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 […]
Why is Trump EPA chief cutting animal testing while the NRDC defends it?
Natural Resources Defense Council has fought for 50 years to make EPA enforce chemical safety standards WASHINGTON D.C.––How has the Natural Resources Defense Council, whose emblem is a polar bear, become the front line of public defense of the animal testing industry? Why is Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler leading the most aggressive effort […]
Top GMO mouse lab closing; sponsor turns toward non-animal research
13-year-old, $38 million facility was British leader HINXTON, U.K. —The Sanger Institute, a global leader since 2006 in producing genetically modified mice for biomedical research use, on May 16, 2019 announced to staff that it will close by 2022, if not sooner. The impending closure is among the first […]
Mouse studies often don’t work, NIH admits after landmark 10-year study
National Institutes of Health finding in 2013 presaged Wellcome Foundation decision to close the Sanger Institute genetically modified mouse lab by 2022 WASHINGTON D.C. (March 2013)–– Bluntly stated the headline in the February 11, 2013 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Genomic responses in mouse models poorly mimic human inflammatory diseases.” Echoing […]
Four lionesses: women who made a difference for animals
Remembering Lynette Shanley, Tammy Sue Kirkpatrick, Coby Siegenthaler, and Lorraine Blake Roth Lynette Shanley, Tammy Sue Kirkpatrick, Coby Siegenthaler, and Lorraine Blake Roth, widely separated in geography, ages, life experience, and focus in activism, likely never met, nor even heard of each other, yet––like tens of thousands of other relatively anonymous women––lent strength to the ever-growing […]
Beyond sentience: will Brexit halt live animal exports from the U.K.?
Minister for Agriculture & Rural Affairs confirms her government is “considering options to control live animal exports” LONDON, U.K.––British cabinet ministers, after the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, called “Brexit” for short, “must have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings in formulating and implementing government policy,” according to draft […]
Fewer dogs & cats used in U.S. labs than ever before
Guinea pig, hamster, & rabbit numbers also low, but monkey use was up. Mice & rats? Who knows? WASHINGTON, D.C.––Are U.S. laboratories using more animals than ever before, or fewer, at least of most species? Laboratory animal use data from 2016 released on June 9, 2017 shows record reported lows in use of dogs, […]
Why is animal use in labs up, even as public moral approval is down?
Anti-vivisection organizations claim victory while running on old momentum WASHINGTON D.C.–– Fewer Americans than ever before––just 51%, barely more than half––believe biomedical research on animals is ethically acceptable, according to 2017 Gallup polling data. Paradoxically, total use of animals in experiments appears to have soared to an all-time high, according to research funded by People […]
“Rat-tickler” Jaak Panksepp, 73, showed that the last laugh is on us
The joke, Panksepp found, was on scientists who never realized that animals have senses of humor Jaak Panksepp, 73, the neuroscientist known as “The Rat-Tickler” for demonstrating through rat experiments that rats are as much motivated by having fun as people are, died of cancer on April 18, 2017 at his home in Bowling Green, Ohio. A […]
What Brexit means for “pet passports” & lab animals
Part IV of a five-part series. (See also Will U.K. leaving E.U. mean leaving animal welfare behind?, Farmed animals & the Brexit “diet plan,” Farmed animals & money talks, and Back to the Jungle Book: U.K. wildlife law post-Brexit.) LONDON, U.K.––Among the signal achievements for animal welfare during the 43 years that the United Kingdom has been […]