A proposed program to use live animals, including 14 beagle puppies, in rabies experiments was given the green light on Wednesday by experts at a meeting held by the Council of Agriculture’s Animal Health Research Institute.
The program is part of a rabies vaccine research initiative and is to use 220 specific pathogen-free mice (instead of the 210 reported previously), 36 healthy ferret-badgers and 14 beagles ranging from six to 12 months old.
The program has concerned animal protection activists, including Chu Tseng-hung (朱增宏), chief executive officer of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan, who said that the council should not proceed with the plan.
Chu was among nine people who attended the review meeting, which was chaired by Animal Health Research Institute director-general Tsai Hsiang-jung (蔡向榮).
There was no vote on the issue, because the program won the consent of all of the animal-testing experts at the meeting, Chu said.
Other participants at the meeting included four institute officials, former National Laboratory Animal Center director Simon Liang (梁善居) and representatives from the Animal Protection Association and the Chinese Taipei Society of Laboratory Animal Sciences.
In a bid to prevent the program from being carried out, Chu said he was to file a motion at a planned meeting of the council’s animal protection consultants yesterday.
He said the authorities should follow the example of advanced foreign countries.
This could include inviting more experts in various fields to review any proposals to use pets, including dogs and cats, or primates in animal testing, Chu, who was formerly a Buddhist monk, added.
If the motion is adopted, the program would have to be assessed once more — this time at a bigger meeting of experts, Chu said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it