THE VEGETARIAN BLOG

Avoiding companies that test their products on animals has become a touch easier.

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Animal experimentation is one of the most hotly debated issues in the world of science. Some people accept it as a necessary harm without ever questioning the word ‘necessary’. Humans have a tendency to accept facts as legitimate simply because they have been around for a long time. Despite appearances, animal experiments haven’t been around for too long and they certainly have grown in number over the last few decades. You don’t have to be a scientist to know it’s wrong and examples of bad science.

With all these thoughts in mind, it was encouraging to see an article in the Times (UK) with views from an event discussing vivisection. Some scientists attending the event are hopeful that lab animals may become a thing of the past within a generation. Virtual humans, banks of living cells and cell scaffolds may become the norm. Besides freeing animals from scientific cruelty, it will haul science out the ethical dark age.

I really hope the view presented in the article is true and I hope that animal testing will be made illegal as soon as possible. This is the only way to guarantee that our animal friends will no longer become victims of bogus science.

Animal experimentation saves lives … or so would the pro-vivisection lobby like us to believe. You know, scientists everywhere are working hard to advance science and save humanity from the inevitable end called death by killing hundreds of millions of animals and carrying out experiments such as … dropping liquefied freebase cocaine on bee’s backs. Because, as we all know, bees love cocaine – have you never seen them buzzing out of a cubicle inside a nightclub, lock-jawed, antsy and gurning like hell? And guess what the Australian scientists found with this addictively interesting research?

“Bees react much like humans do: cocaine alters their judgment, stimulates their behaviour and makes them exaggeratedly enthusiastic about things that might not otherwise excite them.”

Wow, that sounds like the stuff that only people on coke are interested in, actually. To celebrate such life-saving discovery, filmmaker Noah Baumbach penned for the New Yorker a wordy outburst that evokes what it must be like inside a coked-up bee’s mind. Un-bee-lievable! I guess a ludicrous, nonsensical piece of writing is a smart way to react to ludicrous, unethical research, like all animal experiments are.

The LA Times blog LA Unleashed carries a report about two types of protest that took place near UCLA on opposite corners of the intersection of Westwood Boulevard and Le Conte Avenue: on one side, the pro-vivisection lobby and on the other side, animal rights representatives asking for an end to the cruel and pointless experiments in which animals are tortured and killed so that some scientists can make a buck and pharmaceuticals protect themselves against litigation.

Now, I find it rather stupid that those who are for animal testing should take to the streets to ‘protest’. Sadly, animal experiments are legal so what are they complaining about? That some people are against it? Have they ever heard of free speech? It defies logic really, just like the notion that testing on a rabbit can yield relevant results for humans does. What they really are trying to do is to stiffle free speech with false claims made in the name of bloodied money. But I have news for them. They can never stop protest against animal testing because it is so painfully obvious that it is wrong that more and more people are going to join the fight to stop this form of clinical barbarism.

This is the week when the plight of animals in laboratories is remembered by compassionate people world over. Every year, hundreds of millions of animals are tortured and exterminated in laboratories and classrooms, victims of a backward mindset stuck in the 19th century.

Despite what the medical professional and scientists say, everyone can argue against the use of animals in laboratory on ethical grounds. It just is plain wrong to sacrifice several species to the benefit of only one. Besides, an increasing number of ethically-minded scientists are working to put an end to this cruel testing system in favor of scientifically advanced new systems such as in-vitro tests, computer simulations and cultured cells, to name but a few. The respected magazine The Ecologist has an illuminating article about animal experimentation with eye-opening data that industry and government prefer to keep out of view. Take a look at the story here.

In Defense of Animals has a dedicated website with activism suggestions and tools for this week dedicated to animals in laboratory. Apart from that, everyone can help by talking to people about the topic, boycotting companies that test on animals and looking after their health in order to avoid medication tested on animals: one great way of doing that is going and staying vegan.

Science has long replaced religion as the paradigm of truth. Is it a good thing? In many cases, yes. But science is also deeply entwined with capitalist interests and therefore its version of ‘the truth‘ quite often is spiked with vested interests.

I do not agree with experimentation on animals because I simply don’t believe or agree with what pro-vivisectionists say: that animal experimentation saves lives. What saves lives is the timing when a disease is diagnosed, the geographical location of a patient, their diets and lifestyles, the competence of the doctor treating them and, sometimes, their level of wealth. Torturing animals in laboratories accomplishes none of these things. And the definition of ’saving a life’ is also a very gray area. Does it mean merely prolonging it a few months with drugs? I think that’s what it does, according to contemporary pharmaceutics.

We don’t have the right to confine and experiment on animals simply because it causes them immense pain, horror and it inevitably ends in death. As a species, we should learn how to respect the world and its living creatures. If the so-called ‘guardians of knowledge don’t do so, what hope is there for civilization?

Luckily, some scientists seem to agree with this view of the world and are working hard to put an end to the anachronism of animal sacrificeby the hands of science workers.

Animals in laboratories scored a small, but significant victory in Europe on March 11th as the ban on testing of cosmetic products on animals came into effect, announced the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS).

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ABC’s Nightline last night ran a report on the primate hellhole that is the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), which is part of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and has received millions of dollars in public funding. The Humane Society of the United States has accused the research center of at least 338 possible violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, which sets minimum care and treatment standards for animals.

“Our investigation found an abject failure on NIRC’s part to attend to the psychological well-being of primates as dictated by law, a lax USDA attitude about enforcing that law, and a knowing and gross violation of the federal government’s pledge to stop breeding more chimpanzees for research,” said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS’s president.

I think every effort made to reveal the diabolical deeds of the secretive animal-testing industry is welcome, but there’s no reason to be surprised at the ill-treatment of the animals featured in the undercover video. Testing on animals is in itself ill treatment so the only way to stop this abomination is banning animal testing, not just on primates, but on all animals. It’s cruel and it’s bad science.

Now, I’d like to direct you to this moving post by Simon Chaitowitz published by the Huffington Post. Chaitowitz suffers from leukemia and despite having dedicated her life to banning animal testing by promoting alternatives, she’s now having to take drugs that most likely were tested on animals. Hypocrisy? No, lack of choice in a world dominated by the pharmaceuticals and governments that insist on this archaic, flawed method.

“As someone who recently signed up for hospice, I have another major problem with animal research. I wonder if science would have found a cure for my leukemia by now if they weren’t sidetracked by misleading animal tests. I wonder if the chemo that I took for breast cancer would have been safer it hadn’t been tested in species that are so unlike our own.

“The truth is that using animals to develop and test drugs is a system that doesn’t work very well. It’s an old paradigm, one that is fortunately beginning to change, however slowly. A growing number of scientists are developing some exciting (and more effective) non-animal alternatives. These changes have been inspired partly by concern over animal cruelty but also because animal research and testing have so often failed us. Some government agencies are even starting to call for more alternatives.”

It’s a brave statement from someone for whom the odds of survival are against her and I highly recommend reading the full post. It sheds a very clear light on the disgrace that animal testing is.

There’s a lot going on today so here goes a round up of news and stories I came across.

First, the sad news that the disappearance of an animal sanctuary activist in Hungary may be murder. Eva Rhodes, the Hungarian model who was one of the beautiful people in 1960s England, was last seen on September 10. The full story is here.

Elsewhere, Cee Tox Inc., a Kalamazoo-based startup company that develops tests to determine if potential medications will be toxic, has been recognized for its work from an animal-rights group, that is, Peta. “CeeTox scientists spent the first few years of the company’s existence perfecting technology that allows drug developers to test whether a new compound will be toxic to humans by using commercially available animal and human cells rather than feeding the compounds to laboratory animals.” The whole article can be found here.

Veganism is growing up, says the Calgary Herald in Canada. “These days, vegan-friendly foods are available in every major grocery store, even Costco; vegan cookbooks are sold in every major bookstore. And numerous Calgary restaurants and natural foods stores - including Buddha’s Veggie Restaurant, Coup restaurant, Planet Organic and Community Natural Foods - offer plenty of milk-free, meat-free, vegan-friendly options”, it says. Good job. Speaking of veganism, so does Ellen DeGeneres.

Finally, some food for thought: is pacifism always compatible with animal rights? Read more +