Rabid Times

April 4th 2000

Rabies spread by vampire bats threatens Mexican cattle

PALENQUE, Mexico (AP) - Vampire bats preying on the cattle of southernmost Mexico have caused an outbreak of rabies that has killed thousands of cattle. Ranchers and a veterinarian who coordinates several government animal health programs have criticized state officials for failing to act quickly to control the outbreak; state officials insists it's under control.

"The outbreak is very grave. They did not take precautionary measures and there is a delay in the distribution of vaccines by health authorities," said Yolanda Herrera, a veterinarian with the Mexico-U.S. Commission for the Prevention of Foot-and-Mouth Disease.

She said bats should also be targeted in the caves and corrals where they live.

Candido Lopez, spokesman for the Livestock Union of the Northern Region of Chiapas, said the outbreak began early this year in the impoverished state of Chiapas, where most ranches are small.

At least 2,300 cattle have died on 92 ranches in the first three months of the year, according to Gilberto Perez Guillermo, a spokesman for the regional department of livestock health.

Jesus Ugalde, leader of the Livestock Association in Palenque, one of four affected municipalities, put the number of deaths at 3,000.

Perez Guillermo said the bats also have attacked 27 residents of the northern municipality of Salto de Agua, many of whom live in wooden shacks without doors. The victims were being treated by health officials to prevent them from getting rabies, he said.

But the health minister for Chiapas, Humberto Cordoba, said the bats had not attacked any people.

Herrera, who conducted autopsies on some of the dead cattle, said 90 percent of the deaths were caused by rabies transmitted by vampire bats. She said rabies first appeared in central Chiapas in 1987 and has spread throughout the state as the bats migrated.

However, the chief of animal health for the state Ministry of Agriculture, David Lopez, insisted the rabies outbreak was under control.

He said his agency had provided 60,000 rabies vaccines to local ranchers at a cost of about 11 cents each - far cheaper than the 90 cents charged by private clinics.

Ugalde said that was only a tenth of the 600,000 vaccines that are needed.

"It isn't possible for the state to ignore this emergency situation and say that it is under control," he said. "On the contrary, it is ... a serious public health problem."

Rancher Pedro Lopez, who lost seven cattle to the disease on his small ranch, criticized the government for its inaction.

"We have no help from the government. The vaccines are expensive for us at private laboratories," said Lopez, 70.

"It's shocking," said Manuel Perez, a cowboy at another ranch. "In less than a month more than 50 registered animals have died, between bulls, cows and calves... We have never faced a situation so grave."

Francisco Coller, head of the state agency charged with eradicating the bats, said the effort was initially slowed by ranchers' failure to recognize the threat and their reluctance to vaccinate their herds.

"Now the panic has grown because of the impressive death of cattle and now the same producers who denied the existence of the bats are asking us to eradicate them," he said.

*

Here is the evidence; the inmates are definitely running the asylum!

'Earth Charter' calls for global society
U.N. group seeks 'legally binding instrument on environment'

By Jon E. Dougherty
� 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

In a bid to form a single global community, a group calling itself the Earth Council has drafted a new "Earth Charter" that calls for all nations to surrender their sovereignty for the "greater good" of a singular global order.

The Charter, which was finalized at a meeting held at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, headquarters in Paris March 12-14, said that in order to "move forward" as humans, "we must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.

"Towards this end," the Charter preamble states, "it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations."

As in similar charters and global declarations put forth by other United Nations groups and affiliates, the Earth Charter claims, "dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species." The Charter also adopts a class-warfare argument, stating that "benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening."

Such gaps, the document claims, have led to increased "poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict" throughout the world, though the Charter's authors don't define the problem with specifics.

Furthermore, the Charter claims that without universal participation by all nations, humanity risks "the destruction of [itself] and the diversity of life."

"To realize these aspirations," the Charter says, "we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked."

Other high points enumerated in the Charter include:

a.. Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life

b.. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach

c.. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social and environmental imperative

d.. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care and economic opportunity

e.. Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values and skills needed for a sustainable way of life

f.. Prevent cruelty to animals kept in human societies and protect them from suffering, and protect wild animals from methods of hunting, trapping and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged or avoidable suffering

g.. Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration while eliminating nuclear, biological and toxic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Making a commitment to such sweeping change, the Charter said, "requires a change of mind and heart" and a "commitment to the United Nations." Governments are chided to "fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements," and to "support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development."

Henry Lamb, executive director of Sovereignty International and Eco-Logic, characterized the Earth Charter as little more than a "polished" version of earlier U.N.-based documents that have also called for the creation of a "global community."

"This particular document has had a few of the words that could be considered controversial taken out of it," said Lamb, a frequent columnist for WorldNetDaily. "Other than that, it's really just more of the same thing -- more global government, more global control and less national sovereignty."

Fortunately, said Lamb, the Earth Charter, while filled with "grandiose ideals" lacks "enforcement" power, at least for now.

"Right now the only global authority that has enforcement power is the World Trade Organization," he said, adding there was talk that soon the WTO could also be used to enforce new international environmental and human rights treaties as well.

Lamb said the Earth Charter is "following the same path" as an earlier document released by U.N.-based groups, known as the Declaration on Human Rights.

"That one (the declaration) also lacked the 'hard law' and legally binding language," he said, "but the new Charter is leading another one called the 'International Covenant on Environment and Development.'"

The Covenant document is the one that "contains all the 'put-them-in-jail' requirements," he said.

Once all the appropriate agreements have been made, Lamb said, member states and signatories acting on behalf of U.N. agencies created to "try" the cases in an international court of law would handle eventual enforcement of the provisions contained in them.

In a related story, on Thursday Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. hosted the 15-member United Nations Security Council on an unprecedented tour of Capitol Hill while urging the members to reform the world body.

Helms, a long time critic of the U.N., visited the General Assembly in January to deliver a speech rebutting the body's claims that the United States had not done its fair share to shoulder the costs and burdens of many of the U.N.'s missions, including military peacekeeping.

Some members of the Security Council criticized Helms' viewpoints and the senator's sponsorship of a bill to pay $819 million in assessed arrearages to the U.N. only if the world body makes some significant reforms as to how funds are dispersed and spent.

Netherlands Ambassador to the U.N. Arnold Peter van Walsum hinted to Helms that the U.S. was essentially blackmailing the U.N. because members know the world body cannot succeed without U.S. funding and participation.

"We are not persuaded by your arguments, but by our enlightened self-interest," van Walsum said in comments before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Helms chairs.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador questioned why other U.N. members should pay their dues if the U.S. would only pay them under certain conditions.

"Is the United States prepared to invest in a United Nations that will not realize its full potential without that investment?" he said.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, backed Helms' claims of misspent funds to some degree when he chastised U.N. Security Council members over the spiraling costs and numbers of U.N. peacekeeping missions.

"You're heavily involved in Bosnia and Kosovo," Warner said, adding, "Don't take on more than you can do, and do effectively."

According to language in the Earth Charter, however, on the surface it does not appear as though the U.N. has suddenly become less ambitious or more frugal.

Under the sub-chapter of "Social and Economic Justice," the Charter calls for "social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves" -- a provision that would be funded, ostensibly, through a system of wealth redistribution outlined in earlier sections.

Furthermore, Lamb said, it was "interesting" to note the expense the U.N. shoulders to sponsor global symposia and forums, often having to fly representatives from a large number of member states to distant locations. While there, he said, it's common to see the world body spending lavishly on accommodations, which seems, he added, to belie the UN's stated goal of helping impoverished peoples.

"I've been to a great many U.N.-sponsored events," Lamb told WorldNetDaily, "and it always amazes me to see how many representatives fall for this stuff simply because they don't want to be blacklisted for the next U.N. conference.

"Sometimes it seems like it's not about getting real work done, but just about being there," he said.

*

Please Note:

All our books are now available as electronic emails: Each and every book is now available to you as an email for 50% of the advertised printed price. (See the order form for advertised prices).

Please send your order and payment as usual to the Chino Valley address, including your email address with the order, and the book or books you order shall be sent to you promptly in HTML version via email.

*

Special!

The Annwn Library CD
The Complete Works Of Annwn Publications
To The Year 2000

Special Price: $350 (save $45)

Order now to receive it at this discount price!

*

Temporary Address Change

Please send all orders and correspondence until further notice to: