skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Calif. Biotech Firm to Pay $3.5 Million to Settle Animal Cruelty Charges

play audio
Play

Tuesday, May 24, 2016   

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - A biotech firm with facilities in California will pay $3.5 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act.

Santa Cruz Biotechnology has admitted no wrongdoing, but will lose its dealer's license and registration as a laboratory. This means it can no longer conduct research with animals, such as goats and rabbits, that are protected under federal law.

Matthew Liebman, chief legal counsel for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, says the alleged violations were discovered during routine federal inspections, and mainly involve denying proper veterinary care.

"There are cases of animals with coyote bites left untreated. There was an animal with a baseball-sized tumor on her neck that was untreated," says Liebman. "There were animals who Santa Cruz Biotechnology's own veterinarian had recommended for euthanasia, yet the facility kept them alive and continued to draw blood from them."

Santa Cruz Biotechnology did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Liebman, the groundbreaking fine is 10 times the amount of any previous animal-cruelty sanction. He says the company, as part of its operations, injects animals with proteins or disease so they produce antibodies, then sells the antibody-laden blood for use in scientific research.

Liebman says his organization had sued the company in state court, but that suit was dismissed because of the federal investigation. He says now, the Animal Legal Defense Fund is appealing that dismissal.

"They're still free to produce antibodies using mice and rats and other animals that aren't covered under federal law, and cause them immense suffering. So, under state law, that conduct would be cruel," says Liebman. "So, our argument is that our lawsuit ought to be reinstated so that those animals who aren't protected by federal law still receive the benefit of state law."

According to the settlement, Santa Cruz Biotechnology was also accused of lying to investigators about the existence of a barn that housed animals for experimentation.

The company reported owning more than 9,000 animals in 2014, and almost twice that number in 2011.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021