Animal Rights

Elon Musk, co-founder of Neuralink, said the the first human patient has received an implant from the brain-chip startup. The billionaire and X/Twitter owner made the announcement on the social media platform Monday evening. “The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well,” he tweeted, adding, “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.” The first human received an implant from @Neuralink yesterday and is recovering well.Initial results show promising neuron…

Amazon will no longer sell donkey-skin gelatin to California residents. A report published Wednesday by Wired states the online retailer settled with a nonprofit that filed a complaint, alleging the products violated state animal welfare laws protecting horses. Amazon denied any wrongdoing and disputed the allegations. Still, it agreed to block sales of ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine made from donkey hide, in the Golden State.The Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, an organization devoted to protecting horses,…

You’ve written extensively about dogs, pigs, camels, etc. What drew you to research bovines? Author Yamini Narayanan (Courtesy Navayana) My foray into animals in my research was unexpected – a video taken by undercover activists documenting the screams and almost unseeable suffering involved in the live plucking of rabbits for angora fur came my way. The screams of the rabbits were not of this world – it comes from a timespace of pain from torture that no sentient being should have to endure. I was shocked and…

Manmade meat is marching ever-closer to your dinner plate. A second company has received a critical safety green light from the Food and Drug Administration, and can now move forward with next steps towards selling its lab-grown chicken substitute to U.S. consumers.Good Meat, the sister-brand of Just Egg and a subsidiary of company Eat Just, completed pre-market FDA review earlier this week. The agency’s reviewers “have no questions at this time,” regarding the safety of Good Meat’s “cultured chicken cell material,”…

New York will ban the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores, joining other states that restrict animal sales as part of a push by animal-welfare organizations to shut down large breeders in the Midwest. The ban will take effect in 2024, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who signed the legislation Thursday. “Dogs, cats and rabbits across New York deserve loving homes and humane treatment,” she said. Democrats have majorities in the state Legislature but the bill passed with bipartisan…

One of UPSIDE Foods’ chicken products on display, in all its glory. Photo: UPSIDE FoodsLab-grown meat is one big step closer to grocery store aisles and your dinner plate. The Food and Drug Administration announced its first-ever rubber stamp for a cultured meat company on Wednesday. UPSIDE Foods completed the FDA’s pre-market consultation process, and the agency found no reason to doubt the company’s safety claims.Though technically not an “approval process” the FDA’s assessment of UPSIDE amounts to a green light for the…

Photo: Steven Senne (AP)One of the country’s most prominent academic centers that purports to “advance sustainability in animal agriculture” is almost entirely funded by industrial agriculture interests, new documents show. And the industry has used its connection to help push messaging around how beef isn’t that harmful to the planet.Documents obtained from the University California Davis show that nearly all the funding for The Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center, prominent…

A legal tussle over animal testing in Europe is threatening to jeopardize what has become a key marketing tool for cosmetics companies: selling their shampoos and skin creams as “cruelty free.”The European Union banned animal testing for cosmetics in 2013, a move that was cheered by activists and sparked a string of copycat legislation elsewhere. But the European Court of Justice is now considering a case in which the EU’s chemicals regulator asked a manufacturer to conduct animal tests on two cosmetics ingredients to…

McDonald’s Corp. MCD 1.86% shareholders voted down two director nominees backed by activist investor Carl Icahn as part of his effort to change the way the fast food giant’s pork suppliers treat hogs.The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that McDonald’s MCD 1.86% was poised to prevail. Shareholders Thursday re-elected the company’s full 12-member board, McDonald’s…

McDonald’s Corp. MCD 2.74% is poised to prevail in a proxy fight with activist Carl Icahn, who challenged the fast-food chain over its suppliers’ treatment of pregnant pigs, people familiar with the matter said. Early vote tallies show McDonald’s far ahead of Mr. Icahn, who had nominated two directors to the company’s board, the people said. Votes will continue coming in…