Animal Testing Weekly!

Demand That MetLife Hold New York Blood Center Accountable for 67 Abandoned Chimps
Demand That MetLife Hold New York Blood Center Accountable for 67 Abandoned Chimps

TARGET: Steven Kandarian, CEO of MetLife - 88,817 of the 90,000 Goal

Overview petition
As the New York Blood Center's (NYBC) largest corporate donor, MetLife has the power to compel the organization to reinstate funding for the 67 chimpanzees who they abandoned with no food or water. 

For a 30 year period starting in the mid-1970s, NYBC conducted experiments on over 400 hundred chimpanzees in Liberia, where they could capture, breed and experiment on them with little regulatory oversight. When the research was complete, NYBC moved the survivors onto six islands in Liberia and one island in The Ivory Coast and made a public commitment to provide them with lifelong care.

In May, 2015, the New York Times reported that NYBC had “withdrawn all funding for them,” leaving the chimps to die of starvation and thirst. Since then, an HSUS-led coalition of over 30 animal conservation groups has raised funds from the public to pay for the chimps’ care on an emergency basis.

Please sign this petition to ask MetLife, NYBC’s largest and most prominent corporate donor, to exert its influence over NYBC by demanding that the organization provides the funding to pay for the care of the chimps. Click here to help!

In a stunning display of greed and recklessness, the New York Blood Center (NYBC) abandoned 66 chimpanzees they used for biomedical research at a laboratory in Liberia. Thankfully, caring people around the world are taking to the internet and to the streets to hold NYBC accountable. Please join the fight!

For thirty years, NYBC used over 400 chimps, many of whom they kidnapped from the jungle, for biomedical research. When they no longer needed the chimps who survived the research, they relocated them onto islands with no natural food and water.

After pledging to provide these chimpanzees with lifelong care, NYBC executives changed their minds, leaving the chimps to die of starvation and thirst. Animal advocates around the world have made contributions to keep the chimps alive, but the only sustainable solution is for NYBC to resume their obligation to financially provide for the chimps.

NYBC’s donors, which keep the organization afloat, have the power to influence the organization. And, because NYBC refuses to engage with the community, these donors must be a voice for the chimps. In fact, one already has. On March 31st, Citigroup, a former NYBC donor, said that the “situation is not tolerable” and contributed $50,000 toward the care of the chimps.

MetLife is NYBC’s largest corporate donor and partner, yet it has ignored pleas by thousands of people to hold NYBC accountable. We are asking MetLife to use its influence to compel NYBC to reinstate funding for the chimps. Take action for the chimps - add your name now!


Update on Petition to the US Food and Drug Administration: Thank you everyone for making this petition reach over 130,000 people. The fact that so many people care so much about our animals is amazing. Thank you so much. Please keep sharing this petition with friends and family on your social networks. We are so close to our goal! We could have not done this without you. God bless you all.
Stop Animal Torture for Human Pleasure! In a weird and unnecessarily cruel move, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently classified personal lubricant products -- or lube, for short -- as “medical devices,” on a par with powered wheelchairs and some pregnancy tests. Because of this, lube manufacturers are now required to test on animals. This means injecting the product into the private areas of rabbits and guinea pigs, killing them, then examining their corpses for signs of irritation. Needless to say, this decision is inhumane and must be stopped.

Of course, human safety is of utmost importance, but here’s the catch -- according to PETA, 92% of drugs that pass tests on animals fail in humans because they either end up being dangerous or simply don’t work. Their anatomies are not like ours. Rabbits, in particular, are so often chosen for this torturous testing, but it turns out that their reproductive organs contain fewer specialized cells than human reproductive organs, and results of this particular personal lubricant testing on them will in no way guarantee similar results in people.

We need to end this needless torture. Please sign our petition urging the FDA to reverse its decision requiring that lubricant products be tested on animals.

An alternative exists, and one lube company even petitioned the FDA to let it use this method instead (the FDA denied its request): testing these products on cultured human cells in a petri dish would be as predictive, if not more predictive, of human safety than animal tests, and much less expensive. So what reason does the FDA have to insist on the maiming and killing of thousands of animals? It simply isn’t right.

Please join us in demanding that the U.S. FDA reverse its decision requiring cruel animal testing on lube products.

This petition will be delivered to: US Food and Drug Administration
Military Training
Next, in U.S. military training courses, goats and pigs are being shot, stabbed, and dismembered to train medical personnel—but you can help stop it. I know we have written you about this issue before, but I am writing now with an urgent request.

Please take action today.


Right now, the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee is considering the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which directs the Department of Defense. Please ask your member of Congress, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, to co-sponsor the BEST Practices Act, which would phase out the military's use of animals in combat trauma training courses. Send an e-mail.

The free online Food Revolution Summit begins in just one week. I hope you'll register now so that you don't miss a single session!

Register now for the FREE Food Revolution Online Summit.

Neal Barnard, M.D. will be speaking at this event, along with 24 other doctors, scientists, celebrities, and health advocates who have an urgent message about the food we eat. From April 30 – May 8, 2016, my friends John and Ocean Robbins will share a series of thought-provoking interviews with trusted experts such as Michael Greger, M.D., Dean Ornish, M.D., Jane Goodall, Ph.D., and many others.

You’ll get the tools you need to keep you and your loved ones healthy for life. If you want to feel good about the food you eat and enjoy a healthier life, this is the place to be!

The event is free, and because it's all online, you can join us from anywhere on Earth.


I hope you'll join Neal Barnard, M.D. and sign up today.

World Day for Animals in Labs was on Sunday, April 24. Although AAVS works on behalf of animals used in research, testing, and education throughout the year, World Day for Animals in Labs is an opportunity to spotlight this issue, educate more people, and bring everyone together to help animals.

You can have a real impact on product testing, and this year is a great time to focus on the Humane Cosmetics Act, a bill that would end cosmetics testing on animals. While some think that cosmetics and personal care products are no longer tested on animals, the practice still persists. These tests are often painful, and animals, like rabbits, guinea pigs, and mice, are usually killed at the end of the experiment. These tests are unnecessary because they are not required and non-animal methods such as cell and tissue cultures and computer modeling have proven to be reliable.

Nearly 25,000 activists have already contacted their representatives or signed AAVS petitions in support of the Humane Cosmetics Act. Many more are helping to spread this message. Will you?

World Day is the perfect occasion to tell others how they can help animals in labs. Small actions, like forwarding this and sharing on social media, can be impactful, and go a long way in sending a message to people who might not ordinarily hear it.

SUPPORT THE HUMANE COSMETICS ACT SHARE THIS MESSAGE WITH FRIENDS

NIH Chimps Waiting for Sanctuary

Although NIH retired the majority of its chimpanzees three years ago, a recent government report states that about two-thirds of those remaining in labs have not yet been moved to a sanctuary. The report blames NIH for not having an implementation plan to move the animals, many of whom are elderly and/or suffering from a chronic illnesses like hepatitis.

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The Animal Welfare Act
to Turn 50

Originally signed on August 24, 1966, the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) is the only law protecting animals in laboratories. Although the AWA was intended to cover all mammals, today it protects only animals like dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and primates. Author Daniel Engber recalls his own experiences working in a lab with mice and discusses how the marginalization of these animals, along with rats and birds, continues today.

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Humane Science Education in Canada

Although interest in humane science education has been steadily growing in the U.S., in Canada, a lack of resources has made such progress difficult. However, the Animals in Science Policy Institute in British Columbia hopes to change this by launching a lending library of dissection alternatives. The group also is planning a feasibility study to assess the implementation of these animal-friendly teaching methods.

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