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Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe out animal experimentation"

Fact Sheets

Animal Experimentation in the United States (April 2005)
A Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! fact sheet
Downloadable PDF Version

The Facts About Animal Experiments

            Animal experimentation is a scandal that has been hidden from the American public.  We have been lead to believe that the animals used in experiments are well treated and that the procedures performed on these animals are thoroughly regulated and governed by federal laws.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

            Over 90% of the animals used in experimentation are purposely excluded from protection under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA -- the only federal law that governs animal experimentation).  Rats, mice, birds, and many other species have been expressly eliminated from all safeguards. 

            The AWA places no real restrictions on what can be done to an animal during an experiment.  Animals are routinely subjected to addictive drugs, electric shock, food & water deprivation, isolation, severe confinement, caustic chemicals, burning, blinding, chemical and biological weapons, radiation, etc.  The "scientist" in question only has to say that a specific procedure is "necessary" for the experiment, and it is allowed.  The goal is not to protect the animal; the goal is to insure that the experiment proceeds -- at any cost.

The National Death Toll

            Recent (fiscal 2002) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics list a total of 1,136,841 primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and other species as being subjected to experimental procedures.  The species by species listings include:

  68,220 dogs                                       52,279 primates

  68,348 pigs                                      243,748 rabbits

  24,184 cats                                      179,971 hamsters

  48,888 other farm animals                  25,685 sheep         

180,086 other animals                        245,432 guinea pigs

However, this total is likely far from accurate.  At no time have all laboratories in the U.S. reported their experimental totals.  The total of non-reporting facilities has varied from 22 to 128 (out of approximately 1200).  And since some specific laboratories report using over 100,000 animals the omission of even 22 reports could be very significant.

The species that are not covered by the Animal Welfare Act (rats, mice, etc.) are not even counted.  Therefore, the total above ignores the majority of animals experimented upon in the U.S.  The real number of animals experimented on in the U.S. each year is well over 20 million.  Additionally, these statistics do not cover animals that are caged in laboratories but are being held for conditioning or breeding.  For example, while the USDA reports the use of over 52,000 primates, another 43,000 are imprisoned in breeding colonies. 

Where Does the Money Come From?

            Many federal agencies fund animal experiments including:  the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), and Office of Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH).  

During fiscal 2003 these seven agencies within the federal government  funded over 30,426 projects involving experimentation on more than 27 different species including:  macaque monkeys, squirrel monkeys, rats, mice, dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, and cats.  Use of these species in federally funded projects has increased 42% in the last ten years.  Government-funded experiments in these species cost U.S. taxpayers over $12 billion annually, an increase of over 156%

Government Waste

How does the federal government manage to spend so much money on animal experiments?  Simple, it pays for the same experiment to be done over and over and over again.   175 projects currently study neural information processing in macaque monkeys, costing over $70 million.  245 projects study cocaine in rats ($98,154,595), 108 projects study cocaine in mice ($43,268,148), and 46 projects study cocaine in macaque monkeys ($18,429,026).  In total, 399 projects currently study cocaine in three different species, costing an estimated total of $159,851,769 annually.  The list goes on and on and on.  Even if this experimentation was worthwhile, why must we pay for it to be done over and over and over again?  Who wants this duplication to continue?

            Simple (again), hundreds of institutions and thousands of individuals make money from these experiments.  Look at the table of approximations below for some examples.  The bottom line is that the federal government currently supports an industry that squanders billions of dollars, kills tens of millions of animals, and is essentially unregulated.  No experiment, no matter how painful, is illegal.  The majority of animals used in experimentation receive absolutely no protection under current laws.

University of CA, San Francisco            $199,514,238

University of CA, Los Angeles               $187,495,308

Harvard                                                $294,123,045

Johns Hopkins University                       $254,400,685

Yale                                                     $211,933,799

Stanford                                                $143,630,946

Vanderbilt                                             $157,848,614

Emory University                                  $234,865,535

Duke University                                    $165,861,234

Baylor                                                  $176,277,640

University of Pennsylvania                     $250,795,006

University of Wisconsin, Madison           $177,921,960

University of Washington, Seattle           $440,243,205

University of Michigan                           $224,353,360


What YOU can do to Fight Animal Experimentation:

1.   Read, copy, and distribute this fact sheet. 

2.   Contact your Senators and Representatives to                                 ask for these things:

A. Extend the protection of law to all species that are the victims of experimentation. 

B. Extend the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit:

  1. The use of electric shock
  2. Food and water deprivation
  3. The use of extreme confinement, such as the primate restraint chair

The Honorable ___________
          U.S. House of Representatives
          Washington, D.C. 20515
          202-224-3121           
          www.house.gov

Senator ____________________
         U.S. Senate
         Washington, D.C. 20510
         202-224-3121
         www.senate.gov
 

3.   Organize public events to expose abuses at facilities in your area.  Use the Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! (SAEN) website:  www.saenonline.org to investigate labs in your area.  Contact SAEN for help with investigations or for event planning.

4.   Write to your federal legislators to request a       General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded animal experimentation.

5.   Send as large a tax-deductible donation as you can afford to Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! (SAEN) to support this campaign.

Send contributions to:

SAEN

1081-B St. Rt. 28  PMB 280

Milford, OH 45150

 

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