(From previous page)

In 1982 in the United Kingdom at the demand of regulatory bodies such as the New Zealand Pesticides Board:

43,495 captive animals died as pesticides and herbicides were forced by tube down their screaming and protesting guts;

42,572 animals were crammed into tiny cylinders (like inanimate objects) and gasped their lives away as deadly chemical fumes were pumped into their bursting lungs;

Thousands of New Zealand white rabbits suffered agonising deaths after chemicals were applied to their shaved, abraded and shackled bodies;

Thousands more were blinded as weedkillers and pesticides were dripped or sprayed into their eyes.

Are animals, the dogs, monkeys and cats etc, prisoners in their tiny cages who must eat food contaminated with chemicals by their keepers (or starve) and then linger for days vomiting and passing bloody stools.. or the rats force-fed with chemicals and clinging for hours to the bars of their cages, black with sweat, eyes bulging in agony (description from an animal technician employed on this activity)... are they ideal models for us gullible humans who must be assured of no ill-effects when we ingest such poisons over long periods in our daily food?

No eyes, no eyelids, double eyeballs, no lower-jaw, cleft palates, cystic kidneys, incomplete fusion of face and incomplete closure of spines etc etc (first the animals... then humans)

Thinking of spraying against red mite this summer?

Before you purchase your can or spray please read the following LD50 "test" used to study specific toxic action of the pesticide CDTC - used against the red spider mite:

"Four doses of the compound were given to groups of 20 or 25 rats in order to see the effects on the brain and nervous system. Several animals died following hind-limb paralysis and urinary incontinence. One animal lingered until the seventh day and then died. Out of the 90 animals dosed 23 died within 14 days there was swelling of the nervous system and in some rats the optic nerve swelled to 1 1/2 times its normal size."
- Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, Volume 60, 1981. Conducted at ICI Cheshire and the MRC Trauma Unit, Manchester University.)

Dr Roy Goulding, Chairman of the scientific subcommittee of the British Government's Advisory Committee on Pesticides said:

"Current elaborate testing procedures, such as the LD50 test, had got out of hand". He also claims that tests now demanded by regulatory authorities (such as the New Zealand Pesticides Board) reflected the current ingenuity of experimental toxicologists, rather than the need. The tests were subscribed to rather like the tenets of a creed."
- New Scientist 1.12.83.

What are the alternatives?... boycott poisonous chemicals and sprays

Recommended reading:

Chemical Victims by Richard Mackarness (Pan Books)
(Has a useful chapter entitled "Pest control by predators and safe pesticides". Explains how to encourage hedgehogs into your garden to eat the slugs and other pests. Gives details of a number of alternative substances of vegetable origin which can be used in pest control... eg nicotine, derris and pyrethiam.)

Organic Gardening by Lawrence D. Hills published by Penguin

Modern Meat by Orville Schell Random House (337 pages)

One can avoid modern garden chemicals that are "tested" on animals.