 UDSA Criticizes Its Own Regulation of the Animal
Welfare Act
The Office
of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued an
audit of the agency’s performance in enforcing the Animal Welfare Act,
the federal statute that sets minimum standards for the care and treatment
of some animals used in medical research and other venues. The report noted
that the agency charges violators of the Act such small fines that companies
consider the penalties a normal cost of doing business. The report also noted
that some institutional animal care and use committees are failing to review
research protocols adequately and that some facilities are under-reporting
their use of animals.
Audit Report: APHIS Animal Care Program Inspection and Enforcement Activities,
Report No. 33002-3-SF, September 2005.
Meat Consumption Skyrocketing in Developing Countries
The greatest
rise in factory farms is occurring near the urban centers of Asia,
Africa, and Latin America. These “concentrated animal feeding operations,” account
for more than 40 percent of world meat production, up from 30 percent
in 1990. From the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, meat consumption
in developing countries grew by 70 million tons, nearly triple the rise
in industrial countries.
Nierenberg D. Happier meals: rethinking the
global meat industry.
Worldwatch Paper 171. Washington: Worldwatch Institute; 2005.
 Meat Isn’t Fatty Enough?
Scientists
with the Agricultural Research Service, a division of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, in collaboration with the University of Georgia, have found a
way to make meat even fattier. They’re adding thiazolidinediones, a class
of diabetes drugs, to livestock feed. Although most of their work has so far
focused on pigs, the researchers are hoping to improve “marbling” in
cows as well.
Premarin Downturn Forces Plant Closure
Sales of
Premarin, the hormone replacement therapy made from pregnant horses’ urine,
are so poor that Wyeth, the manufacturer, is phasing out production at its
Rouses Point, New York, plant. The drug’s use plummeted after the National
Institutes of Health released a report in 2002 associating a related drug with
breast cancer, heart disease, and stroke.
Wyeth news release, October 11, 2005.
Words of Wisdom from The Tonight Show
“To
counter bird flu fears, KFC is developing a marketing plan to assure consumers
that eating their chicken is safe. You will not get the bird flu from eating
Kentucky Fried Chicken. You might get heart disease, high blood pressure, and
obesity, but not the bird flu.”
Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show,” November
10, 2005.
 Drug Companies to Move Animal Research to Africa
Like Western
manufacturing companies that seek cheap labor and lax regulations in developing
countries, the pharmaceutical industry is moving some of its animal testing
to African laboratories to dodge European animal welfare regulations. Emmanuel
Wango, the director of the Institute of Primate Research in Kenya was quoted
in the British Telegraph saying that his country has a “much
more comfortable way of working.”
 University Touts Tuna Industry Line
Despite
widespread and growing concern over the hazards of mercury-contaminated fish,
the University of Maryland’s newly formed Center for Food, Nutrition,
and Agricultural Policy has launched a new campaign to promote consumption.
Funding for its new Web site, www.realmercuryfacts.org, was provided
through an “educational grant” from the U.S. Tuna Foundation.
PCRM Illustrations - Doug Hall
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