Written by PETA
The Onion—in a 2004 article that was recently re-posted on the front page of the gag mag's website—says scientists torture mice just for laughs. This "report" is so cleverly written that when I sent it to Kathy Guillermo, PETA's vice president of laboratory investigations, she had "palpitations," as she put it.
Sorry, Kathy, didn't mean to trick you into thinking that vivisectors had finally come clean and admitted that mice aren't good stand-ins for humans. But wouldn't it be great if they really were as refreshingly honest as this "researcher"?
"For years, I've used lab mice to research cell breakdown in living tissue—and I've been lucky enough to make some pretty important medical advancements along the way," said researcher Ellen Gresham of the Harvard Institute for Advanced Studies. "But even if there were no scientific benefit to the work I do, I'd still experiment on mice, just to watch them suffer." "The truth is, mice are particularly ill-suited for our tissue study," Gresham added. "We could construct a computer model that would yield more accurate results, but we don't care."
"For years, I've used lab mice to research cell breakdown in living tissue—and I've been lucky enough to make some pretty important medical advancements along the way," said researcher Ellen Gresham of the Harvard Institute for Advanced Studies. "But even if there were no scientific benefit to the work I do, I'd still experiment on mice, just to watch them suffer."
"The truth is, mice are particularly ill-suited for our tissue study," Gresham added. "We could construct a computer model that would yield more accurate results, but we don't care."
While Ellen Gresham is a figment of The Onion's imagination, the fact that modern, high-tech alternatives to experiments on animals are faster, cheaper, and more accurate is very real. In fact, one more such test, EpiDerm, was just approved last week by the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. While we're on the subject, why not drop a line to your congressional representative reminding him or her of that?
Written by Alisa Mullins
Boxes containing the remains of more than 750 raccoon dogs were found in a Netherlands meadow last week. The pelts were missing the strip of fur down the center of the animals' backs, a tell-tale sign that the animals were likely skinned to make fur collars and cuffs.
Although there are no known raccoon dog fur farms in the Netherlands, thousands of these animals are bred and skinned on fur farms in China and their pelts are shipped all over the world for sale. (Our videos show that many are still conscious when they're skinned.) The collars and cuffs on coats in your local store may be from them.
While the authorities in Holland hunt for the culprits, let's help save raccoon dogs and other animals from becoming fashion victims by sharing this video—which even YouTube won't show—with everyone we know and urging them never to buy or wear real fur.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
In a study that sounds like something dreamed up by the mischief-makers at The Onion, experimenters at the University of Colorado (CU) have determined that putting mice into uncomfortable cages and moving them from cage to cage upsets them to the point that it physically alters their brains. This, the experimenters conclude, "affects the outcomes of research." Gee, ya think?
Another stunning discovery: Introducing a strange mouse to this already stressful mix may even cause the animals to fight to protect their little bit of turf. Experimenters also injured the animals' noses and shoved them into cages with either low or high ventilation for a few weeks, killed them, and cut up their brains for examination.
"We assume that mice used in laboratories are all the same, but they are not," Diego Restrepo, director of CU's neuroscience program, told Science Daily. Wow, if only someone had called us, we could have saved Restrepo (and the mice) a lot of trouble—not to mention all the government grant money it would have saved the taxpayers. We also could have told him that housing animals in crowded cages and failing to provide prompt veterinary care and adequate anesthesia during painful surgeries (all of which has been documented at CU laboratories) can also skew research findings.
Anybody who has spent any time with mice knows that they each have individual personalities, just like cats, dogs, and all other animals do. They also feel pain and experience loneliness, boredom, and fear. So, yes, sticking them in cramped cages, hauling them out every once in a while to poke and prod them, and forcing them to live in close proximity with strangers upsets them. Apparently, Common Sense 101 isn't a prerequisite at CU.
"The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club." If, however, the fight club involves forcing mice to battle one another in a stupid and barbaric experiment, you know we're going to talk about it.
Recently, vivisectors at the University of Wisconsin–Madison (sheep abuse ring a bell?) studied the effect of brawling on chemicals in the brain by creating a fighting tournament for mice. In the experiment, pairs of male mice were provoked into fighting while spectators experimenters watched. The "winning" mice didn't actually win: After three consecutive victories, they were killed and their brains were cut up.
Making unwilling participants fight in staged matches? Sounds more like Gladiator than Fight Club to me. Or a laboratory version of dogfighting in which our tax dollars fund the fights and the perpetrators are called "Doctor" instead of Michael Vick.
Forcing rodents to rumble is only the tip of the animal-testing iceberg. Anything goes in U.S. laboratories. Tens of millions of mice are burned, poisoned, cut open, and killed in laboratory experiments each year. There are no federal laws protecting mice (or rats, birds, or cold-blooded animals, for that matter) in laboratories, so these animals are often forced to endure excruciating experiments without being given any pain relief at all.
Mice are smart, sensitive, affectionate animals who feel pain and deserve consideration. To learn more about these exceptional animals, watch our video Who Cares About Mice and Rats?
Let's fight for the rights of mice and take action against cruel animal experiments today!
Written by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
If you've been holding your breath waiting for the day when rats are no longer shoved into tiny containers and forced to breathe chemicals for six hours a day for up to 90 days in order to test chemicals and products such as cigarettes, asbestos, popcorn butter flavoring, jet fuel, and household stain removers, you are probably blue in the face by now. But you may be able to breathe a sigh of relief soon.
Scientists have developed a new apparatus called a lung-on-a-chip that can be used to replace these cruel chemical tests. This artificial lung can mimic the physiology of the organ and can even "breathe."According to a story in New Scientist, the device, which behaves like a real lung, is an "encouraging sign that ethically acceptable and cheaper alternatives to animal testing may be on the way."
PETA's regulatory testing experts (or, as I call them, "really smart staffers") are working hard to reform the government's chemical testing practices and are trying to get government officials to implement modern technology like the lung-on-a-chip. You can help by urging your senators to require the use of alternatives to animal tests in government testing programs. It is the 21st century, after all.
Written by Heather Moore
Many people just don't realize how horrible glue traps are for mice, rats, and unintended victims such as birds and kittens—or that Lowe's refuses to stop selling these cruel devices. Well, PETA's "mouse" enlightened shoppers outside a Lowe's in Charlotte, North Carolina, yesterday—just in time for the company's annual meeting, which takes place today.
I bet the gal with phone in the photo above is tapping out an e-mail to Lowe's bigwigs. Or she could be reminding her Facebook friends to be nice to mice. Please cover all the bases by doing both. Small, sensitive animals thank you in advance.
Written by Karin Bennett
From the annals of "asinine things vivisectors do" comes a proposed experiment that might make you want to curl up in a fetal position with your blankie.
The National Toxicology Program (NTP) wants to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on new animal testing of soy infant formula in order to explain adverse effects seen in animals. All together now: Huh?
The NTP has simply become a black hole of animal testing, with proposals to test everything from green tea to asbestos on animals. Despite the fact that soy formula has been safely given to millions of babies (including yours truly) for more than 60 years, the NTP wants to test it on animals because previous tests of a single ingredient in soy formula—genistein—caused some adverse developmental effects in rodents (who metabolize genistein differently from how humans do, BTW). Undeterred by the fact that generations of humans have grown big and strong after being nursed with soy formula, the NTP is apparently determined to make soy formula safe for Remy.
A PETA representative will be pointing all this out to the NTP's Board of Scientific Counselors at a meeting on Monday. You and I can add our two cents by taking a minute to let the NTP know that we think there are better ways that they can spend their time and our money.
Happy (belated) April Fool's, folks! If you were to pick out one of our blogs from yesterday and label it a fantasy, which would you pick? Sure, McDonald's basketball seems made up, but it turns out that we do not support genetically engineering rats. But judging from the comments on the first blog about our rabbit-rat hybrid, we were able to pull one over on a few of you with the help of our friends over at Ecorazzi. Got a good laugh out of it all? Well, you're in good company, because it turns out that rats—who are sensitive, clever, and affectionate—love to laugh too! (And, no, we're not kidding this time. That really has been proved.)
To treat animals better only because they are cute is as insupportable as genetically engineering rats to have powder-puffy tails. No one deserves to be killed with gut-wrenching poisons, force-fed toxic chemicals, or left writhing on a glue trap because they aren't considered important. Tell us what you think:
Written by Logan Scherer
Sticking up for rats—who are sensitive, intelligent, and nurturing—has always been high on our agenda, although not everyone understands that these dear little mammals are worth caring about … yet.
There is hope, however. For the last 14 months, we've been funding two scientists at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) who are formulating a hybrid species that will make rats less despised. You may remember when we lodged a complaint against the INRA for the glow-in-the-dark rabbit, but sometimes good things come from bad. The rabbit genome is nearly identical to that of the rat, and we have found a way to put this science and experience to good use. Using the same zygote microinjection process (to which we still object!) that was used to create the glow-in-the-dark rabbit, these geneticists can isolate the gene that's responsible for bunnies' cotton-ball tails and then insert it into fertilized rat egg cells. The results are truly phenomenal, producing a genetically engineered rat whom no one will want to harm:
"People are almost certain to be kinder to a tiny mammal with a powder-puff tail," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Not only would this pay off in cities that kill these animals with gut-wrenching poisons, it would also make it harder for lab assistants to force-feed toxic chemicals to them or for homeowners to watch them struggle in cruel glue traps."
Rats with a dominant gene for bunny tails can easily be released to breed with wild rodents in New York and other major cities, creating a "rat pack" whose charms no one will be able to resist.
It's been years since my high school biology class, but I still remember the smell of the rotting pig corpses that we mutilated over the course of a nightmarish three-day lab. Piled in the corner of the room in a black garbage bag, the carcasses emanated a rancid smell that only got worse each day, and after each lab period, we all ate lunch in the same room—the lab doubled as our cafeteria.
Today, though, it's the sweet smell of victory that I'm waking up to. Nine months ago, a compassionate student at Oakton Community College contacted PETA about a professor who was having students in an anatomy and physiology class cut open live rats and mudpuppies to observe how their organs worked. We immediately contacted school officials to share information on the intelligent, complex animals who were being tormented and killed for these experiments and presented officials with cruelty-free and effective educational alternatives. This week, Oakton Community College let us know that it has stopped using live animals in ALL of its classes!
We're urging all schools (hear that, ASU?) to follow Oakton's enlightened path and replace their cruel classroom animal experiments with modern, more effective non-animal learning methods. Biology is the study of life—it just doesn't make any sense to kill animals to teach it. Urge schools in your area to get smart and go cruelty-free.
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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