The Australian Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program: A story about technoscience and culture

Social Studies of Science

Volumn 31, Issue 6, 2001, Pages 912-949

  Landström, Catharina ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Articulation; Biological control; Communication; CSIRO; Media; Narrative; Network

Indexed keywords

ANIMAL; ANIMAL DISEASE; ARTICLE; AUSTRALIA; BIOMEDICINE; HISTORY; INFECTION CONTROL; RABBIT; VIRUS INFECTION;

ANIMAL DISEASES; ANIMALS; AUSTRALIA; BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; CALICIVIRIDAE INFECTIONS; COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; RABBITS;

EID: 0035751485     PISSN: 03063127     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/030631201031006005     Document Type: Article

References (126)

1. Helga Nowotny, Peter Scott and Michael Gibbons, Re-Thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty (London: Polity Press with Blackwell, 2001).
2. Note that I am only discussing activities in Australia; events in New Zealand are not within the scope of this paper.
3. Examples of stories from different genres agreeing on the chronology are: the ANZRCDP Fact Sheet, 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus: History and Basic Facts about the Virus' (dated 17 September 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999); Matthew Cawood, 'Killer on the Loose: How Rabbit Calicivirus is Changing Australia', Australian Geographic, No. 55, (July-September 1999), 91-101; Anthony J. Robinson and Harvey A. Westbury, 'The Australian and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Programme', in David Chasey, R.M. Gaskell and I.N. Clarke (eds), Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Caliciviruses, European Society for Veterinary Virology (Reading, UK, 1997), 144-50; H.M. Neave, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 1: Overview of Effects on Australian Wild Rabbit Populations and Implications for Agriculture and Biodiversity, first in a series of Reports of Research Conducted by Participants of the Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Monitoring and Surveillance Program and Epidemiology Research Program (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999); and S. Asgari, J.R.E. Hardy and Brian D. Cooke, 'Sequence Analysis of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) in Australia: Alterations after its Release', Archives of Virology, Vol. 144 (1999) 135-45.
4. Examples of stories from different genres agreeing on the chronology are: the ANZRCDP Fact Sheet, 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus: History and Basic Facts about the Virus' (dated 17 September 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999); Matthew Cawood, 'Killer on the Loose: How Rabbit Calicivirus is Changing Australia', Australian Geographic, No. 55, (July-September 1999), 91-101; Anthony J. Robinson and Harvey A. Westbury, 'The Australian and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Programme', in David Chasey, R.M. Gaskell and I.N. Clarke (eds), Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Caliciviruses, European Society for Veterinary Virology (Reading, UK, 1997), 144-50; H.M. Neave, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 1: Overview of Effects on Australian Wild Rabbit Populations and Implications for Agriculture and Biodiversity, first in a series of Reports of Research Conducted by Participants of the Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Monitoring and Surveillance Program and Epidemiology Research Program (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999); and S. Asgari, J.R.E. Hardy and Brian D. Cooke, 'Sequence Analysis of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) in Australia: Alterations after its Release', Archives of Virology, Vol. 144 (1999) 135-45.
5. Examples of stories from different genres agreeing on the chronology are: the ANZRCDP Fact Sheet, 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus: History and Basic Facts about the Virus' (dated 17 September 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999); Matthew Cawood, 'Killer on the Loose: How Rabbit Calicivirus is Changing Australia', Australian Geographic, No. 55, (July-September 1999), 91-101; Anthony J. Robinson and Harvey A. Westbury, 'The Australian and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Programme', in David Chasey, R.M. Gaskell and I.N. Clarke (eds), Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Caliciviruses, European Society for Veterinary Virology (Reading, UK, 1997), 144-50; H.M. Neave, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 1: Overview of Effects on Australian Wild Rabbit Populations and Implications for Agriculture and Biodiversity, first in a series of Reports of Research Conducted by Participants of the Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Monitoring and Surveillance Program and Epidemiology Research Program (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999); and S. Asgari, J.R.E. Hardy and Brian D. Cooke, 'Sequence Analysis of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) in Australia: Alterations after its Release', Archives of Virology, Vol. 144 (1999) 135-45.
6. Examples of stories from different genres agreeing on the chronology are: the ANZRCDP Fact Sheet, 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus: History and Basic Facts about the Virus' (dated 17 September 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999); Matthew Cawood, 'Killer on the Loose: How Rabbit Calicivirus is Changing Australia', Australian Geographic, No. 55, (July-September 1999), 91-101; Anthony J. Robinson and Harvey A. Westbury, 'The Australian and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Programme', in David Chasey, R.M. Gaskell and I.N. Clarke (eds), Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Caliciviruses, European Society for Veterinary Virology (Reading, UK, 1997), 144-50; H.M. Neave, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 1: Overview of Effects on Australian Wild Rabbit Populations and Implications for Agriculture and Biodiversity, first in a series of Reports of Research Conducted by Participants of the Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Monitoring and Surveillance Program and Epidemiology Research Program (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999); and S. Asgari, J.R.E. Hardy and Brian D. Cooke, 'Sequence Analysis of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) in Australia: Alterations after its Release', Archives of Virology, Vol. 144 (1999) 135-45.
7. Examples of stories from different genres agreeing on the chronology are: the ANZRCDP Fact Sheet, 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus: History and Basic Facts about the Virus' (dated 17 September 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999); Matthew Cawood, 'Killer on the Loose: How Rabbit Calicivirus is Changing Australia', Australian Geographic, No. 55, (July-September 1999), 91-101; Anthony J. Robinson and Harvey A. Westbury, 'The Australian and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Programme', in David Chasey, R.M. Gaskell and I.N. Clarke (eds), Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Caliciviruses, European Society for Veterinary Virology (Reading, UK, 1997), 144-50; H.M. Neave, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 1: Overview of Effects on Australian Wild Rabbit Populations and Implications for Agriculture and Biodiversity, first in a series of Reports of Research Conducted by Participants of the Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Monitoring and Surveillance Program and Epidemiology Research Program (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999); and S. Asgari, J.R.E. Hardy and Brian D. Cooke, 'Sequence Analysis of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) in Australia: Alterations after its Release', Archives of Virology, Vol. 144 (1999) 135-45.
8. The references to the Chinese research are somewhat vague, but I found references to Chinese publications in: J.H. Park, K. Ochiai and C. Itakura, 'Aetiology of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in China', Veterinary Record, Vol. 133 (1993), 67-69; David Chasey and R.C. Trout, 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in Britain', Mammalia, Vol. 59, No. 4 (1995), 599-603; and R.P. Pech and G.M. Hood, 'Foxes, Rabbits, Alternative Prey and Rabbit Calicivirus Disease: Consequences of a New Biological Control Agent for an Outbreaking Species in Australia', Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 35 (1998), 434-53, among others.
9. The references to the Chinese research are somewhat vague, but I found references to Chinese publications in: J.H. Park, K. Ochiai and C. Itakura, 'Aetiology of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in China', Veterinary Record, Vol. 133 (1993), 67-69; David Chasey and R.C. Trout, 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in Britain', Mammalia, Vol. 59, No. 4 (1995), 599-603; and R.P. Pech and G.M. Hood, 'Foxes, Rabbits, Alternative Prey and Rabbit Calicivirus Disease: Consequences of a New Biological Control Agent for an Outbreaking Species in Australia', Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 35 (1998), 434-53, among others.
10. The references to the Chinese research are somewhat vague, but I found references to Chinese publications in: J.H. Park, K. Ochiai and C. Itakura, 'Aetiology of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in China', Veterinary Record, Vol. 133 (1993), 67-69; David Chasey and R.C. Trout, 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in Britain', Mammalia, Vol. 59, No. 4 (1995), 599-603; and R.P. Pech and G.M. Hood, 'Foxes, Rabbits, Alternative Prey and Rabbit Calicivirus Disease: Consequences of a New Biological Control Agent for an Outbreaking Species in Australia', Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 35 (1998), 434-53, among others.
11. The AAHL research is described by C. Lenghaus, Harvey Westbury, B. Collins, N. Ratnamohan and C. Morrisy, in 'Overview of the RHD Project in Australia', Chapter 6 in R.K. Munro and R.T. Williams (eds), Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease: Issues in Assessment for Biological Control (Canberra: BRS Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994), 104-29.
12. Three alternative plans, all including research, evaluation according to the Biological Control Act 1984, and public consultation, are outlined by Kent Williams, 'Possible Scenarios for Australia', in Munro & Williams (eds), op. cit. note 5, 155-65.
13. This was announced to the public in the CSIRO Media Release 94/145 (17 December 1994), 'Island Trial for New Rabbit Control Agent - Australia and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (15 April 1999).
14. The escape is mentioned in all accounts of the Program, but appears to be analysed in detail mainly in unpublished or commissioned reports, like Brian D. Cooke, 'Analysis of the Spread of Rabbit Calicivirus from Wardang Island through Mainland Australia' (October 1996), Project CS 236 Australian and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report to the Meat Research Corporation, referred to in Glen Saunders and Barry Kay, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 5: Implications for Agricultural Production in Australia (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999).
15. The escape is mentioned in all accounts of the Program, but appears to be analysed in detail mainly in unpublished or commissioned reports, like Brian D. Cooke, 'Analysis of the Spread of Rabbit Calicivirus from Wardang Island through Mainland Australia' (October 1996), Project CS 236 Australian and New Zealand Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report to the Meat Research Corporation, referred to in Glen Saunders and Barry Kay, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 5: Implications for Agricultural Production in Australia (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999).
16. Primary Industries of South Australia is the agency that made this decision, according to an ANZRCDP Press Release (29 October 1995), 'RCD Discovered in Yunta, National Release Plans Brought Forward', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
17. The document resulting was Bureau of Resource Sciences, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease: A Report under the Biological Control Act 1984 (Canberra: Bureau of Resource Sciences, 1996).
18. Although the name and the agenda of the programme changed after the escape of the virus and the departure of the New Zealand agencies, there was continuity in the research institutions, research staff, consortium members and political agencies. The 10-year efforts are also treated as continuous by Robinson & Westbury, Cawood, and Neave, opera cit. note 3.
19. Press releases during 1996 and 1997 revelled in the regeneration of native vegetation. A more cautious, but still optimistic, analysis is presented in a report by P.R. Sandell and A.N. Start, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 4: Implications for Biodiversity in Australia (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999).
20. Anti-Rabbit Research Foundation Media Release (14 September 1998), 'Latest Research on Rabbit Control', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
21. The virus travelled to Mexico without technoscientific aid. However, it was not welcome and, in a concerted effort, it was eradicated.
22. The use of 'articulation' in this paper is informed by Bruno Latour, Pandora's Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), esp. Chapter 4, 113-44.
23. Park, Ochiai & Itakura, op. cit. note 4.
24. H.E. Fuller, David Chasey, M.H. Lucas and J.C. Gibbens, 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in the United Kingdom', Veterinary Record, Vol. 133 (18/25 December 1993), 611-13.
25. David Chasey, 'Possible Origin of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease in the United Kingdom', Veterinary Record, Vol. 135 (19 November 1994), 496-99.
26. R.F. Gunning and A.J. Proud, 'Rabbit Haemhorragic Disease', Veterinary Record, Vol. 134 (29 January 1994), 123.
27. David Chasey, Margaret Lucas and Chris Bishop, ibid.
28. David Chasey, 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease: The New Scourge of Oryctolagus cuniculus', Laboratory Animals, Vol. 31 (1997), 33-44.
29. Chasey & Trout, op. cit. note 4.
30. D. Chasey, R.C. Trout and S. Edwards, 'Susceptibility of Wild Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in the United Kingdom to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease', Veterinary Research, Vol. 28 (1997), 271-76.
31. R.C. Trout, D. Chasey and G. Sharp, 'Seroepidemiology of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) in Wild Rabbits (Oryctologus cuniculus) in the United Kingdom', Journal of Zoology, Vol. 243, Part 4 (1997), 846-53.
32. L. Capucci, D. Chasey, A. Lavazza and D. Westcott, 'Preliminary Characterization of a Non-Haemagglutinating Strain of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus from the United Kingdom', Zentralblatt für Veterinärmedizin Reihe B, Vol. 43 (1996), 245-50.
33. An example is a 1995 article from the UK concerning ways of detecting the disease with methods like haemagglutination, ELISA tests and negative contrast electron microscopy: D. Chasey, M.H. Lucas, D.G. Westcott, G. Sharp, A. Kitching and S.K. Hughes, 'Development of a Diagnostic Approach to the Identification of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease', Veterinary Record, Vol. 137 (12 August 1995), 158-60.
34. N. Ruvolenclouet, D. Blanchard, G. Andrefontaine, B. Song and J.-P. Ganiere, 'Detection of Antibodies to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus - An Immunoblotting Method Using Virus-Coated Human Erythrocyte Membranes'; Zentralblatt für Veterinärmedizin Reihe B, Vol. 42, No. 4 (June 1995), 197-304.
35. C. Guittre, I. Baginski, G. Le Gall, M. Prave, C. Trepo and L. Cova, 'Detection of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus Isolates and Sequence Comparison of the N-terminus of the Capsid Protein Gene by the Polymerase Chain Reaction', Research in Veterinary Science, Vol. 58, No. 1 (January 1995), 128-32.
36. P. Vende, G. Legall and D. Rasschaert, 'An Alternative Method for Direct Sequencing of PCR Products for Epidemiological Studies Performed by Nucleic Sequence Comparison - Application to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus', Veterinary Research, Vol. 26, No. 3 (1995), 174-79.
37. C. Guittre, N. Ruvolenclouet, L. Barraud, Y. Cherel, I. Baginski, M. Prave, J.-P. Ganiere and C. Trepo, 'Early Stages of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus Infection Monitored by Polymerase Chain Reaction', Zentralblatt für Veterinärmedizin Reihe B, Vol. 43, No. 2 (1996), 109-18.
38. M. Soledad Marín, José M. Martin Alonso, Luís I. Pérez Ordoyo García, J. Antonio Boga, José Argüello-Villares, Rosa Casais, Karunakarannair Venugopal, Wenrong Jiang, Ernest A. Gould and Francisco Parra, 'Immunogenic Properties of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus Structural Protein VP60 Expressed by a Recombinant Baculovirus: An Efficient Vaccine', Virus Research, Vol. 39 (1995), 119-28.
39. Lorenzo Capucci, Paola Fusi, Antonio Lavazza, Maria Lodovica Pacciarini and Cesare Rossi, 'Detection and Preliminary Characterization of a New Rabbit Calicivirus Related to Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus but Nonpathogenic', Journal of Virology, Vol. 70 (December 1996), 8614-23.
40. José A. Boga, José M. Martín Alonso, Rosa Casais and Francisco Parra, 'A Single Dose Immunization with Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus Major Capsid Protein Produced in Saccharomyces cerevisia Induces Protection', Journal of General Virology, Vol. 78 (1997), 2315-18.
41. G. Le Gall, C. Arnauld, E. Boilletot, J.P. Morisse and D. Rasschaert, 'Molecular Epidemiology of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus Outbreaks in France during 1988 to 1995', Journal of General Virology, Vol. 79 (1998), 11-16.
42. Michael Gibbons, Camille Limoges, Helga Nowotny, Simon Schwartzman, Peter Scott and Martin Trow, The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies (London & Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994). Throughout this book, the argument is that the conditions for knowledge production have shifted in a way that promotes inter-, multi-and trans-disciplinary research, rather than discipinary and 'basic' investigations. The authors conceptualize this as a shift from 'Mode-1' to 'Mode-2 knowledge production'.
43. See Robinson & Westbury, op. cit. note 3.
44. Brian Cooke speaks about this in Cawood, op. cit. note 3, 93.
45. See Lenghaus et al., op. cit. note 5, quotes at 104-05, 106.
46. International discourse continued to call the virus 'RHDV' and the disease 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease', and Australian researchers tended subsequently to use one name in Australian discourse and another when writing for an international audience.
47. According to Australian scientists, the name refers to the shape of the virus, whose shell has cup-shaped depressions.
48. H.S. Nagesha, L.F. Wang, A.D. Hyatt, C.J. Morrissy, C. Lenghaus and H.A. Westbury, 'Self-assembly, Antigenicity, and Immunogenicity of the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (Czechoslovakian strain V-351) Capsid Protein Expressed in Baculovirus', Archives of Virology, Vol. 140 (1995), 1095-108.
49. Allan R. Gould, J.A. Kattenbelt, C. Lenghaus, T. Morrisy, T. Chamberlain, B.J. Collins and H.A. Westbury, 'The Complete Nucleotide Sequence of the Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (Czech strain V351): Use of the Polymerase Chain Reaction to Detect Replication in Australian Vertebrates and Analysis of Viral Population in Sequence Variation', Virus Research, Vol. 47 (1997), 7-17.
50. Obviously, this research was carried out at the AAHL some time between 1991 and 1993, but the article was published in 1997, after the escape of the virus.
51. Sassan Asgari, Jonathan R.E. Hardy, Ron G. Sinclair and Brian D. Cooke, 'Field Evidence for Mechanical Transmission of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV) by Flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) among Wild Rabbits in Australia', Virus Research, Vol. 54 (1998), 123-32.
52. Pech & Hood, op. cit. note 4.
53. Asgari, Hardy & Cooke, op. cit. note 3.
54. This echoes the 'credibility cycles' identified by Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar, Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts (London & Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1979), esp. 194-208.
55. ANZRCDP (1996), 'Fact Sheet: Controlling Wild Rabbits: Need for Integrated Control Strategy', 2-3, retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (3 May 1999).
56. ANZRCDP Fact Sheets from 1996 were: 'Environmental Damage by Wild Rabbits: Eating the Heart out of the Country'; 'Animal Welfare and Rabbit Calicivirus: Reducing Suffering through Effective Rabbit Control'; 'Native Fauna and Rabbit Calicivirus: Predicting and Managing the Impact of Reduced Rabbit Numbers'; 'Getting the Most out of Rabbit Calicivirus: Field Monitoring & Surveillance Essential'; 'Strategic Release of Rabbit Calicivirus: What, When, How and Why?'; 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus: History and Basic Facts about the Virus'; 'Attention Rabbit Owners: Pet and Farmed Rabbit Need Protection from Rabbit Calicivirus'; 'Field Effects of Rabbit Calicivirus: What are You Likely to See?'; 'Controlling Wild Rabbits: Need for Integrated Control Strategy'. 'RCD - Commonly Asked Questions' is dated 1997. All retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (3 May 1999).
57. 'Viruses: A View from the Textbook', and 'Caliciviridae', are both ascribed to the Commercial and Communication Group, CSIRO Animal Health Laboratory, and copyrighted in 1999: retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (15 July 1999).
58. Michael J. Studdert, 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus: A Calicivirus with Differences', Australian Veterinary Journal, Vol. 71, No. 8 (August 1994), 264-66, at 265.
59. S. Thomas and P. O'Brian, 'Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus', Australian Veterinary Journal, Vol. 71, No. 11 (November 1994), 387.
60. A. Dutton, in ibid.
61. M.J. Studdert, 'Reply', ibid., 387-88.
62. This fact sheet was published after the escape of the virus from Wardang Island, but it does not address what went wrong with the precautions taken to prevent accidental release.
63. CSIRO Animal Health Media Release 94/145 (17 December 1994), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
64. CSIRO Media Release 95/99 (10 October 1995), 'Rabbit Calicivirus on Wardang Island', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
65. CSIRO Media Release 95/104 (11 October 1995), 'Rabbit Calicivirus Update - No Trace of Virus on Mainland', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
66. ANZRCDP (23 October 1995), 'Media Release - Community is Reassured about Rabbit Virus', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
67. 'Media Update' (20 October 1996), accessed via http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
68. See Latour, op. cit. note 15, 274-75.
69. Brian D. Cooke, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 2: Epidemiology, Spread and Release in Wild Rabbit Populations in Australia (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999), 3.
70. Neave, op. cit. note 3, 41.
71. G.P. Edwards and W. Dobbie, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease Program Report 3: Use and Benefits of Integrated Control of Wild Rabbits in Australia (Canberra: Bureau of Rural Sciences, 1999), 22.
72. See Madeleine Akrich, 'The De-Scription of Technical Objects', in Wiebe E. Bijker and John Law (eds), Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992), 205-24.
73. Peter Ewer (ed.), For the Common Good: CSIRO and Public Sector Research and Development (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1995).
74. < http://www.csiro.au/format.asp?id = /aboutCSIRO/index.xml > , accessed 2 December 1999.
75. See Gibbons et al., op. cit. note 35.
76. According to its self-presentation, as consulted on http://www.csiro.au (8 April 1999).
77. Of Beauty Rich and Rare: Fifty Years of CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology (Canberra: CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology, 1999).
78. Information on this can be accessed via < http://www.csiro.au >.
79. This CRC, which recently changed name to Pest Animal CRC, is co-located with Wildlife and Ecology, and they share many of the same staff. The work in this unit aims to develop immunocontraceptive methods to control rabbits, foxes and mice, and marks the next step in biological control of vertebrates.
80. The early phase is mapped in Robinson & Westbury, op. cit. note 3, and in ANZRCDP Fact Sheet, 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus: History and Basic Facts about the Virus' (1996), op. cit. note 49.
81. For details, see Robinson & Westbury, op. cit. note 3.
82. ANZRCDP Fact Sheet, 'Background on Rabbit Calicivirus', op. cit. note 49.
83. This organization is described in Neave, op. cit. note 3.
84. The epidemiology programme is described in Cooke, op. cit. note 62.
85. A figure mentioned in CSIRO texts is an annual turnover of A$10m million, in comparison to the A$600 million rabbit damage is supposed to cost. For the A$10m, see Williams et al., op. cit. note 103 (below), 58. The A$600m figure first appears in press releases and fact sheets, without reference; in one of the final reports (Saunders & Kay, op. cit. note 8, 3) it is ascribed to a report prepared for the International Wool Secretariat (ACIL Economics and Policy Pty Ltd, The Economic Importance of Rabbits on Agricultural Production in Australia [1996]); however, Williams et al. (op. cit., 58) say that 'The economic and environmental impact of the rabbit is not well quantified'.
86. A figure mentioned in CSIRO texts is an annual turnover of A$10m million, in comparison to the A$600 million rabbit damage is supposed to cost. For the A$10m, see Williams et al., op. cit. note 103 (below), 58. The A$600m figure first appears in press releases and fact sheets, without reference; in one of the final reports (Saunders & Kay, op. cit. note 8, 3) it is ascribed to a report prepared for the International Wool Secretariat (ACIL Economics and Policy Pty Ltd, The Economic Importance of Rabbits on Agricultural Production in Australia [1996]); however, Williams et al. (op. cit., 58) say that 'The economic and environmental impact of the rabbit is not well quantified'.
87. According to the BRS report on Rabbit Calicivirus Disease (op. cit. note 10, 51-53), a Human Health Study Group concluded that there were no serological reactions to, or signs of illness in persons known to have been exposed to, rabbit calicivirus.
88. From the outset, Alvin Smith expressed grave concern over the Program. His concerns were serious and public enough to warrant a mention in the BRS report, Rabbit Calicivirus Disease, op. cit. note 10, 20. He wrote several letters to Australian authorities: on 21 October 1998, it was possible to access 11 of them on < http:/ /www.vet.orst.edu/research/calicivi.htm > . One of these is: 'An open letter: Addressing the proposed approval and official release of rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RCD) as a biological agent, sent to the Australian National Registration Authority with copies to the prime minister and several other ministers and opposition politicians'. See also note 84, below.
89. Mieke Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2nd edn, 1997).
90. CSIRO Media Release 93/109 (30 September 1993), 'New Rabbit Virus Showing Early Promise', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (15 April 1999).
91. Primary Industries of South Australia (PISA) & ANZRCDP Joint Press Release (17 October 1995), 'Media Alert - Further Information on Rabbit Calicivirus Disease', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (15 April 1999).
92. The person referred to like this in CSIRO Media Release 95/144 (13 December 1995), 'Rabbit Calicivirus Does Not Affect Humans', accessed on http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999), was Professor Alvin Smith from Oregon State University (see note 80), in other technoscientific communities considered one of the leading international experts on calicivirus.
93. On the idea of the modest witnessing of nature by scientists, see Donna Haraway, Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. FemaleMan©_Meets_OncoMouse (New York: Routledge, 1997), esp. 23-39.
94. CSIRO Media Release, op. and loc. cit. note 56.
95. ANZRCDP Press Release, 'RCD Update' (15 January 1996), retrieved from http:/ /www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
96. 'Media Update' (12 December 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
97. Of Beauty Rich and Rare, op. cit. note 70, Appendix 1. There is no comparable mention of the process of bringing myxomatosis into Australia, just a comment on its first effective outbreak.
98. According to the press officer in charge, Niall Byrne (in a presentation to the AAHPSSS 2001 Conference, Melbourne, 25-28 June 2001), the public image of the RCD Program was saved on the morning of 11 October 1995, when the CSIRO managed to curb the attack launched by the media upon the escape of the virus from the pens on Wardang Island.
99. The 1978 award-winning feature film, 'Newsfront', contains a clip from a newsreel from the 1950s on the rabbit menace; the 2001 novel Charnel Knowledge by Fiesta Carrera (Thirroul, NSW: Fontanelle Productions), which has no environmental connection whatsoever, also refers to rabbits as an Australian problem.
100. This understanding of narrative draws on Arthur Asa Berger, Narratives in Popular Culture, Media, and Everyday Life (London: Sage, 1997), esp. 4-11.
101. The opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney featured a playful representation of Captain Cook arriving in Australia with a rabbit.
102. Technoscience documents assimilate and detail this story; I quote Sandell & Start, RCD Program Report 4, op. cit. note 12, 3: '... on Christmas day in 1859 the clipper Lightning arrived with two dozen wild rabbits consigned to Thomas Austin of Barwon Park near Geelong'.
103. Brian Coman, Tooth and Nail: The Story of the Rabbit in Australia (Melbourne: The Text Publishing Company, 1999), 34.
104. Eric Rolls, They All Ran Wild: The Story of Pests on the Land in Australia (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1969), 104.
105. Myxomatosis in Australia is discussed in detail by Frank Fenner and Francis N. Ratcliffe, Myxomatosis (London: Cambridge University Press, 1965), and by Frank Fenner and Bernardino Fantini, Biological Control of Vertebrate Pests: The History of Myxomatosis (Wallingford, CT: CABI Publishing, 1999). According to Rolls, myxomatosis was brought to Australia through a concerted effort led by Dame Jean MacNamarra, with the CSIRO opposing its introduction.
106. Myxomatosis in Australia is discussed in detail by Frank Fenner and Francis N. Ratcliffe, Myxomatosis (London: Cambridge University Press, 1965), and by Frank Fenner and Bernardino Fantini, Biological Control of Vertebrate Pests: The History of Myxomatosis (Wallingford, CT: CABI Publishing, 1999). According to Rolls, myxomatosis was brought to Australia through a concerted effort led by Dame Jean MacNamarra, with the CSIRO opposing its introduction.
107. Coman, op. cit. note 95, 46.
108. At the time of writing, Coman's book was too recent to figure in any references.
109. Geoffrey Bolton, Spoils and Spoilers: Australians Make Their Environment 1788-1980 (Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1981), 95.
110. William J. Lines, Taming the Great South Land: A History of the Conquest of Nature in Australia (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1991), 118.
111. Ibid, 25.
112. Kent Williams, Ian Parer, Brian Coman, John Burley and Mike Braysher, Managing Vertebrate Pests: Rabbits (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1995), 1.
113. Of Beauty Rich and Rare, op. cit. note 70, Chapter 1, 2-11.
114. Roman Mykytowycz and I. Rowley, 'Continuous Observations of the Activity of the Wild Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.) During 24-hour Periods', CSIRO Wildlife Research 3 (1958), 32-39.
115. R. Mykytowycz, E.R. Hesterman, S. Gambale and M.L. Dudzinski, 'A Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Odours of Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus in Enhancing Territorial Confidence', Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 2 (1976), 13-24. Mykytowycz also studied the impact of myxomatosis on rabbits: R. Mykytowycz, 'The Effect of Season and Mode of Transmission on the Severity of Myxomatosis due to an Attenuated Strain of the Virus', Australian Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 34 (1956), 121-32.
116. R. Mykytowycz, E.R. Hesterman, S. Gambale and M.L. Dudzinski, 'A Comparison of the Effectiveness of the Odours of Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus in Enhancing Territorial Confidence', Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 2 (1976), 13-24. Mykytowycz also studied the impact of myxomatosis on rabbits: R. Mykytowycz, 'The Effect of Season and Mode of Transmission on the Severity of Myxomatosis due to an Attenuated Strain of the Virus', Australian Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 34 (1956), 121-32.
117. Williams et al., Managing Venebrate Pests, op. cit. note 103. In the text which follows, page numbers of quotations from this work are given in [square brackets]. Note that Brian Coman is one co-author of this technoscientific text.
118. CSIRO Corporate Media Release 95/39 (13 April 1995), 'Bilbies not Bunnies: CSIRO Supports Campaign', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999). This story makes a distinction between bunnies and rabbits - possibly to navigate the cultural territory mapped in Williams et al., Managing Vertebrate Pests, op. cit. note 103.
119. CSIRO Corporate Media Release 95/77 (7 August 1995), 'Sorry Bugs - Rabbit Popularity Plummets', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
120. CSIRO, op. & loc. cit. note 58.
121. ANZRCDP Press Release (29 October 1995), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (18 April 1999).
122. ANZRCDP, op. and loc. cit. note 87.
123. 'Media Update' (29 August 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999).
124. 'Media Update' (31 July 1996), retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999).
125. CSIRO Media Release 96/84 (16 September 1996), 'Rabbits: RCD Another Weapon in the Arsenal', retrieved from http://www.csiro.au (20 April 1999).
126. For a discussion of the narrative construction of 'success' in the RCD Program, see Catharina Landström, 'Justifiable Bunnycide; Narrating the Recent Success of Australian Biological Control of Rabbits', Science as Culture, Vol. 10, No 2 (2001), 141-61.