- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
With just two weeks until the election, California's Proposition 2 is getting attention from the Hollywood elite, out-of-state agricultural interests and many media outlets. Here are a few tidbits from recent days involving UC experts:
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Veterinarian Nancy Reimers, who speaks for the opposition, said caged hens already have space for turning and flapping their wings, and seem content. "If I'm going into a house of otherwise healthy hens -- in cages or not -- they sing," Reimers was quoted in the Los Angeles Times. . . . . "There is not, to my knowledge, a behavior called singing on the part...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Proposition 2 continues to make news. Coverage of the initiative, which will set new standards for confining farm animals in California, in many cases mentions the UC Agricultural Issues Center research project that drew conclusions about the probable economic effects of the proposition's passage.
Here's a sampling of stories and editorials from the last week:
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Animal rights activists want more space for hens - San Jose Mercury News
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
While the news has been replete with talk about large sums of government money in the last week or so, one UC program considered vitally important by the American Veterinary Medical Association is closing its doors because it couldn't get a cash infusion from the federal government.
AVMA issued a news release yesterday lamenting the impending closure of the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD), administered by the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and operating out of North Carolina State University, the University of Florida and UC Davis. The Wall Street Journal's
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
An article in the San Diego Union Tribune over the weekend presented both sides of the debate over Proposition 2, the initiative on the November ballot that, if passed, will set new standards for farm animal confinement.
The story implied that UC Riverside poultry specialist emeritus Don Bell is an "opponent of the measure" when it followed a statement about concerns that Prop 2 will increase food prices with his quote.
According to the story, Bell said:
“Pennies, nickels, dimes and dollars add up as today's prices for everything (increase) –...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Almost a year after a bill passed that required the governor to add a medical doctor and a scientist to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's governing board, only the MD has been appointed. Until passage of the law, the governing board was made up of purely valley politicians.
The Merced Sun-Star ran an editorial last week enjoining Gov. Schwarzenegger to name a scientist. One of the two who have submitted their names for consideration is David Grantz, the director of the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center academic staff. Grantz is an air...
