No, I haven’t given up on weblogging. I’ve just been working 70-80 hours a week ever since two positions in my area of responsibility were eliminated and those duties were shifted to lucky old me! I’ve been training a couple part-timers to take over most of that, but in the meantime I haven’t had much time for anything except work-eat-sleep-repeat.
Author: Brian Carnell
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.
Jane Goodall's Convincing Argument Against Animal Research
Until now, the animal rights argument against animal testing had little sway over this writer, but primate expert Jane Goodall has such a convincing argument for replacing animal research, that I may have to change my mind.
Here’s an excerpt from a recent interview with Goodall in the Indian Express,
[Indian Express]: What is the way out?
[Jane Goodall]: We are the dominant species. We have the brains to subdue elephants. If it’s possible to reach the moon and find life-saving drugs with these brains, it’s also possible to find ways of progress without hurting animals. Had we stretched our brains a bit, we would have been further ahead. For animals, it’s torture. So let’s get our brains working and get rid of these painful experiments.
Of course, why didn’t anyone else think of this before? If it’s possible to go the moon, it must also be possible to accomplish X (where X is any as-yet unaccomplished goal).
If it’s possible to reach the moon, it’s also possible to travel back in time and stop World War II. If it’s possible to reach the moon, it’s also possible to cure all disease by 2010.
I certainly hope that Goodall is considered for the Nobel Prize for such pithy insight.
Source:
Can’t we research without hurting animals?. Indian Express, January 15, 2003.
Ingrid Newkirk Knows Animal Hoaxes
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ president Ingrid Newkirk was quoted in a Canadian newspaper about a topic which even this writer will stipulate that she is certainly an expert — hoaxes and disinformation about the treatment of animals.
The particular example at hand is an odd New Zealand book, Why Paint Cats: The ethics of feline aesthetics, which appears to be a more tasteful version of a Bonsai Kitten-style hoax. Rather than claiming to show people how to stuff kittens into bottles, Why Paint Cats claims to chronicle the art of painting picutres onto the rear ends of cats.
For example, the book claims that a New York stockbroker paid $16,000 to have an image of Charlie Chaplin painted onto his cat.
The author of the book insists that it is not a hoax, though the Ottawa Citizen noted that some of the groups and magazines cited in the book do not appear to exists.
Newkirk concurs, telling the Ottawa Citizen,
It’s so intricate [the supposed cat paintings]. It’s so detailed. I cannot imaigine that anyone could get even one cat, let alone all those cats who look quite happy and wonderful to stil still . . . it’s just not so
And if anyone knows about using images of animals that aren’t quite what they purport to be, certainly that person is Newkirk.
Source:
Flashy felines or a colourful hoax? Jennifer Morrison, The Ottawa Citizen, January 11, 2003.
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.’
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