Laboratories

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The American Association for the

Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care

put the animal care program at the Davis cam-

pus of the University of California on proba-

tion for six months in mid-April, stating that

the lack of a centralized system for enforcing

care standards has led to uneven and some-

times inadequate care, including cages that are

too small and dirty, and rat infestations of

holding facilities.

Diet & Health

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The Council for Agricultural

Science and Technology reported March 21

that advances in farming methods and the

growing popularity of vegetarianism could

mean a 30% decrease in the amount of land

used for food crops during the next 50 years

even as the global human population doubles.

The 64-page CAST study, commissioned by

the Program for the Human Environment at

Rockefeller University, was authored by

Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station

agronomist Paul Waggoner, who explained

that the calories and protein produced on pre-

sent cropland are already sufficient to feed 10

billion vegetarians, rather than the five to six

billion people who now eat a diet including

varying amounts of meat.

AGRICULTURE

May 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:

The General Agreement on Trade

and Tariffs will increase the amount of pork

the U.S. can export to Europe to 624,000 met-

ric tons by 1999, six times the 1991 volume.

Drawn by relatively weak U.S. pollution

laws, European hog producers are rushing to

set up U.S. branches, including the Pig

Improvement Co., of Great Britain, the

world’s largest hog breeder, which hopes to

raise 100,000 hogs per year at a site near

Hennessy, Oklahoma. The facility will gen-

erate as much sewage as a town of 170,000

people. A Danish firm is reportedly planning

an even bigger operation: a 600,000-hog con-

finement farm to be sited in Alaska, where

there are virtually no laws pertaining to farm-

related pollution because farming ventures

there have historically failed.

Diet & Health

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

The USDA proposed March 9 to apply the same

sanitary standards to poultry as to red meat. Currently, no

trace of fecal matter is permitted on red meat, but fecal matter

is tolerated on poultry under a grading system that also consid-

ers the presence of bruises, feathers, and protruding bones. A

dead bird is deemed unfit for human consumption only if it

receives a failing cumulative score. Earlier, the USDA said it

would seek Food and Drug Administration approval of the use

of radiation to kill bacteria on red meats. Whether the request

would be extended to cover poultry too was unclear.

Biomedical research

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Following five years of controversy and

a two-month probe by concerned individuals and

organizations, the University of Arizona in mid-

March released 12 greyhounds bought for biomed-

ical research from Greg Ludlow of GTL Kennels in

Goodyear, Arizona. Another greyhound was to be

released upon completion of a pacemaker trial; a

14th had already been used in a terminal experiment.

For the second time in six years, and just one year

after serving out a five-year USDA suspension of his

Class B dealer’s license, Ludlow was accused of

obtaining and selling dogs under false pretenses.

The release was achieved through the cooperation of

Concerned Arizonans for Animal Rights and Ethics,

the Greyhound Protection League, Greyhound

Network News, the management of the greyhound

tracks at Phoenix and Apache Junction, and Arizona

Greyhound Breeders and Kennel Operators.

Dog sledding

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

After announcing that the

Humane Society of the U.S. would call a

boycott of Iditarod sponsors if any dogs

died during this year’s edition of the 1,163-

mile race from Anchorage to Nome, HSUS

vice president David Wills was embarrassed

when a six-year-old dog belonging to four-

time Iditarod winner and leading exponent of

humane dog care Susan Butcher died suddenly

of a heart attack on March 7. Butcher, who

backed the zero death goal, revolutionized

sled dog training by motivating her teams with

love instead of aggression; was instrumental

in forming a self-policing association of

dogsledders; outspokenly opposes breeding

large numbers of dogs to get a few fast ones;

and keeps 28 retired dogs as well as breeders

and dogs in training. After the death, she

gave her team a 24-hour rest, dropping out of

contention. She previously lost two dogs

when a moose charged her team in 1985, plus

another who died of a ruptured liver in 1987.

Birds

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

The Clinton administration on

February 23 unveiled a management plan

for 24 million acres of public land in the

Pacific Northwest that cuts the rate of log-

ging to 20% of the pace in the 1980s. Most

of the 5.3 million acres of old growth on the

public lands will be off limits, to protect

spotted owls and more than 1,000 other old

growth-dependent species. Although the

plan will make permanent the layoffs of

about 9,500 forest products workers, it is

expected to be what The New York Times

called “the final blueprint” for settling the

spotted owl crisis. Studies of the impact of

logging on spotted owls go on; critics of owl

protection may enjoy the March 13 disclo-

sure that the Seattle Center for Wildlife

Conservation is getting $107,000 from the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to check spot-

ted owl guano from logging areas for hor-

monal signs of stress.

ANIMAL HEALTH

April 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:

Epidemiology

New York and Rhode Island

health officials said February 24 that a mys-

terious hantavirus caused the January 20

death of Rhode Island School of Design stu-

dent David Rosenberg, 22, who may have

become infected via rodent droppings while

sweeping out a warehouse in Queens. The

case is among the first known human cases in

the U.S. that apparently does not involve deer

mice. Four days earlier, the Centers for

Disease Control confirmed that the hantavirus

afflicts Florida cotton rats, and announced

the death of three Kansans from suspected

hantavirus infections. Of the 60 known U.S.

human victims, 27 have died; 23 have

recovered after suffering debilitating illness.

Diet & Health

March 1, 1994 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1994:

MILK PRODUCED WITH RBST GOES ON SALE

Milk produced through the use of recombinant

(genetically enginneered) bovine somatotropin growth hor-

m o n e went on sale to the general public for the first time on

February 4, a month after a review of the scientific literature

on the production stimulant by the White House Office of

Management and Budget concluded that, “There is no evi-

dence that rBST poses a health threat to humans or animals.”

The Pure Food Campaign led anti-rBST protests in at least nine

cities. The drug boosts milk production per cow and extends

the time a cow can be milked between the births of calves. It is

bitterly opposed by many dairy farmers because in reducing the

number of cows needed to meet the demand for milk, it will

put some farmers out of business. Consumer advocates are

concerned that despite government assurances, residues may

get into milk, producing such effects as earlier puberty and

greater breast development in young women––and perhaps

stimulating hormonally triggered cancers. Concerned about

boycott pressure, the Food and Drug Administration warned

dairy producers and distributors that they can identify milk as

being produced without the use of rBST if they can prove it,

but cannot say simply “rBST-free,” since milk produced with

rBST is also technically rBST-free. They must also state on a

label that, “No significant difference has been shown between

milk derived from rBST-treated and non-rBST-treated cows.”

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