NEWCASTLE MEETING SATURDAY AUGUST 5TH 2pm, Joy Cummings Centre Cnr Scott & Pacific Streets Newcastle Contact Mark on 4952 4121 for more information Agenda Mulesing Calf Roping Live Export Sow Stalls More topics to be announced - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FREE-RANGE EGG SCANDAL _layer_S OF INTRIGUE AS THE BARNYARD BECOMES A BATTLEFIELD Kelly Burke Consumer Affairs Reporter July 29, 2006 AS MANY as 200,000 factory-farmed eggs are being passed off as free-range each day, in a widespread egg substitution racket, swindling the consumer of about $13 million annually. Free-range egg farmers have been claiming for years that large operators frequently package barn- and cage-laid eggs in free-range cartons to meet consumer demand, but admitted they lacked hard evidence to back up their claims. But a detailed analysis of data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Egg Corporation and the Australian Free Range Egg and Poultry Association shows that farmers are incapable of producing the 364.8 million free-range eggs we consume each year, as 15 per cent of the total egg market. When the Herald presented the figures to the Australian Free Range Egg and Poultry Association, its chairwoman, Ivy Inwood, said she was surprised the figures were so low. We believe as many as half the [free-range] eggs sold in supermarkets are falsely labelled, she said, with one-third thought to be sourced from battery hens and the remainder from barn-housed birds. The big buggers in the cage industry have been passing off barn eggs as free-range for years, she said. It's a big joke - the cage boys know they're just shifting eggs from one grading floor to another, then packing them in free-range cartons. _base_d on an optimistic flock size of a million free-range birds nationally, laying at a rate of 800 eggs a day per thousand hens, the market falls short of its free-range quota by 20 per cent. At a conservative estimate, one out of every five eggs labelled free-range and retailing at a premium is not what it seems, translating to a shelf-value of $34 million a year. If labelled correctly, those eggs would have cost the consumer about $21 million annually. Peter Trow, the vice-president of the NSW Free Range Egg Producers Association, said while its members guaranteed authenticity and farms were inspected regularly by independent accreditors, there were only a handful of genuine free-range producers in the state. And most of them are small operators, they can't reliably supply the major supermarkets, he said. But you rarely see one of the big companies run out of free-range eggs, even when demand outstrips supply. If you look at how many free-range chooks are out there, and how many free-range eggs, the numbers don't add up. They don't even come close. About 70 per cent of egg consumption in Australia is in the household sector and, according to a 2002 government briefing for the Egg Industry Service Provision Bill, which in turned established the Australian Egg Corporation Limited, as few as nine producers account for 70 per cent of egg production nationally. In a statement sent to the Herald, the corporation's managing director, James Kellaway, strongly disputed the egg substitution allegations, and detailed the strict guidelines of its national egg quality assurance program. Recent claims or allegations questioning the veracity of labelling … certain eggs misrepresents the Australian egg industry, he said. Any suggestion that the issue is 'rife in the industry' is clearly false. The federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, also disputed the claims. Australian agriculture invests a great deal of money and effort in living up to its clean, green image, and distortions of this kind can unravel much of that drive, he said yesterday. But the Greens NSW spokesman, John Kaye, said the figures spoke for themselves and the cost to the consumer was much greater than just money. Consumers' intention to do the right thing is being exploited, he said. Their belief in the integrity of labelling is being destroyed. And their faith in the ability of consumers to effect ethical change is being shattered.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/_layer_s-of-intrigue-as-the-barnyar... es-a-battlefield/2006/07/28/1153816381490.html?page=2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - VEGAN DIET REVERSES DIABETES SYMPTOMS, STUDY FINDS Thu Jul 27, 2006 By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who ate a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, researchers said on Thursday. They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association. Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared to eight on the standard diet. I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes first, rather than pre_script_ion drugs, Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped conduct the study, told a news conference. An estimated 18 million Americans have type-2 diabetes, which results from a combination of genetics and poor eating and exercise habits. They run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and limb loss. Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the University of Toronto and the University of North Carolina tested 99 people with type-2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low-fat, low-sugar vegan diet or the standard American Diabetes Association diet. After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or lowered the doses. The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds (6.5 kg) on average while the diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds (3.1 kg). An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet. DROPPING DRUGS A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over the preceding three months. In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they were on during the study, LDL or bad cholesterol fell by 21 percent in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group. The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish and dairy. It was also low in added fat and in sugar. The American Diabetes Association diet is more tailored, taking into account the patient's weight and cholesterol. Most patients on this diet cut calories significantly, and were told to eat sugary and starchy foods in moderation. All 99 participants met weekly with advisers, who advised them on recipes, gave them tips for sticking to their respective diets, and offered encouragement. We have got a combination here that works successfully, said Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, who worked on the study. The message that we so often get with diet is that it is no good because nobody follows it for very long. Dr. Joshua Cohen, George Washington University associate professor of medicine, said everyone diagnosed with diabetes is told to start eating more carefully. That may be among the hardest things that any of us can do, Cohen told the news conference. The vegan diet is at least as good, if not better than traditional approaches, Cohen said. Vance Warren, a 36-year-old retired police officer living in Washington, said he lowered his a1c from 10.4, considered uncontrolled diabetes, to 5.1, considered a healthy level, over 18 months. My life is much better being 74 pounds (34 kg) lighter, Warren told the news conference.
http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=domestic... oryID=2006-07-27T183400Z_01_N27377279_RTRUKOC_0_US-DIET._xml_ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE IS WORTH £6BN A YEAR By Clifford Coonan Whether it is slaughtering rhinos for their horns or Tibetan antelopes for their wool, smuggling snakes as pets or selling illegally felled hardwoods from the rainforest, the global illicit wildlife trade is now worth more than £6bn a year, making it the world's third-biggest source of criminal earnings after drugs trafficking and the arms trade. This alarming statistic was revealed after a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (Cites), an international pact signed by almost 200 countries and top security officials in Beijing this week. Cites has been co-operating with Interpol to increase its effectiveness in enforcing the UN agreement to tackle the rapid decline in wildlife through over-exploitation for trade. In a statement after the meeting, organised by Interpol and the Chinese police, a statement from Cites said: Illegal wildlife trade threatens species' survival and leads to ecological damage. One example is the wild rhino, 90 per cent of which have disappeared since 1970 as the demand for their horns increases. Every year, hundreds of millions of plants and animals are traded illegally. The population of species declined by an average 40 per cent between 1970 and 2000 and wildlife trade is the second-biggest direct threat to species, after habitat destruction. Wildlife smuggling and poaching can take many forms. Live animals are sold as food or exotic pets, while ornamental plants, timber and other wildlife products, such as exotic leather goods, musical instruments and medicines, appear in markets and shopping malls around the world. In Britain more than one million items were seized by Customs between 1996 and 2000. Watchdogs have called for the maximum sentence for illegal wildlife trade in the UK to be raised from two years to five years to further deter poachers, while China has said it will implement the Cites agreement in September. Meng Xianlin, a senior Chinese official responsible for implementing Cites, said the regulation was more comprehensive than previous individual regulations. It is a step forward in enforcing protection and combating illegal trafficking of endangered species, he said. Poachers and smugglers of endangered species can be fined and jailed for more than 10 years in China, but protected plants, furs and other body parts are sold in many cities. On Monday, Chinese police detained a man for trying to sell the fur of a young panda for about £20,000. The gradual opening up of the Tibet-Qinghai plateau has had serious repercussions for the local flora and fauna. The China Office of Conservation International has started distributing a green travel guide for visitors on the newly installed train to Lhasa, encouraging visitors to boycott products made from endangered species such as wild yak skulls, the horns of Tibetan gazelle and skins of Bengal tigers. There are signs that cross-border co-operation is working. Earlier this month, Thai police raided three shops in Bangkok suspected of trafficking the wool of the endangered Tibetan antelope, which lives almost exclusively on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Police detained four dealers and confiscated more than 250 shahtoosh shawls. In May, Hong Kong customs officials discovered a shipment of 605 ivory tusks weighing 3.9 tons, worth £4.3m, the largest seizure in Hong Kong since the international trade of ivory was banned in 1989. Forbidden quarry: four animals targeted by the poachers * PANDAS Even though trading in panda skins carries the death penalty in China, the animal - which has long teetered on the edge of extinction - is prized by collectors for its skins, which can fetch up to £20,000. * ELEPHANTS Cites banned the international trade in ivory in 1989, but some member nations, led by Japan and South Africa, are pushing for a resumption. In May, an illegal shipment worth £4.3m was discovered in Hong Kong. * TIBETAN ANTELOPE Shahtoosh shawls made from the endangered Tibetan antelope sell for up to £6,400. Shawls are only certified genuine if the antelope is slaughtered; the wool cannot be plucked or sheared. * RHINOCEROS A Cites ban on the sale of horns has done little to help the rhino; it has only driven the trade underground. Between 1970 and 1987, almost 90 per cent of the world's rhinoceros population disappeared.
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1202820.ece
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