Response to Dr. Gallup on animal rights.

This article responds to Dr. Gallup's comments on animal rights. We are not yet ready to discuss whether animals have rights as long as we cannot give a better account of why human persons have rights than the account offered by Dr. Gallup. He thinks that persons have rights only if we say they do. I claim that we have rights for a very different and far more rational reason, namely because we are persons. We say we have rights not to create them but to register the existence of rights which we had before we said anything on the subject. Rights are social in the sense that they can be respected or violated only by another person. But they are not social in the sense that they are conferred by a social consensus. As soon as one person encounters another, the rights of each become actual, and this whether the rights are socially recognized and vindicated or not; for they emerge necessarily as a result of the fact that it is two persons who encounter each other. The only way Dr. Gallup can resist my position is to maintain that there are no persons in reality, but that a being is a person only if we say so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dry sow stalls--an animal welfare issue

A simple method to enhance the staining of cell wall components for fluorescence microscopy is described. In stems of Nicotiana tabacum and needles of Pinus eldarica lignin, the cuticle and unsaturated lipids are indicated by a purple-red fluorescence while pectocellulosic components fluoresce pale blue.     

Remaining developments and status of animal welfare legislation

Staphylococcus aureus cell-wall peptidoglycan has been shown to stimulate the bactericidal activity of peritoneal exudate macrophages. A more pronounced activating effect of peptidoglycan on the bactericidal activity of macrophages has been detected in the stimulated test. Peptidoglycan in doses of 5-100 mg induced interferon production by intact mouse splenocytes after 24-hour exposition with it. Peptidoglycan has been found to produce the most intensive effect on interferon production when injected intraperitoneally in a dose of 100 mg after 4-hour exposition.     

Animal rights and animal health on ecological farms

Intensive animal husbandry is criticized in relation to the fulfillment of the animals needs. The guidelines of the organizations of organic agriculture offer the opportunity for better animal welfare. In this paper an overview is given concerning animal health and welfare on organic farms with dairy cows, fattening pigs and laying hens. On organic farms housing systems with the potential for a better animal welfare dominate. In field studies using scoring systems (animal welfare index) organic farms reach more points than conventional ones. However, animal health on average is not much better on organic farms. The health problems discussed in the paper are mainly caused by management problems. Therefore, improvements are possible.     

Researcher responsibilities, not animal rights: A comment on Rollin.

Discusses logical and practical problems inherent in B. E. Rollin's (see record 1986-11050-001) argument that because there are no morally relevant differences between the human telos and those of other animals, the moral principles governing treatment of humans should be applied to animals. It is suggested that by having the ability to exploit resources, animal or otherwise, humans have the responsibility to do so wisely. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Human welfare and national policy: A conversation with Stuart Eizenstat.

Problems encountered in designing a national health policy include special interest groups and cost. The major inhibitor to broader mental health coverage is a concern about where the costs stop and what will be the overall impact on Medicare costs; this derives from the difficulty in establishing a cure for some illnesses and the open-ended time frame for treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Has public interest in animal rights peaked?

Examined media coverage to determine trends in the animal rights movement for the period 1976–1994. Results of a search of The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature and Newspaper Abstracts suggest that media coverage of animal rights issues is in decline and that animal rights activism is following the cyclical pattern characteristic of other social movements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Animal rights v animal research: a modest proposal

The practical problem of assuaging the opponents of animal research may be solved without formally addressing (or resolving) the underlying ethical questions of the debate. Specifically, a peaceful boycott of the "fruits" of animal research may lead to a wider cessation of such research, than, say, vocal or even violent protest. To assist those who might wish to participate in such a boycott- and, moreover, to critically inform them of the implications of their actions-1 offer a modest proposal: the use of an "animal research advance directive", a form which enumerates precisely which "fruits of research" are declined.     

Human beta-glucuronidase. I. Recognition and uptake by animal fibroblasts suggests animal models for enzyme replacement studies

As part of an effort to develop an animal model for studies of uptake of human beta-glucuronidase, fibroblasts were established from primary explants of connective tissue from nine different animal species, and examined for their ability to take up human platelet beta-glucuronidase. Endogenous fibroblast beta-glucuronidase was inactivated by heating extracts to 65 degrees for 30 min. Human beta-glucuronidase was stable to this treatment. Uptake of human beta-glucuronidase by animal fibroblasts was measured as heat-stable beta-glucuronidase present in fibroblasts after exposure to partially purified human platelet beta-glucuronidase for 48 hr. Althought all animal fibroblasts examined exhibited some uptake capacity for human beta-glucuronidase, the uptake capacity of different animal fibroblasts varied over a 10-fold range. The uptake capacity of bovine fibroblasts was at least 80% that of human fibroblasts. Rat and hamster fibroblasts showed about half the uptake capacity of human fibroblasts. The rat fibroblasts resembled the human fibroblasts in the kinetics of uptake of hihg uptake (platelet) enzyme, poor uptake of human placental enzyme, and lack of appreciable turnover of enzyme taken up over 4 days. Heating extracts of rat organs containing added human beta-glucuronidase at 65 degrees selectively inactivated rat enzyme.