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iams news
IAMS' Cruel Chick Tests
It has been revealed that IAMS/Eukanuba are still using cruel
research methods, when non-animal 'alternatives' are available. In order
to test for the digestibility of protein in its pet foods, IAMS/Eukanuba
subjects 1-week-old baby chicks to severely growth-retarding "protein
efficiency ratio" (PER) studies. Chicks are usually then killed and
sliced up for growth/nutritional analysis.
IAMS (owned by animal-testing consumer products
giant Procter & Gamble) boasts that it
conducts "extensive live animal testing" in its PER chick tests
to "assure consistent protein quality."
However, its competitors disagree on the need. Hill's Pet Nutrition uses
a high-tech computer program that provides "very accurate results";
and Nestlé Purina PetCare Company refuses to conduct PER tests
at all.
Furthermore, TNO Nutrition and Food Research (an internationally recognized
authority in nutrition research), notes the following in issue 27 (December
2004) of Leads in Life Sciences:
"[T]hese [PER] experiments are extremely slow and give no
insight into the availability of the amino acids that are responsible
for growth limitation. The test may also result in strong growth retardation
due to amino acid deficiencies and therefore has ethical drawbacks.
Moreover, this method determines the [protein] requirements of rats
and [chickens], not of humans or dogs."
On February 7, 2005, IAMS eventually confirmed that it was looking into
another alternative test method called IDEA (Immobilized Digestive Enzyme
Assay) to replace the use of chicks. But IAMS will be slow to implement
this test method as it claims it must "validate" the method
against the chick test.
Validating a high-tech test against an inappropriate and inaccurate low-tech
animal test is never a good idea, for obvious reasons!
Cruel Mice Tests Revealed
Drs. Bruce Watkins and Kevin Hannon, researchers at Purdue University,
have been given $195,140 by IAMS/Eukanuba to conduct a study entitled,
"The Influence of N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA) on Musculoskeletal
Atrophy During Unloading."
From 1st May 2004 to 30th June 2006, mice will be subjected to seven
days of hind limb muscle atrophy - the wasting away of muscle tissue -
which the researchers will induce by "hav[ing] a piece of surgical
tape applied to the tail which is then used to lift their rear limbs slightly
off the floor," according to a publicly released statement from
IAMS. After losing the use of their hind legs, the mice are to be killed
and sliced up.
Yet non-animal alternatives already exist for muscle atrophy experiments.
Dr. Herman Vandenburgh - an expert on muscle atrophy - and his colleagues
have been "developing a model for atrophy using bioartificial
muscles [BAM] in his laboratory." Vandenburgh said:
"[W]e can grow the bioartificial muscles in our lab and then
we can induce atrophy by reducing the tension on the muscle [using a
force transducer]... The muscles generate less force, so they don't
make as much protein and they waste away."
IAMS Helps Mush Sled Dog to Death!
In 1994, in response to appeals from humane organisations, IAMS/Eukanuba
announced that it had ended sponsorship and support or the Iditarod Trail
Sled Dog Race - a cruel event that forces dogs to mush a gruelling trek
of more than 1,000 miles over unforgiving Alaskan terrain, usually in
under 14 days.
However, it has emerged that IAMS/Eukanuba has been an official sponsor
for "Team Norway" in recent Iditarod races and will be again
for 2005.
During the 2004 Iditarod race, Eukanuba sponsored Kjetil Backen of "Team
Norway," who pushed his dogs beyond the point of exhaustion. Takk,
Backen's lead dog, "just sat down and died" a mile out of the
checkpoint, according to race marshal Mark Norman. Al Townshend, head
veterinarian at the Unalakleet checkpoint, said, "Sudden death can
occur in dogs for a number of reasons ... including accidental trauma,
ulcer or a dog inhaling [his or her] own vomit."
Backen also dropped one of his dogs, named Blue, at the so-called "Cripple
checkpoint" since she had developed tendonitis of the wrist resulting
from the strenuous schedule of mushing day after day.
Even knowing for a fact that dogs are needlessly injured and killed in
Iditarod races, IAMS/Eukanuba has refused to terminate its sponsorship!
In fact, IAMS/Eukanuba proudly sponsors other cruel events along with
sled dog races. For instance, as a "major sponsor" of the fur-themed
"Le Festival du Voyageur" ("The Festival of the Traveler")
- billed as Western Canada's largest winter festival - IAMS helps celebrate
the "joie de vivre of the fur traders"! At this "celebration,"
IAMS/Eukanuba hosts its own inhumane mushing event - the "IAMS Voyageur
International Sled Dog Classic."
For more information about the suffering endured by dogs in the Iditarod
see the Sled Dog Action Coalition website at: www.helpsleddogs.org
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