Warning! Sad Story Ahead

This is such a sad story. A beagle rescued from a laboratory in Spain and brought to the Los Angeles has run off and his humans are trying to find him. :-(

SAEN Files Complaints Against University of Washington Again

From the normantranscript.com.... An animal-rights group that watchdogs research facilities across the country has filed a federal complaint against the University of Washington, citing multiple incidents in which animals were injured, escaped from their cages or were found dead. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates the care of research animals, will look into the complaint, said agency spokesman David Sacks. It’s too early to say whether any of the incidents violate the Animal Welfare Act, the yardstick for triggering enforcement action, he added.

Looking for Books about Animal Experimentation

I've finally decided to take the plunge and really learn about animal experimentation. It's a horrible topic and I post news articles about the abuses from time to time. But I want to be able to argue about it intelligently, citing science, not just morals. Apparently, there is a lot of argument out there than animal experimentation is even good for humans. Many times tests fail. A drug may work on an animal, but fail miserably on a human. Or vice versa. Drugs are not always predictable from human to human even. And how can one expect an animal with a human disease to react the way the human body does? It's essentially a crap shoot.

And, in this day and age, do we really need to be stuck with this archaic and barbaric method of research? Isn't there anything better?

Air Canada To Stop Shipping Lab Primates

Excellent news! Animal advocacy groups have been lobbying for this for a while.

Thank you Air Canada! The announcement below comes verbatim from the Pacific Free Press.....they still need approval from the Canadian Transportation Agency though.

Today, more than 40 animal advocacy organizations across Canada praised Air Canada for its recent decision to stop shipping non-human primates into the country for use in research laboratories.

The coalition – the Canadian Coalition Against Animal Research and Experimentation (CCAARE) which includes the Calgary Animal Rights Effort, Stop Animal Testing at Dalhousie University, and Stop UBC Animal Research among many others – also urged the Canadian Transportation Agency to approve Air Canada's new policy.

Airlines in Canada must obtain approval from the CTA to revise their shipping guidelines. Unfortunately, the CTA is requiring Air Canada to continue shipping primates to laboratories while it considers the issue.


"We applaud Air Canada for wanting to get out of the monkey business," said Brian Vincent, Coordinator of the CCAARE and Director of Stop UBC Animal Research. "We urge the Canadian Transportation Agency to immediately approve Air Canada's new, compassionate policy."

University of Florida Must Relinguish Primate Records

This is good news, at least in my opinion.

Full article in the Gainesville Sun....

An Alachua County Circuit Court judge has ordered the University of Florida to provide an animal rights activist with records on primates involved in research.

Camille Marino of Wildwood, who founded the group Negotiation is Over, received the records last week. She said she plans to use them to continue a campaign against animal research at UF, which recently included the online posting of the layout of UF laboratories and university spokeswoman Janine Sikes's cellphone number.

“They could not do what they do if they didn't do it behind a wall of secrecy,” Marino said. “This is about tearing down that wall.”

Sikes received more than a dozen calls, including a death threat that UF police are investigating. She said UF resisted releasing the records out of concern about the safety of researchers.

Air Canada Feeling Pressure to Stop Shipping Lab Monkeys

I don't think it's likely that Air Canada is going to budge on this. Excerpted from the Montreal Gazette....

Animal-rights activists are urging Air Canada to stop shipping live monkeys and other animals destined for experimentation, saying the airline can change its tariff rules if it wants.

But the airline says it is legally obligated to accept the contentious cargo.

According to a legal opinion solicited by the Humane Society International Canada, Air Canada can set and amend the terms of its tariffs.

"In our opinion, Air Canada is not legally obligated to accept monkeys as cargo," said the opinion written by Lawyers for Animal Welfare.

PETA to Run Billboards Against the University of Washington's Animal Research

I live in Seattle and, while I don't always agree with PETA, I hate the UW's animal research practices. I don't believe these animals get the quality of care they deserve for the suffering they undergo. If you "humanize" the animal and grow attached, how can you conduct experiments on it? You have to objectify them and they suffer for it.

I'm glad PETA is drawing attention to this issue. On the other hand, I hope that the association of PETA with this issue doesn't backfire. They are so polarizing....

Animal Research Scientists Sponsor Billboards

Well, you know how they are....going for the emotion and oversimplifying the issue. Certainly not showing what they do, how they are funded and how the licensing of their "altruistic" work nets them a tidy sum.

This billboard poses the issue as an either/or...save the child or the rat. Bullshit. It's not that simple. How many of these experiments are even necessary? How many of them are of the quality of checking to see whether junk food makes someone fat?

Please.

Pam Anderson Urges End to India's Animal Testing

I don't always know how I personally feel about Pamela Anderson, but I can't argue with her (non-acting) work.

Her letter to the Indian research facility is pretty distressing. Sounds like she watched a harsh video. For the full story, go here to the Vancouver Sun.

Former Baywatch star and model Pamela Anderson has accused one of India's most prestigious research centres of animal cruelty, urging it to retire decades-old test monkeys and adopt humane practices.

Anderson, famous for slow-motion beach running scenes in the hit 1990s lifeguard TV show, wrote to R.C. Deka, director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) after watching a video allegedly exposing animal cruelty at the New Delhi centre.

"It broke my heart to see the suffering that is documented in the enclosed video", wrote Anderson, in a letter sent on behalf of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

"But the animals suffering behind closed doors at AIIMS must endure this nightmare every day."

In the letter, Anderson said dozens of monkeys are kept in "cramped, barren, and rusty cages for years on end," and appealed for the release of one monkey she said had been suffering at the research facility for nearly 20 years.

The former Playboy model says she cried while viewing the video, and described workers "slamming" animals against their wire cages and "taunting" the monkeys by pretending to kick them.

Physicians Committee Accuses University of Washington of Cruelty to Ferrets

I live in Seattle and I am always skeptical of how the UW treats its lab animals. I had never heard of the use of ferrets in medical research though. News to me.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine claims these are unnecessary procedures, even though the ferrets are apparently anesthesized during the process.

Full story in the Seattle Times.

A national physicians group has filed a federal complaint against the University of Washington, saying its use of ferrets to train medical residents in emergency procedures on babies and children violates a federal animal-welfare law.

The residents, who are learning to insert breathing tubes in premature infants, practice on anesthetized ferrets, confirmed Dr. Dennis Mayock, a professor of pediatrics and medical director of the UW's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The complaining group, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, based in Washington, D.C., says only about 13 percent of the pediatric-residency programs in the United States use animals for such training.

The UW is "using an educational method that, in our view, is not justifiable," said Dr. John Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist who helped write the complaint....

The UW has been cited in the past for deficiencies in animal research, including allowing a monkey to starve in 2009. In 2008, it had to return $20,000 in federal research grant money after a finding that it had allowed unauthorized surgeries on primates. Inspectors found serious deficiencies in animal-care facilities in 2006 and put the UW on probation.

Since then, however, the UW has spent millions to upgrade animal-care facilities and is now fully accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, hospital spokeswoman Tina Mankowski said.

Air Canada Criticized for Transporting Research Monkeys

Awful. For the full Toronto Star story, go here.

The arrival of 48 monkeys on a flight from China this weekend has brought Air Canada under fire for shipping primates destined for research laboratories, but the airline says it is obliged by federal law to accept monkeys as cargo.

A Pearson International Airport employee tipped off the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection that a shipment of monkeys destined for Montreal was being held at the Toronto airport after arriving from China on Saturday.

Sarah Kite, director of communications and special projects for the BUAV, said monkeys destined for research facilities are usually transported in cramped wooden crates in the plane’s cargo hold, where they can be subject to fluctuations in temperature, stopovers and in some cases long delays....

Air Canada is one of a small number of airlines that continues to transport these primates, Kite said. Under pressure from animal rights groups and the public, many airlines have banned the practice. British Airways, for example, has a policy of “not carrying live animals that are for use in any laboratory, or for experimentation or exploitation,” according to media liaison manager Sophie Greenyer.

University of Texas May Receive Surprise USDA Inspection

PETA has complained to the USDA that the University of Texas has been severely mistreating its lab animals. There may be a surprise inspection, but I don't really understand how effective a "surprise" inspection is when the facility is notified in advance!!

Good News for the Alamagordo Chimps!

I received an alert from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The Alamagordo chimps will be allowed to remain in New Mexico for about two years while the NIH studies the issue of their transference. This gives animal rights activists some time to prepare further defense of the animals.

Good way to end 2010.

Here's the story as reported in NewsWest...

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) - Some 186 chimpanzees will remain at a federal facility in New Mexico for now.

The Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story Friday that the National Institutes of Health informed Gov. Bill Richardson on Thursday the chimps will not be transferred to a San Antonio, Texas, facility until the National Academy of Sciences reviews policies on using chimpanzees in biomedical research.

Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia says that's expected to postpone the transfer for about two years.

A federal contract covering the chimps expires next year. The NIH proposed sending them to Texas to be used in research aimed at finding a hepatitis C vaccine.

Animal welfare activists protested the transfer.

The chimps have been free from testing at the Alamogordo Primate Facility at Holloman Air Force Base since 2001.

Rats Taking Over from Mice in Labs

I recently fostered the sweetest little rat and I currently have two mice. Therefore, this Boston Globe article saddens me on both levels. And, of course, our old friend, Charles River Laboratories, will be a major supplier of lab rats.

Scientific advances over the last three years have now made it feasible to easily tinker with rat genes, creating the possibility of far better models of certain human diseases, and potentially shortening the time it takes to develop medications...

While both rats and mice have similarities to humans, rats win out in key areas.

Their blood system is much more similar, with a heart that beats four times faster than a person’s, instead of the mouse’s six times faster. Rat brains are far more complex than mouse brains, making them more likely to exhibit the behaviors of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, and autism, among other disorders. Their liver enzymes are more similar so they metabolize drugs more like people do.

Rats are also simply larger, as are their cancerous tumors, making them easier to study and to operate on.

But these innovations won’t mean the end of the lab mouse.

“To what degree the rat will replace the mouse remains to be seen,’’ said Iva S. Morse, corporate vice president for research model services at Charles River Laboratories, a Wilmington company that started by breeding lab rats in 1947 and has become a major supplier of rodents for research.

PETA Settlement over Shelter Records

Follow-up from the Utah scandal in which shelter animals were being sold for research purposes. For the full story, go to NECN.com...

The Davis County Commission has agreed to pay the legal fees of an animal rights group after settling a lawsuit over animal shelter records.

The Standard-Examiner of Ogden said Wednesday that the county will pay $17,732 to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The money will cover a portion of PETA's legal fees for a lawsuit the group filed in January about animals that had been sold by the county shelter for research purposes.

PETA will have access to the requested records. The settlement provides limited protections for the county from further litigation.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press on Friday, PETA's Associate Director of Laboratory Investigations Justin Goodman said the group filed the lawsuit to gain access to intake and transfer records for approximately 100 cats and dogs that were sold for research. They also requested any records of people who gave explicit permission for the animals to be sold.

Musk Oxen Keep Dying at University of Alaska Research Station

This is kind of weird. Maybe nothing's wrong, but a review of the animal care program is being initiated.

Read the full story at Fairbanks Daily News-Miner....

The death toll for musk oxen at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station rose to nine after a school veterinarian euthanized two older bulls that never recovered from a suspected trace mineral deficiency that caused the deaths of seven other animals in September and October.

The seven musk oxen that died or were euthanized from mid-September to mid-October demonstrated similar symptoms, which Blake believes were the result of a mineral deficiency. All the animals were underweight and lacking in cobalt, copper and selenium, all of which are integral to the animals’ metabolism.

The deaths of nine of the school’s 36 musk oxen represent the biggest die-off since the herd was established at LARS in 1979.

....The die-off prompted UAF to hire a private consultant from the Lower 48 to do a full review of the school’s animal care program.

“We’re going to cover all our animal facilities, the whole program top down,” Blake said.

Ghoulish Primate Experiment in South Africa

Warning! This is just horrible and sick, sick, sick. It's at a vomit level with me. From news24.com...

Johannesburg - A Bloemfontein man received a criminal record on Friday for a "backyard experiment" on a pregnant monkey, the NSPCA said.

The NSPCA in November 2008 charged Jordaan for his "merciless treatment" of a heavily pregnant vervet monkey. He had severed her spinal cord to paralyse her for a "backyard experiment.

"She had been captured from the wild... in the opinion of the NSPCA because she had been pregnant and therefore 'of use' for the pitiless treatment."

She said the monkey's infant was removed by Caesarean section on October 31. The procedure to sever her spinal cord had been performed the same day.

This paralysed the monkey from the waist down and made her incontinent. Her cage was “cleaned” with a hosepipe....

Kotze said Jordaan had apparently doing "stem cell research" to help people walk again after a friend of his had been paralysed in an accident.

Jordaan allegedly submitted a research application to the University of the Free State, but its animal ethics committee rejected it. He was told to rewrite and resubmit it. He was not prepared to do so and said he would continue the research on his own, Kotze said.

NASA Suspends Radiation Experiments

Received this today from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Excellent news!

We did it! For more than a year, we have worked to block NASA’s planned radiation experiments on live squirrel monkeys. We have just learned that the experiments have been cancelled. NASA has also announced its intention to “undertake a comprehensive review of the agency's current research and technology development plans to see how they align with the President's plan for human spaceflight,” the findings of which “will inform [its] decision making moving forward.”

NASA had planned to irradiate 30 live squirrel monkeys in a misguided attempt to learn the effects of deep-space radiation. Due to the basic anatomical, biological, and physiological differences between squirrel monkeys and humans, these experiments were destined to fail. PCRM has led the criticism of these experiments, working with members of Congress, former researchers, activists, and even a former NASA engineer who resigned her post in protest of this cruel and unnecessary use of animals.

Because of your hard work, these monkeys will not be irradiated or otherwise abused. Furthermore, we have sent a powerful message to all federal agencies that they must consider the interests of animals in the pursuit of research.

Positive Responses from Animal Testers?

I guess it depends on how much you believe them....

The article from UPI is below in its entirety.

Drug and chemical companies say they endorse a Europe-wide initiative intended to eventually end the use of animals in research and safety testing.

Experts from companies including drug giants AstraZeneca, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and cosmetics firm L'Oreal say that soon the safety testing of new drugs and chemical products will use new technologies, including cell cultures and computer models, rather than living animals, The Daily Telegraph in Britain reported.

A report published by a panel of experts from industry, academic institutions and regulatory bodies supports an initiative aimed at finding alternatives to animal research.

"Today we are at a new biological milestone, where we could, with sufficient international and political support, ... produce the means and the technology to test and assess the human and environmental risk of tens of thousands of chemicals per year without using animals," the report says.

Testing a single chemical takes up to five years, involves 800 rodents and costs $3.8 million. Robotic alternatives could test 350 chemicals in less than a week at a fraction of the cost, the report says.

"Endorsement from cross-sector, independent experts provides a tremendous boost to European Union and international efforts to revolutionize the science of safety testing," Troy Seidle, director of research for Humane Society International, said.

"The fact that industry is prepared to come to the table to meet with regulators and say they are prepared to do development, invest resources and change the way we do things shows this is a real possibility that is not just pie in the sky."

Another Research Company Accused of Animal Mistreatment

For the full story, go here to outsourcing-pharma.com...

Animal welfare watchdog group, Stop Animal Exploitation Now (SAEN), has released documents which, it claims, provide evidence that CRO MPI Research has been operating in violation of the US Animal Welfare Act.

The documents, disclosed to OutsourcingPharma.com by Executive Director of SAEN, Michael Budkie, are said to have been released anonymously from a past or present employee.

They include reports on 16 incidences of fractures received by primates and one swine during handling between 2007 and 2009. Six of the primates and the swine are reported to have been euthanised as a result.

An Animal Welfare Concern Report, which appears to have been written by an MPI Research employee in 2004, describes the ‘ongoing incidences of lacerated fingers, toes and tails that occur during the removal of animals from the home cages for study functions’.

Technicians’ lack of experience with primates and excessive workloads are some of the risk factors for incidences suggested by the anonymous employee.