As part of World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week - on Sunday, April 20 Mike Budkie of SAEN out of Cincinnati (Stop Animal Exploitation Now) would like to hold a peaceful protest outside a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base gate at 11:30 am. As you probably know, animal experimentation takes place at Wright-Patt. P/AN has not focused on this issue for several years, but we know they are doing toxicology (poisoning) research with animals.
The Gate is 1-C, and it is on Rt 444 near Dayton St. in Fairborn, OH
For more information on military research see SAEN's web site: www.all-creatures.org/saen/
Then click on "resources and links" and scroll down to U.S. Govt. Dept. of Defense facilities -- among the facilities is Brooks AF Research Lab in Texas which is one of the research "missions" being moved to Dayton as part of BRAC (base realignment and closing process). As an example of "research," you will see listed experiments on "retinal (eye) injury with lasers" using non-human primates....
This April 20 action is legal and very necessary to alert the Miami Valley
community about animal experiments by the military. The more people that are
aware and informed, the better the chances of doing something to help the animals,
esp. through our elected officials. Please e-mail Linda
in Dayton if you can attend and for directions. We will probably organize
a car pool from Columbus so if you interested let POET or Linda know if you
need a ride.
April 24th - Columbus and the OSU campus
The start time is 4:00pm where we will meet at Neil & 11th - in the grassy area next to Hamilton Hall. At 4:30pm we will march down 12th Ave. to Wiseman Hall, continue to the Biomedical Research Tower, and then march across the pedestrian bridge next to the Drake Union and to the Veterinary Hospital. I hope you see a pattern. We are passing by the areas that conduct a large majority of the animal research on the OSU campus.
Before being made into fur coats or trim, animals are caged, trapped, drowned, beaten, electrocuted, suffocated, and skinned.
The day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest shopping days of the year,
has also been designated as Fur Free Friday by animal advocates. Please join
Mercy For Animals in drawing attention to the suffering of the millions of fur-bearing
animals killed by the violent and cruel fur industry.
MFA will provide all the needed signs, banners and leaflets for the demonstration.
Location: Easton Town Center Mall, on sidewalk at the NW corner of Easton Way
and Stelzer Rd. intersection
Time: 11:45 am - 1:00 pm
Phone: 1-866-632-6446
Email: info@mercyforanimals.org
Website: www.mercyforanimals.org
POET does not have a booth at Comfest this year but when you attend please be sure to pickup a copy of The Columbus Free Press where you'll find an article about Dr. Billman and what you can do to help. Also visit the Mercy For Animals booth.
Here's the article that was published in The Free Press
Billman Is Killing Dogs at OSU
Wednesday - June 6th
4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Hamilton Hall - 1645
Neil Ave.
An OSU students accepts a flier about what is happening to the dogs in Billman's lab
Members of Protect Our Earth's Treasures, P.O.E.T., are calling for an end to
the dog experiments of George E. Billman that are being conducted on The Ohio
State University.
The dogs are implanted with a balloon in their heart, and while running on a
treadmill the balloon is expanded causing blood to stop flowing to the heart.
Dr. Billman states in a published paper, "To date, I have produced an anterior
wall myocardial infarction in a total of 768 animals". Another 120 dogs
were approved to use during the April 2007 OSU Animal Care and Use Committee
meeting.
Billman concludes in his paper that, "... during the last 25 years, the
canine model of sudden cardiac death described in this article has provided
invaluable information concerning factors involved in VF, there remain many
unanswered questions. The mechanisms responsible for VF at the cellular and
subcellular level remain largely to be determined. It, therefore, is very likely
that this canine model for sudden death will continue to stimulate new research
and produce interesting results for the next 25 years."
The newly approved protocol will be posted on the website in the next couple
days.
Dr. Billman received four (4) dogs from Robert Perry on March 26, 2007. By May
16th all four dogs were dead. It's time the killing stopped.
Protest Against the Continued Killing of Dogs at OSU
Monday - May 21st
4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Hamilton Hall - 1645 Neil Ave.
Tasman, the dog, urges OSU students and passersby to contact OSU and tell them to stop Billman from killing his friends. Ten people showed up at the May 9th demonstration to pass out fliers and educate the OSU community.
The Columbus Dispatch - Research on dogs at OSU protested - 5/12/07
Billman states in a published paper, "To date, I have produced an anterior wall myocardial infarction in a total of 768 animals". That's 768 dead dogs. Another 120 dogs were approved to use during the April 2007 OSU Animal Care and Use Committee meeting.
Billman concludes, "Although, during the last 25 years, the canine model of sudden cardiac death described in this article has provided invaluable information concerning factors involved in VF, there remain many unanswered questions. The mechanisms responsible for VF at the cellular and subcellular level remain largely to be determined. It, therefore, is very likely that this canine model for sudden death will continue to stimulate new research and produce interesting results for the next 25 years."
It's time these experiments came to an end and your voices and your letters will make the difference. Please be there for them.
If you are unable to attend the demonstration please contact OSU IACUC (Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee-approve animal experimentation on campus) or Earle Holland, OSU PR
Write: IACUCinfo@osu.edu or Holland.8@osu.edu
Other information concerning Billman and his experiments
Billman past history and other experiment
Tuesday, April 24th from 11:00 am to 1:00 PM, P.O.E.T. will be demonstrating against the use of animals in experimentation on the OSU campus.
Where: Biomedical
Research Tower (map with building shown)
460 W. 12th Ave.
The Research Tower, which opened on Nov. 3rd with a dedication and protest by members of P.O.E.T., has remained empty of animals due to problems with setting up the vivarium including water damage.
This month, April, animals are scheduled to start or will have started moving into the vivarium
Last year OSU used 9,100 rats and 98,506 mice in experimentation. A large number of the mice are not even used in the final experiment, because they are transgenic animals and their genes do not match the experimental criteria. The animals are killed. The Tower will be the location for much of the transgenic work that will occur on campus.
Thursday, April 26th from 1:00 pm to 2:45 pm, P.O.E.T. will be demonstrating against using non-human primates in experiments being conducted at OSU and The University of Utah.
Where: Mathematical Biosciences Institute - Math Building
231 W. 18th Avenue (Click
for Directions to the Math Building)
Dr. John Buford arrived at OSU in 1999 and since his arrival has been conducting experiments on primates to study carpal tunnel syndrome and study movement (reaching). See Buford primates on our website for details and a history of the animals used in this work.
Goggle carpal tunnel syndrome and you'll find many articles discussing what can be done to prevent the disorder. But at OSU they create primates with carpal tunnel syndrome.
Attending the ILACUC meeting (2/24/06) we learned that Dr. Buford requested a change of primate from cynomolgous monkeys to rhesus monkeys because their muscles and brain are larger and provide precise locations of tracer injections. Does that mean his previous work was NOT precise? A statement in a recent Columbus Dispatch indicated that maybe that is true.
The monkeys, a species related to rhesus monkeys known as fascicularis, are killed and their brains dissected after the research so Buford knows he has recorded activity in the correct part of the brain. (3/13/05 - Primate research slow but not stopped - Dispatch)
This week, a primate experimenter from The University of Utah, is delivering a series of lectures at OSU. While her field of research is vision, both researchers use primates to simulate human conditions.
A review of published papers by Alessandra Angelucci, indicates that holes are drilled into the primates skulls (as in Buford's primates to attach electrodes) and then strapping the animal to a chair in front of a screen displaying light patterns to test the brain's responses. Pretty much the same technique Buford uses on his primates except:
"... the monkey began the trial by waiting in the start position, and then an instruction (target cue) was presented to direct movement to one of the 4 targets. The monkey was then given the movement cue and he subsequently moved to contact the correct target and held his hand on the target until the reward was given. After the reward, a new trial began." (Reference above-his primates)
Both animal researchers kill their primates at the end of the experiments to
verify correct placement of electrodes, etc.
OSU Attempts to Limit the Release of Protocols
For only the second since 1994, members of P.O.E.T. did not attend the monthly OSU IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) meeting. Due to issues with a family dog the March meeting was missed. Subsequent attempts to review the protocols outside the meeting resulted in the receipt of the following e-mail from the university:
"I am seeking guidance in regards to your request to look at the review items handled via designated member review for the month of March. I will contact you once I have received this guidance."
During previous IACUC meetings all protocols (including designated member review) submitted during the month were provided and were reviewed by P.O.E.T.. It seems OSU has used our concern for animals against us and is considering changing policy.
Protocols were reviewed at the IACUC meeting by the full committee. The designated review process assigns the protocol to a designated reviewer who conducts the evaluation of the protocol. Other IACUC members may comment but whether or not they actually review the protocol is not known unless they submit comments or ask for a full committee review. Therefore the protocol is no longer reviewed during the IACUC meeting. This means a large majority of the protocols are approved by a handful of IACUC members.
Why should the designated review process keep P.O.E.T. from reviewing the protocols? We don't know. The next IACUC meeting is April 20th and we have demanded our review and reply before the meeting.
Sponsored by Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! (SAEN) this national event draws
focus on the use of primates in experimentation.
"Many people also have significant ethical concerns regarding the use of
primates in experimentation. Due to the social nature of primates, their confinement
in laboratories has significant consequences. If primates are psychologically
similar to human beings in their ability to suffer, then the use of primates
in potentially painful/stressful projects should raise serious moral questions."
http://www.all-creatures.org/saen/index.html
The Ohio State University uses primates in experimentation. Over the years POET
has focused on two investigators, Dr. John Buford
and Dr. Amer Rajab.
Dr. Buford is conducting carpal tunnel experiments and Dr. Rajab is using his
primates in islet transplantation experiments.
Please join us in speaking for the animals by attending one of the events.
A copy of our flier - OSU: A Failing Grade in Animal
Care can be found here.
Tuesday - October 10
11:30 am to 1:00 pm
Neil & 11th Ave.
Wednesday - October 11
11:30 am to 1:00 pm
on the Oval - near the Faculty
Club - 181 S Oval Dr
Thursday - October 12
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
OSU Research Foundation
- 1960 Kenny Rd
World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week working for the liberation of animals from the laboratory - April 2006
Schedule for POET Meetings
The Monthly POET meetings have been suspended.
The June 1st meeting will be the last at Wild Oats. We will be trying a quarterly meeting which will be held at a restraurant or we'll plan a vegetarian potluck at someone's house or a park. If you have any ideas for meeting locations or wish to volunteer your home or backyard let us know! We will be planning a year end holiday get together.
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Revised --April 22, 2007