EU Bans Battery Cages

To offset yesterday's crappy news about California, here's good news from the EU!

Full article on Food Safety News....

As of Jan. 1, 2012, egg-laying hens across many European countries will live with fewer discomforts: The European Commission has officially implemented its ban on battery cages, the notoriously cramped cages used by many egg farmers and criticized by animal rights proponents and veterinarians who call them cruel and harmful to the birds' welfare.

The law, finalized in 1999, comes after a 12-year "phase-out" period meant to allow egg farmers time to implement the costly transition away from battery cages. According to the Scotsman newspaper, replacing battery cages with more-hospitable "enriched" cages has alone cost U.K. egg producers an estimated £400 million ($613 million).

Most farmers in participating countries have opted for the enriched cages, installing roomier enclosures that allow hens to stretch their wings, roost on an elevated platform and nest in a designated nesting area. Others have arranged for barns or other free-range systems, but the law now clearly reserves hens a seat at a nest.

That opportunity to properly nest will do the most to improve hen well-being, said Ian J.H. Duncan, Ph.D., Emeritus Chair in Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph in Ontario and the President of the Animal Welfare Foundation of Canada. Duncan has been studying the effects of battery cages on hens since the early 1970s, when he worked at the Poultry Research Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Russia Bans Canadian Seal Imports!

Great news! But I'm not exactly sure why RUSSIA would ban them. (The other two neighbors that banned them are Kazakhstan and Belarus). Apparently, some claim about 90 percent of Canadian sales are to Russia. Russia does have its own seal hunt, but apparently they banned killings of animals under one year old. Weird. I don't see what they get out of it, unless they want to impress Europe, which has already banned seal products.

Excerpted from the Globe and Mail....

Russia and two of its neighbours have informed the World Trade Organization that they are banning the import and export of harp seal pelts – a move that animal-rights activists are celebrating as the death knell of Canada’s commercial seal industry.

Russia has been the biggest market for the Canadian seal fur industry. And harp seals are the prime source of that fur.

Woman Leads Fight Against Circuses in Portugal

I like this story because I can only imagine the conditions of circus animals in Portugal. When I was in the Azores, there was a circus called Atlas I think and there were horrible, gaudy posters. I just had a sick feeling about the possible treatment of those animals. Being of Azorean heritage, and, therefore, Portuguese, I know personally that animal welfare is not a cultural value.

Anyway, here's a German woman who lives in the Algarve and is appalled at a particular circus' treatment of its animals. The EU apparently wants to "regulate" instead of banning circuses. Are they that much of an economic powerhouse?!

Canada Reaches Seal Product Deal with China

In order to offset the loss of the seal product market in Europe, Canada has made a deal with China. I'm not surprised. China as a whole still doesn't have a national conscience about these issues. Although 40 Chinese animal rights groups have protested, they don't really have any political or financial clout to change anything.

Positive Responses from Animal Testers?

I guess it depends on how much you believe them....

The article from UPI is below in its entirety.

Drug and chemical companies say they endorse a Europe-wide initiative intended to eventually end the use of animals in research and safety testing.

Experts from companies including drug giants AstraZeneca, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and cosmetics firm L'Oreal say that soon the safety testing of new drugs and chemical products will use new technologies, including cell cultures and computer models, rather than living animals, The Daily Telegraph in Britain reported.

A report published by a panel of experts from industry, academic institutions and regulatory bodies supports an initiative aimed at finding alternatives to animal research.

"Today we are at a new biological milestone, where we could, with sufficient international and political support, ... produce the means and the technology to test and assess the human and environmental risk of tens of thousands of chemicals per year without using animals," the report says.

Testing a single chemical takes up to five years, involves 800 rodents and costs $3.8 million. Robotic alternatives could test 350 chemicals in less than a week at a fraction of the cost, the report says.

"Endorsement from cross-sector, independent experts provides a tremendous boost to European Union and international efforts to revolutionize the science of safety testing," Troy Seidle, director of research for Humane Society International, said.

"The fact that industry is prepared to come to the table to meet with regulators and say they are prepared to do development, invest resources and change the way we do things shows this is a real possibility that is not just pie in the sky."

Mini-Pigs Identified by EU as Potential Lab Subjects

I guess their cuteness wore off too quick!

From myfoxny.com...

The mini-pig, darling of celebrities’ handbags, may have had its bacon Sunday after the EU earmarked it as the laboratory test animal of the future.

A research project into the feasibility of using miniature pigs in laboratories concluded they are better suited for testing toxins, drugs and chemicals than dogs and monkeys.

Animal Rights Activists Jailed in Europe

They are members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC). I support their cause, but am uncomfortable with their tactics.

From Reuters...

The group had targeted about 40 firms as part of an international conspiracy to force the closure of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), an animal research laboratory based near Cambridge. The members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) posted hoax parcel bombs to staff and offices, carried out criminal damage, threatened violence and made abusive phone calls, Winchester Crown Court was told.

The campaign also used tactics such as false allegations of paedophilia against managers of the supply companies, and posting sanitary towels to their homes saying the blood was contaminated with the AIDS virus.

Some employees from firms in Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland had "puppy killer" and "scum" daubed on their houses.

The cost of the damage and increased security measures amounted to 12.6 million pounds, the court heard.

EU Backing Cloned Animal Products

It's bad enough having to deal with the welfare of normal farm animals, but what about the welfare of cloned animals? If they are cloned solely for the products they provide, will it be more difficult to argue for their welfare as living creatures?

From the Daily Mail...

Concerns surround the ethics of the process, the welfare of the animals and a lack of research on food safety. However, a leaked report to be discussed by the EU’s College of Commissioners today comes out in favour of food from the offspring of clones...

If this policy is adopted, European farms could be populated by cloned supersize animals used as breeding stock for cows, pigs and sheep that are reared for food.

Clones themselves can suffer a range of painful conditions, including malformed organs and gigantism. Many die in the womb or soon after birth.

EU Bans Use of Great Apes in Animal Research

Some may disagree, but I think this is a huge victory. I wish we could do the same here in the US, but I highly doubt it...especially considering that Congress may go Republican in November.

From the AFP...

Europe banned the use of great apes in animal testing Wednesday as part of drastically tightened rules to scale back the number of animals used in scientific research.

After two years of heated debate on how to protect animal welfare without scuppering scientific research, the new limits, updating regulations from 1986, were adopted by the European Parliament despite objections from Green MEPs.

Under the new legislations, experiments on great apes such as chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans are to be banned and "strict" restrictions set on the use of primates in general.

Members of the 27-nation bloc, who are given two years to comply with the rules, also need "to ensure that whenever an alternative method is available, this is used instead of animal testing."

And they must work at "reducing levels of pain inflicted on animals."

Portugal Pursued by EU for Poor Environmental Policies

Oh, it's no surprise that the Portuguese are allowing rampant development for tourism. But I'm glad the EU is calling them on it.

From the Portugal News...

The European Commission said on Wednesday it is pursuing legal action against Portugal for breaching nature protection legislation. The Commission said it is sending Portugal a final warning over an inadequate impact assessment for a tourist resort development in the south of the country which falls under the Natura 2000 programme.

...The case concerns the Montinho da Ribeira resort at Algoceira in the Alentejo region. The resort falls within a site protected by the Habitats Directive and in the vicinity of a Special Area of Conservation for wild birds (Costa Sudoeste sites).

The resort includes 322 villas, 40 apartments and a hotel. It also foresees two golf courses, road infrastructure, a water treatment station and a waste water treatment plant. Four other resorts are also planned nearby.

Canadian Seal Hunt Ends Early

It ended early as a result of low demand for pelts (due to the European ban on seal products) and the lack of ice floes.

Belgian Bill Calls for Pig Castration WITH Anesthesia

OK, I'm stupid as hell. They castrate piglets WITHOUT anesthesia. OMFG!

I hope this bill passes. But I post about so many legislative proposals, with so few actual passages. We'll have to wait and see.

Alistair Darling Refuses to Eat Seal Meat at G7 Meeting

Alistair Darling, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, is in Canada for a G-7 meeting. He refused to eat the seal meat that the local Inuit community offered to the meeting participants, instead eating Arctic char. Good for him!

Real emotional blackmail on the part of the Canadians. They're basically making participants choose between eating seal meat or pissing off the Inuits and risk being called racists. The Canadians are just using its native peoples as a guilt rod.

Stay classy Canada!

Europe's Pig Industry Mad about Undercover Investigation

Compassion in World Farming led an undercover investigation that showed illegal tail docking and poor attempts at pig enrichment on factory farms, in violation of EU law. Now the pig industry is mad and claiming bias (scroll down in article.)

Too bad! If you complied with the law, you wouldn't look like such jerks!

EU Sends Inspectors to Portugal for Farm Animal Welfare

This happened earlier in the month, but I'm posting it anyway. The inspectors found nothing wrong, but at least they responded to the issues raised by Animal Angels, based in Germany.

My 2010 resolution is to try and track animal rights issues in the homelands of Spain and Portugal. Spain is much more advanced than Portugal in this area, but both need improvement (as do we all.)

Europeans Continue to Search for Alternatives to Animal Research....Why Not Americans?

I just don't understand it. Is there a different culture regarding animals in Europe? They have drug companies that are just as powerful as those here. Is public outcry greater? Are animal rights organizations more effective? Are politicians more willing to act? What gives?

From Cordis News...

At a conference in Brussels, Belgium on 6 November, European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, and Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik restated the EU's commitment to the reduction of animal testing.

Industry representatives were also present at the conference, which was held as part of the European Partnership on Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA). The EPAA was created in 2005 and is an unprecedented collaboration between science and industry to reduce animal suffering in scientific tests.

The aims of the EPAA are based on the '3Rs' of replacement, reduction and refinement. To enable this new approach to be developed, the European Commission and companies that are members of the EPAA are working hard to initiate novel methods of research and technology transfer that will reduce the need for animal testing.

European Military Exercises May Threaten Dolphins

According to the BBC....

The moving of Europe's biggest military exercise to the outer Moray Firth poses a threat to bottlenose dolphins, conservations have claimed.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) said noise from warships' sonar could harm the animals.

European Money Goes to Alternative Testing Research

Why is it so damn difficult to get the same kind of interest from the US government? I have yet to read anything official in which there is even an interest of getting away from these barbaric practices. We're not even talking drugs or medical treatment here, we're talking stupid cosmetics.

It's disheartening.

From the University World News...

A substantial fund of EUR50 million (US$74 million) is being offered to European research teams to develop alternatives to animal testing for cosmetics and related industries.

The joint partnership between the European Commission and the European Cosmetics Association (Colipa) is calling on scientists to develop proposals for studies into new non-animal testing methods before a February 2010 deadline.

RSPCA Collects 68,000 Signatures Supporting an End to Animal Research

That's an even larger number if you realize that each signature probably represents a few non-signers who feel the same way.

I really believe the more people learn about what research animals go through, the more common decency becomes a factor. The problem is that people don't really look at the pictures, read the stories or think about what's happening. They are too disturbed, frightened, or threatened to do so. But how many animal research supporters (non-scientists) actually step into a room and observe an experiment? How many of them actually see these animals in the labs?

That's why so many people don't want to talk about these issues. It upsets them. But their silence and cluelessness is essentially their consent.

The RSPCA collected these signatures leading up to the the 7th World Congress on Alternatives & Animal Use in the Life Sciences in Rome.

[The conference] began on the 30th of August and runs until the 3rd of September, two members of the RSPCA’s Research Animals Department are attending the event together with worldwide representatives of NGOs, industry and science as well as authorities and decision-makers.

68,315 people signed an online RSPCA petition stating "We, the undersigned, call on the British Government to work towards ending the use of animals in experiments, replacing them with humane alternatives."

Canadian Prime Minister Eats Seal Meat

He's doing it to show his opposition to the EU's ban on seal products. Canada plans on appealing to the WTO.

Stay classy Harper!