A major player in the billion-dollar antibodies industry has repeatedly violated the Animal Welfare Act, USDA says
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A major player in the billion-dollar antibodies industry has repeatedly violated the Animal Welfare Act, USDA says
By Brooks Hays, UPI.com, Monday, February 17, 2014
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Santa Cruz Biotechnology is the second largest supplier of antibodies in the world. It's also been repeatedly mistreating animals, the USDA claims. The agency recently filed a formal complaint against the company outlining a variety of abuses.
The company already has a history of Animal Welfare Act violations,
having paid out several thousand dollars in fines over the last decade.
But now the antibodies producers are going to have to answer for their
misdeeds in court. The company could have responded to the allegations
in writing, but refused, and now a court date has been set for July.
Santa Cruz Biotech operates a ranch in Central California where it
houses the hundreds of goats and rabbits it uses to harvest antibodies,
a large protein vital to the functioning of the body's immune system.
Antibodies have a variety of uses in medical and biology research and
are sold to labs around the world.
According to a series of USDA inspections, animals at the ranch were
consistently neglected. Officials reported that, among other violations,
sick or hurt animals were left uncared for and that food was
substandard.
The advocacy group Stop Animal Exploitation Now! first brought attention
to the company's pattern of abuse in 2011 after reading over a number of
the USDA inspection reports. “We look at all the inspection reports as
they become available online,” Michael Budkie, the groups executive
director, told Nature. “And Santa Cruz Biotechnology has a history of
serious animal welfare violations.”
“I don’t think what’s going on is widely known in the scientific
community,” Stanford University biologist Matt Scott told The New
Yorker. “If it was more widely known, it would have an impact.
Biologists care about animals and the land, and don’t want to take part
in something where either of those is hurt.”
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