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Friday, December 8, 2006

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Total Clips: 9

	Date	Outlet
Big prescription label error shakes up Bountiful mom	12/08/2006	Deseret Morning News
City's official 'holiday tree' sure looks a lot like Christmas	12/08/2006	Birmingham News
Backscheider awarded for book: Modern Language Association of America to honor AU professor	12/08/2006	Opelika-Auburn News
Education Briefs	12/08/2006	Birmingham News
Plaintiffs: Alabama college desegregation case should end, some oppose	12/07/2006	The Commercial Dispatch
Our Breakthrough Belly Flattening Plan	12/07/2006	Prevention
Avian flu vaccine developed for poultry	12/07/2006	Political Gateway
Vaxin, Auburn University Developing Vaccine to Protect Poultry, People from Avian Flu	12/07/2006	Congressional Quarterly.
Hooks, line sinking all wildlife	12/05/2006	Worcester Telegram and Gazette


Big prescription label error shakes up Bountiful mom 12/08/2006 Deseret Morning News Jarvik, Elaine		Return to Top
This story cites an AU study on prescription errors. Becky Vanderlinden was surprised last week when she looked at the dose instructions on the bottle of antibiotics for her toddler. I thought, 'This seems like a huge amount of medicine for a baby,' says Vanderlinden, who immediately called the pharmacy to double-check. The gentleman I spoke with said, 'This is the right dose.' So, she gave 19-month-old Lily the 2 1/2 teaspoons of Omnicef and repeated the dose three more times. At that point the bottle was empty, so Vanderlinden called the pharmacy back. That's when she discovered that her original suspicions were right. It turned out the dose on the label was five times the amount the doctor had prescribed. By then, Lily had severe diarrhea, and a couple of days later had developed a painful yeast infection. The whole episode has left the Bountiful mom a bit shaken -- and with advice for other parents and patients If something raises a red flag, trust your instincts. Don't be afraid to question. According to a study conducted in 2002 by researchers at Auburn University, errors associated with dispensing prescriptions are committed every day in pharmacies around the country. The study found that 1.6 percent of a sampling of prescriptions filled at community pharmacies in six randomly selected cities contained some type of error. The errors included dispensing an incorrect drug, an incorrect form or incorrect amount, and labelling errors such as printing incorrect doses or instructions. The error rates were slightly higher for independent pharmacies than chain stores or health system pharmacies. Occasionally the errors result in deaths or severe injury. In 2004, a Cook County jury awarded $21 million to an Illinois family whose daughter had permanent brain injuries the family alleged resulted when a pharmacy filled her prescription for anti-seizure medication with an adult diabetes drug. Neither the Utah Department of Health nor The Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, which regulates pharmacists, keeps statistics on pharmacy errors. Like most states in the country, Utah does not require pharmacies to report those errors. According to Utah Poison Control Center director Barbara Crouch, prescription errors that end up as calls to the center happen very infrequently but do occur. The center has studied what it calls 10-fold errors (doses that are 10 times more or less than the doctor ordered) in children younger than 6 years old and found that there were 29 calls (but these could have been either the fault of the pharmacy, the prescriber or the parent, Crouch pointed out). Vanderlinden did the right thing by calling the pharmacy back to question the dosage, says Crouch. Those are the same words used by the manager of the Bountiful Walgreen's that filled Lily's prescription and by a spokeswoman for Walgreen's corporate office in Chicago. You should always question anything you're concerned about when it comes to a prescription, says Lani Palauni, manager of the Bountiful Walgreen's pharmacy, who added that she can't comment on Vanderlinden's specific case because of patient privacy laws. We regret we didn't catch the error at the time, said Walgreen's corporate spokeswoman Carol Hively. We have apologized, refunded her co-pay and provided additional treatment (a cream for Lily's yeast infection). She said Walgreen's is investigating how the error happened. The chain has a multi-step filling and verification process the pharmacist should follow to ensure that the medicine is correct for the patient, she said. We investigate every error to try to prevent it from happening again. We also have staff at our corporate office dedicated to preventing prescription errors. As for Vanderlinden, she says the episode has made her nervous about future prescriptions. I'm going to be a more informed consumer, she says. In the past, when a doctor has handed me a prescription, I just put it in my purse and dropped it off at the pharmacy. From now on, she says, I'm going to make sure it's legible and make sure when I pick up the prescription it's the same.
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City's official 'holiday tree' sure looks a lot like Christmas 12/08/2006 Birmingham News Joseph D. Bryant		Return to Top
AU is mentioned in this story about seasonal tree displays. Politically correct conifer burns bright in Linn Park Three-year-old Naomi Smitherman looked up and smiled when she saw Santa Claus near a tree covered with bright lights in Birmingham's Linn Park. The little girl immediately recognized the scene as a Christmas tree - no matter what the city officially calls it. "That's what my grandbaby called it," said Naomi's grandmother, Birmingham City Council President Carole Smitherman. "It is a Christmas tree." The City of Birmingham this year named its annual holiday display downtown a "holiday tree" and is one of several government institutions grappling with balancing tradition with cultural and religious sensitivities. Smitherman said she didn't know the 40-foot tree was called anything but a Christmas tree. Besides, she said, that's what people will call it anyway. Melvin Miller, Birmingham's director of parks and recreation, said the display has had the generic name for several years without complaint. "We probably were sensitive before anybody was sensitive, not even knowing it," he said. "We still recognize Christmas during the actual opening. It's a Christmas celebration." Miller said the city is certainly not trying to erase the holiday's Christian theme. Monday's tree-lighting ceremony included Santa Claus and a "Merry Christmas" speech from Mayor Bernard Kincaid. "We've been doing that for a while," Miller said. "We say `Merry Christmas' and everything." Replacing "Christmas" with "holiday" or other secular names has stirred controversy in some cases. Student leaders at Auburn University received thousands of angry e-mails and an unwanted national spotlight last year for referring to its tree display as a holiday tree. Auburn's tree this year is once again a Christmas tree. The University of Alabama last year left its tree untitled, leaving it up to observers to call it what they wanted. This year the school returned to tradition. "We've realized that most people see it as a Christmas tree, so we are calling it `Christmas tree' this year," said UA spokeswoman Cathy Andreen. Balancing sensitivities while observing traditional events is difficult, said Joan Atkinson, a University of Alabama professor in the School of Library Information Science and an expert in children's multicultural literature. "Each institution has to decide where its values are," she said. However, Atkinson questioned the extent to which some go in an attempt not to offend. "If you go to the common denominator, you've perhaps watered down the meaning for every culture," she said. "Maybe we're getting too involved in semantics and losing a sense of joy about what we do, period, and I think that's unfortunate."
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Backscheider awarded for book: Modern Language Association of America to honor AU professor 12/08/2006 Opelika-Auburn News Staff report		Return to Top
Auburn University English Professor Paula Backscheider has been named a winner of the 2006 James Russell Lowell Prize by the Modern Language Association of America for her book "Eighteenth-Century Women Poets and Their Poetry: Inventing Agency, Inventing Genre." Backscheider and fellow recipient W.J.T. Mitchell of the University of Chicago will be honored Dec. 28 in Philadelphia. The award, named for James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), second president of the MLA, is given annually to an MLA member for the outstanding book that is either a literary or linguistic study, a critical edition of an important work, or a critical biography. "Professor Backscheider brings much prestige to the university through her dedicated work in literature," said Provost John Heilman. "She is the only person to have won the United Kingdom's British Council Prize for the most distinguished book in the humanities and now the United States' most prestigious award in the humanities." The MLA awards committee's citation for Backscheider’s book says, "Urging us to defamiliarize, rehistoricize, and reenvision the canons that have excised these works, Backscheider shows us how to read and value a counteruniverse of poetic achievement." Backscheider, AU's Philpott-Stevens Eminent Scholar, specializes in Restoration and Eighteenth Century literature, feminist criticism and cultural studies. Her books include "Daniel Defoe: His Life," "Spectacular Politics" and "Reflections on Biography." She has won two Choice Outstanding Academic Book awards. She is a former president of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and has held fellowships in the American Council of Learned Societies, National Endowment for the Humanities and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. She is a member of the University of Edinburgh's Institute for Advanced Studies. The MLA, which promotes the advancement of literary and linguistic studies, has 30,000 members in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
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Education Briefs 12/08/2006 Birmingham News		Return to Top
AU President Richardson's receiving the Alabama Farmers Federation highest award is included in this news roundup. Birmingham-Southern College will have a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Admission Welcome Center on Monday. The 9,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in the fall of 2007. Jim Day, political science professor at the University of Montevallo, will have a panel on the constitutional reform from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Davis Hall. Guest speakers include Mike Hill, who will speak in favor of calling a constitutional convention; Cam Ward, in favor of revising the constitution article-by-article, and Mary Sue McClurken, in favor of keeping the constitution as it is. The Adelante book group of the Montevallo chapter of the American Association of University Women will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Sarah Palmer Commons Room 202 of Comer Hall. The University of West Alabama will honor more than 450 graduates during fall commencement at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 16 in the Pruitt Gymnasium. The presidential reception for graduates and their guests begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Bell Conference Center. The family and regional history program at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville and the North Central Alabama Genealogical Society will host an open house at 9 a.m. Jan. 13. on the fifth floor of the Wallace State Library. Tours of the genealogy collection will be at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. HONORS Auburn University President Ed Richardson received the Alabama Farmers Federation's highest award Monday during the 85th annual meeting of the state's largest farm organization. The University of Alabama College of Engineering named Yang-Ki Hong to the Elbert Allen Drummond Endowed Chair in electrical and computer engineering. FURTHERMORE Judson College, in partnership with the Perry County Board of Education, has enlisted dramatist Billie Jean Young to serve a second year as artist in residence. Samford University has elected three new members to its board of trustees: Albert P. Brewer of Birmingham, former governor and retired professor of law and government at Samford's Cumberland School of Law; Joe C. Godfrey of Pleasant Grove, senior pastor, Pleasant Grove First Baptist Church; and Pete M. Hanna of Birmingham, chairman and CEO of Hanna Steel Corp.
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Plaintiffs: Alabama college desegregation case should end, some oppose 12/07/2006 The Commercial Dispatch Associated Press		Return to Top
Additional media outlets continue to pick up this AP story on a 1970 Alabama higher education desegration case. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A federal judge is expected to issue an order next week that would bring an end to Alabama's long-running college desegregation case, but some oppose the move, saying more still needs to be done. U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy said at a fairness hearing Tuesday that he would deliver an order next week in response to the plaintiffs' proposals to end court proceedings. Attorneys for both sides said they expect him to accept their agreements and dismiss the case, which began in 1981. "The plaintiffs have not agreed that the vestiges of segregation have been totally eliminated," state Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, a plaintiff, said at the hearing Tuesday. "Rather, we have agreed that the defendant State of Alabama and defendant universities have complied with the decrees issued by the court and that it is not practicable to obtain further relief in court." Willie Strain also spoke at the hearing in Birmingham federal court, which was held to consider objections to the ending the case. Strain filed a lawsuit in 1970 that led to a court order banning discrimination at the Auburn University-based Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, where he was assistant director of communications. He now heads the Alabama Black Faculty Association and said ending the case would thwart progress, including the need for historically white universities and the state's two-year college system to boost their ranks of black faculty and administrators. He also said the state should do more to help low-income black students financially when they attend historically white schools. The Birmingham News reported that in a conversation before the hearing, Knight told Strain, "We firmly believe that we've gotten all we can get out of this." Murphy, based in Rome, Ga., has made numerous trips to Alabama over the years to preside over the case, which stemmed from the U.S. Department of Education's 1979 finding that there were still traces of segregation in Alabama's college system. The federal agency sued the state in 1981 after university leaders failed to agree on a plan to correct the problem. Plaintiffs alleged there was a lack of programs and facilities and few white students at historically black Alabama A&M in Huntsville and at Alabama State University in Montgomery, and not enough black students, faculty and administrators at the predominantly white schools. Knight said that when the case's mandates fully end as expected in 2014, ASU and A&M each will have received more than $200 million for such things as new academic programs, endowment trusts, diversity scholarships, new buildings and improvements. Murphy oversaw two of the three major higher education trials in the suit and issued far-reaching rulings in 1991 and 1995. The case had appeared headed for another major trial, but the plaintiffs and historically white universities began working on agreements to avoid one. Later, a surplus in the state education budget made money available to help meet Alabama A&M's request for additional building and repair funds, as well as the plaintiffs' request for a meaningful need-based scholarship program. The expected end of the case won't end the plaintiffs' claim that Alabama's property tax system is a barrier to higher education for many black and low-income students because it doesn't generate enough revenue. Murphy rejected that claim, and it is now before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
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Our Breakthrough Belly Flattening Plan 12/07/2006 Prevention Selene Yeager		Return to Top
AU associate professor of biomechanics Wendi Weimer is quoted in this story. In the endless quest for a flat belly, you've likely done hundreds (if not thousands) of crunches and balanced in plank poses for hours. And let us guess: You still don't have flat abs, right? Well, we have news for you: The latest research shows that it's not your fault. The way most of us have been cued to do crunches just doesn't work. That's the news flash from a recent exercise study that found it's possible to get twice as much belly-flattening muscle activity from every crunch. "The way most people do crunches doesn't work the rectus abdominis [front abdominal muscle] effectively. That's why you can do thousands and not see much benefit," says abdominal activity researcher Gilbert M. Willett, a physical therapist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Testing ways to put more punch in every crunch, Willett and colleagues monitored the muscle activity of 25 people while they did crunches following different sets of instructions, such as pushing the belly out or pulling it in, or no instructions at all. They found that when testers sucked in their abs before curling off the floor, they generated twice as much muscle activity as when they didn't prep their abs. "They not only worked their front abdominal muscles but also the oblique muscles on the sides, which help you look trimmer through the waist," says Willett. Fab Ab Review That simple yet potent tip got us thinking: What if we could find the best belly-flattening advice science had to offer and rolled it into one ultraeffective, easy-to-do program? After poring through research and scientific reviews, even we were surprised by all the tricks and tips that can maximize the belly-flattening power of exercise. The result is Prevention's best belly-flattening plan ever. Here are the key elements for going from flab to fab: Cue before you crunch By prepping your abs, you get more muscle activity out of every move. Before you roll up, pull your navel toward your spine. Keep the abs hollowed throughout the move, imagining your ribs flaring out to the sides. This activates the obliques and makes each rep more effective. Hit your B-side One recent study revealed that the lats (midback muscles) play an important role in performing core-based activities such as torso twisting and bending, yet they are often overlooked during core-strengthening routines that tend to focus on the abs, obliques, and lower-back muscles alone. "Strong back muscles not only help you function better but also contribute to the overall appearance of your front because they help you stand straighter and balance your body," explains study researcher Wendi Weimar, PhD, an associate professor of biomechanics at Auburn University. Get off balance Another study found that single arm and leg exercises are good core challengers because your trunk acts like the "middleman," keeping you stable as you move your limbs, says Canadian exercise researcher David Behm, PhD, a professor of human kinetics at Memorial University of Newfoundland. "Better trunk activation results in more toned muscles, which improves the appearance of loose, sagging tummy muscles and provides a slimmer, more compact waistline," he says. Work the reverse The rectus abdominis is one long continuous muscle running from your ribs to your hips. Though you can't completely isolate the upper (six-pack) region from the lower (belly pooch), you should exercise in a way that fires as many fibers as possible throughout the entire muscle. That means adding leg lift-type crunches to your repertoire. Another University of Nebraska Medical Center study of traditional ab exercises revealed that the "reverse crunch," where you keep your torso down and lift your legs, gets the lower portion of your rectus abdominis buzzing more than traditional crunches alone, and it's equally good at firing the upper abs. The Flatten Fast Plan Unlike traditional belly-flattening plans, this routine includes all the key elements listed earlier on in this article to target your entire core--front, lower back, midback, and sides--from every angle to sculpt a tight, trim torso. The best part: You won't only look better, you'll feel better, too. "Back problems aren't just from major traumatic events, like picking up heavy objects," says exercise researcher David Behm, PhD. "More frequently, they're from simply moving or flexing with poor posture and a tired, out-of-shape back." A strong core can prevent both. Do the following 20-minute workout 3 nonconsecutive days a week. Perform two sets of the specified number of reps for each exercise, allowing 1 minute of rest between sets. On days you don't do the routine, keep your body moving with activities such as walking, swimming, or cycling to burn more calories and shed excess belly fat. Diamond Crunch Lie faceup on floor, knees open to sides, soles of feet together. Clasp hands and extend arms over chest. "Hollow" stomach by pulling navel toward spine. Then lift head and shoulders off floor, reaching as far forward as comfortably possible (shown). Hold for a moment, slowly lower to start position, and repeat. Perform 15 to 25 reps. One-Arm Band Pull Stand with feet hip-width apart. Hold an exercise band overhead with hands about 18 inches apart. Position right arm overhead, and hold left hand out to side, elbow bent about 90 degrees. Band should be taut. Keeping right arm stable, contract ab and back muscles and pull left arm down until left hand is in line with chest (shown). Hold for a moment, slowly return to start position, and repeat. Perform 15 reps. Then switch sides and repeat. To further engage core muscles, do the move balancing on one foot, then the other. Double Twist Sit on floor with knees bent and hands clasped just above thighs. Keeping back straight, lean back slightly, tighten abs, lift feet off floor, and balance. Rotate upper body to right, bringing hands as close to floor as possible, while simultaneously dropping knees to left (opposite) side (shown). Return to center and repeat. Perform 10 twists to left, then repeat to right. T Plank Assume a full push-up position with arms extended and hands directly beneath shoulders. Hold for 10 seconds. Rotate body to right, allowing feet to naturally turn onto sides, and extend left arm toward ceiling. Keep hips lifted, so body forms a diagonal T (shown). Hold for 10 seconds. Return to start, and repeat to opposite side. That's 1 rep. Perform 2 or 3 reps. Kneeling Side Kick From a kneeling position, lean to right and place right hand on floor directly beneath shoulder. Extend left leg out to side so it's parallel to floor, foot pointed. Place left hand behind head. Contract abs and bend left leg, pulling knee toward chest. Straighten leg and repeat. Perform 15 to 20 reps. Switch arms and legs and repeat. Roll and Reach Lie faceup with legs bent, knees pulled toward chest, and hands clasping shins. Inhale and "hollow" abs. Exhale as you roll up to a sitting position, balancing on tailbone, and then extend legs down to floor. Bend forward from hips and reach toward toes. Inhale, sit back up, and exhale as you slowly roll back one vertebrae at a time onto floor, keeping legs extended. Return to start position and repeat. Perform 5 to 10 reps. Extend 'n' Curl Kneel with hands directly beneath shoulders and knees directly beneath hips. Keep back straight and head in line with spine. Simultaneously raise left arm and right leg, extending them in line with back so fingers are pointing straight ahead and toes are pointing back. Then contract abs and draw left elbow and right knee together beneath torso. Extend and repeat. Perform 10 reps, switch arms and legs, and repeat. Ab Pike Lie faceup with arms at sides. Bend legs so feet are off floor, thighs over hips, and heels near glutes. As you "hollow" abs, straighten legs and lift hips up off floor (shown). Hold for a moment and slowly lower back to start, bringing hips down and bending legs. Perform 10 to 15 reps. Best Belly-flattening Tips There's more to a trim tummy than exercise. You need to eat right and ditch the habits that can widen your waistline. The following tips will help. Go easy on the alcohol They don't call them beer bellies for nothing. Binge drinkers (four-plus drinks in a sitting) have significantly more belly fat than both moderate drinkers and abstainers. If you do imbibe, limit it to no more than one drink a day. Skip the sugarless gum Two major causes of intestinal gas are swallowing air when you eat and drink and using some artificial sweeteners. When you chew sugarless gum (with the artificial sweetener sorbitol), you get a lot of both. If belly bloat is a problem, spit out the gum. Stretch your psoas Sitting all day can shorten this hip-flexing muscle that connects your lower back to your upper leg, making it feel nearly impossible to stand up straight for a long, lean appearance. For a posture-improving psoas stretch: Place one knee on a chair seat, and keeping hips straight, press pelvis forward. Hold for 20 seconds. Repeat with opposite leg. Count to 10 Runaway stress can boost belly fat in two ways. It increases levels of cortisol, a hormone that appears to send fat to the tummy, and it can drive you to the cookie jar in search of quick comfort. Find a stress buster that works for you and practice it daily. Some tried-and-true favorites: Walk in the sunshine, take a steamy bath, practice quiet meditation, or listen to music.
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Avian flu vaccine developed for poultry 12/07/2006 Political Gateway United Press Internationa		Return to Top
This UPI story of AU research continues to be picked up by additional media outlets. U.S. scientists say they've developed the first egg-injected vaccine to protect chickens against the avian influenza virus. An Auburn University veterinary professor, Haroldo Toro, and researchers at Vaxin Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., say the vaccine would provide 100 percent protection once an outbreak's specific viral strain is identified. "We have proven the principle, which is the major step in leading to commercially produced vaccine that could be vital to the poultry industry," Toro said. "When an outbreak occurs, we would determine the strain and quickly create a vaccine within three months specifically for it." The researchers inserted a gene from a low pathogenic avian flu virus strain (H5N9) into a non-replicating human virus, a Vaxin proprietary technology, which was then injected into developing chicken embryos still in the egg. When protection induced by the vaccine was tested against two highly pathogenic avian flu viruses -- a Vietnam H5N1 strain and a Mexican H5N2 strain -- the results showed 68 percent and 100 percent protection, in that order. "Our results indicate that we can provide effective protection against any strain after incorporating the gene of the field strain into our vaccine construct," said Toro.
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Vaxin, Auburn University Developing Vaccine to Protect Poultry, People from Avian Flu 12/07/2006 Congressional Quarterly. Matthew E. Berger, CQ Staff		Return to Top
AU research on avian flu in featured in this story. CQ HOMELAND SECURITY - INDUSTRY & CONTRACTING A new vaccine is being developed to protect poultry from the avian flu, with the potential to minimize the transfer of the disease to humans. The vaccine, under development by Auburn University and Vaxin Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., would be injected directly into poultry eggs once the strain of the flu is determined. Avian flu has been found in ducks, chickens and turkeys since 1997, primarily in Asia and the Middle East. A vaccine for poultry could reduce the risk of human exposure to the disease and prevent a pandemic from forming. "We have proven the principle, which is the major step in leading to commercially produced vaccine that could be vital to the poultry industry," said Haroldo Toro, professor of avian diseases at Auburn. "When an outbreak occurs, we would determine the strain and quickly create a vaccine within three months specifically for it." The gene from a low pathogenic avian flu virus strain is injected into a non-replicating human virus, and then injected into poultry embryos still in their eggs. Auburn reported tests against two highly pathogenic avian flu viruses found 68 percent and 100 percent protection. John Lange, U.S. special representative on avian and pandemic influenza, told the International Conference on Avian Influenza in Bamako, Mali, on Thursday that avian influenza in poultry has spread from 14 countries to 55 in the past year. "The good news . . . is that the world as a whole is better placed to prevent and combat the disease in animals and is better prepared for a possible human pandemic, than it was just a year or two ago," Lange said. Toro said he expects federal approval for the vaccine within three years, but that could be expedited if an avian flu outbreak occurs. NOTE: No Web link was available for this story.


Hooks, line sinking all wildlife 12/05/2006 Worcester Telegram and Gazette Mary Anne Magiera Outdoors		Return to Top
AU scientist Russell Wright is a source in this story. I cringe every time a smallmouth throws a senko off my line into the lake, knowing that something plastic, made from petroleum products, can’t be good for the water or the fish that live there. Then, there's the disbelief that surfaces when I see wads of fishing line tucked here and there into divots and tree branches while having my lunch on the shore. As it turns out, abandoned fishing line, especially with hooks and lures (all kinds) attached, kills fish and wildlife. The jury is still out on the dangers of discarded plastic baits. "We do have issues with plastics and fishing line," said John Scannell, regional director of the Wachusett and Sudbury watersheds for the state Division of Water Supply and Protection. "We're trying to come up with ways to convince people to get rid of it, to carry it out with them." The state's policy of carrying out all the stuff you bring in when you fish at the Wachusett and Quabbin reservoirs is not working. The agency spends a small fortune getting rid of endless balls and strings of fishing line and other things left behind at the end of every fishing season. "We spend a lot of time working out of a boat at Wachusett. We're always picking up entangled wildlife," said Paula Packard, an aquatic biologist with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. "I reached my limit last week after we found a drowned muskrat all tangled up in fishing line. The hook and rubber worm was still attached." Although the problems are much worse at Wachusett because it is limited to shore fishing, the Quabbin, where most fish from boats, also contributes to the problem. Among other species, Packard recently found a dead female common merganser entangled in line at Quabbin. The muskrat incident moved Packard to take on a public education project to convince people to carry out their tangled line. It is expected to debut at Wachusett next spring. The project will feature disposal canisters designed for discarded fishing line at key reservoir entry points and signs to educate the public about the dangers of discarding fishing line. The agency will also seek assistance from sportsmen’s clubs and bait shops. "It's a privilege to fish at Wachusett," Packard said. "It's a reservoir; we don't want rotting bodies there. We have rare species there and we have to take care of them." The issue of thrown and discarded plastic lures is somewhat less straightforward. "Certainly, never throw plastics overboard. Keep as many as you can in the boat and take them out with you," said Todd Richards, an aquatic biologist with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. "Fish do pick them up. We find them in trout, in lake trout, and in everything else. Fish do consume them, but the jury's still out as to the impact." The plastic lure issue brings up a conundrum that fisheries biologists deal with all the time, said Richard Hartley, also a MassWildlife aquatic biologist. "Is an activity having a population effect? There's no doubt that an individual fish that maybe has a rubber worm lodged somewhere is going to have difficulty," Hartley said. "However, we have to manage the resource on a population level. Is it having a population-wide impact? Probably not, but we have to do the research." A veterinary pathologist in Maine and a scientist at Auburn University in Alabama have spent considerable time on the issue. "What we do know is that the hook doesn't break down. So, if a rubber worm is lodged in a fish attached to a hook, it is fatal," said G. Russell Danner, a fish and wildlife pathologist with the Maine Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. A series of small studies conducted since 2004 has not been able to conclusively determine the effects of fish retaining the plastic without a hook. "It's not a good situation, but does it affect how much they can eat and grow? It's going to be difficult to tease that one out," Danner said. Maine researchers force-fed a variety of plastic lures to 100 yearling brook trout. Within a week, most of the lures were found on the bottom of the raceway. The lures that remained in the stomachs most securely were those attached to hooks and line. Most of the fish in that situation died from internal bleeding after the hook pierced the stomach wall and lacerated a blood vessel. Another experiment in 2005 showed that older brook trout readily consumed plastics left in their raceway, but the older fish failed to quickly vomit up the lures. "The biggest problem I've seen is that the plastic lure will get jammed between a fish's stomach and small intestine and the fish will starve," said Dr. Russell Wright of Auburn University. Wright spearheaded research that led to the development of plastic baits made from food-based proteins that are completely digestible by fish and biodegradable. They are now commercially marketed by FoodSource Lure Corp. Largemouth and spotted bass, Wright said, are more likely to grab a lure and not get hooked than pick up a plastic lure off the bottom like a trout. Practices that may help reduce unwanted fish consumption of plastics: •Use less power on your cast. Fine-tune your equipment to get more distance. •Detect bites sooner by focusing on your line. •Use barb-less hooks and circle hooks. •Replace plastics as soon as they begin to fray. •Keep that deep-hooked fish.
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