This was found on the brilliant Animal Aid website and covers animal
abuse once again, completely unnecessary animal abuse.
see
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/
Mad Science Awards: August 2003
They don't
SPARE THE HORSES
Animal Aid's 2003 Mad Science Awards focus on eleven horse experiments
conducted by research teams working in 14 establishments - including
university departments, a pharmaceutical company and even a leading
veterinary charity. Andrew Tyler presents the awards below. This
report is also available online in PDF format.
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/aamsa03.pdf
Introduction
The Mad Science Award winners' own accounts, published in veterinary
and other scientific journals, describe how - among other torments -
healthy horses were deliberately fed mouldy hay, subjected to leg
wounds that took weeks to heal, walked on treadmills in experiments
that lasted months, injected with chemicals that caused pain and
inflammation, and made pregnant then infected with a virus that
resulted in abortion.
Another pregnancy experiment involved the implantation of thoroughbred
embryos into much smaller ponies and vice versa. Foals who were
incubated in ponies were born with horribly deformed legs and muscle
wastage.
Some of the experiments ended with the 'equine models' being killed
and cut up for analysis.
The justification invariably offered for such 'procedures' is that
they help a very large number of horses and so it is right to
sacrifice the few for the many. Animal Aid's view is that no animal,
or group of animals, should be deliberately harmed in an attempt to
advance the health of another group of animals - just as we would
oppose invasive experiments on any group of people for the supposed
'greater good'. It might be less convenient for researchers to develop
surgical techniques and drugs by collecting data from horses suffering
naturally-occurring sickness and injuries, but we regard this as the
only humane and civilised option. Equally, data obtained from horses
in a 'real-world' environment will often be far more valuable than
that extracted from equines held captive in an artificial setting.
It can also be said of the 'greater good' argument, that while any
horse - no matter how he or she is used - can get sick and injured, it
is always low-value horses who are the experimental victims. Often
they are little Welsh Mountain ponies - of no use to the racing
industry or the point-to-point set. Expensive new drugs, innovative
surgical methods and novel reproductive techniques are not developed
with 'low-grade' moor, mountain or New Forest ponies in mind. The
target market are owners of 'quality' horses, not least the
thoroughbred racers who were the subject of Animal Aid's special
report, Riding For A Fall: the genetic timebomb at the heart of
racing.
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/sport/riding.htm
Published in April 2003 and based on scientific papers, industry data
and commentaries by leading racing insiders, Riding For A Fall
revealed that modern race horses are subjected to such extreme
patterns of profit-driven in-breeding, training and competition that
their fundamentalwell-being is under threat, and with it the very
foundations of the racing industry.
Yet rather than confront the endemic problems that lead to thousands
of horses every year failing to make the grade and hundreds more dying
from race-related injuries and disease, the industry is looking for
'answers' through grotesque laboratory experiments on live horses.
The parlous state of the modern thoroughbred was described recently by
a leading Racing Post columnist: 'Many learned students of this sport
think the creature on which it all depends may now be in decline.
Their disturbing contention is that excessive in-breeding for speed,
as well as breeding to horses whose congenital defects may have been
masked by so-called 'medications', has turned, or is turning, the
thoroughbred ...into an increasingly fragile and vulnerable creature
that is having ever greater trouble meeting the demands we place on
it.' (Racing Post columnist Paul Haigh, October 31, 2002)
Top trainer, Ian Balding, gave his own informed view of the crisis
facing the industry when he told Racing Post: 'The fashion now is for
speed and more speed. We have gradually lost [the] strength, stamina
and durability, temperament, extra bone and courage that those horses
have. If we carry on like this, then slowly but surely we are ruining
the breed.' ('Decline of the Thoroughbred breed', Racing Post, October
12, 2001)
The fear now among racing traditionalists is that the application of
the new genetic and reproductive technologies will result in an even
greater burden on the modern race horse. At present, racing
authorities around the world ban the use of techniques such as
artificial insemination and embryo transfer. They insist that mares be
'covered' by stallions in the old-fashioned way.
But one of our 2003 Mad Science Award winners - in fact, he claims a
total of three 2003 AAMSAs* - has gone on record calling explicitly
for an end to the AI ban. He is Professor William 'Twink' Allen,
director of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's Equine Fertility
Unit - a registered charity based at Cambridge University in
Newmarket. Allen produced the world's first test tube horses, has
conducted embryo transfer experiments and told a House of Lords Select
committee hearing last February that he is also keen to get to work on
horse cloning. (February 5, 2002 before the House Of Lords Select
Committee on Animals In Scientific Procedures)
Another of Allen's enthusiasms is a project to map the genome (or
genetic composition) of the thoroughbred horse. Allen - who is
father-in-law of jockey Frankie Dettori - claims that the project will
enable bad traits to be bred out and thereby open the way for the
busting of the ultimate taboo - the mating of stallions with their own
daughters, and brothers with their sisters. A geneticist at the Animal
Health Trust (AHT) - a veterinary charity also based in Newmarket and
a winner of no less than four 2003 Mad Science Awards**- is the leader
of the equine mapping project. Allen's team provides the AHT with
animal tissues. The AHT's work, says Allen, is proceeding 'way ahead
of the rest of the world'. ('Revolutionary ambitions of improving the
breed with a genetic map of horses', Racing Post, February 18, 2003)
Confirming that the mapping project is, at least, to some extent about
producing better performing animals for the racing industry, Allen
told Racing Post in February this year: '...if the map can tell you,
"Boy that mare's got some bloody good speed genes", you say, "OK,
let's make sure we fix that into that family".'
Animal Aid's concern is that such developments will not only generate
a great deal of painful research on horses but will lead to yet more
pressure on racing animals - which, in turn, will generate more
experiments aimed at fixing the problems produced by those same
technologies.
The horse, like the dog, cat and monkey, is supposed to have an
elevated status under the Home Office animal experimentation licensing
system. 'Special justification' is required from the licence applicant
in all cases where horses are intended to be used. The research
projects that win our 2003 Mad Science Awards show that the system is
marked by anything other than rigour, compassion and logic.
*See Experiments 5,6,7 ** See 1,2,4,9
Mad Science Winners 2003
Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, Cambs; University of Cambridge,
Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine; Royal Veterinary College,
North Mymms, Hatfield, Herts
To study cartilage damage caused by strenuous exercise, 12 young
female thoroughbreds were exercised - gently or hard - for 19 weeks,
during which time they were kept indoors. All 12 were then killed and
their lower legs sawn off for analysis. It is particularly chilling
that the Animal Health Trust - a leading veterinary charity - should
engage in experiments whose 'endpoint' is the killing of 12 perfectly
healthy young horses. There is, after all, no shortage of horses to
study post mortem - animals with healthy as well as damaged cartilage.
According to a Jockey Club survey, 657 died between 1996 and 1998 as a
direct result of injuries sustained on British race courses. There are
literally thousands of additional equine fatalities every year in
Britain, from whom data can be obtained.
Equine carpal articular cartilage fibronectin distribution
associated with training, joint location and cartilage deterioration.
Murray RC, Janicke HC, Henson FM, Goodship A. Equine Vet J 2000 32 (1)
47-51
Animal Health Trust, Newmarket; Queen Mary and Westfield College,
University of London; Department of Clinical Sciences, Kansas State
University, USA; Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Many young racehorses suffer lameness due to the way they are
in-bred, trained and raced. In order to mask the pain and swelling so
that the animals can continue with their race schedule rather than
being allowed to rest and recover, steroids are often injected into
their inflamed joints. This is despite evidence that the steroids
weaken the bones and predispose them to fractures.
This experiment was designed to test how a commonly-used steroid
affects bone structure. Eight two-year-old female thoroughbred horses
were injected with the steroid 16 times and exercised on a treadmill
for 13 weeks before they were killed.
The experiment suggested that the steroid does not adversely affect
bone structure in the ankle joint after all. But the researchers
neglected to examine whether the cartilage was affected and so they
advocate further studies, which would kill yet more horses. This is
despite their paper citing five previous published studies of the
effects of steroids on cartilage composition in horses. Once again,
there is no allusion to the obvious resource of the many horses killed
during racing and training. The lead researcher was from The Animal
Health Trust.
The effect of intra-articular methylprednisolone acetate and
exercise on equine carpal subchondral and cancellous bone
microhardness. Murray RC, Znaor N, Tanner KE, DeBowes RM, Gaughan EM,
Goodship AE. Equine Veterinary Journal 2002 34 (3):306-310
University of Cambridge, Department of Veterinary Medicine;
University of Sydney, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences,
Camden, Australia
This experiment was carried out jointly between the Universities of
Cambridge and Sydney. Eight horses were subjected to full-skin-depth
2.5cm-square wounds to the back of both their front legs.
The wounds were observed while they healed, which took between 45 and
87 days. One leg was treated with Solugel, while the other was
untreated. The horses were anaesthetised while the skin was cut, but
deep open wounds can be painful for a long time after the initial
event.
There can surely be no credible justification for assessing a
potential new wound treatment by deliberately injuring horses, rather
than by embarking upon a clinical trial on animals presenting with
accidental wounds. There is no shortage of horses wounded by jumps and
fences during competitions, and through everyday riding accidents.
Potentially helpful treatments should be tried on such animals.
Effects of 25% propylene glycol hydrogel (Solugel) on second
intention wound healing in horses. Dart AJ, Cries L, Jeffcott LB,
Hodgson DR and Rose RJ. Veterinary Surgery 2002 31:309-313
Animal Health Trust, Newmarket
Five horses were subjected to a whole series of procedures in this
bizarre experiment, in which they were restrained in stocks for 70
minutes, while breathing through a face-mask and simultaneously having
their blood sampled and monitored via catheters implanted in their
jugular veins and carotid arteries. 5cm of their carotid arteries had
been translocated surgically to an accessible position under the skin
a year before these experiments started.
The aim was to measure the horses' response to low levels of oxygen -
but why? Nowhere in the paper is any plausible justification offered
for such a study, other than vague and not very credible suggestions
that it might be relevant for people with chronic lung disease. The
authors themselves acknowledge that 'the response to hypoxia has been
reported to be highly variable between species'.
They conclude that their results were inconclusive and so recommend
further studies using greater numbers of horses and a longer period of
hypoxia (oxygen starvation).
Endothelin in the equine hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstrictive response
to acute hypoxia. Benamou AE, Marlin DJ and Lekeux P. Equine
Veterinary Journal 2001 33 (4): 345-353
University of Cambridge, Equine Fertility Unit, Newmarket, Cambs;
Babraham Institute, Babraham, Cambs; and University of Cambridge,
Department of Physiology, Cambs
Nineteen mares were subjected to embryo transfer, involving the
implantation of thoroughbred embryos into much smaller ponies and vice
versa. Two mares aborted and the foals of two others were stillborn.
One pregnant mare was killed when she broke a leg. The thoroughbred
foals who were incubated in ponies suffered muscle wastage and
freakishly long and malformed legs and hooves: their ankles were bent
right over on the ground. The paper did not consider whether such a
condition is painful for the foals. It was claimed that the project
would advance understanding of human illness.
The lead author is Professor William 'Twink' Allen, director of the
Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's Equine Fertility Unit in
Newmarket. Allen (see introduction) is a keen advocate of high tech
equine reproductive methods such as test tube births, embryo transfer,
cloning and genomic-based breeding.
Allen and the other authors seek to justify the experiments by
suggesting that horses can make a good model for the study of the
foetal origins of adult disease in humans. There are indeed
indications that impaired growth in utero may increase adult
hypertension, heart disease and metabolic disorders - but the idea
that thoroughbred embryos transplanted into ponies can contribute to
such demanding human clinical and epidemiological research is not
remotely credible.
The influence of maternal size on placental, fetal and postnatal
growth in the horse. Allen WR, Wilsher S, Turnbull C, Stewart F, Ousey
J, Rossdale PD, Fowden AL. Reproduction 2002 123, 445-453
University of Cambridge, Departments of Physiology and Clinical
Veterinary Medicine
Eight thoroughbred and seven pony mares were artificially
inseminated, following ovulation-inducing hormone injections, to
produce 'normal' pregnancies. Twenty six further mares (13 donors and
13 recipients) were used to establish 'between-breed' pregnancies;
eight 'thoroughbred-in-pony' and five 'pony-in-thoroughbred'. On the
day the foals were born, they all had a jugular vein catheter inserted
under local anaesthesia. At six days of age, a drug was infused via
the catheter to induce a sharp drop in blood pressure. The foals'
heart rate and stress hormone (adrenaline) levels were measured over
the 40-50 minute duration of the experiment.
The 'between-breed' foals' responses were different from the normal
(pony-in-pony or thoroughbred-in-thoroughbred) foals' responses. This
demonstrates that both growth restriction (thoroughbred-in-pony) AND
growth enhancement (pony-in-thoroughbred) in foetal life can affect
cardiovascular function (regulation of blood pressure) and hormonal
responses to stress after birth and, possibly, in later life.
The authors then go on to claim that these findings have implications
for people and for the 'foetal origins hypothesis' of the onset of
degenerative diseases in adulthood. To suggest that anomalies caused
by swapping embryos around in horses can usefully inform human
medicine is absurd, as would be any attempt to justify these
experiments on such a premise.
Postnatal cardiovascular function after manipulation of fetal growth
by embryo transfer in the horse. Giussani DA, Forhead AJ, Gardner DS,
Fletcher AJ, Allen, WR, Fowden AL Journal of Physiology 2003 547.1,
67-76
University of Cambridge, Equine Fertility Unit; Royal Veterinary
University, Department of Clinical Studies, Copenhagen, Denmark
Seventy four mares were used in this experiment, the aim of which
was to find the cheapest way to inseminate the maximum number of mares
with the minimum amount of expensive thoroughbred stallion semen. The
researchers were very pleased that a little semen - particularly
valuable sex-selected semen for racehorses - can be made to go a long
way by using this method of artificial oestrus -induction and
insemination in mares.
Seven of the mares were shot, the paper reports casually, after
insemination and their reproductive tracts removed immediately for
examination. The authors justify this by explaining that the ponies
were 'destined for slaughter during annual culling of the experimental
herd'.
Funded by The Moller Trust, The Horserace Betting Levy Board and The
Thoroughbred Breeders' Association.
Hysteroscopic insemination of small numbers of spermatozoa at the
uterotubal junction of preovulatory mares. Morris LH, Hunter RH and
Allen WR. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility 2000 118, 95-100
University of Edinburgh, Wellcome Trust Centre for Research in
Comparative Respiratory Medicine, Roslin
Thirteen horses were subjected to a variety of stressful procedures
in order to arrive at a conclusion that was immediately obvious and
well-known to anyone with any knowledge of horses, without the need
for invasive experiments.
Seven of the horses were susceptible to heaves (chronic obstructive
pulmonary disorder) and six were healthy controls. Vulnerability to
heaves was confirmed by confining all the horses in a stable with the
doors and air vents closed and feeding them hay, some of which was
mouldy.
The aim of the experiment was to determine the level of potentially
irritant airborne bacterial particles horses can endure before
triggering an attack of heaves. The horses had to be sedated in order
to wear an airtight facemask, through which they were dosed with
aerosols containing bacterial particles typically found in mouldy hay
and straw. Blood samples were taken from an artery plus the jugular
vein, and lung secretions were collected by a tube pushed down the
windpipe (without anaesthetic). Responses included coughing, nasal
discharge, lung inflammation, dysfunction and mucus secretion.
The earth-shattering conclusion was that dusty, ill-ventilated stables
can induce inflammation of the lungs even in healthy horses, but more
readily in horses predisposed to heaves. These ill effects can be
minimised by good ventilation and hygiene (no mouldy hay/straw) in
stables!
The authors made repeated suggestions that their experiment is of
relevance to human asthma sufferers, even though they themselves point
out that many of the symptoms of interest (chest tightness, headaches,
joint pains and tiredness) clearly cannot even be detected in horses.
Pulmonary and systemic effects of inhaled endotoxin in control and
heaves horses. Pirie RS, Dixon PM, Collie DD, McGorum BC. Equine
Veterinary Journal 2001 33 (3) 311-318
Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, Cambs; Imperial College London,
Department of Biological and Medical Systems
Six thoroughbred horses were made to stand in stocks while catheters
were inserted into both left and right jugular veins under local
anaesthesia. Different concentrations of adrenaline were infused into
their blood stream to cause the horses to sweat (through anxiety?) and
blood samples were taken repeatedly during the procedure. Injecting
the hormone often caused muscle tremors in the animals. An area of
skin on the neck and another on the hindquarters was shaved and fitted
with a plastic device glued to the skin to record sweat production.
Skin temperature, rectal temperature and heart rate were also
recorded. The results showed that higher concentrations of adrenaline
increase the rate of sweating up to a peak where the sweat glands
appeared to become saturated. But, because horses can sweat much more
heavily during exercise, the authors deduced that sweating in horses
must be controlled by factors (nervous system) other than just
hormonal effects. Apart from vague references to sweating responses in
man and goats, the authors never attempted to explain the purpose of
their experiment, which is certainly hard to fathom. The only clue is
that the project was funded by the immensely wealthy race horse owner,
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as well as the Hong Kong Jockey
Club - raising the fear that science may be used to manipulate horses'
sweating responses in an attempt to extract higher performance levels
from them - not least in oppressively hot and humid climates.
Quantification of the response of equine apocrine sweat glands to
beta2-adrenergic stimulation. Scott CM, Marlin DJ, Schroter RC. Equine
Veterinary Journal 2001 33 (6) 605-612
Royal Veterinary College, North Mymms, Hatfield, Herts
Six New Forest ponies were used in this experiment to try to tease
out the mechanism of action of carprofen, a non-steroidal anti
-inflammatory drug and pain reliever (NSAID) similar to ibuprofen. As
with preparations made from steroids (see Experiment 2), the danger is
that horses will be made to perform instead of resting and allowing
the injury time to heal. The authors freely acknowledge the enormous
variability in the action of NSAIDs in different species, so even if
they solved the riddle in the horse, their result would only be
relevant for other horses and not for any other species. The
pain-killing, anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing qualities of the
drug are already well established - the precise mechanisms of action
being rather academic.
The horses had four plastic spheres implanted surgically in their
necks, two each side, under local anaesthetic. They were then injected
into these 'tissue-cages' with chemicals designed to cause
inflammation, so that the reduction in inflammation achieved by
intravenous injections of carprofen could be measured. Twelve samples
were collected from each of the tissue cages by needle puncture over
the following three days. Blood samples were taken from the jugular
vein more than twenty times. On top of all this, the horses were
injected nine times with the painful irritant bradykinin (the main
constituent of bee venom) in order to produce a swollen weal, the size
of which could be calibrated against the dose of carprofen.
The conclusion was that, although carprofen works well as an
anti-inflammatory agent, the mechanisms of action are still uncertain
and so further studies will, no doubt, be undertaken.
One of the researchers was supported by a grant from the
pharmaceutical company, Pfizer Animal Health.
Pharmacodynamics and enantioselective pharmacokinetics of racemic
carprofen in the horse. Lees P, Aliabadi FS, Landoni MF. Journal of
Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2002 Dec 25, 433-448
Intervet UK Ltd, Huntingdon, Cambs
Seventeen pregnant Welsh mountain ponies were deliberately infected
with equine herpes virus (EHV) in order to test the effectiveness of a
prospective new vaccine. Six of the mares were vaccinated at four
months into their pregnancy, another six were vaccinated between five
and six months of their pregnancy, and six were unvaccinated
'controls'.
All eighteen mares (except one who had already aborted her foal) were
dosed intranasally with virus when they were nearly nine months
pregnant (gestation is around 11 months). Most of the horses suffered
fever and nasal discharge and some suffered conjunctivitis and
infected discharge from the eyes.
As expected, all six control mares aborted their foals within three
weeks of becoming infected. One mare in each of the vaccinated groups
also suffered an abortion. In another parallel (as yet unpublished)
experiment, all six control mares again lost their foals to late-stage
abortions and three of them became jaundiced and unable to move
properly.
Using unvaccinated pregnant mares as controls is inexcusable in view
of the vast body of knowledge from more than 50 years of research into
a vaccine for equine herpes virus. The control data can be taken from
previous experiments and from longer-standing knowledge of the equine
herpes virus - which is known to cause abortion and respiratory
problems. Aborting a foal at almost full term is a major trauma for a
horse.
The research team claim that their candidate vaccine conferred
'exceptional efficacy' against respiratory disease and abortion. But
they also acknowledge that several other herpes virus vaccines have
looked promising in the past, until subjected to further assessment.
Of course, the best way to minimise the risk of horses succumbing to
EHV disease, is to stop transporting them all over the world and
mixing them together in stressful and overcrowded conditions at
international race meetings. Not only does all kinds of illness
flourish in such conditions, a vaccine is likely to suppress disease
only temporarily.
Equally, rather than deliberately injure low value (or any other)
horses by infecting them with viruses, new vaccines - if they are to
be used - can be checked for safety and effectiveness using non-animal
laboratory methods (such as in vitro testing) and through trials on
the general horse population.
Derivation and characterisation of a live equid herpes virus-1
(EHV-1) vaccine to protect against abortion and respiratory disease
due to EHV-1. Patel JR, Bateman H, Williams J, Didlick S. Veterinary
Microbiology 2003 91, 23-39
Report by Kathy Archibald, Animal Aid Scientific Researcher.
Animal Aid's Mad Science Awards
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/vivi/aamsa.htm
are handed out each August for pointless and grotesque scientific
research. Award winners receive a diploma featuring the special AAMSA
motif of a laboratory beagle stabbed with a scalpel.
--
So, you dont like reasoned,
well thought out, civil debate?
I understand.
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