To All Readers ---
Last week I sent ouit an urgent message with information
regarding current legislation on Capitol Hill that will weaken or reverse
environmental laws and regulations, and a letter that can be printed (and
revised if you wish) and sent to Senators.
Everyone who has used it, please let me know - and tell me where
you've sent it (which senators will receive the letter, which
organizations or universities, etc. have copies of the info.). I'd like
to keep track.
Also, please repost it to any appropriate list.
If you can suggest other places (on InterNet or elsewhere) where
I should send it for distribution, please let me know of those as well.
THANKS!!
- Janet Sawin
Tufts University
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu May 11 15:33:43 MDT 1995
Date: Wed, 10 May 95 18:25:58 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Carol Meeds)
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Carol Meeds)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Fwd: FWD: Jacobson: Ebola, an essay]
=========BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE=========
[*****PNEWS CONFERENCES****]
EXCERPTS from EMERGING AND RE-EMERGING VIRUSES: AN ESSAY
by Alison Jacobson
Department of Microbiology
University of Cape Town
[...]
EBOLA VIRUS
Ebola virus, a member of the Filoviridae, burst from obscurity with
spectacular outbreaks of severe, haemorrhagic fever. It was first
associated with an outbreak of 318 cases and a case-fatality rate
of
90% in Zaire and caused 150 deaths among 250 cases in Sudan.
Smaller
outbreaks continue to appear periodically, particularly in East,
Central and southern Africa. In 1989, a haemorrhagic disease was
recognized among cynomolgus macaques imported into the United
States
from the Philippines. Strains of Ebola virus were isolated from
these
monkeys. Serologic studies in the Philippines and elsewhere in
Southeast Asia indicated that Ebola virus is a prevalent cause of
infection among macaques (Manson 1989).
These threadlike polymorphic viruses are highly variable in length
apparently owing to concatemerization. However, the average length
of
an infectious virion appears to be 920 nm. The virions are 80 nm in
diameter with a helical nucleocapsid, a membrane made of 10 nm
projections, and host cell membrane. They contain a unique
single-stranded molecule of noninfectious (negative sense ) RNA.
The
virus is composed of 7 polypeptides, a nucleoprotein, a
glycoprotein,
a polymerase and 4 other undesignated proteins. Proteins are
produced
from polyadenylated monocistronic mRNA species transcribed from
virus
RNA. The replication in and destruction of the host cell is rapid
and
produces a large number of viruses budding from the cell membrane.
Epidemics have resulted from person to person transmission,
nosocomial
spread or laboratory infections. The mode of primary infection and
the
natural ecology of these viruses are unknown. Association with bats
has been implicated directly in at least 2 episodes when
individuals
entered the same bat-filled cave in Eastern Kenya. Ebola infections
in
Sudan in 1976 and 1979 occurred in workers of a cotton factory
containing thousands of bats in the roof. However, in all
instances,
study of antibody in bats failed to detect evidence of infection,
and
no virus was isolated form bat tissue.
The index case in 1976 was never identified, but this large
outbreak
resulted in 280 deaths of 318 infections. The outbreak was
primarily
the result of person to person spread and transmission by
contaminated
needles in outpatient and inpatient departments of a hospital and
subsequent person to person spread in surrounding villages. In
serosurveys in Zaire, antibody prevalence to Ebola virus has been 3
to
7%. The incubation period for needle- transmitted Ebola virus is 5
to
7 days and that for person to person transmitted disease is 6 to 12
days.
The virus spreads through the blood and is replicated in many
organs.
The histopathologic change is focal necrosis in these organs,
including the liver, lymphatic organs, kidneys, ovaries and testes.
The central lesions appear to be those affecting the vascular
endothelium and the platelets. The resulting manifestations are
bleeding, especially in the mucosa, abdomen, pericardium and
vagina.
Capillary leakage appears to lead to loss of intravascular volume,
bleeding, shock and the acute respiratory disorder seen in fatal
cases. Patients die of intractable shock. Those with severe illness
often have sustained high fevers and are delirious, combative and
difficult to control.
EBOLA SEROLOGY
The serologic method used in the discovery of Ebola was the direct
immunofluorescent assay. The test is performed on a monolayer of
infected and uninfected cells fixed on a microscopic slide. IgG- or
IgM-specific immunoglobulin assays are performed. These tests may
then
be confirmed by using western blot or radioimmunoprecipitation.
Virus
isolation is also a highly useful diagnostic method, and is
performed
on suitably preserved serum, blood or tissue specimens stored at
-70oC
or freshly collected.
TREATMENT OF EBOLA
No specific antiviral therapy presently exists against Ebola virus,
nor does interferon have any effect. Past recommendations for
isolation of the patient in a plastic isolator have given way to
the
more moderate recommendation of strict barrier isolation with body
fluid precautions. This presents no excess risk to the hospital
personnel and allows substantially better patient care, as shown in
Table 2. The major factor in nosocomial transmission is the
combination of the unawareness of the possibility of the disease by
a
worker who is also inattentive to the requirements of effective
barrier nursing. after diagnosis, the risk of nosocomial
transmission
is small.
PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF EBOLA
The basic method of prevention and control is the interruption of
person to person spread of the virus. However, in rural areas, this
may be difficult because families are often reluctant to admit
members
to the hospital because of limited resources and the culturally
unacceptable separation of sick or dying patients from the care of
their family. Experience with human disease and primate infection
suggests that a vaccine inducing a strong cell- mediated response
will
be necessary for virus clearance and adequate protection.
Neutralizing
antibodies are not observed in convalescent patients nor do they
occur
in primates inoculated with killed vaccine. A vaccine expressing
the
glycoprotein in vaccinia is being prepared for laboratory
evaluation.
[...]
CONCLUSION
The proposed American fiscal budget for 1995 allows allocations for
the CDC which remain basically the same as those for past years and
the $11.5 billion budget for the National Institutes of Health
includes only a modest increase for non-AIDS infectious and
immunological diseases research (Cassell 1994). In view of the
magnitude of the problem, this budget is unacceptable. Currently,
infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide. In
the United States infectious diseases directly account for 3 and
indirectly account for 5 of the 10 leading causes of death, AIDS is
the ninth leading cause. Infectious diseases account for 25% of all
visits to physicians in the United States. In total, the annual
cost
of AIDS and other infectious diseases reached $120 billion in 1992,
about 15% of the nation's total health-care expenditure. The
expanding
pool of immunodeficient patients due to the AIDS epidemic, cancer
treatment, transplant recipients, and hemodialysis has caused an
explosion of opportunistic infections due to a number of fungal,
parasitic, viral and bacterial agents.
According to the Gail H. Cassel, president of the American Society
of
Microbiology, the public health system is not prepared to meet the
challenges of new and re-emerging infections. Perhaps the most
obvious
defect is inadequate disease surveillance and reporting. In
America,
only one-quarter of the states have a professional position
dedicated
to surveillance of food-borne and waterborne diseases. In 1992,
only
$55000 was spent on federal, state and local levels tracking
drug-resistant bacterial and viral infections. In addition, the
public
health laboratories are eroding. Overall, CDC's budget for
infectious
diseases unrelated to AIDS has declined approximately 20% in the
last
decade. This is the case in the developed world of the United
States,
and we in developing South Africa are certainly no better off in
terms
of disease surveillance and concomitant protection. It should be
clear
that a mixture of basic and applied research related to infectious
disease is needed. Coupled with this, better diagnostic techniques,
prevention strategies and risk factor analysis is needed. Finally,
enhanced communication among health care professionals and the
public
is integral in coming to terms and dealing with this issue. The
American National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
(NIAID)
plans to develop a research and training infrastructure to
elucidate
the mechanisms of molecular evolution and drug resistance and to
learn
more about actual disease transmission through molecular and
environmental studies and to continue their emphasis on vaccine
development. For example, NIAID-funded research has already led to
the
creation of a new Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine which is
expected to save nearly $400 million in health-care costs each
year.
Similarly, the NIH spent less than $27 million dollars to find the
connection between Helicobacter pylori and chronic peptic ulcers,
yet
using antibacterial therapy for the disease will save $760 million
dollars in health care costs annually.
Given the diverse nature of threats from infectious diseases, it is
not adequate merely to face each crisis as it emerges, as this may
provide a strategy which proves to be too little and too late.
Instead, a more holistic approach is required. This must include a
globa
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There are FOUR *PNEWS CONFERENCES* and approximately 1,200
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Three of these conferences are gated together and also carried on
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=========END FORWARDED MESSAGE=========
Carol Meeds
Jupiter, FL
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu May 11 15:34:58 MDT 1995
Date: Wed, 10 May 95 18:27:18 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Carol Meeds)
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Carol Meeds)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Fwd: FWD: Terror against environnmental activists (fw)]
=========BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE=========
Forwarded message:
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Talmadge Wright)
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> For those who do not receive the Nation, you may want to examine the
> recent May 22nd edition. Excellent articles by Marc Cooper, David
> Helvarg, Christopher Hitchens and Diana R. Gordon on the militias. For
> those in the progressive circuit the most ominous material is the article
> by David Helvarg, "The Anti-Enviro Connection," where he documments the
> terror campaign conducted by the militias against environmental activists
> and Federal officials charged with upholding land regulations. Below is
> an excerpt from David's article documenting some of the abuses in the
> Western States. The problem resides in the increasing integration between
> armed militias of angry White men and Property Owner's Associations,
> Counties Movement, and the anti-environmental groups associated with the
> Wise Use movement. It makes me wonder if the terror bombing against Judi
> Barri of Earth First! was initiated by elements now organized within a
> militia structure.
>
> "...In Kalispell, Montana, where land-use planning has become the target
> of anti-enviormental Wise Use activists, Jess Quinn, an opponent of a
> building permit program, told a militia meeting, "When the hour strikes,
> there will be public officials dead in the streets." In New Mexico, Idaho
> and Nevada, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service agents have
> received death threats and been in armed standoffs with militia members.
> More disturbing, local politicans and sheriffs have in a number of
> instances taken the side of the militias.
> In March three U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents investigating the
> shooting of a wolk in Idaho retreated from rancher Gene Hussey's land
> after Lemhi County Sheriff Brett Baraslou claimed their search warrent
> was invalid and drove off with Hussey, threatening to "go to Plan B." One
> of Hussey's confederates explained that Plan B meant they'd be returning
> with the local militia. Idaho politicians, including Senator Larry Craig
> and Representatives Helen Chenoweth and Mike Crapo, later expressed
> outrage at the federal agents "harassment" of a landowner. The State
> Attorney General demanded that "armed federal agents" report to his
> office before serving any warrents.
> In southern Nevada last July, Nye County Commissioner Dick
> Carver-backed up by an armed posse-chased two Forest Service Rangers off
> a road he was illegally bulldozing through the Toiyabe National Forest.
> "All it would have taken was for [one of the ranges] to draw a weapon,"
> Carver later bragged, and "fifty people with sidearms would have drilled
> him." Carver has been a recent keynote speaker at both Wise Use and
> Christian Identity events. The latter is a racist religious group closely
> tied to both Aryan Nations and the militias.
> Activities like Carver's have created an atmosphere of
> intimidation and violence designed to silence critics of industries
> involved in extracting natural resources from public lands. Some seventy
> counties around the country have now passed Wise Use/Counties Movement
> ordinances claiming local control over public lands. Last September
> residents of Caltron County, New Mexico, which passed the first of these
> ordinance in 1990, formed their own militia, encouraged by their county
> commissioners.
> 'Citizens are getting tired of being tossed around and pushed to
> the limit by regulations,' says Carl Livingston, one of the
> commissioners. 'We want the Forest Service to know we're prepared, even
> though violence would be a last resort.'
> After Tim Tibbits, a federal wildlife biologist, went to Catron
> COunty to meet local ranchers and talk about endangered species
> protections, a rancher opened his car door and told Tibbits, 'If you ever
> come down to Catron County again, we'll blow your fucking head off.'
> Mike Gardner is the Forest Service district ranger for catron. In
> march his office was painted with hammers and sickles. that same month
> the Forest Service offices in Carson City, which oversees the Toiyabe
> National Forest, was pipe-bombed. Seventeen months earlier the B.L.M.
> offices in nearby Reno were bombed during the Senate debate over grazing
> on public lands...." (p.724)
>
> Increasingly, it appears is if the federal government is loosing control
> over the Western Lands. When, I ask will the next terror attack occur on
> those backpackers and hikers who use the newly created national parks
> such as Kelso Dunes in California? Or what about those seeking to use the
> Toiyabe forests for weekend camping? What the hell is it, when Forest
> Service ranger have to carry pistols to protect themselves? If the U.S.
> government is loosing the power to protect our national resources from
> predatory property owners, is it time for us to develop an armed
> Environmental militia? I have backpacked the Tetons in Wyoming, and hiked
> the deserts of California, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, all contested
> terrain between property owners and public use. It is the militias which
> will not only target federal agents but innocent backpackers and
> sportspersons. It seems that the public officials involved with these
> militias such as Chenoweth, Craig and Crapo should be charged with
> treason, and the militias declared unlawful assemblies. Morris Dees, from
> the Souther Poverty Law Center is correct in his editorial in Sunday's
> New York Times - the militias are both unconsitutional and a threat to
> public safety. If we let this grow there will come a time when stopping
> them will involve massive bloodshed. We either stop them now or pay the
> price later. Just remember how fascism took hold in Germany, gradually
> with nobody caring or noticing. This is not alarmist, just history.
>
> Does anybody else out there have any stories about initimidation at the
> hands of property owners and militias where they live? I fear that the OK
> bombing is only the beginning - not to mention the expanding bombing of
> abortion clinics. This is a low-intensity war whether we like it or not.
>
> **********************************************************************
> Talmadge Wright (312)508-3451 *
> Dept. of Sociology & Anthropology FAX:(312)508-3646 *
> Loyola University Chicago [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
> 6525 N. Sheridan Rd. *
> Chicago, Illinois 60626 *
> **********************************************************************
>
Carol Meeds
Jupiter, FL
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu May 11 17:04:13 MDT 1995
Date: Thu, 11 May 1995 16:06:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Faith Freewoman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: kill_a_movement (fwd)
I always say this ... forgive the big bandwidth; I believe you'll find
this worth it!!!
Faith
TEN WAYS TO KILL A CITIZEN MOVEMENT
by Byron Kennard
[ARRS Administrator Note: Some humor-impaired readers have
misinterpreted this article as a game plan for destroying a movement.
In fact, it is obviously a tongue-in-cheek description of what not to
do if you want a movement to be successful. We all know of instances
of the behavior below that has led, unfortunately, to our efforts in
AR being less successful than we might hope. By being aware of these
"killers", we can avoid them in our own movements.]
_________________________________________________________________
As a veteran community organizer, I know a lot about how to start
citizen movements, but only recently did it occur to me that I
probably know just as much about how to bump them off. All I have to
do is count my battle-scars and recall how I got most of them. If my
experience is any guide, far more people are driven out of citizen
movements by their own dear brothers and sisters in the cause than by
all the shenannigans of the enemy put together.
Friendly Fire on the Social Change Front
Here's how it works. Suppose you want to kill a citizen movement and
you come to me for expert advice. I would suggest first that you join
it and then proceed to follow these ten basic, simple rules, any one
of which will drain the vitality out of a movement faster than you can
say Ronald Reagan.
1. FORGET YOUR ORIGINS
Citizen movements for social change nearly always originate in humble,
obscure, or disreputable circumstances. Think of the Wobblies, the
early labor organizers, who were jailed, deported, or even massacred
for their opposition to industrial abuses. Think of Rosa Parks
refusing to take a seat in the back of the bus. Think of the
bra-burners who endured derision and scorn to help launch the feminist
movement, or of the housewives who chained themselves to trees rather
than allow the trees to be bulldozed. Later on, when the movement is
off the ground and running, these origins become embarrassing to the
careerists who have latched onto it in search of gold and glory. At
this point it becomes necessary to rewrite history in order to drop
the identity of the movement's founders down the memory hole.
It is said that revolutions eat their fathers. Citizen movements do
something rather worse: they forget their mothers. The revolutionary
who gets beheaded is at least memorialized by history, but you can
plow through most history books without finding a clue to the identity
of the small bands of volunteer activists -- usually women, in my
experience -- who initiate needed social change.
2. PUT EXPERTS IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT
Volunteers and generalists may have been good enough to organize the
movement, but they aren't good enough to run it. So when the money
starts to come in, it's time to kick the volunteers and generalists
out and to hire "qualified" persons, preferably someone with a Ph.D in
physics, economics, or an Ivy League law degree. (Please note: It is
extremely important that such persons be untainted by any direct
experience in community organizing. If you have a plethora of
applicants, it may be necessary to employ this test. Put each of the
applicants into a paper sack. Only those who cannot organize their way
out of it will be eligible for employment.)
3. GET SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR WORK
I mean, real serious. Work too hard. Put in extremely long hours.
Practice looking grim and depressed. If possible, grow morbid. When
you have mastered all this, persist in calling your colleagues'
attention to the fact of your martyrdom. Broadly hint that if they
were as serious as you, they would emulate your example. If this
doesn't make them feel sufficiently bad, you might want to go a step
further and physically maim yourself. For example, you might shoot
yourself in the foot. Screaming in pain, you then demand that your
colleagues drop whatever they are doing and rush to aid and comfort
you as you suffer from this needless and self-inflicted wound.
4. MOTIVATE OTHERS BY APPLYING GUILT
If a group is working to save endangered species, attack it for its
insensitivity to the poor. If they are working to help the poor,
attack them for their insensitivity to endangered species. Whatever
you do, stick them in a no-win situation. Once they perceive that
their work is futile, they will, of course, redouble their efforts.
5. ADOPT IMPOSSIBLY HIGH AND RIGID STANDARDS OF PERSONAL CONDUCT, NOT ONLY
FOR YOURSELF, BUT FOR OTHERS, TOO.
Human frailty has no place in a citizen movement. Whenever it rears
its ugly head, you must be prepared to smash it to smithereens. Even
slight deviations from your standards must not escape punishment. If,
for example, you catch a nutrition activist eating a hot-dog in a
fast-food restaurant, condemn him on the spot for the Judas he is
(neglecting, of course, to mention that you popped in to buy a pack of
cigarettes).
6.TALK A LOT ABOUT THE NEED TO COOPERATE AND TO SHARE, BUT FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE,
DON'T ACTUALLY DO IT.
What you should actually do is attempt to dominate all proceedings
through the force of your intellect and personality. However, should
you encounter other persons who are foolish enough really to cooperate
and share, by all means, take them for everything they're worth.
7. GET YOURSELF INTO A DITHER AND STAY THERE
Become over-excited. Remember, the end of the world is coming and we
haven't got much time. Thus, to demonstrate dedication, everybody
should run about like a chicken with its head cut off. If some people
in the movement are striving to work calmly and deliberately, making
them agitated and anxious should become your priority task.
8. WHATEVER YOU DO, NEVER SHARE ANY CREDIT.
Look, it's perfectly clear that the whole thing was your idea in the
first place. And nobody, living or dead, contributed anything to you.
So why should you share the credit? If, through some miscarriage of
justice, other people in the movement begin receiving credit, try to
grab it from them. Or try spreading the word that they don't really
deserve it. If these techniques don't work, fly into a sick rage and
kick nearby objects or people. (Please note: Regrettably, there's no
guarantee that these techniques will actually divert recognition away
from others and toward yourself. However, such techniques are almost
certain to detract from what pride and joy the recognition might give
those receiving it. This is a small pleasure to be sure, but by this
time you will have learned not to sneeze at small things.
9. REMEMBER THAT INTENSITY OF COMMITMENT IS BEST MEASURED BY THE AMOUNT OF
INCIVILITY YOU DISPLAY.
Here again, little things mean a lot. For example, you should never be
on time to meetings. But when you do arrive, be sure to get
interrupted by telephone calls at least once every five minutes. The
rest of the time should be consumed by your talking as loudly as
possible in accusatory tones. The thrust of your comments should never
vary. Again and again you must make clear that both the truth and the
democratic process will be endangered unless you get your way. Throw a
wild card into each agenda and insist that old questions which have
previously been resolved be re-opened. Having made these comments,
leave the meeting early without helping to clean up the coffee cups or
put the room in order. Now these are fine points, I know, but if you
are going to kill off a social movement, you might as well do it in
style.
10. LASTLY, YOU MUST AVOID DOING ANY REAL WORK FOR THE MOVEMENT, WHILE
CREATING THE WIDESPREAD IMPRESSION THAT YOU ARE GIVING YOUR ALL.
Scrupulous fulfillment of these ten rules will demand all your time
and energy, so none will be left to fulfill any duties to the
movement. But don't let this stop you from assuming as much
responsibility as you can get. Insist on being part of everything. If
possible, try to be put in charge. Then take care not to deliver on
any of your commitments. Should others have the gall to point out the
discrepancy between your responsibility and your performance, observe
in hushed and sorrowful tones how painful and demoralizing this is to
you, especially after all you've done. Then nail them to the wall by
asking the key question: Don't they realize that we've all got to
stick together?
_________________________________________________________________
HTML by: Jonathan Esterhazy / Manitoba Animal Rights Coalition /
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Theodore E. Drake, Ed.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Director of Library Services Voice (817) 531-4513
Jenkins Garrett Library Fax (817) 531-5726
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