Other Stories
Beef-loving U.S. shrugs at finding second mad cow,
U.S. Refused to Do Extra Mad-Cow Test,
Taiwanese Buy Up Sale-Priced U.S. Beef
Americans are continuing to eat beef despite the announcement of a second U.S. case of mad cow disease. The Center of Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and others are calling for a system for tracking animals' origins rapidly. The Agriculture Department (USDA) admits to mistakes in the case, including not ordering a third and more sophisticated test when the first two conflicted. The USDA internal watchdog ordered a 3rd test from an expert British lab months later. USDA is still trying to identify the cow's home herd. It plans mandatory ID for cattle in 2009. Cattle are not supposed to eat feed containing cattle parts, but there are still loopholes.
Taiwanese consumers are scrambling to buy cut-price American beef before it was removed from the shelves because of the renewed ban.
Bird flu virus found in chicken in eastern Japan
A weak form of bird flu known as "H5N2" has been diagnosed at a chicken farm in eastern Japan where 430 chickens died between March and May.
Rwanda symbolically names endangered baby gorillas
There are about 700 mountain gorillas are left in the world, 380 of which live in the Uganda / Democratic Republic of Congo / Rwanda area. In an effort to attract tourism, Rwanda has officially named some of them in a traditional naming ceremony and has also called for donations to help the gorillas.
Appeals Court Sides With EPA on Plants
A federal appeals court has upheld the Bush administration's plan that lets older industrial plants modernize without investing in expensive new pollution controls. 13 states had sued the Environmental Protection Agency saying that its new regulations violate the 1970 Clean Air Act.
China flood waters slowly start to recede,
Death Toll Rises to 567 in China Flooding
The death toll in China this week from flooding and landslides has reached 567 with 165 missing. The storey-high waters are beginning to recede in the southern Chinese city of Wuzhou. Drought and floods are common in China. Roads and rail lines are still cut and more rain is forecast.
Organic Farmers Concerned About New Rules
Farmers say that stricter rules for organic farmers will make it more expensive for farmers to switch to organic, including cattle farmers who will have to feed their cows 100 percent organic feed during the transition to organic. The ruing also ordered a ban on synthetic ingredients in products labeled organic. A federal court ruled that the Agriculture Department must devise stricter rules.
Climate change threatens humanity's cradle Africa
Mankind began in Africa, and is likely to suffer most from global warming there as droughts and floods impact agriculture there, with widespread desertification, and the coral reefs upon which coastal fisheries depend are damaged.
Wind, Heat Challenge Southwest Fire Crews
A nearly 60,000-acre wildfire in Utah caused evacuations and problems for firefighters. Smaller wildfires are burning in several other states.
Cause of St. Louis Fire, Blasts Probed
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has sent a team to the Praxair Inc. facility in St. Louis to try and work out what triggered a chain of explosions at the gas processing plant. Nobody was injured in spite of roughly 75-pound containers flying up to 600 feet away.
Secretive panel could block China's Unocal bid
A U.S. review panel may review China's CNOOC Ltd.'s $18.5 billion takeover bid for Unocal Corp. for "national security" issues if the bid is accepted.
Asia Mourns 178,000 Killed in Tsunami
The tsunami following a 9.0-magnitude earthquake last December 26 killed 178,000 people in 11 countries.
Tsunami Survivors Deal With New Illness
Some victims who swallowed water during the tsunami experienced pneumonia and paralysis as bacteria moved through their nervous systems.
How do you think that hypoxia should be dealt with, and who should pay?
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