The recent egg and beef recalls have people discussing food safety over the water-cooler this month. While they have garnered a lot of media attention due to the amount of meat and eggs contaminated, food recalls are not uncommon. Since the beginning of 2010 the USDA alone (the FDA and CDC also manage food recalls) has or is currently managing 56 food recalls. People are always at risk of food contamination, but are they aware of it? And when recalls highlight food safety issues, does it change individuals' consumptive behaviors?

When fellow animal advocates ask me questions about research on animal protection issues, I typically ask them if they have looked at our research primers. In response, I usually hear "Research what? Where?" I am guessing that many advocates, even those of you who follow our work, are not aware of the full wealth of free data we have available. Here I want to highlight HRC's research primers, since they are a free resource that can help all advocates better understand the issues on which they are working. So let me tell you a little about them.

The internet significantly influences the tactics that animal protection organizations use and the ways in which those tactics are implemented. The internet is now a mainstream part of American life, with 71% of U.S. adults accessing it on a daily basis. Social networking sites like Facebook, online petitions that automatically generate letters for campaigns, and speedy access to a large number of people via email lists are all tools unique to the internet. For animal advocates who are typically working on a shoestring budget, the internet helps level the playing field.