BOOKS: In The Name of Science

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

In The Name of Science:
Issues In Responsible Animal Experimentation
by F. Barbara Orlans, Oxford Univ. Press (200 Madison Ave., NY 10016)
1993, 304 pages, $39.95.
Christine Stevens of the Animal Welfare
Institute describes In The Name of Scienceas being “writ-
ten for scientists by a scientist.” Stevens is technically
right, as Barbara Orlans is certainly a respected scien-
tist––a former heart disease researcher at the National
Institutes of Health, now a physiologist at Georgetown
University––and she is primarily addressing her col-
leagues. But Orlans’ lucid writing is easily accessible to
anyone who might read ANIMAL PEOPLE, and ought
to be read by anyone who wants to be conversant on the
use of animals in science.

Read more

BOOKS: Wild Wild West & Vanishing Species

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Wild Wild West: Wildlife Habitats of Western
North America, by Constance Perenyi. Sasquatch
Books, (1931 2nd Ave., Seattle, WA 98101), 1993, 40
pages, $8.95 ($11.95 Canada).
Vanishing Species: the Wildlife Art of Laura
Regan, written by Michelle Minnich, researched
by Laurie Ann Macdonald. Cedco Publishing (2955
Kerner Blvd., San Rafael, CA 94901), 117 pages, $19.95.

Read more

FURRIERS STRUGGLING

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

If fur is making a comeback, it isn’t evident in the retail price index kept by
ANIMAL PEOPLE editor Merritt Clifton since 1988. The volume of fur merchandise
advertised in the greater New York metropolitan area as of Fur Free Friday 1993 was identi-
cal to 1992, as was the average price, excluding sable. The advertised volume of sable,
the highest-priced fur, was up fivefold, with the average price up from $25,000 to
$38,750––but the advertised volume of mink held steady, while the average mink price was
down 30%. “They’re in a steep slump and swinging for home runs to compensate,” Clifton
said. “Mink is traditionally 80% of their trade, but they aren’t picking up new customers
even at steep discounts, so they’re trying to buy sable low from the cash-strapped former
Soviet republics and sell it high to the handful of customers they’ve kept.” It’s too early to
project sales figures for the whole winter, Clifton continued, with the Christmas and
Valentine’s Day sales periods still ahead, “but so far there’s no sign that increased fur adver-
tising expenditures are significantly paying off. They’re just spending more money to stay
where they are.” Just before the fall fur ad blitz began, Evans Inc., accounting for roughly
10% of U.S. retail fur sales, reported a second-quarter drop of 7.4% in same-store sales as
compared to last year.

Read more

Horses

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

University of Minnesota re-
searcher Julie Wilson will present a paper to
the American Association of Equine
Practitioners this month asserting that 840
racehorses suffered fatal breakdowns on U.S.
tracks in 1992––one for every 92 races.
Further, Wilson says, 3,566 horses––one
every 22 races––were so severely hurt they
were unable to finish the events.
New York City’s five-year-old
carriage horse protection law is to expire at
the end of this month. Following the defeat of
incumbent mayor David Dinkins, who vetoed
a previous attempt to weaken carriage horse
protection, counsellor Noach Dear has intro-
duced a bill to increase the horses’ work week
to 70 hours, abolish most of the safety and
humane provisions of the current law, and
allow the carriages to re-enter heavy traffic.
They are now restricted to Central Park. “To
see a carriage horse marooned in New York
City traffic is to see a 19th century artifact
cruelly transported into a 20th century night-
mare,” The New York Times editorially
responded.

Read more

Biomedical research, teaching, and testing

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

The report in our November issue
that a George Washington University team
had cloned human embryos was in error,
based on an erroneous article in The New York
Times. What the researchers actually did was
achieve artificial embryonic cell division,
which creates the possibility of conceiving
twins via in vitro fertilization.
Veterinarian/astronaut Dr. Martin
Fettman on October 30 performed the first
dissections in space, assisted by Dr. Rhea
Seddon, aboard the space shuttle Columbia.

Diet & Health

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

Unhealthy diet follows smoking as
the leading cause of preventable death i n
the U.S., according to a new study co-
authored by Dr. Mcihael McGinnis, deputy
assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. McGinnis is
responsible for designing U.S. disease pre-
vention strategy. Preventable deaths account
for about half of the U.S. death rate. The
study appeared in the Journal of the American
Medical Association.

Read more

AGRICULTURE

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

The USDA on November 5
approved the sale of milk produced with the
use of a genetically engineered bovine
growth hormone, bovine somatotropin,
effective when a Congressionally imposed
moratorium expires February 3. In the interim,
the anti-genetic engineering Foundation on
Economic Trends and small dairy farmers are
trying to form a national boycott of dairies that
buy milk from BST users. The potential
impact of BST is indirectly illustrated by newly
released statistics showing California is the top
dairy state in the US., with only 2,000 farms
and 1.2 million cows, compared with 29,000
farms and 1.5 million cows for Wisconsin, the
runner-up. Most Wisconsin farms are family-
run; most California production comes from
mega-scale factory farms, whose cows may
never go outdoors or taste fresh grass. BST is
expected to tilt farm economics further in favor
of the factory farmers.

Read more

Pit bull murder rap a national first

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

CLEVELAND, Ohio––After nine
hours of deliberation, a Cleveland jury on
November 23 convicted unemployed welder
Jeffrey Mann, 36, of murder for siccing a pit
bull terrier named Mack on his live-in girl-
friend, Angela Kaplan, 28, during a quarrel
on the night of September 2, 1992.
Following mandatory sentencing guidelines,
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court
Judge Linda Rocker imprisoned Mann for 15
years to life.
It was the first-ever U.S. murder
conviction in which an animal figured as the
weapon. Mack bit Kaplan more than 70
times, almost exclusively on the undersides
of her arms. Afterward, she bled to death on
a living room sofa while Mann purportedly
slept in the family bedroom.

Read more

Swett keeps Primarily Primates

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1993:

SAN ANTONIO, Texas––Conclu-
ding that charges of mismanagement against
Primarily Primates founder and president
Wallace Swett were much less serious than he
had been led to believe, Texas assistant attor-
ney general John Vinson on November 16
dropped a petition to remove Swett from the
sanctuary in exchange for structural conces-
sions. To improve oversight, Swett is to
expand the present five-member board to
seven members, of whom four must live with-
in 100 miles of the San Antonio facility. In
addition, Primarily Primates will no longer be
a membership-controlled organization with
Swett as the sole voting member, which in
effect gave him veto power over the board.

Read more

1 595 596 597 598 599 648