Dear Bastian,
There is absolutely no doubt that we need to find more humane ways to
control pest rodents. I believe we all should be striving for that. A
group of scientists is meeting in the UK on a regular basis to work towards
that end. We should certainly use the most humane methods available that
are compliant with the ultimate aim of protecting humane health and
wellbeing. But exactly how many people would you be prepared to allow to
die in order to reduce the suffering of rodent pests?
I look forward to reading the full text of your article. However, for the
moment I fail to see any parallel at all between the control of pest rodents
for the benefit of human health and the use of laboratory rodents in animal
experimentation. I would have thought that the differences between those
two scenarios are obvious. So I believe your premise, that we should treat
the two in the same way, to be absolutely mistaken. Perhaps there is some
logic that I have missed and I will find it in your article?
This is a rather extreme analogy, but Radovan Karadzic and I are both human
beings. If I were to stay tonight in the Hague should I expect to be
treated in the same way as him?
Regards
Alan
Visiting Research Fellow
University of Reading
tel: +44 (0)1730 826715
fax: +44 (0) 1730 826715
mob: +44 (0) 7881 656564
a
...@alanbuckleconsulting.com -----Original Message-----
From: RatZooMan-Network@googlegroups.com
[mailto:RatZooMan-Network@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dr. Bastiaan
Meerburg
Sent: 31 July 2008 12:09
To: The RatZooMan Network
Subject: 2 new papers
Dear colleagues,
Recently Grant Singleton has invited me to join the RatZooMan Network,
so, hereby my first post. Two papers will soon be published, and the
topic might interest you, so that's why I am currently writing this
post.
The first article ("The Ethics of Rodent Control') is about the
inconsistency between the treatment of pest animals (particularly
rodents) and that of rodents that are used for animal experimentation.
This article will appear in Pest Management Science soon, and you can
find the preliminary version via:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120746731/abstract
The second article ("The role of rodents and shrews in the
transmission of Toxoplasma gondii to pigs") will appear in Veterinary
Parasitology and is about the effect of a rodent control campaign on
the reduction of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in pigs. This study
emphasizes the role of rodents and shrews in the transmission of T.
gondii to pigs and the importance of rodent control towards production
of T. gondii-free pig meat.
You can find this article via the following link:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TD7-4SNGMB...
er=533256&_coverDate=06%2F03%2F2008&_rdoc=53&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=d o
c-info(%23toc%235191%239999%23999999999%2399999%23FLA%23display%23Articles) &
_cdi=5191&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=67&_acct=C000026798&_version=1&_urlVersio n
=0&_userid=533256&md5=adfb22a7e30bb585eaae4efece096456
Best regards,
Bastiaan
------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. B.G. Meerburg
Wageningen University & Research Centre
Plant Research International
P.O. Box 16
6700 AA Wageningen
The Netherlands
+31 317481375