds.

According to SABP, reports show that “Species with critical-habitat areas are less likely to be declining, and twice as likely to be recovering.”

Endangered freshwater mussels and clams in North Carolina and Tennessee:

North Carolina

Applachian Elktoe - Alasmidonta raveneliana

Carolina Heelsplitter - Lasmigona decorata

Cumberland Bean Pearlymussel - Villosa trabalis

Dwarf Wedge Mussel - Alasmidonta heterodon

James Spinymussel - Pleurobema collina

Little-wing Pearlymussel - Pegius fabula

Oyster Mussel - Epioblasma capsaeformis

Tan Riffleshell - Epioblasma florentina walkei

Tar Spinymussel - Elliptio steinstansana

Tennessee

Blossom, green - Epioblasma torulosa gubernaculum

Blossom, tubercled - Epioblasma torulosa torulosa

Blossom, turgid - Epioblasma turgidula

Blossom, yellow - Epioblasma florentina florentina

Bean, Cumberland - Villosa trabalis

Bean (mussel), purple - Villosa perpurpurea

Clubshell, ovate - Pleurobema perovatum

Clubshell, southern - Pleurobema decisum

Combshell, Cumberlandian - Epioblasma brevidens

Combshell, upland - Epioblasma metastriata

Elktoe, Appalachian - Alasmidonta raveneliana

Elktoe, Cumberland - Alasmidonta atropurpurea

Fanshell - Cyprogenia stegaria

Kidneyshell, triangular - Ptychobranchus greeni

Lampmussel, Alabama - Lampsilis virescens

Lilliput, pale - Toxolasma cylindrellus

Lilliput, pale - Toxolasma cylindrellus

Moccasinshell, Coosa : Medionidus parvulus

Monkeyface, Appalachian - Quadrula sparsa

Monkeyface, Cumberland - Quadrula intermedia

Mucket, pink - Lampsilis abrupta

Mussel, oyster - Epioblasma capsaeformis

Pearlymussel, birdwing - Conradilla caelata

Pearlymussel, cracking - Hemistena lata

Pearlymussel, dromedary - Dromus dromas

Pearlymussel, littlewing - Pegias fabula

Pigtoe, southern - Pleurobema georgianum

Pigtoe, shiny - Fusconaia cor

Pigtoe, rough - Pleurobema plenum

Pigtoe, Cumberland – Pleurobema gibberum

Pigtoe, finerayed - Fusconaia cuneolus

Pimpleback, orangefoot - Plethobasus cooperianus

Pink, ring - Obovaria retusa

Pocketbook, fine-lined - Lampsilis altilis

Riffleshell, tan - Epioblasma florentina walkeri

Rabbitsfoot, rough - Quadrula cylindrica strigillata

Wartyback, white - Plethobasus cicatricosus

Protests grow against mining giants, Indonesian Government

Jakarta, Indonesia, July 3— Hundreds of demonstrators protested today at the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta against plans to open up Indonesian protected areas to mining companies, largely foreign multinationals.

Parliamentarians were due to make a decision on this issue today and demonstrators are urging legislators not to allow mining in protected areas.

“Besides our increasing numbers in Jakarta, we are joined by an upsurge of opposition from regional government and civil society elements including indigenous people’s organizations throughout our archipelago,” said Siti Maimunah from the Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network.

“All of this should be enough to halt the government’s search for loopholes to avoid protecting our forests and water catchments from destructive mining,” she added.

The protestors include contingents from Yogyakarta Province and civil society groups, academics, and lawyers. Several thousand members of the public also signed postcards addressed to Indonesian government representatives expressing their opposition to mining in protected areas.At a press conference held on July 2 in Jakarta a panel of environmental law experts and activists declared that Indonesian government plans to open up protected areas for mining were illegal.

The Indonesian government has established a clear ban on open-cut mining in protected forests through the Forestry Law No. 41 of 1999. Regardless of public outcry, the government is now searching for a loophole, and is attempting to use section 19 of the Forestry Law as a legal basis for changing the status of areas from protected forest to areas eligible for mining.

Lawyer Ahmad Santosa of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law explained that the process undertaken so far by the Indonesian government and House of Representatives had no valid legal basis due to an absence of necessary government regulations.

“The House of Representatives as the legislative body has an obligation to monitor the executive branch of government, and ensure compliance with the Forestry Law No. 41 of 1999,” stated Ahmad. In his opinion, threats from mining companies to take Indonesia to an international arbitration court over curtailing existing mining leases is no source for concern, because the government has the ultimate right to act in accordance with the public interest. Moreover, the international community has an obligation to protect Indonesian forests, described as the “lungs of the world.”

According to Chalid Muhammad of the Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network, the government is hell-bent on overturning protected forest status before the coming national elections in 2004. “They’re stubbornly trying to sell off Eastern Indonesia despite steadfast opposition, for example the Central Sulawesi government and House of Representatives have strongly rejected Rio Tinto and Newcrest’s plans to mine protected areas,” he said. This is evidence that Jakarta’s portrayal of regional opinion is not a true representation of their positions.

Scores of activists from student environment groups throughout Jakarta joined a coalition of environmental community groups who protested on July 2 at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

“No to mining in protected forests!” shouted one activist.

Protest banners and placards featuring kangaroos and the Australian flag were paraded in front of the fortified embassy fence, under the guard of a heavy security and police contingent.

Speakers addressing the crowd emphasized the extent of the threat with 11.4 million hectares of protected areas under mining leases. “The granting of these mining permits opens the floodgates for 150 mines to wipe out our forests and mineral resources,” said Ridha Saleh, WALHI’s Deputy Director.

The hour-long action was concluded with a theatrical performance by student environment groups, satirizing the sell-off of Indonesia’s forests to foreign mining interests. In the performance, the Indonesian people were represented as forest-based communities being marginalized and evicted by the government at the behest of lobbying by Australian, US, and UK embassies.

Student environmentalist Hardani explained his reasons for co-organizing the demonstration: “What will happen if we lose all our protected forests and are only left with poverty-inducing natural disasters?” he asked.

Source: Friends of the Earth Indonesia/WALHI

Fast food giant’s move throws light on antibiotics overuse

By Katherine Stapp

New York, New York, July 1 (IPS)— Watchers of the fast food industry say a move by mega-company McDonald’s to pressure its suppliers to phase out most antibiotics from their farms by the end of next year could signal a major awakening to the problem of antibiotics overuse.

The McDonald’s announcement on June 19 followed years of lobbying by consumer, health, environmental, and other advocacy groups, who were concerned with mounting evidence that the millions of pounds of antibiotics fed to farm animals were working their way up the food chain, with unforeseen consequences.

“It’s an extremely important development, especially coming from the world’s largest food chain,” said Michael Kharfen, spokesperson for Keep Antibiotics Working (KAW), a pressure group with more than 9 million members.

“This is reverberating throughout the entire food industry,” he said in an interview. “I think it will add significant pressure to other [fast food] chains. It’s a very competitive field. Consumers can go to McDonald’s and know that the food they eat there is not necessarily contributing to reducing their public health safety net.”

Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria evolve in a way that lowers or eliminates the effectiveness of drugs designed to cure or prevent infections. The bacteria survive and multiply, causing more harm.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), about 70 percent of the bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used to treat infections.

For example, when penicillin was first mass produced in the 1940s, virtually all strains of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were susceptible. Today, more than 90 percent of S. aureus strains — which cause abscesses, bronchitis and pneumonia — are resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics that once killed them.

In some parts of the world, treatment of gonorrhea and bacterial intestinal infections is now limited to a single effective antibiotic.

“Antibiotics are very heavily used in many developing countries where they are loosely regulated,” said Becky Goldburg, a senior scientist at Environmental Defense, in a statement. “The new policy could have a significant impact on the production of meat for McDonald’s in developing countries because suppliers for McDonald’s in those countries will have to reduce their use of antibiotics.”

“Having a company like McDonald’s recognize the problem helps point the way toward sensible national policies to end inappropriate antibiotic use in animal agriculture,” Goldburg added. “These antibiotics are often used to compensate for the crowded, stressful conditions that are found on many large animal-production facilities.”

The new rules will affect the meat produced for the company’s 30,000 restaurants in 118 countries.

Farm animals are often given antibiotics not because they are sick, but for therapeutic or production reasons. In fact, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, about 70 percent of the antibiotics and related drugs in the United States are fed to healthy pigs, cows and chickens to boost growth and prevent disease.

Over half are “medically important” drugs —identical or so closely related to human medicines that they can cause microbes to become resistant to drugs used to treat human illness, ultimately making some sicknesses harder to treat.

These drugs are also escaping into the wider environment. A recent study by the US Geological Survey found anti-microbial residues in almost half of 139 streams surveyed nationwide.

Unless the problem is addressed, the FDA warns, the world could be faced with previously treatable diseases that have again become untreatable, as in the days before antibiotics were developed. Resistance is also hindering the development of new classes of antibiotics, even as breakthroughs are occurring daily in other fields of medicine.

Europe is already far ahead of the United States, with the European Commission considering phasing out all growth-promoting antibiotics by 2006. Sweden and Denmark have both banned these drugs already.

Danish officials say that as a result, the prevalence of resistance in food animals has fallen dramatically. Danish veterinarians say that the ban has not affected the health of the animals or the consumer price of meat.

“The Danish experience shows you can weed out antibiotics and not lose production,” Kharfen said. “We’ve also seen a resurgence of bacteria that is not resistant to antibiotics and can be treated.”

KAW is working with the US Congress to introduce a bill that would completely phase out the majority of antibiotic use in farm animals, although this is being opposed by some in the powerful pharmaceutical lobby.

“Sad to say, there is a fairly substantial monetary interest within the pharmaceutical industry,” Kharfen said. “Unfortunately, it’s profit over public health.”

For example, the drug giant Bayer has been aggressively fighting an FDA ban on the use of Baytril, an antibiotic manufactured by Bayer to treat sick chickens. The FDA’s October 2000 proposal to ban the use of Baytril in poultry is based on findings that the drug contributes to antibiotic-resistance in certain bacteria that cause severe food poisoning in people.

Fluoroquinolones, a category that includes both Baytril and Cipro, are a critically important class of antibiotics for treating severe bacterial infections in people. Most major restaurant chains have already dropped all animal products containing fluoroquinolones.

Michael Khoo, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, applauded the McDonald’s decision — the most far-reaching so far by a major US company — but said it needed to go even further.

The policy is mandatory only for poultry suppliers — the majority of McDonald’s direct suppliers — not beef and pork suppliers, which are mostly middlemen, he noted. It also focuses on antibiotics used for growth promotion and leaves out the larger category of antibiotics used for disease prevention.

“Still, it’s a very significant event,” Khoo told IPS. ”I don’t think any of these companies would act without pressure from non-governmental organizations. The McDonald’s announcement adds momentum and signals to the industry that there’s changes coming.”