Stop Testing On Animals Please; Lots of News This Week!
I am very excited to share with you a victory for the animals used in trauma training – and the people who will benefit from that training. Hartford Hospital in Connecticut has informed the Physicians Committee that it has ended its Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program. Now there are only three remaining programs using animals for ATLS training! Victories like this validates that our tactics are working and inspire us to keep increasing the pressure.
Earlier this month we amassed your collective voices by packing up more than 3,150 signed petitions and mailing them directly to the president and CEO of Hartford Hospital, Jeffrey A. Flaks. This was the latest of many petitions and communications with Hartford Hospital officials over the past nine years, and it finally elicited a letter from Hartford Hospital's vice president for research confirming that they no longer conduct ATLS courses!
But our work is not done. We still need to end the use of animals in all ATLS programs!
Please join our effort by e-mailing the presidents of the three remaining facilities using animals for ATLS training and urge them to make the switch to simulation.
Today, the only three facilities in the United States and Canada that continue using animals for ATLS training are Baystate Medical Center (Springfield, Mass.), North Dakota State University-Sanford Health Center (Fargo, N.D.), and the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston, Texas). These medical centers use pigs or goats to teach procedures that include inserting a tube into the chest cavity and draining fluid from the sac surrounding the heart. After the training sessions, the animals are killed.
Meanwhile, 273 facilities use only nonanimal methods, including medical simulators, for teaching ATLS courses. The American College of Surgeons, which oversees ATLS programs, has endorsed simulation to replace animal use, while earlier this year the U.S. Department of Defense ended the use of animals for ATLS training in favor of modern medical simulation. In light of these facts, it could not be clearer that the prevailing standard for ATLS training does not involve killing animals.
Please join us in demanding that the presidents of the three remaining medical facilities using animals for ATLS courses make the switch to human-relevant training methods.
Ensuring that chemicals are safe shouldn’t cost animals their lives.
But today, chemical testing means that hundreds of thousands of animals, including rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and rats may suffer painful burns, ulcers, or vomiting and convulsions. And the worst part is, those tests are virtually meaningless, because they don’t accurately predict toxic effects in humans. The flaws are widely known, but the tests are conducted anyway, because companies are legally required to do so.
However, a new bipartisan bill, The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697), does two things: it strengthens oversight of potentially dangerous chemicals; and it also features remarkably strong provisions that modernize the way testing is conducted. The bill is embedded with sections that instruct government agencies to implement alternative methods to evaluate chemicals. It finally brings laws into line with the landmark report from 2007, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy.
AAVS expects that the bill, in its current form, will greatly reduce the numbers of animals used in chemical testing, sparing the lives of many thousands of animals, who otherwise would be forced to endure excruciating pain and suffering to test pesticides, industrial cleaners, and other hazardous substances.
The bill will:
New testing technology benefits everyone, because it includes the use of human cells and tissues, making results more applicable, and allows for more data to be collected in a shorter period of time, often at a reduced cost. For example, an ultra-high-speed robot can test key toxicity indicators on thousands of chemicals in just one week instead of years. Federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are already using such testing methods, but this legislation will move implementation of alternatives forward much more quickly.
@PCRM July 8, 2015
Today New York County Supreme Court Justice Barbara Jaffe issued a 33-page decision
in the case of the chimpanzees Hercules and Leo. As you know, they are being
held in captivity in a Stony Brook University laboratory.
Justice Jaffe denied habeas corpus relief to Hercules and Leo only because, as she wrote, "for now" she is bound by the intermediate appellate court decision in Tommy’s case, which we have placed before the Court of Appeals—New York’s highest Court— seeking further review.
As with Tommy’s and Kiko’s cases, the legal battle will continue as our chimpanzee plaintiffs continue to suffer in captivity the way any self-aware, autonomous being would.
What Justice Jaffe’s decision does is allow us to appeal the decision to First Department which, unlike Justice Jaffe, is not bound by the decision of the Third Department in Tommy’s case.
As we work on what will be a prompt appeal of the decision, we’re pleased also to tell you that:
As with all the decisions in our unprecedented habeas corpus cases on behalf of captive chimpanzees, this is an important and necessary step in our long-term strategic litigation campaign. We look forward to your continued support as we pursue our next steps with the same passionate commitment we see every day in our supporters.
I am very excited to share with you a victory for the animals used in trauma training – and the people who will benefit from that training. Hartford Hospital in Connecticut has informed the Physicians Committee that it has ended its Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program. Now there are only three remaining programs using animals for ATLS training! Victories like this validates that our tactics are working and inspire us to keep increasing the pressure.
Earlier this month we amassed your collective voices by packing up more than 3,150 signed petitions and mailing them directly to the president and CEO of Hartford Hospital, Jeffrey A. Flaks. This was the latest of many petitions and communications with Hartford Hospital officials over the past nine years, and it finally elicited a letter from Hartford Hospital's vice president for research confirming that they no longer conduct ATLS courses!
But our work is not done. We still need to end the use of animals in all ATLS programs!
Please join our effort by e-mailing the presidents of the three remaining facilities using animals for ATLS training and urge them to make the switch to simulation.
Today, the only three facilities in the United States and Canada that continue using animals for ATLS training are Baystate Medical Center (Springfield, Mass.), North Dakota State University-Sanford Health Center (Fargo, N.D.), and the University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston, Texas). These medical centers use pigs or goats to teach procedures that include inserting a tube into the chest cavity and draining fluid from the sac surrounding the heart. After the training sessions, the animals are killed.
Meanwhile, 273 facilities use only nonanimal methods, including medical simulators, for teaching ATLS courses. The American College of Surgeons, which oversees ATLS programs, has endorsed simulation to replace animal use, while earlier this year the U.S. Department of Defense ended the use of animals for ATLS training in favor of modern medical simulation. In light of these facts, it could not be clearer that the prevailing standard for ATLS training does not involve killing animals.
Please join us in demanding that the presidents of the three remaining medical facilities using animals for ATLS courses make the switch to human-relevant training methods.
Thank you again for your support. You got us here. Together, we will continue
to secure victories that demand better trained physicians and more compassionate
medicine.
Hartford Hospital in Connecticut has informed the Physicians Committee that it has ended its Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program. But Baystate Medical Center and North Dakota State University-Sanford Health Centercontinue to use animals instead of human-relevant training methods for ATLS training.
Earlier this month the Physicians Committee amassed more than 3,150 signed petitions and mailed them to the president and CEO of Hartford Hospital. This was the latest of many petitions and communications with Hartford Hospital officials over the past nine years, and it finally elicited a letter from Hartford Hospital's vice president for research confirming that they no longer conduct ATLS courses.
Meanwhile, 274 facilities in the United States and Canada use only nonanimal methods, including medical simulators, for teaching ATLS courses. The American College of Surgeons, which oversees ATLS programs, has endorsed simulation to replace animal use, while earlier this year the U.S. Department of Defense ended the use of animals for ATLS training in favor of modern medical simulation.
Please ask Baystate Medical Center and North Dakota State University-Sanford Health Center to use human-relevant training methods.
Urge Vanderbilt University to End the Use of Animals for Emergency Medicine Training
Please take a minute to ask Vanderbilt University chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, and School of Medicine dean Jeffrey R. Balser, M.D., Ph.D., to replace the use of animals in the school's emergency medicine residency program with validated human-based training methods. We have provided text for you, but if you decide to write your own message, please be polite and encouraging. Here are some talking points:
- Please replace the use of animals in the Vanderbilt emergency medicine residency program with human-based simulators.
- Currently, 86 percent of surveyed emergency medicine residency programs in the United States teach the same procedures using nonanimal methods.
- Vanderbilt has a state-of-the-art simulation center that if fully utilized could replace the use of animals immediately.
- Vanderbilt's Advanced Trauma Life Support program teaches the same emergency procedures using simulation, so the school is already experienced in using nonanimal methods for this type of training.
Click here To Send Them A Quick Message; It takes 8 Seconds Tops: Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos and Dean Jeffrey R. Balser, M.D., Ph.D
SUPPORT LEGISLATION FOR MODERN, NON-ANIMAL TESTING
Please End the Use of Live Animals in Vanderbilt's Emergency Medicine Residency Program
I am writing to ask that you modernize and humanize medical training at Vanderbilt University by ending the use of live animals in the emergency medicine residency program. At Vanderbilt, emergency medicine residents are instructed to cut into live pigs and goats to practice procedures. Currently, 86 percent of surveyed emergency medicine residency programs in the United States teach the same procedures using human-based methods such as modern medical simulation. In fact, Vanderbilt's own Advanced Trauma Life Support program teaches the same procedures using nonanimal methods. Please end this educationally and ethically inferior practice immediately by making the switch to simulation.
But today, chemical testing means that hundreds of thousands of animals, including rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and rats may suffer painful burns, ulcers, or vomiting and convulsions. And the worst part is, those tests are virtually meaningless, because they don’t accurately predict toxic effects in humans. The flaws are widely known, but the tests are conducted anyway, because companies are legally required to do so.
However, a new bipartisan bill, The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697), does two things: it strengthens oversight of potentially dangerous chemicals; and it also features remarkably strong provisions that modernize the way testing is conducted. The bill is embedded with sections that instruct government agencies to implement alternative methods to evaluate chemicals. It finally brings laws into line with the landmark report from 2007, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and A Strategy.
AAVS expects that the bill, in its current form, will greatly reduce the numbers of animals used in chemical testing, sparing the lives of many thousands of animals, who otherwise would be forced to endure excruciating pain and suffering to test pesticides, industrial cleaners, and other hazardous substances.
The bill will:
- Require the use of available, validated alternatives to animal testing.
- Require that other methods be tried before animal testing can be used.
- Prioritize research and development of new methods.
New testing technology benefits everyone, because it includes the use of human cells and tissues, making results more applicable, and allows for more data to be collected in a shorter period of time, often at a reduced cost. For example, an ultra-high-speed robot can test key toxicity indicators on thousands of chemicals in just one week instead of years. Federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are already using such testing methods, but this legislation will move implementation of alternatives forward much more quickly.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Animals should not have to suffer and die to test chemicals, especially when reliable, alternative methods exist. Ask your Senator to help reduce the number of animals used in chemical testing by cosponsoring the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.@PCRM July 8, 2015
DO MORE:
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AWA ANIMALS IN LABS ON THE DECLINERelease of USDA's 2014 annual report shows a continued trend in the decline in the number of regulated animals in labs. While welcome news, this is likely do to an increase in the use of mice, rats, and fish, who are not regulated by USDA.READ MORE → |
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CHIMPS IN LIBERIA DOING BETTERAAVS is part of a coalition to help abandoned chimps in Liberia, and recently sent a donation for their care. A great news story updates their status and the effort to secure their future. Chimp profiles, video, and new photos!READ MORE → |
Justice Jaffe denied habeas corpus relief to Hercules and Leo only because, as she wrote, "for now" she is bound by the intermediate appellate court decision in Tommy’s case, which we have placed before the Court of Appeals—New York’s highest Court— seeking further review.
As with Tommy’s and Kiko’s cases, the legal battle will continue as our chimpanzee plaintiffs continue to suffer in captivity the way any self-aware, autonomous being would.
What Justice Jaffe’s decision does is allow us to appeal the decision to First Department which, unlike Justice Jaffe, is not bound by the decision of the Third Department in Tommy’s case.
As we work on what will be a prompt appeal of the decision, we’re pleased also to tell you that:
- One, Justice Jaffe’s decision was thoughtful and comprehensive. We thank her for so carefully examining our arguments and for having granted the historic Order to Show Cause that compelled the Attorney General’s office to appear in court on May 27th to justify Hercules and Leo’s detention at Stony Brook.
- Two, Justice Jaffe agreed that the NhRP had standing to litigate on behalf of Hercules and Leo. Indeed, she rejected one by one all the procedural barriers the Attorney General of New York attempted to place before her. She also rejected the argument that "opening the floodgates" to lawsuits on behalf of other nonhuman animals (also known as the “slippery slope” argument) was a sufficient reason for denying relief to Hercules and Leo and refused to follow the appellate decision handed down in Kiko’s case (which is also before the Court of Appeals for further review on our request).
- Three, she concluded her decision on what we see as a sympathetic, positive note: "Efforts to extend legal rights to chimpanzees are thus understandable; some day they may even succeed."
As with all the decisions in our unprecedented habeas corpus cases on behalf of captive chimpanzees, this is an important and necessary step in our long-term strategic litigation campaign. We look forward to your continued support as we pursue our next steps with the same passionate commitment we see every day in our supporters.
