World Week for Animals In Laboratories
"True human goodness, in all its purity
and freedom, can come to fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's
true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view),
consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals.
And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle
so fundamental that all others stem from it."
Milo Kundera
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
At The Ohio State University mercy is nowhere to be found!
Stand up! Speak out! Join with
others and let your voices become the voice of compassionate outrage for the
approximately 30 million animals who will be experimented on in laboratories
this year.
What is WWAIL?
World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) is an annual event designed
to expose the plight of animals used for testing and research. WWAIL seeks
to arouse concern for animal in laboratories as well as educate the public
about the scientific, moral, and economic objections to animal experimentation,
also known as vivisection.
The time has come for dramatic change. With a wide and growing array of non-animal research methods rendering vivisection increasingly obsolete, animal experiments conducted today could be eliminated with the full-scale implementation of non-animal methods - without risk to human health. However, the research, drug and chemical industries - entrenched in animal research for legal, economic and political reasons - perpetuate the myth that animal experimentation is necessary - not stopping short of calling peaceful people "terrorists" and animal torture "humane."
WWAIL looks to the future with the hope of ending the misery
and pain for animals in laboratories and, at the same time, improving human
health.
Science and our ethical relationship with all living creatures must progress beyond vivisection.
THE EVENTS
Wednesday - April 21 - 11:30 am to 1:00 pm - Information distribution in the small park on Neil Ave. between 11th and 12th Ave.
Thursday - April 22 - 11:30 pm to 1:00 pm - Information distribution at 15th and High St.
Contact POET for further information at 614-224-4598 or email
to: poetwill@sbcglobal.net
website: www.poetwill.org
OSU Animal Usage
- One hundred ninety three protocols were approved to use animals in 2003.
- Protocols using animals where pain and distress will NOT be relieved hit an all time high of 15 experiments in 2003.
- Approval for expansion of animal laboratory facilities which will provide additional housing for thousands of rodents.
- Approval of protocols to use and increase the number on non-human primates used in experimentation.
- approx. 78,236 animals involved in research projects - the majority of the animals are now dead.
In the first three months of 2004, Fourty-four (44) new protocols to use animals have been reviewed with three being approved where relief from pain and/or distress will not be provided.
In studies using transgenic animals (usually rats and mice), thousands will be killed as the offspring will not contain the proper gene sequencing for use in the experiment. One project approved in 1998, requested an additional 87,082 additional mice in January 2004. 75,660 of those mice will not be used and will be killed shortly after birth, as they will not fit into the experimental design.
Where is the evidence that animal research
benefits humans?
From a paper published in the British Medical Journal, February 28, 2004.
METHODOLOGICAL FLAWS OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION
Species so different from man that findings may not be applicable
Drug doses may be very different from those given to humans
Small experimental groups generating weak conclusions
Variability in the criteria for selecting animals
The way illness or injury is induced may vary too much from the human condition
The authors conclude:
Ideally, new animal studies should not be conducted until
the best use has been made of existing animal studies and until their validity
and generalisability to clinical medicine has been assessed.
Contact OSU today and ask them to review the animal projects currently being conducted on campus.
Richard Tallman, Chairperson of OSU ILACUC - tallman.1@osu.edu
Karen A. Holbrook, President of The Ohio State University -
holbrook.79@osu.edu
205 Bricker
190 N Oval Mall
Columbus, OH 43210