The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
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10:29am on Sunday, 17th July, 2011:
Weird
According to Wired UK, every year horseshoe crabs are fished out of the sea and 30% of their blood is removed while they're still alive. They're then thrown back into the sea 100 miles from where they were caught. This is because pharmaceutical companies use it to check that their facilities and products are sterile.
Here's a scan of the start of the article:
It then goes on to explain the exact process ("Rack & Bleed: each crab is folded at its hinged carapace and a stainless-steel needle pierces the pericardium to drain the oxygenated blood".
Ouch! That's gotta hurt!
I'm sure that ethical vegans have nevertheless managed to come up with some rational explanation as to why it's just fine for them to keep using pharmaceutical products, though.
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Copyright © 2011 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).