'Astronaut' Urges Brookhaven National Laboratory to Nix Radiation Experiments on Monkeys

PETA Calls On Lab to Ground Cruel and Wasteful Tests Funded by NASA; European Space Agency Agrees Tests Are Unnecessary 

For Immediate Release:
June 21, 2010

Contact:
Robbyn Brooks 757-622-7382

New York -- Accompanied by an "astronaut" and holding signs reading, "Brookhaven: Don't Nuke Monkeys," PETA members will protest outside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on Tuesday. BNL is considering accepting money from NASA to blast up to 30 monkeys with a harmful dose of radiation that may result in brain damage, cancerous tumors, loss of motor control, and early death. Following the radiation exposure, these highly intelligent and social monkeys would spend the rest of their lives in a laboratory at Harvard's McLean Hospital--isolated in cages and subjected to years of behavioral experiments.

When:   Tuesday, June 22, 8:30 a.m

Where:  Brookhaven National Laboratory (at the main gate on Longwood Road/Princeton Avenue), Upton 

"Brookhaven should ground its plans to nuke monkeys for NASA," 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 has attended months of meetings at BNL in order to explain the many shortcomings of the proposed project. The group has pointed out to BNL Director Sam Aronson that NASA's European counterpart--the European Space Agency (ESA)--has stated that it "declines any interest in monkey research and does not consider any need or use for such result." Like the ESA, NASA could instead conduct studies with human volunteers 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 see PETA's action alert.