Biomedical Research

From: Animal People July/August 1998

AV activism

	Allegedly abusive animal experiments have occasionally been halted by protest, professional review, political intervention, and/or legal action, but Radley Hirsch, founder and owner of San Francisco Audio, may be the first supplier of research equipment to delay or even stop an experiment by turning down a customer.
University of California at San Francisco researchers Marshal Fong and Stephen Cheung want to deafen six squirrel monkeys, then cut into their brains to see the damage. Receiving the Fong/Cheung order on February 11, Hirsch started to build a sound system to their specifications, then balked upon discovering what it was for. “It all comes back to you,” Hirsch told Keay Davidson of the San Francisco Examiner. “If you’re an evil person, bad things happen to you. If you’re a good person, nice things happen.” At least 49 animal rights groups have united as the Coalition to End Primate Experimentation, coordinated by Linda J. Howard at either fax 301-493-5355 or CEPEmail@yahoo.com. “We are calling for the creation of a presidential advisory committee composed of primate experts and informed laypeople,” the coalition declared in a joint “Call for an immediate moratorium on primate research,” to “make a recommendation to the president and the nation regarding the ethical implications of continuing exploitative primate research. Until the committee’s report is finalized, federal funding for primate research should cease.” Last Chance for Animals founder Chris DeRose on June 16 showed off $100,000 cash at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, posted as a reward for anyone who provides information leading to the conviction of researchers or institutions for either animal abuse or falsifying research.
The American Anti-Vivisection Society on June 10 was advised by BIC, the makers of BIC pens, that after an interval of “working with experts in product safety testing to evaluate reliable alternatives to animal testing in the development of new products,” the firm has “declared a worldwide moratorium on all animal testing.”
The announcement noted that future developments, including regulatory change, could force a resumption of animal testing, but added “BIC also continues to support legislation that eliminates testing on animals.”
Foreign British armed forces minister John Reid on June 12 suspended British participation in NATO exercises which involve shooting sedated pigs to give medics practice in treating gunshot wounds, pending review of the value of the procedure, which is reportedly often used in training U.S. combat surgeons. Reid’s action came as the Home Office was reportedly preparing to release statistics showing that the number of animals used in British laboratories is up, for the second year in a row. About 20% more animals were used in genetic work in 1996 than in 1995, and that trend is expected to continue, even as the numbers used in conventional product safety testing continue a long, slow drop.
	The University of Cape Town in June donated 10 former laboratory rabbits to the South African chapter of Beauty Without Cruelty, which will place them for adoption with the help of the Domestic Animal Rescue Group, and has agreed to donate six more rabbits each month. BWC spokesperson Beryl Scott said a sanctuary for the rabbits is under development at Hout Bay. The university uses about 9,500 rabbits per year.
Fourteen months after the activist group Primates for Primates complained that staff of the Central Sydney Area Health Service were using air rifle shots to move baboons at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Wallacia, Australia, the institution has been officially reprimanded by the New South Wales agriculture ministry, and has been warned that “any recurrence of such conduct may result in the cancellation or suspension” of accreditation. The 100 baboons are used, according to ministry records, in “very intrusive scientific experiments on pregnant females.”