DawnWatch Arizona

Arizona: Bi-partisan chance to help animals, Tuesday 11/7/06 -- Yes on Prop 204

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:06:00 GMT

Arizona:
It is vital that everybody who cares about animal cruelty get themselves to the voting booth on Tuesday to vote for Proposition 204 to ban cruel veal and sow gestation crates. Below I will print the Humane Society of the United States alert on the issue and urge you to forward it to all of your animal friendly neighbors, encouraging them to get out and vote.

The alert mentions three TV commercials running in Arizona. You can watch them on line at https://community.hsus.org/humane/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=3759140 OR http://tinyurl.com/y8dlar

Here is the HSUS alert:

Dear Friend,

Exciting news: Arizonans for Humane Farms started airing three new TV ads this week, urging voters to say YES to Proposition 204. With Election Day less than a week away, this is our final push to get our message to Arizona voters across the state. Please tell your friends and family to Vote Yes on 204.

Recent polls show that a majority of Arizonans support Proposition 204 to protect farm animals from cruelty, but there is plenty of work yet to be done. We can't let up now, and we must be sure that we see our efforts through to the finish line on Nov. 7. Our opponents are on the airwaves right now, trying to deceive voters about this issue, and we need to fight back and reach voters with the truth!

To that end, please urge your friends and family to Vote Yes on 204. Proposition 204 would stop two of the worst factory farm abuses: the confinement of pigs and veal calves in two-foot-wide crates for nearly their entire lives, where they cannot even turn around or stretch their limbs.

In addition to helping spread the word about this critical issue to fellow Arizonans, please consider supporting the "Yes on 204" TV ad campaign. Your support helps ensure that our message reaches as many people as possible.

More than 200,000 Arizona voters signed petitions to place Proposition 204 on the ballot. The measure is supported by humane societies, family farmers, environmental groups, faith-based organizations, veterinarians, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, radio legend Paul Harvey, Jane Goodall, and many others. We can win this fight for farm animals, but only if we have enough support to deliver our message to Arizona voters.

Thank you for all your help.

Sincerely,

Mike Markarian, Executive Vice President
The Humane Society of the United States
(END OF HSUS ALERT)
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Date: Thu Nov 2 14:06:57 2006

DawnWatch Arizona: Daily Star endorses Prop 204 -- please send supportive notes 10/22/06

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 23:37:00 GMT

Arizona,
Please send short appreciative and supportive letters to the Arizona Daily Star for the paper's endorsement of Proposition 204. The column appeared in the Saturday, October 22 edition of the paper. I will paste it below.
The Arizona Dail Star takes letters to the editor at letters@azstarnet.com
Always include your name, address and phone number and keep letters under 150 words.
At http://www.azstarnet.com/opinion/64475 the paper gives tips for getting published.

Here's the piece:

Published: 10.22.2006
http://www.azstarnet.com/opinion/152082
Prop. 204: YES

Humane treatment of farm animals act

Passage of Prop. 204 would require that pigs and veal calves raised on Arizona farms be housed in pens large enough for them to turn around. One large Arizona hog operation uses gestation crates, which confines pregnant sows in stalls so narrow they can't turn around. No Arizona farms use veal crates. The proposition has a six-year phase-in and would apply to new operations in the state.

Voting for Prop. 204 is the humane thing to do. Gestation lasts about four months and sows on large farms are bred continually, until they produce four or five litters. Sows spend months in tiny pens before they are sent for processing. The proposition would not affect the pens used to protect piglets from being crushed after birth, nor would it apply to pigs or calves being shown in rodeo exhibitions, state or county fairs or similar exhibitions.

The proposition offers some humane protections to animals that will ultimately be processed for food. The proposition does not mean the end of pork production in Arizona, and it would be phased in over six years, which provides plenty of time for compliance. Gestation crates are not a requirement for pig production, as many farms in Arizona and across the country are successful without confining their pigs in quarters so tight they can't stretch out their limbs.

Arizona must take this important step to protect farm animals and set the bar higher for humane treatment, before more hog producers do business in our state. Arizona's identity is tied to our agricultural roots, and we should protect that heritage by requiring that farm animals, in this case pigs and calves, be treated humanely.

Pigs can produce piglets while existing in one of these small crates. But that isn't proof that severe confinement is the best way to raise animals for meat. Prop. 204 has a wide base of support from animal welfare groups, and Arizona farmers and veterinarians.

Humans have control of every facet of these animals' lives, and their deaths. We have a duty to respect that they are living creatures and to treat them humanely. Passage of Prop. 204 will help do that.

(END OF ARIZONA DAILY STAR EDITORIAL)
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(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi You are encouraged to forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts but please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Date: Sun Oct 22 17:37:13 2006

DawnWatch Arizona: Please write in support of Prop 204 -- 10/10/06

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:03:00 GMT

Arizona:
Please visit http://www.yesonproposition204.com/index.shtml to learn about Prop 204, make sure to check out the photos at http://www.yesonproposition204.com/gallery.shtml and please respond to the Tuscon Citizen opinion piece below.

The page http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/lettertoeditor.php?id=28545 takes letters to the editor particularly on that issue.

Please also send a letter to your local paper. If you have any difficulty finding the correct address for a letter to the editor, don't hesitate to ask me for help. And I am always happy to edit letters.

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

Here is the Tuscon Citizen piece:

Guest Opinion Jim Klinker
Prop. 204 is extreme yet simple hogwash

Published: 10.09.2006
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/opinion/28545.php

Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary defines hogwash as swill, slop, nonsense and balderdash.

Arizonans will recognize it as the new term of art on Arizona's political landscape.

It can be seen along the state's roadways and heard on local airwaves. And voters can expect to see and hear a lot of it through Election Day.
That's because "hogwash" best describes Proposition 204, an initiative pushed by out-of-state animal rights activists to ban common practices used by livestock producers to house breeding pigs and veal calves (though no veal production is in Arizona).

Proposition 204 would subject farmers to as much as $20,000 in fines and six months in jail.

The primary funders of the initiative, who operate in Washington, D.C., New York and California, take issue with the way Arizona farmers care for their breeding sows, whose offspring are used to produce fresh pork products for your family.

The large pork producer in Arizona I have visited, being targeted by the animal rights radicals, keeps its breeding pigs in specially designed barns that protect the animals from illness, injuries and extreme weather while allowing fresh air and sunlight in.

These sows receive nutritious diets of corn, soybeans and vitamins, have free access to fresh water and are cared for under close veterinary supervision.

The animals are kept safe from predators and protected from the aggression that often exists among sows housed in group pens.
They also are spared the competition for food that occurs when animals are kept in groups.

Housed in individual stalls, sows are able to move forward and back, lie on their sides and fully extend their limbs.

These sows are tended to daily by highly trained farm employees certified in science-based programs designed to ensure animals are treated well and kept comfortable.

Employees are able to effectively monitor the animals' condition and ensure they get enough to eat and receive prompt medical attention when needed.

Ultimately, animals that are treated humanely are productive animals, which benefits the farmers who raise them and consumers who demand safe, wholesome and affordable pork.

The way this Arizona farm and its employees care for their breeding pigs is supported by university studies, distinguished veterinary organizations and swine experts.

That Arizona farmers and ranchers take great care of their livestock should be a comfort to the activists who claim to speak for the animals. But it's not.

To the out-of-state activists, raising animals in any environment for production of food is inhumane, and nothing will change their minds.
Their mission is to go state by state, armed with ballot measures, legislation and litigation to ban common farming practices, end meat production and, ultimately, force their vegan agenda down the throats of American consumers.

The activists may choose not to consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk, among other animal products. But Arizona consumers should be free to make their own choices.

We're in the midst of an election season, and some of the most militant of the animal rights crowd have brought their agenda to Arizona.
Beware. By targeting one farmer, they disparage all honest, hardworking farmers and ranchers who are dedicated to treating their animals humanely and compassionately.

They'll try to stir fear in the hearts and minds of voters and, between now and Election Day, the truth be damned.

Arizona voters can expect to hear a lot from the initiative's backers, who have gained moral support from the ultra-radical PETA.

But voters should remember that what the activists are really offering is simply hogwash.

About the author
Jim Klinker is executive secretary of the Arizona Farm Bureau Federation and chairman of the Campaign for Arizona Farmers & Ranchers.
(END OF TUSCON CITIZEN OP-ED BY KLINKER)
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(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi You are encouraged to forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts but please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Date: Tue Oct 10 14:03:45 2006

DawnWatch AZ: "Testing drugs on animals no longer suitable option" in AZ Republic 4/23/06

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 21:01:00 GMT

There is a terrific op-ed in the Sunday, April 23, Arizona Republic, arguing against the planned Covance lab and questioning animal testing.
It would great to keep the discussion alive with letters to the editor. The paper takes letters at: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html

You'll find lots of information on animal testing risks for human health at:
http://www.pcrm.org and you'll find information, including video, on the horrors at Covance at http://www.covancecruelty.com/
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Testing drugs on animals no longer suitable option

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0423wilson0423.html

Deborah Wilson
Special for The Republic

As debate continues over Covance's plan to build an animal drug-testing facility in Chandler, I am troubled by its controversial record of animal care and the reported suffering of animals in its experiments.

I also have serious concerns about the harm pharmaceutical testing on animals can cause to humans. Animal tests such as the ones that would be conducted at the proposed Covance facility have led to a string of public health disasters.

Vioxx, Phenactin, E-Ferol, Oraflex, Zomax, Suprol and Selacryn are a few of the drugs that appeared safe in animal tests but were pulled from the market in recent years for causing the death or seriously harming thousands of people.

Vioxx, for example, seemed to protect the cardiovascular system in some animal experiments. About 20 million Americans used the drug before a clinical study revealed in 2004 that it could double the risk of heart attack or stroke. After that revelation, Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market. But considerable damage had already been done: Tens of thousands of people may have suffered heart attacks or strokes related to Vioxx.

Such tragedies are remarkably common. The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that among all new drugs marketed during a 10-year period, 52 percent had seriously toxic or fatal effects that were not predicted by animal experiments.

The problem comes down to basic biology. Many species of animals metabolize drugs differently from humans. The manner in which compounds are broken down, transported and distributed to various organs and excreted from the body varies widely from species to species.

In August 2004, the Food and Drug Administration announced that only 8 percent of drugs that pass animal tests make it to the marketplace. In other words, a remarkable 92 percent of drugs found to be safe and effective in animals have turned out to be unsafe or ineffective in humans.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt expressed a similar concern earlier this year.

"Currently, nine out of 10 experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies," he said.

One recent example of a perilously misleading study, reported earlier this month in the New York Times, involved an immune stimulant known as TGN1412.

After tests of the drug in monkeys showed "no significant trouble," it was given to six healthy young men. All six came close to dying. The men "moaned in uncontrollable pain, vomited and struggled for breath," the Times reported. The drug has left all six with seriously damaged immune systems. The drug company said the human trial went forward because "doses hundreds of times more powerful" had been found safe in the animal test.

Non-animal testing works better. Human cellular tests assembled by the Multicenter Evaluation of In-Vitro Cytotoxicity, an international group of scientists, have proved more predictive of human safety than animal tests.

Such evidence has prompted the FDA to propose better methods for ensuring drug safety. In January, the agency announced that it will rely more on non-animal methods, including human microdosing, which will provide more accurate results. Microdosing is already being implemented with great success in the United Kingdom.

The private sector is also moving forward with alternatives. Pharmagene uses computer technologies built on our knowledge of human genetics and molecular biology to show the effect of drugs on the body. As Gordon Baxter, co-founder of Pharmagene, said, "If you have information on human genes, what's the point of going back to animals?"

Such projects represent the future of drug testing, unlike the outmoded and unreliable animal experiments that would take place at the proposed Covance facility.

Deborah Wilson, M.D., is a Scottsdale gynecologist and laparoscopic surgeon.

(END OF ARIZONA REPUBLIC OP-ED)
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(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Date: Sun Apr 23 15:01:48 2006

DawnWatch AZ: Sonoran Living on ABC to feature vegan chef Thursday, April 20

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 22:35:00 GMT

Chef Jason Wyrick tells me,
"I'm going to be featured on the Phoenix ABC affiliate's local morning show tomorrow (Thursday April 20). I'm a vegan chef and they invited me on to do a short segment on vegan/diabetic cooking. Their website is http://www.sonoranliving.com and you can watch the show by clicking the Thurs link in the upper left corner. It will be up until next week's Thursday show."

From the Sonoran Living website:
"About the Show
Sonoran Living is the original daily lifestyle magazine show, on weekday mornings at 9 AM. It's about Arizona women digging in the desert dirt and then getting a manicure... riding the range and sipping champagne... giving back to the community and taking time to pamper themselves!"

Watch if you can, live or on line, and please thank the show for the segment. Positive feedback for vegetarian coverage will encourage more of it. Email sonoranliving@abc15.com

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Date: Wed Apr 19 16:35:59 2006