ACTION ALERT:
Contact:
Dr. Elizabeth Goldentyer
Director, USDA, Eastern Region
(919) 855-7100
[email protected]
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Please LEVY a MAXIMUM FINE against the Harvard Medical School, for their
blatant disregard of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) when their negligence
allowed a monkey to die of strangulation. This behavior must NOT be
tolerated and MUST be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Animal Rights Group Accuses Harvard Medical School of Violating the Animal Welfare Act
From Trillions.biz, December 5, 2019
“This incident clearly violates Sec. 2.38 Misc (f)(1) Animal Handling for
failure to handle animals as expeditiously and carefully as possible in a
manner that does not cause trauma, overheating, excessive cooling,
behavioral stress, physical harm, or unnecessary discomfort,” the SAEN
complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on November 30 said.
According to a Harvard Medical School report, filed with the National
Institutes of Health, the macaque had strangled herself on her hanging
surrogate cover, which was being used for enrichment.
“The macaque had ripped a hole in the surrogate cover and stuck her head
through it,” the report said. “In response, all hanging surrogates and large
cloths were removed from the cages. Lab, animal care, and veterinary staff
are “re-evaluating all aspects of the surrogate enrichment program.”
SAEN in its complain stated, “Since this project involves socially isolating
primates, including preventing them from even seeing human or primate faces,
it is highly likely that this project caused these animals to experience
unrelieved distress due to lack of normal social interaction with members of
their own species, or humans.”
The group is calling for a full scale investigation into the incident.
“I insist that your office launch a full investigation of the incidents
surrounding this death and these fraudulent reports, and at the conclusion
of the investigation, punish this criminal laboratory with the maximum
penalty of $10,000 per infraction/per animal,” noted Michael Budkie, SAEN’s
executive director.
Meanwhile, Harvard Medical School released a statement regarding the
incident, wherein it tried justifying animal experiments by stating that
primate research is helping to eradicate diseases such as AIDS and
Parkinson’s disease.
“We will continue to work to ensure that the important research will further
medical breakthroughs, while being conducted in an ethical manner,” the
school said.
Nonhuman primates (NHPs) are the closest living relatives of humans sharing
the same genetics (up to 98 percent), physiology and behavior, thus, making
them most suitable for research projects aimed at preventing, curing or
ameliorating human diseases.
While 95 percent of the animals used in scientific and medical research
consists of rats and mice, NHPs (mostly monkeys), are the link between
smaller animals and people. Once a disease or drug is understood in smaller
species – like rats, mice, birds, zebrafish and worms – it is often then
studied in monkeys.
NHPs have played an instrumental role in the development and advancement of
medical treatments and cures that have saved the lives of millions.
Research with NHPs has led to the discoveries of polio vaccine, coronary
bypass surgery, hip replacements, kidney dialysis, organ transplants, blood
transfusions, HIV/AIDS medications and several other ailments.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number
of monkeys used in U.S. biomedical research reached an all time hight in
2017.
Scientists used 75,825 nonhuman primates for research in 2017, up 22% since
2015 and 6% since 2008. The increase came amidst a surge in funding from the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), which supports much of the nonhuman
primate research in the United States.
But the use of NHPs for research related works have also been facing growing
scrutiny over the years.
A group of animal welfare organizations including the Harvard Law School’s
Animal Law and Policy Clinic, sued the US Department of Agriculture (USAD)
last month for allegedly ignoring a 2014 petition calling on the federal
agency to protect non-human primates used in lab research.
The plaintiffs accused the USDA of violating the Administrative Procedures
Act, which requires federal agencies to respond to rulemaking petitions
within a “reasonable” amount of time.
According to a 2017 survey conducted by Pew Research Center, nearly 52% of
Americans opposed research involving animals.
That being said, work is also being done to put an end to animal testing
resulting in a surge of alternative technologies and methods in recent
years.
For example, the UK follows the 3R rule when using animals in experiments.
The principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) were
developed over 50 years ago providing a framework for performing more humane
animal research.
The 3Rs are:
New approaches are also being added to the list of emerging, animal-free
technologies every year.
One such technology which could fundamentally reduce the need for animals in
laboratory experiments is the ‘organ-on-a-chip’, a multi-channel 3-D
microfluidic cell culture chip that recapitulate the microarchitecture and
functions of living human organs, including the lung, intestine, kidney,
skin, bone marrow and blood-brain barrier etc.
Each Organ Chip is composed of a clear flexible polymer about the size of a
computer memory stick that contains hollow microfluidic channels lined by
living human organ-specific cells interfaced with a human endothelial
cell-lined artificial vasculature, and mechanical forces can be applied to
mimic the physical microenvironment of living organs, including breathing
motions in lung and peristalsis-like deformations in the intestine.
Organ Chip are essentially living, three-dimensional cross-sections of major
functional units of whole living organs, that has the potential to replace
animal studies by offering an alternative and more ethical disease model.