Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced today the province will ban testing on dogs and cats, calling it “cruel” and “unacceptable.”
Ford said legislation for the ban will be “short and simple.”
“You aren’t going to use pets — dogs or cats — to experiment on any longer.”
In an interview with the Investigative Journalism Bureau on August 11, Ford said he’d “outlaw” dog testing following a groundbreaking investigation by the IJB into cardiac research being performed on puppies at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, Ont. Researchers induced hours-long heart attacks in the puppies before ultimately euthanizing them.
In a public statement the same day, the Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s announced it would “immediately cease research studies involving dogs” following consultation with the province.
The research was fully approved and “adheres to the highest standards of, and is in compliance with, all scientific and ethics protocols,” the statement said. “This will have a significant impact on the ground-breaking research that has resulted in major strides in cardiac care and treatment, and on the dedicated teams involved in this work.”
When asked by a reporter during a press conference on Aug. 25 if he ordered dog testing at St. Joseph’s to end, Ford said, “I discouraged it. You can’t be experimenting on dogs.”
The premier called himself an “animal lover” and said he’s going to start looking for others performing research on dogs and cats.
“If there’s anyone else out there that’s doing this to animals, come clean, cause we’re going to catch you.”
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