|
AR-NEWS Digest 469
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) New weapon in the war against super bugs
by Andrew Gach
2) (US) Fishing Ban Urged for Walden Pond
by allen schubert
3) (US) Swine Disease Still a Mystery
by allen schubert
4) (TW) Taiwan pork industry reels as Japan continues import ban
by Vadivu Govind
5) Primates: July-August - Laboratory Awareness Actions
by baerwolf@tiac.net (baerwolf)
6) Correcting a correction...
by Daniel Paulo Martins Ferreira
7) RE: Primates: July-August - Laboratory Awareness Actions
by "D'Amico, AnnMarie"
8) Monkey Business
by Sean Thomas
9) Monkey Business
by Sean Thomas
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 21:00:31 -0700
From: Andrew Gach
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: New weapon in the war against super bugs
Message-ID: <33CEEA5F.3F6D@worldnet.att.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Scientists use gene engineering to create new antibiotics
Scripps Howard
(July 17, 1997 7:45 p.m. EDT) - Researchers looking for novel ways to
fight drug-resistant bacteria have a new weapon, thanks to a bit of
genetic subterfuge. Scientists at Stanford University report Friday in
the journal Science that they have successfully used genetically
engineered enzymes to produce new types of molecules that work as
antibiotics, immuno-suppressants and anti-cancer drugs.
Because bacteria can alter their own genes to resist antibiotics, the
new line of drugs are built with a genetic mutation so early along the
molecular assembly line that the bacteria can't catch up.
Using strep cells, Stanford postdoctoral fellow John Jacobsen found a
way to manipulate the first step in a lengthy chain reaction used to
form more and more complex molecules, actually blocking the chain after
the first step. That stalled the natural assembly line of the cell.
Then the researchers add a synthetic compound and restart the process,
eventually producing a variety of antibiotic molecules that are unlike
anything in nature, and thus harder for bacteria to defeat.
Chaitan Khosla, a Stanford associate professor of chemical engineering,
had feared that the cells might not resume production with the
artificial materials, but they seem to respond well. "We've been
pleasantly surprised by how tolerant the entire system appears to be
toward unnatural (building blocks). The overall process seems to work
remarkably well," he said.
Although the technique remains cumbersome, the ability to produce new
antibiotic compounds in this shotgun fashion offers drug researchers the
opportunity to create hundreds of potentially useful molecules for each
one they have already created.
While drugs based on the new technique may be a decade or more away from
pharmacies, Khosla suggests that if chemists can assemble a library of
thousands of synthetic molecules that can be inserted and grown in this
fashion, they could offer a much larger array of drug candidates.
By LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Howard News Service
=================================================================
The unwise use of anti-biotics, a potent "weapon" in the war against
pathogens led to the rise of drug-resistent strains.
Will the newest "weapon" be more auspicious?
Andy
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 19:25:51 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Fishing Ban Urged for Walden Pond
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970718192548.006e5c70@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Part of a PeTA campaign.........
from AP Wire page:
-----------------------------------
07/18/1997 02:39 EST
Fishing Ban Urged for Walden Pond
By ROBIN ESTRIN
Associated Press Writer
CONCORD, Mass. (AP) -- The peaceful woods and clear waters lure Joseph
Sevigny, with his fishing poles and 12-foot boat, to Walden Pond dozens
of times a year. He tosses back the bass, but the trout often become
dinner.
It's a relaxing ritual enjoyed by countless others at the watering hole
made famous by transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau, an angler
himself.
But a campaign is on to reel in the fishermen. The People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals have petitioned the state to ban fishing at Walden
as part of the group's new anti-fishing crusade.
Even though Thoreau fished on the 60-acre pond, PETA folks say the animal
lover would have supported the ban.
``I cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect,'' Thoreau wrote
in ``Walden,'' published in 1854.
For years, the international animal rights group has fought against
fishing, arguing that fish feel pain and suffer greatly after being
caught.
``Just imagine swimming through the water and all they see is the bait,''
said Dawn Carr, the coordinator of the campaign. ``By the time they see
the hook, it's too late. They've already impaled themselves.''
The organization, which has 500,000 members worldwide and 16,000 in
Massachusetts, plans to ask parks across America to ban fishing. But the
campaign is being spawned here at Walden, where the conservation movement
began with Thoreau nearly 150 years ago.
``I really think the PETA people are wacky,'' said Sevigny, 50, of
Melrose.
The pond, 16 miles northwest of Boston, and its surrounding woods were
given to the state in 1922. Today, an estimated 500,000 people a year
swim, fish, picnic and hike here.
State environmental officials said they have no intention of banning
fishing there. The deed to Walden Pond clearly spells out that fishing
will be allowed, said Susan Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the Department of
Environmental Management.
PETA appealed last week to Gov. William F. Weld, himself an angler,
asking him to step in and institute a ban. PETA insists that Thoreau
would have wanted the pond he so loved to be a sanctuary for all
wildlife.
Thoreau did have a respect for all living creatures, said Tom Blanding, a
Thoreau scholar and Concord resident.
``But for them to represent this as an absolute attitude on his part is
to take things out of the literary context,'' Blanding said. ``To adopt
him as an advocate for their position perhaps is out of proportion in a
way.''
The very notion of a fishing ban was enough to make one Walden fisherman
flounder for words to equal his contempt.
``Why don't they ban walking here?'' shouted the man, who wouldn't give
his name but said he has been fishing on Walden for all of his 70 years.
``They might as well ban swimming.''
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 19:36:56 -0400
From: allen schubert
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (US) Swine Disease Still a Mystery
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19970718193653.006f3af4@clark.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
from AP Wire page:
------------------------------------
07/18/1997 02:10 EST
Swine Disease Still a Mystery
By TOM SEERY
Associated Press Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- An outbreak of swine disease last year that
began killing sows and causing them to abort their fetuses still puzzles
scientists.
``I'm not sure we would have anything you would call definitive,'' said
Larry White, senior staff veterinarian for the Agriculture Department's
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Fort Collins, Colo., which
is coordinating a nationwide study of the disease.
Reports of the disease last December prompted quick action by government
and pork industry officials. More than 40 experts met in January to map
out the research effort.
Researchers believe the sows were stricken with a form of ``porcine
reproductive and respiratory syndrome.'' But the sows had been vaccinated
for the disease, and some of their symptoms appeared to be more severe
than previously seen in that syndrome.
Researchers say an ``acute PRRS'' virus could be causing the latest
outbreak.
The outbreak, although not widespread, has caused anxiety in the pork
industry. As hog-raising shifts from small, family-run farms to large,
factory-style operations where thousands of hogs are housed in
confinement buildings, disease control has become increasingly important.
Farmers are being advised to be patient while the investigation
continues.
``We haven't been able to draw any conclusions about any changes they
should make,'' White said.
Veterinary laboratories in seven states are working with the USDA to find
and study cases of the puzzling disease.
When an outbreak is identified, researchers go to the farm, take samples
from the animals and get information about vaccinations, genetic makeup
of hogs and other factors.
The researchers also try to identify nearby farms without the disease,
and look for factors that might explain the isolated outbreak.
The USDA is studying cases at laboratories in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Nebraska, Minnesota, North Carolina and South Dakota. Officials hope to
do an intensive study of 44 farms with the outbreak and nearby farms that
do not have the disease.
``The original goal was to try to have some summary information available
by this fall,'' said Kevin Petersburg, a USDA veterinarian working on the
case in Iowa.
``It would be safe to say that the general consensus is that it appears
to be PRRS,'' he said. ``It may be that we'll find out that there are
some management factors that play a role in allowing some farms to have
the acute PRRS outbreak.''
In Iowa, an outbreak occurred in about 10 herds in the southeast part of
the state. Officials have not identified farms where the outbreak
occurred, and say there is no evidence that the disease is spreading
rapidly.
``It's my perception that things have kind of quieted down, based on the
number of case reports we're getting,'' said Tom Burkgren, a Perry, Iowa,
veterinarian who is executive director of the American Association of
Swine Practitioners, a veterinary group working with researchers on the
outbreak.
Jim Koch, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, said that
although the ``acute PRRS'' outbreak appears to have stabilized in Iowa,
common forms of PRRS continue to hit farms.
``It can go away and haunt you again,'' Koch said. ``It started out as a
mystery swine disease and remains a mystery swine disease.''
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 23:01:23 +0800 (SST)
From: Vadivu Govind
To: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: (TW) Taiwan pork industry reels as Japan continues import ban
Message-ID: <199707181501.XAA13093@eastgate.cyberway.com.sg>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>CNA Daily English News Wire
TAIWAN PORK INDUSTRY REELS AS JAPAN CONTINUES IMPORT BAN
Taipei, July 17 (CNA) Taiwan stands to lose NT$300 million (US$10.79
million) in export sales owing to Japan's recent refusal to resume import of
Taiwan processed pork, the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) said Thursday.
Taiwan hog farmers had hoped that after the outbreak of foot-and-mouth
disease (FMD) was brought under control, Taiwan pork exports to Japan would
be allowed to resume. Before Taiwan was declared an FMD-affected area in
March, Japan was the largest importer of Taiwan pork.
But hog farmer's hopes were dashed by Japan's recent announcement that more
time is needed to evaluate the situation before the sale of Taiwan pork can
resume.
Local hog farmers have charged Japan with discriminating against Taiwan
pork, with many pointing to Japan's treatment of pork products from mainland
China. Even though the mainland has also been declared an FMD-affected area,
Japan still accepts pork from provinces with no reported cases of FMD.
IDB officials said the FMD outbreak has taken a heavy toll on Taiwan's hog
industry. Although the government has provided NT$3.16 billion (US$113.26
million) in loans to help bail out six local firms that process frozen pork,
the IDB believes the best solution to the industry's woes would be to
resume exports.
Taiwan exported NT$42 billion (US$1.51 billion) worth of frozen pork to
Japan in 1996, which included NT$300 million (US$10.79 million) worth of
processed pork. (By Lilian Wu)
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 12:17:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: baerwolf@tiac.net (baerwolf)
To: Veg-Boston@waste.org, ar-news@envirolink.org, veg-ne@empire.net
Cc: kvc@OpenMarket.com, hturrisi@tiac.net, hrones@husc.harvard.edu,
veggie@envirolink.org, mkbrodie@vgernet.net, MINOUADAMS@aol.com,
Lucy_Tancredi@factset.com, Me1ani@aol.com
Subject: Primates: July-August - Laboratory Awareness Actions
Message-ID: <199707181617.MAA24728@mailrelay.tiac.net>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Please join the move to focus attention on the plight of primates in
laboratories and the increasing public sentiment to "Let These Children Go."
The culmanation of this public educational experience will be the
9 day peaceful demonstration Aug 2 to Aug 10 at the NERPC in Southboro,MA
led by national activist Rick Bogle, and the promotion of the populace's demand
for the upcoming ordinance in Cambridge, MA which shall recognize
the right of primates to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
July 7 (Mon)- till Oct - Tabling to Educate about Primates
Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 6:00pm till --->.
Air video tapes, hand out literature, educate the public to how we can end
the torture
of primates in laboratories. Help promote passage of an ordinance in Cambridge
to recognize the right of primates to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness.
Call Bill 617-625-1451 or Steve 508-393-5339 for meeting location and times.
July 15, 16, 17 (Tue, Wed, Thur) - Write-a-thon for Primates
>From your house, your office, create the following types of letters:
1) Sample letters for people to sign and send to the NIH, Southboro and
other primate labs,
2) Newspaper Op-Ed pieces against primates in labs, and
3) Sample letters for people to sign/send to legislators,
regarding public dissaproval of the injustices enacted upon primates in
laboratories.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 for info & details, or email baerwolf@tiac.net
July 19 (Sat)-July 29 (Tue) - Distribute "Primates in Labs" Flyers/Sample
Letters in Malls ,
and other public places. Call Steve at 508-393-5339 for hand-outs and
location coordination.
July 23 & July 30 (Weds) - Vigil outside of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Ave, Boston near the
Brigham & Woman's Hospital. 3:00pm - 6:00pm
For more info call Bill at 617-625-1451 or Steve at 617-478-7731
Aug 1 (Fri) - Informational Tabling for Primate Freedom Campaign
In front of Au Bon Pain, Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 12pm - 5pm
For more info call NEAVS at 617-523-6020
Aug 2 (Sat)-Aug 10 (Sun) - Informational Protest at New England Regional
Primate Center,
1 Pine Hill Drive, Southboro, MA on the Marlboro line. About one mile south
of Rte 20.
Come for the day; come for the duration, as you please.
Bring vegan food, water, necessities for non-stop demonstrators.
Bring anti-vivisection posters, banners and flyers if you have any.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 or NEAVS at 617-523-6020 for info.
Aug 2 (Sat)-Aug 10 (Sun) - Primate Center Demonstators' Potlucks
Join vegetarian organizations in providing food and water for activists.
Three square meals & fluids are needed during the 9 day demonstration.
Vegan food preparation, and food pickup/delivery,
and restaurant vegan donations requested.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 by July 27 (Sunday night) for food coordination.
Aug 2 (Sat)-Aug 10 (Sun) - Informational Protests Against Primate Labs at
Harvard University
Call Bill at 617-625-1451 or Steve at 508-393-5339 or NEAVS at 617-523-6020
to determine exact location, day, time, and content of each day's
demonstration.
**Aug 8 (Fri) - Solidarity Vigil in front of New England Primate Research Center
Southboro, MA. 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Join activist Rick Bogle in a
silent remembrance for primates suffering at the research center.
For more info, or if you can provide a ride, or if you need a ride
call NEAVS at 617-523-6020
Aug 16(Sat)-Nov 4(Tue) - Neighborhood Campaigning in Cambridge for the
Ordinance to Abolish Primate Exploitation and Slavery (Proposition A.P.E.S).
call Bill at 617-625-1451
or Steve at 508-393-5339 for literature and coordination.
.......... Further, We could use some stimulating personalities to speak up
for primates
in yet to be scheduled media (Newspaper, Radio and TV spots).
Also do you know any media - savy people?
Respond to Steve at 508-393-5339 or Chris at 617-787-3125
sbaer
steven baer
baerwolf@tiac.net
Massachusetts
HOW DEEP INTO SPACE MUST HUMANS GO BEFORE THEY REALIZE
ALL THE NEIGHBORS THEY'VE TORTURED ON PLANET EARTH.
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 17:42:13 +0000 (GMT)
From: Daniel Paulo Martins Ferreira
To: Patrick Nolan
Cc: ar-news@envirolink.org
Subject: Correcting a correction...
Message-ID:
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Greetings.
A few days ago I corrected the name and the adress of the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Portugal.
Well, I made a confusion and gave you another wrong adress. I'm
sending you the real, confirmed, adress. I'm sorry for all the
trouble.
Hon. Jaime Gama
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Palacio das Necessidades
Largo do Rilvas
1350 Lisboa
PORTUGAL
Regards.
Daniel
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 14:53:57 -0400
From: "D'Amico, AnnMarie"
To: "Veg-Boston@waste.org" ,
"ar-news@envirolink.org" ,
"veg-ne@empire.net" ,
"baerwolf@tiac.net"
Cc: "Lucy_Tancredi@factset.com" ,
"Me1ani@aol.com"
Subject: RE: Primates: July-August - Laboratory Awareness Actions
Message-ID:
To all...
The postings on Primates in Canada and the US is extremely disturbing.
I've seen other articles from the NYTimes and other papers around the
country. Some have already been euthanized. One of the Scientist on the
board wants to euthanize.
What can we do to intervene? Need some answers quickly. This is going to
be a horrific injustice. From what I've read the government isn't acting
quickly enough (what else is new) and that ultimately they will die at the
hands of opportunists.
We need to do something now. Any suggestions? Please help.
TKS -- AM
----------
From: baerwolf@tiac.net[SMTP:baerwolf@tiac.net]
Sent: Friday, July 18, 1997 12:17 PM
To: Veg-Boston@waste.org; ar-news@envirolink.org; veg-ne@empire.net
Cc: kvc@OpenMarket.com; hturrisi@tiac.net; hrones@husc.harvard.edu;
veggie@envirolink.org; mkbrodie@vgernet.net; MINOUADAMS@aol.com;
Lucy_Tancredi@factset.com; Me1ani@aol.com
Subject: Primates: July-August - Laboratory Awareness Actions
Please join the move to focus attention on the plight of primates in
laboratories and the increasing public sentiment to "Let These Children
Go."
The culmanation of this public educational experience will be the
9 day peaceful demonstration Aug 2 to Aug 10 at the NERPC in Southboro,MA
led by national activist Rick Bogle, and the promotion of the populace's
demand
for the upcoming ordinance in Cambridge, MA which shall recognize
the right of primates to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
July 7 (Mon)- till Oct - Tabling to Educate about Primates
Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 6:00pm till --->.
Air video tapes, hand out literature, educate the public to how we can end
the torture
of primates in laboratories. Help promote passage of an ordinance in
Cambridge
to recognize the right of primates to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of
Happiness.
Call Bill 617-625-1451 or Steve 508-393-5339 for meeting location and
times.
July 15, 16, 17 (Tue, Wed, Thur) - Write-a-thon for Primates
>From your house, your office, create the following types of letters:
1) Sample letters for people to sign and send to the NIH, Southboro and
other primate labs,
2) Newspaper Op-Ed pieces against primates in labs, and
3) Sample letters for people to sign/send to legislators,
regarding public dissaproval of the injustices enacted upon primates in
laboratories.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 for info & details, or email baerwolf@tiac.net
July 19 (Sat)-July 29 (Tue) - Distribute "Primates in Labs" Flyers/Sample
Letters in Malls ,
and other public places. Call Steve at 508-393-5339 for hand-outs and
location coordination.
July 23 & July 30 (Weds) - Vigil outside of Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School, Longwood Ave, Boston near the
Brigham & Woman's Hospital. 3:00pm - 6:00pm
For more info call Bill at 617-625-1451 or Steve at 617-478-7731
Aug 1 (Fri) - Informational Tabling for Primate Freedom Campaign
In front of Au Bon Pain, Harvard Sq., Cambridge. 12pm - 5pm
For more info call NEAVS at 617-523-6020
Aug 2 (Sat)-Aug 10 (Sun) - Informational Protest at New England Regional
Primate Center,
1 Pine Hill Drive, Southboro, MA on the Marlboro line. About one mile
south
of Rte 20.
Come for the day; come for the duration, as you please.
Bring vegan food, water, necessities for non-stop demonstrators.
Bring anti-vivisection posters, banners and flyers if you have any.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 or NEAVS at 617-523-6020 for info.
Aug 2 (Sat)-Aug 10 (Sun) - Primate Center Demonstators' Potlucks
Join vegetarian organizations in providing food and water for activists.
Three square meals & fluids are needed during the 9 day demonstration.
Vegan food preparation, and food pickup/delivery,
and restaurant vegan donations requested.
Call Steve at 508-393-5339 by July 27 (Sunday night) for food
coordination.
Aug 2 (Sat)-Aug 10 (Sun) - Informational Protests Against Primate Labs at
Harvard University
Call Bill at 617-625-1451 or Steve at 508-393-5339 or NEAVS at
617-523-6020
to determine exact location, day, time, and content of each day's
demonstration.
**Aug 8 (Fri) - Solidarity Vigil in front of New England Primate Research
Center
Southboro, MA. 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Join activist Rick Bogle in a
silent remembrance for primates suffering at the research center.
For more info, or if you can provide a ride, or if you need a ride
call NEAVS at 617-523-6020
Aug 16(Sat)-Nov 4(Tue) - Neighborhood Campaigning in Cambridge for the
Ordinance to Abolish Primate Exploitation and Slavery (Proposition
A.P.E.S).
call Bill at 617-625-1451
or Steve at 508-393-5339 for literature and coordination.
.......... Further, We could use some stimulating personalities to speak
up
for primates
in yet to be scheduled media (Newspaper, Radio and TV spots).
Also do you know any media - savy people?
Respond to Steve at 508-393-5339 or Chris at 617-787-3125
sbaer
steven baer
baerwolf@tiac.net
Massachusetts
HOW DEEP INTO SPACE MUST HUMANS GO BEFORE THEY REALIZE
ALL THE NEIGHBORS THEY'VE TORTURED ON PLANET EARTH.
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 16:00:53 -0700
From: Sean Thomas
To: ar-news@envirolink.com
Subject: Monkey Business
Message-ID: <33CFF5A5.15B1@sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------3C421FCD530C"
Sean Thomas, Co-Director
Animal Action
Ottawa Citizen Hit reload or refresh if you're not getting today's
Online date.
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[National - Ottawa Citizen Online]
Friday 18 July 1997
Health Canada considers private monkey business
Breeding mill would produce primates for profit
Randy Boswell
The Ottawa Citizen
The creation of a private, profit-making monkey mill for
government and industry research labs is among the
options available to Health Canada as it considers what
to do with its primate breeding colony of 750 long-tailed
macaques.
The idea, listed along with several other alternatives in
a report completed last month that examined Health
Canada's animal resources division, contrasts with a
recommendation issued Wednesday by an expert panel of
American scientists that has been considering the future
of that country's population of 1,500 research
chimpanzees.
The U.S. National Research Council, in a study sponsored
by the National Institutes of Health, urged a five-year
moratorium on chimpanzee breeding in the States because
an "oversupply has created substantial management
problems for the institutions that house them."
The U.S. panel also urged the establishment of
"sanctuaries" for chimps no longer needed for
experiments, and rejected the idea of killing unwanted
animals.
The future of the Ottawa monkeys, which have been used
since 1983 for research into environmental toxins and
AIDS and to test polio vaccines, will be the focus of a
study due in November from a panel of scientists and
philosophers named this week by the Royal Society of
Canada.
Health Canada requested the analysis as it faced the
fallout of massive federal budget cuts and changing
trends in animal research. The department has concluded
that, without some prospect of cost recovery, it can no
longer justify spending $1 million a year for the care
and maintenance of monkeys for which there is declining
need within Health Canada itself.
But one of the potential solutions to the predicament,
according to the June report, is to privatize the colony
through an employee takeover or direct sale to a private
firm.
Plans to "determine a market value for the monkey colony
as a commercial operation" are listed in the department's
recommendations.
Over the years, some of the monkeys have been sold to
outside agencies and universities, but on a modest scale.
"Several members of the pharmaceutical and testing
laboratory sectors felt that if they had access to
animals from the HPB (Health Protection Branch) colony,
more sophisticated (and lucrative) testing could be
conducted in Canada," the report stated.
It is the superior quality of the Health Canada monkey
colony, for research purposes, that makes potential
commercialization attractive -- even in an era when
public campaigns against the use of laboratory primates
have driven many researchers toward using rodents or
high-tech alternatives to animals for their experiments.
The Ottawa colony's "unique nature and irreplaceability,"
as the Health Canada report describes it, derives from
the fact that the genetic history of the monkeys is known
for two generations and that they are free of the herpes
virus that infects much of the North American primate
research stock.
In 1991, a veterinarian at the Texas Primate Centre
contracted a rare monkey herpes virus and died; a Health
Canada scientist died in 1958 after he was bitten by an
infected animal.
The macaque or Cynomolgus monkey is also in greater
demand than the widely available rhesus monkey because
"cynos" are smaller and thus easier to house and control.
"If made available to industry and universities on a
larger scale than in the past, the HPB monkey colony
could be an important element in the science and
technology infrastructure of Canada," it noted.
"Toxicological testing companies would have the ability
to attract more lucrative contracts, and this in turn
would contribute to the science base of the country with
a concomitant positive impact on Canadian
competitiveness."
About 800 macaques are used annually for product testing
in Canada, most purchased from primate suppliers in
Texas.
"The monkey colony in Ottawa is strategically located to
the supply of these animals to industry and institutions
located in Montreal and Toronto," says the report.
"Several companies have expressed that the HPB colony
would be their first choice supplier because of ease of
shipping, less traumatized animals ready for test much
sooner, and the fact that animals are of a much higher
quality."
Monkeys sell for between $1,000 and $4,000, depending on
their state of maturity, and monkeys in their
reproductive prime are the most expensive.
William Leiss, the Queen's University professor who
convened the expert panel on behalf of the Royal Society,
said Health Canada officials recognize "they could cover
their costs" by stepping up sales of monkeys. But he says
the department turned to the expert panel partly because
it is searching for better alternatives.
"They don't want to do it," he said, but acknowledged
that the panel could conclude that increased revenues
from marketing of the monkeys would benefit taxpayers and
help Canada maintain a valuable research resource.
Stephanie Brown, an animal rights activist with the
Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, warned that
"trying to make a buck means producing a lot of animals"
and risking the same kind of "glut" that appears to have
developed in the U.S. market for chimpanzees.
Ms. Brown, who recently sat on a Health Canada advisory
committee examining the future of its animal resources
division, slammed the notion of "approaching the future
of the colony as an entrepreneur."
Dr. Jim Wong, chief veterinarian with the Canadian
Council on Animal Care and the man responsible for
inspecting the living conditions of Health Canada's
monkey colony, said the expert panelists -- and
ultimately federal officials -- face an excruciating
choice because of the financial pressures at the Health
Protection Branch.
"If I was doing a research project I'd want to eliminate
as many variables as possible," he says, referring to the
macaque colony's disease-free status and richly
documented medical history. "That's why these animals
would be highly desirable."
But he says the animals are also expensive to maintain
and "do you breed them for the sake of breeding them on
the chance that there might be a buyer?"
One of the leading U.S. authorities on lab animals,
citing this week's recommendations on Amerian
chimpanzees, says Canada should tread carefully before
commercializing its primate colony -- for both economic
and ethical reasons.
"There's money to be made, but I doubt the market is that
large," says Andrew Rowan, director of the Tufts
University Centre for Animals and Public Policy.
Mr. Rowan recently met with Health Canada officials, as
they began to ponder the future of the colony, to provide
advice on alternatives to animal research. He recalls
that "there was a lot of tension in the room" because
many of the scientists were concerned about losing their
jobs should the monkey colony be disbanded.
"My own preference is that we should look toward
decreasing animals in research instead of looking for
ways to promote it," he said. "The danger is that you can
oversell one's need (for monkeys) in order to justify the
maintenance of the population."
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[National - Ottawa Citizen Online]
Thursday 17 July 1997
Animal research: part of the price of good health
Even scientists dedicated to ending animal testing admit
facilities like Ottawa's primate colony will be needed
for a long time, writes Sharon Kirkey
Sharon Kirkey
The Ottawa Citizen
Skin substitutes and brain cells that can grow in Petri
dishes are just some of the alternatives scientists are
aggressively pursuing to reduce the need for using
animals in research.
But even the director of an organization dedicated to
ending testing on animals doubts medical science will
overcome the need for facilities such as Health Canada's
colony of research monkeys -- at least in the foreseeable
future.
"I have to have as my goal that at some point in the
future we won't be doing animal research," says Gilly
Griffin, executive director of the Ottawa-based Canadian
Centre for Alternatives to Animals in Research.
"But I have to take a pragmatic view too. We still have
big, big problems to solve. We haven't solved AIDS, we
haven't solved neurodegenerative diseases, we haven't
solved cancer," Ms. Griffin said.
"We can do a lot of (research) in cellular systems, but
at the end of the day you're still going to have to do a
bit of animal research as well."
A colony of 750 long-tailed macaque monkeys is poised to
become the latest victim of federal government
restructuring and downsizing. A Royal Society panel of
scientists and philosophers has been appointed to
determine, among other key considerations, whether the
colony is "unique, valuable and necessary" to protect the
health of Canadians.
The monkeys cost the government about $1 million a year
to maintain. That money comes from Health Canada
emergency funds. The monkeys have been used in research
into AIDS and herpes, to screen polio vaccines and to
measure the effects of ingesting chemicals ranging from
PCBs to caffeine.
But just how much Canada -- and medical science
researchers -- still need a monkey breeding colony has
emerged as a key issue in the controversy.
"What I'm hoping is that the Royal Society will have a
good look at what kind of research is really necessary at
this point using primates in Canada," said Ms. Griffin,
who is also an information officer for the Council on
Animal Care, which ensures animals used in research are
properly care for.
"I think that we should be looking less and less to using
primates," Ms. Griffin said. "There is not much use for
them in testing procedures any more, and in terms of
research, who knows?"
Researchers are moving away from using animals in
experiments, not only because of pressure from
animal-welfare activists but cost.
Today, researchers are investigating alternatives that
can stop compounds from ever reaching animals for
testing, Ms. Griffin said.
For example, researchers are using jelly-like substances
for eye and skin toxicity tests. One such substance,
called corristex, is being used to test materials for
corrosiveness. Until now, these chemicals would have been
tested on rabbit skin.
Researchers are using a bacteria test to determine
whether a chemical can produce a mutation that may lead
to cancer.
Previously, scientists had to test for those DNA
mutations in animals.
And scientists are working on different cell cultures to
try to get brain cells, or neurons, to grow in Petri
dishes the same way they would grow in animals.
But while alternatives to animal testing like these are
becoming part of mainstream science, researchers probably
will never be able to completely simulate the human body
"with a lab dish or computer, at least not in my lifetime
or your lifetime," said a senior Health Canada research
scientist, who asked not to be identified.
"The proof in the pudding, as far as I'm concerned, is
that you have to put the chemical back into the whole
animal to see if it does react the way that things seem
to be going on in the test tube."
Thalidomide, the anti-morning-sickness drug that was
banned worldwide in 1962 after causing severe birth
defects in more than 12,000 babies, was never thoroughly
tested in animals.
"When it comes down to putting something into humans,
whether it's a food additive or drug or an environmental
pollutant, you have to go to an animal system to do some
of your testing," the Health Canada scientist said.
And no one knows what diseases or viruses lurk around the
corner.
The main reason monkeys are used in research is because
they are so close to humans on the evolutionary ladder.
The similarity of monkey AIDS to human AIDS has allowed
the disease in monkeys to serve as a model for the human
disease.
If Health Canada were to close the monkey colony, "we
would have to look at importing those animals again," Ms.
Griffin said.
Only about one of every 10 primates that are trapped and
then transported for research survives -- one of the
reasons the federal colony was put in place.
"I don't want to see us going through getting (monkeys)
from the wild again," Ms. Griffin said.
"What I would like to see, and I hope this is what the
Royal Society is going to do, is really give a good
objective look at what research is actually being done,
and what research is really necessary using primates in
Canada."
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Copyright 1997 The Ottawa Citizen
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 16:06:52 -0700
From: Sean Thomas
To: ar-news@envirolink.com
Subject: Monkey Business
Message-ID: <33CFF70C.2F48@sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------74DE1F3A367"
Sean Thomas, Co-Director
Animal Action
Ottawa Citizen Hit reload or refresh if you're not getting today's
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[National - Ottawa Citizen Online]
Thursday 17 July 1997
Monkey business
Panelists deciding fate of a $1M-a-year monkey colony
will try to detach themselves from their evolutionary
cousins, writes Charles Enman.
Charles Enman.
Ottawa Citizen
A Royal Society panel will consider whether Health Canada
still needs the colony of monkeys that it keeps at
Tunney's Pasture.
It costs $1 million per year to keep the 750 long-tailed
macaque monkeys in captivity -- so the panelists will
have to look, in part, at economic and bottom-line
considerations, especially in a time of shrinking
departmental budgets.
Of course, these aren't goldfish or white rats -- they're
monkeys, our furry evolutionary cousins. And some people
think they therefore come with ties that bind.
But do the five panelists think so?
The Citizen spoke to three of them yesterday. Each said
they care about monkeys but would not allow their
feelings to savage the dispassion they must bring to the
issue at hand.
So you see, their feelings are avuncular, but there's not
a monkey's uncle among them.
The chair of the panel, Conrad Brunk, is a philosophy
professor at the University of Waterloo.
From childhood, monkeys have had some place in his
imaginary universe.
"As a small child, I had a fantasy of owning a monkey,"
he recalls. "I loved to think about the organ grinder's
monkey. And I loved to be read stories about monkeys."
Did he feel an affinity for monkeys?
"Obviously I did, and I think that's natural for humans.
The behaviour of monkeys is so close to our own -- and
especially close to the behaviour of children.
"I think a child, seeing a monkey, will say, 'Here's a
being that's very close to my own experience of the
world.'"
Mr. Brunk says the very closeness of primate
consciousness and sensibility to the human "makes the
whole issue of animal welfare and animal rights
especially sensitive. Monkeys and other primates have a
broader range of potential injuries and emotional
reactions than lower animals.
"Is the monkey feeling bored? Feeling confined? Maybe
feeling deprived of certain kinds of activity natural to
the species? These questions will have more impact on a
monkey's consciousness than they would on a fish or
chicken or rat."
The very resemblance of monkeys and other primates to
human beings means "we owe them the kind of treatment and
respect that is very similar to what we owe ourselves,"
Mr. Brunk said.
The same treatment we give to children, say?
"No, I wouldn't go that far. But there is a possibility
that they could suffer in a way that, considering their
evolvement, is simply unacceptable."
Mr. Brunk said the committee will have to seek a
consensus that represents not only the member's views but
those of the Canadian public at large. For that reason,
the public will be invited to submit its views on whether
the government should maintain the primate colony at
Tunney's Pasture.
For Michael McDonald, director of the Centre for Applied
Ethics at the University of British Columbia, the
resemblance of monkey to man is incontestable.
"Even as a child, seeing monkeys at zoos and circuses, I
was fascinated to see how much they are like us --
they're so social, they need lots of contact with their
own kind.
"Of course, they're our genetic kin, and many people
would say they're in some ways our spiritual brothers.
They have a more developed mental and emotional space
that does recall the human being."
Ethicists even see the beginnings of moral behaviour
among monkeys, Mr. McDonald says.
"They seem to develop something that looks like morality
among themselves," he says. "There seems something
altruistic in the way parent monkeys care for their
offspring. And sometimes you see behaviour that looks
like sacrifice for the sake of the group." An example of
the latter could be the struggle a dominant monkey will
engage in with intruders.
"Is this really altruism?" Mr. McDonald asks. "Perhaps
it's just something to preserve the dominance of the
alpha male. But a great deal of primate behaviour seems
to demonstrate that ethics may simply be an evolutionary
adaptation to living with creatures of your own kind."
Andrew G. Hendrickx, director of the California Regional
Primate Centre at the University of California at Davis,
has worked with monkeys for 35 years.
Growing up on a farm in Minnesota, he never saw a monkey.
But after completing university, he started working with
them and was immediately fascinated.
"And I'm still fascinated," he says. "Their intelligence
and their emotional similarity to us has got to spark
some degree of emotional connection.
He says, however, that his "scientific objectivity is
never clouded."
The lab monkey's life is no dog's life, he's quick to
point out.
Lab directors now insist on "environmental enrichment
opportunities" for their primate charges.
Captive monkeys typically enjoy what Mr. Hendrickx
compares to the jungle gyms that city parks provide for
children. Monkeys used to be housed singly, but are now
kept in groups to reduce loneliness. Mirrors are put up
in cages so the monkeys can keep tabs on what their
cohorts are doing.
Captive monkeys also get excellent nutrition and medical
care.
"With the nutrition and the medical care and the
enrichment, I would say the monkey in the lab is better
off and probably happier than the monkey in the jungle,"
Mr. Hendrickx says.
Mr. McDonald says the committee will consider many
options.
Perhaps the colony should be maintained. Perhaps it
should be sold piecemeal to other research groups.
Perhaps the monkeys should be kept from reproducing and
simply allowed to die out.
Or perhaps the animals should be put down, though he
doesn't like this last possibility.
But Pierre Thibert, chief of the animal resources
division at Health Canada, says no monkey is in peril.
If it is decided to sell the monkey colony, a nucleus
group might be sold intact to a research group in the
United States or Canada. The others would be sold to
other interested research institutions.
"I'm quite sure there is no way we will be killing the
animals," Mr. Thibert says.
Monkeys sell for between $1,000 and $4,000, depending on
their age. The most valuable are of reproductive age.
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