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On March 12, the Humane Society of the United States released a report based on an undercover investigation of a lab in Michigan contracted by Dow Agrosciences (now Corteva Agriscience) to conduct toxicity testing on dogs. Just days later, on March 18, Corteva announced it had ended a test of a fungicide on dogs and would attempt to rehome the animals. But what appeared to be a swift victory for the Humane Society was, in fact, the product of a months-long campaign on two continents.
Kathleen Conlee, the vice president for animal research issues at the Humane Society, says the undercover investigation was carried out last summer by a Humane Society employee hired by Charles River Laboratories in Mattawan, Michigan, a facility contracted by Corteva to perform testing. The society’s aim was “to educate the public about the use of dogs in toxicity testing of various ...