Children & animals

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

Scots law prevents animal and child protection
agencies from sharing case data, but veterinary pathologist
Helen Munro intends to change that. “Some of Britain’s most
notorious child murders reaffirm the link between animal cruelty
and child abuse,” she told The Daily Telegraph. “The two boys
who killed the Liverpool toddler James Bulger pulled the heads
off baby pigeons, double child-killer Mary Bell throttled
pigeons for fun, and Dunblane murderer Thomas Hamilton shot
birds from his bedroom window.”
The Eton College natural history museum scheduled
an October 23 auction to unload 460 taxidermic mounts,
mostly donated by graduates between 1850 and 1903. Proceeds
will be used for renovation, under retired biology teacher David
Smith. “In the past,” Smith said, “the emphasis of teaching was
on anatomy, classification, and the collecting of specimens.
Now biology means genetics, ecology, and evolution.”

Critics go for broke against cruel research

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

BOULDER, Colorado––Now under funding
review by the National Institutes of Health, University of
Colorado biomedical researcher Mark Laudenslager’s $3 million
study of “Behavioral and Physiological Consequences of
Loss” in 120 young macaques went virtually unnoticed for
almost 12 years. But the terms “maternal deprivation,” and
“AIDS” suggest that the Laudenslager study may never be
obscure again.
Explains Laudenslager, “What we’re trying to
determine is, all things being equal, why is one person at a
greater risk from AIDS than another? Why does one HIVpositive
person die after six months, as opposed to one who’s
living 15 years later?” His hypothesis is that maternal deprivation
may inhibit full development of the immune system,
making the affected children more vulnerable to AIDS and
other diseases later in life.

Attack of the gene splicers wins hearts and minds

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.––With 80
Britons a day dying from lack of human hearts,
lungs, livers, and kidneys suitable for transplant,
Imutran Ltd. had no trouble finding 25
seriously ill volunteers in September to participate
in the first trial of organs grown in genetically
engineered pigs specifically for transplant
into humans. Subject to approval by
seven different governmental bureaus, the
experimental xenographs will be conducted at
the earliest opportunity.
Immunologist David White and
transplant surgeon John Wallwork told media
that the Imutran approach is, as London
Sunday Times medical correspondent Lois
Rogers put it, “to trick the human immune
system into tolerating animal organs. The system
is naturally programmed to mount a massive
attack to kill implanted foreign tissue
within minutes. Organs from the pigs specially
bred by the company have the same protective
proteins on their surfaces as tissue within
the human body––a mechanism designed to
stop the body from attacking itself.”

Facilities

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

Stop Animal Exploitation
N o w, a self-described “militant new
animal rights organization” led by former
In Defense of Animals midwest
coordinator Michael Budke, made a
September 17 public debut with news
briefings in Cincinnati and six other
cities. Each briefing announced complaints
filed with the USDA, alleging
nonenforcement of the Animal
Welfare Act in response to multiple
violations by local laboratories.

NEW LAB ANIMAL CARE GUIDE

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

The 1996 updated edition of
the Guide for the Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals, published in midsummer
by the National Research
Council’s Institute of Laboratory
Animal Resources, is under fire from
researchers for recommending group
housing for social animals such as dogs
and primates, and flat rather than wirefloored
cages for rodents. Though having
no regulatory force, the Guide i s
often used as the basis for federal regulation
of laboratories. If Guide recommendations
are incorporated into future
amendments to the Animal Welfare Act,
many labs will have to renovate.

U.S. lab animal use hits record low

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

WASHINGTON D.C.––U.S. laboratory use of five of
the six species whose use has been recorded under the Animal
Welfare Act since it first came into effect in 1973 dropped to new
lows in 1995, according to newly released USDA data:
Species 1995 High
Dogs 89,420 211,104 (1979)
Cats 29,569 74,259 (1974)
Primates 50,206 61,392 (1987)
Guinea pigs 333,379 598,903 (1985)
Hamsters 248,402 503,590 (1976)
Rabbits 354,076 554,385 (1987)

European animal testing ban may be delayed

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

LONDON––The Cosmetics Directive, a
European Community ban on animal testing of cosmetics
and toiletries, adopted by the EC ministers in 1993 for
scheduled phase-in starting in 1998, may be delayed until
2000, according to internal draft discussion documents
leaked to media, because alternative testing methods have
not yet been approved.
The Royal SPCA charged on September 23 that
the European Communities Validation of Alternative
Methods Centre has been unable to validate proposed nonanimal
tests due to underfunding.
British firms already committed to cruelty-free
policies are pushing to avoid the EC delay, which would
leave in effect current policies requiring animal testing of
products exported to other EC member nations. The campaign
suffered a September 27 setback, however, when the
British edition of Vogue magazine refused to publish an
anti-animal testing ad from the Co-operative Bank.

INTERNATIONAL

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

The British Columbia SPCA,
of Vancouver, has signed an agreement
with Environment Canada and the B.C.
environment ministry to coordinate wildlife
rescue and rehablitation in case of a major
oil spill along the B.C. coast. But the
BC/SPCA might find resources scarce:
with the flagship Vancouver branch $1.2
million in debt, it recently cut five staff
positions, sold six trucks, and dropped a
money-losing merchandising program.

Live food fight

November 1, 1996 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1996:

SAN FRANCSICO––The San
Francisco Animal Control and Welfare
Commission on October 17 again
delayed action on a proposal to ban the
sale of live animals as food. The proposal,
bitterly fought by Chinatown vendors,
will come up again November 14.
“St. Francis must be whirling
in his grave,” commented Action for
Animals founder Eric Mills. “In recent
weeks I have visited the live food markets
and have seen turtles gutted while
fully conscious; fish scaled alive; chickens,
ducks, and doves crammed in stifling
crates; and turtles and frogs piled
three and five deep, often with no water
whatever. Most of these markets are illegal
now. The Retail Food Facilities Law
states, ‘No live animal, bird, or fowl
shall be kept or allowed in any food
facility.’ Why is this not enforced?

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