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Government Expands Protections for Chimpanzees in Laboratories: Doctors React to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Final Rule
Washington—John J. Pippin, M.D., director of academic affairs for the nonprofit Physicians Committee, issues the following statement in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's June 12 announcement that all chimpanzees—captive and wild—will get expanded protections under the Endangered Species Act.
"As a physician who was invited to testify before a scientific panel examining the usefulness of chimpanzee experimentation, I’m thrilled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is upgrading protections for captive chimpanzees—including those in laboratories. For decades, chimpanzees were used in experiments with a misguided hope of developing treatments for human diseases. With this new rule, it will be very difficult for any laboratory to receive permission to use chimpanzees in such experiments.
“Protection under the Endangered Species Act is long overdue for chimpanzees in laboratories. The new status is a tremendous change that ends the unprotected current status of captive chimpanzees.
“Endangered species protection means that privately owned chimpanzees also will now likely be off-limits to invasive experiments.
“Use of chimpanzees in entertainment or as pets will likely also be severely restricted—and our wild cousins will be allowed to live in dignity.
“The Institute of Medicine panel charged with examining the necessity of chimpanzee experimentation could not find a single area of disease research for which the animals are essential.
“Chimpanzees have repeatedly proven to be poor models for many areas of human disease research, such as HIV, malaria, and other infectious diseases, neuroscience research, and cancer. The new protections for chimpanzees should cause the National Institutes of Health—the country’s largest funder of basic research—to close the door on a dark chapter of its history and expand its investment in nonanimal research methods.
Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee is a nonprofit health organization of 12,000 doctors. It promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.
Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.
At the University of Toledo (UT), emergency medicine residents are taught procedural skills using live animals. Despite the widespread availability and implementation of nonanimal methods, emergency medicine training at UT involves making incisions into a pig’s throat to insert a breathing tube, inserting needles into the chest and bones, and splitting the breastbone in order to access the heart. At the end of each session, the animals are killed. The university uses 125 pigs per year in its Emergency Skills laboratory to train residents and various emergency personnel. Please join our effort to put an end to this substandard practice by e-mailing the dean of the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Christopher J. Cooper, M.D., and vice president for research William Messer Jr., Ph.D.
This animal use is at odds with current standards of practice in the United States. Eighty-six percent of surveyed emergency medicine residencies (116 of 134) in the United States use nonanimal training methods such as human-based medical simulation, cadavers, and task trainers. UT even admits in its animal use protocol that studies “concluded that the humane methods were adequate to achieve the desired skills.” Purpose-designed trainers allow each student to repeat procedures, hone skills, and learn at their own pace, without harming animals. The university already has a state-of-the-art simulation center—the Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center—that could provide the resources and simulation capabilities to replace the use of animals.
Even with the availability of validated human-relevant nonanimal methods, UT continues the practice of using live animals to train students. Please take action and ask the school to end this educationally inferior and inhumane practice by making the switch to simulation—because Toledo deserves better.
Urge the University of Toledo to End the Use of Pigs for Emergency Medicine Training
- Please replace the use of pigs in the University of Toldeo’s emergency medicine residency program with human-based simulators.
- Eighty-six percent of surveyed emergency medicine residency programs in the United States teach the same procedures without using animals.
- UT admits in its animal use protocol that published studies “concluded that the humane methods were adequate to achieve the desired skills.
- UT has a state-of-the-art simulation center that if fully utilized could replace the use of animals immediately.
End Animal Cosmetic Testing in Canada.
Target: Senator Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, Conservative-New Brunswick
Goal: Stop testing on animals for cosmetic purposes.
Petition: Click Here To Sign!
A Canadian senator is introducing a bill that will prohibit animal testing for cosmetic purposes in Canada. The bill will also prohibit the sale of cosmetic products that have recently been tested on animals in other parts of the world.
Senator Stewart Olsen is pushing for the bill to make it through and stated, “This is a great day for Canada and demonstrates our government’s commitment to ethical beauty and improved regulatory alignment in the cosmetics sector globally.”
Olsen plans on working closely with Canadian stakeholders over the summer so that more improvements to the bill can be made. The bill, called The Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, was created after discussions with the Humane Society International (HSI) and Animal Alliance of Canada (AAC). Both HSI and AAC have led the #BeCrueltyFree Canada campaign, which encourages people to stop using products that have been tested on animals.
Many Canadians are already on board with the cruelty-free movement. More than 500 cosmetic companies in North America have already been certified as cruelty-free. Instead of testing on animals, many of these companies use existing ingredients or new non-animal test methods.
It is important that we move away completely from cruel animal testing. Many of us don’t think about the suffering that rabbits, guinea pigs, and dogs go through when we pick up a shampoo bottle. Chemicals are dripped into their eyes or put on their skin to test these products even though we have already established safer methods. Please sign this petition to ban cruel animal testing for cosmetics in Canada.
Dear Senator Stewart-Olsen,
I would like to thank you for your support of legislation that will ban animal testing for cosmetic purposes in Canada. It is time that Canada becomes part of the global movement to #BeCrueltyFree and puts an end to horrifying and cruel animal testing.
The bill, known as the Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, will not only stop the sale of cosmetics that have been animal-tested, but also ensure that cosmetic testing on animals is ended in Canada for good.
Thank you for talking with the Humane Society International and Animal Alliance of Canada and working to create legislation that treats animals in a humane fashion. By doing this, Canada joins the other countries that have taken these important steps and helps create a better world for animals.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO SUPPORT HUMANE COSMETICS
The Humane Cosmetics Act (HCA), a bipartisan bill aimed
at ending the use of animals in testing cosmetics and their ingredients, as well
as the sale of such products, was introduced to Congress last week. If HCA is
passed, thousands of animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and rats will be
spared from untold suffering in labs. The use of animals to test cosmetics is cruel and unnecessary.
The government does not require companies to use animal tests to access the safety of their products, and alternatives to replace outdated testing methods are rapidly being developed. Reliable non-animal alternative tests are available and include cell and tissue cultures and sophisticated computer and mathematical models.
Over a decade ago, the European Union began phasing out the use of animals for testing cosmetic products and ingredients. Israel and India followed with similar laws in 2007 and 2013, respectively. Yet the U.S. continues to drag its feet, failing to stop cosmetics testing on animals.
If passed, HCA would put the U.S. in line with other countries that have taken action to ban the cruel and unnecessary practice of using animals to test cosmetic products like shampoo, lotion, and lipstick.
In Miami-Dade schools, cats are now off the dissection table.
Miami-Dade School board member Raquel Regalado was aghast after watching a recent YouTube video of some Oklahoma students using cat cadavers as puppets in a choreographed song and dance — and decided she had to move quickly.
“I don’t want to hear about a cat dissection video in one of our Miami-Dade public schools,” she said.
Prodded by Regalado, the board this week unanimously agreed to halt cat dissections — a practice still pursued in advanced science classes in six county schools and supported by many biology teachers as an important “hands-on” experience. Now, students in those advanced classes will stick to slicing into earthworms or amphibians.
With access to “virtual” dissection computer programs in all Miami-Dade schools, Regalado said it was time to take cat cadavers out of the hands of high school kids.
“People couldn’t believe that we still did it,” Regalado said. “This is a very old-school thing. Now that we have options, let’s fully explore those options.”
Rita Schwartz, co-founder of the Pets’ Trust Miami, a grassroots group intended to improve animal welfare, said it was a “happy day“ knowing that students won’t be grossed out by — or be making fun of — a formaldehyde-reeked ritual of high school biology. Students in an Oklahoma class had created the video, performed to the tune of the famous Meow Mix cat food jingle, that had made its way to Regalado.
“This was long overdue,” Schwartz said after urging board members to halt cat dissections. “That we haven’t done this already is archaic.”
The debate on the dissection of domesticated animals like cats and dogs isn’t new. Broward County schools banned it over 15 years ago. In 2010, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals pushed Miami-Dade to do the same, but the county allowed a limited number of classes to continue the practice.
But with teens sharing everything, including selfies and online videos with dead cats, more groups have weighed in, increasing public pressure. In June, Harding Charter Preparatory High School in Oklahoma ended its cat dissection program because of backlash over the two-year-old video. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District in California did the same after the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed a complaint to Facebook in 2012 when students posted gruesome cat photos to the site.
Although animal rights groups praised the move, some members of the academic community called it a step backwards for education. In a letter to the school board, 26 biology professors from Florida International University asked board members to vote against the item, citing the value of “hands-on exploratory learning.”
“The use of animal dissections is a fundamental aspect of biological training because it permits direct observation of biological systems and how they work,” the letter stated. Professors were concerned mostly with the dissection classes that high school students take at the university level for credit.
Six public high schools in Miami-Dade County reported performing cat dissections in Advanced Placement biology or physiology classes in the 2014-2015 school year. Barbara Goleman in Miami Lakes, South Miami Senior High, Homestead Senior High, Miami Palmetto, Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School and Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts still perform the dissections, although a state policy allows students to opt out.
“We encourage real-world application,” said Cristian Carranza, Miami-Dade County Public School District’s administrative director of STEM curriculum. “Everyone knows virtual is great but nothing can beat the real experience.”
Flesh and blood cats do come at a small cost. The school district purchases them from three science supply vendors. One of those vendors said it only uses euthanized cats from government-operated animal shelters. According to data from Miami Dade Public School District, a kit of 10 cats for a class of 30 students runs $430. The school district could not estimate the number of cats used per year, or the total cost to the district.
Virtual-dissection software is much cheaper, and reusable. In 2010 PETA provided two free “virtual” dissection programs, Digital Frog and Cat Works, to Miami-Dade. At the time, not all schools had access to computers.
The school board’s vote also gave authority to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho to decide best practices for all other non-virtual dissections. Jaclyn Reeves-Pepin, executive director of the National Association of Biology Teachers, lamented teachers’ loss of decision-making power in the laboratory.
“The choice has been taken away from educators and students,” Reeves-Pepin said. “We believe the instructors of the course are best suited to determine the proper use of any classroom resource, be it a specimen, simulation or a book, to achieve the intended outcomes for the course,” she said.
Reeves-Pepin also worries school boards across the country could go too far. “Are we now talking about removing fish tanks from elementary school classrooms? The question is where does it stop?” Follow Jenny Luna: @j2theluna on Twitter.
66 FORMER LAB CHIMPS, ABANDONED IN LIBERIA, NEED YOU.
A coalition of more than 30 organizations, including AAVS, are working together to help 66 former lab chimpanzees in Liberia, who were abandoned by the New York Blood Center (NYBC). According to a New York Times article published on May 28, NYBC set up a lab in Liberia in the 1970s, so it would have easy access to chimpanzees to use in experiments to study hepatitis and HIV. The chimpanzees have been retired for at least a decade, and, in the past, NYBC has acknowledged its responsibility to financially support these animals, including in retirement. However, as of March 6, it has completely stopped all funding.Your help is needed to provide emergency support for these chimpanzees! Make a donation today; 100% of your gift will go directly towards helping the 66 chimps in need.
Although the chimps live on six mangrove islands where they can move about freely, they are completely dependent on humans for their care, especially for food and fresh water. In fact, until recently, when the fresh water system was fixed, caretakers had no other recourse but to give the chimps cups of water to drink every other day.
NYBC’s failure to provide for the lifetime care of these animals is
unacceptable and ethically indefensible. Please sign this petition urging NYBC to accept its responsibly to provide for the lifetime care of these chimps. Over 170,000 people have signed the petition already. Let’s keep the momentum going!
Success: Captive Chimps Declared Endangered
Target: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Goal: Praise decision to declare captive chimps as endangered and grant them protection under federal law.
Petition: Click Here To Sign
Captive chimps have been declared endangered and are now protected under federal law. This decision will ensure humane treatment of captive chimps and restrict all commercial activities. Before these animals were granted such rights, they were held in pens, bought and sold for research, and often treated as lab animals in order to find cures for human diseases.
Wild chimpanzees have been declared endangered and protected by the federal government for nearly 25 years. The decision to protect only wild chimpanzees and exclude captive ones was the only “split listing” of endangered species in history. However, the disappearance of chimps as a species has forced the government to reconsider its classification. More than one million chimps have disappeared from the wild since the year 2000 and it is estimated that only 300,000 remain.
Part of the reason captive chimpanzees were not offered protection immediately is due to medical research. The United States remains the only developed nation to use chimps for medical research after European nations outlawed it years ago. Many organizations fought for the continued use of chimpanzees in research until it finally became apparent that it was neither humane nor beneficial.
The new ruling will require federal permits to use chimps for biomedical research, as well as for any importing or exporting across state and international borders. It will also help to eliminate the use of chimpanzees in commercial activities such as in circuses and movies.
After outcry from the public to grant captive chimpanzees protection, including our voices here at ForceChange, the rulings have finally passed. Jane Goodall proposed these rulings two years ago and says that their passage will help to protect “our closest living relatives.” Sign this petition to commend the work done to finally protect captive chimpanzees and hopefully preserve their species altogether.
Dear U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Wild chimpanzees have been protected under federal law for nearly 25 years. However, this left captive chimps to become victims of biomedical testing where they were kept in cages and bought and sold without strict regulation. The United States is the only developed nation to continue using chimps for research, and does so at the expense of the disappearing species. We have lost nearly one million chimps since the turn of the century. Now, there is an estimated 300,000.
The decision to protect captive chimpanzees under federal law and declaring them endangered will not only grant these chimpanzees a safer life, but also help to restore the diminishing chimp population. I commend your efforts to preserve their species and ask you to continue to help ensure their preservation.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Hans Hillewaert
Decades ago, animal activists across the country joined to stop the use of animals to test cosmetic ingredients and products. One by one large cosmetic manufacturers committed to ending the use of animals to test cosmetics, and then the issue disappeared from public view for years. But behind closed doors and free from public scrutiny, cosmetic companies continued to place chemical substances on the skin or in the eyes of animals to test new ingredients that would be used to create the latest and greatest cosmetics. It was not until the European Union passed a law to phase out the production and sale of animal-tested cosmetics that a global shift began to take place. The issue is back in the public spotlight in the United States and it is finally time we finish what we started so many years ago.
The Humane Cosmetics Act
The #BeCrueltyFree USA campaign, led by The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Legislative Fund (HSLF), is working with a bipartisan group of legislators to make the U.S. the next cruelty-free marketplace. With the introduction of the Humane Cosmetics Act by Reps. Martha McSally R-AZ, Don Beyer D-VA, Joe Heck R-NV and Tony Cárdenas D-CA, we are now one step closer. If passed, this legislation will make it unlawful for anyone to conduct or commission animal testing for cosmetics in the U.S. It will also phase out the sale of cosmetics if the final product or any component ingredients were developed using animal testing.
U.S. cosmetic companies must already use alternative test methods in order to remain in compliance with animal testing bans in other cosmetic markets. Of the 13 largest importing countries of American cosmetics, eight — representing 80 percent of the U.S. trade value — have either already taken action to end animal testing for cosmetics or legislation is currently under consideration. In addition to the 28 member states of the EU, there are now testing and sales bans in place in India, Israel, and Norway. New Zealand and the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil also banned the use of animals to test cosmetics with the help of Humane Society International, and legislation is under consideration in countries around the globe.
Countries with 1.7 billion consumers already require cosmetics to be sold cruelty-free. We live in a global marketplace, and global cosmetics companies are already meeting this demand around the world. With the recent introduction of legislation in Canada to end animal testing too, and the U.S being the largest cosmetics industry in the world, North America is in a unique position to bring about change that will contribute to a lasting impact in this hemisphere and globally.
Cosmetic companies can continue to create new and innovative products while adhering to an animal testing ban. There are thousands of ingredients available to cosmetic companies with histories of safe use already in the marketplace. These ingredients allow more than 600 cruelty-free companies in North America to create new products while remaining true to their values. For new ingredients, a growing number of proven, non-animal tests are becoming available each year. These test methods offer safety data that is more relevant to public health and often provide considerable cost-savings for companies.
Growing Support for Cruelty-Free Cosmetics
It is not surprising that the Humane Cosmetics Act has received support from more than 140 companies in the personal care product industry including LUSH, Coty, The Body Shop, Paul Mitchell and Seventh Generation. Our #BeCrueltyFree campaign is pleased to have a groundswell of public support for ending the unnecessary suffering that animals endure for cosmetics testing, including endorsements from famous animal lovers such as Kesha, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, and Ricky Gervais.
Just as they were many years ago, recent polls show that the public fully supports efforts to end animal testing for cosmetics. A 2013 public opinion poll commissioned by The HSUS and HSLF found that 73 percent of American voters would favor Congress enacting legislation that would phase out new animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients. According to a 2015 Nielsen poll, 57 percent of respondents said that the most important cosmetics packaging claim was “not tested on animals” and 43 percent said that they would be willing to pay more for cruelty-free products.
Passage of the Humane Cosmetics Act makes good sense for animals who will be spared unnecessary suffering, for companies that wish to see global alignment of cosmetics policy, and for consumers who wish to finally see an end to cruelty for cosmetics.
Support the #BeCrueltyFree USA campaign by asking your legislators to support the Humane Cosmetics Act.
Image source: Carly Lesser & Art Drauglis/Flickr
