Tag: animal testing

Animals and Poison Ivy

~ Mr. Breeze ~ Leave a comment
Chipmunk Eating Poison Ivy
Chipmunk Eating Poison Ivy (AI)

Animals don’t usually get poison ivy. However, the active ingredient, urushiol, is highly allergenic to most humans.

Non-primate species can roll in poison ivy and at most get some irritation. This means that cats and dogs can transfer the oil onto their humans without getting contact dermatitis themselves.

Mangoes, cashews and pistachios are popular foods that contain urushiol.

Mangoes: The oily skin, rind, tree sap, and leaves of the mango plant contain urushiol. Only the flesh is safe to eat. It’s not advisable to bite into an unpeeled mango.

Cashews: Raw cashew nut shells are coated in caustic oils similar to urushiol. This is why cashews are never sold in their shells. Cashews are a superfood and very popular in vegan recipes. They must be roasted to neutralize the toxin before you eat them. Unfortunately, the shells are removed by hand, and the workers get terrible burns.

Pistachios: Pistachio shells can contain trace amounts of urushiol, though usually not enough to trigger an allergic reaction.

Urushiol is not a universal poison. Different species tolerate it very differently. A chipmunk may eat poison ivy without a reaction, a cat may carry it home on its fur, and a human may break out in hives after an unnoticed contact. Nature sometimes spares the who walks in the leaves and punishes the person who pets it.

As an aside, this difference is Why Animal Testing is Illogical.

Why Animal Testing is Illogical

~ Mr. Breeze ~ 1 Comment

Animal testing is illogical. Although humans and many other species have similar DNA, and though most organ systems are similar, subtle differences make using animal models to test food, drugs and cosmetics unreliable. Here are just three ways animals don’t react the same as humans.

Rats are known to be more resistant to a certain mushroom toxin than humans. Some mushrooms, notably the Fools webcap, contain a nephrotoxin called orellanine. Rats can eat mushrooms that are deadly to humans.
Feeding a food to animals is not a valid test.

In 2006 a new immune system boosting drug, TGN1412, which had been successfully tested in animals, went to human trials. The subjects were only given the equivalent of 1/500th the safe dose for “non-human primates,” macaques. A single amino acid difference between macaque and human DNA caused violent immune system reactions in humans. Within 90 minutes of the injection, the test subjects suffered searing pain. Within a few hours they suffered multiple organ failure. On a positive note, all the test subjects survived.
Giving a drug to animals is not a valid test.

Dogs and cats don’t usually get poison ivy. Most humans are highly allergic to the active ingredient, urushiol oil. Non-primate species can walk through poison ivy and at most get some irritation.
Applying cosmetics to an animal’s skin is not a valid test.

Fortunately, modern medicine has a number of alternatives to animal tests. One promising technology is Organ Chips, tiny devices about the size of a USB memory stick that contain living human cells.

Lots of drugs don’t make it through the animal trials, but who knows whether the drug companies have thrown away the Magic Bullet simply because it didn’t work on animals?