To quote Chris Laurence in a conversation I had with him on Friday 12th of February 2010,

” Undoubtedly, I think drug reactions or anything where you have a voluntary reporting system is inevitably going to be underreported, it would be stupid to deny that, because when your talking about practicing vets they, a proportion will be responsible enough to report reactions, equally there will be a proportion that won’t and we try very hard all the distributors try very hard to get people to report reactions. I have written as chairman a couple of articles, I have one going in next month saying, pointing out to people that they should be reporting reactions. I have written to veterinary record they have been clear that people should be reporting reactions, so there is a positive push to get people to report things, you are always going to get underreporting anyone who tells you you are not going to get underreporting is talking through their backside basically.”

By the way I have a full recording of the conversation should anyone doubt what I am saying. I will be posting it on my site in the next week to document our conversation.

One academic called Joel Lexchin an associate professor of the School of Health Policy and Management, York University; emergency physician, University Health Network; and associate professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto had this to say about self reporting of adverse reactions in human data:

“If spontaneous reporting is worth preserving, it is clear that current practice needs significant improvement. British data suggest that underreporting may be as high as 98%”

Pet Implant data could be much higher than this because lumps need biopsies to detect tumours. Dead animals need autopsies to identify the implant as the problem.

In short the reported data is a farce and it is disgraceful that the industry is allowed to self regulate in this way when we are going to make a law compelling people to implant their dogs.

This is a business and as a business it is using groups like Dogs Trust to lobby for compulsory micro chipping.

Here is one example of what I mean.

Chris Laurence is at the same time:

Chairman of the Microchip Advisory Group – Membership comprised of manufacturers; distributors; databases; major purchasers; major implanters.

A member of the Pet Advisory Committee. Providing Information and Advice on Pets in Society to Parliament, and National and Local Governmnent.

Dogs Trust Veterinary Director, pushing for compulsory microchipping.

If this law does go through I’ll be asking few questions about how the public consultation was conducted, it does seem a relatively few people have a disproportionate say in national dog control policy.

Hello Barry, why did the RSPCA not invite various other groups and organisations that have more of a hands on role with the subjects and issues discussed on the day?

The Kennel Club should have been on the speakers list as the issue of dog breeding as part of the problem was only mentioned by a couple of people, the first to mention it was the council officer Dave Griffiths, he got a round of applause for that.

The next time it was mentioned was by Angela Walder who had a verbal duel with Mr Lambert of the Kennel Club who was a delegate, about the omission of the word ‘irresponsible’ when mentioning dog breeders, that was a bit of a shock as they are usually so ‘gentleman’s clubbish’ all these organisations?

Part of the problem with the RSPCA is that they seem to walk roughshod over other organisations instead of working with them, with the exception of the police.

An example was Mr Piers Claughton informing the delegates that he has arranged dog handling training for those council workers who may not be animal handlers but may be neighbourhood wardens instead and need to seize dogs?

Was this arranged through the Local Government Association or even the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health?

Did the RSPCA miss a chance to tell councils that they should only employ trained people to deal with animals?

Sadly too many of these groups duplicate work, so instead of one concentrating resources on one issue, there are usually 2 or 3 all spending money on the same thing, why not decide on areas that they will work on so they can allocate resources properly?

Alison Green writes that the Dogs Trust delegate mentioned an Animal Welfare Officers handbook written by the PAC. They may have written it, but on reading it you can see that not many of the contributors have actually ever worked in the frontline dealing with stray dogs. This handbook is a fine example of ‘experts’ writing something based on the ‘law’ of the land rather than any actual hands on experience.

If you have a look at the handbook, look at the photo’s of the dog handling section, why is the person in the photographs using a plastic covered wire lead to capture the dog, what is wrong with a regular slip lead?

It also critcises the legal collar and tag method of ID but heavily plugs microchipping, this contribution surely must come from a microchip company! Wonder why the authors are so ‘up’ for microchips to be made compulsory….perhaps it is not unconnected to the fact that one of the members of PAC is also on the Microchip Advisory Group?

Is this how democracy works that affects us as dog owners?

You write that the RSPCA mops up after everyone else, it sure does not mop up after councils who deal with stray dogs and just what is the legal status of these ‘abandoned’ dogs that the RSPCA deal with? In law they are stray dogs, so the RSPCA should stick to the law and contact the council. Nothing to do with me it is the law of the land and why should the RSPCA be outside the law when everybody else has to follow it or face the consequences?

This is why people are starting to turn away from them now, they are literally turning into a law unto themselves.

The Inspectors do a great job, the bean counters and non-field staff are the problem and the cause of the resentment that smoulders away in the public nowadays.

I thought this was a good point made by Kendal Shepherd.