Use the Web, Luke!

This weekend I’m going to be driving to the suburbs of Detroit for the Motor City Comic Con. I’m going pretty much to snag the autograph of one of my childhood heroes, Herb Jefferson Jr..

Here’s the weird thing. I’m flipping through a sci-fi magazine today and there’s this full page, color ad that must have cost a ton of money to run, even if it was just inserted regionally. But on the other hand the convention’s web site looks like crap (though maybe they were going for a retro look with that default gray background).

The college students who put on a small gaming convention each Winter at the university here do a better job than that. And as my wife put it, think about — whose the audience for a comic convention? Geeks. Not having a decent web site is inconceivable.

Alaska Supreme Court Turns Back Friend of Animals Appeal

In what will likely be the last legal maneuver in a case that started in 1997, The Fairbanks News-Daily Miner reports that the Alaska Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Friends of Animals over a $200,000 judgment won by wolf trapper Eugene Johnson against the animal rights group.

In 1997, Johnson sued Friends of Animals and wildlife biologist Gordon Haber over the release of a wolf from a trap owed by Johnson. Haber released the wolf — which was found dead about three weeks later with wire from the trap still in its feet — while he was in Alaska doing research funded by Friends of Animals. Haber later distributed a videotape of the wolf’s release, and Johnson sued both Haber and Friends of Animals.

A jury found in Johnson’s favor and awarded him damages of $100,000 from Friends of Animals and $79,000 from Haber.

Friends of Animals appealed the verdict arguing that Haber was not acting as an agent of Friends of Animals when he released the wolf. An Alaska Superior Court judge rejected its first appeal in 2002, and the Alaska Supreme Court’s rejection of the appeal is pretty much then end of the animal rights groups options. It could appeal to the United States Supreme Court, but as the Fairbanks Daily-News Miner noted, given that there are no federal issues involved such an appeal would certainly be rejected by the Supreme Court.

Johnson died in June 2002, but his estate will likely move to collect on the judgment. Due to another ruling in the case, Johnson’s estate will likely only be able to collect the judgment from the Friends of Animals which Johnson’s attorney said would amount to $120,000 once attorney fees and interest are included.

Sources:

Court will not consider appeal by animal rights group. Dan Rice, Fairbanks Daily-News Miner, April 30, 2003.

Researchers: Fish Feel Pain

Earlier this year researcher James Rose published an analysis of the brains of fish that concluded fish do not feel pain. In April, however, a team of researchers from the Roslin Institute and the University of Edinburgh published a study concluding that fish do feel pain. So who is right? Well, both are correct actually.

Not to be too Clintonian, but the debate over whether fish feel pain turns largely on the definition of “pain.”

The British researchers first anaesthetized fish and then subjected them to stimulation that would likely be perceived as painful in human beings. The researchers then watched how the fish responded to the stimulation.

Dr. Lynne Sneddon told the BBC,

We found 58 receptors located on the face and head of the trout that responded to at least one of the stimuli. Of these, 22 could be classified as nociceptors in that they responded to mechanical pressure and were stimulated when heated above 40 Celsius. Eighteen receptors also responded to chemical stimulation and can be defined as polymodal nociceptors.

The researchers also injected fish with bee venom or acetic acid and a control group with a saline solution. They found that the fish injected with the bee venom or acetic acid experienced behavioral changes. Again, the BBC quoted Dr. Sneddon as saying,

Fish demonstrated a ‘rocking’ motion, strikingly similar to the kind of motion seen in stressed higher vertebrates like mammals. The trout injected with the acid were also observed to rub their lips onto the gravel in their tank and on the tank walls. These do not appear to be reflex responses.

Animal rights organizations were quick to jump on this finding to support their cause. Dawn Carr of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told the BBC,

It’s shocking that people will still go fishing for fun. For every cruel thing people do, there is a compassionate alternative. There are so many ways to enjoy the outdoors — we hope people would go hiking, camping, boating, any sort of sport that doesn’t involved animal suffering would be preferable.

But what about Rose’s conclusion that the brains of fish are incapable of feeling pain? Well, there is a wide gulf between whether or not fish are capable of responding to painful stimuli and whether they feel pain. Dr. Bruno Broughton, an adviser to the United Kingdom’s Angling Alliance, outlined the difference in the BBC,

I doubt that it will come as much of a shock to anglers to learn that fish have an elaborate system of sensory cells around their mouths . . . However, it is an entirely different matter to draw conclusions about the ability of fish to feel pain, a psychological experience for which they literally do not have the brains.

Animals which do not have some sort of ability to change their behavior in response to external stimuli would be quickly selected out in nature. But it does not follow from this that all animals subjectively feel pain in the way that humans and other complex animals do.

As Rose summed it up in his paper,

Pain is predicated on awareness. The key issue is the distinction between nociception and pain. A person who is anaesthetized in an operating theatre will still respond physically to an external stimulus, but he or she will not feel pain. Anyone who has seen a chicken with its head cut off will know that, while its body can respond to stimuli, it cannot be feeling pain.

So a lot of it comes down to whether “fish feel pain” means that fish are capable of complex behavioral changes after being exposed to stimuli that would be painful to humans, or if it is meant that fish actually experience the same sort of psychological states that human beings and other animals do in the presence of painful stimuli.

Sources:

Fish do feel pain, scientists say. Alex Kirby, The BBC, April 30, 2003.

Fish ‘capable of experiencing pain’. New Scientist, April 30, 2003.

Experimental vCJD Drug Offers Interesting Results

An experimental drug given to a single person can’t prove much about that drug’s efficacy, but the results of an experimental drug given to a young vCJD sufferer are nonetheless intriguing and will hopefully spur further study.

Jonathan Simms, 18, had to sue Great Britain’s National Health Service to win the right to take pentosan polysulphate. The drug had never been used before in human subjects, and the NHS had refused to let Simms’ doctors give him the compound. A court overruled the NHS, saying that since Simms would certainly die anyway without the drug, that he essentially had nothing to lose.

Pentosan polysulphate is usually used for treating bladder pain, but researchers in Japan and the United Kingdom demonstrated that in mice the drug extended the incubation period of vCJD-like drugs and extending the length of time the animals survived once they were infected.

Since Simms began taking the drug in January 2003, he has experienced no side effects from the drug and has shown improvement in his condition.

New Scientist quoted microbiologist Stephen Dealler as saying,

I was really taken aback by this. At this point there have been significant physiological improvements and no side effects.

Don Simms, Jonathan’s father, told a BBC documentary,

I can categorically state that Jonathan has not got any worse. He in actual fact shows signs of improvement. We are not hailing it as a total success, but from what we have seen so far we are much encouraged.

Simms told an Irish news web site that his son’s pulse rate has returned to normal and “the salivating associated with vCJD has dramatically decreased and he looks much better.”

Source:

Patient benefits from controversial vCJD drug. NewScientist.Com, May 12, 2003.

Red Meat Down, Poultry Up in 2002

Recently released statistics by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service found that production of cattle and calves fell in 2002 and the total gross income from cattle, calves, pigs, hogs, sheep, and lambs fell 10 percent from 2001. Poultry production and value continued to increase, however.

Lets start with the cows. In 2002 the USDA reports there were 96,704 thousand cattle and calves on American farms valued at more than $72 billion. Of those, 36.78 million cattle and calves were slaughtered at federally inspected and other slaughter plants.

More than 100 million hogs were slaughtered in 2002 — an increase of more than 2 million over 2001 — although income from hogs and pigs feel by 23 percent from 2001.

The poultry industry continued to make up the difference. Preliminary statistics show that 32,128 million pounds worth of broiler chickens were sold in 2002 compared to 31,955 million pounds in 2001 — sales of broiler chickens is up 27 percent since 1994 and per capita consumption hit an all time high in 2002 of 95 pounds. Turkey distribution also increased, with 5,642 million pounds sold in 2002 compared to 5,489 million pounds sold the year before.

Sources:

Red meat animals worth less. MeatNews.Com, April 2003.

USDA-NASS Agricultural Statistics 2003. USDA, 2003.

Two Men Charged Under Scotland's Fox Hunt Ban

Two Scottish huntsmen became the first to be charged with violating Scotland’s ban on fox hunting. Trevor Adams and Rory Innes were charged in April with violating the law by hunting with dogs.

Adams was charged for his participation in an October 2002 hunt, while Innes was charged for taking part in a hunt that took place in March 2003. Both men were prominent opponents of the Scottish fox hunting ban, and both claim their respective hunts were legal under the requirements of the new law that went into effect in August 2002.

A provision of that law allows foxes to be shot for pest control purposes, and additionally allows hounds to be used to kill a wounded fox.

Les Ward of Advocates for Animals, which supported the ban on fox hunting, told The Guardian that, “We’ve known in the last few months that many of the hunts have been sailing close to the wind.”

The Scotsman reported that in September 2002 Adams said that his Bucleuch hunt had used hounds to kill several foxes but always within the bounds of the law. “That is our interpretation of the act and the local police seem happy about it,” Adams said.

Sources:

Fox hunt masters facing charges over kills. Paul Gallagher, The Scotsman, April 29, 2003.

Huntsmen charged under Scottish ban. Gerard Seenan, The Guardian, April 30, 2003.