‘Mouse’ in Tank to Protest Forced Swim Test at ELi Lilly Meeting
PETA Will Flood Pharmaceutical Company With Reasons to End Cruel, Bogus Near-Drowning Test on Small Animals
For Immediate Release:
May 3, 2019
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner, 202-483-7382
A PETA “mouse” will be submerged in a tank outside Eli Lilly’s annual meeting at its Indianapolis headquarters on Monday to urge the pharmaceutical company to end its use of the forced swim test, in which mice, rats, guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils are placed in inescapable beakers filled with water and forced to swim to keep from drowning. A PETA scientist will also attend the meeting to call on Eli Lilly executives to enact a policy against using the test, as competitors AbbVie and Johnson & Johnson have done.
When: Monday, May 6, 10 a.m.
Where: Eli Lilly headquarters, 893 S. Delaware St. (at the intersection with E. McCarty Street), Indianapolis
In addition to tormenting small animals, the forced swim test has been widely debunked: While experimenters have claimed that animals who spend more time floating are depressed, experts agree that floating is not a sign of despair but rather a positive indication that animals are learning, conserving energy, and adapting to a new environment.
“Forcing frantic animals to swim for fear of drowning is both physically and psychologically abusive, and it’s irrelevant to human depression,” says PETA neuroscientist Emily Trunnell, Ph.D. “PETA is calling on Eli Lilly to enact a policy against this indefensible test immediately.”
