Virology. HIV may shed some protection as it jumps to new hosts.

labeling system for all exports. While CITES deliberates, Russian reports suggest that the Caspian nations will lobby for an increased quota, following their meeting in Moscow earlier this month. The Caspian nations’ reprieve comes as the community awaits word of a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list beluga as endangered. Such a ruling, now 2 months overdue, would ban all imports by the world’s biggest caviar importer. Alternatively, the service could list the fish as threatened and impose some restrictions on import—or not classify it at all. Although most environmental groups hope that the fish is listed as endangered, some experts warn that a U.S. ban would deprive hatcheries of funds from the harvest now used for conservation and would increase poaching, as has happened with Indian tiger parts and African elephant ivory. Others insist that only vanishingly small amounts of revenue from caviar sales have been earmarked for conservation. With the beluga’s fate hanging in the balance, the spring harvest—when most sturgeon are caught—is already under way. –FIONA PROFFITT