The Guardian warns
Consumers have been warned that meat and milk prices are likely to rise in the coming weeks, the latest indication that the weekly shop could soon cost a lot more.
However much a “lot more” is, well, it’s not enough.
Thought for the Day
I am a bad, wicked man, but I am practising moral self- purification; I don’t eat meat any more, I now eat rice cutlets.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924), Russian revolutionary leader.
Critical Editorial on Animal Research at the University of Washington
This is an astonishing editorial from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Animal Research: Make the grade
The University of Washington still has a considerable distance to go in clearing up questions about its animal research. The university’s top leadership, including the president and regents, must show sustained resolve to meet the highest standards.
It shouldn’t have taken this much attention from a national accreditation review group, animal rights activists like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and federal officials to bring more institutional interest in supporting high-quality programs, and especially proper facilities. The university is consistently a leader among higher education institutions in research funding, receiving $1 billion in grants during the last fiscal year.
Some degree of animal experimentation figures into grants involving $250 million or more. It was institutionally neglectful or worse to let some facilities become so derelict as to prompt replacement demands from the national accrediting organization. Without accreditation, the UW couldn’t receive any grants for animal research.
The university has responded seriously to the various questions. It is reviewing records for possible re-payments of some National Institutes of Health grant money where surgeries were performed on a number of monkeys without approval. More staffers are being hired to help with oversight of scattered research activities. Money is flowing to upgrade facilities, some 60 years old.
On the most significant front, the university continues to work with the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care to satisfy its concerns about facilities, oversight and “a lack of institutional support.” In an Aug. 1 letter, the association applauded the UW’s “robust response.” But Nona Phillips, the UW Animal Welfare Office director, said a probationary period for the university will likely continue into next year.
President Mark Emmert and regents should recruit an ethicist, from the faculty or the community, to join the key UW oversight committee. We hope the UW and other schools will vigorously use scientific advances to reduce or end the need for animal tests. And don’t sanctuaries offer an increasing option for avoiding many euthanizations?
The UW’s record of research leadership demands more than just getting on top of its problems. It can help us all look for larger improvements that will make it and society proud.
The Grumpy Vegan tried to find on the PETA Web site a link to their University of Washington campaign but couldn’t.
The Poisoning of the Scottish Golden Eagle
In today’s Guardian is a full-page report about a golden eagle in Scotland undergoing a necropsy. She had been poisoned to death with carbofuran, a pesticide banned in Britain since 2001. It’s a painful death: the central nervous system is attacked, causing rapid paralysis, seizures, cramps and coma. Golden eagles mate for life. Her fledgling chick was nearby when she died. These are rare birds who deserve our protection. Why are they being killed? Here’s why:
Police and conservationists believe the eagle is the victim of an intensifying and illegal war against birds of prey being fought by gamekeepers and landowners to protect commercially reared game birds – red grouse, pheasant and partridge – from their natural predators.
But its death – the latest of 85 proven and suspected cases of golden eagle persecution in Scotland since 1980 – may be the turning point. Ministers are now pledging a fresh crackdown on the persecutors, while conservationists are pressing for new controls on grouse moors, including licences forcing their owners to preserve all the area’s wildlife.
[…]investigations have led to the conviction of six shooting estate workers in the Borders for persecuting birds of prey, sometimes using baited traps, live pigeons and snares. None were sacked. They very rarely are, say conservationists.
And what do gamekeeping leaders claim?
the corpse may have been planted by animal rights activists
What a Load of Bull
Isn’t that why they go? To risk their lives? To tell their mates. “Oh, how was Saturday?” “I ran with the bulls.” “Oh yeah.” “Me? I went to Asda with the missus and the kids.”
Yes, I know it’s tradition, a rite of passage, gets the adrenalin pumping and shows off your machismo. But are these men all wimps? Why is there any protection at all? If their machismo is where their balls are they would be running naked through the streets. That would put man and bull on an equal playing field. And at least make it interesting.
Thought for the Day
Eating too much meat gives you indigestion and evil thoughts make you eat too much meat.
Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), U.S. author.
