Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NCCC 209 Bioethics Committee Annual Report, 2010-2011 Minutes from the Annual Meeting The annual meeting was convened by teleconference on August 17, 2011 at 12:00 EDT by Paul Thompson. Participants were Paul Thompson, Michigan State (Chair); David Benfield, Ohio State (Adminstrator); Richard Reynnells, USDA; Candace Croney, Ohio State; Bob Dailey, Western U.; Julie Fagan, Rutgers U.; Ray Stricklin, U. Maryland, and Janice Swanson, Michigan State. Activities and functions of the committee were reviewed by Paul Thompson and Richard Reynnells. Brief station reports from those on the line indicated quite a bit of activity relating to teaching, publication and outreach at each of the institutions involved in the call. Specific details are reflected in the written summary of activities that follows the minutes of the meeting. Collective activities include another successful Bioethics Symposium at the Am. Soc. of Animal Science meetings, and the first year of activity on a USDA Challenge Grant (C. Croney, P.I.) that is developing curriculum materials relating to animal ethics. Following these reports, the Committee engaged in a brief discussion on planning a Bioethics Symposium for next years ASAS meeting. It was decided to revisit the question of teaching animal ethics, and also incorporating some discussion of animal law. Candace Croney and Julie Fagan will take the lead on putting together a symposium suggestion, with additional support and input from Janice Swanson. Bob Dailey noted that there is interest within the Journal of Animal Science to publish materials relating to animal bioethics and to teaching. Additional planning for the coming year focused on the fact that NIH and NSF are now requiring ethics training for grantees. Ray Stricklin agreed to take the lead on exploring possibilities for a grant, and Paul Thompson agreed to help with that activity. Ray will convene another conference call to discuss this possibility in the future. Elections for officers were held. According to procedure Jose Perata should accede to the position of chair. Candace Croney was elected as vice-chair, and agreed to assist in duties of the chair during the coming year. Julie Fagan was elected as secretary and will also assist in planning for and convening next years meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 pm EDT by Paul Thompson. NCCC 209 Bioethics Committee Reports, 2010-2011 University of Alaska Anchorage, Raymond Anthony reports the following: " Two peer-reviewed publications " One book chapter " Served on AVMA Panel on Euthanasia as Ethicist  Guidelines to be published later in 2011. " Book chapter in progress titled, "Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics," American College of Laboratory Medicine, Elsevier. " Two more articles forthcoming. " Three invited colloquia including in Seoul, Korea and at the annual AVMA congress in St. Louis. " Fourconference presentations, including at two international venues. " Three grant projects, including USDA multi-year challenge grant and NSF grant. Ohio State University, Candace Croney reports the following: " Was awarded and began work as PI on a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant developing bioethics teaching modules and resources: Candace Croney (PI), Linda Lord (Co-PI), Raymond Anthony (Co-PI), Ray Stricklin (CO-PI), Janice Siegford (Co-PI), Janice Swanson (Co-PI) and Gary Varner (Co-PI). Development of an integrated curriculum for animal bioethics: teaching farm animal welfare, agricultural environmental ethics, and rural societal issues based on a cross-disciplinary pedagogy. Source: USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant ($433,697). " In addition a referred journal article, I had 16 abstracts/proceedings on ethics of animal agriculture, welfare and policy " I gave 15 invited presentations on ethics of animal agriculture, welfare and policy including two international presentations. " Janice Swanson, Ray Anthony, Gary Varner, Ray Stricklin and I all participated in a panel on animal ag ethics at the Ag Food and Human Values conference in June 2011. " Co-chaired the technical research advisory committee (TRAC) of the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board; co-chaired writing of the species standards keeping in mind animals welfare and other socio-ethical considerations. " Co-organized and hosted OSU Animal Welfare symposium " Chaired the ASAS/ADSA bioethics committee; proposed, organized and moderated the annual bioethics symposium. " Facilitated NCCC 209 Bioethics committee activities although I had technically rotated off the committee. West Virginia University, Robert Dailey Dr. Dailey continues to teach a course in values and ethics for agriculture food and fiber production. The course is a writing intensive course with 100 students enrolled this past spring. That course will be offered in the spring. In addition, he will again teach an honors section to a small group of non-agricultural majors this fall. He presented a lecture on agricultural bioethics to three separate county extension meetings in their home counties, which were open to the public. He will continue that series and present to a different set of counties this winter. Two speakers were brought to campus to speak primarily to agricultural faculty and students; Dr. Joe Regenstein of Cornell University, Department of Food Science spoke on the topic Why I Love Factory Farming and Dr. Jeff Goodwin of Colorado State University spoke on ethical issues associated with agricultural youth. Iowa State University, Anna Johnson reports the following projects: " Johnson, A. K., T. Fangman, R. Edler, L. A. Karriker and K. J. Stalder. Validation of willingness to approach in the nursery pig. o MS Student Ms. S. Weimer o Expected completion date May 2012 " Johnson, A. K. S. Millman, K. Stalder, J. Coetzee, and L. Karriker. 2011. Developing validated and objective industry-ready tools to assess joint pain manifestation and lameness in the sow. o PhD student Dr. M. Pairis o MS student Ms. C. Mohling o Expected completion date for project 2015 " Johnson, A. K., M. J. Ritter, S. Niekamp and J. J. McGlone. 2011. Bedding and boarding requirements for the finisher pig at marketing over winter and summer months. o MS student Ms. R. Davies o Expected completion date 2013 " Johnson, A. K., J. Siegford, T. Weber, J. Patience and N. Gabler. 2011. Novel approach tests and Human approach tests for control and residual feed intake pigs. o MS student (TBD) o Expected completion date 2014 University of Minnesota, Yuzhi Li Modern swine production is shaped by societal needs. Societal concerns about animal welfare have resulted in some confinement housing systems, such as gestation stalls, being banned in several states of the United States. Consequently, alternatives to confinement housing systems have emerged rapidly during the last decade. Studies at the University of Minnesota focused on reducing piglet mortality and developing management strategies to improve performance and welfare of swine in loose housing systems. Results have been extensively disseminated through presentations and publications. During this reporting period, we attended the National Animal Science Annual Meeting, Midwestern Animal Science Annual Meeting, the ISAE North America Regional Meeting, the ISAE International Meeting, the Iowa Pork Congress, the 71st Minnesota Nutrition Conference. Planned activities in 2012: We will continue working on improving welfare of swine in alternative housing systems. In particular, we will focus on improving welfare of individual gestating sow in group-housing systems. Results will be disseminated through publications in journals, magazines, newspapers, and website such as the Pig Information Gateway (PIG) of the U.S. Pork Center of Excellence (USPCE). PARCIPANTS: Yuzhi Li, Christina E. Phillips (graduate student), Lee J. Johnston, Jon E. Anderson. Western University of Health Sciences, Jose (Txema) Peralta " Course Leader, Veterinary Issues course (CVM 6040 & CVM 6140), years 1 & 2, Veterinary training program " Distinguished Scholar, National Academies of Practice, Veterinary Medicine Academy " Member, Continuing Education Committee, Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics " Member, Scientific Advisory Board for the Michelson Prize & Grants in Reproductive Biology, Found Animals Foundation " Member, American Veterinary Medical Association Model Animal Welfare Curriculum Planning Group " Content Expert on Animal Welfare, European Food Safety Association " Founding Member, American College of Animal Welfare " Member, Scientific Committee, Humane Farm Animal Care Cornell University, Joe Regenstein reports on his in interactions with the European Animal Welfare Scientific Community: This past year I have become heavily involved in issues of religious slaughter around the world. A lot of time has been spent trying to sort out the scientific information available, especially from Europe, and how relevant it is to the issue of stunned versus unstunned slaughter. Unfortunately, a great deal of the research appears to many people to be highly flawed. I have twice asked major European animal welfare researchers (people we all know) how the religious slaughter was done and have been told I dont know. If one only studies the worst case facility and report the worst results (e.g., it took up to 240 seconds to unconsciousness) is this considered valid or ethical science, or working on an agenda? Promotion of an agenda is not, by definition, science. These comparisons use the worst case to create one side of a comparison, which is then generalized to all religious slaughter. It looks like in the coming year I will continue to need to focus on these issues. Two key needs are: one, a set of written minimum standards for describing all forms of slaughter in enough detail so it is reproducible in various countries and second, identification of the good religious slaughter plants and moving the critical research into those plants. My systematic criticisms of some of the major European documents on both religious and secular slaughter have been written up and a preliminary report made public. A much more detailed final report is in progress. Dr. Croney has asked me to prepare a case study around this material, which Dr. Cherney has agreed to help me with for potential inclusion into our animal welfare course along with making it available to others. Utah State University, Robert H. Schmidt Activities included in 2010-2011 include the continued teaching of ENVS 3600, "Living With Wildlife." There is considerable discussion in this course regarding the ethics of human interactions with wild and feral animals. Controversial topics include gray wolf management, hunting and trapping, and wildlife use in research and teaching. All of the 100+ students are required to complete a state Hunter Education course. University of Saskatchewan, Joseph Stookey Plan for the Future: We will be hosting the 3rd International Beef Cattle Welfare Symposium in Saskatoon on June 5-7, 2012. The 2012 3rd International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare will be looking at critical issues from all angles of the beef supply chain including: social concerns, production, environment, transportation, processing, marketing, trade regulations and legislation. The depth, knowledge and experience of the experts participating in this Symposium will provide all attendees with the opportunity to learn about the newest findings, network with industry leaders and fellow attendees, and engage in constructive dialogue on the current and emerging beef cattle welfare issues. We are just launching the web site that is still under construction, but you can read more about the symposium, the program, the speakers, etc. by going to: http://www.beefwelfare2012.ca/ Michigan State University, Janice Swanson and Paul B. Thompson " Jointly have a U.S. Department of Agriculture/CSREES. Social Sustainability in Egg Production, (Co. P.I.s with Joy Mench, UC-Davis) $400,000, funded Aug. 2007. " Janice Swanson taught the animal science senior capstone course. " Paul Thompson taught a graduate seminar on the different between humans and other animals. " Paul Thompson started a project on biosensors for animal disease control collaborating with: Evangelyn C. Alocilja, John Baker, Jennifer Buckley, Lawrence M. Busch, Dan Buskirk, Robert Clarke, Dan Grooms, Steven L. Halstead, Steve Holcombe, Monica List, John Monberg, John V. Stone, Marvin Stone, Kyle Powys-Whyte, Christopher Wolf. " Paul Thompson presented After the Animal: Posthumanism and the Habit of Hunting, Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Annual Meeting, Spokane, WA, March 11, 2011. Texas A&M, Gary Varner Here at Texas A&M, I am participating in the three year USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant for curriculum development, the chief PI for which is Candace Croney. Under this grant, a team of faculty from several universities (including The Ohio State University, The University of Alaska, The University of Maryland-College Park, Michigan State University, and Texas A&M University) is developing curricula for incorporating modules on animal bioethics into various classes, including but not limited to animal science classes, for free, web-based distribution. In the last year, the co-PIs conducted several telephone conferences for organizational and planning purposes, plus a three day in-person meeting for initial module development. That meeting was in conjunction with a joint meeting of the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society, and the Association for the Study of Food and Society in Missoula Montana, where members of the grant team made a 90 minute panel presentation on the project. NCCC209 Bioethics Publications, 2010-2011 " Anthony, R. "Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics," in American College of Laboratory Medicine, Elsevier, in progress. " Anthony, R. In Press. "Building a Sustainable Future for Animal Agriculture: An Environmental Virtue Ethic of Care Approach within the Philosophy of Technology " Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Special Supplement on Sustainable Food Production and Ethics. " AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia 2011. Forthcoming (From AVMA Panel, R. Anthony ethicist). " Bennett, R. and P. Thompson, Economics, in Animal Welfare 2nd Ed. M.C. Appleby, J. A. Mench, I A. S. Olsson and B. O. Hughes, eds. Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK: 2011, CAB International, pp. 279-290. " Bruskotter, J., E. Tolman, S. Enzler, and R. Schmidt. 2010. Gray wolves not out of the woods yet. Science 327:30-31 Bruskotter, J., E. Tolman, S. Enzler, and R. Schmidt. 2010. Are gray wolves endangered in the northern Rocky Mountains? A role for social science in endangered species listing determinations. Bioscience 60:941-948. " Croney, C. and Anthony, R. 2011. Ruminating conscientiously: Scientific and socio-ethical challenges for the US dairy industry Journal of Dairy Science, 94 (2): 539-546 " Croney, C.C. and R. Anthony. 2011. Invited review: Ruminating consciously: Scientific and socio-ethical challenges for the US dairy industries. (94) 2: 539-546. " Heleski, C., and Anthony, R. Forthcoming. "Science alone is not always enough: The importance of ethical assessment for a more comprehensive view of equine welfare. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research. " Holt, P.S., R. H. Davies, J. Dewulf, R. K. Gast, J. K. Huwe, D. R. Jones, D. Waltman, and K. R. Willian The impact of different housing systems on egg safety and quality. Poult. Sci. 2011 90: 251-262. " Lay, D. C., Jr., R. M. Fulton, P. Y. Hester, D. M. Karcher, J. B. Kjaer, J. A. Mench, B. A. Mullens, R. C. Newberry, C. J. Nicol, N. P. OSullivan, and R. E. Porter. Hen welfare in different housing systems. Poult. Sci. 2011 90: 278-294. " Li, Y. Z., and L. H. Wang. 2011. Effects of previous housing systems on agonist behaviors of growing pigs at mixing. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 132: 20-26, " Li, Y. Z., S. K. Baidoo, L. J. Johnston and J. E. Anderson. 2011. Effects of tryptophan supple-mentation on aggression among group-housed gestating sows. J. Anim. Sci. 89: 1899-1907. " Phillips, C. E., Y. Z. Li, J. E. Anderson, L. J. Johnston, G. C. Shurson, J. Deen, and C. Farmer. 2011. Association of sow fear with prolactin and cortisol concentrations pre- and post-farrowing. National ASAS 7/12/2011, New Orleans. " Phillips, C. E., Y. Z. Li, J. E. Anderson, L. J. Johnston, G. C. Shurson, and J. Deen. 2011. Association of sow fear, parity and season with piglet mortality in loose farrowing systems. Midwest ASAS 3/14/2011, Des Moines, IA. " Schmidt, R. 2011. Do fish feel pain? Animal Welfare Institute Quarterly 60(1):27. " Serpell, J.A., Coppinger, R., Peralta, J.M., Fine, A.H. Welfare Considerations in Therapy and Assistance Animals, in Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy, Second Edition: Theoretical Foundations and Guidelines for Practice (2nd Edition), A.H. Fine, Ed., 2010. " Sumner, D. A., H. Gow, D. Hayes, W. Matthews, B. Norwood, J. T. Rosen-Molina, and W. Thurman Economic and market issues on the sustainability of egg production in the United States: Analysis of alternative production systems. Poult. Sci. 2011 90: 229-240. " Swanson, J. C., J. A. Mench, and P. B. Thompson. IntroductionThe Socially Sustainable Egg Production project. Poult. Sci. 2011 90: 227-228. " Swanson, J. C., Y. Lee, P. B. Thompson, R. Bawden, and J. A. Mench. Integration: Valuing stakeholder input in setting priorities for socially sustainable egg production. Poult. Sci. 2011 90: 2110-2121 " Thompson, P. B., Animal Ethics and Public Expectations: The North American Outlook, Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 37(2010): 13-21. " Thompson, P. B., Ethical and Practical Implications of Food Animal Agriculture, in Proceedings: Sustaining Animal Agriculture: Balancing Bioethical, Economic and Social Issues, R. Reynnells, and L. M. Chimenti, eds., Washington, DC/Ames, IA, 2010: USDA and Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, pp. 49; 288-294. " Thompson, P. B., Why Using Genetics to Address Welfare May Not Be a Good Idea, Poult. Sci. 89(2010): 814-821. " Thompson, P. B., M. Appleby, L. Busch, L. Kalof, M. Miele, B. F. Norwood, and E. Pajor. Values and public acceptability dimensions of sustainable egg production. Poult. Sci. 2011 90: 2097-2109. " Whyte, K. P. and P. B. Thompson, A Role for Ethical Analysis in Social Research on Agrifood and Environmental Standards, Journal of Rural Social Sciences 25(3), 2010: 79-98. " Xin, H., R. S. Gates, A. R. Green, F. M. Mitloehner, P. A. Moore, Jr., and C. M. Wathes. Environmental impacts and sustainability of egg production systems. Poult. Sci. 2011 90: 263-277.

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