Not that you don't have valid points, but all of those sound like
responsible research practices to me.  Considering how common some of these
problems are, and the amount of baseless conjecture there is about the
topics being studied, I can't find fault with these.  Without research
exactly as described here, the science of animal nutrition isn't going
anywhere.

I don't know if Wellness does feeding trials the way IAMS does, but Wellness
does do feeding trials, which include taking multiple blood samples.  I've
seen the AAFCO feeding trials bashed on here and elsewhere because they're
so easy and not even remotely comprehensive.  It sounds like IAMS' feeding
tests are much more comprehensive and look at a far larger set of variables.
This is a bad thing?

Jon

It will be very interesting if one of the radical arsonists PETA has
funded in one way or another, turns out to be responsible for the two
fires at the IAMS manufacturing plant in Ohio!

From the Consumer Freedom website

Animal Rights Leaders Predict Violence, Death
The cast of characters at the recently concluded  "Animal Rights 2004"
convention including a tenured university professor, a self-described
ocean-going pirate, and a husband-and-wife team seemingly dedicated to
"animal liberation" by any means necessary. Meet Jerry Vlasak and his
wife Pamelyn Ferdin, both of whom have close connections to PETA's
quasi-medical front group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine (PCRM).

Vlasak has been arrested several times, and urges others to "get
arrested." Referring to a violent subset of the terrorist Animal
Liberation Front (ALF), he described himself during the convention as
"heavily involved in the SHAC campaign." And then, in a stunning
comment, Vlasak predicted a particularly violent future for his social
movement:  It won't ruin our movement if someone gets killed in an
animal rights action. It's going to happen sooner or later. The Animal
Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front - sooner or later there's
going to be someone getting hurt. And we have to accept that fact.
It's going to happen. It's not going to hurt our movement. Our
movement will go on. And it's important that we not let the bully
pulpit of the FBI and the other oppression agencies stop us from what
we're doing. They are the violent ones. They are the terrorists ... we
have to keep doing what we're doing.  At last year's "Animal Rights
2003" event, Vlasak specifically advocated the murder of doctors who
use animals in their research, saying: "I don't think you'd have to
kill -- assassinate -- too many ... I think for 5 lives, 10 lives, 15
human lives, we could save a million, 2 million, 10 million non-human
lives."

Vlasak has represented PCRM on issues of animal testing. He writes for
PCRM's magazine, and is identified in the magazine as  "PCRM's Jerry
Vlasak." In a February 2002 press release, Vlasak is called a "PCRM
spokesperson."

Pamelyn Ferdin is an aging B-movie actress best known as the voice of
the bossy Lucy Van Pelt on the "Peanuts" television specials. Vlasak
and Ferdin are both officers of the Animal Defense League Los Angeles
(ADL), which made headlines last year for waging an all-out holy war
(including aggressive, at-home protests) against the Los Angeles
bureaucrat in charge of the city's animal shelters. Ferdin told Animal
Rights 2004 convention-goers:  We want to make people who walk down to
a park, or walk their animals who are unaltered feel ashamed, feel
humiliated, that they dare have a companion animal who is unaltered
when there are thousands being killed in our city shelters because of
this problem. In addition to her affiliation with ADL, Ferdin carries
a PCRM business card. Amazingly, it identifies PCRM's business address
as the same location in Santa Monica, California where ADL receives
its mail.

A look at ADL's board of directors fleshes out the bigger picture. In
addition to Vlasak and Ferdin, its officers include Gary Yourofsky, a
convicted Animal Liberation Front felon who openly advocates arson and
murder. Yourofsky's most recent job was indoctrinating middle-school
and high-school children on behalf of PETA. Also on ADL's board is
Allison Lance Watson, the wife of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
pirate Paul Watson. When she is tried later this year, she will face
five years in prison for lying to a federal grand jury about her
possible role in a 2001 ALF arson. Jerry Vlasak is also Sea Shepherd's
treasurer.

Well, I've already decided to stick with IAMS and not bother with
anything else. I am tired of training cats to eat the proper food.
It's IAMS or nothing. There are a lot more injustices around the world
to worry about than some cats and dogs in an IAMS testing lab.

RB