Animal testing and experimentation

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1999:

Four months after PETA began
a campaign to reduce animal use in connection
with the High Production Volume chemical
safety testing project undertaken by the
Environmental Protection Agency,
Chemical Manufacturers Association, and
Environmental Defense Fund, at urging of
U.S. vice president Albert Gore, PETA
declared on May 4 that “The EPA has conceded
that some of the planned animal tests
were not necessary. At a recent meeting in
Fairfax, Virginia,” PETA said, “EPA officials
announced their intention to remove a
requirement for genetic toxicity tests on animals,
allowing non-animal tests instead. The
EPA also announced at the meeting that it has
agreed to pull requirements for terrestrial toxicity
tests that would have meant intentionally
poisoning birds. A giant rabbit has followed
Gore to 22 cities,” the PETA statement finished,
“with a sign that says ‘Gore: burn
bunnies, lose votes.’”

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KIEV SPA FIGHTS CITY HALL

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1999:

KIEV, Ukraine––The future of animal
control in Kiev might have hinged on the
May 30 city election, but the results––and
consequences for animals––were unknown as
ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press.
Three-year incumbent Oleksandr
Omelchenko reportedly trailed Dynamo Kiev
football club president and member of the
Ukrainian parliament Gregory Surkis by five
percentage points in the last polls before the
vote, with 40% of the electorate undecided.

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EQUINES

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1999:

PMU mares & foals

Touring western Canada during 1998-1999 to assess recent changes in the pregnant mares’ urine industry, Enzo Giobe and Staci Wilson of the International Generic Horse Association/HorseAid reported on May 22 that the number of active accredited PMU farms has dropped from 553 to 439, and that the number of foals they sell to slaughter each year has fallen from 75,000 to between 37,000 and 43,000, depending on how many foals are used for other purposes.

PMU is the source stock for the Wyeth-Ayrst estrogen drug Premarin. As world demand for estrogen supplements is up, Giobe and Wilson link the decline of PMU production partly to the advent of rival products made from soy, yams, and other non-animal estrogen sources, and partly to growing awareness of how PMU-producing mares and their foals are treated. Premarin has been made since 1942, but the industry was first extensively exposed by A N I M A L PEOPLE in early 1993, based on research by Tom Hughes of the Canadian Farm Animal Concerns Trust in 1991-1992.

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Furriers whistle past the graveyard

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1999:

BEVERLY HILLS, LONDON– –
Furriers rejoiced twice in three days in midMay.
Sixty-four percent of an unusually high
special election turnout in Beverly Hills,
California, on May 12 rejected a proposed
bylaw that fur garments priced at $50 or more
be labeled to tell how the animals whose pelts
they use were killed. Then, in London,
Conservative backbenchers on May 14 “talked
out” a bill which would have bought and
closed the last 11 mink farms in Britain.

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Free Willy! six years later

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1999:

OSLO, Norway––Responding on
four days’ notice to a Japanese plan to capture
four orcas in Norwegian waters, former
“Flipper” trainer Ric O’Barry recently scored
one of the biggest, quickest victories of his 30-
year crusade against marine mammal captivity.
Yet mass media and even Internet
animal rights forums scarcely noticed.
O’Barry was used to the silence.
Arrested on Earth Day 1970 for tryting to free
two captive dolphins, he campaigned virtually
alone for almost 20 years. Then the 1993 hit
film Free Willy! and sequels made opposition to
marine mammal captivity briefly the fastest
growing and most lucrative branch of the animal
rights movement.

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Rabies update

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1999:

The World Health Organization
in April credited Switzerland with becoming
the first non-island nation to eradicate rabies.
Explained Swiss Rabies Center
director Reto Zanoni, “The European fox
rabies epizootic reached Switzerland in March
1967. Rabies spread over large parts of the
country until 1977, when it caused three
human deaths. In 1978 Switzerland conducted
the first field trial worldwide of oral immunization
of foxes” with the vaccine now
known as Raboral. “Expanding the vaccination
area led to a rapid reduction in rabies
cases,” Zanoni continued. “After 1984, all
neighboring countries adopted the method of
orally immunizing foxes successfully. The
last endemic case of rabies in Switzerland was
diagnosed in 1997. Rabies-free status will
likely be reached by the neighboring countries
in the near future.”

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Editorial: Peace may begin with petting the same dog or cat

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1999:

One possible casualty of the fighting underway for more than a month now in
Kosovo may be the International Companion Animal Conference scheduled for October 21-22
in Sophia, Bulgaria. Though Bulgaria is a nation long at peace, it borders on both Serbia and
Macedonia, and Sophia is just 50 miles from either border.
Eager to assist the young humane movement in eastern Europe, the sponsoring
National Canine Defense League and North Shore Animal League are reluctant to accept postponement
if the conference can go ahead, the second of an intended annual series of teachingand-sharing
opportunities growing out of more than five years of outreach.
Except for our conversations with International Companion Animal Conference
planners, we have heard little or nothing about the war in Kosovo from animal protection
organizations. Under the chaotic circumstances, with hundreds of thousands of hungry, often
injured, penniless, shellshocked, and bereaved human refugees on the move, it is understandable
that no one is able to mount any sort of relief mission on behalf of the millions of
animals going unfed. Still, there are words to be said and points to be made.

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ANIMAL WELFARE ABROAD

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1999:

An attempt to vasectomize urban
baboons and vervets in the Diani beach district
along the south coast of Kenya started
slowly in January, as after fixing and releasing
just one vervet, the team was unable to catch
any more monkeys of either species,
Columbus Trust official Clement Kiragu told
The Nation, of Nairobi.
Britain will within a year introduce
“pet passports” in lieu of the six month
quarantine of all imported dogs and cats
which has been in effect since 1900, agriculture
minister Nick Brown announced on March
26. The “pet passports” will certify that the
bearer animals have been vaccinated against
rabies, have microchip ID, have had a blood
test, have no exotic infections, and come from
a nation with no endemic rabies. While pets
who have come from most European Union
nations and Australia, New Zealand, Japan,
Taiwan, and Singapore will qualify, pets from
the U.S. and Canada would not, under the
rules as Brown explained them ––but, Brown
added, “We are looking again at the position
for the U.S. and Canada.”

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NEW BRITISH REGS

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1999:

Starting April 1, the Animal Procedures
Committee of the British Home Office will gain the
authority to close labs if they fail to provide detailed
descriptions of experiments and explain the use of
animals instead of non-animal research techniques,
Home Secretary Jack Straw said in February.
“They will have to justify every test,
explain the exact conditions in which the animals are
kept, and prove they meet all standards,” Straw stated.
“If the Procedures Committee decides any aspect
of the treatment is inappropriate, the license will be
revoked.”
The 300 licensed British laboratories experiment
on about 2.7 million animals per year.

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