Did AmEx renege on “no fur” pledge to Roddick?

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Did or did not American Express pledge to drop fur from

its catalogs, to secure an endorsement from Body Shop skin and

hair care products founder Anita Roddick?

Catching flak for appearing in AmEx television commer-

cials while the firm is under boycott by PETA and other groups,

Roddick issued a written statement on April 15 asserting that,

“Before agreeing to do the commercial, I had a meeting with

American Express where I was assured that the current catalog

would be the last one to include fur.” Receiving Roddick’s state-

ment directly from The Body Shop, ANIMAL PEOPLE pub-

lished it in May.

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The premise of the hit film Jurassic Park is that

scientists might some day clone dinosaurs from bits of their

DNA, containing their genetic codes, which may be found

in the bellies of blood-sucking insects whose remains are

preserved in amber. Considered far-fetched by many, that

scenario moved closer to reality in June when a team of

California-based researchers reported in Nature that they

had extracted recognizable DNA segments from a weevil

who became caught in tree resin 120 to 135 million years

ago. The resin harrdened into amber, and was eventually

excavated near Jezzine, Lebanon. Paleontologist Jack

Horner of Montana State University topped that June 30,

announcing that his graduate assistant Mary Schweitzer had

discovered apparent blood cells in the deep interior of a

tyrannosaur bone, where the thickness of the bone protected

them from fossilization and decay. Horner’s team is now

trying to extract DNA from the blood cells.

Animal Health & Behavior

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

CDC goes to rat-@#$%

The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention blame an unknown Hantaan virus probably

transmitted by rodents for causing flu-like symptoms that

killed 19 residents of the Four Corners region of New

Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado during May and

June. Most of the victims were Native Americans.

Hantaan viruses are typically transmitted through inhala-

tion, after becoming airborne with evaporated urine.

The transmission route for this as yet unidentified virus

has not been found, and investigators have been thwarted

by the reluctance of Navajo victims’ families, in particu-

lar, to speak either of the dead or of matters involving

their religion and rituals. However, Nevada paleoenvi-

ronmental researcher Peter E. Wigand, who seeks clues

to ecological history in ancient deposits of crystalized rat

urine, may have unwittingly provided a clue to the out-

break last January, before it actually occurred. Wigand

Diet & Health

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Thirty of 90 beef slaughterhouses inspected by

the USDA during last winter’s outbreak of E. coli bacterial

poisoning of hamburger were temporarily closed for clean-

up, Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announced May 27.

Twelve plants were put in a special enforcement program,

with which they must comply or lose USDA certification.

The last of 143 people who were hospitalized during the E.

coli outbreak, 10-year-old Brianne Kiner, was released as

an outpatient from Children’s Hospital in Seattle on June 29.

Stricken after eating a Jack-in-the-Box hamburger on

January 13, Kiner spent 41 days in a coma and lost her

large intestine. Four children died––three in the Seattle area

and one in San Diego.

CHILDREN & ANIMALS

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Lucinda Randolph Benjamin of the 4-H Club

and Margaret Barker of the Cornell Laboratory of

Ornithology are coordinating a study of inner city pigeon

life, funded by the National Science Foundation and actu-

ally carried out by 15 young residents of the Bedford-

Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York. The partici-

pants, ages 9-14, are to closely observe the pigeons in

their neighborhood, documenting everything the birds do.

Carol Stevenson, principal of the Ladera del

Norte Elementary School in Farmington, New Mexico,

rewarded a class of 23 second graders for reading 7,000

pages of library books during May by eating six live worms

in front of them. The geek show was apparently the chil-

dren’s idea, inspired by one of the books they read.

Horse Tips

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Prairie Bayou, the pre-race favorite in the

June 5 Belmont Stakes, suffered a shattered foreleg

while running 11th in the backstretch among a field of

13––an indication of exhaustion or injury––and was eutha-

nized half an hour later. Prairie Bayou placed second in

the Kentucky Derby five weeks earlier, and won the

Preakness Stakes two weeks earlier as another top-ranked

horse, Union City, collapsed and was destroyed due to

similar fractures. The loss of the horses drew attention to

the theories of several experts about horse racing injuries.

Veterinarian James Rooney of the Maxwell H. Gluck

Equine Center in Lexington, Kentucky, argued that the

back-to-back collapses of Prairie Bayou and Union City

were, “Pure bloody coincidence,” claiming that only 2%

of North American races result in fatal breakdowns––but

that would still mean the deaths of 1,600 horses a year.

Estrogen therapy fills horsemeat slaughterhouses

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

BRANDON, Manitoba––Two new reports from

the Canadian Farm Animal Care Trust affirm that the fast-

growing estrogen drug market is driving the equally fast

expanding Canadian horsemeat export trade––as ANIMAL

PEOPLE reported in April, based in part on earlier CAN-

FACT publications.

The Manitoba Animal Rights Coalition is asking

other animal protection groups to join it in an international

campaign to publicize the source of the increasingly popular

“natural” estrogen replacement drug Premarine: PMU, the

urine of catheterized pregnant mares, who are kept standing

in barns from September to April of each year. This is the

peak period for equine estrogen yield, coming in the fourth

through tenth months of the mares’ 11-month gestation

cycle. Draft breeds are preferred because of their placid

nature and greater capacity for producing urine.

Cats & Dogs

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

The older men who get the most emotional benefit

from keeping pets are those who have the least free time, the most

difficulties in personal relationships, and the most financial trouble,

according to a newly published study by Ohio State University psy-

chology professor Sara Staats––whereas the women who derive the

most satisfaction from pets are those with the most free time and

the most satisfactory relationships with other people. Staats’ data

came from a survey of 250 people over age 50. The findings appar-

ently reflect the role of pet as family member for women, contrast-

ed with the role of pet as surrogate for family among many men.

Further gains against pet overpopulation

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Continuing to refine the data on pound and shelter admissions and

euthanasias as more complete state statistics become available, Phil Arkow of the

Humane Society of Pike’s Peak has revised his estimate of the current U.S. euthanasia

toll, reported here in June, upward slightly to 5.7 million dogs and cats per year. This is

still the lowest total ever discovered––and reflects the most thorough research. Arkow’s

estimate is based on the 1991 totals, the most recent available in most instances, from

California (717,000); Colorado (69,766); Iowa (48,653); Massachusetts (79,500);

Maryland (90,000); New Jersey (75,263); Oregon (79,713); Texas (597,591); and

Washington (109,274). Together, these nine states include more than a third of the U.S.

human population, and are demographically almost identical to the U.S. as a whole.

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