Animals: animal welfare

Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, D.C., 1979. 

Animal tests were commonly used in the past, also according to the Draize protocol [357,372]. However, such tests have been questioned for several reasons. In addition to the public concern about animal welfare, animal tests are conducted under conditions and at concentrations quite different from those that occur in practice, as in the case of eye irritancy. The effects of surfactants on the skin cannot be compared when the results have been obtained through different protocols and even results obtained by the same method are not comparable if conditions differ. 

There is a continuing interest in the development of biomarker assays for use in environmental risk assessment. As discussed elsewhere (Section 16.6), there are both scientific and ethical reasons for seeking to introduce in vitro assays into protocols for the regulatory testing of chemicals. Animal welfare organizations would like to see the replacement of toxicity tests by more animal-friendly alternatives for all types of risk assessment—whether for environmental risks or for human health. 

Glatt, H., Engst, W., and Hagen, M. et al. (1997). The use of cell lines genetically engineered for human xenohiotic metahohsing enzymes. In L.F.M. van Zutphen and M. Balls (Eds.) Animal Alternatives, Welfare and Ethics. AmsX rdwu Elsevier 81-94. 

The farmer and restaurant may work together to promote the produce used. For example, the restaurant could provide leaflets containing information on the produce, farm source and animal welfare. 

P cycling, pre chain emissions, animal welfare, economics, biodiversity, product quality, soil quality, and landscape aesthetics [60]. Whole farm model (WFM) uses pasture growth and cow metabolism for predicting CH4 emissions in dairy farms. Also included in the WFM is climate and management information. However, recent reports also suggests that WFMs may incorrectly estimate CH4 emission levels as they do not take into account the DMI and diet composition while predicting the enteric CH4 emission. This low prediction efficiency of WFMs may lead to substantial error in GHG inventories [10,11],... 

Russell WMS, Burch RL (1959) The principles of humane experimental technique. Methuen Co. Ltd., London, (Revised 1992, Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, Herts, England.) http //altweb.jhsph.edu/publications/humane exp/het-toc.htm... 

While I fully understand concern about animal welfare, it is difficult to see how our understanding of iron metabolism, not to mention the development of new drugs, can evolve without carrying out animal studies. It is difficult to see how one can extrapolate from results obtained using cultured cell lines which typically have very large numbers of transferrin receptors when compared with the normal cells from which they are derived. 

Livestock husbandry is not explicitly addressed in the historical concepts of organic farming. Livestock provided manure and was therefore an important link in the crop and soil fertility chain. Livestock played a major role on its own only in biodynamic farming, especially cattle whose organs are described as important catalysts of processes and transmitters of cosmic energies (Steiner, 1929). Nonetheless, even the pioneers of biodynamic farming did not consider livestock husbandry from an ethical or animal welfare point of view. 

However, as the negative animal welfare impact associated with caged and other intensive indoor production systems became apparent, animal welfare became a primary driver for consumer demand and product differentiation in the poultry sector. As a result, both organic and conventional free range products have achieved significant market shares and price premiums compared to products from intensive indoor production in most European countries (Hamm et al., 2002). 

The trend towards larger flock sizes, while often perceived as undesirable from an animal welfare point of view, coincided with more professional practices being introduced into the organic poultry industry, especially with respect to food safety and HACCP based quality assurance systems. However, it did result in a decrease in time spent on individual animals and their welfare. 

Forage and feeding regimes to improve animal welfare... 

The regulation also stipulates that a maximum of three courses of treatment with chemically synthesised allopathic veterinary medical products or antibiotics within one year (or no more than one course of treatment if the productive life cycle is less than one year) is acceptable. These regulations are designed to encourage the use of preventive management and alternative treatments for the control of parasites and diseases. Vaccinations, veterinary medicine treatments for parasites and any compulsory eradication schemes established by Member States are exempt from the treatment maximums, in order to ensure animal welfare. 

Mellor D.J. and Stafford K.J. (2001). Integrating practical, regulatory and ethical strategies for enhancing farm animal welfare , Australian Veterinary Journal, 79, 762-768. 

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