Thursday, May 31, 2007

All creatures great and small...

From the NY Times this morning: Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Agree to Curb Animal Tests

"Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, have agreed to stop directly financing research that uses animals to test or develop their products, except where such testing is required by law."

The debate about whether animal models are testing are needed is discussed in the article, with quotes both from Dr. John A. DeSimone, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University (citing the need for animal models) and Dr. Alan Goldberg, director of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing at Johns Hopkins University (citing that advances in alternatives to animal models, many of which are usually more scientifically precise, have already reduced the number of lab animals in use by 50 percent.)

"The two soft drink giants are the latest companies to respond to scrutiny by PETA, which has mounted a campaign to denounce animal testing practices in the beverage industry, an industry that, unlike cosmetics or pharmaceuticals, had largely been unpublicized in the animal testing arena."

For the full text, click here.

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