BPR Mailing List Digest: 04/26/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
April 26, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | April, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Guide to Researching the Council of Europe
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:36:34 -0400

Guide to Researching the Council of Europe
http://www.llrx.com/features/coe.htm

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jiang And Mbeki To Sign "Pretoria Declaration"
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:43:17 -0400

Jiang And Mbeki To Sign "Pretoria Declaration"

PRETORIA, Apr 25, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) President Jiang Zemin
of China and South African President Thabo Mbeki were to sign a "Pretoria
Declaration" here Tuesday to initiate greater cooperation between their
powerful developing countries.

The landmark visit -- the first to South Africa by a Chinese president -- would
also see the two heads of state discussing affairs in Africa as a whole,
officials said.

The two presidents were to face the press -- at 12:50 p.m. (1050 GMT) -- but
would take only two questions each.

The 73-year-old Jiang arrived from Greece Monday evening with his wife
Wang Yeping for a four-day state visit aimed at boosting political and trade
ties with South Africa, which broke relations with Taiwan and established
links with mainland China in 1998.

He was due to be welcomed by a 21-gun salute at the imposing Union
Buildings -- the seat of the apartheid and now majority government -- before
holding talks with Mbeki, who is 57, on issues including reform of the UN
Security Council and financial institutions, and South-South cooperation.

Trade between the countries is weighted heavily in China's favor and South
Africa wants to sell locally-built BMW and Volkswagen cars direct to Beijing
and increase gold sales there.

South Africa's exports last year to China were valued at 208 million dollars
(222 million euros) while its imports from China -- mainly domestic
appliances, textiles and machinery -- were worth 686 million dollars (731
million euros).

Jiang, in a written arrival statement, said he hoped his visit would "further
enhance mutual understanding and facilitate the constant and steady growth
of China-South Africa friendship in the new century."

He added, "Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in early 1998,
cooperation between the two countries in all fields has been strengthened
with broad prospects for further expansion."

South Africa's decision to break with Taiwan was a major coup for China in
its campaign to isolate the breakaway island.

Nelson Mandela visited China last year before standing down as president.
He will have a private meeting with Jiang here late Tuesday afternoon, and on
Thursday the Chinese president will visit Robben Island, off Cape Town,
where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years as a political prisoner under the
apartheid regime.

Chinese and South African ministers were to sign six agreements here
Tuesday: on merchant shipping; police cooperation; avoidance of double
taxation; phytosanitary cooperation; cooperation in animal health and
quarantine; and culture.

Sipho Pityana, the director general of the foreign affairs department, told
reporters in a pre-visit briefing that increased police cooperation would cover
such things as Chinese "triad" gangs operating among the 100,000-strong
Chinese community in South Africa, smuggling of endangered species and
drugs, and prostitution.

He added that South Africa, which has vast land and sea borders, was also
interested to know how China policed its borders.

He predicted a huge increase in Chinese merchant shipping. South Africa
wants its ports to serve as transshipment points for goods going from China
to Latin America, the Caribbean and West Africa, he said.

On Wednesday Jiang will meet members of the Chinese community in
Pretoria and later fly to Cape Town.

"There are great expectations in Africa that China will become a partner in
the rebirth of Africa and that Africa, with her abundance of mineral and
agricultural resources, could become a major supplier of beneficiated and
even manufactured products to China," Pretoria said in a statement last
week. ((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)

http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=154226&text

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Russia Today items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:45:36 -0400

RUSSIA LIKELY TO CLAIM MORAL HIGH GROUND AT NUCLEAR
DISARMAMENT TALKS
UNITED NATIONS -- Russia is expected to use its recent ratification of two
key nuclear weapons agreements to boost its standing among parties to the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on Tuesday.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=154197&text

U.S. Diverts Russian Tanker in Gulf for Breaking Iraq Sanctions (25Apr.00)
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=154433

China Welcomes Russian Ratification of CTBT (25Apr.00)
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=154354

Japanese, Russian Leaders may Meet Again After G8 Summit (25Apr.00)
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=154306

EU Should Review Relations with Russia Say French Ministers (25Apr.00)
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=154302

Russia Criticizes USA, EU over Failure to Support Resolution on Terrorism
(25Apr.00)
http://www.russiatoday.com/bbcmonitor/bbcmonitor.php3?id=154419

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - View the Universe on Your Computer Screen
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:48:38 -0400

April 25, 2000

Donna Weaver
Space Telescope Science Institute
(Phone: 410-338-4493)

NOTE TO EDITORS #STScI-NTE00-02

View the Universe on Your Computer Screen

See the majesty and mystery of space without leaving your home. To
celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope's tenth anniversary of space
exploration, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md.,
is unveiling a new Web site devoted to the Earth-orbiting telescope
and its heavenly pictures. Gaze at baby galaxies that existed billions
of years ago. View tall, gaseous pillars that serve as incubators for
embryonic stars. These and other images are just a mouse click away at
http://hubble.stsci.edu.

The site, however, offers more than just glorious Hubble pictures.
Read about Hubble's new discoveries, which explore such fundamental
questions as: Will the universe expand forever, How do stars similar
to our Sun live and die, and How do planets form around infant stars?
Learn what makes Hubble tick: The site explains the technology that
allows the telescope to study the cosmos. Go behind the scenes to meet
the folks who operate Hubble. Challenge yourself with some interactive
educational activities, including whipping up your own comet.

So, bookmark Hubble's new site and visit it every week for the latest
Hubble news and pictures.

via: isml@onelist.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Canadians keep faith
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 08:15:33 -0500

Tuesday, April 25, 2000

Canadians keep faith

STANLEY OZIEWICZ in Toronto

http://www.scmp.com/News/World/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-20000425
051547105.asp

Even though regular church attendance in Canada has
plummeted, 84 per cent of adult Canadians say they believe
in God.

An opinion poll has also found that the basic features of
the Christian faith - the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus - are accepted by 66 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to
34, and 70 per cent of those 35 and over. The poll, for the
Globe and Mail newspaper and the Canadian Television
Network, surveyed 1,500 adults. The results were published
over the Easter weekend.

Despite large numbers of recent immigrants of various
faiths, Christianity remains the dominant religion among
Canada's 30 million residents. The number of Christians
attending church, however, has dropped sharply in the past
three decades.

Somewhat surprisingly, the survey found that while young
Canadians had negative feelings about organised religion,
they nevertheless identified with the fundamental tenets of
Christian teachings.

Of those surveyed, 84 per cent felt that it was not
necessary to attend church to be a good Christian.

The survey also revealed that 48 per cent of Canadians
believed Satan was active in the world.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Muslim Signs of the Last Day
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:44:58 -0400

The Muslim Signs of the Last Day
http://roadrunner.cybersurfers.net/~least/muslim.htm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Haider Says EU 'Immoral And Decadent' Like Ancient Rome
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 12:21:18 -0500

--- forwarded message --

Date sent: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 09:49:09 -0400
From: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com
Subject: Haider Says EU 'Immoral And Decadent' Like Ancient
Rome

April 26 8:56 AM ET

Haider Says EU 'Immoral And Decadent' Like Ancient Rome

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider said in an
interview Wednesday that the European Union was "as immoral and
decadent" as ancient Rome.

Renewing his attacks on the EU, which he recently said Austria should
consider leaving, Haider told NEWS magazine:

"In reality this federation is just as immoral and decadent as ancient
Rome. They let the work get done in the provinces and then waste the
money that is raised."

NEWS released excerpts of the interview ahead of publication Thursday.

Sanctions against Austria by the EU would help him make a political
comeback, said Haider, who resigned as leader of the far-right Freedom
Party in February after leading it into a coalition with Chancellor
Wolfgang Schuessel's conservatives.

"The EU is apparently preparing my comeback. What they are doing is
leading to a remarkable solidarity with us that goes beyond our
borders," the 50-year-old right-winger, who has not ruled out running
for chancellor in future, remarked.

Haider's comments were yet another embarrassment for Schuessel, a
committed pro-European who has been deeply stung by the decision of
Austria's EU partners to freeze bilateral political contacts because
they question the Freedom Party's commitment to democracy and human
rights.

Haider, who remains the Freedom Party's leading light as well as
provincial governor of Carinthia, is best known for remarks playing
down the crimes of the Nazis, for which he has apologized, and for
attacking immigration.

In the interview, he criticized current arrangements under which an
annual quota of non-EU immigrants is admitted to Austria and a
proposal
by conservative Interior Minister Ernst Strasser that foreigners here
legally should be allowed to work.

"The new government is certainly not going to implement socialist
concepts," Haider said. "We should ask whether the number of
asylum-seekers, which is rising every year, should not be included in
the foreigner quota."

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Worst Effects of Chernobyl To Come
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 12:21:59 -0500

-- forwarded message --

Date sent: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:25:59 -0400
From: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com
Subject: Worst Effects of Chernobyl To Come

Worst Effects of Chernobyl To Come

Associated Press
April 25, 2000; 6:02 p.m. EDT

GENEVA –– The United Nations released a new assessment of the 1986
Chernobyl nuclear meltdown Tuesday, saying the worst health
consequences
for millions of people may be yet to come.

"At least 100 times as much radiation was released by this accident as
by the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined" at
the end of World War II, said a 32-page booklet released to mark the
14th anniversary of the disaster.

Three people were killed in the explosion on April 26, 1986, and 28
emergency workers died within the first three months, the report said.
It gave no other death toll, but noted that 106 of the other emergency
workers that were first on the scene also were diagnosed with acute
radiation syndrome.

And, the report said, a total of 600,000 emergency workers who helped
in
the cleanup and later built a cover to seal the destroyed reactor
"must
be constantly monitored for the effects of exposure to radiation."

The booklet, published by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, said the three countries most affected by the
radiation – Belarus, Ukraine and Russia – continue to pay the price.

"Chernobyl is a word we would all like to erase from our memory," said
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a foreword.

But, Annan added, "more than 7 million of our fellow human beings do
not
have the luxury of forgetting. They are still suffering, everyday, as
a
result of what happened." He said the exact number of victims may
never
be known, but that 3 million children require treatment and "many will
die prematurely."

"Not until 2016, at the earliest, will be known the full number of
those
likely to develop serious medical conditions" because of delayed
reactions to radiation exposure, he said.

Annan said response to a U.N. appeal launched three years ago had
fallen
so short that the original list of 60 projects had been shortened to
the
nine most urgent.

"These nine projects could, if implemented, make a vital difference to
the lives of many people," Annan said in appealing for governments and
institutions to contribute $9.5 million.

The projects include modernization of a hospital, creation of a
network
of centers to treat children and decontamination of schools,
kindergartens and hospitals in Belarus.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Egypt to restore ancient Cairo aqueduct
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 12:22:40 -0500

-- forwarded message --

Date sent: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 11:52:29 -0400
From: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com
Subject: Egypt to restore ancient Cairo aqueduct

4/26/2000 11:13:00 ET

Egypt to restore ancient Cairo aqueduct

CAIRO, April 26 (Reuters) - Egypt signed an agreement with local
contractors on Wednesday to restore Cairo's ancient aqueduct that once
took water from the Nile to the Citadel, a historic fortress
overlooking
the city.

The aqueduct, built in 1176 by Sultan al-Nasir Salah al-Din Youssef,
founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, used waterwheels to lift Nile water to
the aqueduct that carried it to cisterns inside the Citadel,
constructed
in the same year.

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said at the signing ceremony that the
aqueduct was threatened by the haphazard building of roads, shanty
houses, workshops and slaughter houses.

The project, which will take two years to complete, is expected to
cost
a total of 38 million pounds ($11 million).

"We have always tried to protect the wall and renovate it but they
were
all temporary solutions," said Hosni. "That is why we had to tackle
the
problem as a whole and fully restore it."

The aqueduct, which rests on a series of pointed arches with tall
piers,
is 3.4 km (just over two miles) long. Napoleon ordered many of the
arches filled in and turned it into a wall.

The aqueduct remained in use until a modern water system was
introduced
in 1872.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - April 27, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 13:24:23 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

DISC - NEW YEAR'S EVE AT TIMES SQUARE - Planning New York's
millennium celebration.(CC)(TVG)

9:00

A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "The Million Dollar Spy"
- KGB mole Aldrich Ames sells American secrets and betrays
CIA agents.(CC)

DISC - THE LAST NEANDERTHAL? - Scientists explore
theories and evidence surrounding
Neanderthals.(CC)(TVG)

HIST - 100 YEARS OF TERROR - "The Fright Decades" -
Terrorist groups operate worldwide during the last third of
the 20th century.(CC)(TVPG)

TLC - NAPOLEON'S OBSESSION: THE QUEST FOR EGYPT -
Napoleon's failed conquest of Egypt sparks modern archaeology
and Egyptology.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

TLC - THE NAPOLEON MURDER MYSTERY - Napoleon Bonaparte dies
mysteriously while in exile.(CC)(TVPG)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Smallpox a big terrorism worry
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 14:59:55 -0500

Tuesday, April 25, 2000

Smallpox a big terrorism worry
by Steve Goldstein

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - When counterterrorism officials compare notes
on what keeps them awake at night, the weapon they most
fear is not a nuclear bomb or poison gas, but a disease
that was wiped off the planet 20 years ago. They worry
about smallpox, a lethal, super-contagious virus that, if
unleashed, would spread quickly through an unprotected
world population. The disease was eradicated two decades
ago, but the smallpox virus lives on, stored in freezers at
a pair of research facilities in the United States and
Russia. And, very likely, it remains alive in the
possession of rogue nations.

A planned "execution" of the virus stocks was stayed last
year, after U.S. government experts became convinced that
Iraq, North Korea and other countries could harbor secret
stocks of smallpox, or that the virus might fall into the
hands of terrorist groups.

Now scientists are furiously at work looking for ways to
counter a bioterrorist attack. They are racing against a
new deadline - less than two years away - for destruction
of the sanctioned stocks of virus. After that, researchers
will not have live virus against which to test their
remedies. "This is a threat we should take seriously," said
Margaret Hamburg, chief of planning at the Health and Human
Services Department. "The consequences of even a small-
scale, low-tech exposure would be devastating.

"Even one or two cases would create concentric circles of
disease and panic that would be destabilizing to health-
care systems and our society," she said.

Because routine vaccination ended nearly 28 years ago -
and vaccination is generally considered effective only for
10 years - smallpox would feast on an unprotected
population that travels frequently and widely. Well over
half of the world's population has never been vaccinated.
Only about 7 million people in a U.S. population of 270
million could currently be protected by America's existing
supply of vaccine, which is stored in a secluded Wyeth-
Ayerst facility in Lancaster County.

"The person who would use smallpox as a weapon would be
more evil than Hitler," said James Meegan, a specialist in
infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health.
"It could kill millions."

..MORE...

http://www.seattletimes.com/news/health-science/html98/poxx25m_2000042
5.html

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - A BRIEF AND INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF PROPOSALS FOR A UNITED RELIGIONS
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 15:04:37 -0500

A BRIEF AND INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF PROPOSALS FOR A UNITED RELIGIONS

http://web.bham.ac.uk/J.Boehle/history1.html

1893 The World's Parliament of Religions: The idea of a
united religions came along with many other proposals.

1920 The International Congress of Religious Liberals
(known now as the IARF) called for a League of Religions:
"Let us lay the foundation at least of a League of
Religions which shall be the counterpart and ally of the
political League of Nations"

Early 1920s - Rudolph Otto: Suggested the creation of an
Inter-Religious League as a parallel to the League of
Nations.

1930s - Dr. Norman Bentwich: In his book, The Religious
Foundation of Internationalism, he called for a League of
Religions and said the idea had a long history including
such proponents as Leibnitz and Rousseau. World Congress of
Faiths: Founded in the 1930s by Sir Francis Younghusband
who wrote that "a religious basis is essential for the new
world order"

1943 - Dr. George Bell, Bishop of Chichester:
Establishment of an interfaith committee to provide an
"association between international Authority and
representatives of the living religions of the world" which
produced the "Three Faith Declaration" (Protestant,
Catholic, Jewish) to be presented to the UN, but was
largely ignored.

1950s on: Starting with U Thant in the 1940s, every decade
has heard a UN proposal for something like the United
Religions. 1970s and 1980s, Robert Muller promoted it.

1950s - World Alliance of Religions: Held some conferences.

1950s - World Parliament of Religions: Founded at
Presbyterian Labor Temple in New York to establish a
permanent group "to work with a permanent United Nations to
stop war and the causes of war and to extend the more
abundant life among all peoples on earth."

1960s - 1990s - Temple of Understanding: Held Spiritual
Summit Conferences to parallel Summit Conferences of world
leaders.

1961 - 1996 - Won Buddhists of Korea: Prime Masters of Won
Buddhism have presented an idea of a united religions to
lead in solving the spiritual problems of the world.

1970s - Shri R. R. Diwaker, one of the founders of the
World Conference on Religion and Peace, expressed the need
for a "united religious organization of the whole world".

1970s - Prof. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President
of India, honorary sponsor of the first WCRP assembly,
wrote: "We are eager to promote peace and concord among men
through several international agencies. The UNO, ILO,
UNESCO, WHO are some of them. If we can have a United
Nations Organization, cannot we have a United Religions
Organization?"

1986 - World Council of Faiths: Suggested by Dr. John
Taylor at a meeting of large international interfaith
organizations at Ammerdown, England, but failed to gain
support.

1993 - Chicago Parliament of the World's Religions: The
idea was suggested by Sir Sigmund Sternberg, Chair of
International Council of Christians and Jews.

1995 - Peace Council: An Organization of internationally
known individuals to work together and support each other's
work for peace (Daniel Gomez-Ibanez).

1996 - San Francisco Summit Meeting for a Global United
Religions Initiative: Proposal of a United Religions that
would begin with the purpose of pursuing peace among
religions for the sake of wholeness for the entire order of
life. This United Religions has a target date of the year
2000 for its charter signing.

(Information is primarily from a paper presented by the
Rev. Marcus Braybrooke in April 1996 at Westminster
College, Oxford, at the International Interfaith Centre
Conference) IIC Homepage: http://www.interfaith-center.org
<http://www.interfaith-center.org>

United Religions Initiative Homepage: http://www.united-
religions.org/<http://www.united-religions.org/>

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - What is the United Religions Initiative?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 15:06:07 -0500

Seems to be some good thoughts at this site, haven't made
it through all the listing yet...

http://fatima.freehosting.net/index.htm

The United Religions Initiative
by Lee Penn

What is the United Relgions Initiative? Why should you be
concerned about it? What do you need to know about it? Why
should all devout, God-fearing Christians oppose it? Here
are the answers. All of the following articles are by Lee
Penn. If you are doing research on the URI and related
topics, we invite you to search our Web site by
http://fatima.freehosting.net/index.htm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infectious Diseases Get Stronger
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 19:25:29 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 17:54:23 -0400
From: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com
Subject: Infectious Diseases Get Stronger

Infectious Diseases Get Stronger

Associated Press
April 26, 2000; 5:07 p.m. EDT

Four reported outbreaks of unusual infections around the world have
illustrated the surprising potential of new microbes to emerge and old
ones to return with a vengeance.

"On a good day, we hold them at bay. On a bad day, they're winning,"
said Dr. Michael Osterholm of ican Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn., an
Internet information company focusing on infectious diseases.

Osterholm, who was Minnesota's state epidemiologist for 24 years,
wrote an editorial on emerging infections in Thursday's New England
Journal of Medicine, which carried reports on the four outbreaks.

The cases include a Nebraska farm boy who caught drug-resistant
salmonella from infected cows that apparently had been given
antibiotics; Malaysian pig farmers killed by microbes caught from
their animals; and hundreds of Italian schoolchildren sickened by
bacteria-contaminated cold corn salad. Finally, a diabetic Atlanta boy
needed bowel surgery twice for a severe bacterial infection after
eating a holiday chitterlings feast.

"The microbes are challenging us in ways we wouldn't have imagined 10
years ago and for which we're not prepared," said Dr. James Hughes,
director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bacteria and viruses multiply quickly, and can therefore evolve
rapidly into more aggressive strains.

While Osterholm said it is impossible to predict what will be "the
next HIV," another deadly microbe is inevitable. Likewise, Hughes said
it is only a matter of time until another deadly flu epidemic hits the
world.

Infectious diseases are the world's No. 1 killer, claiming 13 million
lives annually.

The deadly microbes appearing in the last quarter-century include:
Legionnaires' disease, toxic shock syndrome, AIDS, rodent-borne
hantaviruses, the airborne Ebola virus, Lyme disease, a fatal brain
disease in England caught from eating "mad cows," West Nile
encephalitis in the New York City area and new, drug-resistant
tuberculosis strains in many cities.

The experts cite numerous factors for the emergence – and re-emergence
– of deadly germs, including:

–increased international travel and shipment of food.

–unprecedented population growth cramming people together in
unsanitary conditions.

–changes in how food is grown and handled.

–decaying public health infrastructure in many areas.

–more people living with immune systems suppressed by AIDS, cancer,
diabetes and organ transplants.

–increased use of antibiotics in people and livestock, which
contributes to germs' growing resistance to antibiotics. Potentially
deadly staph infections are becoming resistant to even the antibiotic
of last choice.

"Imagine trying to deal with all those at one time," Osterholm said.
"It's like a city fire department trying to put out 30 fires at one
time with one truck."

A 1992 Institute of Medicine report spelled out those threats and the
international implications, spurring the CDC and the World Health
Organization to tackle some of the problems.

Hughes said food safety has been improved, a computerized CDC network
can quickly spot emerging disease outbreaks, and the agency has a
comprehensive plan to address the other threats, but Congress has only
funded half of it.

------- End of forwarded message -------

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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