Drug Causing Near Extinction of Vultures in Asia

[Guest guest]

This is just your typical poisonous crap put out by the drug companies and the

medical establishment says to take it for your " health " . This would really fix

up your health, huh?

 

Almost all drugs are eventually found out to be more harmfull than beneficial in

the long run. But it usually takes 20, 30, or 40 years or more to find that out

and by that time those drugs are no longer important to the drug companies

because the patents have ran out and big pharma wants those drugs off the market

more than you do. They only want thier new patent protected drugs. That is where

the money is, whether they kill you in the process or not.

 

Most of the time they know that their product is crap, but they also know that

they can foist it off on the public usually long enough to make a ton of money

before it becomes known what it is really like. By that time, the money has

already been reaped and the cycle has aready been started on many others. And

the buying public never learns what is going on

 

Frank.

 

 

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & cid=655 & ncid=655 & e=1 & u=/oneworld/200\

40216/wl_oneworld/4591793051076940145

 

Drug Causing Near Extinction of Vultures in Asia

Mon Feb 16, 9:39 AM ET

 

Keshab Poudel, OneWorld South Asia

KATHMANDU, Feb 16 (OneWorld) - Experts warn that within the next two years,

vultures will become extinct in Asia, unless governments immediately ban the

veterinary use of anti-inflammatory drug, Diclofenac, with which most animal

carcasses are riddled.

 

 

 

Research conducted by the US-based conservation organization, Peregrine Fund,

has revealed that the use of the non-steroidal drug, originally manufactured for

human use, especially arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, is the

primary cause of vulture deaths in South Asia.

 

Veterinary surveys in Pakistan show Diclofenac is widely used for a range of

livestock ailments and injuries much as humans might use Paracetamol, Ibuprofen,

or Aspirin. Its low price is the main contributory factor.

 

" No amount of conservation efforts will succeed as long as the cause of the

decline is left intact, " says Dr G. Rao from Indian Veterinary Research

Institute (IVRI).

 

He adds that, " Diclofenac is clearly the cause of the catastrophic decline in

vultures on the subcontinent, with recently treated livestock that become food

for vultures being the most probable route of contamination. "

 

Diclofenac was introduced into the veterinary market just a decade ago. Its

popularity accrues to the fact that it has therapeutic value in the treatment of

a broad range of ailments and injuries, causing immediate but short-term relief.

 

Significantly, veterinarians say the drug has no specific curative value and has

many potential substitutes.

 

" Our research has revealed that veterinary use of a pharmaceutical called

Diclofenac is responsible for the catastrophic decline that has devastated the

subcontinent, " said Dr J. Lindsay Oaks, assistant professor at Washington State

University who conducted the study.

 

The study confirmed that most vultures died after consuming carcasses of animals

dosed with Dicloflenac, which seemed to damage the birds' kidneys.

 

With the support of the US Department of State and in partnership with

nongovernmental organization, Bird Conservation Nepal, an international summit

held last week in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, drew the attention of government

officials from Pakistan, India and Nepal including experts from the World

Conservation Union and Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) to the alarming

situation.

 

" The summit is successful for convincing policy makers there is a need to take

immediate action to prevent vultures from extinction. I am happy that officials

from Nepal, India and Pakistan have shown sincere commitment, " said president of

The Peregrine Fund, Dr. William (Bill) Burnham.

 

Burnham called for an " immediate and outright ban on the production, sale, and

use of veterinary Diclofenac products to reduce vulture mortality. "

 

Senior government officials and experts from South Asia and other parts of the

world passed a resolution recommending a ban on the veterinary use of

Diclofenac.

 

They were in agreement that extinction of vultures would have far-reaching

economic, ecological, and public health implications.

 

Vultures play a role in the control of human and veterinary diseases such as

Anthrax, Tuberculosis and Brucellosis by rapid disposal of infected animals and

inactivation of pathogens.

 

They also contribute to controlling veterinary diseases such as foot-and-mouth

disease, rinderpest and contagious pleuro-pneumonia.

 

Awakening to the dangers, Indian officials agreed to organize a seminar to

inform relevant government departments of the environmental consequences of

Dicloflenac use and devise a suitable strategy for its deregistration.

 

 

 

Organizations like the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in India and

University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, in Lahore, Pakistan promised to

undertake research on safe, effective and affordable alternatives to Diclofenac.

" We will support the awareness campaign in Nepal by providing necessary funds, "

said WWF country representative, Dr Chandra Gurung.

Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation, Sarbendra Nath Shukla, also said

that, " The Nepalese government will take immediate action, and provide all kinds

of necessary support to rescue the vulture. "

Till a few years ago vultures of South Asia were considered among the most

abundant large raptors on earth. By the late 1990s scientists realized three

species of Gyps vultures were in a perilous state of decline, with populations

across the subcontinent reduced by 95-100 per cent.

These species have now been classed as critically endangered by the IUCN, with

studies showing that unless remedial action is taken quickly, remaining

populations of Oriental White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Long-billed

Vulture (Gyps indicus), and Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) will

become extinct in the near future. "

Vulture populations have declined entirely through much of Indochina and the

Thai-Malay Peninsula. Small breeding populations of Oriental White-backed and

Slender-billed Vultures remain in northern Cambodia, with other fragmented

reports in the region restricted to small groups or individual birds.

The situation in the Indian subcontinent has rapidly worsened over the past few

years, with the number of vultures showing a drastic decline.

Concerns for India's vultures were first raised by Bombay Natural History

Society (BNHS) biologist Dr Vibhu Prakash in the late 1990s.

Nesting pairs at the well-known Keoladeo National Park in the north Indian town

of Bharatpur decreased from 353 in 1987/88 to 20 in 1998-99.

No active nests were recorded at the park in either the 1999/2000 or the 2000/01

season. Numbers of Long-billed Vultures also declined from a count of 816 birds

in 1985-86 to 25 in 1998-99, with only one bird seen in the 1999-2000 season. Dr

Prakash's studies reported large numbers of dead adult vultures (73 recorded in

1997/98), suggesting the decline was related

to an increase in mortality rate.

Research by the Peregrine Fund and regional partners in Pakistan and Nepal also

confirmed that vulture populations in these countries were on the decline.

" We have recorded drastic decline in the number of vultures in some of the

national park areas, " said Hem Sagar Baral, president of Bird Conservation

Nepal. " In 2000, we had seen 67 vulture nests in Kosi Tappu, a wildlife resort

500 miles east of Kathmandu, but we have just three nests now. "

Pakistani wildlife officials also recorded a drastic loss in the number of

vultures.

" During the last three years, vulture populations in colonies in the Punjab

province have declined by 92 per cent. With the rate of decline increasing at

all sites annually, time is rapidly running out, " warned professor Dr Muhammad

Naeem Khan, dean faculty of Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Veterinary and

Animal Science, Lahore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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