People who eat a lot of red meat and processed meats have a higher risk of several types of cancer, including lung cancer and colorectal cancer, U.S. researchers reported. The work is the first big study to show a link between meat and lung cancer. It also shows that people who eat a lot of meat have a higher risk of liver and esophageal cancer and that men raise their risk of pancreatic cancer by eating red meat. The researchers studied 500,000 people aged 50 to 71 who took part in a diet and health study done in conjunction with the AARP, formerly the American Association for Retired Persons. Jeanine Genkinger of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and Anita Koushik of the University of Montreal said the findings fit in with other research. "Meat consumption in relation to cancer risk has been reported in over a hundred epidemiological studies from many countries with diverse diets," they wrote in a commentary.

EU governments agreed a 15-year plan on [November 27] that set strict curbs on fishing for bluefin tuna, cutting quotas and tightening port inspections to stop the species from heading for extinction. Prized by sushi and sashimi lovers, bluefin tuna has seen its numbers fall sharply in eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean waters. In Japan, the major market for the species, a single fish can command prices of up to $100,000. "The difference now is that it is permanent, not temporary, and nobody is arguing any more about quotas. We now have complete clarity and are set up for 15 years from 2007," one official at the European Commission told reporters.

Vast populations of pink salmon on Canada's west coast will be extinct in four years due to infestations of parasites from open ocean salmon farms, scientists reported [December 14] in the prestigious journal Science. Canadian officials seem likely to let the wild salmon go extinct, if past inaction is any indicator, Alexandra Morton, the study's co-author and director of the Salmon Coast Field Station in Broughton, British Columbia, told IPS. The Science study shows that infestations of sea lice have killed more than 80 per cent of the annual pink salmon returns in British Columbia's Broughton Archipelago, 300 kms north of the city of Vancouver, over the past four years. In another four years, there will be no more pinks if the infestations continue... "It's heart-breaking to see these amazing little fish ripped and torn by the lice," said Morton, who lives and works in the Broughton Archipelago where 20 large farms are located. Some farms have more than a million fish.

New Rule: The president can't pardon just one or two turkeys this Thanksgiving. He's got to let them all go. Freeing the turkeys might help the president's credibility when he says things like, "We don't torture." Take a look at this video, shot just last month at a typical American turkey slaughterhouse, and this one, shot undercover last year at a Butterball slaughterhouse, and you'll see that my use of the word is no exaggeration. Butterball employees laughed while they kicked, punched, stomped, and even sexually assaulted turkeys. These people should be arrested. They would be if the turkeys were dogs or cats. So in the face of this surreal situation, in which, once again we can't put our faith in the president, I ask you to do what I'm going to do and pardon a turkey this Thanksgiving. If we can bow our heads in gratitude for our families, our friends and our big screen TVs, and then carve into a creature who lived a miserable life and died a horrible death, then our ethics are about as sensible as Britney's parenting skills.

It is one thing for the president of the United States to pardon a pair of turkeys every year and then send them off to live out their days in Florida. It's quite another to save a turkey from the Thanksgiving table by inviting it to live with you. Two weeks ago, Karen Oeh and her husband, Mike Balistrer adopted two turkeys that had been rescued after an airline shipping misfortune in Las Vegas. "I am like a new parent," said Ms. Oeh, 39. "I instantly, totally fell in love, and now I just want to stay home with them." ... "Before I had turkeys, Thanksgiving bothered me but I could get past it," [another turkey adopter] said. "Now, it's literally painful to have to go to a Thanksgiving dinner."