In exporting meat from kangaroos and other native animals, Australia may not be fulfilling its international obligations under trade agreements, according to Halina Thompson, wildlife spokesperson for the World League for Protection of Animals.

"At a time of mounting concern about the dangers of spreading disease through the international trade in animal products, it may be seen as irresponsible of the Federal Government to support the export of kangaroo meat," Ms Thompson said.

"There is a well documented history of disease linked with the eating of kangaroo and other native animals . But rather than warning the Australian people and the international community, the Government funds the industry and promotes the export of meat which may cause disease.

"This action is contrary to the spirit of the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures which is designed to promote strict health and food safety standards.

Billboards in London

"Billboards have been put up in London warning of the health risks of eating kangaroo meat. More will be erected in European capitals. It is hoped that they will prevent our national symbol being the cause of such tragedies as those associated with mad cow disease.

"Trust us," says Truss

"Claims by Federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss that kangaroo meat is healthy and humane are at best ill-informed, and at worst, a deliberate attempt to mislead," said Ms Thompson. "His Department must be fully aware of concerns about the known dangers of eating native wildlife. There are also concerns about the lack of knowledge of wildlife diseases. The promotion of kangaroo and other native game meats to an unsuspecting public and to other countries is therefore astonishing.

" 'Trust us,' he says. 'We have safety standards in place.' But he doesn't mention that standards for killing wildlife in the dust, dirt and flies in remote areas can never be satisfactorily policed and can never meet standards which are mandatory in any abattoir.

"Independent pre-death inspections are impossible. And inspections post-death after carcasses have been transported long distances may not yield accurate information of disease. In beef and mutton diseased meat is often recognised by its dark colour. Kangaroo meat is naturally dark and its diseased condition may therefore be masked.

Doctors warn against eating rare kangaroo meat

"Kangaroo steaks are unpalatable unless eaten rare. But in the late '90s,doctors warned Australians against eating rare game meat, including wallaby and kangaroo, after discovering a new parasite spreading from game meats to humans. The parasite, a tiny nematode worm, infests and kills muscle fibres, causing severe muscle weakness. In one man, the weakness was so severe that he was unable to breathe and needed a ventilator and a tracheotomy. In

Thailand humans have become seriously ill with some reported deaths from consumption of meat infected with the pseudotrichinosis nematode which infects marsupials exported for human consumption.

"The discovery of this parasite highlights how little is known about the potential for themeat of Australian native animals to infect humans," said Ms Thompson.

Kangaroo steaks linked to toxoplasmosis outbreak

"But there are also known dangers. For example, kangaroos have a high prevalence of infection by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. In 1995, kangaroo steaks were identified as the most likely cause of an outbreak of toxoplasmosis in Queensland in which 12 people who ate kangaroo steaks at a Christmas party became severely ill. A baby born to one of these people suffered congenital chorio-retinitis (inflammation of the eye tissues).

Reports of sick kangaroos sold for human consumption

"In the mid '90s, when an epidemic causing blindness raged through kangaroo populations across Australia, the (then) Principal Veterinarian of the Victorian Bureau of Animal Health, Dr John Auty, wrote in a letter to the Adelaide Advertiser of " 'reports of 'roo shooters in two states killing sick 'roos and forwarding their carcasses for human consumption.'

"Unhygienic and unacceptable"

" Evidence of the dangers of eating kangaroo meat led Victorian veterinarians in 1996 to condemn kangaroo meat as 'unhygienic and unacceptable'.

Clean, green and humane?

"Over recent weeks, the kangaroo industry has increased its aggressive marketing. Kangaroo meat, it tells us, is the safe, clean, lean, humane and green alternative. Unlike beef and mutton it's disease-free. It doesn't damage the environment. And it doesn't leave us with a nasty little microbe lurking like a timebomb in our innards.

" But these claims are wide open to question. With ever increasing commercial kill quotas, and with four wheel drives cutting up the fragile soil of rangelands in their nightly "harvesting" of Australia's national emblem, it is hard to see the industry as green. And when a kangaroo may have half its jaw shot away, to die slowly over hours or days, when pouch young are routinely battered to death and when young at foot are left to die slowly of starvation, it is difficult to see it as humane."