Fur farming to end in The Netherlands by 2024 WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands––The discovery that ranched mink can become infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus may lend momentum to the Dutch national plan to phase out mink farming entirely by 2024. Concern that mink themselves might become a COVID-19 reservoir may also dampen Chinese enthusiasm for rebuilding […]
COVID-19: seldom has animal testing offered so little to so many
Still no animal models, three months into global crisis BEIJING, WASHINGTON D.C.––A hint of the desperation of practitioners of traditional animal-based biomedical research to contribute something of relevance to the global fight against COVID-19 was posted late on March 18, 2019 by the online periodical Live Science. “When exposed to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 […]
COVID-19: What can wildlife management teach us?
No, it is not “shoot the victims”! SEATTLE––Perhaps the most startling statistic pertaining to the global spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus is the statistic almost nobody mentions: the ratio of compensatory versus additive mortality. What’s that? It is not that as of March 10, 2020 there are still only about 140,000 COVID-19 cases of […]
Why COVID-19 is NOT the zoonotic illness most likely to kill you
Panicked stress may be killing more people than the disease itself SEATTLE, ATLANTA, HONG KONG––Amid escalating global panic over the worldwide rapid spread of the recently identified coronavirus COVID-19, a person not familiar with ProMED–mail might expect the most panic-stricken person of all to be ProMED–mail deputy editor Marjorie P. Pollack, M.D. ProMED-mail is […]
China cloning advance to cut monkey use in research, say scientists
Critics appear not to have read either the Chinese scientific journal reports or media release about them clear to the end SHANGHAI, China––Had the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai put the last three lines of a January 24, 2019 media release announcing the births of five cloned monkeys at […]
Jack Woodall, 81, the James Bond of animal/human disease prevention
Cofounder of ProMED-mail LONDON, U.K.––Jack Woodall, 81, perhaps the most influential person in the animal welfare field whose name almost no one involved in animal welfare recognized, whose work helped to save countless human and animal lives, died on October 24, 2016 in London, England, where he was under treatment for pancreatic cancer. Cofounder […]
Two furors bring China draft standards for lab animals
Lab animal standards are step toward Chinese national animal welfare act BEIJING, China––A brief public comment period on draft animal welfare and ethics standards for Chinese laboratories closed on March 20, 2016. The draft standards were released soon after two furors erupted over the use of lab animals in China. Medical university dog use “In […]
Ardith Eudey, 80, exposed Malaysian monkey massacres & lab traffic
Co-founded International Primate Protection League Primatologist Ardith Eudey, 80, cofounder with Shirley McGreal of the International Primate Protection League, instrumental in recent years in exposing monkey massacres and alleged trafficking in Malaysia, died in December 2015. The daughter of prominent California watercolorist and engraver Dora Higgins Eudey (1909-2006) and her husband Henry Eudey (1909-1989), Ardith […]
China drops animal testing rule for cosmetics, shampoos & perfumes
BEIJING––Effective on June 1, 2014 China will no longer require that cosmetics, shampoos, and perfumes be tested on animals, the China Food & Drug Administration announced on November 5, 2013. Instead of having to submit products to CFDA laboratories for testing, Chinese manufacturers will be allowed to submit the product safety data compiled to demonstrate […]