Animal Testing Weekly Updates

Share Your Dog’s Photo to Help #EndDogExperiments. 

On May 19, doctors, dogs, and concerned citizens marked the fourth anniversary of the unexplained deaths of beagles at CARE Research. Join our online demonstration asking Colorado’s attorney general to investigate the pharmaceutical-testing facility in Fort Collins, which continues to be cited for violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.
The three beagles that died unexpectedly at CARE Research triggered a federal investigation that found the three dogs were bleeding internally and from the mouth and that there was blood “pooled under the cage of one dog.” Documents also show that the dogs may have been without water for several days, and dehydration may have invalidated the test they were being used for.
Recent documents show that CARE Research still has approximately 117 dogs. These dogs should be released, and CARE Research should transition to high-tech, human-relevant methods that result in safer drugs. Currently, 92 percent of animal-tested drugs fail in humans.
Here’s how you can help:
  1. Write out “#EndDogExperiments” on a sheet of paper.
  2. Take a photo of yourself and/or your dog with the paper.
  3. Share here and on your social networks using the hashtag #EndDogExperiments or by sharing the link www.EndDogExperiments.org.
  4. Share your Dog's Photo with everyone!

Ban the Torture of Live Animals in Medical Training.
Pig-surgery-by-bluesnap
Target: James Hicks, Dean of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Goal: Stop cruel medical training on live animals and switch to humane alternatives.
An elite medical school has stopped using live animals to train students, but the last U.S. university to still practice these cruel teaching methods refuses to stop. John Hopkins University has become the latest medical school to drop live animal training from its curriculum, leaving the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as the last medical school in North America still torturing sentient beings when humane alternatives exist.
All but one of the 197 accredited medical schools in the U.S. and Canada have now banned the use of live animals to teach students. Human simulators that breathe, blink, bleed and have lifelike skin and organs are now widely used to teach future doctors, yet the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga continues to make students perform surgeries on live pigs. This practice is not only an outdated and inefficient teaching method, as pigs and humans have different anatomies, it is also incredibly cruel. Pigs are sentient and intelligent animals who do not exist for our purposes, yet this university continues to use and discard them like objects, making them suffer unnecessary surgeries before killing them.
Sign this petition urging this university to follow in the footsteps of all other medical schools that have banned this cruel and archaic practice and switch to non-cruel alternatives.
Dear Mr. Hicks,
You are certainly aware that the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is now the very last medical school in North America to still perform cruel surgical training on live pigs. John Hopkins University has become the latest school to ban the outdated, inefficient and inhumane practice of training students on live animals when far superior alternatives exist.
All other 196 accredited medical schools in North America now use human simulators to train their students. Pigs, like other animals, are sentient beings who do not exist for our purposes. Please stop forcing countless pigs to suffer and die needlessly.
I urge you to drop archaic live animal training in favor of more efficient and humane teaching tools.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Bluesnap
U.S. University Commits to Retiring Their Lab Baboons – Help Make Sure They Go to Sanctuary. According to PETA, 20 million animals are used for educational purposes, including medical research. While non-animal alternatives exist, many universities insist on animal experiments in order to ”educate” students. These experiments include forcing animals to endure starvation, isolation, dissection, electric shock and psychological tests. While there are many universities guilty of causing harm to animals for the sake of science, one university, in particular, takes the biscuit.

The University of Oklahoma (OU) has been cited at least 16 times for animal cruelty by The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Founded in 2001, scientists at their health sciences center have studied organ transplantation, psychological disorders, and sickle cell anemia, through their baboon resource program.

Life for lab baboons is miserable. Because primates are highly social and intelligent creatures, they don’t respond well to isolation and deprivation: a normality of lab life. Typically kept in cages and isolated from one another, the physical and psychological torture primates face can affect them in unrecoverable ways. Around 90 percent of primates in labs develop abnormal behaviors as a result of captivity, including rocking back and forth, pacing and self-mutilation. When all is said and done, primates do not belong in captivity. No animal does.

Fortunately, OU recently announced that it will be closing its research facility where baboons are bred for brutal experiments. With a long history of cruel treatment of animals in its laboratories, including baboons, it’s about time they put an end to this horrific abuse. The question is, what will happen to the hundreds of baboons left behind at the school?

A History of Abuse and Horrific Deaths
Between 2013 and 2015, 51 baboons, including infants, died at the school’s breeding facility. According to a report, they died in ”violent, gruesome ways.” Many were crushed during transport, some suffocated to death, and others died from untreated parasitic infections.

Over the years, the facility has been slammed with numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act. In 2012, OU was cited by the USDA for euthanizing dogs via electrocution. Last year, they were in hot water with USDA again when inspectors found baboons living in dire conditions while others were left shivering after being hosed down and exposed to the risk of hypothermia. They also found ”an excessive build up of grime, debris, and excreta on the bars” of enclosures. According to the USDA, the center had poorly trained staff that seemed unaware of the importance of sanitation in areas where animals are kept.

University president David Boren says the reason for ending the baboon program includes ”a shift in the university’s research priorities and a desire to more wisely expend precious funds.”

Great news indeed but they’ve yet to send their remaining baboons to a sanctuary. So it seems, their fate lies in our hands.

Will You Help the Remaining Baboons?
Instead of transferring these baboons from OU to another laboratory where they will once again face physical and psychological abuse, we want to see the remaining baboons retired to sanctuaries where they can receive the love and care they need and deserve. It seems unlikely that they’d ever be able to return to the wild, considering the severe physical and psychological torture they’ve endured for years.

Baboons are highly social, intelligent, and inquisitive animals. In the wild, they live in groups of around 150 individuals and communicate in 30 distinct vocalizations. When taken away from their family groups and locked up in captivity, baboons suffer immensely and are left to live a life of solitude and neglect.

Taking baboons from the wild and forcing them into captivity also impacts the wild population. While they’re a least threatened species, the use of baboons in research has increased, meaning their numbers could drop significantly if it continues.

If you agree, please urge the Oklahoma University to retire its remaining baboons to an accredited sanctuary, where they can finally say goodbye to years of suffering and hello to a new and better life. To increase your impact, share this article and encourage others to sign. Those remaining baboons are counting on us!



Bill Will Reduce Animal Testing. As early as Tuesday, Congress is expected to vote on the final version of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, a bill to revise the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 


Important animal protection amendments to the bill have survived tough negotiations between factions in the House and Senate. Those amendments will introduce a whole new approach to regulating chemicals that is desperately needed. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), the author of the amendments, said at a press conference last week, "This bill is going to save hundreds and hundreds of thousands of [animal] lives." (If you are a New Jersey resident, please convey special thanks to Senator Booker.)

Of course, the primary intent of the legislation, which has been years in the making, is to protect people and the environment. The Lautenberg Act will strengthen oversight of potentially dangerous chemicals, while including strong provisions that modernize testing and instruct government agencies to implement alternative methods to evaluate chemicals.

Please call or e-mail your Representative and Senators TODAY and ask them to vote YES on the Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.


ACT NOW

Victory! Lab with Shocking AWA Violations Shut Down

AAVS applauds USDA for reaching a settlement agreement following multiple complaints filed against Santa Cruz Biotechnology (SCBT), one of the world's largest suppliers of antibodies. The company became notorious in recent years for gross animal welfare violations, particularly regarding its lack of care and treatment of hundreds of goats. As part of the settlement, SCBT agrees to cancel its research license, and USDA is revoking its dealer license and levying a historical fine of $3.5 million.

"This is an unprecedented outcome, but, considering the numbers of animals affected, appropriate. It should send a strong message to laboratories and dealers," said Sue Leary, President of AAVS. "We thank our members and other dedicated animal organizations for urging USDA to take decisive action against Santa Cruz Biotechnology."

USDA inspection reports of SCBT facilities documented several goats who were so thin that they had "protruding hips, ribs, and spinal processes," while others suffered from broken legs, as well as various skin conditions, hair loss, nasal discharge, respiratory problems, and anemia. Despite these painful conditions, SCBT continued to collect blood from injured and sick animals to harvest antibodies, further exacerbating the suffering of those already experiencing physical and mental anguish. The most blatant violation involved the repeated denial of a barn housing 841 housing goats that had been in operation for at least two and a half years.


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The House is poised to vote on the final TSCA reform bill (H.R. 2576) with provisions that would reduce -- if not eliminate, in some cases -- the use of animals for chemical testing. If this bill passes and is signed into law, tens of thousands of animals -- like rabbits, guinea pigs, and mice -- could be spared the horrific torture associated with the testing of industrial chemicals.
That's why we need you to act, TODAY.
Please call Sen. Cory Booker at (202) 224-3224 and Sen. Robert Menendez at (202) 224-4744 and politely let them know you support this important legislation. You can say: "I am a constituent, and I am calling to ask you to please vote yes on the final TSCA reform bill (H.R. 2576)."
Humane Society Legislative Fund
Hearing from you is so important. After your call, please take one more moment to send a follow-up message.
Your dedication, your refusal to stop fighting, that is why we're here in this moment. And we can't thank you enough.

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Congress is about to vote on the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which would revise the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act. Please make a call or send an e-mail today and urge your House representative to vote FOR this bill.

Thanks to your advocacy, the Lautenberg Act will reduce and replace animals in chemical tests by requiring the Environmental Protection Agency and the chemical industry to consider and use nonanimal testing methods and strategies. It also places restrictions on animal testing—which are stronger than current law—that will ensure the development and adoption of modern nonanimal methods.

Over time, the provisions in this bill will save hundreds of thousands of animals by replacing animal tests with human-relevant alternatives.

Please call or e-mail your representative today, and tell him or her to vote FOR the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act because it modernizes testing methods and restricts animal testing.

After contacting your representative, please forward this message to your friends.

Thank you for your help and compassion.


JHU
Physicians Committee doctors urge Johns Hopkins to end its live animal lab.
I am very excited to share with you a monumental victory. When the Physicians Committee was founded in 1985, the majority of medical schools were using animals—routinely killing dogs and other animals to teach students. We tackled this issue head-on, and one by one we've encouraged schools to end animal use and exclusively employ human-based training methods.

In 2006, a medical student at Johns Hopkins University contacted us to say that live pigs were being used in the student surgery clerkship. But after a decade of work—including continuous communications from the Physicians Committee and our supporters, demonstrations, local advertisements, legal complaints, and extensive media coverage—Johns Hopkins has ended its live animal lab.

First, I want to thank you! Without your support—signing petitions, making phone calls, attending demonstrations, and financially backing our lifesaving efforts, this huge step forward would never have happened.

And now I'd like to ask you do something more: Please join us in thanking the leaders of Johns Hopkins for making this important change.

While years of hard work have brought this victory, the announcement by Johns Hopkins came soon after state legislators publicly grilled university leaders about its animal use. A Maryland bill, championed by Del. Shane Robinson with extensive support from the Physicians Committee, would have prohibited the use of animals for medical training in the state.

On Feb. 11, 2016, Johns Hopkins alumni Martin Wasserman, M.D., and Barbara Wasserman, M.D.; Johns Hopkins resident Richard Bruno, M.D.; Maryland physician Pradip Sahdev, M.D.; and the Physicians Committee's Angie Eakin, M.D., visited the Maryland State House in Annapolis to offer expert testimony in support of the bill. In addition, 26 of our member doctors from Maryland signed a letter endorsing the bill, which was submitted as testimony at the hearing. It is clear that the bill and the Physicians Committee's years of work are responsible for the recent change at Johns Hopkins.
Now, there is only one U.S. medical school left using animals to teach students. The University of Tennessee's campus in Chattanooga is the last remaining vestige of this cruel and unnecessary practice. Today, 196 of 197 accredited medical schools in the United States and Canada are training future physicians without the use of live animals, and the training is better than ever. In the coming weeks, we'll send you an update on our efforts to put the pressure on the University of Tennessee and ask you to join our call to action.

But for today, let's enjoy this moment, because it has been a long time coming. Securing victories like these requires unrelenting effort over time. Thank you for standing with us—and for the animals—to reach this milestone.

Victory at Johns Hopkins!

UPDATE: After years of pressure, Johns Hopkins University has finally ended the use of animals for the training of medical students! This petition and the work of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine made the difference. 

Earlier this week, Johns Hopkins announced an end to animal use effective immediately. This kind of change by such a prominent, high-ranked medical school sends a loud and clear message: animals are not necessary to train doctors. 


Thank you for your help in making this happen.

End Your Live Animal Lab Now.
Johns Hopkins medical students are told to make incisions in a pig’s abdomen and insert long, thin tubes with lighted cameras known as endoscopes into the animal to practice surgical procedures. After the training, each pig is killed. Please tell Johns Hopkins to stop using live pigs in surgical training.

When I was a medical student at Johns Hopkins, I was instructed to practice procedures on a stray dog. To this day, when I think about this experience, I look back with great remorse. Four decades later, 99 percent of medical schools exclusively use human-relevant methods—not animals—to train future physicians. Where nearly every other school replaced animal use with modern tools like medical simulators and mentored patient care, Johns Hopkins simply replaced dogs with pigs.

After 40 years of practicing general and plastic surgery, I can confidently say there is no value in using animals—dogs or pigs—to teach human surgery. Future physicians cannot gain a greater respect for life by causing harm to and killing sentient beings.

Technology has advanced so much that human-based medical simulators can easily replace this use of animals. In recent years, the Department of Defense’s medical school—also located in Maryland—has ended the use of animals for teaching surgical skills to medical students.

All leading medical schools, including Stanford and Harvard, teach medical students without the use of animals, and in April 2015, Rush Medical College in Chicago ended the practice as well. Those schools see that there is no need for medical students to kill in order to become well-trained physicians.

I hope you will sign my petition to let Johns Hopkins know that it is time to end this unnecessary use of animals in medical student training.

This petition was delivered to: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Roy Ziegelstein, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Paul Rothman
  

Finally Released From Laboratories, 42 Beagles Step Into Freedom for the First Time

In the News

CHIMPS NEED NY LAB TO KEEP ITS PROMISE

On Thursday, animal advocates joined New York State Senator Tony Avella and Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal at a press conference in NYC where they urged the New York Blood Center (NYBC) to keep its promise to care for the 60 chimpanzees it abandoned in Liberia last year. The chimps are now being supported by a coalition led by The Humane Society of the U.S. Despite exploiting these chimps in research for decades, NYBC continues to shirk its responsibility to provide for their lifetime care. While NYBC is ignoring pleas from the public, it might listen if a major funder like MetLife threatens to stop its support.
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JOHNS HOPKINS DROPS LIVE ANIMAL LABS

Medical schools used to teach surgery in ‘dog labs,’ in which dogs were anesthetized and various procedures were demonstrated before they were killed. Due to advances in technology, and objections by students, alumni, and advocates, most medical schools discontinued these labs. Johns Hopkins University Medical School instead switched to pigs, but objections continued. The university announced last week that, following a course review and ethical considerations, students will no longer use animals and will instead use surgical training simulators.
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