My computer froze as I was reading and replying to messages.  Long story
of me making a computer error has ending of 3 messages I cannot return-but
that I have read.
 
I received one month irreversible damage to mice in pine shavings study,
and 4 to 5 years off of rats life when kept in pine article, and a lovely
compliment.  Sorry I cannot thank you other than in this fashion.  I
appreciate all the time you took, and the lovely words.
 
As far as a total contradiction: I want to totally contradict what I wrote
the other day.  This is to make sure that those of you out there who are as
naive as I was a few years ago understand that a scientific article written
on-line, in a magazine or in a book may not be true.  Something that is FDA
approved after years of testing may have fudged results, or may end up
hurting animals or people.
 
We used to torture people and burn them alive because we all knew the world
was FLAT and to say otherwise was heresy.  The world was flat and that was
that.
 
Up to about 200 years ago, we nailed healthy living dogs to walls and
slowly dissected them in anatomy classes as they screamed in agony
believing at the time that dogs did not feel any of the pain.
 
We prescribed medication for pregnant women with nausea that was FDA
approved and that had had years of research and tests.  The birth defects
were hideous.
 
Phen phen[sp.?] was tested, researched and FDA approved for overweight
people.  It killed several before being taken off of the market.
 
I was just told by a vet that the manufacturers of Lupron are being sued
for falsifying some test.  I do not know if this is true.  But I do know
of a multimillion dollar company that has recently admitted to falsifying
research results.
 
Bottom line in reality land is that you really cannot believe anything
you read in your attempts to help your ferret with 100% certainty.  The
excellent ferret food of today may be the cause of liver disease 5 years
from now.  The Lupron of today may be banned 3 years from now.
 
I always thought that at least research papers and scientific magazines
were always pure in their information: It is not true.
 
Did you know that until Jane Goodall we separated ourselves as humans from
all animals-in part- because only human beings could use tools or weapons
or have emotions?  Now we know chimpanzees use tools, and weapons, and that
they have feelings or emotions.  Yet we still treat them and ferrets as
disposable beings to use for research.
 
Read studies and research on ferrets and medicines and bedding and food for
them realizing that next year you may read that the opposite is true..
 
Maybe most of you already knew this.  Personally, I am still trying to
accept this facet of life.
 
Lisette
[Posted in FML issue 2850]