tfurrh
04-09-2019, 10:29 PM
Thought this was a good one
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709273861/usda-terminates-deadly-cat-experiments-plans-to-adopt-out-remaining-animals
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it's putting an end to a controversial research program that led scientists to kill thousands of cats over decades.
Since 1982 the USDA's Agricultural Research Services division had been conducting experiments that involved infecting cats with toxoplasmosis — a disease usually caused by eating undercooked contaminated meat — in order to study the foodborne illness. Once the cats were infected and the parasite harvested, the felines were put down.
In a statement announcing the decision, the agency said "toxoplasmosis research has been redirected and the use of cats as part of any research protocol in any ARS laboratory has been discontinued and will not be reinstated."
Additionally, the USDA said it is in the process of putting the 14 remaining uninfected cats up for adoption by agency employees.
The experiments came under increasing scrutiny over the past year, and public outcry intensified over recent weeks in the wake of a report by the White Coat Waste Project that found the USDA's researchers also forced the lab cats to eat dog and cat meat obtained in overseas markets.
The aim of that seemingly gruesome practice — dubbed "kitten cannibalism" by critics — was to understand how widespread the parasitic disease is in animals around the world, Justin Goodman, vice president of the White Coat Waste Project, a group that works to end government animal testing, told NPR.
"We are elated that after a year of campaigning we have relegated the slaughter of kittens to the litter box of history," Goodman said.
He said the organization obtained details about the agency's active protocols through a Freedom of Information Act request "that detailed how the USDA was breeding 100 kittens a year in a Maryland lab."
"At eight weeks, [scientists] would feed them infected meat, harvest parasitic eggs from their feces to be used in other experiments, then kill them," Goodman said.
He estimates more than 3,000 cats have been killed since the founding of the research program at a cost of about $22 million to taxpayers.
"Kittens become immune after two weeks, and still the USDA was incinerating them," Goodman said.
Kim Kaplan, a USDA spokeswoman, told NPR 239 cats were euthanized between 2013 to 2018, adding that the lab discontinued infecting cats in September.
The nonprofit group's reporting brought widespread attention to the controversial program and resulted in bipartisan legislation to ban animal testing by the USDA. In May, Reps. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., introduced a bill called the "Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act of 2018," also known as the KITTEN Act, to stop the USDA from using cats and kittens in experiments. That was followed in December by a Senate version of the bill, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
"The USDA made the right decision today, and I applaud them for their willingness to change course," Merkley said in a statement. "It's a good day for our four-legged friends across America," he said, adding that it was past time the "archaic practice and horrific treatment" was stopped.
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709273861/usda-terminates-deadly-cat-experiments-plans-to-adopt-out-remaining-animals
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it's putting an end to a controversial research program that led scientists to kill thousands of cats over decades.
Since 1982 the USDA's Agricultural Research Services division had been conducting experiments that involved infecting cats with toxoplasmosis — a disease usually caused by eating undercooked contaminated meat — in order to study the foodborne illness. Once the cats were infected and the parasite harvested, the felines were put down.
In a statement announcing the decision, the agency said "toxoplasmosis research has been redirected and the use of cats as part of any research protocol in any ARS laboratory has been discontinued and will not be reinstated."
Additionally, the USDA said it is in the process of putting the 14 remaining uninfected cats up for adoption by agency employees.
The experiments came under increasing scrutiny over the past year, and public outcry intensified over recent weeks in the wake of a report by the White Coat Waste Project that found the USDA's researchers also forced the lab cats to eat dog and cat meat obtained in overseas markets.
The aim of that seemingly gruesome practice — dubbed "kitten cannibalism" by critics — was to understand how widespread the parasitic disease is in animals around the world, Justin Goodman, vice president of the White Coat Waste Project, a group that works to end government animal testing, told NPR.
"We are elated that after a year of campaigning we have relegated the slaughter of kittens to the litter box of history," Goodman said.
He said the organization obtained details about the agency's active protocols through a Freedom of Information Act request "that detailed how the USDA was breeding 100 kittens a year in a Maryland lab."
"At eight weeks, [scientists] would feed them infected meat, harvest parasitic eggs from their feces to be used in other experiments, then kill them," Goodman said.
He estimates more than 3,000 cats have been killed since the founding of the research program at a cost of about $22 million to taxpayers.
"Kittens become immune after two weeks, and still the USDA was incinerating them," Goodman said.
Kim Kaplan, a USDA spokeswoman, told NPR 239 cats were euthanized between 2013 to 2018, adding that the lab discontinued infecting cats in September.
The nonprofit group's reporting brought widespread attention to the controversial program and resulted in bipartisan legislation to ban animal testing by the USDA. In May, Reps. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., introduced a bill called the "Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act of 2018," also known as the KITTEN Act, to stop the USDA from using cats and kittens in experiments. That was followed in December by a Senate version of the bill, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
"The USDA made the right decision today, and I applaud them for their willingness to change course," Merkley said in a statement. "It's a good day for our four-legged friends across America," he said, adding that it was past time the "archaic practice and horrific treatment" was stopped.