Tarazet

Boycott Iams?

Apparently there is a boycott spreading against the Iams Pet Food Company. Let me start with this dBusiness News story:

Atlanta, Ga. --- Iams is looking for a new place to sell its products now that Atlanta-based Park Pet Supply has cleared its shelves of Iams pet food in protest of the company’s cruel—sometimes deadly—"nutritional" tests on dogs and cats. The shop has joined a growing number of pet-supply stores around the country in refusing to sell Iams products after learning from PETA about abhorrent conditions inside the company’s contract laboratories.
A PETA undercover investigation at one such laboratory revealed that at least 27 dogs were killed, while others died of untreated illnesses, despite Iams’ assurances to consumers that no animal in any Iams test would ever be deliberately killed. PETA’s investigator also found the following:

* Dogs and cats confined to small, barren cages, some for up to six years
* Dogs whose vocal cords had been surgically cut out so that they couldn’t bark
* Dogs with untreated ear infections and rotten teeth, as well as injured paws from having to balance on metal-slatted floors and lie on cold concrete
* Workers’ reports of a live kitten who was washed down a drain
* Terrified, unsocialized animals cowering in their cages
* Kennels that were stifling in summer and near-freezing during winter
* Dogs force-fed vegetable oil through tubes inserted down their throats

Is it true? Therein lays the problem with organizations such as PETA. When every action of theirs involves civil disobedience (throwing paint on furs, etc) and shrill, hysterical, often exaggerated or misleading press releases, I can't take them seriously. I no longer believe them because they've been ridiculous about so many things in the past. It's sort of the "boy who cried wolf" syndrome.

If they would "pick their battles" and relate them in a calm, accurate manner, they would probably enjoy ten times the support they have now.

From PETA:

For nearly 10 months in 2002 and early 2003, a PETA investigator went undercover at an Iams contract testing laboratory and discovered a dark and sordid secret beneath the wholesome image of the dog- and cat-food manufacturer: dogs gone crazy from intense confinement to barren steel cages and cement cells, dogs left piled on a filthy paint-chipped floor after having chunks of muscle hacked from their thighs; dogs surgically debarked; horribly sick dogs and cats languishing in their cages, neglected and left to suffer with no veterinary care.

So what is a consumer such as me to do? Frankly, my cats don't eat Iams, which is just as well since I can't afford it. But who do I believe?

From the Iams web site:

Early in 2003, an activist group initiated a sensational and misleading campaign to forcefully persuade Iams not to conduct nutritional studies. The Iams Company and its employees are passionate about cats and dogs with a deep commitment to their health and welfare, so we understand how important this issue is to you...

... 
Nutritional Studies Enhance Pet Well-Being

Early in 2003, an activist group initiated a sensational and misleading campaign to forcefully persuade Iams not to conduct nutritional studies. The Iams Company and its employees are passionate about cats and dogs with a deep commitment to their health and welfare, so we understand how important this issue is to you. We pledge complete openness on this subject so you can feel good about feeding your pets a proven product that is compassionately studied to help dogs and cats live longer and healthier lives.

The Iams mission is to enhance the well-being of dogs and cats by providing world class nutrition and pet care products. To accomplish this mission for our customers, we have to know dogs and cats better than anyone. We put that knowledge into Eukanuba and Iams products that feed an estimated 30 million pets throughout the world every day, and that's a responsibility we take very seriously.

We work with dogs and cats to prove that our pet foods provide true nutritional healthcare. One great example of this is the addition of our Iams Daily Dental Care to all Iams Dog Food formulas. By studying pets using this product, we were able to prove that it helps reduce tartar by up to 50 percent, a development that helps address a serious health problem among more than 85 percent of the world's dogs. These types of feeding studies are the same kind that a human would volunteer to join, and they are only conducted within the strict guidelines of a detailed, industry-leading research policy that we have urged the rest of the industry to adopt. At the same time, cats and dogs on the Iams team get plenty of exercise and socialization that includes interaction with other cats and dogs as well as people.

In addition, we continue to enhance our practices with the help of an independent seven-member International Animal Care Advisory Board that includes some of the world's leading experts on animal care, welfare and ethics. Executives from the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States are just two examples of the respected individuals who have full access to review any facility where Iams is working with pets. They will continue to provide us with valued outside advice. We believe there is no other qualified authority that can better judge how we care for the dogs and cats in our feeding studies.

Again, who do I believe? Both PETA and Iams (a Procter & Gamble company) have savvy marketing people who no-doubt wrote the above quotes. And while I have nothing against so-called "big business," I don't take them (any of them) at their word. But given PETA's terrible history of exaggeration, I don't know that I can take them at their word, either.

Does anyone have thoughts on this?

Posted by Jeff at June 8, 2004 12:37 PM