PETA Global 2017 Issue 1

Exposed Muscular Dystrophy Experiments Mean Misery for Dogs

A golden retriever slumps on the floor of a slatted metal cage, drooling profusely because of severely weakened jaw muscles, which make swallowing nearly impossible. A dog with atrophied esophageal muscles and an enlarged tongue struggles to swallow thin, watery gruel – coughing, gagging, and spattering the mush on the cage bars and floor. Teetering unsteadily, another tries desperately to walk, despite leg muscles that have wasted away. Shocking video footage that PETA obtained from inside laboratories in the US and France shows these and other dogs – who have been purposely bred to develop a canine form of muscular dystrophy (MD) – suffering in cruel muscle-wasting experiments. Since PETA released the footage, nearly 75,000 people have sent letters demanding an end to these experiments, which put dogs through hell and don’t help humans. PETA is pushing hard for these inhumane laboratories to be closed and for funds to be redirected to modern, non-animal studies (see sidebar). Dogs Bred to Suffer At Texas A&MUniversity, golden retrievers and other dogs in experimenter Joe Kornegay’s laboratory are bred

to develop different types of MD, including a canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which is particularly severe. Puppies born with this disease are so weak at birth that they require extra nutrition. By 6 weeks of age – when they should be exploring their surroundings and romping with their littermates – their hind limbs have shifted forward, making it difficult for them to walk. Their jaw muscles weaken so severely that some can’t even fully open their mouths. Dogs with this condition are also at high risk for pneumonia, because they can easily inhale liquid into their lungs. To gauge how much a dog’s muscles have deteriorated, Kornegay has invented a crude technique that could easily pass for medieval torture: He repeatedly stretches them with a motorized lever to cause them to tear. In one experiment, dogs endured this procedure 30 times. Those who don’t have the disease but carry the canine DMD gene are used as breeding machines to produce more puppies for these gruesome experiments. Deprived of loving homes, they frantically pace the slatted floors and bite the bars of their cages in frustration. They’re denied even the small comfort of a blanket.

16 BAD MEDICINE