12/18/06 S. Korea Trade Deal & Duck Death

South Korea Trade Deal & Duck Death. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The Bush Administration says it will keep negotiating a free trade deal with South Korea. That's despite the call of seven Senators - including outgoing Senate Ag Committee Chair Saxby Chambliss - to suspend the talks over Korea's rejection of U.S. beef shipments. Technically - U.S. Trade Representative spokesman Steve Norton says beef is not part of the South Korea trade talks - though he realizes Congress likely won't approve a deal if Seoul fails to reopen to all U.S. beef. But he says that doesn't mean the U.S. will halt negotiations... NORTON: We`re working through the negotiations on the free trade agreement I think while simultaneously officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are working with their Korean counterparts on the beef issue. Wildlife agencies in Idaho are puzzled by a cluster of dead mallard ducks along a creek bed in southeastern Idaho. After finding more than one-thousand of the ducks - officials are testing tissue samples of the dead birds- hopeful they can rule out an outbreak of avian influenza. Especially confusing is the fact that other birds in the area remain healthy - leaving one wildlife veterinarian with the state Department of Agriculture to believe the ducks were exposed to a single contamination source. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. Red and green takes on a whole new meaning this season. If you have noticed the trademarked Product Red label on a shiny red Apple I pod's or Armani or even red converse tennies you are looking at the efforts of the Rock Star Bono with pals Bobby Shriver and Oprah to raise money for the purchase of AIDES drugs for victims of the disease in Africa. Sure seems a win-win to buy Product Red gifts knowing that that a portion of our holiday indulgences do something really worthy. The only wee wrinkle in this admirable crusade could be the Gap's "Do the Red Thing" campaign that paradoxically promotes wrong message by using scantily clad celebrities in provocative poses to create awareness for a disease associated with sex. Speaking of scantily clad, Victories Secret is now touting the fact that they too are going green. They announced they will no longer buy paper for their catalog from Canada's Boreal forests to help save caribou&.that announcement should bring a twinkle to Santa's eyes. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.