Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Wildlife Service Delays Polar Bear Report

Federal officials said yesterday that they will need a few more weeks to decide whether polar bears need protection under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming.

The deadline was tomorrow, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it now hopes to provide a recommendation to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in time for a decision by him within the next month.

Environmental groups that petitioned to protect polar bears, arguing that warming threatened their habitat, said they would go court to ensure a timely decision.

"We certainly hope that the polar bear will be listed within the next month," said Kassie Siegel, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Listing polar bears as "threatened" with extinction could trigger limits on development that adversely affects the animals. That listing is a step below "endangered," the most severe classification under the Endangered Species Act.

Kempthorne proposed the "threatened" listing for polar bears in January 2007, and under the Endangered Species Act that gave him a deadline of exactly one year for a final decision. Among other things, the year-long period includes opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed listing.

The Biological Diversity Center, along with Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council, had filed a petition more than two years ago claiming that global warming was eroding sea ice, the polar bear's primary habitat.

In September, the U.S. Geological Survey issued a report concluding that two-thirds of the world's polar bears, including the entire population in Alaska, will be killed off within 50 years because of thinning sea ice from global warming in the Arctic.

Federal health officials issued an alert to highlight the possibility of severe bone, joint and muscle pain in patients treated with certain osteoporosis medicines.

The prescription drugs are members of the class called bisphosphonates. They include Fosamax, from Merck, and Actonel, sold by Procter & Gamble and Sanofi-Aventis.

The potential for severe and sometimes incapacitating pain is listed on prescribing instructions for bisphosphonates. But the Food and Drug Administration said doctors might overlook a link between the drugs and severe pain, which may occur within days, months or years after patients start therapy.

Doctors should consider if bisphosphonate use may be responsible for severe pain and think about stopping therapy temporarily or permanently, the FDA said.

The agency said it was still evaluating the issue, and the review would take about six months.

-- From News Services