San Antonio, Texas (July 16, 2010) – In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection and rescue organization, is transporting 55 rescued long-tailed macaque monkeys from an insolvent toxicology laboratory in Oxford, New Jersey. Continuing a journey that began yesterday, IDA will deliver eight of the monkeys to their new home at Mindy’s Memory Sanctuary in Newcastle, Oklahoma today. The transport will continue with three more stops in Texas tonight and Saturday at Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Primarily Primates, and Born Free USA primate sanctuaries. IDA coordinated their 1,700-mile journey, which is utilizing a specialized animal transport service.

Click here for video of the rescue. Click here for photos of the rescue. Click here for B-roll footage of monkeys in laboratories.

“These young monkeys would have been subjected to decades behind bars in cramped stainless steel cages, forced to endure painful toxicology tests,” said IDA president Scotlund Haisley. “Now they will have a life filled with fresh air, friends and freedom from harm.”

The lab the monkeys came from had been repeatedly cited by the USDA for Animal Welfare Act violations and had a license to sell animals. If not for this rescue, these monkeys could very well have ended up in other labs that routinely perform extremely invasive or terminal experiments on long-tailed macaques. Published articles from 2010 describe experimentation ranging from brain lesions, invasive brain studies of auditory, motor and visual cortex, Ebola virus, stroke, plague and drug-induced seizures. These intelligent, social primates suffer when imprisoned for decades in stark lab environments. Monkeys often display clinical signs of depression and abnormal behavior including hair pulling, stereotypic circling and pacing, and even self mutilation.

The rescue was initiated by New York-based activist Camille Hankins, following an anonymous tip from a former animal caregiver at the recently closed lab. After negotiations with the company hired to liquidate the “assets” of the lab, a proposal to release the animals was accepted, with the crucial assistance of IDA pro bono attorney Kathryn Flood of the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.

“We are proud to have played this significant role in helping to rescue these monkeys from the horrors of the lab,” concluded Haisley. “These are the lucky ones. We are inspired to renew our commitment to end the institutionalized abuse that is animal experimentation.”

For more information, visit www.idausa.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Eric Kleiman, 717-939-3231, ericsk@idausa.org

Oxford, N.J. (July 15, 2010) – In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection and rescue organization, along with several other groups has rescued 118 beagles and 55 long-tailed macaque monkeys from an insolvent toxicology laboratory in Oxford, New Jersey. The beagles were transported from the lab to shelters two weeks ago. Today, IDA will take the monkeys to their new homes at four primate sanctuaries in Oklahoma and Texas. IDA assisted in facilitating the final agreements and coordinated their 1,700-mile journey, which will utilize a specialized animal transport service.

Video and photos of the rescue and B-roll footage of monkeys in laboratories available upon request.

“Rescuing these young macaques from a miserable lifetime locked in a lab furthers In Defense of Animals’ mission in protecting the rights, welfare and habitat of animals,” said IDA president Scotlund Haisley. “These young monkeys would have been subjected to decades behind bars in cramped stainless steel cages, forced to endure painful toxicology tests. Now they will have a life filled with fresh air, friends, and freedom from harm.”

This lab had been repeatedly cited by the USDA for Animal Welfare Act violations and had a license to sell animals. If not for today’s rescue, these monkeys could very well have ended up in other labs that routinely perform extremely invasive or terminal experiments on long-tailed macaques. Published articles from 2010 describe experimentation ranging from brain lesions, invasive brain studies of auditory, motor and visual cortex, Ebola virus, stroke, plague and drug-induced seizures. These intelligent, social nonhuman primates suffer when imprisoned for decades in stark lab environments. Monkeys often display clinical signs of depression and abnormal behavior including hair pulling, stereotypic circling and pacing, and even self mutilation.

The rescue was initiated by New York-based activist Camille Hankins, following an anonymous tip from a former animal caregiver at the recently closed lab.  After negotiations with the company hired to liquidate the “assets” of the lab, a proposal to release the animals was accepted, with the crucial assistance of IDA pro bono attorney Kathryn Flood of the law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney. Several animal shelters and sanctuaries stepped up to save the monkeys and the beagles from the lab. IDA also helped coordinate the rescue of some of the beagles.

For years, IDA has exposed and halted invasive experiments on nonhuman primates. After an eight-year campaign, IDA forced the insolvency of the Coulston Foundation primate testing lab. As a result, over 300 nonhuman primates were permanently retired: 266 chimpanzees by Save the Chimps, and 61 long-tailed macaques by one of the sanctuaries involved in this current rescue, Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation. IDA stopped crack cocaine experiments on monkeys conducted at New York University and has obtained tens of thousands of pages of primate laboratory records after winning multiple open records lawsuits.

According to the USDA, between 2007 and 2009, primate experimentation increased significantly.

“We are proud to have played this significant role in helping to rescue these monkeys and beagles from the horrors of the lab,” concluded Haisley. “These are the lucky ones. We are inspired to renew our commitment to end the institutionalized abuse that is animal experimentation.”

The Texas sanctuaries Born Free USA, Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Primarily Primates, and the Oklahoma sanctuary Mindy’s Memory will receive the monkeys and begin introducing them to one another in their new homes.

For more information, visit www.idausa.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Matt Rossell, 530-890-5151, matt@idausa.org

Washington, DC (April 20, 2010) – World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) is underway, with demonstrations across the globe highlighting the waste of taxpayer dollars on cruel and ridiculous animal research. Only days after taxpayers in the United States filed their annual tax returns, and as tax protests reach new heights, In Defense of Animals (IDA) released a “Top 10 Reasons Why Animal Research is a Cruel Joke” list to spotlight experiments that almost seem designed to waste precious taxpayer money.

Across the United States and in Canada, England, France, Ireland and New Zealand, demonstrators will target waste of public funds. Several demos will be at universities that conducted experiments on IDA’s “Top 10” list.

“With unemployment sky-high and the U.S. economy still suffering from the Great Recession, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) still spends billions of tax dollars every year to fund animal experiments,” said IDA Research Director Eric Kleiman. “This is little more than white-coated welfare for experimenters living on a grant gravy train funded by hard-hit taxpayers.”

IDA’s “Top 10” list features NIH-funded experiments selected from scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals over the past three years, approved by federally-mandated oversight committees. Below are some experiments that made IDA’s “Top 10” list. (Warning: list contains graphic content.)

* Female rats might enjoy vaginal stimulation (Dartmouth);
* Monkeys lose more weight exercising than eating less (Oregon Health & Science Univ.);
* Castrated hamsters can still ejaculate (UC-Berkeley, Univ. of Virginia, Columbia Univ.);
* Baby chimpanzees need nurturing (Emory University / Yerkes Primate Center);
* Lizards forced to fight get stressed and then decapitated (Harvard and Univ. of South Dakota).

“These experiments demonstrate why World Week for Animals in Laboratories is so necessary,” said Kleiman. Protests at UC-Berkeley (April 20), Dartmouth (April 24) and Oregon Health & Science University – OHSU (April 25) will expose the waste and the need for systemic reform.

Numerous NIH-funded researchers have admitted that the entire funding system is an “old boys’ network” in need of fundamental reform. The NIH funds significantly more researchers over the age of 70 than under 30, and 22 researchers received 222 grants worth $170 million. The former head of the National Cancer Institute stated this system is a “terrible wasted opportunity,” and a past NIH Director said the system provides “disincentives” to “truly transformative” research.

An NIH “breakthrough” grant was awarded to an experimenter at Dartmouth, where what NIH terms “novel,” “high-risk, high-reward” research on sexual dysfunction in women resulted in multiple sex experiments on rats. At OHSU, an experimenter found that adopted monkey children fare better than orphans and adolescents are more sensitive to social stress. This experimenter has been funded with 137 grants over the past 23 years. The UC-Berkeley ejaculating hamster experimenter has been funded by the NIH for decades, with publications dating back to the early 1960s.

“This is a wake-up call about where our tax dollars go,” concluded Kleiman. “These experiments are the tip of the iceberg of waste in biomedical animal research. This fundamentally broken, taxpayer-supported NIH system continues to fund white-coated welfare.”

IDA’s complete Top 10 list is available at http://idausa.org/ridiculousresearch. A list of international events marking WWAIL is available at http://wwail.org .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Eric Kleiman, 717-939-3231, ericsk@idausa.org

Washington, DC (April 14, 2010) – Today, as April 15 fast approaches for American taxpayers, In Defense of Animals (IDA) is unveiling its “Top 10 Reasons Why Animal Research is a Cruel Joke” in recognition of ridiculous and wasteful experiments funded by your tax dollars.

“With unemployment sky-high and our economy still suffering from the Great Recession, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) still spends billions of your tax dollars every year to fund animal experiments,” said IDA Research Director Eric Kleiman. “Our own research indicates that this is little more than ‘white-coated welfare’ for experimenters living off of a grant gravy train funded by hard-hit American taxpayers.”

IDA’s “Top 10” list is comprised of NIH-funded experiments that were selected from scientific papers published in 2009 and 2010 (and one from 2008), approved by federally-mandated oversight committees, and published in peer-reviewed journals.

Below is a sampling of experiments that made IDA’s Top 10” List. (Warning:  Entire List Contains Graphic and/or Sexual Content):

* Female rats might enjoy vaginal stimulation (Dartmouth);
* Monkeys lose more weight exercising than eating less (Oregon National Primate Research Center, Oregon Health & Science Univ.);
* Lizards forced to fight get stressed and then decapitated (Harvard and Univ. of South Dakota);
* Castrated hamsters can still ejaculate (UC-Berkeley, Univ. of Virginia, Columbia Univ.);
* Baby chimpanzees need nurturing (Emory University / Yerkes National Primate Research Center).

Kleiman noted that thousands of NIH-funded researchers have said that the entire funding system is an “old boys network” in need of fundamental reform. The NIH funds significantly more researchers over the age of 70 than under 30, and 22 researchers received 222 grants worth $170 million. The former head of the National Cancer Institute has stated that this system is a “terrible wasted opportunity,” while a past NIH Director has said that the system provides “disincentives” to “truly transformative” research.

“The experiments at Dartmouth exemplify this tragic truth,” continued Kleiman. “After over 20 years on the grant gravy train, and over 10 years studying rat sexual behavior, this experimenter was awarded a ‘breakthrough’ grant by the NIH for ‘novel scientific ideas’ and ‘high risk, high reward’ research on sexual dysfunction in women. The result? More sexual experiments on rats.”

The published experiments supported by this “breakthrough” grant include:

* The “vaginal stimulation” study, which involved the experimenters holding the rats by their tails, inserting a 1 ml plunger into their vaginas until they contacted the cervix, and delivering 15 total stimulations lasting 2 seconds every 30 seconds;
* Removing rats’ ovaries, giving them hormones, applying lidocaine to numb their vaginas, to find that it made no major difference in their mating rhythms;
* Severing the nerves that connect rats’ genitalia to their brains, to find that they showed abnormal sexual behavior, even though they still desired sex.

“If this is NIH’s idea of ‘breakthrough’ and ‘high risk, high reward’ science, one can only imagine what its ‘normal’ science looks like,” said Kleiman.

“For April 15, we hope this is a wake-up call about where your tax dollars go,” concluded Kleiman. “These experiments are just the tip of the iceberg of waste in biomedical animal research. IDA plans to regularly expose yet more of these ridiculous experiments – to show the sad reality of animal research and the fundamentally broken, taxpayer-supported NIH system that continues to fund this ‘white-coated welfare.’”

IDA’s complete Top 10 list is available at http://idausa.org/ridiculousresearch

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Eric Kleiman, 717-939-3231

The petition was submitted to the FDA on November 14, 2007 by the Mandatory Alternatives Petition Coalition, a group of U.S. and U.K. based animal protection organizations. The effort would bring the U.S. in line with the European Union, which for over two decades has required that animal tests may not be used when available non-animal alternatives exist. The petition asks the FDA to promulgate regulations that would result in pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and other entities regulated by the FDA to utilize non-animal testing methods, whenever such scientifically satisfactory methods are available, to comply with their obligations to demonstrate product safety and efficacy.

The Coalition wants to see the replacement of inaccurate, unvalidated, unreliable and cruel animal tests with scientifically sound and humane methods. It is also concerned about the number of hazardous drugs approved for human use, the harm  they  cause  to  millions  of  people  and  the  inability  of  animal  testing  to  detect  and  prevent  these  serious consequences.

Coalition Spokesperson, Geneticist, Dr. Jarrod Bailey notes: “Many reliable testing methods are available, with more in development, which can produce safer and more effective drugs than current animal methods. It is urgent that the FDA demonstrates the leadership required to adopt modern, humane testing methods. The U.S. lags behind Europe in ending cruel animal tests when better alternatives are available. The time for action is overdue.”

Members of the MAP Coalition include the American Fund for Alternatives to Animal Research; British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection; In Defense of Animals; and the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS). The petition was supported by other animal protection groups, as well as physicians, scientists, veterinarians, professors, and individuals interested in reducing unnecessary animal testing. The Coalition is represented by Katherine Meyer of the public interest law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 6, 2010

San Rafael, Calif. – Today, as Americans prepare to file their annual tax returns, In Defense of Animals (IDA) is unveiling its “Top 10 Reasons Why Animal Research is a Cruel Joke” in recognition of ridiculous and wasteful experiments funded by your tax dollars.

“If you think all animal research is used to treat and cure life-threatening conditions, think again,” said IDA Executive Director Anand Ramanathan.  “Every year, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends billions of your tax dollars to fund animal experiments. Our own research indicates that when it comes to these experiments, every day is April Fool’s Day for the American taxpayer.”

IDA’s “Top 10″ list is comprised of NIH-funded experiments that were selected from scientific papers published in 2009 and 2010 (and one from 2008), approved by federally-mandated oversight committees, and published in peer-reviewed journals.

Below is a sampling of experiments that made IDA’s “Top 10″ List. (Warning: Entire List Contains Graphic and/or Sexual Content):

• Female rats might enjoy vaginal stimulation (Dartmouth);
• Baby chimpanzees need nurturing (Emory University/Yerkes National Primate Center);
• Trapped rats freak out (San Diego State U., Colorado State U., U. of Arizona);
• Lizards forced to fight get stressed and then decapitated (Harvard and Univ. of South Dakota);
• Castrated monkeys are less dominant (NIH’s internal intramural labs in Bethesda, Maryland).

“These federally funded, published experiments could be considered the ‘cream of the crop,’ yet they frivolously waste tax dollars and animal lives,” Dr. Ramanathan said. “These ridiculous, cruel experiments add nothing to medical progress and tell us nothing we care to know-or didn’t know already.”

“One can only wonder what occurs in the experiments that don’t get published,” he added.

The “Top 10″ experiments include several funded by an NIH “breakthroug” grant. A researcher who “found” that exercise helps in weight loss, and has received 137 grants in 23 years, also made the list.

IDA contends that its “Top Ten” experiments are just the tip of the iceberg of waste in biomedical animal research. “IDA plans to regularly expose yet more of these ridiculous experiments – to show the sad reality of animal research and the fundamentally broken, taxpayer-supported NIH system that continues to fund these cruel and unnecessary animal experiments,” concluded Dr. Ramanathan.

IDA’s complete Top 10 list is available at http://idausa.org/ridiculousresearch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2010

Contact: Eric Kleiman, 717-939-3231

San Rafael, Calif. – In Defense of Animals (IDA), an international animal protection organization with over 85,000 members, today released letters from celebrities opposed to NASA-funded experiments. The experiments, which NASA wants conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), involve irradiating squirrel monkeys. IDA and the International Primate Protection League (IPPL), a South Carolina-based non-profit dedicated to protecting the world’s primates, filed a complaint about the experiments.

The celebrities signed on to the IDA-drafted letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr., and BNL Director Dr. Samuel Aronson. Those who have signed to date are: Woody Harrelson, Zachary Quinto, Alicia Silverstone, James Cromwell, Allison Janney, Kristen Bell, Emily Deschanel, and Elizabeth Perkins.

NASA’s proposed experiments would inundate these tiny monkeys – only a foot tall – with one massive burst of gamma radiation equal to a 3-year journey to Mars and back. Since the 1950′s, thousands of primates have been exposed to various dosages of radiation including radio frequency, microwave, X-ray, gamma, electron, proton, neutron and other particle radiation. Studies have already shown that gamma radiation can cause depressive behavior, immobility, hyperirritability, convulsions, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, hair loss, open sores, skin hemorrhages, and even death.

Previous research has also proven that animals of different species – even of different strains of the same species – react differently to radiation, which calls into question the experiments’ scientific value in advancing protection for human astronauts.

NASA has already committed $1.75 million in taxpayer money to the experiments. NASA wants BNL – a lab run by the Department of Energy – to conduct the radiation portion of the experiments. BNL has not yet decided to proceed. The experiments are being reviewed by BNL’s safety, science, and animal welfare committees.

Copies of the IDA/IPPL complaint and the celebrities’ letters are available upon request.

For more information, please visit www.idausa.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Rachel Weil, rachel@weilpr.com, 818-341-3646
Eric Kleiman, ericsk@idausa.org, 717-939-3231

Portland, Ore. – In Defense of Animals (IDA) and other animal advocates will be outside the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) main hospital on Thursday, January 21, carrying signs with messages such as, “Expand your circle of compassion, not your primate center.” Activists will distribute information detailing OHSU’s request to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a new $15 million monkey facility at their Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC). IDA says this construction grant will not improve the lack of accountability, poor research quality and miserable living conditions at OHSU’s primate center.

What: Demonstration against OHSU’s proposed expansion of primate labs
When: Thursday, January 21, noon – 1 p.m.
Where: OHSU Main Campus, 3181 Southwest Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland

“A multi-million dollar grant should not be awarded to an institution which has been unmasked as a primate hell-hole by multiple whistleblowers, industry insiders, undercover abuse exposés, and USDA investigations,” said IDA’s Matt Rossell, who worked for two years as an OHSU primate technician. “These resources should be used to support infrastructure for modern, reliable research, not archaic and inhumane animal experiments.”

IDA is asking the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), which would fund the expansion, to fund their Clinical Research Centers and Biomedical Technology Research Centers instead. OHSU’s grant application will undergo a final review by the NCRR Advisory Council on Tuesday, January 26.

In a letter to NCRR’s director, Dr. Barbara Alving, IDA points to OHSU’s history of harsh criticism from both outside and within the research industry. Recent examples include a USDA-issued Official Warning to OHSU in December 2008, citing multiple violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including “Failure to maintain a program of adequate veterinary care.” In September 2009, the biotech company InVivo Therapeutics sued OHSU for botching an experiment by withholding routine veterinary care – leading to bladder complications in all seven monkeys and euthanasia for four of them, not including two monkeys excluded because of a staph infection and a broken ankle.  InVivo abandoned the experiment when OHSU demanded $557,000 above the price agreed upon in the contract, and OHSU was keeping $200,000 worth of InVivo’s equipment in an attempt to coerce them into paying another $400,000. InVivo and OHSU settled out of court in December for an undisclosed sum.

The proposed expansion would include hospital, nursery, necropsy, and animal housing areas, with 216 new cages and 4 new group housing units. All of these would be used solely for Specific-Pathogen Free (or SPF) primates, and would be combined into one building called the SPF Animal Facility (SAF). According to their grant application, “The breeding colony requires clinical care and nursery support facilities to optimize colony health and maximize production to provide sufficient numbers of high quality SPF NHPs [Non-Human Primates] for research.”

“OHSU wants $15 million dollars to expand what amounts to a monkey factory farm at a time when world-renowned primatologist Jane Goodall and other forward-thinking scientists are calling for the reduction and closure of primate labs,” said Tony Carr, who is also a former OHSU lab worker, now working for IDA. “After 50 years of wasted resources on animal experimentation at the Oregon Primate Center, the public and the animals deserve 21st-century science.”

IDA’s letter to the NCRR Director and OHSU’s grant application are available upon request.

Contact:  Matt Rossell, matt@idausa.org, 503-249-9996

Washington, DC —After a seven-year court fight, including the first trial in years involving the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been ordered by a federal judge to disclose 1,017 pages of records obtained during an investigation of controversial toxicology lab Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) to In Defense of Animals, the animal protection group said today.

“These records will shed light on the USDA’s failure to enforce the Animal Welfare Act,” said IDA Research Director Eric Kleiman. “Why did the USDA, later joined by HLS, fight so hard and so long to prevent the public from seeing these records? We’ll know within the 60 days ordered by the Court.”

The records – 503 pages withheld in full, 514 withheld in part (with most heavily redacted) – include test results, notes of observations of primates involved in toxicology testing, Animal Care and Use Committee minutes as well as necropsy reports and requests for veterinary care from six studies.

IDA filed the lawsuit in 2002 against the USDA, but later HLS “intervened” and also became a defendant. At trial, the USDA did not produce a single witness; HLS had two.

The December 2008 trial, the first in years involving FOIA, resolved the issue of whether HLS would suffer competitive harm if the records were disclosed. These records, obtained by the USDA during its investigation of the lab, formed the basis of the USDA’s formal complaint against HLS, alleging multiple and grave violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The charges included multiple counts of failing to provide adequate veterinary care and inadequate research oversight.

Within days of filing the complaint against HLS, the USDA settled it with what IDA termed a “slap-on-the-wrist” fine. This was consistent with multiple USDA Inspector General reports regarding the agency’s lax enforcement of the AWA. The most recent, in 2005, stated that USDA imposes “minimal” fines that “violators consider…a normal cost of conducting business rather than a deterrent for violating the law.”

The FOIA trial came about as a result of an opinion by another judge, who, after reviewing a sampling of the unredacted records in camera (in private), expressed his doubt that defendants could prevail at a trial focusing on the issue of competitive harm. This judge stated that the USDA and HLS came “mighty close” to “’blatantly’ contradicting the record” in the case. He also noted that the USDA had violated a prior court order by failing to produce an analysis of what could be redacted from the records.

Kleiman noted that IDA has won multiple FOIA victories, including a court-ordered public interest fee waiver for thousands of pages of NIH records after IDA had proven its “dissemination methods and history demonstrate that the disclosure will contribute to a greater understanding” by the public. IDA has also used FOIA records to document data manipulation and researcher misconduct (see “Drug Study Hid Chimp Deaths.”)

“This victory is the latest in a long line of IDA campaigns that often take years,” concluded Kleiman. “No matter how long, IDA will continue to persevere on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.”

The public interest law firm Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal represents IDA in this case. The District Court opinion is available here.