Dog experiments at Texas A & M

[Catherine]

Texas A & M University has been using dogs to study Muscular Dystrophy. The have been breeding golden labs to suffer from the condition. This has been going on for years. The dogs are kept in horrible conditions and are made to suffer their whole lives. Those lives are short and miserable.  Peta has been after them to stop the cruelty.

The university says they have stopped, but there are conflicting statements so maybe not.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

There is no excuse for treating dogs that way even if they are research animals. Wouldn't the horrible conditions  mess with any results anyhow. All they will have learned is how dog bodies respond to abuse and neglect.

Here is a link to Wikipedia explaining Muscular Dystrophy

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...qPaUIhtXvA

Since Muscular Dystrophy is genetic and therefore inherited how can studying dogs help? The dogs genome and the human genome are very different.  Wouldn't it make more sense to study what mutations cause MD and research gene therapy.
I mean gene therapy for humans, not dogs. Treatments are just a temporary help. The disease is progressive and degenerative.

If Texas A & M has not stopped its experiments I hope we can pressure them to do so.

[LPC]

You are so right, Catherine. The cause is human genetic, not dog genetic, so artificially giving dogs this muscular dystrophy will never find a cure. It is a scandalous waste of public funds - and cruel as well.

It is a well written article and serves its purpose of putting a critical light on the research facility. It is just sad that the article writer, although generally sympathetic, is prone to the same blinkered view as many humans:

"No one in his right mind would equate a dog's suffering with a child's. But no one in his right mind should tolerate the university's callous disregard for honesty, either."

Why is a dog's suffering of less consequence than a child's? Pain and suffering are real, no matter what the species.

[Tobi]

This is deeply sad and disturbing. Bred deliberately to be sick, and then kept in awful conditions. The best thing that could happen to those lovely dogs is to pass away as fast as possible. It is heartbreaking.
I will sign everything I can find to add my voice to those trying to get this stopped.

Here is PETA's petition:
http://www.peta.org/action/action-alerts...oratories/

[Catherine]

I thought the article was good.  The issue of suffering is misunderstood a bit.

"No one in his right mind would equate a dog's suffering with a child's.

It isn't a dog's suffering vs. a child's suffering. I don't care less about the child because I care about the dog. The dog's suffering in no way helps the child or reduces the child's suffering. It just isn't right to make dogs suffer like that. It is worse because the suffering serves no purpose, but the real issue is deliberately making an animal suffer. There is something basically wrong with that.

Quote:This is deeply sad and disturbing. Bred deliberately to be sick, and then kept in awful conditions. The best thing that could happen to those lovely dogs is to pass away as fast as possible. It is heartbreaking.

This sums it up perfectly. It is heartbreaking.

Muscular Dystrophy is heartbreaking. All the time wasted researching in the wrong directions is heartbreaking. How many children have died without help because we are so locked into the idea of using animal research.

This is the whole history of medicine. We get locked into an idea of how to do things and people die until enough doctors are convinced that they should change. The idea of washing hands before delivering  baby took a long time to be accepted. Even with proof, doctors still prided themselves on not washing their hands while babies and mothers died.

We want to cling to our animal research models even though people die waiting for help.
I understand the MS research is having the same problems. Animal research is not giving any results. Time, money and animal lives are being wasted while people suffer.

[LPC]

Tobi, thanks for the link to the petition. Just signed.

[Catherine]

If enough people sign we can hope they will stop experimenting on dogs. At least the public will know what they are doing.
When they choose universities they can go somewhere that does not treat animals that way.