Beagles used in drug trials
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Thursday, August 11th.
There’s a backlash against a San Diego company using Beagles in drug trials. More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….
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San Diego health officials are now using wastewater to track the spread of monkeypox, just like they do with COVID.
Researchers at U-C San Diego say they first detected monkeypox in mid-July at the Point Loma Treatment plant.
And since then.. levels have been steadily rising.
So far 113 cases have been found in San Diego County.
Monkeypox is transmitted through close contact and can cause painful rashes and lesions.
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San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an update to the city's Climate Action Plan into law yesterday.
The plan calls for the city to reach a net zero greenhouse gas emissions goal by 20-35.
The updated plan was approved by the San Diego City Council last week.
City staff will bring a full implementation plan back to the council by February.
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Governor Gavin Newsom nominated a former San Diego appellate justice to serve as chief justice of the California Supreme Court yesterday.
Patricia Guerrero is from Imperial Valley.
She made history as the first Latina to serve on the state's highest court.
And if confirmed, she will be the first Latina to serve as California's chief justice.
Her nomination must be confirmed by voters in the November eighth general election, and must be confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments.
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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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Dogs… They’re considered man’s, and woman’s best friend.
And the beagle breed is especially sweet-spirited.
However, as KPBS’s Maya Trabulsi reports, it’s a trait that has made them more likely to be used in medical research.
“Hey, guys.” A greeting among two dogs - their eager tails wag back and forth like a metronome keeping time, the unquestionable sign of happiness. But this isn’t the first time these two beagles have met. In fact, it's a reunion. SARAH KLITZING “We don’t know what was given to them, we don't know anything about what happened before the day we met them.” Instagram Video of Rescue - Source: Animal Farm Refuge They were rescued in 2020 after spending 7 years being tested on in a San Diego research lab. Once known only by a series of numbers, their new families named them Moritz and Theo. Mike and Sarah Klitzing say that beagles’ forgiving spirit is also their curse. MIKE KLITZING “They generally like to be handled and so that's kind of weaponized against them because they will cause the least amount of problems for the people doing the testing.” MIKE KLITZING “He's got his number his lab number tattooed on the inside of his ear.” MAYA “This dog, who has been tested on for seven years, is letting me hold him as a stranger. Letting me touch his head, completely trusting.” While most people are not surprised that animals are used in research, what most don’t know is that nearly 60 thousand beagles per year are bred and used specifically for that purpose. Recently, advocates and others have shined the spotlight on San Diego-based pharmaceutical company Crinetics. The company contracts with inotiv, a lab in Indiana that is performing toxicology studies on 80 beagle PUPPIES. CONLEE: “The docile nature of beagles is what makes them the victim here.” Kathleen Conlee is a former animal researcher, who now works with the national Humane Society. She says the organization conducted a 7-month investigation at Inotiv and produced undercover video. She speaks about a particularly wrenching part of the video involving a dog named riley. CONLEE: “and the veterinarian was called to come in because of how bad of a condition he was in and wasn't able to make it because of personal reasons so the animal suffered all night on the floor just moaning and groaning.” “And I've worked on this issue for a really long time. I've seen a lot of disturbing videos, but just hearing that animal groaning like that, I've never heard anything so awful. Inotiv released a statement saying it complies with all regulations and its Indiana and Maryland facilities are accredited by the Association for the Accreditation and Assessment of Laboratory Animal Care, known as AALAC. Nonetheless, protesters backed with a petition of more than 250 thousand signatures, are calling for the beagles to be released for adoption. PROTESTOR: “They blocked the doors, they’re not letting us in, but hopefully they heard our voices. BUT The voices of protesters have been heard in the halls of Congress. In May, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from 32 states signed a letter to Crinetics and Inotiv, asking for the puppies to be released instead of euthanized. Officials at Crinetics would not agree to an interview, saying a number of their employees have received personal threats. In a statement, the company said it is conducting clinical trials on potentially life-saving treatments for babies and young children and has no choice but to use autopsied tissue samples from animal trials. And it says until the FDA changes its requirements, there are no alternatives. In a statement to KPBS, the FDA would not comment specifically about the Crinetics study, but said euthanasia is not required after study completion unless it is necessary to examine tissue. A US Department of Agriculture website has a search tool that provides details on studies. It shows which species are used by each lab, and how many of the animals were in studies involving pain, distress, or pain-relieving drugs. KPBS observed the exterior of 3 of these local labs that reported using dogs. The buildings are mostly obscure, many are located in business parks. At one of the sites, a lab technician taking his morning break was willing to talk to us about the testing that he has done. MARTIN “I've done with, like, pigs, pigs and dogs and all kinds of species.” Brian Martin has been working at this lab for 5 years and says the animals here are well cared for. He goes on to say, from what he has seen, that isn’t true for all labs. MARTIN “I know what I'm doing, the animal is going to be okay. If somebody else is doing it, they might not have as much care for the animals as we do.” I ask him what it is like to test on companion animals, like dogs. MARTIN “It's tough, but, like, we don't euthanize the dogs when we're done with them. We just, like, we wash them out and then we reuse them.” MAYA “What does that mean, ‘wash them out and reuse them’?” MARTIN “So, we'll give them a drug, and then we will take blood time points, let's say for three or four days. Then we will just let them sit for, like, two weeks back in their pen. And then we'll reuse them again on a study. Some of the dogs we've had for, like, seven or eight years.” And after the dogs have spent half their lifespan in the labs, he says they are adopted out to homes, sometimes by their own clients. Meanwhile as the fate of the beagles in Indiana hangs in the balance, 4000 beagles are in the process of being rehomed after a facility in Virginia, owned by an Inotiv subsidiary, agreed as part of a settlement to relinquish them after allegations of multiple welfare violations. Some of those dogs have been brought to San Diego for adoption. In part two of this story, we will look into the current state of science and the regulation when it comes to animal testing, and how that research translates to humans. Maya Trabulsi, KPBS News. “You're such a good sweet girl.”
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Repairs are continuing in Tijuana after a sewage rupture last week, but an estimated 288 million gallons of raw sewage has already hit the Tijuana River just North of the border..
Some 32 million gallons per day is flowing into the South Bay International Wastewater treatment plant.
KPBS health reporter Matt Hoffman says that’s more than the plant can handle.
Serge Dedina, Imperial Beach Mayor that’s polluting our beaches Serge Dedina is the mayor of imperial beach which is under closure orders due to the sewage flows.. Coronado is open for now, but there’s warnings for Silver Strand beach. Dedina says it will take a couple of years at least to stop these flows from happening -- In the meantime he’s met with Baja California officials and says they have committed to emergency mitigation measures– Dedina So doing what any other sewage treatment plan would do. Chlorination, dredging if you’re a civil engineer you’ll know what i mean. Anything that will help this environmental disaster An official from the International Boundary and Water Commission in San Diego says details are still being discussed with nothing finalized. Repairs on the rupture could be finished by this week. MH KPBS News.
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Coming up.... A new option for those who are homeless in East County. We’ll have that story and more, next, just after the break.
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The unhoused in East San Diego County have a new option…
A new overnight “safe parking” site… with additional services.
KPBS reporter Jacob Aere says it’s one of East County’s first solutions to the growing problem of homelessness.
Back in April, the North Magnolia Avenue site was a homeless encampment with hundreds of people and tents. Now it's an overnight space to sleep for those with cars, according to Teresa Smith of Dreams for Change. Her organization was contracted to run the program. “So this is definitely low-barrier, so families will be top priority… And as far as what we mean by low-barrier is that, it literally is, we’re looking for individuals that just want to move towards permanent housing.” The Safe Parking lot is the first County-operated emergency shelter in the unincorporated County of San Diego. It’s open nightly from 5:30 PM through 7 AM the following morning … but it’s not a walk up site. Participants are referred by the county’s homeless outreach workers. Jacob Aere, KPBS News. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.
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San Diego is far behind on its goal of building more roundabouts.
KPBS metro reporter Andrew Bowen says the slow pace of construction has impacts on traffic safety and climate change.
AB: Roundabouts have a couple of advantages: They slow down traffic, making streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. And unlike stop signs or traffic lights, they keep cars moving through the intersection. Less stop-and-go means less gas turned into carbon dioxide. KM: Even though the speed limit is 25 miles per hour, that is not the speed that people tend to travel on this roadway. AB: Katie Matchett is an urban planner and president of the nonprofit Beautiful PB. We meet at a dangerous intersection in Pacific Beach where the city is planning a roundabout — at a cost of almost 3 million dollars. KM: Some of these big roundabout projects — they are very costly, they take up a lot of space, they take some time to design. But there are other smaller quick improvements that we can make that will actually help us reach some of our goals. AB: San Diego's 2015 Climate Action Plan set a goal of building 15 roundabouts by 2020. But the city built only two. Jesse O'Sullivan of the nonprofit Circulate San Diego says "quick-build" roundabouts, installed with paint and plastic barriers drilled into the street, are a cheaper and faster alternative. AB: A quick-build project is a great way to show the community exactly what the benefit of these streetscape improvements are. AB: San Diego will need to build 2 to 3 roundabouts per year to meet its new goal of 33 new roundabouts by 2035. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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Turning to education, students are returning to school as another health threat emerges.
Health experts say children are at low risk for monkeypox infections, but add that the disease poses a higher risk for some students.
One way monkeypox spreads is through close skin to skin contact, something students should try to avoid, health experts say.
But for student athletes, especially those engaged in contact sports, the risk of transmission is higher.
Dr. Howard Taras, a pediatrician with UC San Diego, says students can take precautions to protect themselves by not sharing drinks and checking their skin before playing.
“What really may be more important to do is to re-emphasize a lot of the public health precautions that we asked schools to take for other skin transmitted diseases.”
Schools will provide students and families with a fact sheet on the disease, but the county’s largest district, San Diego Unified, says there are no plans to discontinue sports or track cases publicly as it does with COVID-19.
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In other education news … As the fall semester begins with more school districts opening each week…time is running out to fill hundreds of vacant jobs.
But the teacher shortage has improved.
KPBS Education reporter M.G. Perez explains.
The San Diego County Office of Education reports about 350 teacher openings right now. That’s down significantly from the past two years. Meanwhile this fall, the County has a new internship program for teacher candidates working to earn their multiple-subject credential. The program allows them to get a full time teaching job with benefits while receiving mentorship and other support. Dr. Shevey Jones is Executive Director of H-R for the County office… “to do that it really takes some refined teaching skills …and they come in ready to teach and then continue to get better as we all should.” An update on the staffing shortage will come in October when official student attendance numbers are confirmed. MGP KPBS News.
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That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
