Day: October 23, 2021

Vivisection

EU approved more animal testing on the effects of chemicals

The latest strategy to regulate chemicals in the EU calls for even more animal life than before – without bringing any benefit to humans.
According to the strategy, additional animal experiments are to be carried out from October 2021 to investigate whether certain chemicals are endocrine disrupting, i.e. affect the human hormonal balance.

According to this strategy, even more animals would have to suffer and die in cruel experiments – although the effectiveness of a substance in humans cannot be reliably determined with animal experiments.
Animal testing does not protect human health.

What are endocrine disrupting chemicals?
The human body maintains a delicate balance of hormones such as estrogens.
They regulate our most important functions, including development, metabolism and reproductive capacity.
Chemicals with endocrine disruptors, also known as endocrine disruptors, interact with the body’s hormones.

In order to ensure that certain chemicals do not disturb our hormonal balance, regulators commission tests.
But instead of using methods that provide results that are relevant to humans, the authorities continue to insist on animal experiments that cannot reliably predict human reactions.
Animal experiments do not provide the results that are necessary to ensure the safety of substances in humans.

It should come as no surprise that the hormonal balance of rats or mice differs from that of humans.

Nevertheless, a research group compared the effects of six possible endocrine disruptors on the function of the testes in rats, mice and humans. They found similar reactions in humans and rodents only with two of the six substances.
The effects of two other chemicals were similar, but the mice and rats had to be given a much higher dose than humans.
More worryingly, the effects observed in rodents on the latter two substances did not occur at all in humans (!!)

In addition, it must be taken into account that the animals abused in the experiments are often frightened, stressed and painful.
All of these factors affect their hormonal balance, which further weakens the informative value of the experiments.
Such inadequate practices not only cause senseless animal suffering, they also put people at risk.

The authorities responsible for our security must finally move away from animal experiments.

What is the solution?
The solution is simple: Germany and Europe must advance the development of animal-free methods that are relevant to humans.
Results from animal experiments can lead to incorrect conclusions and result in regulatory authorities not being able to keep their promises to the public to ensure the safety of chemicals.
Today there is a multitude of modern and animal-free research methods that can replace animal experiments and provide reliable results.

https://www.peta.de/neuigkeiten/eu-tierversuche-chemikalien/

And I mean…Recently we posted on our blog:

“The European Parliament voted on September 15, 2021 for a comprehensive plan to phase out animal testing
The EU Parliament (EP) has passed a resolution calling on the EU Commission to present an action plan to get out of animal testing.

The resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority of 667 votes, 4 against and 16 abstentions.
The nationwide association “Doctors Against Animal Experiments” is delighted “ (https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/10/02/we-fight-against-animal-testing/

Some animal rights activists have called it a historic step, others have seen it as the beginning of a cruelty-free era.
Of course, we always have to maintain a certain optimism, otherwise we will not achieve anything.

But anyone who has many years of experience in this field learns over time to look forward to and hope for the good but, on the other hand, to be prepared for the worst.
Especially when the EU and its servants – as in the present case – crush the good decisions and our optimism at will, disregard them and bow to the pharmaceutical industry.

This is why an animal rights activist must always stay a realist.
Then it doesn’t hurt if he’s an optimist too.

My best regards to all, Venus

Farm Animals, General News

England: All’s Wool That Ends Wool. Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service Save Herd of 26 Sheep From Flooded Field.
BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833) Pic: DWFRS/BNPS All's wool that ends wool. Pictured: Firefighters with the rescued sheep. This is the heartwarming moment 26 sheep were rescued by firefighters using a boat from a flooded field. The livestock found themselves submerged when torrential rain hit the south of England earlier this week. Fire crews from Sturminster Newton and Blandford, assisted by a Devon and Somerset Fire Rescue animal rescue officer, waded towards the sheep at the waterlogged site near the River Stour in North Dorset. The animals were all carefully placed into the vessel and brought to dry land.
BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833) Pic: CaralineFelthamDart/BNPS All's wool that ends wool. Pictured: The sheep stranded in the flooded field. This is the heartwarming moment 26 sheep were rescued by firefighters using a boat from a flooded field. The livestock found themselves submerged when torrential rain hit the south of England earlier this week. Fire crews from Sturminster Newton and Blandford, assisted by a Devon and Somerset Fire Rescue animal rescue officer, waded towards the sheep at the waterlogged site near the River Stour in North Dorset. The animals were all carefully placed into the vessel and brought to dry land.

Herd of 26 sheep rowed to safety after field floods in downpours

More than two dozen sheep had a narrow escape thanks to firefighters when their meadow flooded in Dorset.

The herd of 26 were strapped into a boat and rowed to shore after torrential rain turned their field in the hamlet of Fiddleford into a lake.

Living up to the ‘rescue’ side of their mission, the Dorset and Wiltshire fire and rescue service crew were called to the waterlogged site near the River Stour.

The service sent its wading team out in a long inflatable boat and they brought the animals to dry land.

They tweeted: ‘All’s wool that ends wool. How many sheep can you fit in a boat?

‘A question the wading team from Sturminster Newton and Blanford fire stations found out this week!

‘With assistance from a Devon and Somerset fire service animal rescue officer, 26 sheep were rescued from a flooded field using a boat.’

A picture shows at least nine sheep safely secured in the boat surrounded by four members of the fire crew looking delighted with the outcome.

The livestock enjoyed a more serene ride to safety than others caught in a past downpour have done.

Farmer Faye Russell sprung into action in February last year with her lamb and sheep caught up in Storm Dennis.

She put a rope around her waist and leapt into her Derbyshire field which had turned into a ‘fierce’ river.

‘Metro’ London

Herd of 26 sheep rowed to safety after field floods in downpours

Well done to Devon and Somerset fire service animal rescue;

Regards Mark

General News

China: Claws out for China over attempt to blame Covid pandemic on US lobsters.

China suggests Maine lobster shipment caused Covid pandemic in latest attempt to shift blame onto US - Robert F. Bukaty /AP
© Robert F. Bukaty /AP China suggests Maine lobster shipment caused Covid pandemic in latest attempt to shift blame onto US – Robert F. Bukaty /AP

Claws out for China over attempt to blame Covid pandemic on US lobsters (msn.com)

Claws out for China over attempt to blame Covid pandemic on US lobsters

A network of Twitter accounts linked to China has claimed that Covid-19 was imported to the Wuhan seafood market via a shipment of Maine lobsters from the US, a disinformation researcher has discovered.The theory is the latest to emerge from Beijing in an effort to deflect and obfuscate any investigation into the virus’s true origin.

Zha Liyou, the Chinese consul general based in Kolkata, was the first to tweet the claim in mid-September. It was then disseminated through Twitter in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, Korean and even Latin.

Marcel Schliebs, a researcher in disinformation based at Oxford University, says he has uncovered over 550 accounts which shared the theory using near identical wording. 

He said all the accounts would share messages at similar times each day between 8 and 11am Beijing time.

“Attribution is really difficult,” Mr Schliebs told NBC News. “But we can see there’s a coordinated effort, and that it’s a pro-Chinese narrative.”

Mr Schliebs said he was able to uncover the network after noticing that some of the accounts were “unsophisticated sock puppets” with “very few or zero followers”, while others appeared to be legitimate accounts that have been hacked for the purpose of spreading disinformation.

“It looks crude and not sophisticated when you look at individual accounts. But these kinds of networks are designed to try and get topics to trend on social media,” Bret Schafer, the head of the information manipulation team at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, told NBC.

Mr Schliebs passed his findings to Twitter, which said it had suspended many of the accounts.

Beijing has variously claimed that Covid-19 originally leaked from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, and that Covid originally arrived from Russia via rail cargo.

Regards Mark

Farm Animals

How is silk made? From animal suffering!

Silk caterpillars are killed by scalding them alive in boiling water!
To make the fine fabric, the still pupated silkworms are boiled.
1.6 trillion silkworms are killed in the clothing industry every year.

Find out everything about the cruel production of silk and what animal-friendly alternatives there are!

How is silk made?

Silk is an animal fiber that mainly consists of proteins.
The material is made in small glands in the mouth of the silk moth.
The caterpillar wraps itself in it and forms a protective cocoon around its body.
It then pupates and turns into a butterfly.

In order for the silk to be used economically, the silkworm was domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago.
This gave rise to the mulberry moth with the name Bombyx mori. It was bred for high performance, feeds mainly on mulberry leaves and is not able to survive in nature because it is extremely sensitive to changes in its environment such as temperature fluctuations.
In order to be able to better control the animals, their ability to fly was also bred away.
In addition to the mulberry moth, other types of butterflies such as the Japanese oak silk moth are used, but their cocoons only make up a small part of the silk traded worldwide.

Are silkworms killed?

Glands in the silk moth’s mouth produce the popular silk.

The animal wraps itself in this and so wraps itself in its cocoon. Normally, after its metamorphosis, the butterfly would bite through the cocoon and hatch. In the case of the silk spinners, however, this does not happen.

The spun larvae are killed with hot water, hot air or in the microwave before hatching. The cocoons are then placed in a hot water bath so that the glue that holds the silk threads together is released. The thread can then be unwound and is ready for further processing. In the helpless attempt to escape death, the animals are visibly writhing in their cocoons.

Continue reading “How is silk made? From animal suffering!” →