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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
HIV-1
Source Found to be Chimpanzees in Logging-Threatened Rainforests
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
2/10/99
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY by EE
Everywhere
you turn there is a new reason to save rainforests.
Rainforest
Action Network makes the case that given the presumption
that
certain Chimpanzees are the source of HIV-1, they may possess
antibodies
or other clues to HIV resistance and treatment, and thus
holding
onto their rainforest habitats is essential.
How short-
sighted
our species is to be trashing nature's pharmacopoeia.
g.b.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: SCIENTISTS DISCOVER SOURCE OF HIV-1 TO BE
CHIMPANZEES IN
LOGGING-THREATENED RAINFOREST
WITHOUT IMMEDIATE PRESERVATION,
CURE FOR AIDS MAY BE LOST FOREVER
Source: Rainforest Action Network
Status: Distribute freely with credit given to
source
Date: February 1, 1999
RAINFOREST
ACTION NETWORK
For
immediate release - February 1, 1999 Press contacts:
Mark
Westlund -- ranmedia@ran.org
Erick
Brownstein -- osani@ran.org
SCIENTISTS
DISCOVER SOURCE OF HIV-1 TO BE CHIMPANZEES IN LOGGING-
THREATENED
RAINFOREST
WITHOUT
IMMEDIATE PRESERVATION,
CURE
FOR AIDS MAY BE LOST FOREVER
The old
growth rainforest that may likely hold effective treatments
and a
cure for AIDS is being cut to the ground, and the chimpanzees
that
might carry the antibody are being killed to feed the logging
crews. There is a warning and a promise in Dr.
Hahn's discovery:
rainforests
are indeed nature's medicine chest, but if we are going to
save
them we need to act now.
- Kelly
Quirke, Rainforest Action Network Executive Director
CHICAGO
- Environmentalists saw a new imperative for rainforest
preservation
today when AIDS scientists announced a study proving the
source
of Human Immunodificiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1), the virus that
causes
AIDS in humans, to be a subspecies of chimpanzees native to the
logging-threatened
old growth rainforests of Cameroon and Gabon.
Many
of the
healing medicines available today originated from rainforest
biological
sources, and now it seems that a potential cure for AIDS
may
come from the rainforests of West-Central Africa.
The
scientific study was presented at the 6th Conference on Retrovirus
and
Opportunistic Infections by University of Alabama at Birmingham
scientist
Dr. Beatrice Hahn; it solved a 20-year puzzle regarding the
origins
of the worldwide AIDS epidemic.
Rainforest
Action Network's executive director Kelly Quirke, in
Chicago
for the conference, commented: "There are several things
average
Americans can do to help save Africa's rainforests and the
life-saving
potential they hold. First of all, make
sure that the
wood
and wood products you purchase are certified not to come from old
growth
rainforests. Then, send a letter to
your congressperson
insisting
that proposed African free trade bills include complete
protection
for Africa's forests and wildlife."
Chimpanzees,
including the source subspecies for HIV-1, are identical
to
humans in 98-percent of their genetic makeup, yet appear to be
resistant
to the damaging effects of the AIDS virus on their immune
system. Scientists may be able to obtain important
clues to develop
cures
and treatments for AIDS by studying the biological differences,
and the
ecology of the chimpanzees' rainforest home.
The
chimpanzee, as well as other great apes and endangered species,
are in
peril of being wiped out by the so-named "bushmeat" trade.
Increased
logging activities in Cameroon and Gabon have provided
unprecedented
access to remote forest regions, and have led to the
killing
of thousands of chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys for human
consumption. Dr. Hahn believes that HIV-1 was introduced
into the
human
population through exposure to blood during hunting and field-
dressing
of these animals.
Rainforest
Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
support
the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots
organizing
and non-violent direct action. RAN's Africa Campaign is
funded
as part of a $1-million grant from the Richard and Rhoda
Goldman
Fund.
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