374 Mass. 333 | Mass. | 1978
In 1974 and 1975, the appellants were engaged in the large scale production of laboratory animals at a site in Wilmington. Each appellant argues that it should have been classified as a manufacturing corporation in those years and, as a result, its machinery should have been ex
The appellants, who will be referred to collectively as Charles River, breed and raise for biomedical research animals that are free from common germs and diseases. Charles River’s procedures are intricate and require great care, skill, and attention.
In our cases dealing with taxpayers seeking favored status as “manufacturing corporations,” we have said that the word “manufacturing” in the controlling statutes must be considered according to the natural and ordinary meaning of the word. Franki Foundation Co. v. State Tax Comm’n, 361 Mass. 614, 617 (1972). We think it plain beyond question that, in common understanding, the breeding of animals is not manufacturing. Manufacturing normally involves a change of some substance, element, or material into something new or different. Id. at 619, and cases cited. No matter how intricately it is carried on, the production of partially uncontaminated animals by Charles River does not fit within this definition. The board was not compelled to find, as matter of law, that the procedures by which partially uncontaminated animals were produced constituted manufacturing.
The decision of the Appellate Tax Board is affirmed.
So ordered.
“Babies of pregnant mice are delivered at term by Cesarean surgery into a sterile system free of bacteria. These baby mice are then fed by germ-free foster mothers. While still young, they are reassociated with selected bacteria, for if they were totally germ-free, they would succumb to relatively harmless types of organisms. The mice breed and their offspring are delivered naturally. They are subsequently removed from their isolation units and prepared, together with their progeny, for life in a rigidly controlled but nonsterile atmosphere sustained behind physical barriers between them and the outside world (Barrier Sustained). They are then sold under the acronym COBS (Cesarean Originated-Barrier Sustained).”
“The animals receive sterile bedding and pasteurized diet. Their bedding and food are introduced into the approximately 40 separate breeding rooms by a sealed pneumatic conveyance system. Each of the separate breeding rooms is autonomous in operation. The personnel don’t enter other breeding rooms in order to maintain complete isolation of each colony of rats and mice. Each breeding room has its own separate air filtration system and temperature monitoring alarm systems. The breeding rooms are equipped with emergency diesel generators.”
We leave to another day, if it comes, the question whether processes which alter the genetic structure of animals fall within the statutory concept of manufacturing.
In other jurisdictions, under admittedly different tax statutes, courts have rejected the argument that raising animals is “manufacturing.” See