State Senate Bill 5211, which would ban the use of live animals given invasive medical procedures during paramedic trainings, made it through the state house but is stuck in Rep. Timm Ormsby (D-Spokane)’s Appropriations Committee.
Here’s his number: (360) 786-7946. If you know anyone in Spokane, encourage them to call too: That’s the area he represents.
It’s tight, but there’s still time for him to get this bill out of his committee and up for a vote.
Please call and leave a quick message today! Let’s get SB 5211 passed!!
From Citizens to Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation:
“In a groundbreaking move, global drug developer Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has filed a lawsuit and taken a principled stance against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its senseless demand that the company conduct an additional nine-month, large animal toxicity study in order to proceed with clinical trials for Vanda’s new drug, tradipitant.
The FDA’s decision means that dozens of animals, most likely dogs, will be put to death after enduring painful side effects from high levels of the drug.”
Support Vanda by filling out this form to be sent to the FDA and the Health and Human Services Secretary.
“While harsh and inhumane, the stipulation is also unnecessary. Vanda has already conducted numerous FDA-required animal tests, including three- and six-month trials with rats, mice and dogs at 300 times the human dosage amounts, and (according to the company) with no significant safety concerns.
It is highly unlikely that outcomes from an additional nine-month trial would deviate from previous results, but it is 100% certain that dozens of dogs will die a miserable death because of it.
CAARE emphatically supports Vanda’s lawsuit and has already reached out to the company letting them know we will back their position to the fullest extent.
We’re asking you to join us in supporting Vanda’s historic stance opposing the FDA’s senseless requirement for additional animal tests.
Fill out the form above to send your letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, letting them know you support Vanda’s efforts to waive these additional animal tests.
Vanda has released an open letter that unequivocally states its position, and urges all concerned individuals to get involved: “The FDA has relied on industry complacency for too long. Vanda refuses to sacrifice young beagles or other animals in a study that serves no scientific purpose. … Vanda is therefore standing up to the FDA and hopes that other scientists, drug companies, animal advocates, and the public will do the same.””
Thank you to CAARE for bringing this oppportunity for action to light!
The Humane Cosmetics Act (H.R. 2790) is a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce committee that would end cosmetic animal testing by private companies and the federal government.
Cosmetic testing is unnecessary and cruel.
Manufacturers can — and have — used non-animal alternative test methods, and they can — and have — made new products with thousands of ingredients already proven safe.
U.S. companies have already made changes to their testing practices in order to comply with international laws in the European Union, Israel and India to remain competitive in the global market.
Now our country needs to put a stop to cruel and pointless tests for its citizens as well.
Hamsters, cats,
The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Representatives Martha McSally (R-AZ,) Don Beyer (D-VA), Ed Royce (R-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), and Paul Tonko (D-NY).
The American Anti-Vivisection Society makes it easy to thank your representative for supporting this bill.
Let’s get it passed!
Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / The Unbound Project
“Paramedics don’t need to cut open the throat of a pig when they have other options,” Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, told the The News Tribune regarding the University of Washington’s practice of using live pigs to practice a medical procedure that involves slitting their throats.
“I would like to see the university take responsibility and to search out different ways to solve these situations,” said Appleton, who is one of eight members of the state House who signed a letter asking the UW to consider using modern training methods instead of animals.
The university says it’s looking into it.
Let’s thank Rep. Appleton for publicly talking sense about this. Her number is (360) 786-7934, and her email address is sherry.appleton@leg.wa.gov.
Here are the other reps who signed the letter: Jessyn Farrell of Seattle, Strom Peterson of Edmonds, Judy Clibborn of Mercer Island, Cindy Ryu of Shoreline, Joan McBride of Kirkland, Joe Fitzgibbon of Seattle and Mia Gregerson of SeaTac.
The same week The Seattle Times reported that a macaque monkey at the UW died of thirst, The Baltimore Sun offered some hopeful news: Johns Hopkins, which runs the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, is now going to compare standard animal tests with more modern scientific methods that use human cells or computer models.
I used to think the end of animal testing — or, at least, most animal testing — was a no-brainer. It’s not emotionally tied to food, and people can surely understand that more accurate non-animal alternatives are better than inhumane treatment of animals.
But the propaganda is effective. Many people believe humans will die if animal testing stops, despite much evidence to the contrary — some of it self-evident.
How valuable do you think smoking tests on animals are? Do we not know the ill health effects of cigarettes? Yet the tests continue.
How about emotionally wrenching tests at the University of Wisconsin that showed monkeys prefer love to food? They’re at it again.
In an excellent report that gives a comprehensive outline of the issue, Meredith Cohn at The Baltimore Sun writes: “Many hope to decrease the number of drugs that show promise in animal testing but fail to prove safe and effective in human trials, failures that are costly and disappointing to pharmaceutical companies and researchers as well as to patients hoping for better therapies and cures. A drug trial for a promising Alzheimer’s drug failed in a large trials last year, for example.”
In 2015, more than 767,600 animals were used in research, Cohn reported. That’s according to data from a U.S. Department of Agriculture website that was recently taken down. That number included dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, primates and some farm animals.
It’s incredible that this hasn’t been done before, and thank heavens it’s happening now.
Next, how about someone stops the creation of these human-pig hybrids meant to carry human organs for transplant?
Here’s the heartbreaking story of another research monkey dead at the UW. In a new inspection report, federal regulators say a female pigtail macaque went without water for at least two or three days, and that she was “severely dehydrated.”
Her water line had become disconnected from her cage.
Shame.
Please send letters to the editors of The Seattle Times and the UW Daily.
And contact UW President Ana Mari Cauce:
Phone: 206-543-5010
Email: pres@uw.edu
And ask the USDA to fine the UW’s Primate Center (WaNPC – Washington National Primate Center):
Fort Collins, CO Office
USDA/APHIS/AC
2150 Centre Ave.
Building B, Mailstop 3W11
Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117
E-mail:acwest@aphis.usda.gov
Phone: (970) 494-7478
Fax: (970) 494-7461
How much will it cost this time? SNBL USA has been slapped on the wrist for primate mistreatment before, in 2006 for a paltry $36,852 and in 2009 for an even more paltry $12,937.
Now the USDA has filed a nine-page complaint detailing the deaths of 38 primates in the company’s lab and breeding facility in Everett, north of Seattle, The Seattle Times reports. The “gravity of the violations… is great,” according to the complaint.
Incidents include:
That list of horrors highlights the importance of stopping research on primates and other animals, whose torment frequently produces no more useful medical information than tests that do not involve animals.
It also calls to mind the expanded animal research capabilities of the University of Washington’s new underground research lab, currently under construction.
And just to put icing on that nightmare cake, check out the photo the paper ran below the primate death story. Zoos and animal testing: Really, really outdated and cruel.
Photo: Washington Deptartment of Fish & Wildlife
We know mice, rats, pigs, cats and dogs are research subjects. Even primates, our closest relatives, are subject to the horrors of our research labs. And, of course, orcas are subject to research work at theme parks.
But grizzlies? Who knew Washington State University kept grizzly bears in captivity for research? Turns out that at least 15 grizzlies have died in the past six years under the “care” of WSU research labs, according to public records obtained by The Spokesman-Review in Spokane.
“Five were put down for experiments that required body-tissue samples. Four were euthanized as cubs to control the number of bears in captivity. At least two died because of human error, and the deaths of other animals have raised questions about WSU’s treatment of research animals,” reporter Chad Sokol wrote.
In 2010, two grizzly cubs had to be euthanized after nearly starving to death because they failed to go into hibernation.
In 2014, an 11-year-old bear named Mica was found dead after a tear in her uterus spilled infectious fluid into her abdomen. Mica had been given a contraceptive called megestrol acetate, which the doctor who dissected Mica wrote is “an established risk factor” for uterine infections in dogs and “may be the primary inciting factor in this bear.”
“Regardless, records show all of the center’s female bears were on a megestrol regimen a year later,” according to The Spokesman-Review.
Michael Budkie of Stop Animal Exploitation Now in Cincinnati is calling for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fine WSU for “infractions related to animal treatment, citing bear deaths and the overdosing of three bighorn sheep,” the paper reported.
Let’s support his request. Please email Dr. Robert Gibbens, director of the USDA’s western region:
Robert.M.Gibbens@aphis.usda.gov
acwest@aphis.usda.gov
Or call him at (970) 494-7478 — asking that he fine WSU for these grizzly deaths.
Sample email: Subject: Please fine WSU over grizzly deaths
Dear Dr. Gibbens,
Recent news reports that WSU has been negligent in its treatment of grizzly bears used for research — to the point 0f killing some of them — signifies a serious problem that needs to be addressed by the USDA.
While many organizations along the west coast rescue and rehabilitate bears orphaned in forest fires and otherwise in distress, WSU has apparently killed four grizzly cubs in the past four years to avoid overpopulation in the labs. What a waste of resources.
Worse still are the unnecessary and unplanned deaths of Mica, who died because of the contraceptive she’d been given, and two cubs who were euthanized in 2010 because they’d failed to go into hibernation as researchers erroneously expected.
These mistakes are unconscionable. I hope you will impose the maximum fine to let WSU know this treatment and these deaths will not be tolerated and must stop.
Thank you,
Photo: Bill Branson, NIH
It’s a big name — the Toxic Substances Control Act reform bill — and it could save tens of thousands of animals from chemical testing.
The House passed its version of TSCA reform this week 403 to 12. The bill minimizes animal testing and focuses on more efficient and less costly testing methods, which would save animals from being fed deadly chemical and having them rubbed on their skin and in their eyes.
Now Rand Paul is holding up the bill in the Senate.
“Well, it looks like American families will have to wait a bit longer for better protection from toxic chemicals” given Rand’s decision, Robert Denison, a lead senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, wrote in a blog post.
Please contact Senators Maria Cantwell (202-224-3441) and Patty Murray (202-225-3106) to encourage them to move ahead with the bill.
Yes, it’s a mouthful — the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) reform bill — but it’s important. The reforms could save many thousands of animals from chemical testing. It would improve the science behind commercial testing, encourage safer decisions and reduce or eliminate the use of animals in chemical testing.
The House passed its version of the bill this week.
Please call Sen. Maria Cantwell at(202) 224-3441 and Sen. Patty Murray at (202) 224-2621 now and ask them to vote yes on the final TSCA reform bill to improve the science behind chemical tests and to help animals.
It’s a mouthful that can save lives!