Post by Brooke on Jan 21, 2004 18:30:32 GMT -5
Iams dog food chewed up at protest
By Nancy Cicco
ncicco@seacoastonline.com
PORTSMOUTH - A dogfight between North America’s top pet food manufacturer and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals landed in Market Square on Monday when a half dozen animal-rights activists - some with pet dogs in tow - staged a "Snarl-In" to protest The Iams Company’s alleged mistreatment of animals.
A division of Procter & Gamble, Iams is PETA’s latest target in the organization’s efforts to raise public awareness about animal cruelty in the marketplace.
But an Iams spokesman responded Monday saying PETA is simply barking up the wrong tree.
Iams has come under PETA’s microscope for allegedly mistreating dogs and cats subjected earlier this year to nutritional testing at an Iams contract laboratory in the midwest.
The results of a PETA-led, nine-month undercover investigation at the lab found Iams allegedly committed several animal abuses. PETA wants customers to boycott Procter & Gamble’s products until the company changes its ways.
"Our investigation found their dogs cowering in cages, some which hadn’t left the cages for six years," said Matt Prescott, a Newmarket native who works as a PETA campaign manager. "Some had their vocal chords cut out...simply because the director of the facility was annoyed by the dogs barking."
PETA also claims dogs at the lab were force fed vegetable oil, were exposed to extreme heat and cold, and were left to cope with untreated ear infections, rotten teeth and injured paws.
The alleged abuse stands in contrast to Iams’ advertising claims, Prescott said. PETA has filed a false-advertising complaint against Iams with the Federal Trade Commission stemming from the alleged abuses. The complaint challenges Iams’ claim the company has "high standards" when it comes to animal care, Pescott said.
"Iams is trying to feed people a line of lies," he said.
During the Market Square protest, video snippets of Iams’ alleged abuses scrolled across a portable television screen that was strapped to the chest of PETA member Anna Koriath, of Durham. Other protesters displayed signs and handed out leaflets to passing motorists.
Portsmouth resident Ramona Abella came out "to take a stand against needless suffering, exploitation and abuse of animals," she said.
Iams conducts clinical and controlled studies on cats and dogs to ensure the company’s products perform up to standards, according to Kelly Vanasse, Iams’ associate director of global external relations. PETA’s charges of mistreatment are a "highly sensationalized accounting" of what happened earlier this year, she said.
The Iams company unwittingly hired the undercover PETA investigator to enforce humane standards at the lab as an animal-welfare specialist. The lab in question is not owned by Iams but was contracted by the company as a test site. Last March, days after PETA came forward with its information, Iams stopped working with the lab. Iams’ subsequent investigations at the company’s eight other contract laboratories showed those labs are "fully implementing" Iams’ research policy, Vanasse said. The policy mandates the company "will ensure the humane treatment of cats and dogs."
In addition, the company created an international animal-care advisory board to ensure the company continues to live up to its animal-welfare standards.
"We have been very open and transparent about what’s going on," Vanasse said. "We will only conduct the veterinarian equivalent of what a human would agree to undergo."
The company did not authorize anyone to cut the vocal chords of dogs in the facility, and dogs involved in some tests were only fed "a teaspoon" of vegetable oil, she said.
Prescott believes such testing is unnecessary.
"The sole reason they perform these experiments is that they are big money," he said.
Vanasse responded that animal testing is the only way to ensure Iams’ pet food "does what we say it’s going to do." The company achieved $1.5 billion in annual global sales this past year.
Portsmouth resident Jamie Talbot did not know about Monday’s protest until Prescott invited her to join the "Snarl-In" minutes before it began. She wasn’t sure what to think when reading over a PETA flyer about the Iams issue.
"I used to buy my dog this food and I had no idea - it’s crazy," she said.
The protest was one of many anti-Iams vigils staged Monday throughout New England as part of PETA’s campaign against the company. Worldwide, PETA boasts about 750,000 members and maintains offices in Virginia, Great Britain, India, Germany, and Hong Kong.
Such protests, and the attendant media attention they draw, are a PETA staple, Prescott acknowledged.
"We try to get the most exposure we can," he said.
By Nancy Cicco
ncicco@seacoastonline.com
PORTSMOUTH - A dogfight between North America’s top pet food manufacturer and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals landed in Market Square on Monday when a half dozen animal-rights activists - some with pet dogs in tow - staged a "Snarl-In" to protest The Iams Company’s alleged mistreatment of animals.
A division of Procter & Gamble, Iams is PETA’s latest target in the organization’s efforts to raise public awareness about animal cruelty in the marketplace.
But an Iams spokesman responded Monday saying PETA is simply barking up the wrong tree.
Iams has come under PETA’s microscope for allegedly mistreating dogs and cats subjected earlier this year to nutritional testing at an Iams contract laboratory in the midwest.
The results of a PETA-led, nine-month undercover investigation at the lab found Iams allegedly committed several animal abuses. PETA wants customers to boycott Procter & Gamble’s products until the company changes its ways.
"Our investigation found their dogs cowering in cages, some which hadn’t left the cages for six years," said Matt Prescott, a Newmarket native who works as a PETA campaign manager. "Some had their vocal chords cut out...simply because the director of the facility was annoyed by the dogs barking."
PETA also claims dogs at the lab were force fed vegetable oil, were exposed to extreme heat and cold, and were left to cope with untreated ear infections, rotten teeth and injured paws.
The alleged abuse stands in contrast to Iams’ advertising claims, Prescott said. PETA has filed a false-advertising complaint against Iams with the Federal Trade Commission stemming from the alleged abuses. The complaint challenges Iams’ claim the company has "high standards" when it comes to animal care, Pescott said.
"Iams is trying to feed people a line of lies," he said.
During the Market Square protest, video snippets of Iams’ alleged abuses scrolled across a portable television screen that was strapped to the chest of PETA member Anna Koriath, of Durham. Other protesters displayed signs and handed out leaflets to passing motorists.
Portsmouth resident Ramona Abella came out "to take a stand against needless suffering, exploitation and abuse of animals," she said.
Iams conducts clinical and controlled studies on cats and dogs to ensure the company’s products perform up to standards, according to Kelly Vanasse, Iams’ associate director of global external relations. PETA’s charges of mistreatment are a "highly sensationalized accounting" of what happened earlier this year, she said.
The Iams company unwittingly hired the undercover PETA investigator to enforce humane standards at the lab as an animal-welfare specialist. The lab in question is not owned by Iams but was contracted by the company as a test site. Last March, days after PETA came forward with its information, Iams stopped working with the lab. Iams’ subsequent investigations at the company’s eight other contract laboratories showed those labs are "fully implementing" Iams’ research policy, Vanasse said. The policy mandates the company "will ensure the humane treatment of cats and dogs."
In addition, the company created an international animal-care advisory board to ensure the company continues to live up to its animal-welfare standards.
"We have been very open and transparent about what’s going on," Vanasse said. "We will only conduct the veterinarian equivalent of what a human would agree to undergo."
The company did not authorize anyone to cut the vocal chords of dogs in the facility, and dogs involved in some tests were only fed "a teaspoon" of vegetable oil, she said.
Prescott believes such testing is unnecessary.
"The sole reason they perform these experiments is that they are big money," he said.
Vanasse responded that animal testing is the only way to ensure Iams’ pet food "does what we say it’s going to do." The company achieved $1.5 billion in annual global sales this past year.
Portsmouth resident Jamie Talbot did not know about Monday’s protest until Prescott invited her to join the "Snarl-In" minutes before it began. She wasn’t sure what to think when reading over a PETA flyer about the Iams issue.
"I used to buy my dog this food and I had no idea - it’s crazy," she said.
The protest was one of many anti-Iams vigils staged Monday throughout New England as part of PETA’s campaign against the company. Worldwide, PETA boasts about 750,000 members and maintains offices in Virginia, Great Britain, India, Germany, and Hong Kong.
Such protests, and the attendant media attention they draw, are a PETA staple, Prescott acknowledged.
"We try to get the most exposure we can," he said.