Dying For Kibble: IAMS Experiments On Cats And Dogs
By Brenda Shoss, 1/5/05
Yes, my animals are spoiled. Stanley the Lhasa Apso enjoys monthly acupuncture to treat arthritis. Cleveland, the sensitive Lhasa-Poodle, takes a homeopathic version of Prozac. Rebekkah is our feline princess and Garfield-like Isaiah snoozes atop anything or anyone.
Currently, the fur kids feast on natural vittles free of byproducts, chemicals and dyes. Awhile back, they ate Iams.
Like many consumers, I bought the Iams Company vow of health and longevity. After all, Iams and Eukanuba pet foods undergo extensive research before they hit retail shelves.
But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) shattered my allegiance to Iams with a “dark and sordid secret.” It turns out the Procter & Gamble subsidiary funds tests on hundreds of cats and dogs—animals just like Stanley, Cleveland, Rebekkah and Isaiah.
For nine months in 2002 and early 2003 a PETA spy worked inside an Iams-sponsored laboratory. At the time, Iams employed over 30 contract labs and university research centers to conduct off-site animal testing. PETA’s findings, available in broadcast video format, generally contradict Iams’ publicized research policy.
Iams Company Research Policy, #4: “We will not fund or participate in any study requiring or resulting in the euthanasia of cats or dogs.” PETA’s investigator found 60 dazed dogs with muscle chunks severed from their thighs heaped on a cold, paint-flecked floor. Two dogs died post-surgery and at least 27 were killed over the course of the experiment.
Iams Research Policy, #5: “Research will be closely monitored at internal and external facilities—with the goal being to eliminate even minor pain or discomfort.” PETA’s agent worked alongside inexperienced vet technicians. They advised her to revive dogs in respiratory failure by beating their chests. A lab tech toting a dead dog in a plastic bag told her the dog “bled out its mouth” before dying in his cage. Another worker recalled a live kitten flushed down a drain. She saw throat-implanted tubes pumping vegetable oil into dogs' bellies.
Iams Research Policy, #3: “We will ensure the humane treatment of cats and dogs, and provide for animal well being, socialization and husbandry." PETA’s observer encountered “stir-crazy” animals restrained in steel cages or cement cells for up to six years. Dogs cried out in pain when their paws splayed over the metal-slat flooring. In one video segment dogs frantically circled empty enclosures as an aloof Iams representative passed by.
Cats occupied a cinderblock room with unstable “resting” boards. One board fatally squashed a cat during the investigation. The lab director did not remove the illegal boards until warned about an impending inspection.
Iams Research Policy, #3: “We will also meet or exceed standards established by the Animal Welfare Act of the US, the US Department of Agriculture and Directive 86/609/EEC of the European Union.” The investigator noted an extreme lack of veterinary care. Dogs with excessive tartar were unable to chew food. One dog limped due to untreated Lyme disease. A cat who hadn’t eaten for days perished without medical attention.
During inspection, an Iams veterinarian ignored a dog who had just delivered puppies in a cement kennel with no bedding. Two dogs died inside the frigid building with 34-degree temperatures.
Iams Research Policy, #1: “The results must help veterinarians and pet owners worldwide nutritionally enhance the well-being of cats and dogs.” Iams promises to not mutilate animals or conduct non-essential research. Yet PETA’s investigator saw lab techs repeatedly draw blood from dogs reserved for non-invasive metabolic studies. The blood was sold to other labs. A lab director ordered techs to cut dogs’ vocal cords because he had grown weary of their attention-seeking yelps. Iams did not halt the unnecessary debarking surgery.
Before PETA’s exposition, the England-based group Uncaged combed science journals for Iams lab records. In 2001, the UK’s Sunday Express ran a front-page story disclosing Iams-funded experiments on cats, dogs and other animals. In response to allegations and bad press, Iams has pledged various reforms. Last fall, they announced arrangements to consolidate off-site testing within their Dayton facility by 2006.
PETA calls plans to centralize over twice as many cats and dogs another example of Iams’ “token gestures.” At a 2004 Pet Food Forum, Iams’ Dan Carey introduced an initiative to reward animals 30 minutes of exercise/socialization on weekdays. This leaves 23-1/2 hours cooped in a cage. Carey feels the half-hour breaks enable dogs and cats to spend their “entire lives” in labs.
Iams claims to now supply toys, behavior training, group play and care. Long-term caging is renamed “Lifetime Destiny” and unadoptable dogs spend their golden years in a “retirement center.” Some animals are reportedly adopted into loving homes.
But Iams will not release files on the number of animals used, years of confinement, authenticity of adoptions, or existence of a retirement center. Moreover, Iams does not take responsibility for its leased animals. PETA asserts hundreds of beagles were left in “the same hideous conditions we found them in. Iams said they belonged to the [contract] laboratory.”
Must some dogs and cats lead bleak lives so other dogs and cats can thrive? The American Association of Feed Control Officers (AAFCO) does not legally require manufacturers to experiment on animals to earn its seal of approval. To confirm this, PETA attended AAFCO meetings and acquired written verification from the Food and Drug Administration.
Nonetheless, Iams routinely subsidizes tests for palatability, discovery phase, and metabolized energy. Hills Science Diet, Nestlé Purina/Friskies (Alpo, Proplan, Gourmet), Pedigree, Menu Foods (Petsmart Authority, Award, Safeway Select), and other brands also fund animal experiments.
Pet-food producers are only obligated to reveal nutritional content, which can be evaluated through chemical analysis of ingredients as well as harmless in-home trials.
Some companies collaborate with veterinary clinics in voluntary trials that use animals with preexisting conditions. Over 40 companion-animal food makers rely upon a humane testing protocol.
According to PETA, Iams pursues animal experimentation more discreetly nowadays. For example, they may underwrite a chair position at a university with nutritional trial labs or sponsor vivisection-related conferences. The Federal Trade Commission believes Iams’ research policy, published on its website, may mislead consumers and violate “Section 5 of the FTC Act.” In the UK, Iams is under investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Personally, I won’t purchase food from a company until it commits to a no-animal testing policy. For my money, the best companion cuisine is the one without “misery” in its list of ingredients.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Request sample letters to the Iams Company: info@kinshipcircle.org
Video footage from PETA’s investigation: http:www.iamscruelty.com/iams-video.asp
Companion animal food makers that do not animal test:
http://www.iamscruelty.com/res.asp
PHOTOS: Animals from the Iams contract laboratory PETA investigated (2002-2003).
To read their individual stories, visit: www.iamscruelty.com/iams-photos.asp
1. Iams laboratory kitten
2. This is Sally
3. This is Maxine
4. Iams refused to fund or compel the laboratory to make changes. In one recorded
scene, the lab director told PETA’s investigator Iams would “pretend to provide
socialization and enrichment until the animal rights people got off its back.”
5. No-Name (Lab ID: HJBMCN)
6. Cement-floor kennel at Iams contract laboratory
7. This is Christmas (Lab ID: MAS)
To reprint this article in your publication, web site or list, please request author permission: info@kinshipcircle.org
Kinship Circle’s column runs bimonthly in The Healthy Planet. Ms. Shoss is also a contributing writer for The Animals Voice, Satya Magazine, VegNews, and other publications. If you would like to reprint this column, please request author permission at info@kinshipcircle.org