Welch's cancels funding for animal experiments; PETA cancels boycott

[Karmadillo]

More good work by PETA.

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=8397

Boston — In a move that will spare countless monkeys, dogs, rodents, and rabbits from painful, deadly, and useless animal experiments, Welch’s has just confirmed to PETA that it will no longer fund any animal experiments. The move came after PETA learned that the juice company was funding experiments on animals at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Illinois, and Tufts University and vowed to launch a global boycott of the company unless it ended the cruel experiments. No such experiments are required by law.

Before negotiations with PETA, Welch’s funded experiments on animals in which health problems were artificially induced and animals were dosed with grape juice in a bid to claim possible health benefits from ingesting their products.

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, dogs’ chests were cut open and blood clots were induced, and monkeys were forced to inhale secondhand smoke. Welch’s experiments at the University of Illinois involved poisoning rats with toxic chemicals. At Tufts, rats were subjected to memory tests and were forced to swim, and they risked drowning if they failed to remember how to reach a submerged safety platform.

After PETA warned Welch’s that it was prepared to launch an international boycott campaign to educate the public about the tests, Welch’s reconsidered the experiments, and the company has now advised PETA of its new non-animal-testing policy: "As scientific research capability is advancing rapidly, we believe it is appropriate to adopt the following formal policy on Welch’s scientific research … Welch’s will not fund animal research," says Welch’s official statement, which was released earlier this week.

"We commend Welch’s for its compassionate decision to stop funding cruel experiments on animals," says PETA Senior Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland. "Any health benefits of grape juice can be more accurately determined in clinical tests on human volunteers."

Many of Welch’s major competitors—including Sunny Delight, Old Orchard, SunSweet, Tampico, Cascadian Farms, Newman’s Own, Bolthouse Farms, Jamba Juice, and Campbell’s V8 juices, among many others—have signed PETA’s statement of assurance affirming that they do not test their juices on animals.

PETA now turns its attention to Ocean Spray, POM, and Tahitian Noni, which still conduct cruel tests on animals that aren’t required by law.

For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site CaringConsumer.com.

[LisaM]

1. Why was the University of Wisconsin participating in this?

I thought they were supposed to be progressive.

[Beaverhausen]

2. Good for Welch's and for PETA

:hi:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Hmm.

Sounds to me like PETA's interfering with legitimate scientific research.

[conflictgirl]

5. Are you being sarcastic?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. No.

The University of Wisconsin is a reputable scientific institution and they don't research on animals without a legitimate scientific purpose.

[Karmadillo]

11. Worst animal-abusing university in the country?

http://www.stopanimaltests.com/f-worstlabs_01.asp

<edit>

But wait, there’s more: Sandgren and the UW-Madison IACUC have repeatedly come under fire for secrecy, negligence, and public obstruction—which prompted a lawsuit against them for illegally conducting public meetings in private. UW-Madison had good reason to want to avoid scrutiny—a routine U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection discovered that an alarming number of monkeys died in university-approved protocols there. In barbaric experiments conducted by Professor Ei Terasawa, drugs were injected directly into conscious primates’ brains using the “push-pull perfusion” method. Terasawa surgically implanted “cranial pedestals” into the monkeys’ skulls and attached them to restraint chairs, where the monkeys remained immobilized for three full days. During that time, a two-chambered pipe was fixed in their brains; chemicals were injected through one chamber and samples were extracted through the other (thus, the term “push-pull”). Depending on which study was being conducted, this process lasted for hours or even days, and each monkey was used in up to 10 separate push-pull experiments. No wonder the death toll was high! One monkey died alone in the restraint chair while researchers went out to lunch. It was also discovered that Terasawa routinely deviated from her own protocols—so much for lofty science.

more...

[Odin2005]

6. That's thier MO

I remember reading about experimental neurologists trying to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible because of death threats from PETA.

[Beaverhausen]

8. You call this legitimate research?

"Last year, PETA discovered that Welch’s was funding outrageous experiments on animals in order to make health claims about its products. It’s hard to imagine why a company that makes grape juice would be testing on animals, but what we learned was shocking.

In one experiment, dogs’ chests were cut open to induce massive blood clotting, and a tube was then attached to their stomachs in order to pump them full of grape juice. Afterward, the experimenter collected blood samples by “fresh puncture” of the dogs’ hearts.

In another experiment, hundreds of rats were poisoned with toxic chemicals, fed grape juice, and cut up to observe the effect that it had on their bodies. Those are just a few of the tests that were conducted on innocent dogs, monkeys, rabbits, and rats."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. I'm calling PETA full of shit.

and prone to exagerration and misrepresentation of scientific research.

[Beaverhausen]

12. Based on what?

I don't see anyone at Welch's denying what happened.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. I'm sure it actually did happen.

I'm faulting PETA for pretending there are legitimate reasons for what happened.

[Karmadillo]

14. Jane Goodall appears to agree with PETA.

She seems to be a fairly credible source.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/03/0313_goodall.html

<edit>

Goodall has also spoken out against medical experiments performed on chimpanzees and other animals. She said she believes there are alternatives to animal testing.

"I think it was terribly arrogant and wrong of us to think that we had the right to cut up and basically torture animals for our own good," she said. "And if we hadn't done it that way we would have progressed very much further."

more...

[conflictgirl]

4. Good! But I'm confused

Normally I don't agree with a lot of PETA's campaigns, so it's a little weird for me to say I think they were right on with this one and it's a good example of how collective pressure can make people change.

But of all the things I ever associated with animal testing, grape juice was never on that list. I mean, WTF? Grape juice? I am against most animal testing and I am in a habit of checking for the "no animal testing" label on personal care products and home cleaning products. But I had no idea that food was even a concern for that.

[donco6]

10. That was my reaction, too.

Grape juice?

[Raine]

15. Cheers to PETA

and Welchs for showing some compassion. :thumbsup: