Cold-blooded conspiracy

摘要

The death in December 1999 of a three-week-old baby from salmonellosis (a bacterial infection that can cause food poisoning-like symptoms and, in severe cases, meningitis and death) contracted from the family's pet lizard created alarm in Britain and elsewhere. The Department of Health was quick to put warnings in the media advising that children under five, pregnant women and the elderly, who are most vulnerable to salmonella, should avoid all contact with reptiles. Strong stuff, indeed. A secondinfant death from reptilerelated salmonellosis in May 2000 increased the worries. In the UK, cases of human disease associated with terrapins aren't normally recorded. In the US, though, about 14 per cent (280,000 cases) of human salmonellosis were associated with pet reptiles (mainly terrapins) every year; the national trade in terrapins (about 10 million animals annually) was banned in 1975. Canada followed suit and banned its market of three million-plus terrapins each year. Other nations (includingIsrael, Germany and Trinidad & Tobago) also instituted bans, though not simply on the grounds of infection, but also because of concerns that the species would become invasive. The North American restrictions still left a large export market (up to eightmillion animals a year) to more than 30 countries. About halfofthis trade was ruled out in 1997, when the EC curtailed imports to member states, again in response to fears that alien species could be accidentally introduced to European habitats.