Toxomplasmosis is a treatable condition in humans and cats and most often asymptomatic. And yet the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) have just revealed to ABC7 that the American taxpayer has funded the killing of almost 3,000 cats at a Maryland laboratory in research on this disease.
There are two articles on PoC providing the backstory to this announcement:
The Maryland lab has been experimenting on kittens and cats since 1982. Records tell us that 2,988 cats have been killed at the lab. Arguably there is (1) no need for the experiments and (2) no need to kill the cats after the experiments because it is treatable in cats. But the experts don’t see it that way. It looks like callousness to me, a lack of concern for the lives of these cats.
Congressman Mike Bishop’s letter to the USDA woke America up to this scandal. Mike and Congressman Panetta have a Bill in the pipeline to stop it.
Can animal testing still be justified?
There is obviously the bigger story: whether we need animal experiments in the first place. It is time to move on from these obnoxious experiments and find alternatives. We have no absolute right to abuse animals in this way in the interests of human health. It is patently morally wrong.
What is particularly bad about the USDA cat killings is they are unnecessary even if you support the experiments which I certainly do not.
P.S. Comments about toxomplasmosis being a world plague will not be published because it is misinformation.
Using animals for virtually every test imaginable is archaic, cruel, and inhumane. I am ashamed, embarrassed and distraught that this is still allowed in the United States. 😱😭
You are right Frances. It happens in the UK just as much and we are meant to be a nation of animal lovers. Big business beats government as usual.
I have wondered if they put together cases for continuing this grotesque abuse, just to keep a few unethical lab techs, clean breeders and scientists with serious tenure issues, in work.
I am glad that a law is coming. There is no excuse for this industrial level of abuse to cats and kittens.