During 2006 over 62,000 non-human primates were the victims of
experimentation in the United States. These primates are spread out
between dozens of universities, contract laboratories and government
facilities. One of the most common varieties of experimentation
involves drug addiction experiments. This experimentation often
subjects squirrel monkeys, rhesus monkeys, baboons, or others
primates to decades of isolation, confinement, and agony.
Your
donation will help us to continue fighting for the freedom of these
animals!
It is difficult to comprehend what the lives of these victims are
like. The enclosures in which these monkeys are housed are listed by
medical journals as being 83.3-cm long by 76.2-cm wide by 91.4-cm
deep which translates into 33 inches long by 30 inches wide by 36
inches deep. To put yourself in their place you must imagine that
your life consists of confinement in a small enclosure which only
allows you to take at most one or two short steps in any direction
and with just enough height to stand upright. You never have the
opportunity to see the sun or breathe fresh air.
This enclosure is barren, made of stainless steel to facilitate
cleaning. It contains only a seat of some variety, and a rubber toy.
There is nothing else to pass the time, nothing to occupy your mind.
The partially open front of this box does not allow you to leave,
but does let you see that others like you are in similar rooms
nearby. You can talk to, see, and possibly smell them, but you
cannot interact with them in any other way.
The loneliness is devastating. You have no interaction with
friends or family. You never even have the opportunity to touch
another human. You often feel like you are losing your mind. Many of
the others that you can see and/or hear behave as though they have
lost their minds.
This is your entire life. It ends only when you become ill,
likely from septicemia, or some other condition which is a result of
the experiment that has totally consumed your life. When death
finally comes, it provides your only possibility of escape.
This is the brutal reality of what a monkey experiences in a
laboratory. One such laboratory is the University of Michigan. The
experiments at this facility have been underway for decades �
literally consuming the lives of hundreds of primates. Two
University of Michigan researchers, James Woods and Gail Winger, are
currently performing drug addiction experiments on macaque monkeys.
According to National Institutes of Health websites, these two
researchers have squandered over $13 million in federal grants in
just the last five years. However, Winger has been federally funded
since 1976 and Woods has been funded since 1971.
Almost every health record for the primates at the University of
Michigan which was used in addiction experiments lists a time period
where the monkeys are ripping out their hair, or worse. Several
actually mention multiple incidents of severe self-mutilation. One
primate at the U of M is listed as having weight loss due to
constant activity relating to psychologically abnormal behavior.
Other primates are listed as requiring the amputation of their tails
due to lacerations.
Scallywag, one
of the U of M primates, is listed as losing weight from the constant
activity associated with psychologically abnormal behavior. Another
Primate named Clash is listed as having a 12% weight loss of unknown
origin. Another rhesus monkey is listed as declining from 6.8 kg to
5.8 kg (15 pounds to 12 � pounds) a 15% weight loss in just 3
months. This animal also has constant muscle contractions, and is
hypothermic. It almost sounds as though she is experiencing drug
withdrawal. Yet another primate named Data had a weight loss of
10.5% in a short period.
Harpo is listed
with 4 incidents of self-mutilation in 5 days during 2006, this
after a long history of self-destructive behavior.
Eminem wears �long
sleeved jacket due to history of self-mutilation.�
Scallywag exhibits
abnormal behavior when people are in the room. The list goes on and
on.
In addition to the social isolation that comes from solitary
confinement, these rhesus monkeys wear a nylon jacket to cover a
surgically implanted intravenous catheter, which is used to
administer addictive drugs. The catheter exits through a site on the
primate�s back and is connected to a metal spring arm which is
affixed to the rear of the cage. This further limits the ability of
the primate to move freely. It is not surprising that these monkeys
can be trained to self-administer addictive drugs. Addiction is the
only way that they can fight the mind-numbing boredom.
It is clear that laboratory captivity has made these animals
psychologically abnormal. The applicability for human medicine of a
psychological experiment on a different species of primates is
questionable at best when the primates are healthy. Clearly the
primates at the University of Michigan in the labs of Winger and
Woods are anything but psychologically normal, making these projects
essentially meaningless. This is likely due to the conditions in
which they live. However, there may be yet another cause.
Many of these animals come from other laboratories that also
perform psychological experiments on primates. These facilities
include the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU aka Medical
College of Virginia), Yerkes Primate center (connected to Emory
University) and the National Institutes of Health itself. Emory and
VCU also perform drug addiction experiments. It is possible that
these primates were used in addiction experiments at other
facilities, and were already severely psychologically stressed when
they arrived at the University of Michigan. The researchers at the
NIH from whom the monkeys were shipped to University of Michigan
perform maternal deprivation experiments and alcohol experiments on
primates. It is entirely likely that these unfortunate animals
suffered through conditions within these other labs that were
sufficient to cost them their sanity, and then were transferred to
the University of Michigan, and continued in similar or worse
experiments. The lives of these primates are long, some have now
endured psychological and addiction experiments since at least 1990.
They have undergone decades of drug addiction and psychological
agony.
Please join our effort to end the abuse of these animals before
any more monkeys lose their lives to the abysmal loneliness and
psychological devastation that results from life in a stainless
steel box.
What you can do to Help
Please contact these individuals to express your outrage that
these experiments are allowed to continue:
Mary Sue Coleman, President
University of Michigan
Office of the President
503 Thompson Street
2074 Fleming Administration Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1340
Phone: (734) 764-6270
Fax: (734) 936-3529
[email protected]
James H. Woods
Dept of Pharmacology
1301 Msrb III
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48128-0632
[email protected]
734-764-9133 |
Gail Winger
Dept of Pharmacology
MED Sci I M3436
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48128-0626
[email protected]
734-763-4405 |
Your
donation will help us to continue fighting for the freedom of these
animals!