Ontario to ban research testing on dogs, cats: Ford

Doug Ford says the upcoming legislation will be simple: no more experimenting on cats and dogs because they are part of people's families.

Ontario will ban research testing on dogs and cats, Premier Doug Ford said Monday as he called the practice “cruel.”

“You aren’t going to use pets — dogs or cats — to experiment on any longer,” Ford said at an unrelated news conference in London, Ont.

“Simple as that. We just don’t do that, it’s cruel, and it’s unacceptable.”

Two whistleblowers came forward to Animal Justice earlier this year with concerns about dogs undergoing tests for cardiac research at the Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London.

The animal rights’ organization then put the staffers in touch with the University of Toronto’s Investigative Journalism Bureau.

That led to an article published earlier this month that found the dogs — mostly puppies — were used for tests and killed before their internal organs were removed for further examination.

The research institute decided after speaking with the province earlier this month to stop all research on dogs. The hospital said it conducted the experiments under proper authorities and followed all rules and regulations.

It noted that both Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “require animal-tested protocols as proof-of-principle for efficacy and safety, before new treatments can be used in human patients.”