Hello, this is The Jungle blog.
Today, I want to talk about something important. There’s a Senate race between John Fetterman, and Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania. Dr. Oz of course doesn’t live in Pennsylvania – he merely has property there, but he’s trying to put himself in charge anyways.
A new report came out that over the course of his career, between 1989 and 2000 Dr. Oz has killed over three hundred dogs for Animal Experiments. He did this conducting research at Columbia University. Most people are ignorant about just how bad these experiments are. Animals are regularly used to test poisons, chemicals, carcinogens, and drugs. Experimenters cut open monkey’s skulls and plant electrodes, then do psychology experiments… It’s also very regular to do learned helplessness experiments on dogs. This is when you electrocute an animal and make it impossible to escape. By the time you make it possible to escape the animal no longer tries to. Psychology Experiments are amongst the most painful.
Of course, Dr. Oz has tried to deny the allegations by questioning the reporting, but he can’t. Not really. See – this story shines a light on the fact that these experiments happen a lot. Almost all universities have laboratories where these practices are common. So how could he deny it? They’re not even beneficial. They waste time, and are inefficient; but medical, veterinary, and science groups lobby for them – hard. So do the companies that breed animals, and create experimental devices. This isn’t to say we ‘shouldn’t trust experts’ or to say we should be against the concept of science. The problem is that the question here isn’t really a scientific one, but a moral one.
But you want to know what makes this story worse? Not only did his experiments require the deaths and prolonged suffering of the dogs he experimented on – he also violated many codes in The Animal Welfare Act. These have the most minimum standards for dogs, cats, primates, and rabbits used in experiments. It requires painkillers and euthanasia for animals who are suffering. It requires you not to use paralyzing drugs without also using painkillers. You also can’t experiment multiple times on the same animal.
The information I’m about to tell you doesn’t come from recent reporting. It comes from a whistleblower who worked with Columbia University, named Catherine Dell’Orto, in 2003 and 2004. After witnessing the experiments, not knowing what else to do, she called PETA. PETA sent a letter to the University containing her reports. She stated that even though PETA isn’t a reliable source of information, that what the letter said was true to what she told them.
Dr Oz failed to sedate dogs he was putting down – you know… using anesthesia to numb their pain. One dog who was experimented on experienced lethargy, vomiting, paralysis, and kidney failure. He failed to euthanize the dog for two days. He continued to experiment on another dog repeatedly for a whole month; even though the animal was in such horrible condition that the data had become unusable. He killed a litter of puppies by injecting expired drugs, and then he put them in a trash bag with their still alive litter mates.
We don’t have a wide array of Animal Welfare laws in the first place and the ones we do have go unenforced. So Doctor Oz was able to cut corners, and throw out all caution without anybody stopping him. He didn’t just harm dogs either, he also experimented on and killed pigs, baby cows, rabbits, and small rodents.
But due to violations of The Animal Welfare Act, the USDA ordered Columbia University to pay 2000 dollars. The USDA did an internal investigation, and the two parties did a settlement. The USDA accepted the whistleblowers findings; but according to her, the review was still faulty, because many people in The USDA are complicit in similar behavior. The fact there were any consequences took a lot of effort, and is the exception, not the rule; and imagine, after all that, the only penalty for the unnecessary death, and immense suffering is a paltry 2000 dollars. It shows how normalized these actions are, and the blatant disregard in our attitudes for any species that’s not human. Months later, Columbia University made a statement. They didn’t deny any specific allegations. They simply said Dr. Oz was “a highly respected researcher and clinician” and that he adhered “to the highest standards of animal care.” We see a common mistake here, not distinguishing the difference between highest or even sufficient care – and treatment we merely consider to be ‘morally justified.’ These experiments have been a tradition for so long, that it’s just a common attitude that the animals are just objects to be experimented on; and that their suffering doesn’t matter even a little.
Dr. Oz used to have senior positions at Columbia University, but earlier in April, they cut all ties with him. Probably because of his bizarre statements, fringe politics, and being a TV Show host running for Senator of Pennsylvania; even if he doesn’t live there. He’s a supporter of Election Denial – where political candidates – plus the previous president have refused to accept the results of our elections, citing unproven conspiracy theories about their opponents cheating. This is extremely dangerous for our democracy. These are the types of beliefs that led to the coup attempt on January Sixth. I guess there’s also the fact that he’s also an insufferable quack that sells magic pseudoscience cures on TV.
We have paltry Animal Welfare Laws that go unenforced. To get enforcement and funding for old regulations and new ones, Animal Experiments needs to become a political issue. For this to happen, we need to draw as much attention to it as possible. Despite how horrible Dr. Oz’s actions were; we need to seize the moment, and shine light on this issue to give it some much needed attention. This issue needs to be on the ballot every election from now on. If elected, John Fetterman should make it a priority to make sure these actions don’t continue to happen at the Universities where they’re extremely common.
Seriously… I’ve been paying attention, and John Fetterman is an awesome guy. I implore voters in Pennsylvania to vote for him over Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz has been gaining in the polls recently because of police endorsements, and bizarre rants he makes on Fox News. I’m guessing these rants disgust many Fox Viewers too. Fetterman is a Pennsylvania native, trying to rebuild the town of Braddock. He’s an advocate for economic justice and criminal justice reform. He was able to eliminate fees associated with applying for a pardon, and is working to move the process online to eliminate the paperwork. He officiated the first same sex marriage in his area, and champions marijuana legalization.
Right now, he’s running against Dr. Oz for Senate, and I think between the two of them, the choice is really easy, and that it’s very important to vote in this election.
Anyways, that’s all for now, have a good day everyone!