Day: January 9, 2002

Stephens Group Sells Its Interest in Huntingdon Life Sciences

Stephens Group announced this week that it is selling its stock and debt investments in Huntingdon Life Sciences to an undisclosed foreign investor. Stephens has been hit by animal rights protests, but the company insists that the decision is motivated by business interests rather than animal rights protests.

Stephens spokesman Frank Thomas told Arkansas Business,

If anything, this is a good deal for HLS, a good deal for the new owners and a good deal for Stephens. This company has for seven decades bought and sold businesses. This is nothing new. This company is always looking to invest and make a good deal. The new investors obviously like what they see.

In a press release issued by Stephens Group, Warren Stephens reiterated that, “We are plead to have accomplished our goal of supporting Huntingdon financially until it returned to profitable operations. … We are pleased with the return on our investment and convinced that the new investors acquiring our position are equally committed to Huntingdon’s long-term stability and success.”

The deal should be finalized by the end of the month, and the new investor will be identified in required filings with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission.

Source:

Stephens sells interest in animal testing lab. Gwen Moritz, Arkansas Business, January 8, 2002.

Victim Disarmament at Its Best

In 1997, Great Britain outlawed handguns. Lets look at some recent crime statistics from that country.

Number of crimes in which a handgun was used:

1997-1998 – 2,648
1999-2000 – 3,685

Number of murders with a gun in London:

2000 – 16
2001 – 30

Robberies reported in Great Britain in September and November:

1999 – 8,614
2000 – 19,248

Yeah, that handgun ban really made Great Britain a safer place.

Source:

Gun crimes surge in London. Associated Press, January 9, 2002.

It Doesn't Work Perfectly Yet, So Lets Ban Cloning

Dolly, the cloned sheep, has arthritis. This is apparently big news.

It is big news, of course, because of fears that the arthritis might have something to do with the cloning process. We’ve already learned that many cloned animals have serious health problems, so perhaps Dolly’s predicament might be due to being a cloned animal. Or it could be that Dolly simply is one of a small number of sheep who suffer from arthritis young.

As researcher Ian Wilmut told BBC Radio 4, “There is no way of knowing if this is down to cloning or whether it is a coincidence. We will never know the answer to that question.”

Wilmut has called for an independent study to examine the health of cloned animals. Animal rights activist, of course, have a different response — ban animal cloning.

Sarah Kite of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection told the BBC,

Scientists seem to think that they can mix and match animals’ genes in a controlled way, but actually the control is an illusion. No one yet understands exactly how genes work or what the effects will be on the innocent animals who are subjected to biotechnology.

By all means, since scientists don’t understand exactly how genes work, it seems obvious that the only logical conclusion is that research into how genes work should be banned. How did everyone in the scientific community miss the sort of simple logic that BUAV grasps so easily?

Joyce D’Silva of Compassion in World Farming chimes in as well, telling the BBC,

I think the hundreds and hundreds of other cloned lambs who have been born and had malformed hearts, lungs or kidneys. They have struggled to survive for a few days and then had their lungs filled with fluid and gasped their way to death or had to be put out of their misery by their creators. That is the real story of cloning.

Note, however, that Compassion in World Farming is on the record as being opposed to animal cloning even if researchers figure out how to avoid the problems seen with some cloned animals. The group’s web site says of cloning,

Even if cloning becomes more efficient, CIWF believes it is likely to be a welfare disaster for farm animals. Selective breeding has had a bad record for welfare. Herds of identical cloned animals would lead to even greater loss of genetic diversity with unforeseeable results in terms of illness for the animals. Transgenic pigs used for xenotransplants would have to live their lives in unnatural, sterile conditions. CIWF believes that the suffering involved in cloning and genetically engineering cannot be justified by the benefits claimed by the scientists and multinational biotechnology companies.

In other words, even if researchers succeed in creating a cloned pig whose heart can be successfully transplanted into a human being suffering from heart disease, “the suffering involved … cannot be justified by the benefits.”

Source:

Dolly’s arthrities sparks cloning row. The BBC, January 4, 2002.

Genetic Engineering Campaign. Compassion in World Farming, Factsheet, June 28, 2001

Preventing Osteoporosis: Milk vs. Calcium Supplements

A new study of dietary calcium suggests that calcium benefits from milk simply cannot be gained from other methods for vulnerable populations such as young girls.

The study, conducted by researchers at Sheffield University, comprised only 86 girls aged 11-12. Half of the girls took a calcium supplement that was added to fruit juice. The control group took fruit juice without the calcium.

As expected, the girls who took the calcium-laced fruit juice improved their bone density by 1.2%. The surprise, however, came when researchers followed-up with the girls two years later — the bone density increase had disappeared.

This is significant, because previous research suggests that bone density obtained from calcium in milk is maintained over time.

Researchers from the National Osteoporosis Society, which conducted the study, suggest that rather than truly increasing bone density, the calcium supplements likely simply suppressed bone remodeling, wherein old bone tissue is broken down and new bone tissue added.

Richard Eastell, chairman of the National Osteoporosis Society told The BBC,

This underlines the need for children and teenagers to take plenty of milk in their diet if they are to build bone strong enough to last a lifetime. Calcium supplements can be used as a substitute if they don’t like milk, but it is important that they keep taking these, or the effect is lost

Samantha Calvert of the UK’s Vegetarian Society argues that the calcium need not come from milk, but could as easily be obtained from sources like spinach, tofu, dried fruit, etc. “Vegetarians are no more likely to be lacking in calcium than any other sectors of society,” Calvert told The BBC.

It would be interesting to see this study replicated, only examining bone density among girls who drink milk vs. those who attempt to obtain an adequate amount of calcium on a vegetarian or vegan diet.

Source:

Milk ‘best calcium source’ for girls. The BBC, December 9, 2001.

Japanese Researchers Claim They Grew Artificial Eye

Researchers at Tokyo University recently reported that they succeeded in growing an artificial eye in tadpoles.

Led by biology professor Makoto Asashima, the researchers said they soaked undifferentiated cells from a frog embryo in a special medium, and then implanted them into a tadpole whose left eye had been removed.

After a week, Asashima reports that the cell was connected to the optic nerve and there was no sign that it had been rejected.

Unfortunately although it garnered a lot of headlines last week, this research has yet to be published or accepted by a peer reviewed journal and as a result it is a bit difficult to figure out exactly what, if anything, these researchers accomplished.

Source:

Scientists ‘create artificial eyeball.’ Charles Scanlon, The BBC, January 5, 2002.

Scientists claim to growth artificial eye. Reuters, January 5, 2002.