Gross deformities in animals are being blamed on toxic chemicals escaping from a liquid waste depot in Sydney's west.

Londonderry breeder Joe Attard had thought local residents were over-reacting to fears about the Castlereagh Liquid Waste Depot - until the birth of a deer four weeks ago.

"It was born dead - it was repulsive,"

Mr Attard said.

"It had no eyes, its mouth was not developed properly, its head was mishapen and I though it was a freak."

"Then, four days ago, the second fawn was born dead."

"It had no pupils in its eyes and its lungs were undeveloped."

The Londonderry Residents Action Group for the Environment (RAGE) says that hundreds of animals have been born dead and with terrible deformities since the depot opened 20 years ago.

The group believes chemicals are contaminating the groundwater.

(26/11/93 Telegraph Mirror, Australia.)

Onco mouse dumped

(See ARTL page 21)

The BUAV News, July 1993, reports that the campaign to oppose the Harvard Onco mouse patent, which covers the marketing of Onco mice and other animals genetically engineered to develop cancer, has received a further boost. Fifteen separate formal legal challenges have been filed with the European Patent Office. So, after 5 years effort and an investment of over $15 m in the Onco mouse project, the giant Du Pont chemical company has admitted that the mutant mouse is a commercial flop. Following the commercial failure, Du Pont has apparently decided not to develop any further animals genetically engineered to develop disease.