Month: January 2003

The American Prospect on John Zogby Animal Rights Poll

The left wing magazine The American Prospect published an interesting look at pollster John Zogby in its February 2003 issue, which uses as its centerpiece an animal rights poll taken by Zogby International.

The poll in question, which was cited in a New York Times Magazine cover story about animal rights, claims that 51 percent of Americans believe that “primates are entitled to the same rights as children.”

The main thrust of The American Prospect article is that although Zogby polls such as this are cited as objective, nonpartisan polls by the media, that instead Zogby International is essentially selling push polling to clients and creatively wording questions and interpreting results to produce poll results favorable to the groups it hires.

The poll cited by the New York Times Magazine story, for example, was paid for by the Doris Day Animal League (which the NYT did not bother to mention). That, in and of itself, doesn’t make the poll invalid, but it should have garnered the poll more scrutiny. And when The American Prospect’s Chris Mooney looked at the poll closely, it was little more than a push poll. Mooney writes,

Look more closely at the Doris Day Animal League survey. The New York Times Magazine report that 51 percent of Americans think “primates are entitled to the same rights as human children” goes far beyond anything in the actual poll. First, the poll didn’t ask about primates — a category including anything from pygmy mouse lemurs to gorillas — but about chimpanzees. Second, the actual question gave respondents four options to choose from: In brief, they could say that chimps ought to be treated “like property,” “similar to children,” “the same as adults” or “not sure.” Given this particular set of choices, option two was the obvious pick — almost as if respondents were steered toward it. And after 51 percent had chosen “similar to children,” the Zogby survey inexplicably translated “similar” into “the same” in its conclusions — a very big difference. The Doris Day Animal League then reported this in its press materials.

Well, at least Zogby gave the Doris Day Animal League what they paid for! Mooney documents other examples of Zogby International releasing polls about policy-related topics that are little more than press release fluff predesigned to reach a conclusion favored by the client paying for the poll.

Source:

Jon Zogby’s Creative Polls. Chris Mooney, The American Prospect, February 1, 2003.

West Hollywood Considers Ban on Cat Declawing

A year after becoming one of the first cities to declare pet owners “pet guardians,” West Hollywood, California, will soon take up a proposed ban on cat declawing.

Although cat declawing is banned in 13 European nations, West Hollywood would become the first city in America to ban the practice in which part of the toes of cats are cut off to permanently remove the claws.

An Associated Press report on the proposal cited an unnamed People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals source as saying that it intended to lobby other cities for similar bans.

Source:

West Hollywood may adopt nation’s first ban on cat declawing. Laura Wides, Associated Press, January 17, 2003.

San Francisco Supervisors Vote for Pet "Owner-Guardian" Language

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted this week to replace the term “owner” with “-owner-guardian” in all instances where San Francisco’s municipal code mentions pets.

Attorneys for San Francisco maintain the change will have no appreciable legal effect, while critics of the proposal claim that it could lessen individual liability for the actions of pets since “guardian” implies a less delineated relationship than “owner” does.

Elliott Katz of In Defense of Animals, which has been pushing for this sort of terminology change, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “Being a guardian of an animal companion signifies a higher level of responsibility, respect and care to the animals we share our lives with.”

In Defense of Animals, meanwhile, is featuring a Bird Guardian program on its web site this month, which urges the public to never “buy” birds, but rather to “adopt” them (presumably through any number of bird adoption agencies).

Sources:

Jockstrip: The world as we know it. Ellen Beck, United Press Intrenational, January 15, 2003.

SCID Gene Cure May Have Leukemia Side Effect

The first disease ever cured by gene therapy was severe combined immune disorder (SCID) — the so-called “bubble boy” disease in which the immune system is so severely compromised that children have to live in near-sterile environments to avoid life threatening disease. But now, there is new evidence that the cure for SCID may increase the risk of leukemia among children receiving it.

In 2002, one of the toddlers who received SCID gene therapy as a baby came down with leukemia, and officials in France and the United States temporarily stopped the procedure. Now, a three year old who received the treatment as an infant has also come down with leukemia. As a result, the United States has suspended all 27 existing gene therapy studies have been suspended pending new risk assessments.

The potential for this sort of leukemia problem accompanies all gene therapies that use retroviruses, but this is the first time where this hypothetical risk has become actual. According to an NPR report, both of the children involved are responding well to treatment for their leukemia.

Source:

Gene therapy causes “leukemia-like side effect”. Nando Times.

Market Research Poll on UK Vegetarian Consumers

Taylor Nelson Sofres Family Food Panel recently published the result of its market research poll of vegetarians which, like other polls of vegetarians, found that many of the people who call themselves vegetarians supplement their veggie diet with meat.

The TNS study found that half the people in their poll who called themselves vegetarian actually ate fish, one third ate chicken, and fully 25 percent ate read meat on occasion. The percentage of “true vegetarians” — those who did not eat meat — was three percent of the population surveyed.

This study was prepared to help companies better market food products to vegetarians and included a number of questions about what vegetarians eat. The study concluded that quorn-based products constituted 46 percent of “total vegetarian foods” (reading between the lines, I assume that means total vegetarian foods purchased as prepared foods at supermarkets). Quorn is a 93 million pound market in Great Britain, but the meat substitute remains banned in the United States thanks to onerous food regulations.

The survey also reported an increase in sales of textured vegetarian protein as a substitute for meat.

TNS’ Sara Donnelly summarized the survey results saying,

The focus of vegetarian food marketing by manufacturers and retailers will need to change in order to appeal to a more diverse market place, including men and older women. Whilst, meals without meat, for example, meat-free pasta dishes, soups, salads, stir fries and sandwiches are becoming more popular, meat still features in a significant majority of people’s diets. However, in a society that places huge demands on time, a growing numbeer of consumers are looking for meals that are convenient to prepare, and meat is often perceived as inconvenient. Because of this, there are now opportunities for food marketers to target consumers who want convenient, healthy, meat-free meals, rather than marketing products specifically as ‘meals for vegetarians.’

Source:

The true vegetarian nature.

Huntingdon Life Sciences Loses Two Board Members

Huntingdon Life Sciences this week announced the resignations of board members John Caldwell and Kirby Cramer. Cramer had served as a non-executive director at HLS since 1996, and Cramer had been an executive director since 1998.

Both men were the targets of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty’s ongoing intimidation campaign agains anyone remotely affiliated with HLS. When Caldwell was named as the dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Liverpool, he found his new department stormed by anti-HLS activists. Similarly, Cramer served on a number of boards of other companies, and SHAC and others targeted those other companies in an attempt to convince Cramer to resign from the HLS board.

To replace the board members, HLS named international businessman Y Sesay and Pakistani businessman Mohammed Faruque.

Presumably HLS chose both men, at least in part, because their geographical locations will make it more difficult for Western animal rights activists to apply the sort of intimidation tactics they have used against British and American individuals affiliated with the firm.

This didn’t stop SHAC from issuing a press release listing phone numbers for Faruque along with a time zone chart giving the best times for activists to call Faruque. According to the SHAC press release,

It has also been reported that he [Faruque] has had a great deal of trepidation about joining the board concerning the animal rights threat he may face.

Sounds like he needs some convincing!

Sources:

Executives targeted by animal rights activists retire. Patrick Jenkins, Financial Times, January 15, 2003.

Two Huntingdon directors resign – new directors not secured!! Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, Press Release, January 15, 2003.