or Animals in Laboratories
Please join In Defense of Animals during World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) to speak out against the abhorrent use of animals in testing and research.
This year, there is more hope than ever, as technology moves us beyond antiquated animal experiments and government reports, agencies and scientists have begun to acknowledge the need to move away from animal research.
Recent published studies also document that an old boys network in the federal research funding system concentrates grant awards in the hands of a select number of older researchers (“aging cash cows” like Stephen Lisberger at the University of California San Francisco), perpetuating old-style, outdated research methods at the expense of modern and innovative studies.
With a new administration and a serious financial crisis at hand, it is more important than ever that we use this week to call attention to the outdated and unnecessary biomedical experiments that continue to claim the lives of millions of animals each year.
The new presidential administration has vowed to scrutinize the federal budget “line by line” to locate and eliminate wasteful spending. Now is the time to bring the massive waste of federal funds on cruel and unnecessary animal research to the new Administration’s attention. IDA has begun this effort with a letter to Senate leaders
Among them are studies that looked at:
Nipple preference in nursing infant monkeys.
Effect of high-fat diets on mice sleep. (Made mice fat and sleepy.)
Effect of stress and isolation on voles. (Prairie voles had less anxiety than meadow voles.)
Effect of mouse social separation on wound healing. (Affected monogamous mice, not polygamous mice.)
Effect of exercise on rat health. (Rats who exercised were healthier.)
Your participation is urgently needed to join forces with IDA to push forward and bring about an end to cruel and wasteful animal research. Please, make a commitment today to take one action for animals in laboratories during the week of WWAIL. Here are just a few ways to participate during WWAIL:
Organize an event in your area, such as a demonstration or educational table. Click here to read about the many different ways that you can get involved in 2009. Email us at wwail@idausa.org to let us know if you will be planning an event, or if you just need more information.
Send a letter to the editor or your local newspaper. Click here for sample letters and guidelines.
Write to President Obama and urge him to stand by his promise to end wasteful government programs. Contact the Office of Public Liaison (“the front door to the White House through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President”).
This year more than ever, we are closer to exposing and ending cruel, unnecessary and outdated animal research.

I have just seen this post. It’s all about the strange experiments that take place and it makes me question what it’s really for? Now, I’m going to tell you my honest view and I’m aware I will sound hypocritical. I don’t agree with animals testing but I don’t like the idea of being a guinea pig myself. If there are humans who will be tested voluntarily; that’s cool. If not, what happens when a new drug comes out? Who will it be tested on OR will be bypass that and just try it out? OK, now I get that this is a very ‘sitting on the fence’ statement but I’m hoping that there has to be an another answer…

What do you think?

Anyway here’s the article that made me think about all this…

Please join In Defense of Animals during World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) to speak out against the abhorrent use of animals in testing and research.

This year, there is more hope than ever, as technology moves us beyond antiquated animal experiments and government reports, agencies and scientists have begun to acknowledge the need to move away from animal research.

Recent published studies also document that an old boys network in the federal research funding system concentrates grant awards in the hands of a select number of older researchers (“aging cash cows” like Stephen Lisberger at the University of California San Francisco), perpetuating old-style, outdated research methods at the expense of modern and innovative studies.

With a new administration and a serious financial crisis at hand, it is more important than ever that we use this week to call attention to the outdated and unnecessary biomedical experiments that continue to claim the lives of millions of animals each year.

The new presidential administration has vowed to scrutinize the federal budget “line by line” to locate and eliminate wasteful spending. Now is the time to bring the massive waste of federal funds on cruel and unnecessary animal research to the new Administration’s attention. IDA has begun this effort with a letter to Senate leaders

Among them are studies that looked at:

  1. Nipple preference in nursing infant monkeys.
  2. Effect of high-fat diets on mice sleep. (Made mice fat and sleepy.)
  3. Effect of stress and isolation on voles. (Prairie voles had less anxiety than meadow voles.)
  4. Effect of mouse social separation on wound healing. (Affected monogamous mice, not polygamous mice.)
  5. Effect of exercise on rat health. (Rats who exercised were healthier.)

Your participation is urgently needed to join forces with IDA to push forward and bring about an end to cruel and wasteful animal research. Please, make a commitment today to take one action for animals in laboratories during the week of WWAIL. Here are just a few ways to participate during WWAIL:

Organize an event in your area, such as a demonstration or educational table. Click here to read about the many different ways that you can get involved in 2009. Email us at wwail@idausa.org to let us know if you will be planning an event, or if you just need more information.

Send a letter to the editor or your local newspaper. Click here for sample letters and guidelines.

Write to President Obama and urge him to stand by his promise to end wasteful government programs. Contact the Office of Public Liaison (“the front door to the White House through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President”).

This year more than ever, we are closer to exposing and ending cruel, unnecessary and outdated animal research.

So what will you do?

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3 Comments

Heena Modi · October 30, 2009 at 12:35 pm

I used the standard letter provided here – http://wwail.org/editor_letter.html and I used http://www.writetothem.com/ to write to MP’s, MEP’s and a Lord to see how we can utilise them and their power to create a positive change

What will you do?

Gerard Batten · October 30, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Dear Ms Modi,

I too have grave concerns about the use of animals for research, which invariably results in suffering and often death of the animal. In the 21st century when there are so many other more reliable ways of testing drugs and treatments – notably stem cell research – then it is ludicrous that we should still be inflicting such appalling treatment on the animals who share our planet. The points you make are all very cogent.

It is particularly worth noting that animal experimentation is extremely unreliable – as the unfortunate volunteers in the ‘Elephant Man’ case found out: although the drugs in question had been rigorously tested on animals they had completely different side-effects on people.

Please accept my assurance that I would never vote in the European Parliament for any measure which involved the suffering of an animal.

Gerard Batten MEP

John Nickolay · October 31, 2009 at 4:37 pm

Dear Heena

While I am an animal lover and detest cruelty to them, I approve of their use in medical research under controlled conditions and believe our approach to animal welfare in the UK is second to none. Thus you are correct in that we can teach the rest of the world a lot.

I have just come back from holiday break in Jersey with my family. There we visited the Durrell outdoor zoo that is a testimony to all this.

John

Comments are closed.