'Astronaut' Blasts NASA Chief at Caltech Commencement Speech Over Planned Radiation Experiments on Monkeys

PETA Calls On Space Agency to Ground Cruel and Wasteful Tests and Fund 21st Century Research Methods Instead

For Immediate Release:
June 10, 2010

Contact:
Robbyn Brooks 757-622-7382

Pasadena, Calif. -- Accompanied by an "astronaut" and holding signs that read, "Charles Bolden: Nix NASA Monkey Tests," PETA members will protest at the entrance to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) on Friday while NASA Administrator Charles Bolden delivers the commencement speech on campus. PETA has asked NASA to scrap plans to spend $1.75 million to subject as many as 30 squirrel monkeys to a dangerous dose of radiation and a lifetime of confinement and experimentation. In the past, monkeys used in similar government experiments have suffered from brain tumors, blindness, cognitive decline, and other conditions.

When:   Friday, June 11, 9 a.m.

Where:  Caltech entrance (at the intersection of S. Hill Avenue and San Pasqual Street), Pasadena

"NASA's plan to fund experiments on monkeys should be permanently grounded," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "Blasting these sensitive, social animals with radiation is like planning a trip to the moon in a Wright Brothers airplane. It's pointless, wasteful, and cruel."

PETA points out that NASA could fund studies on humans who have been to space and also could rely on modern research methods, including the use of human tissue cultures and simulators that would yield results relevant to humans--something that animal experiments cannot do. 

For more information, please visit PETA.org.