Ecologgers: Two items caught my attention today. One was a NPR interview program on the recent internet buzz over the Chinese government's supposed eugenics program (specifically, plans to breed for increased intelligence). The other was a story read on the Atlantic website: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/03/how-state-ag-gag-laws-could-stop-animal-cruelty-whistleblowers/273962/
concerning legislative efforts to gag those who would inform the public about currently common livestock practices. What tied the two together for me were these two interlinked questions: How many of the problematic production techniques (mass rearing facilities, hormone manipulation, beak trimming, etc.) referred to in the Atlantic article were developed in university agronomy facilities and to what degree are research agronomists ethically responsible for the effect that the techniques they develop do not violate the animal welfare standards we must apply to research animals? Is there a connection here? Do research animals deserve better welfare than farm animals? If so, why so? The answer can't be that farm animals are destined for the slaughterhouse in any case. Many research animals are "sacrificed". I ask these questions in a sincere desire for both information and others thoughts. I don't know who develops these techniques or how schools of agriculture treat the ethical question and would love to hear from someone who does. Why on ecolog? I am an ecologist and know that, before the rise of ecology departments, the connection between agriculture and ecology was much closer than today. Even though many ecologists are found at schools with no agriculture, I still feel connected and perhaps other ecologists do as well. The circle will be completed. It's already happening (think of the LME movement in Fishery Science). In any case, I was disturbed by the thought that university research may be behind common livestock practices that are so abhorrent to the public that the agriculture industry seeks to deprive the public of its right to know about them. Are we complicit? Phil Ganter Dept. of Biological Sciences Tennessee State University (a 1890 Land Grant HBCU)
