Rattled Iams Play Dirty

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Uncaged campaigns

Thursday, June 07, 2001 8:29 AM

News Release: Rattled Iams play dirty

 

 

News Release

7 June 2001

 

Rattled Iams play dirty

 

The Iams/Eukanuba pet food company has enlisted the

support of the American Kennel Club (AKC) in its

propaganda war to discredit revelations of cruel and

lethal animal tests that it has carried out in

research for its products. A statement (copy below and

available at http://www.akc.org/news/iamsrelease.cfm

issued by the AKC on behalf of Iams smears Uncaged

Campaigns, an avowedly law-abiding and peaceful

campaign group, as " extremist " and calls the Sunday

Express articles " unsubstantiated " . The articles are,

in fact, entirely true and are based on 24 papers

published in scientific journals describing

vivisection studies funded or part-funded by Iams and

participated in by Iams researchers. ( see

http://www.uncaged.co.uk/iams.htm )

 

The AKC receives sponsorship money from Iams. (See

details of the AKC/Eukanuba American Dog Classic,

December 12, 2001 in Orlando, Florida

http://www.akc.org/dic/classic/classic.cfm . Iams have

a representative - Keith Kort - on the show

committee). The UK Kennel Club is currently

considering its position following a constructive

meeting with Uncaged Campaign at Crufts.

 

The Iams Company was bought by Procter & Gamble (P & G)

in September 1999. The news arrives on the day that

Gary Cunningham, P & G's Director of UK Corporate

Affairs, telephoned Uncaged Campaigns out of the blue

to try to broker a deal to stop the campaign against

Iams. Mr Cunningham asked Dan Lyons, Uncaged

Campaigns' Director, what actions Iams could take in

order to resolve the dispute. Mr Lyons replied that

our position, as stated on our website (

http://www.uncaged.co.uk/iams.htm ) was clear- while

Iams continues to perform painful and harmful

experiments on animals we would continue informing the

public about this fact and leave it up to them to vote

with their purses. Mr Cunningham replied that this was

" a long way " from Iams current position and practice,

and that he was searching for a way around the

" impasse " . We restated our position that we are merely

conveying the facts to the public. If Iams wants to

regain some credibility and respect it simply has to

stop the practices that the public find abhorrent -

i.e. it's cruelty to animals. Mr Cunningham didn't

appear confident that Iams were prepared to do this.

 

Obviously, this telephone call is highly significant

both in terms of revealing how worried Iams & P & G are,

as well as re-confirming our central objection that

Iams has dishonestly tried to deny - that they have

conducted cruel experiments on animals. Mr Lyons also

objected in unequivocal terms to the dishonest, unfair

and defamatory public statements made by Iams and the

American Kennel Club regarding Uncaged Campaigns and

the Sunday Express articles. He urged Mr Cunningham to

ensure, as a matter of basic decency, that Iams should

stick to the truth in its statements. We await a

response.

 

For interviews/more information, conntact Dan Lyons on

0114 272 2220 or 07799 117694/5

 

 

 

AKC Statement Regarding the IAMS Company

 

Statement from Alfred Cheauré, President and CEO

The American Kennel Club

 

On May 27, a British tabloid paper ran an article

making inflammatory and disparaging allegations

against the Iams Company. The unsubstantiated piece

was apparently sparked by a British animal extremist

group that in the past has promoted boycotts against

Procter and Gamble, Iams parent company. AKC accepts

the Iams Company response to these allegations posted

on their web site

(http://www.iams.com/aboutiams/falseallegations.html)

and we support the Iams Company. Throughout our

association with Iams we have found them to be

committed to the betterment of dogs and responsible

dog ownership, two goals the AKC shares.

 

The American Kennel Club, founded in 1884, has

dedicated itself to the advancement of dogs. Since

that time, revolutionary advances have been made in

veterinary medicine and canine nutrition. We know that

many of these life-saving, life-enhancing and

life-lengthening advances occurred as a direct result

of research using animals. Had such research not been

conducted, many of the vaccines, antibiotics, surgical

procedures and common treatments available today would

not have been developed and many of our dogs might

still be dying from rabies, distemper, parvo and many

other diseases that are now treatable. We are indebted

to research scientists for the contributions they have

made to the quality of our dogs' lives and we support

them as they continue seeking new cures.

 

[The AKC can be contacted on either 919 816 3573 (main

office) or 919 852 3821 / 212 696 8343 9both

communications department numbers.]

 

_________

 

Iams & Eukanuba pet food cruelty exposed -

www.uncaged.co.uk/iams.htm

 

 

 

 

 

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