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Campaign for the Abolition of Animal Slavery
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Chance To Save EU Animal Experiments Agreement Greens in the European Parliament are leading a challenge to the proposed new EU law on animal experiments (an update of EU Directive 86/609) because of controversial amendments. Their challenge is the last chance in the lengthy negotiations to prevent amendments that would weaken the legal requirement to use available non-animal alternative methods (in force in the EU since 1986) and restrict the ability of national governments to introduce higher animal welfare standards than those required under the EU law. The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research has supported the challenge, saying the amendments are “to the detriment of medical progress as well as animal welfare.” Since the EU Commission’s original proposal in Nov 2008 to revise the 20-year old animal experiments directive, negotiations between the EU Parliament and Council have been ongoing throughout 2009. Many of the most progressive animal welfare measures have been stripped out in the face of intense lobbying by the animal research industry, most notably restrictions on the use of non-human primates and protection of some sentient invertebrate species. However the most recent compromise text finalised after the last ‘trialogue’ meeting on 7th Dec, goes even further by removing the legal requirement to use available non-animal alternative research methods instead of animal experiments. The EU’s Swedish Presidency has been keen to negotiate early agreement of the proposed new directive and MEPs were asked this week to give their verdict, with each political group in the Parliament having either to endorse or reject the text. Many MEPs are dissatisfied with the compromise, but only the Greens/European Free Alliance group has publicly rejected the deal on offer and stated they are prepared, if there are no further opportunities to reach agreement through the trialogue process, to bring forward amendments at a plenary vote. The Greens/EFA group has highlighted 4 requirements for agreement: – removal of the restriction on EU member states’ ability to continually improve animal welfare standards; preservation of the requirement to use available alternative methods; an end to primates being used for trivial experiments, and introduction of a requirement to develop strategies to replace the use of primates in experiments. Dr Caroline Lucas said: “It is absolutely unacceptable that this compromise text fails to require the use of available alternative methods in all cases, something that for decades has been fundamental in giving legal impetus to humane research. The loss of this provision and removal of member states’ freedom to introduce stronger laboratory animal welfare measures nationally in the future is simply a compromise too far, and I am delighted that Green MEPs have been able to take a stand. "The EU has an opportunity to lead the world in progressive animal research legislation, and yet the proposal doesn’t even protect highly sentient primates from trivial experiments and contains no strategy for phasing out their use altogether. This is not legislation fit for the 21st century, and I hope other Parliamentary groups will join the Greens in standing up for humane science when this comes to a Plenary vote." Government Ministers from Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands publicly raised their concerns at a meeting of the EU’s Agriculture Council on Dec 15. The UK’s position on the compromise is not known, and remains subject to parliamentary scrutiny. The House of Lords EU Committee produced a report in Nov supporting far reaching animal welfare and humane science measures, but the 2 most controversial issues – the ability of Member States to introduce stricter measures and the weakening of the requirement to use available alternative methods – were not at the time under discussion so have not been considered by those tasked with providing UK parliament scrutiny. Monkey
starved to death in US lab Australia
to lift ban on animal transplants 2009
– a year of progress against vivisection Despite a rise of 14% in animal use admitted by the UK Home Office…. Chimp research into HIV was finally understood to be useless. It was expertly examined and dismissed by a team of scientists who published in a medical journal at the end of 2008. A review on animal GM models for heart disease showed it was ineffective and misleading. Immunologists explained that "mice are lousy models for clinical studies" and suggested we study humans instead. A published study stated "Despite claims by the research industry, chimpanzees have proven to be a poor model for human cancer research." Technology incl virtual humans, artificial skin grown from human skin cells & 3D models of brain blood flow have been revealed & approved. UK researchers investigating what went wrong in the drug trial with TGN1412 in 2006, developed a test that uses a mixed culture of white blood cells and endothelial cells, which prove what drugs like this really do. Computer modelling lead to the Times headline “Animal experiments could end in a generation”, as computer modelling is proving more accurate. “These models have the ability to be far more accurate. I sometimes think it is just tradition - that feeling that if it’s safe in an animal it’s safe in a human - which means so many animal tests are still carried out.” ‘Toxichip’ was revealed - which can monitor how cells behave and interact with drugs, chemical pollutants in the environment and toxic substances in food and beverages. Scientists
have for the first time been able to record spontaneous epileptic activity
in brain tissue "Until now we’ve only been able to mimic epilepsy using
animal models but this can never give you a true picture of what is actually
going on inside the human brain in epilepsy". MEPs were overwhelmed by the massive support from the public for meaningful changes in the legislation affecting vivisection in Europe. MPs in the UK in their masses supported EDM569, which called for an independent inquiry into animal testing. This EDM finished joint 10th out of over 2400 Early Day Motions, ranking inside the top 0.5%. This showed beyond doubt the political support for historic action in this area. Even more MPs supported EDM545, which expressed outrage at the unacceptable increase in animal use & demanded action to reverse this trend. Record
number of humane research applications San Francisco, Bay Area researchers are working with a technique that could soon revolutionise the way new medicines are developed. By using stem cells, they are conducting what amounts to human drug trials, in a dish. The cells match those of a patient suffering from a rare and deadly heart condition. "We can actually make heart cells right in a dish that's genetically identical to a person, then we can give drugs to those cells and have the heart speed up or slow down and so we're doing clinical trials in a dish right now," Dr. Bruce Conklin said. "To be able to work directly on human tissue, directly on human heart tissue, directly on human neuronal tissue is a fantastic leap forward." That is because for decades researchers have relied on lab animals to conduct the early phases of drug testing; but that has led to many false starts because their physiology is significantly different from humans. But now, S. San Francisco-based Ipierian believes it is on the verge of developing new treatments for neuro-degenerative diseases using drugs tested first on human nerve cells created in their lab. "We have started with skin cells from patients that already have the disease, turned those skin cells into stem cells and then turn those stem cells into neurons that also have the disease," Ipierian senior scientist John Dimos said. Using the diseased neurons, researchers can test dozens of samples at a time to see which drugs are working, with potentially far more accurate results than in animal models. Charles
River Labs fined for killing primate Charles River Laboratories has been fined $4,500 for killing a macaque last April at its Longley Lane facility. This is almost half of the $10,000 it paid the USDA after a May 28, 2008, incident in which severe heat led to the deaths of 32 primates in their lab on Dunn Circle in Sparks. USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spokesman Dave Sacks said no information was available on how the USDA reached the $4,500 figure. The incident was documented in a June inspection of the facility by the USDA and brought to light by the animal advocacy group Stop Animal Exploitation Now! Cage washers “sterilize the enclosures, meaning that this primate was literally boiled alive.” Cianciaruso acknowledged the macaque died as a result of being put through the cage washer, but the specific cause of death was not determined, stating, “This unfortunate incident was the result of human error. We have enhanced our quality control processes at the Reno facility and have implemented these best practices at all of our sites globally. We expect these actions will preclude the recurrence of a similar event.” The USDA report said Charles River workers twice signed off that there were no animals in the cage. They were supposed to check before a pre cleaning and before putting the cage into the washer, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service report said. “Since an animal died, the training was not of sufficient frequency to remind the people to thoroughly look for animals before having the cages washed,” the report said. “This is important for the health and safety of all the animals.” The company said several human errors led to the animal’s death. As a result of the laboratory’s investigation, 5 additional preventive measures were added to the standard operating procedures to enhance communication among workers during the cage changeover. Cameras in the dirty cage staging area were added and practices have been updated at all Charles River sites. RGI 6th Jan Antidote
pesticide study Antidote is currently funding a unique UK study on the effects of pesticides and pesticide mixtures on human health. The aim is to promote good science and get rid of animal tests. The regulatory authorities require pesticide chemicals to be tested on a rodent and a non-rodent species (Biocides directive 98/8/EC), which invariably means rats and dogs. Not only are these tests extremely cruel, but the results they yield are meaningless for human health. Another major issue ignored until very recently by the regulatory authorities is the effect of mixtures of pesticides on human health. Animal toxicity experiments are designed to test one chemical at a time. Animal studies would not be able to cope with chemical mixtures. According to toxicopathologist Dr Vyvyan Howard, in order to test the 1,000 most common chemicals in unique combinations of 3, we would need to conduct 166m animal experiments. That simply isn't feasible, and even if it was, the results would not be relevant to humans, hence the rationale for applying toxicogenomics (the study of how genes respond to a toxic agent) and human cell lines. Using human cells means the study is relevant to humans, and using toxicogenomics yields results in 24-48 hours. Animal toxicity tests typically last 90 days. Toxicogenomics is also ideally suited to chemical mixtures because hundreds of tests can be carried out simultaneously on minituarised DNA slides. We expect the study to be completed within about 6 months', after which it will be submitted to a peer-reviewed scientific journal for publication. Once that is achieved, results will be released to the media and the EU regulatory authorities will also be informed. Antidote Europe, the French-based NGO, was awarded the Professor Pietro Croce Prize for its achievements in the fields of scientific progress and public health. The award ceremony took place at the Palazzo dei Conservatori under the auspices of the Mayor of Rome, a Ministry of Health representative and several distinguished academics. This annual award is sponsored by the Italian groups Equivita and the National Ecological Movement (UNA). The French NGO has worked tirelessly to promote modern toxicology and helped to include the concept of "toxicogenomics" in the EU's chemical testing programme, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals). The application of toxicogenomics was the subject of a special session held in Brussels by an EU risk assessment committee. Currently, Antidote Europe is waging a public awareness campaign on the public health dangers of the synthetic chemical bisphenol A, found in baby bottles and other plastic products. Previous studies using toxicogenomics and human cells have demonstrated the hormone-mimicking effects of bisphenol A. This chemical is now a prime suspect for the significant increase over the past few decades of hormone-sensitive cancers, such as breast and prostate cancer. In addition, Antidote Europe has commissioned a laboratory study on the effects of single pesticides and pesticide mixtures on human cells. Very few scientific studies exist on the effects of pesticide mixtures on human health. The late Professor Pietro Croce, a member of the American College of Pathologists, was one of Italy's most outspoken critics of animal research. A prolific writer and public speaker, he subsequently spearheaded an international movement away from animal experiments in favour of modern methods of scientific research. Cosmetic
testing in Japan Shiseido Co. told a group of anti-animal testing activists that the top Japanese cosmetics maker has boosted efforts to suspend the controversial practice in the near future, if not immediately. During the first meeting of its kind at an office of Shiseido, company officials explained ongoing measures it has taken to develop viable alternatives to ensure the safety of its products without using animals for testing. Members of the Japan Anti-Vivisection Association handed to the officials the signatures of some 45,000 people calling on the company for an immediate halt to animal testing. The 2 sides met at a time when major cosmetics companies in Japan are faced with the need to develop ways to produce makeup without animal testing as the EU is set to introduce in 2013 a full ban on the sale of all cosmetics products made through animal testing, including those produced outside its economies. Toxichip could bring about the end of animal testing. Toxichip, which was developed at the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, is capable of monitoring how cells behave and interact with drugs, chemical pollutants in the environment and toxic substances in food and beverages. Cell-based biosensors, developed and made at Tyndall, integrated in the Toxichip platform also have the potential to replace animal testing currently used in toxicity screening. Already 2 companies, one in Ireland and another in France, are seeking to invest in and apply this new technology. Wickham labs has lodged
an appeal against the 2 planning applications which were heard by Winchester
City Council in Sept '09 for which the planning committee refused planning
permission, namely the 'building of a new laboratory' at Torbay Farm, Lower
Upham, and the 'erection of a security fence'. Letters of
objections are to reach The Planning Inspectorate by 14 Jan. The address is
: The Planning Inspectorate, Room 3/19 Eagle Wing, Temple Quay House,
2 The Square, Temple Quay,. Bristol, BS1 6PN. The reference numbers to the
planning application are : APP/L1765/A/09/2117832 and APP/L1765/A/09/2117S826.
We continue to demonstrate outside the labs every week and will now
plan to have a demonstration outside Torbay Farm, Lower Upham, for information
purposes only. SWAT A
mock funeral was held on Thurs 10th
Dec in Wickham Sq to commemorate all the animals killed in Wickham labs. A small
coffin, pallbearers and grave stones with pictures of the various animals used
and RIP on them were carried round the square.
Police had refused to close the road for a short march despite being
informed of the protest beforehand – they said it would be ‘inconvenient’.
After the ceremony we went around the corner to the labs and as the workers came
out we could voice our feeling to them. Some
scurried on whilst others were arrogant and provocative. The Home Office is
currently investigating claims of animal cruelty after a BUAV undercover
investigator worked at the labs for 8 months. Wickham Lab technician director
Chris Bishop said they were working with the Home Office.
Await
another whitewash Animal
testing labs need policing. Monkey
to be sent to Mars A monkey may be sent to Mars, under plans unveiled by Russian scientists. Although the ape will be looked after by a robot on the mission, the decision is expected to spark controversy with animal rights groups. The Russians first succeeded in putting monkeys into orbit in 1983. "We have plans to return to space,” said Zurab Mikvabia, director of the Institute of Experimental Pathology & Therapy in Georgia which supplied apes for the programme in the 1980s. The Institute is in preliminary talks with Russia's Cosmonautics Academy about preparing monkeys for a simulated Mars mission that could lay the groundwork for sending an ape to the Red Planet, he said. Such an initiative would build on Mars-500, a joint Russian-European project that saw 6 human volunteers confined in a capsule in Moscow for 120 days earlier this year to simulate a Mars mission. Mr Mikvabia said: "Earlier this programme was aimed at sending cosmonauts, people (to Mars). But given the length of the flight to Mars, and given the cosmic rays for which we don't have adequate protection over such a long trip, discussions have focused recently on sending an ape instead." Estimates for the length of the journey to Mars vary depending on the type of mission envisioned, but the European Space Agency says its proposal for a round-trip mission would take 520 days. If Russia pursues the idea of sending monkeys to Mars, Mikvabia's institute could become the site of an enclosed "biosphere" where apes would be kept for long periods to simulate space flights. The Institute said a robot would accompany the first primate to Mars to feed and look after the ape. Mr Mikvabia said: "The robot will feed the monkey, will clean up after it. Our task will be to teach the monkey to co-operate with the robot." Harvard
to radiate squirrel monkeys NASA plans to zap more than
2 dozen squirrel monkeys with radiation and then test the toxic simians at
Belmont’s McLean Hospital as part of a Harvard Medical School project. These
monkeys will be forced to spend the rest of their lives doing a host of
behavioural tasks to assess how the radiation damages their brains and their
bodies over time. The $1.75m project calls for National Aeronautics & Space
Administration researchers to blast 28 monkeys with gamma rays equivalent to 3
years of space travel in an attempt to gauge the effects of a mission to Mars on
a human. After the animals are radiated in a Long Island, N.Y., facility, plans
call for them to be shipped to Belmont, where they would be monitored for the
rest of their lives in McLean as part of a Harvard Medical School project.
Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Jack Bergman is in charge of the McLean project.
NASA officials vigorously have defended the programme, which will mark the
agency’s first monkey testing in years. “The overall objective of the
planned studies with the nonhuman primates is to help NASA predict
neurobehavioural effects of space radiation, which are among the most poorly
understood health risks for astronauts,” said a NASA spokesman. “Studies in
nonhuman primates are essential to be able to best predict neurobehavioral
effects of radiation on humans.” NASA officials also have insisted the monkeys
won’t be killed. PETA representatives point out that previous NASA experiments
on primates have left animals with fatal cancer and brain tumours. The project
still is awaiting final government approval, but PETA officials are hoping
protests will block the monkey testing. “It’s easy to establish how space
travel affects humans Just study humans who’ve travelled to space,” Byrne
said. “It speaks volumes about humans’ callous attitudes toward animals on
our planet.” Boston
Herald 28 Nov Mazor
Farm - Call for Action The Mazor breeding farm in Israel currently holds 1,000 long tailed macaque monkeys. Some of these monkeys were wild caught on Mauritius, while others were born in captivity. Mazor is a link in the chain of cruel trade in which monkeys are forcibly removed from their natural environment then flown thousands of miles in small cages to laboratories or breeding facilities. These animals will have been separated from their family groups, the young brutally separated from their mothers. Mazor is little more than a monkey breeding factory, whose manager considers the monkeys to be "production units" whose sole purpose is to increase profits, through the sale of the offspring to laboratories. To further increase profitability, the young are separated early from their mothers, allowing these females to mate as soon as possible. Early forced separation is traumatic to both the young and the mothers. These mothers will cry out and cling in desperation to the bars of their cages in a vain attempt to look for their young. The young who have been moved to a separate enclosure, will in turn look for their mothers and display signs of severe distress. Not all of these animals will survive this difficult transition and some will die. Those who survive will have their chests tattooed with a 4 digit serial number and then be sold to laboratories in Europe, the US and Israel. Every year, hundreds of these terrified young monkeys will be forced to travel huge distances in tiny crates to faraway destinations, to a fate worse than death. Each of these "units" will fill the pockets of the breeding farm manager to the tune of $2,800. The vast majority of these young monkeys will be sold to laboratories that specialise in toxicology (poisoning tests). Among the clients of Mazor are Covance (Germany), the Swedish centre for Biological studies, as well as laboratories in the UK, Belgium, Italy and the US. The monkeys will be injected or force fed with drugs and other chemicals. Most of the animals will die during these tests, and those who survive will be killed at the end of the experiment. Most of the monkeys sold to laboratories within Israel will undergo invasive brain experiments.. These experiments involve water deprivation, immobilization in a primate chair for extended periods of time, surgical removal of the top of the skull, and implantation of equipment in the skull and the brain itself. These types of experiment typically last several years, after which most of the monkeys will be killed. In rare instances, individual monkeys are released and allowed to undergo rehabilitation in sanctuaries. This is a relatively recent phenomenon and is due in large part to public outcry. Last July, Behind Closed Doors together with other animal rights' groups, called on the Minister of Environmental Protection to withdraw the Mazor trade licence (import and export). The Minister is currently studying our written proposal and is expected shortly to announce his decision. We would like to ask you to please write a polite message to the Minister, making clear your views that the Mazor monkey breeding farm must be closed down: Gilad Ardan, Minister of Environmental Protection sar@sviva.gov.il fax +972-2-6535958 Postal address: Kanfey Nesharim 5, P.O. Box 34033, Jerusalem 95464, Israel. Lab
monkeys saved Puerto
Rico monkey breeding facility halted Uni
Cancels Anthrax Project SPEAK
demo - Police pay out over monkey photo HLS
– the fight goes on In 2009, there were well
over 900 protests in 25 countries on every inhabited continent on the planet.
This was over 100 more protests than 2008, with 5 more countries joining the
global movement to smash HLS. As well as this HLS was exposed yet again in late
2008 for causing untold suffering to primates. Later in 2009 they had the gall
to lobby for the continuation of the use of wild caught primates in European
laboratories. As well as the increase in actions, 2009 has been a monumental
year for the campaign, as strategic targeting of shareholders forced HLS' share
price Activist
wins the right to protest Berkeley
activists to sue over federal raid Judge
orders release of US animal rights activist Replace
animal tests in EU British
civil servants have been shocked
by the degree of suffering permitted
by proposed
EU rules on animal experiments. The draft EU directive “on the protection of
animals used for scientific purposes” would allow monkeys, dogs, cats and
foals to be used for experiments leading to severe and lasting pain. Animals’
bones could be broken, they could undergo paralysing electric shocks, they could
suffer trauma leading to multiple organ failure, they could be confined to
restrict movement and they could be kept in isolation for prolonged periods. The
standards would also allow organs to be transplanted between species even if
this led to “severe distress”. The rules make clear that experiments would
not be confined to small breeds such as beagles but include large dogs such as
St Bernards. Horses and ponies bred in family stables could be used by
laboratories in Europe. The directive would permit practices banned in Britain,
which can continue to impose its own rules. The Home Office said it did not want
to see British standards weakened. BUAV, which campaigns against animal testing,
accused the EU of ignoring public concerns. A
positive measure introduced by the Parliament is ‘biannual thematic reviews’
of primate and other research. These will be systematic assessments of the value
of various kinds of animal experiments, with a view to outlawing those judged to
be useless. The biannual thematic reviews must be supported. Please write to:
Meg Hillier Animal Scientific Procedures Division Home Office 4th Floor Seacole
2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF Email Meg Hillier at hillierm@parliament.uk
Elisabeth Jeggle Parlement européen Bât. Altiero Spinelli 10E209 60, rue
Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60 B-1047 Bruxelles/Brussel Email Elisabeth Jeggle at
elisabeth.jeggle@europarl.europa.eu Nicotine
addiction study A
recent study documents the severe emotional trauma chimpanzees suffer
as a result
of laboratory use and confinement. Developmental Context Effects on Bicultural
Post-Trauma Self Repair in Chimpanzees was published in the Sept issue, Vol. 45
(5), of the American Psychological Association journal Developmental Psychology.
Says Dr. Capaldo, president of the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS):
"A federal bill to end the use of chimpanzees in research (the Great Ape
Protection Act, H.R. 1326) has been introduced. Studies like ours expose the
reality of what it is like for approximately 1000 chimpanzees languishing in
U.S. labs. Chimpanzee research must stop if we are to end the suffering caused
by decisions - both scientifically flawed and ethically unjustifiable - to use
them as living test tubes." Billy Jo lived like a human child from infancy
to his teenage years when he was sent to a lab. He spent his next 14 years alone
in a 5'x5'x7' cage, enduring hundreds of procedures. He was rescued into
sanctuary at age 29 and died only 8 years later. Tom's family was killed in
Africa in order to capture him. He spent decades in 3 different labs undergoing
multiple procedures including 369 "knockdowns" - anaesthesia by dart
gun. Every morning, Tom gags uncontrollably - the result of repeated
intubations. Regis, born in a lab, was only 2 years old when he was treated for
his first stress-related injury - he had chewed his finger nail completely off.
Regis, fearful if left alone, suffers severe anxiety attacks in which he nearly
stops breathing. The chimpanzees' symptoms are consistent with traumatic stress,
depression, and other psychological conditions. Glaxo,
a multi-billion pound company, is
closing in Crawley and there’ll be cut backs in jobs at their Worthing
facility. This company has been forced in the USA to reveal e-mails between
itself and researchers about birth defect risks after a family sued it for the
death of their 1 year old son. They
also use dogs in tests for yet another blood pressure pill when there are loads
on the market. The list could go on
and on but………. They don’t
care about any life, just their huge profits. Good riddance to them and the
sooner they go the better. About
200 people turned out in Wickham for
the protest again the laboratory. For
the first time the police had closed the roads (as they always do for other
events) , so a loud and lively march left the car park for the village square,
just round the corner from the lab. There
were 3 speeches – from Sue (editor of this paper), André Menache and John
Curtin, who reminded us how Cartmell, the lab owner, had stolen dogs at the lab
in the past – and then we walked to the lab to lay a wreath and hold a 2 min
silence for the animals. Wickham was exposed for using mice in Botox tests when
a non-animal test exists. Controversial
plans to build a new animal testing laboratory in a rural village have been
unanimously rejected. Wickham Labs, currently based in Wickham, failed in its
latest bid to win permission for a purpose-built facility at Torbay Farm in
Lower Upham. More than 20 animal rights protesters turned up to stage a
demonstration outside the civic offices of Winchester City Council, where the
planning committee was holding its meeting. After 2½ hours the 10-member
committee voted unanimously against the officer's recommendation to accept the
proposals on the grounds that the building would be too large and its design
unsympathetic for the rural setting. The main proposed building was about 50m by
30m and 9½ metres high. Echoing many of his colleagues, Councillor Ian Tait
said: 'In an industrial estate or a business park this building would be fine
– but we aren't, we are in Upham.' Cllr Therese Evans, who represents Wickham
village, acknowledged that security wasn't their concern, but added that Upham,
in the Meon Valley, would not be a suitable place because of the attention the
labs would attract. She added: 'There was a demonstration a couple of weeks ago
where all the roads were closed and there were 130 police.' Afterwards, veteran
animal rights campaigner Helen Nelson said: 'We are absolutely delighted. We
have been working so hard towards getting this result, it's such a relief. I'm
sure they will try again – they're not going to give up. They think they can
trample over everyone and get their own way, but this proves they can't.' Moving
the operation to Torbay Farm has been a longheld ambition for owner William
Cartmell. Ray Botterell, representing the labs at the meeting, refused to
comment afterwards. A
6-month dispute between a biotech company and a university primate facility
it contracted
for a study on spinal cord injury has prompted a lawsuit. Cambridge-based
biotech InVivo Therapeutics filed suit against Oregon Health and Science
University (OHSU) with the US District Courts in Boston on Sept. 1st,
claiming the school's primate centre improperly cared for monkeys during the
study, resulting in the death of 4 animals and a premature end to the research.
InVivo is suing OHSU for not giving the monkeys proper post-surgical care, which
they say caused the routine bladder problems to become more serious issues. They
further charge OHSU with halting the experiment and euthanising the animals
against the company's wishes. When OHSU requested that InVivo pay the second
instalment of an agreed-upon fee, the company refused, citing "OHSU's
incompetence" and claiming it "had ruined the study, cost InVivo
hundreds of thousands of dollars, and jeopardized the future of the
company," according to the lawsuit. OHSU counters that all monkeys received
appropriate round-the-clock care after surgery and that it was InVivo who called
a halt to the surgeries. The InVivo lawsuit is not the first time the OHSU
primate centre has been accused of not providing proper care to their animals.
In 2008, PETA complaints about the centre spurred an investigation by the US
Dept of Agriculture (USDA), which handles violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
In Dec, USDA issued a warning letter for failure to provide proper veterinary
care, citing the death of a pregnant monkey after a researcher failed to notice
she was having a troubled labour, a sponge being left in a monkey after surgery,
and a surgery performed on the wrong monkey. Sean Kirtley free Replica
brain Court
orders Felix info to be released Belgian group challenges
primate experiments After
the Animal Liberation Press Office press release this week publicising the ALF action
against notorious primate importer Mathew Block and his wife Brooke, the New
Times in Broward/Palm Beach wrote an article reminding their readers of Block's
previous criminal conviction, 13-month sentence and $30,000 fine for smuggling
orangutans from Indonesia. Block, of course, trots out the same tired old
excuses, going so far as to claim he doesn't torture and kill the animals
himself in a laboratory, and therefore he is not a bad guy. More comments and
the original article are available here. http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2009/09/monkey_breeder_targeted_by_ani.php
Eye
irritation tests without rabbits Researchers
from the University of Leeds have
just released details of experiments on mice to test how “Obesity Can Lead to
Resistance to Insulin-Like Hormone”. At first this appears valid and
scientific, until the following is taken into account. Rodents used were what
the industry calls “Lean mice”, in other words they are genetically bred to
be overweight and thus related illnesses will no doubt affect them in some form.
However, this research conducted is a complete waste of life and funds that
could be put into other means of testing, ie developing and using in-vitro
(non-animal) methods. It has been known for a number of years that there is a
close correlation between diabetes and obesity, even down to what causes the
various factors of that relationship and how the disease can be prevented
through a controlled and healthy diet, not smoking etc and we do not need more
animal research to tell us this. Social studies can easily be conducted whereby
information is collected on people with diabetes, or related diseases, and the
‘inputs’ in their lives which are a cause of the disease can be analysed,
thus developing a positive correlation between lifestyle and diabetes. No doubt
this animal research would have been funded using public money. We need only
look back over the past few years and we find details of the University of Leeds
testing salt on beagle dogs to see the effects it has on their health. Low,
medium and high salt diets were fed to the dogs over a period of time; the end
result being that a high salt diet is bad for your health! Again, this research
was funded by public donations via the British Heart Foundation. In their Animal
Research Policy, Leeds University claim the following: * The University will use
alternatives to animals wherever possible, such as computer modelling, tissue
culture, cell and molecular biology, and research with human subjects… *
Research using animals is driving fundamental advances in understanding,
treating and curing a range of health problems including cancer, heart disease,
diabetes and mental illness, and continues to enable fundamental advances in our
understanding of diseases. If this is really the case, then why did the Ethics
Committee of the university approve the above 2 experiments to be conducted?
They could have been done using alternative means, ie looking at previous
research and using sociological studies, and are giving information already
known via countless others sources about diseases, not helping to cure them! 2
biology classes at UC Irvine will cease the use of lab rats,
according
to the OC Register. The university reasons that it can meet the “educational
objectives” without having to use rats as tools of demonstration for labs.
Despite the fact that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claims
that they were a driving force in the university’s decision for change, UCI
Spokesman, Tom Vasich, begs to differ. In an email, Vasich stated that
“PETA had no involvement with UCI’s decision to evaluate the lab course …
but the information on alternatives provided by PETA was used during the
evaluation process.” Kathy Guillermo, Vice President of Laboratory
Investigations for PETA, said that at least 200 rats every year will now not
have to face the “fear and pain that resulted from these experiments.” She
also mentioned that students will be able to ascertain scientific information
using modern methods of experimentation that are being implemented as awareness
is broadened concerning the use of animals for testing. Charles
River Laboratories fatten up and then sell obese monkeys
for
medical research. Charles River Labs said that, with the nation crippled by an
obesity epidemic, its monkey business is increasingly necessary. In 30 out of 50
states, at least 25% of the population is obese, health experts say. As obesity
and its associated complications - such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes -
wreak havoc on the nation’s health, researchers are scrambling to create new
ways to treat obesity-related medical conditions. And because primates are such
close relatives to humans, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that
all new drugs be tested on primates before they are marketed to the public.
Charles River Labs plans to sell its fattened-up monkeys to pharmaceutical
companies, academic research centres and biotechnology firms that will examine
“the metabolic changes associated with the onset and development of
diabetes” and other obesity-related diseases, the company has said. To prepare
the monkeys, Charles River Labs fed them a high-fat diet for 18 months. In that
time period, many of the monkeys developed glucose intolerance and a foundation
for what scientists say will become type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes. Is animal experimentation still at the head of scientific development, or is it time to say goodbye to an archaic methodology? Animal experimentation is viewed by most of today's modern scientists as misleading, expensive, and laborious. Large and ever increasing numbers of scientists and doctors claim that animal experimentation is not only ineffective but also counterproductive False findings and toxic medications lead only to more pain and heart ache for the families of the terminally ill individual. For when one assumes that the findings in animals are directly correlated to those of human beings then one need only look to the findings of recent discoveries showing accounts of vast differences between animal and human trials of the same drug. An individual does not need to be an animal activist to reason that animal experimentation has long outgrown its usefulness. The thought that bone marrow from baboons into human beings (in attempts to fight Leukaemia) has failed with costly consequences, furthermore, interspecies organ transplantation has met just as dark fates comparable to artificial organ transplantation and genetic manipulation. These failures are synonymous with the failures and harmful treatments that have been tried on humans due to a positive outcome of an animal test subject. An example of such is how different an animal will react to a chemical than that of a human individual. Genes may be similar amongst varying species, yet guinea pigs reactions to strychnine is much the opposite from humans, The failures and disinformation that can only be seen as a fault to the medical research community is not only a research failure, but an economic failure as well, the costs of funding these projects is staggering and only growing day by day. One would suppose that with the rise in the health care budget we would see a decrease of terminal diseases, but this is just not the case. Since Nixon's launch of the "War on Cancer" 37 years ago, cancer rates have gone up by 18% and cancer deaths have gone up by 7%. The EU has found a way to limit animal deaths, limit spending, and still found a cure for a common affliction. The Brussels team in May of 2003 found that when inserting a drug that contained fever-causing agents (pyrogens) into human blood cells opposed to rabbits they would still obtain the same affect. Using human blood cells as an alternative to rabbits in finding cures, saves 200,000 rabbits a year and millions of dollars. The Brussels research group claims to have a better understanding of human immunology now than they did 20 years ago, which will hopefully lead to the safer drugs for consumers due to the fact that they are now testing these human cells as biosensors for pyrogens. The validation of the human blood cell experiment is a first proof that testing can be done without the sacrificing of funds and live beings. These experiments are a stepping stone to the reduction if not the remission of animal testing and experimentation. When most animal to human trials only obtain a little over a 50% success rate, one cannot say that animal experimentation is a viable school of research. Sceptics and realists have longed looked at the cost analysis of animal testing, the Machiavellian means meeting the ends argument, and every time animal testing just seems to fall short of any real scientific goal. Edited from Associated Content. 5 October 2009. Inferring Outcomes: Beneath the Fur of Animal Experimentation. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2225931/inferring_outcomes_beneath_the_fur.html SHAC
Campaign The
case has been dropped against a Sheffield IT worker who
was raided, arrested and had a computer server confiscated in Jan this
year. The server was apparently being used by Indymedia, and the police warrant
was to track down the poster of a comment on Manchester Indymedia giving the
home address of the judge involved in jailing some SHAC animal rights
defendants. Despite being told that Indymedia does not log the IP addresses of
any of its contributors, the cops nonetheless targeted this particular, albeit
arbitrary, server. The man running it didn't even have the passwords to access
the server, yet he was arrested under suspicion of offences including the rather
Orwellian 'encouraging or assisting an offence believing it will be committed'.
It marked the first recorded use of broad new powers granted by the Serious
Crime Act 2007. Novartis
CEO Daniel Vasella has
sent 140 animal rights activists letters warning them to back off. The letter
says “We strongly condemn the use of violence and terrorist tactics as a
substitute for meaningful, productive dialogue. As the author of the e-mail
received, you should be aware that willingly or not you are associating yourself
with criminal activity, such as extortion and blackmail.” But Vasella’s
strategy is doomed to failure if he cannot demonstrate what the company has
previously claimed: That Novartis has indeed severed its ties with Huntingdon
Life Sciences, the contract company that does often grisly drug tests on
animals. This is the key to the entire conflict. Even though Novartis has
previously said it no longer deals with HLS, the activists do not believe the
company. And those activists are far more numerous, and far more determined,
than Vasella is. As long as they believe Novartis tests at HLS, Vasella will be
a target no matter how angry he becomes. But being able to demonstrate that the
activists are wrong on the facts could be a game-changer. Even extremists need a
sympathetic political environment. The fact is that testing at HLS is …
unpleasant. Edited from Bnet.UK 5 Oct Court
orders USDA to disclose animal testing records Highate
Farm demo - Police
officers from 5 different forces were involved in the policing of around 300
activists demonstrating outside Highgate Farm near Normanby by Spital on Sat 26th
Oct, as part of the Global Week of Action against laboratory animal breeders.
Highgate Farm is a supplier of animals to the vivisection industry, including
Huntingdon Life Sciences. It also supplies rabbits to the meat trade. In Jan
2008, protesters broke into the farm and liberated around 130 rabbits. SHAC has
hailed the event a 'success', and said it brought the attention of local people
to the farm's 'immoral practices' and the 'start of an ongoing and growing
campaign to close them down for good'. Protesters were kept about 300 metres
from the farm entrance as police placed a perimeter of officers protecting the
private business. As demonstrators arrived police used a banner to announce the
implementation of the legislation. The road down to the farm was also closed and
campaigners used a shuttle minibus to get their supporters near to the farm
entrance. An ‘eye in the sky’ radio controlled device was used by the police
for film protesters as well as the FIT team on the ground.
What a pity they don’t use it to film illegal hunts!
Heard that police had approached local people saying that if they’d
been inconvenienced by the protest they could report it and the police could get
an injunction. They weren’t
interested. Villagers in Lincolnshire say they can’t get the police out when
they need them – but then they aren’t working for the vivisection industry! SPEAK
Campaign Police
efforts to silence dissent outside the Oxford animal testing lab have seen a
freelance journo and NUJ member, David Palmer, arrested at the regular demo
outside the lab, with all of his recording and camera equipment seized. Despite
the fact that the campaign to prevent the building of the lab on South Parks Rd,
Oxford was unsuccessful and the Thames Valley Police's promise to 'wage a dirty
war' against protesters was exposed - an injunction drafted by Timothy Lawson
Cruttenden controlling the protests is still in force.
David inadvertently wandered into an area prohibited under the terms of
the injunction. He was warned to leave by university staff and did so
immediately. But this wasn't enough for the cops however, who jumped on him
mob-handed and arrested him for harassment. 'I spent around 6 hours in a cell at
Oxford police station before being interviewed. During the course of the
interview, I was informed that my video camera and mobile phone were going to be
retained and that I'd be questioned about material found on them at a later
date. I pointed out to the interviewing officer (on tape) that such treatment of
a journalist was completely illegal; at this point the police tried to say my
press cards were fraudulent! I insisted the police ring the 24hr NUJ
verification number on the back of my press card, but they refused to do so and
said they'd ring the number the following morning and that I'd hear from them
after that.' David was not released from custody until shortly after midnight, 9
hours after his arrest. 15
animal rights protesters are suing police for
up to £250,000 after claiming they were treated illegally during a
demonstration outside Oxford University’s honorary degree ceremony. The
claimants, supporters of the Speak campaign group, have filed papers at the High
Court claiming “false imprisonment, breach of human rights, malicious
prosecution, assault and battery” over the protest in 2006. On June 21,
demonstrators gathered outside Oxford University’s Encaenia Day Ceremony to
oppose the building of the animal testing laboratory in South Parks Rd. 14
protesters were arrested and charged, but a trial at Bicester Magistrates’
Court in May 2007 cleared them of offences under Section 14 of the Public Order
Act. Charges against 2 others were dropped earlier. Protester Pauline
Broughton was found guilty of obstructing a police officer, while Fran Cornwell
was found guilty of assaulting an officer. Both were given absolute discharges
by District Judge Deborah Wright. During the trial, a tape recording of
unguarded comments made by police officers was played to the court in which they
used a swear word about the campaigners and said they would “prosecute the
s*** out of them”. In summing up, Ms Wright said: “I find the (Section
14) conditions were imposed unlawfully. “Whoever was responsible for
making the decision that this prosecution should proceed in light of the tape
may well have made a serious error of judgement.” She added: “Although the
(taped) conversations were made away from the public, all the officers were on
duty.” Among the claimants in the High Court case are Brett Gordon and Ruth
Undy, both of Woodman Court, East Oxford. The legal papers state Mr Gordon
“asked a police officer if he could leave (the demonstration) and meet his
wife who had been taken ill earlier in the protest but was told in no uncertain
terms that if he did so then he would be arrested. “He was at the back of the
march and was being pushed about aggressively by 2 police officers and
threatened with arrest.” The writ comes just days after Thames Valley
Police was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 costs after call centre
worker Keith Tilbury was shot in the torso by PC Dave Micklethwaite in
Kidlington in May 2007. Thames Valley Deputy Chief Constable Francis Habgood
said the force was aware of the writ, but that it was inappropriate to comment
with legal proceedings active. However, at the time of the collapse of the
trial, his predecessor Alex Marshall said: “There are comments on the tape
that I find very regrettable and I find some of the comments unprofessional. I
will take careful note of what the judge has said and see if there are any
matters which arise from it.” I’ve
heard that the officer who made the comments has been promoted Neurosurgeon
refutes monkey model Marius
Maxwell is an American Board of Neurological Surgery-certified neurosurgeon who
was educated at Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard universities. He has written an
article about deep brain stimulation and Parkinsons disease, refuting the
argument that experiments with monkeys has brought about this ‘wonder’
technique. You can read the full article at: www.vero.org.uk/mariusmaxwell.pdf
as it’s too long to reproduce here. Some
important extracts: This claim (using primates) is a clear misrepresentation of
the historical record which actually shows that neurosurgical experimentation
with … human patients, performed decades before the very first description of
the MPTP-primate model, has alone led to the present treatment of deep brain
stimulation in Parkinson's disease. ……
one can only conclude that primate vivisection has amounted to an expensive,
savagely cruel, and scientifically invalid sideshow. The "official"
and highly selective primate vivisection-based narrative of deep brain
stimulation misleadingly begins with the serendipitous discovery of symptoms in
young drug addicts exposed to the narcotic contaminant MPTP. This gave
researchers the idea of seeing whether monkeys would also display Parkinsonian
symptoms in response to this toxin and indeed, in 1983 monkeys poisoned with
MPTP were found to exhibit similar, albeit temporary, symptoms and the non-human
primate model of parkinsonism was born (Burns et al. 1983). ……the
discovery that the implantation of stimulating electrodes in the subthalamic
nucleus of humans with Parkinson's reversed many of the disease's most crippling
symptoms (Benabid 1987; Limousin 1995). In this way, we are repeatedly told,
deep brain stimulation was created by the endeavours of monkey researchers. The
general public is served a compelling tale of successful medical research borne
on the back of primate misery….. But what will they say when they find out
that the importance of the subthalamic nucleus to the treatment of Parkinson's
disease had in fact been known more than 30 years before by neurosurgeons who
employed this knowledge to successfully treat hundreds of human patients? How
will they react when they discover that deep brain stimulation has been used
since the 1940s, and that early implanted stimulators were used in human
patients with Parkinson's and other movement disorders years before the first
ever description of the MPTP-primate model? Hundreds of monkeys have been
experimented on, countless "peer-reviewed" articles have been written,
and a vast archive of monkey "data" has been accumulated….. but deep
brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease developed without this. Benabid,
knowing of the importance of the subthalamic nucleus to Parkinson's disease from
the surgical studies of 1963 and subsequently, together with the more recent
data of deep brain stimulation in patients with Parkinson's disease and other
movement disorders, took the logical …. next
step by reporting the benefit of stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus in 1995
in a series of patients (Limousin et al.1995). The oft-parroted claim that
"the MPTP monkey model demonstrated the pivotal role of the subthalamic
nucleus in the mechanisms central to Parkinson's disease" is therefore
clearly false. Furthermore, it does a grave disservice to the memory of the many
real pioneers of neurosurgery by co-opting their repeated demonstration of the
very same, decades before. It is as if they have been quietly airbrushed from
the pages of history. Most importantly, the rapid and reversible MPTP-induced
parkinsonian state in monkeys bears little relation to the slowly progressive
and irreversible Parkinson's disease, which is unique to humans. None other than
the late Nobel Laureate Francis Crick was also a harsh critic of the
experimental use of primates in the neurosciences. Crick argued for the
development of new and forward-looking techniques to study the human brain.
Persistent support for the non-human primate MPTP model of Parkinson's can only
serve further to neglect and impoverish the demonstrably scientific and
productive avenues of the clinical neurosciences…….. The predictable
consequences of maintaining the status quo will be further obfuscation and delay
in the discovery of a definitive treatment for Parkinson's disease. Tests flawed and duplicated
- At this year's British Association Festival of
Science a report from the Camarades Collaboration that reviewed 288 animal
studies of prospective treatments for stroke concluded that many animal
experiments are flawed. The report found that animal studies frequently do not
use experimental techniques that are the "gold standard" for clinical
trials. For example, only 1/3 of the studies randomised which animals went into
the treatment and control groups. And in only 1/3 of cases were the
experimenters who assessed the experimental outcome blinded to whether each
animal had been given the treatment or not - a well known source of unconscious
bias. Another problem highlighted by the EU's Science and Research Commissioner
Janez Potocnik today is that too often the same tests are duplicated -
particularly by companies not willing to share data. Cancer
research wasted – together with animal lives
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The Shoreham Protester, 7 Stoneham Road, Hove, BN3 5HJ, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1273 885750. Email: shoreham.protester@ntlworld.com Last Updated 13 December 2008 |
