Free Republic

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is likely to move its research on one of the most contagious animal diseases from an isolated island laboratory to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock, raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak Skeptical Democrats in Congress are demanding to see internal documents they believe highlight the risks and consequences of the decision. An epidemic of the disease, foot and mouth, which only affects animals, could devastate the livestock industry. One such government report, produced last year and already turned over to lawmakers by the Homeland Security Department, combined commercial satellite images and federal farm...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The first victims of the deadly respiratory virus spreading across the world were people in China's southern province of Guangdong who ate or handled wild game, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday. A top health expert in China said the earliest patients with the flu-like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Guangdong had close and continuous contact with chickens, ducks, pigeons and owls, the newspaper said. "We will explore further if the disease was passed to human beings from wild animals. You know, Guangdong people like eating exotic animals, and I don't find it...