Biomedical research

November 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1993:

A George Washington University

research team revealed October 25 in

Science that it recently cloned and

destroyed a number of human embryos,

which were available for experimental use

because they had genetic flaws. It was the

most advanced genetic engineering experi-

ment to date using human tissue. The

announcement came less than a month after

300 scientists gathered in England to discuss

xenography––animal-to-human organ trans-

plants–– made theoretically possible after a

century of failures by implanting human genes

into animals raised as donors, which would

give the organs a human configuration and

help to overcome tissue rejection.

COURT CALENDAR

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

Editor’s note: The people grouped under the heading “Animal Collectors,”

below, call themselves animal rescuers. The others, purportedly, sought to make

money. In each case, however, regardless of alleged motive, the pathology and cir –

cumstances of the perpetrators seems to be the same. As humane investigator Lewis R.

Plumb of the Promotion of Animal Welfare Society in Paradise, California wrote about

a case he and his wife prosecuted, “When two people are living in a mobile home with

hundreds of dogs, with feces all over the floors and even on the bed, when in one small

container a mother poodle nurses two dead puppies who have been left in the cage,

when three dead puppies are in the freezer next to a frozen turkey and some ice cream,

then you get the idea that it just maybe is not so much criminality as insanity. How

should these people be humanely dealt with? As it is now, each felony cruelty count

under California law carries a maximum penalty of one year is prison, a maximum fine

Animal Control & Rescue

October 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1993:

The National Cat Protection Society, a shelter in

Long Beach, California, has paid $26,500 in civil penalties

and costs for providing misleading information about euthana-

sia policies and adoption rates to donors and people who sur-

render cats. NCPS attorney Richard Tanzer denied the organi-

zation had done anything wrong and said the settlement was

reached to avoid the cost of defending itself against the charges,

brought by the Los Angeles County district attorney.

Chows are now responsible for the most dog bites

of any breed in St, Bernard Parish, Louisiana, according to

animal control officer Ceily Trog––10 of 89 total bites,

through the first half of this year. Other Louisiana animal con-

trol departments also report a rise in chow bites.

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

September 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1993:

Validation of non-animal tests gains momentum

Significant progress in validating non-animal toxicity tests was announced

during the summer by both the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to

Animal Testing and the Scandinavian Society of Cell Toxicology’s four-year-old

Multicenter Evaluation of In Vitro Cytotoxicity Tests program, headquartered in

Sweden. Validation is the process of establishing how test results relate to human health.

The Johns Hopkins team published a “Framework for the Validation and Implementation

of In Vitro Toxicity Tests” simultaneously in four leading scientific journals, hoping to

speed researcher interest, while the Swedish team, somewhat ahead of Johns Hopkins,

now has 90 European in vitro toxicologists working on a variety of tests of their own

design, measuring the toxicity of 50 chemicals with well-known effects on humans.

“Relevance remains the key problem,” John Frazier of the Johns Hopkins team

said. “It was clear from the beginning that the ill-defined nature of the ‘gold standard’ we

are trying to measure with an in vitro test––human toxicity––was going to be difficult.

It’s a moving target. Nobody has come up with a definitive solution.”

Peggy Larson, DVM and Doctor -of-Law: Committed, compassionate, qualified to castrate or sue

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

BURLINGTON, VERMONT––Among the

heroes and heroines of animal protection are ex-vivisectors

turned animal rights advocate, veterinarians who do low-

cost neutering, whistleblowers who challenge the meat

industry, articulate writers and speakers, and attorneys who

secure better humane enforcement.

Tough, skeptical, and able to debate any subject

she addresses, Peggy Larson is all the above and more. Her

37 years of professional research, activism, and advocacy

began with two years of neurophysiologic experiments on

cats at the University of Minnesota in 1956-1957, as one of

the first women to break into an overwhelmingly male-dom-

inated field. This work, she recalls, “was horrible. Succinyl

choline was commonly used at that time, which paralyzes

the cat but does not anesthetize him.”

COURT CALENDAR

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

Undercover probe nabs Wisconsin dog dealer; local judge lets him go

Circuit judge Donald Poppy, of

Calumet County, Wisconsin, on June 14

dismissed a felony cruelty charge against

USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer

Ervin Stebane, 72, for tying, shooting,

and disemboweling a dog he sold as meat.

Poppy claimed Wisconsin law allows peo-

ple to kill their own dogs in a humane man-

ner, called the slaughter humane, and

added, “If the legislature intended for peo-

ple not to kill dogs as food, the legislature

should pass such a law.”

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.

WOOFS AND GROWLS

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1993:

USDA-licensed Class B animal dealer Noel

Leach of Chase City, Virginia, facing disciplinary action

for 46 alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act, sued

Friends of Animals on May 24 for purportedly defaming

his character and interfering with his business relation-

ships in connection with bringing many of the alleged vio-

lations to the USDA’s attention. Leach claims FoA under-

cover investigators trespassed on his property while gath-

ering evidence. FoA attorney Herman Kaufman respond-

ed to the suit with a request for dismissal, pointing out

that the action is based on an alleged tort in 1990 for

which the statute of limitations is just two years, and that

the statute of limitations in defamation cases in Virginia,

where the suit was filed, is only one year. Well known to

USDA inspectors, Leach was rapped for six previous

AWA violations in 1983. His primary business is selling

dogs and cats to research labs and dissection supply firms.

NEW DIRECTION FOR AMERICANS FOR MEDICAL PROGRESS ––OR MORE OF THE SAME?

July 1, 1993 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:

Americans for Medical Progress has posted a reward of $5,000 for information leading to the arrest

and conviction of whoever vandalized the homes and cars of five federally funded researchers on April 28. Although the names of the researchers were not officially disclosed, one is believed to be Sharon Juliano, whose experiments on cats have been subject of numerous protests held in front of her home and elsewhere in her neighborhood.

AMP was founded by three executives of U.S. Surgical Corporation, specifically to attack the animal

rights movement––and U.S. Surgical, whose laboratory use of dogs has been target of annual demonstrations by Friends of Animals for 13 years, donated $980,000 of the $985,000 AMP raised in 1991. (1992 financial data isn’t yet available.) However, AMP refrained from any mention of animal issues in a May 14 full-page ad in The New York Times, which depicted Marie Curie and suggested that the purpose of the organization is to “bring the story of medical science––and medical heroes––to young Americans.”

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