Posts by Carol Stewart
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But yes, Craig, that is a very hard proposition to disagree with.
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And Anna Madrigal would NEVER litter, being fully cognisant of the laws of karma ;-)
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recommended many superb books (none more so that the Tales of the City series)
Ahh, that's a blast, Paul. I loved that series. Did you see the TV adaptation? It wasn't half bad - it had Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis (as Anna Madrigal, of course) which is something.
Sorry I know this is way OT from the senile delinquents. -
But yes, I agree about the marine reserves. Better catchment management too.
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Andre, puffer fish aren't the only source of tetrodotoxin.
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David: Wow.
As a charm offensive approach you could have tried handing the offending items back through the car window and saying "Here, you dropped something". I have tried this before with some success and the litter-droppers having the grace to look somewhat shamefaced. But unlikely in this situation I guess - these customers sound like total recidivists.
At least they will be extinct before too long. -
Russell - sweet, thanks.
Roger Lacey - the toxicological investigations on the dead dogs were inconsistent with brodifacoum poisoning. It's fair to say that, as Russell noted, the transport pathways for the biotoxin tetrodotoxin are still not well understood, but at this stage the evidence points much more firmly towards the biotoxin than brodifacoum. This is what Dr Susie Wood, of the Cawthron Institute, has to say:
Cawthron has already confirmed dog deaths from anatoxin, a neurotoxin from ‘freshwater’ algae, with a record number of river system fatalities around the country last summer in Nelson, Takaka, Wellington and Canterbury in particular.
While there has never been a report of a dog dying from marine algae before, Dr Wood says evidence to date strongly suggests this is the most likely scenario with the freshwater cases displaying similar symptoms to the recent dog deaths “including frothing at the mouth and paralysis.”
She says, “dogs are particularly susceptible because, along with neurotoxins, algae emit an odour which, while putrid to humans, is particularly appealing to dogs, and given they like to eat rotten smelly things, they are most likely to ingest it, which we know is often fatal.”
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Sorry to be picky here, but the John Ferguson you mention in the post is actually John Leonard, who was the forensic accountant. Steven Price's assessment of him is qutie withering:
The independent reviews of the Leonard report, including one by a WHO expert from the United States, are here. They acknowledge that Mr Leonard picked up a couple of minor glitches, but find that they are inconsequential. One reviewer suggests that Mr Leonard plainly didn’t have the expertise to review the study
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Just remind us, who was Leonard?
Don't worry, I read Steven Price's summary and he covered this.
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The 2005 study was reviewed again, by a different set of experts, in light of Leonard's review.
Just remind us, who was Leonard? You mentioned a forensic accountant who did a review but this seems to be someone else.