Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection

Yates Wants to Experiment on Shelter/Pound Animals

2011-11-17T20:51:00.006-05:00

A new article has surfaced about class B animal dealers ("random source" animal dealers who have often been under fire for stealing animals and selling them to laboratories). Yates says he used them in earlier research of his. The article mentions that he is now working to also include animals from shelters in his research. As if homeless pets already don't have it difficult enough, Yates would like to operate on their brains and put them through more hell for his interests.

Let us remember that NO ANIMAL regardless of pet status or species deserves to spend a life of suffering in a laboratory. Yates' abuse of cats is equally abhorrent as his use of rats. Neither cats nor rats deserve to be viewed as objects rather than living beings. Using and promoting the use of random source, possibly stolen, pets in research is obviously worth noting as well. And with the already short time animals have in kill shelters and pounds (24 hours to a week depending on location) we can guarantee that time would become shorter if research interests and money became more involved.

The article quotes a "Larry Yates" but there is no Larry Yates doing research on cats at Pitt. Only Bill Yates does this and is using a different name for some reason... See article below:

ANIMAL TESTING: Some animals stolen, sold to researchers

By Lee Bowman Scripps Howard News Servicebowmanl@shns.com 202-408-2724
Published Saturday, May 14, 2011

There was a time when it was common for dogs and other pets to be stolen or sold by pounds to dealers who put them into monstrous holding kennels before reselling them to scientific researchers.

Those practices have dwindled in the four decades since outrage from the well-publicized plight of a few dogs brought about the nation's first federal law to protect animals used in biomedical research in 1966.

At the heart of the Animal Welfare Act was concern that pets might be stolen or otherwise acquired by dealers and quickly sold to labs with no chance for rescue or adoption, and that animals bound for research would be badly cared for.

That was the saga of Pepper, a beloved Dalmatian stolen in 1965 from her Pennsylvania home and killed in an experiment at a Manhattan hospital before her family could track her down.

Her story, reported in Sports Illustrated and a photo exposé in Life Magazine of the awful conditions endured by dogs collected for research at a Pennsylvania kennel with the headline "Concentration Camp for Dogs," rallied congressional support to protect at least some species of research animals.

Today, the overwhelming number of all animals used in research — including dogs and cats — are specifically bred for that purpose. Most medical experiments use animals that are standardized and often genetically modified to mimic some human disease or condition.

Only about 0.05 percent of all animals used in biomedical research are dogs and cats, but that total is still more than 90,000 animals a year — with an estimated 3,000 or so collected by a dwindling number of "random-source" dealers.

There are still experiments where scientists say a few stray or donated dogs or cats are needed.

"There are certain diseases and conditions, arthritis or metabolic disorders, for instance, where you need to study an older animal. But hardly any breeders keep an animal beyond six months," said Dr. Larry Yates, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh who used random-source cats in his early work, but no longer does. [emphasis ours] He also served on a National Academies of Science committee that examined the secondary market for research animals in a report issued last year.

Although regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the 10 or so random source or "Class B" dealers still operating have come under heavy criticism from inspectors, congressional investigators and animal protection groups in recent years for problems ranging from poor animal care to sloppy record-keeping intended to ensure no stolen animals are used in labs.

"The government inspectors are still spending a huge amount of time to manage this small group of dealers, and we have to wonder about the institutions that are still supporting this practice," said Sue Leary, president of the American Anti-Vivisection Society.

Just in March, one of the dealers, a kennel near Shippensburg, Pa., [this "kennel" is still open but is hopefully going downhill] was charged by federal prosecutors with illegally buying hundreds of dogs from small breeders in at least 10 states for $50 to $75 an animal, giving them false documentation and veterinary certificates and then reselling them to researchers for hundreds of dollars each.

Aside from the dealers, research institutions in 33 states may negotiate with local pounds to acquire animals. In Minnesota and Oklahoma, state law allows researchers to demand that animals be turned over to them. Utah lawmakers just abolished such a requirement.

Sixteen states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia, and the District of Columbia have laws that forbid pounds to turn over animals to research.

In the remaining states, pound and shelter policy is dictated by county or city government, not the states. In California, however, all counties have policies banning the sale or donation of animals for research.

Animal protection advocates in many areas have challenged city and county agreements to sell animals to labs, but say these arrangements still bring in about a quarter of all the dogs and cats used annually in research.

J.R. Haywood, a researcher and vice president for regulatory affairs at Michigan State University in Lansing, who works with rats and baboons in his own diabetes research, still supports continued access to pound animals, although he concedes that the dealers have proved a poor source. He noted the practice has "about disappeared in Michigan" although there is no statewide ban on the practice.

"It is ironic that while researchers have reduced the number of cats and dogs we use by half in the past several decades by changing methods or using other animal models, there are still hundreds of thousands of those animals being sacrificed in pounds every year because no one will adopt them," Haywood said. "Wouldn't it be better if we could learn something from them that would help people and animals from them before they're put to sleep?"

Yates and Haywood said there have been discussions about setting up research consortia to obtain and care for pound animals [emphasis ours], as well as a plan to have the National Institutes of Health establish breeding colonies where dogs and cats could be kept long enough to develop some of the traits that only come with age, but no specific plans have been made.

_________________

Anothony A Grace and Bill J Yates- Distinguished Professors of Fear, Stress, Injury, and Pain

2010-09-23T23:08:00.004-04:00

The University of Pittsburgh has recently honored Anthony A Grace with the title of "Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience". You may remember the 'Get to Know Your Local Laboratories' piece on Grace on our page previously. Grace does research in which he deliberately mutilates, injures, freezes, starves, and exploits animals for interest. Grace does what is called "translational basic research" which has been under fire by doctors and scientists for it's lack of applicability to humans [1]. In fact, one meta-analysis of such published research (which doesn't even include things that did not work and were not published) found that "only (0.004%) led to the development of a clinically useful class of drugs (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors) in the 30 years following their publication of the basic science finding" [2]. We can see given this evidence that not only is Grace's work incredibly cruel, it is also a waste of the tax payer dollars used to fund it.

The University of Pittsburgh, which gets huge amounts of money from such grants, has a history of celebrating those that bring them in. Another distinguished professor is Bill J Yates, whose research involves the cutting of connections in the brains of animals like cats and causing other suffering. It is no wonder that such cruelty and wastefulness continues to occur in Pittsburgh when the Chancellor (who is not a scientist) awards these researchers with distinguished professorships while people doing human research that will actually result in cures struggle to get funded.

Although PAAV has been on hiatus, we felt it important to share this story with any readers of the site. More to come.

[1] Greek & Greek. (2010). Is the use of sentient animals in basic research justifiable?
[2] Crowley WF, Jr.: Translation of basic research into useful treatments: how
often does it occur? Am J Med 2003, 114:503-505.

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The Bradberry Lab

2009-11-22T13:21:00.012-05:00

Images: Monkeys in Drug research studies

The research of Charles W. Bradberry has involved heinous cruelty to animals for decades. His lab is one of the most shocking and cruel in the city. Bradberry's research focuses on addicting animals (mainly monkeys) to cocaine over a period of multiple years, doing studies with water deprivation for days or weeks, cutting open their skulls and implanting devices in their brains, and forcing them to do tasks- often while withdrawing from the drugs they became addicted to. This research is particularly sickening as there is no shortage of human drug addicts willing to participate in this kind of research (whether to do the drugs or to participate in research that could help them kick their habits).

GOVERNMENT GRANTS

Bradberry is funded by at least two government grants: One from the NIAA which is good until August of 2010 and another from the NIDA good until June of 2014. These grants are made up of tax payer dollars and go towards cruel, unneccessary, and misleading research on other animals. Here is where your money has been going recently:

RECENT PUBLISHED RESEARCH

In one study [1], Bradberry and colleagues confined rhesus monkeys to primate restraint chairs and implanted catheters into their backs that would administer cocaine to them. They used these monkeys in this way, allowing them to self-administer IV cocaine in multiple studies for two years. Basically, these moneys were shooting up cocaine for years under the "care" of these researchers, developing addictions to the drug. There is mention that these same animals were being used in other drug studies for up to 4.5 years or more. The monkeys in this study were also deprived of water on many occasions- only being allowed water at their own want during the weekends (only until midday Sunday). This method is used to force monkeys to do tasks on a touch screen because when you are deprived of water for long enough, you will do anything for a drink. The researchers called this a "reward".

These intelligent, sentient animals (often compared to 3-5 year old human children) have spent their lives confined to small cages, addicted to drugs, and/or deprived of water for years upon years, with money granted to these researchers by the state.

In another study [2], female monkeys were used with similar histories of years of cocaine addiction and abuse. These monkeys were restrained to chairs with catheters for cocaine and cocaethylene administration implanted in their backs. These animals' heads were cut open and devices were implanted in their brains to record from their brain cells.

Neither of these articles say what happened to these animals when these studies were finished. They were either killed or still remain behind the walls of Biomedical Science Tower 3, addicted to drugs and alone in cages, waiting for the next abuse to be inflicted upon them.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Charles Bradberry's Work address and contact information:

Office: Biomedical Science Tower 3, Room 4066
3501 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Telephone:412-383-6200
Fax:412-383-6799
E-mail: bradberrycw@upmc.edu

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Liu, Heitz, and Bradberry. (2009). A touch screen based Stop Signal Response Task in rhesus monkeys for studying impulsivity associated with chronic cocaine self-administration. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 177, 67–72.
[2] Baeg, Jedema, & Bradberry. (2009). Orbitofrontal and Anterior Cingulate Cortex Neurons Selectively Process Cocaine-Associated Environmental Cues in the Rhesus Monkey. The Journal of Neuroscience. 29(37), 11619 –11627.

Primate Liberation Week Main Action, 10/24/2009

2009-10-24T20:02:00.006-04:00

On Saturday, 10/24/2009, we protested animal testing facilities throughout Oakland including Mellon Institute (on 5th and Bellefield) and Biomedical Science Tower 3 (on 5th and Darragh St). We began our protest as a white bloc in front of Mellon institute, chanting and holding signs and banners. We later took to the streets and marched down 5th avenue towards Biomedical Science Tower 3 until we were forced to the sidewalk by police forces. We then finished our march to 5th and Darragh and made our voices heard in front of Biomedical Science Tower 3, running into the streets between lights with signs and banners.

Images of some stages of the protest are below. Note: The first three photos are courtesy of an excellent Pitt News photographer- Deseree Kuzel. The others are from a protester. Thank you to everyone who came out and we hope to see you next time!

_____________________________________

Send To Phone

What's New at the Yates Laboratory?

2009-09-13T12:04:00.008-04:00

Since our last article about the lab of Bill J. Yates was posted in February of this year, plenty of suffering has been taking place. As a reminder, the Yates lab spends their time vivisecting cats, rats, ferrets, and other animals by implanting apparatuses in their brains and/or giving them brain lesions. The Yates lab is still at it, putting out several publications since that time. Yates also is funded by multiple government grants and has served as the chair of the animal care and use committee for the university, causing many more ethical issues with his research.

RECENT RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

Keep in mind that a small amount of what researchers do actually makes it to publication. We can only imagine what else happens that does not make it into published articles. Here are some of the most recent publications from the Yates Lab (excluding those already discussed in the first entry on Yates.)

In one article [1], Yates and colleagues used 17 very young, female cats (6-12 months of age) and injected the rabies virus into their diaphragms. After survival times ranging from 61.5 to 144 hours following injections of the virus, the animals were killed and had their brains and spinal cords removed. According to the article, only 11 cats gave usable data on the cells they were looking at while the rabies migrated to the brains of the other 6. As is common knowledge, rabies is a very horrible disease.

In another article [2], Yates and colleagues used 17 cats. They gave them brain and skull surgeries to implant neural recording apparatuses in their heads. These extended into their brains. They then stopped the anesthesia but continued the procedures up to one hour before the rest of the experiment. They injected the animals with a chemical that paralyzed them and then recorded from their brain cells. After this, the animals were killed. The amount of fear and distress these animals went through as a result of these procedures is unimaginable.

Another study [3] by the Yates lab, similar to the first we mentioned, used 20 rats. They injected the rats with a cocktail of chemicals and viruses including cholera toxin (which is responsible for the deadly and harmful effects of the disease cholera). The animals were left like this for 7 days before being killed and dissected. In another similar study, the researchers did similar procedures, only on top of the cholera toxin injection, they also used rabies injections. Furthermore, they gave brain lesions (surgically severing connections in the brain) to a portion of the rats [4].

These are just a few examples of the kind of research that the Yates lab is currently doing to feed their research interests.

GOVERNMENT FUNDED GRANTS

Yates is currently funded by at least two National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants (composed of tax dollars) including one lasting until 2012 and another expiring in November of this year (2009). The latter sum was granted by the government-run NIH despite the detailing of procedures that will undoubtedly cause discomfort and suffering to animals including but not limited to invasive surgeries, manipulations of respiratory functioning, removal of parts of the inner ear, and studies of vomiting and motion sickness.

QUESTIONABLE AFFILIATIONS

Another important thing to note about Bill Yates is that he served as chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) since July 1 of 2004. As chair of the IACUC, it is Yates who makes the call on what kinds of procedures are permissible to do on animals in laboratories at the University of Pittsburgh. This means, he makes the call on the ethics of his own research. Since some animals like rats are not given even the minimal protections offered by the Animal Welfare Act, the University IACUC is responsible for creating those restrictions. It is convenient for researchers using these animals to have another person who profits from their exploitation as the head of the IACUC.

CRUEL COLLEAGUES

Lastly, Yates' colleagues have also made appearances in entries on our site for their cruel and questionable animal research practices. Some of these researchers include Carey Balaban, who does research on nonhuman primates, mice, rats, and chinchillas , and Neeraj Gandhi, who does nonhuman primate research. Animals are exploited and suffer every day in each one of these labs.

We will be taking further action against Yates and his mistreatment of animals and will be keeping a close eye on the Yates lab. We will keep you updated with further information that we receive.

Bill Yates can be contacted at byates@pitt.edu.

Work:

Dr. Bill Yates
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Otolaryngology
Eye and Ear Institute, Rm 519, 203 Lothrop St, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

PH: 412-647-9614
FX: 412-647-0108

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] James H. Lois, Cory D. Rice and Bill J. Yates. (2009). Neural circuits controlling diaphragm function in the cat revealed by transneuronal tracing. J Appl Physiol 106:138-152.
[2] D. M. Miller, et al. (2009).Responses of thoracic spinal interneurons to vestibular stimulation. Exp Brain Res. 195:89–100.
[3] B. Cuccurazzu, F. Deriu, E. Tolu, B. J. Yates, and I. Billig. (2007).A Monosynaptic Pathway Links the Vestibular Nuclei and Masseter Muscle Motoneurons in Rats. Exp Brain Res. 176(4): 665–671.
[4] Lane, et al. (2008). Cervical Prephrenic Interneurons in the Normal and Lesioned Spinal Cord of the Adult Rat. THE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY 511:692–709.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The Lee Lab

2009-08-17T20:06:00.004-04:00

Photo: Macaque in a neural recording experiment (Courtesy of Spiegel.de)

The laboratory of Tai Sing Lee imprisons and subjects macaques to the abuses of testing using invasive, surgically implanted brain cell recording devices among other things. Sing's computer science background allows him to also work on the engineering and studying of devices in order to find more ways to use these things on the animals trapped behind the walls of Mellon Institute and animals caged in other laboratories. The animals in studies at the Lee lab are forced to undergo invasive procedures to implant brain cell recording devices in their brains and skulls. These procedures occur on top of the suffering of living their lives alone in laboratory cages. While the brain does not feel pain from the surgeries, the skull and head most definitely do, making these procedures very stressful and painful for the animals.

In one study, the Lee lab gave macaque monkeys surgeries to implant brain cell recording devices in their brains and skulls [1]. They recorded their neural activity while they watched random dots on a screen. This article did not say how long the animals were given to recover, how long they were trained if at all, how they were restrained, or what happened to them after the experiment was finished.

In another study, Lee and colleagues compared two invasive procedures for recording from the brains of both paralyzed macaques and paralyzed cats [2]. Some of the animals had single-unit (which record from one brain cell at a time) devices surgically implanted in their skulls and brains while others had multi-unit devices implanted in their skulls and brains. In this particular study, Sing and colleagues analyzed these cells with the ultimate goal of studying invasive ways to use nonhuman animals in research, rather than to seek alternatives to this research. This publication did not say what happened to the animals when the experiment was finished.

In another experiment, the Lee lab surgically implanted neural recording devices in the skulls and brains of macaque monkeys as well as implanted coils in their eyes. They then had the animals perform various computer tasks which required them to act while their brain activity was being recorded within their heads. This article also did not say how long the animals were given to recover, how long they were trained if at all, how they were restrained, or what happened to them after the experiment was finished.

Tai-Sing Lee can be contacted in the following ways:

Office: Mellon Institute Rm 115, 4400 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: 412-268-1060
Email: tai@cnbc.cmu.edu

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] JM Samonds, BR Potetz, & TS Lee. (2006). Neurophysiological Evidence of Cooperative Mechanisms for Stereo Computation.
[2] Ryan C. Kelly, Matthew A. Smith, Jason M. Samonds, Adam Kohn, A. B. Bonds, J. Anthony Movshon, & Tai Sing Lee. (2007). Comparison of Recordings from Microelectrode Arrays and Single Electrodes in the Visual Cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27(2). 261–264.
[3] Matthew A. Smith, Ryan C. Kelly, and Tai Sing Lee. (2007). Dynamics of Response to Perceptual Pop-Out Stimuli in Macaque V1. J Neurophysiol. 98. 3436–3449.

Send To Phone

Protest of Animal Suffering at Mellon Institiute

2009-08-07T08:50:00.007-04:00

On Saturday, August 16th, we went to Mellon Institute to protest the 13 animal testing facilities that exist inside. Before our arrival, someone notified the University that we would be there, leading the administration to send out a letter telling everyone in the building not to come to work that day. As a result, simply having a presence at this facility may have led to an entire day without procedures and other tortures being performed on the animals imprisoned inside.

There was high traffic as well, leading to many people being exposed to the truths of what goes on within Mellon Institute through viewing our signs and reading out leaflets. We will undoubtedly hold future actions at this facility. Pictures of the protest can be seen below:

Send To Phone

Alternatives to Animal Tested Treatments: Depression

2009-08-07T08:43:00.004-04:00

One way to boycott the animal testing industry is to boycott, when possible, medications and treatments that are tested on animals. While for some, this is not an option, we would like to offer alternatives to animal tested treatments when they are possible.

Depression

Depression is an increasingly common condition affecting over 18 million Americans. Although there are many different causes and types of depression, common symptoms include chronic sadness, decreased interest or apathy, weight changes, problems falling asleep or oversleeping, agitation and restlessness, fatigue, and feelings of worthlessness.

Standard antidepressant pharmaceutical SSRIs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft may have serious risks and have been linked to suicide, violence, psychosis, abnormal bleeding and brain tumors. Unlike these drugs that simply mask the symptoms, natural therapies work to treat both the root cause as well as the effects of depression.

Herbal treatments and lifestyle modification can significantly improve cases of depression without the risk. Exercise, particularly aerobic, releases endorphins and decreases stress hormones. Sunlight aids in the production of serotonin. Diets low in sugar, caffeine, and alcohol have all been shown to alleviate depression.

Alternative therapies such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, hypnosis, massage therapy, meditation, guided imagery, and yoga have proven effective for many. Try any combination of these treatments in addition to some of the following supplements. In case of suicidal thoughts and other more serious symptoms it is important to contact a professional immediately.

St. John’s Wort: As the most widely recognized antidepressant herb, St. John’s Wort has been used in folk medicine for centuries to treat depression, anxiety, and sleeplessness. Numerous studies have shown it to be more powerful than pharmaceuticals with far fewer and less serious side effects. One active compound, hypericin, works to improve anxiety, depression, and feelings of worthlessness. Another compound known as amentoflavone acts on the central nervous system in a way similar to Benzodiazepine drugs, which are commonly used for anxiety and sleeplessness.

Make a tea made by steeping one to two teaspoons of dried herb for ten minutes or take as directed in supplement form. Full effects may take up to four to six weeks. Prolonged use causes sensitivity to sunlight. Do not take if pregnant or on SSRI drugs.

Ginkgo Biloba: This ancient herb is the oldest living tree species and has been used throughout history to treat a wide array of ailments. Although Ginkgo Biloba is not a powerful antidepressant when used alone, is helpful in conjunction with other supplements such as St. John’s Wort. It improves cerebral circulation, memory, and mood which are especially helpful for the elderly who often suffer reduced blood flow. Take 80-120 mg two times daily.

Purslane: Purslane is rich in potassium and magnesium- two minerals that have been shown to have strong antidepressant qualities. Purslane contains up to 16 percent antidepressant compounds on a dry weight basis and is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids which assist with brain function and help ward of depression. What’s even better is that you can find it almost anywhere included the cracks in your sidewalk. Use in cooking or make a purslane salad.

Siberian Ginseng: Generally speaking, species of ginseng are known as adaptogens, which are substances that assist the body in adapting to external physical stresses. For a depressed person ginseng works to balance the levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. It also acts as an MOA inhibitor. Take 400mg three times daily.

Licorice: Eight different compounds in licorice are MAO Inhibitors, which have shown to have powerful antidepressant affects. Drink up to (but not exceeding) three cups of licorice tea daily. In some cases long term use could cause headache, lethargy, water retention, loss of potassium, and high blood pressure.
Rosemary: This herb is useful as a spice in cooking and also in aromatherapy in a sleep pillow or herbal baths. Rosemary stimulates positive energy and has an uplifting effect. Brew a tea with some valerian before sleep and keep some dried rosemary nearby.

Ginger: Ginger has a reliable reputation as an effective treatment for both anxiety and depression. Use it in cooking or drink a ginger tea daily. It has also been shown to prevent many types of cancer and help with inflammation and sinuses.
B Vitamins: A deficiency in B vitamins can lead to depression caused by low neurotransmitter levels. The top B vitamin food sources are sunflower seeds, black beans, watercress and soybeans. Good sources of folate include pinto beans, navy beans, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, okra and Brussels sprouts. High levels of B6 occur in cauliflower, watercress, spinach, bananas, okra, onions, broccoli, squash, kale, kohlrabi, brussels sprouts, peas and radishes. Supplementation with Spirulina and blue green algae is recommended for an increase in dietary B12.

Send To Phone

Get to Know your Local Laboratories: The Sommer Lab

2009-08-01T19:41:00.012-04:00

Photo: Monkey in a primate restraint chair. Courtesy of Dean Conger: Corbis.

Marc A. Sommer's laboratory resides behind the virtually windowless walls of Mellon Institute in Oakland and focuses on studying vision in monkeys using very invasive methods. Sommer does this research with funding from at least three NIH grants composed of tax dollars [1]. Conveniently, Sommer is also a staff member at NIH. Mellon Institute has multiple researchers doing this same research on imprisoned animals, including the Olson lab and the Colby lab. Similar to these researchers who have already made appearances on the PAAV lab list, the Sommer lab forces monkeys to undergo intensive surgeries to implant machinery in their brains, skulls, and eyes in order to monitor them, but Sommer's research often takes the invasiveness a step further.

In one study, Sommer and colleagues forced rhesus monkeys to undergo intensive surgeries to implant recording devices in their skulls and brains. They then activated and deactivated brain cells using even more invasive methods. They would physically stimulate the neurons inside the brain to carry signals in opposite directions from what is natural and then would deactivate them by physically injecting them with muscimol, a mushroom extract known to have multiple effects on the brain. They concluded that their research opened the door for more research like this on imprisoned animals using other brain cells. [2]

In another study, Sommer's lab gave monkeys surgeries to implant screws in their skulls to be attached to a head restraint chair, neural recording devices in their brains, and coils in their eyes. They then taught the monkeys an eye movement task and restrained them to chairs by their heads to measure their brain cell activity and eye movements during these tasks. [3]

In another study, the Sommer lab again gave monkeys intensive surgeries to implant neural recording devices in their brains and coils in their eyes. The monkeys were then fixed to primate restraint chairs so that their eye movements could be monitored during tasks. [4]

None of these articles mention what happened to the monkeys when the experiments were finished.

These are only a few of Sommer's recently published studies. Animals who think and feel with the intelligence of human children are currently imprisoned in his laboratory to suffer and be caused pain for the interest of the researchers.

Marc A Sommer can be contacted in the following ways:

Office: 115 Mellon Institute, 4400 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213 Telephone:412-268-4486
Fax:412-268-5060
E-mail: masommer@pitt.edu

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] NIH Grants: 1R01EY017592-01, 5R01EY017592-03, 5R01EY017592-02
[2] Sommer & Wurtz. (2006). Influence of the thalamus on spatial visual processing
in frontal cortex. Nature, 444.
[3] Mayo & Sommer. (2008). Neuronal Adaptation Caused by Sequential Visual Stimulation in the Frontal Eye Field. J Neurophysiol, 100.
[4] Crapse & Sommer. (2009). Frontal Eye Field Neurons with Spatial Representations
Predicted by Their Subcortical Input. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29(16). 5308 –5318.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The de Groat Lab

2009-07-20T21:50:00.003-04:00

The laboratory run by William C. de Groat focuses on creating injuries and pain in cats, rats, and rabbits. These procedures include, but are not limited to, spinal cord injuries and using technologies to induce bladder pain in the animals. The lab is also funded by at least two separate grants from the National Institutes of Health which uses tax dollars to fund research [1,2]. This means that public tax dollars that could be being used to study human diseases are being used to study injuries and diseases inflicted upon cats and other animals.

In several studies, de Groat and colleagues severed the spinal cords of cats [3,4]. One study involved cutting the cats' spinal cords between the 9th and 10th thoracic vertebrae located in the middle of their backs. Severing this part of the spinal cord would case severe deficits, but the de Groat lab waited 6-12 months after the injuries were given to the animals before moving on with their experiment [3]. They then gave the cats surgery to implant catheters and electrical stimulation devices in their bladders and connecting nerves. They then electrically stimulated the cat's bladder to measure contractions and other procedures were done to measure bladder capacity. Keep in mind that cats- who are obligate carnivores- differ greatly in this system from humans who are primate omnivores, yet the researchers involved are claiming that this suffering is being inflicted upon cats to help humans.

In another feline spinal cord injury study, the thoracic spine was severed in the same place, but the experiment began 3-11 months after the injury [4]. The cats were again given surgery to insert catheters and electrodes into the bladder and corresponding nerves. Again, they stimulated the bladder to measure contractions and capacity. Neither of these studies mention how the animals met their ends after all of the mutilations they suffered.

Other studies involve harvesting animals for parts. In one of these, "mongrel cats" were given surgeries to remove tissues from their bladders and were then killed [5]. Mongrel cats are cats of mixed breed or unknown ancestry meaning that they were likely not bred in a lab with a certain genetic line. The source of these animals is not listed in the publication. Other studies involve giving rats surgeries to remove bladder cells and then killing them [6].

These are only a few of multiple studies published by de Groat and his colleagues involving suffering and killing of nonhuman animals.

William C de Groat can be contacted in the following ways:

Work:
Phone: 412-648-9357 Email: wcd2@pitt.edu Fax: 412-648-1945 Address: W1352 Thomas E. Starzl Biomedical Science Tower 3500 Terrace St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Grant Number: 1R01DK077783-01 Project Title: Neuroplasticity of Urinary Tract Disorders after SCI
[2] Grant Number: 5R37DK049430-13 Project Title: AFFERENT MECHANISMS UNDERLYING BLADDER PAIN
[3] Tai C, Smerin SE, de Groat WC, Roppolo JR. (2005). Pudendal-to-bladder reflex in chronic spinal-cord-injured cats. Exp Neurol. 2006 Jan;197(1):225-34.
[4] Tai C, Wang J, Wang X, Roppolo JR, de Groat WC. (2007). Voiding reflex in chronic spinal cord injured cats induced by stimulating and blocking pudendal nerves. Neurourol Urodyn. 2007;26(6):879-86.
[5] Ruan HZ, Birder LA, Xiang Z, Chopra B, Buffington T, Tai C, Roppolo JR, de Groat WC, Burnstock G. (2006). Expression of P2X and P2Y receptors in the intramural parasympathetic ganglia of the cat urinary bladder. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2006 May;290(5):F1143-52.
[6] Beckel JM, Kanai A, Lee SJ, de Groat WC, Birder LA. (2006). Expression of functional nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in rat urinary bladder epithelial cells.Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2006 Jan;290(1):F103-10.

Send To Phone

Alternatives to Animal Tested Treatments: Insomnia

2009-07-20T21:45:00.003-04:00

Insomnia

Insomnia is the inability fall asleep or stay asleep. As one of the most common disorders plaguing Americans, it afflicts one third of the US population and nearly 10 million are currently taking a prescription medication to manage the problem. Although pharmaceuticals do work, they are highly addictive, interfere with natural sleep cycles, have controversial side effects, and many could cause long term damage to your kidneys and liver!

For those wishing to find alternative and effective ways to get healthy deep sleep there are a number of lifestyle changes that might be effective. First, a regular sleep routine is important for the body to understand when it is time to go to bed and wake up. Avoid eating oily or spicy food and be sure to enjoy a diet rich in fresh produce and whole grains. Also, try to eat your last meal at least three hours before going to be. Studies have estimated that about half of all cases of insomnia are caused by psychological disorders such as anxiety, stress, and depression so managing these problems may be the key for many. Herbal remedies are particularly helpful for their therapeutic affects on the mind and the nervous system. Relaxation through yoga, acupuncture and meditation has been proven to help manage anxiety and promote restful sleep. Deep massage, herbal baths, and listening to sleep tracks for sound therapy are also effective for many. Try a combination of these suggestions for a period of time to find a routine that works for you. Learning to manage insomnia through natural means will bring you peace of mind and contribute to your overall wellbeing.

Valerian: The sedative herb valerian root is regarded by many experts as the most effective treatment for insomnia and is particularly popular in Europe. It is relaxing and sleep inducing, relieves spasms, calms the digestion, and lowers blood pressure. It is useful for severe insomnia and insomnia accompanied by pain, cramps, intestinal pain, menstrual pain, tension, and anxiety. In one study a treatment of 160 mg valerian and 80 mg lemon balm preparation was shown to be equally effective as benzodiazepines without the daytime drowsiness and other unwanted side effects. Brew valerian tea or take between 150-300 mg of a standardized extract thirty minutes before going to sleep. It takes 2 - 5 weeks for valerian to start becoming effective.

Lemon Balm: Also known as melissa, lemon balm is a claming herb that is commonly used for anxiety, depression, and digestive problems. The sedative action is attributed largely to a group of chemicals in the plant called terpenes. Brew an herbal tea or use in a bath. It is recommended that lemon balm be used in conjunction with valerian for maximum effectiveness.

Hops: Hops has been used to treat general insomnia, anxiety, restlessness, indigestion, and headaches for over 1,000 years. The sedative compound in hops is methl-butenol, which acts on the central nervous system. Use in a herbal bath, brew a tea, or take in supplement form. Most often hops is paired with valerian root, chamomile, or lavender in a tea- although this is not necessary to enjoy its calming effects. Those who are depressed or in the first three months of pregnancy should not use hops.

Passionflower: The popularity of this herb dates back to the time of the Aztecs, who used it for its sedative effects. Due to the active compound harmine, Passionflower relaxes muscles, promotes sleep, relieves pain, and works as an anti-spasmodic. Harmine, originally called telpathine for its ability to produce a contemplative state and a mild euphoria, can inhibit the breakdown of serotonin. Use the dried herb as a tea or take in standard tincture, supplement, or extract form 45 minutes before bed.

Lavender: Accidentally discovered for its anesthetic properties, lavender is responsible for the founding of the field or aromatherapy. Today it is most popular for its ability to soothe and relax. Because the oil helps to slow nerve impulses it can help reduce irritability and bring on sleep. However, not all lavenders are created equal. Be sure to test the lavender oil to make sure that it has a calming effect. English lavender is popular for treatment of insomnia whereas Spanish lavender may actually have a stimulating effect. Since not all oils are marked it is necessary to experiment at times, or purchase from an experienced aromatherapist. Burn the oil, brew a tea, take an herbal bath before bed, or place a couple drops of oil or dried leaves in a sachet under your pillow.

Chamomile: The sedating compound in chamomile apigenin has earned this plant a reputation as a gentle bedtime tea for centuries. It is relaxing, eases digestion, relieves spasms and pain, and even helps to heal wounds. Of all of the treatments for insomnia, chamomile is the most child-friendly. Brew a tea or add to an herbal bath.

Roobios: Roobios tea is a popular South African treatment for insomnia. It is known to promote sleep, reduce inflammation, improve appetite, calm the digestive tract, and reduce nervous tension. Roobios tea is becoming quite and can be purchased either loose or in a standard tea bag. Drink a cup 45 minutes before bed.

St. Johns Wort: Commonly used to treat depression, St. Johns Wort is also useful for prolonging deep sleep cycles. It is effective in treating depression, anxiety, tension, insomnia, and hypersomnia. Research suggests that the active compounds hypericin and hyperforin prevent nerve cells in the brain from reabsorbing serotonin. Take as directed in standard supplement at any time during the day. Those who are pregnant or taking MAO inhibitors and anti-rejection medications should not take St. John’s Wort. Prolonged use may increase sensitivity to sunlight.

Skullcap: This sedative herb is one of the most popular nerviness available. Although the exact compounds are not known, it appears that they work by enhancing the effects of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), a naturally calming brain chemical. It is useful to treat insomnia, pre-menstrual syndrome, depression, stress, and tranquillizer or sleeping pill withdrawal. It relaxes states of nervous tension while at the same time renewing the central nervous system. Brew a tea and consume two to three cups daily or take a standard tincture or preparation as directed.

Good News for Animals

2009-07-06T21:54:00.005-04:00

In the past two weeks, two things have happened that could end up being great for laboratory animals. We decided to highlight these news stories in this newsletter and in this entry because of their importance to the anti-vivisection movement.

Comparisons between human and nonhuman animal tests have motivated the EPA to eliminate nonhuman animal methods of testing chemical toxicity. Governmental toxicity testing and risk assessment is currently done using nonhuman animals. Some of these primitive methods include the LD50 (or Lethal Dose 50%) where animals are fed chemicals until 50% of the population dies. Almost always, the dose that kills 50% of the animals is drastically different from that which humans can be safely exposed to. Data comparisons between the effects of chemical exposure to humans versus that of other animals show great differences and are responsible for many things failing (often with deadly results) in clinical trials. The EPA along with other groups is working on methods in computer modeling, genomics, and other areas to completely eliminate the use of nonhuman animals in these testing procedures. An advocate of this bold move forward mentions that they test sunscreen toxicity for humans by force-feeding it to other animals, asking how this tells us anything about what it can do for us. To read more about what is currently in the works with this, you can read these news stories:

Next-Generation Risk Assessment

No Animal Toxicity Testing Plan from EPA

No more test tubes on four feet? EPA moves toward animal-free toxicity tests

The Humane Society has succeeded in their lawsuit against USDA using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to require transparency of animal research facilities. It has taken 4 years but the Humane Society has won it's lawsuit requiring the USDA to make inspection and other reports from animal laboratories public. Previous FOIA requests made by the HSUS were either denied or missing important pieces and as a result, they went to court. Items that were denied or conveniently omitted from these reports include "pain and distress information" in which some experiments were conducted on nonhuman animals involving severe pain without any anesthetic. The USDA is now required by law to publish these and other records annually. Kathleen Connely of the Humane Society stated, "While it became apparent during the suit that the USDA might be acting to shield animal research facilities from public scrutiny, we are pleased that the settlement will ensure public access to animal research information, and shed light on whether USDA is doing its job." To read more about this story, go to the following links:

Settlement to require animal labs to post data

USDA settles suit, opens access to animal research reports

Animal use details go online

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The Grace Lab

2009-07-01T18:51:00.013-04:00

Image: Rat with a neural recording device implant

The laboratory of Anthony A Grace does many different kinds of research involving the intense suffering of mice and rats. Types of studies in the Grace lab include fear research, pain research, intense cold exposure, chronic stress exposure, and brain lesions. Many of these studies are rarely done on other species of animals due to the cruel nature of the methods involved. However, mice and rats are not covered under the already weak protections of the Animal Welfare Act, so they often suffer greatly in research like Grace's. The use of these animals also allows Grace to put out publication after publication, increasing his ability to acquire more grants to continue causing animal suffering with his research. Many of Grace's grants over the past 12 years have come from the National Institutes of Mental Health using tax payer dollars.

Although rats and mice get a bad reputations in some cultures, they are sentient animals who laugh when they play, who are good mothers, and are intelligent and affectionate. They are the most popular research animals, partially because they are not included in the animal welfare act restrictions but also because they learn quickly and are smart. They have a great capacity for suffering and do not deserve to suffer in laboratories any more than any other species of animal.

In one study, Grace and colleagues studied fear and pain [1]. They either caused nerve cell damage in rats using toxic drugs or cut connections in their brains. They then placed the rats in fear conditioning chambers which had electrified floors. They shocked the rats and measured their fear responses and pain sensitivities. Each animal was then killed and his brain was dissected.

In another study, the Grace lab used mice that were specifically bred with genetic mutations so that they lacked a gene responsible for various neurotransmitter (brain chemical) functions [2]. The removal of even one gene from an animal's system often causes severe disorders and/or suffering. The mice were killed and their brains were removed for dissection.

Another study by Grace and colleagues involved chronic cold exposure in order to create a very stressful environment for the animals [3]. They shaved most of the fur off of rats and then confined them to cages in a room of only 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Farenheit) for 14-17 days straight. This is very stressful for rats because they prefer a temperature of around 21 degrees Celcius (70 degrees Farenheit) and on top of this, their fur is shaved, increasing their level of cold and stress significantly. Grace and colleagues then examined the rats' behaviors to see how damaged they were by this stressful experience. The group then drilled holes in the heads of the stressed rats to implant brain cell recording devices in their heads. Afterward, the rats were killed and their brains were used in electrophysiological recording and dissected.

In another study, the Grace lab subjected rats to intensive surgeries to implant recording devices in their brains [4]. After only one week of recovery from these skull and brain surgeries, that rats were deprived of food to maintain a body weight of 85% and were given several behavioral tasks like repeatedly being place in mazes while their brains were recorded from. The lack of food creates motivation in the rats to do these unnatural tasks in lab environments because they receive food as a reward. The rats were then injected with drugs that changed their brain functioning. After these tests were over, the rats were killed and their brains were used in electrophysiological recording and dissected.

These are just a few of the multiple publications that Tony A Grace put out just last year. For each one of his papers published, Grace deliberately caused the suffering and death of multiple animals all on the tax payer's dime.
Tony Grace can be contacted in the following ways:
Work: Office: 570 Langley Hall
Telephone:412-624-4609
Fax:412-624-9198
E-mail: graceaa@pitt.edu

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References

[1] Stephanie Bissière, Nicolas Plachta, Daniel Hoyer, Kevin H. McAllister, Hans-Rudolf Olpe, Anthony A. Grace and John F. Cryan. (2008). The Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex Modulates the Efficiency of Amygdala-Dependent Fear Learning. Biological Psychiatry. 63(9). 821-831.

[2] S.P. Onn, M. Lin, J.-J. Liu and A.A. Grace. (2008). Dopamine and cyclic-AMP regulated phosphoprotein-32–dependent modulation of prefrontal cortical input and intercellular coupling in mouse accumbens spiny and aspiny neurons. Neuroscience. 151(3). 802-816.

[3] Jedema, H.P..P, Gold, S.J., Gonzalez-Burgos, G., Sved, A.F., Tobe, B.J., Wensel, T.G. and Grace, A.A. Chronic cold exposure increases RGS7 expression and decreases a2-autoreceptor-mediated inhibition of noradrenergic locus coeruleus neurons. European Journal of Neuroscience 27: 2433-2443, 2008.

[4] Goto, Y. and Grace, A.A. Dopamine modulation of hippocampal-prefrontal cortical interaction drives memory-guided behavior. Cerebral Cortex 18: 1407 – 1414, 2008.

Send To Phone

Protest of the Biomedical Science Towers on 6/18/09

2009-06-22T08:51:00.008-04:00

Here are some images from our protest of the Biomedical Science Towers on Thursday 6/18/09 (click the images to view a larger version). Thank you to everyone who came and hope to see you all at the next protest.

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The Balaban Lab

2009-06-21T18:55:00.009-04:00

Image: Macaque in Head Restraint during a Neural Recording Procedure

The laboratory of Carey D. Balaban focuses on the vestibular system. The vestibular system resides in the inner ear and is responsible for control of balance among other things in many animals. When this system is disrupted, many problems result including but not limited to, loss of balance, vertigo, nausea, confusion, anxiety, and so on. The Balaban lab induces many of these problems in nonhuman primates, mice, rats, and chinchillas who are imprisoned in laboratory cages.

The Balaban lab is funded by at least one grant (made up of our tax dollars) from the NIH. His current project is funded up until 2014 and has been going on since 1990 [1], all with money from our pockets. During these 24 years*, Balaban has been buying animals, confining them to cages, giving them painful surgeries, implanting machinery in their heads, injuring parts of their vestibular systems, forcing them to perform tasks, and killing them. In his grant, he claims that his research "reflects the recognition that there are very strong parallels in principles of organization of pain and balance pathways." [1] This can only be shown by putting animals through pain and suffering.

In one study, Balaban and colleages took female macaques, surgically implanted lugs in their heads for restraining them later, implanted coils in their eyelids, and implanted a neural recording chamber in their brains. Only two weeks later, they were attached by the restraints implanted in their heads to a chair, then placed them on a moveable table which rotated them in various orientations while their brain activity was monitored. [2] In another study, Balaban and other researchers induced tinnitis in rats using acid before killing them and examining their vestibular systems [3]. In another study, Balaban and colleagues injected drugs into the inner ears of chinchillas before killing them and examining the tissue [4]. The list goes on.

Even more disconcerting is that Balaban's project has lasted 25 years studying the same thing on our dollar. However, there is little information about this research available to the public.

Carey D Balaban can be contacted at cbalaban@pitt.edu.
Office: 107 Eye & Ear Institute
Telephone:412-647-2298
Fax:412-647-8720

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

*This refers to his current grant. Balaban has experimented on animals longer than this.

References
[1] Balaban Grant Info
[2] Carey D. Balaban, David M. McGee, Jianxun Zhou, and Charles A. Scudder. Responses of Primate Caudal Parabrachial Nucleus and Kölliker-Fuse Nucleus Neurons to Whole Body Rotation.
[3] Tadashi Kitahara, MD PhD (presenter), Kaoru Kizawa-Okumura, MD, Arata Horii, MD, Takeshi Kubo, MD, Carey D. Balaban, PhD. (2006). Salicylate-Induced TRPV1 in the Rat Auditory Pathway. Otolaryngology- head and neck surgery. 135(2). 126-127.
[4] Roehm, P., Hoffer, M. and Balaban, C.D. Gentamicin uptake in the chinchilla inner ear. (2007). Hear Res.

Send To Phone

Alternatives to Animal Tested Treatments: Colds

2009-06-12T09:44:00.004-04:00

Image: wild red clover

COLDS

The common cold is caused by any of 200 different viruses. They are spread directly from person to person, by coughing or sneezing, or by hand-to-hand contact. They can linger on surfaces such as door knobs for hours. Symptoms such as sore throat, nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, and sometimes fever are a result of the viral infection as well as the immune’s systems battle against the virus.

On average an adult suffers two to three colds a year. Factors such as poor diet and an unhealthy and overly stressful lifestyle have been proven to lead to increased susceptibility. Always get plenty of sleep, enjoy fresh produce often, and avoid pollutants and stress as much as possible. Should you contract cold, try a natural remedy first, you may be surprised at how effective they are.

Pharmaceuticals and over the counter cold medicine use is often the result of habit rather than necessity. These drugs rely on chemicals to combat colds, fever, and other common symptoms. Natural supplementation is not only a more healthy and effective cure, but also a solution to the typical side effects of many common cold medicines such as drowsiness and even possible liver damage.

Echinacea Also known as purple coneflower, this herb has been used for centuries by the Native Americans to treat colds and flu. It stimulates the overall activity of the cells responsible for fighting all kinds of infections and increases levels of properdin, a chemical that activates the part of the immune system responsible for an increased defense against viruses and bacteria. However, studies have shown that echinacea does not have a strong preventative effect. The recommended approach is to take 250mg 8x a day, 2-3ml of standardized tincture extract 3x a day, or steep 1-2grams of dried root into a tea 2-3x a day at the first sign of cold.

Vitamin C Almost everyone is aware of the immune boosting power of vitamin C. It works both as a preventative vitamin, as well as an effective treatment when taken at the onset of a cold. For best results eat plenty of foods rich in vitamin C such as bell peppers, cantaloupe, citrus, and pineapple or supplement 500mg a day. During a cold supplement 500mg 4x a day. Since vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin your body will excrete what it doesn’t use.

Elderberry In Colonial America elderberry was called “the country medicine chest” due to its natural immune support and other uses. Compounds in elderberry bind with viruses before they can penetrate the walls of cells, thereby inhibiting their ability to spread. It also relieves cough, sore throat, and promotes sweating to break a fever. Take elderberry extract at the onset of a cold for quick relief. A recent study showed that after three days 90% of people reported being completely cured after taking an elderberry extract based supplement. 73% had significant improvement after two days. You can make a tea by steeping dried elderberry flower and drinking 3x a day, or take 10ml of extract 2x a day. Be sure not to consume the leaves and twigs raw as they are mildly toxic in raw form.

Goldenseal Goldenseal is an antiseptic and immune stimulating herb. The major healing component in goldenseal is berberine, which activates specific white blood cells called macrophages that destroy bacteria, fungi, viruses and tumor cells. Several related chemicals in the herb appear to help the berberine do its job. It also increases blood supply to the spleen, the staging area for the fighting cells of your immune system. Because of its bitter taste, try combining it in a tea with licorice, which contains antiviral compounds that induce the release of antiviral interferons. Goldenseal is also available in nutritional supplement form. Take 175-350 mg 3-4x a day for ten days after the first sign of cold.

Garlic Garlic contains allicin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic. It helps 'sterilize' the bronchial passage in the lungs and has been used for tonsillitis, throat infections, and other similar conditions. As well as its cleansing effect on the lungs, garlic also acts as an expectorant. Raw, fresh garlic is an excellent remedy with strong antibacterial and antimicrobial benefits. Onions also contain allicin, so it’s a good idea to add these to the diet as well.

Ginger In Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine, ginger is considered the best remedy for colds. It contains several chemicals called sesquiterpenes that specifically target the most common cold virus, the rhinoviruses. Ginger also contains gingerols and shogaols which reduce pain and fever, suppress coughing, and have a mild sedative effect. Drink several cups of ginger tea daily. Make by steeping a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger or adding ½ teaspoon of ginger powder to a cup.

Anise This herb works as an expectorant to help loosen the phlegm associated with colds and flu. It may also have some antiviral properties as well. You can make a tea by steeping 1-2 teaspoons of crushed aniseed in a cup or two of boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drink one cup in morning and night.

Red clover This little purple flower that can be found growing in fields across North America has been used for over 100 years to purify the blood and relieve inflammation, coughing, sore throat, and congestion. It contains vitamin A, vitamin C, B-complex, calcium, chromium, iron and magnesium. In supplement form take two 400mg capsules 3x a day with meals. If possible, gather it from a field and make a fresh herbal tea.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The Gandhi Lab

2009-06-07T18:47:00.013-04:00

Photo: Juvenile macaque in restraint chair, photo courtesy of Alabama voice for animals.

The lab of Neeraj Gandhi has a long history of causing animal pain and suffering. Interestingly, the University's Institutional Animal Use and Care committee- supposedly responsible for approving "humane" research- is chaired by a coworker of Gandhi's, Bill Yates, who has signed approval letters for Gandhi's research. This can be seen on a grant application of Gandhi's (supplied by SAEN). With people working side by side, signing off on one anothers work, it is not surprising that questionable practices occur. To read more about a research watchdog's accusations against Gandhi for fraudulent research using government funding, click here.

The Gandhi lab uses nonhuman primates in order to study their brains while they make eye movements. In several strikingly similar publications, Gandhi takes juvenile macaque monkeys, performs intensive surgery on them to implant coils in their eyelids and neural recording chambers in their brains, then straps them into full body restraint chairs to have them stare at screens in the dark before being returned to their cages [1,2,3,4,5]. These animals who would normally spend their lives living in groups outdoors, spend their lives in surgeries, in cages, or strapped to restraint chairs performing montonous tasks for research that has been done time and again. They will never see the light of day or ever have a normal life. They suffer in vain for research that doesn't even advance science because of the repetitive nature of research done by the Gandhi lab- all of which is paid for by our tax dollars.

Contact Neeraj Gandhi at neg8@pitt.edu. Work:
Phone: (412) 647-3076
Fax: (412) 647-0108

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Walton, MMG & Gandhi, NJ. (2006). Behavioral Evaluation of Movement Cancellation. J Neurophysiol. 96. 2011–2024.
[2] Gandhi, NJ & Sparks, DL. (2007). Dissociation of Eye and Head Components of Gaze Shifts by Stimulation of the Omnipause Neuron Region. J Neurophysiol. 98. 360–373.
[3] Walton, MMG, Bechara, B, & Gandhi, NJ. (2007). Role of the Primate Superior Colliculus in the Control of Head Movements. J Neurophysiol. 98. 2022–2037
[4] Gandhi, NJ & Barton, EJ. (2008). Coordination of eye and head components of movements evoked by stimulation of the paramedian pontine reticular formation. Exp Brain Res. 189. 35–47.
[5] Anderson, SR et al. (2009). Dynamics of Primate Oculomotor Plant Revealed by Effects of Abducens Microstimulation. J Neurophysiol. 101. 2907-2923.

Send To Phone

Breaking News: Watchdog seeks probe of leading U.S. labs- Including the University of Pittsburgh

2009-06-01T19:30:00.002-04:00

This article details the accusations of an animal research watchdog that 26 animal labs across the United States are doing fraudulent research with government funding. PAAV corresponded with Michael Budkie of SAEN and found that the two laboratories in the Pittsburgh area that are under fire are that of Carol L Colby and Neeraj J Gandhi. You can read more about these researchers below:

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: Colby and the Neuroscience Department

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: Gandhi and the Department of Otolaryngology

Article: Watchdog seeks probe of leading U.S. labs

WASHINGTON, June 1 (UPI) -- Twenty-six U.S. research labs were accused of fraud in a complaint filed Monday by an independent animal research watchdog.

Stop Animal Exploitation Now filed the complaint with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging a probe of 50 U.S. researchers for allegedly filing fraudulent documents and performing nearly identical experimentation in violation of federal regulations, the organization said in a news release.

"The animal research industry is just as unregulated as Wall Street was before the current economic crisis," said Michael A. Budkie, SAEN executive director. "If this system is not overhauled, the next meltdown will be in research laboratories."

The non-profit group based in Ohio said it filed the complaint following a study of 57 taxpayer-funded research grants valued at more than $110 million during a five-year period. The study concluded the projects have a redundancy index of 5.4 out of a possible 6.

The projects are funded at 26 separate U.S. labs, including Harvard, Stanford, Emory, University of Alabama, University of California campuses at Berkeley, Davis and San Francisco, as well as Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rutgers and Duke. Other labs named in the complaint are Wake Forest, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Vanderbilt, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, Brown University, Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, Salk Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, City College of New York, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Chicago and University of Washington.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The Colby Lab

2009-05-22T18:55:00.013-04:00

Photo: Macaque in a Restraint Chair Credit: Yann Arthus-Bertrand/CORBIS

The lab of Carol L. Colby has been doing cruel and expensive vision research with nonhuman primates for many years. Colby has also been accused of fraudulent research practices which you can read more about here.

One of her recent grants, provided by SAEN, shows a budget total of 1.25 Million dollars [1]. The grant also details the experiments done on these animals which focus on the use of "split brain" monkeys, meaning that the animal's corpus callosum is severed [1]. The corpus callosum connects the right half of the brain to the left. Without it, they can not communicate sufficiently with each other. Since different functions often reside in different hemispheres of the brain, severing this connection causes great distress and dysfunction in the individual. For instance, a patient with a severed corpus callosum will not be able to name what s/he has seen if the object is presented in his/her left visual field because the connection to language processing for the item has been severed. Severing the Corpus Callosum is an outdated treatment not used today in humans except in rare instances as a last resort [2] yet the Colby lab forces monkeys to undergo these procedures in every study they do.

In Colby's publications, the procedures these animals suffer are further detailed. In one study, rhesus macaques were given surgeries to sever the corpus callosum in their brains. They were then forced to undergo training for vision tasks as they healed. After training they were given another painful surgery to implant neural recording devices in their brains. They were then fixed to restraint chairs (a practice condemned even by many animal researchers) in a dark room to perform the tasks they were trained on. This article did not detail what happened to the monkeys after this ordeal ended. [3]

In another study, monkeys were given surgeries to have screws embedded in their skulls and a head restraint attached to their head. Coils were implanted around their eyes to record movements and neural recording devices were implanted into their brains. The implanted head restraint was then attached to a restraint chair where the monkeys were forced to perform tasks in a darkened room. [4]

In another publication, the surgeries are described in the researcher's own words as "extremely invasive" and with an extreme risk of infection due to the exposure of the brain cavity. The connections in the monkeys' brains were severed. After healing and training, the monkeys were then given surgery again to insert a screws and a head restraint into their skulls and coils near their eyes similar to the aforementioned study. They were again affixed by their skulls to restraint chairs and forced to perform tasks. [5]

In another study, monkeys were given surgeries to sever their corpus callosums and then were forced to perform visual tasks [6]. Information on what was done to monkeys in this study was not as detailed as the former.

The Colby lab has not published any research since 2007 but this does not mean research is not occurring behind closed doors. It is often the procedures and results we never read about that are the most disturbing.
Contact Carol Colby at ccolby@pitt.edu. Work: Office: 115 Mellon Institute, 4400 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213 Telephone:412-268-7295 Fax:412-268-5060

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References

[1] Colby Grant Application
[2] Split Brain Experiments
[3] Rebecca A. Berman, Laura M. Heiser, Catherine A. Dunn, Richard C. Saunders, and Carol L. Colby. (2007). Dynamic Circuitry for Updating Spatial Representations. III. From Neurons to Behavior. J Neurophysiol. 98. 105-21.
[4] Laura M. Heiser and Carol L. Colby. (2005). Spatial Updating in Area LIP Is Independent of Saccade Direction. J Neurophysiol. 95. 2751-2767.
[5] Rebecca A. Berman, Laura M. Heiser, Richard C. Saunders, and Carol L. Colby. (2005). Dynamic Circuitry for Updating Spatial Representations. I. Behavioral Evidence for Interhemispheric Transfer in the Split-Brain Macaque. J Neurophysiol. 94. 3228–3248.
[6] Carol L. Colby, Rebecca A. Berman, Laura M. Reiser, and Richard C. Saunders. (2005). Corollary discharge and spatial updating: when the brain is split, is space still unified? Progress in Brain Research. 149.

Send To Phone

Alternatives to Animal Tested Treatments: Allergies

2009-05-22T18:36:00.006-04:00

Allergies

An allergy is the result of your immune system's over-reaction to pollens, grass, dust, or anything else airborne. Certain foods, cosmetics, and animals can set off an allergic reaction by causing your body to produce excess inflammatory chemicals, such as histamine. This is what brings on the sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, etc. Hay fever, one of the most common allergies, is triggered by pollens. Ragweed pollen reportedly accounts for about 75 percent of cases of hay fever in the United States. Some 25 to 30 million Americans suffer from hay fever every year. Another 12 million are allergic to things other than pollen (bee stings or certain foods or drugs).

Over the counter and prescription treatments for allergies come in the form of decongestants that clear the sinuses and antihistamines that combat the reaction to histamine. The problem with these medications is that they usually cause unwanted side effects, are unnatural, introduce artificial substances into the system, often times decrease in effectiveness over time, and are tested on animals. Decongestants can cause insomnia and raise blood pressure. Antihistamines may cause drowsiness. They also interfere with--and according to some experts, weaken--the immune system. Allergy shots don't work for everyone, and when they do, they often involve years of treatment.

Try some of the natural remedies listed below for treatment of seasonal allergies. Most people report that these work just as well if not better than prescription medications, and rather than producing negative side effects, they often times enhance people’s mood and increase their energy level.

Stinging Nettles: Nettles are probably the most popular and widely used natural treatment for allergies. The roots and leaves have been used for centuries to relieve allergy symptoms and to treat nasal and respiratory problems including coughs, runny nose, chest congestion, asthma, and even tuberculosis. They act as an expectorant and reduce sinus inflammation. The leaves can be consumed after lightly steaming or adding to a soup. 400mg in tea or capsule form can be taken twice a day, or a tincture of 2-4mL can be taken three times per day.

Garlic & Onion: These plants contain quercetine, which is known to retard inflammatory reactions and act as a decongestant. Allergy sufferers should add more of these foods to the diet. However, those who are overly acidic should consider alternative treatment.

Ginkgo biloba: The Ginkgo biloba tree is the oldest living tree on earth and has been used for centuries by the Chinese to treat allergies. This herb contains a dozen anti-inflammatory chemicals and seven natural antihistamines. These compounds interfere with an activating factor of seasonal allergies, asthma, and inflammation. It also works as an expectorant to provide asthma and allergy relief. The recommended dose is 60 to 240 milligrams of extract a day. Consuming more than the recommended dose may cause diarrhea, irritability, and restlessness.

Chamomile: Compounds in chamomile have significant anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic properties. To treat hay fever attacks drink dry leaf tea frequently. For treatment of skin allergies, hives, and itching, rub leaves, essential oils, and/or creams on the skin. Be cautious of applying topically if allergies are due to hay fever as chamomile is a member of the ragweed family. Although rare, this method may trigger a reaction. If this is a concern start with the application of a very small amount and gradually increase if there is no sign of reaction.

Feverfew: Feverfew is most popular for its therapeutic affect on headache sufferers, but many claim that this herb also has the ability to relieve allergies. The exact compounds that make this an effective treatment are unknown, but users have reported significant relief after regular consumption. Take as directed in capsule form or some other commercial preparation. Do not use if pregnant (risk of miscarriage) or nursing (transfers to infant in breast milk). Long term affects may include mild sedation.

Horseradish and Wasabi: Some people have success with both treatment and prevention of allergies by using horseradish and wasabi. Try taking a spoonful a day to clear the sinuses. Once successful, maintain relief by taking a few teaspoons a month.

Vitamin C: Vitamin C is a natural antihistamine that helps to reduce nasal secretions and inflammation. Studies have shown that those with diets rich in vitamin C have few allergy problems, respiratory infections, and asthma attacks. With no known side effects, it can be taken as a supplement or by adding foods to the diet rich in vitamin C such as bell peppers, cayenne pepper, oranges, guava, and bitter melon. Cayenne pepper in particular should be considered for its concentration of capsaicin. This active ingredient helps to desensitize the mucosa that line the airways, thus preventing them from secreting excessive fluids and becoming inflamed when exposed to irritants.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: Ross and The Center for Vaccine Research

2009-05-07T21:43:00.011-04:00

Macaque used in vaccine research, Source: TIME

The lab of Ted M Ross focuses on understanding and developing vaccines for the flu, not in humans, but in nonhuman primates, mice, and ferrets. Last year Ross received a grant for 3.6 million dollars to develop a vaccine for avian flu [1]. Diseases like the Avian flu, develop and spread, in theory, from inhumane, cramped, and filthy conditions of factory farming animals, causing mutated and resistant forms of bacteria and viruses which develop and spread to the human population. They also likely develop from a mutation of a virus moving across species. [2,3,4]

With these things in mind, it is quite ironic that the Ross lab is now exposing species different from our own to to the avian flu in order to understand a virus that is plaguing our species. One of the most obvious solutions to the problem of these developing viruses is to stop factory farming. However, as opportunity arises for pharmaceutical companies and researchers to make money, they grasp it.

Imagine the progress that could be made it $3.6 million were spent on prevention of such diseases. Perhaps others like the more recent Swine Flu would not continue to arise.

In the Ross lab's most recent research, several species of animals have been exposed to diseases and vaccines, and their suffering was documented and published. In one study, mice were exposed to different strains of avian flu[5]. All of the unvaccinated mice in the study suffered and all of them were left to die of the viruses. From the article: "both viruses caused severe weight loss within 8 days and 100% of mice died from complications associated with viral infection... Animals were monitored for survival and morbidity (i.e. weight loss, ruffling fur, inactivity) weekly during the vaccination regimen and each day during viral challenge." They weren't even given the courtesy of being put out of their misery before suffering to death. In another study, the Ross lab exposed ferrets to the bird flu virus and again, allowed them to die from the virus [6].

They have several publications like these using mice and ferrets, but much of their research with nonhuman primates has not been published recently. As a result, we cannot be sure what these animals suffer through. But, we know they do, as it is specifically mentioned on the Ross' page that he tests on nonhuman primates in vaccine testing, meaning they will go through many things listed in the aforementioned publications.

Contact Ted Ross at tmr15@cvr.pitt.edu.
9047 BST3, 3501 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
Phone: (412) 648-8666
Fax: (412) 624-4440

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Pitt Scientists Receive $3.6 Million To Test Vaccine Against Deadliest Strain Of Avian Flu
[2]Birds of a Feather: Commercial Producers Play Chicken with Avian Flu
[3]Are Urban Vermin the Most Disease-Ridden Animals?
[4]How to Clip Bird Flu's Wings
[5] Bright, RA et al. (2008). Cross-Clade Protective Immune Responses to Influenza Viruses with H5N1 HA and NA Elicited by an Influenza Virus-Like Particle. PLoS one. 3(1).
[6] Mahmood, K et al. (2008). H5N1 VLP vaccine induced protection in ferrets against lethal challenge with highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza viruses. Vaccine. 26(42). 5393-5399.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: Lewis and the Translational Neuroscience Program

2009-04-21T17:57:00.009-04:00

Photo: Infant lab macaque separated from his/her mother. Source unknown.

The David A Lewis lab has played a large role in the suffering of animals in Pittsburgh for many years. With experiments ranging from separating baby monkeys from their mothers to dosing nonhuman primates with antipsychotic drugs, there is no question about the lack of ethics in this research.

In one study, Lewis and colleagues took baby rhesus monkeys and separated them from their mothers shortly after birth [1]. In the wild, rhesus monkeys are raised by their mothers within a social environment of a troop of monkeys [2]. They need social nurturing and care in order to develop well, similar to human children. The Lewis lab, however, allowed monkeys in experimental groups a few weeks in a small cage with their mothers before they were taken from their sides and left alone as infants in a cage for one week or one month. The monkeys were left with only a cloth toy in place of their mothers for comfort. The monkeys' behaviors were videotaped before they were killed, decapitated, and had their brains removed and dissected.

In another study, the Lewis lab used macaque monkeys to study the chronic exposure to anti-psychotic drugs [3]. The lab claims to do this in order to study schizophrenia- a human disease. However, since monkeys do not get schizophrenia and react differently to these drugs, Lewis is wasted important resources by using a study where he doses the sentient animals with anti-psychotics as a model for human disease. In this study, Lewis fed monkeys pellets with strong and dangerous antipsychotics like haloperidol and olanzapine. Both of these drugs have intensely detrimental side effects and are often not reccommended for use by the medical community because of this. Yet, the Lewis lab fed these drugs to the macaques in small laboratory cages for 1.5 to 2.25 years before killing them and dissecting their brains.

In other studies, Lewis and colleagues have had nonhuman primates specifically bred and raised within cages for them, only to be shipped to the lab and killed so that their body parts can be dissected [4,5,6].

This research is cruel, inhumane, unneccessary, and plain criminal in it's use of valuable resources. Lewis also uses human models in his research. We urge him to move more towards results that are applicable to humans and to spare the animals the suffering.

Contact David A Lewis at lewisda@upmc.edu.
3811 O'Hara Street, W1653 BST
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Phone: (412) 624-3934
Fax: (412) 624-9910

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Sabatini, M.J., Ebert, P., Lewis, D.L., Levitt, P., Cameron, J.L., and Mirnics, K. (2007). Amygdala gene expression correlates of social behavior in monkeys experiencing maternal separation. J. Neuroscience 27: 3295-3304.
[2] http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/rhesus-monkey.html
[3] Konopaske GT, Dorph-Petersen KA, Sweet RA, Pierri JN, Zhang W, Sampson AR, Lewis DA. (2008). Effect of chronic antipsychotic exposure on astrocyte and oligodendrocyte numbers in macaque monkeys. Biol Psychiatry. 63(8). 759-65.
[4] Melchitzky D, Lewis DA (2008). Dendritic-targeting GABA neurons in monkey prefrontal cortex: Comparison of somatostatin- and calretinin-immunoreactive axon terminals. Synapse
[5] Hashimoto , T, Nguyen, QL, Rotaru, D, Keenan, T, Arion, D, Beneyto, M, Gonzalez-Burgos, G, Lewis, DA. (2009). 62: 456-465. Protracted Developmental Trajectories of GABAA Receptor α1 and α2 Subunit Expression in Primate Prefrontal Cortex. Biol Psychiatry. In Press.
[6] Gonzalez-Burgos, G, Rotaru, DC, Zaitsev, AV, Povysheva, NV, & Lewis, DA. (2009). GABA Transporter GAT1 Prevents Spillover at Proximal and Distal GABA Synapses Onto Primate Prefrontal Cortex Neurons. J Neurophysiol. 101. 533-547.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: Ho and the Pittsburgh NMR Center for Biomedical Research

2009-04-10T22:53:00.008-04:00

Chien Ho is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) as well as the director of the Pittsburgh NMR Center for Biomedical Research. The Ho lab is another group who uses mice in the majority of their research because the procedures involved are too cruel to do to animals covered by the already weak animal welfare act. Mice and rats are not covered and can have almost anything done to them. To see a video about mice and rats used in research, refer to a previous entry here. Ho's research also includes procedures which span everything from traumatic brain injuries [1,2,4] to suffocation induced heart attacks [3].

In one study, Ho and colleagues took young rats and forced them to asphyxiate (suffocate) for 8.5, 9 or 12 minutes and then resuscitated them [3]. They are then given MRI's (a harmless technique that can be and is used to stdy humans) to study brain loss. This study was allegedly done to study the affects these things would have on humans. However, if these scientists are of the opinion that rats are so different from humans that they are not even given the minimal protection for lab animals, why would they be decent models for human disease? This article did not tell us how these animals met their deaths.

In another study, the lab uses "knock out" mice [4], meaning mice that are genetically engineered to have a gene missing- in this case, a gene that participates in anti-microbial and anti-tumor activities within the body. They then would induce a "controlled cortical impact" on the already vulnerable mice meaning they induce head injuries. Again, allegedly to help humans using animals that differ so greatly from humans. The animals suffer and die while the money that could be spent helping humans in research is spent genetically engineering and injuring mice.

In another study, Ho and colleagues transplanted hearts from one group of rats into another to study cellular differences [5], again, in animals that differ greatly in their microscopic make-up from humans. This research can not be defensible in terms of ethics nor can it in terms of predicting human response. To contact Chien Ho, email him at chienho@cmu.edu.

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Foley LM, Hitchens TK, Melick JA, Bayir H, Ho C, Kochanek PM. Effect of inducible nitric oxide synthase on cerebral blood flow after experimental traumatic brain injury in mice. J Neurotrauma. 2008 Apr;25(4):299-310.
[2] Dennis, Alia Marie; Melick, John A; Jenkins, Larry W; Clark, Robert S; Kochanek, Patrick M; Foley, Lesley M; Hitchens, T K; Ho, Chien. (2006). Effect of hemorrhagic shock on cerebral blood flow in experimental traumatic brain injury: Magnetic resonance imaging assesment. Critical Care Medicine. 34(12) Abstract supplement:A5.
[3] Magnetic resonance imaging assessment of regional cerebral blood flow after asphyxial cardiac arrest in immature rats
[4] Foley LM, Hitchens TK, Melick JA, Bayir H, Ho C, Kochanek PM. (2008). Effect of inducible nitric oxide synthase on cerebral blood flow after experimental traumatic brain injury in mice. J Neurotrauma. 25(4). 299-310.
[5]Qing Ye, MD; Yijen L. Wu, PhD; Lesley M. Foley, BS; T. Kevin Hitchens, PhD; Danielle F. Eytan; Haval Shirwan, PhD; Chien Ho, PhD. Longitudinal Tracking of Recipient Macrophages in a Rat Chronic Cardiac Allograft Rejection Model With Noninvasive Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Micrometer-Sized Paramagnetic Iron Oxide Particles.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: Gilbert and the Departments of Surgery and Bioengineering

2009-03-28T16:50:00.016-04:00

Dogs in research laboratory cages, where they spend most of their lives. Photo Credit: Yves Forestier/CORBIS SYGMA

Thomas W. Gilbert of the University of Pittsburgh McGowan institute for regenerative medicine does a variety of surgical and bioengineering research on nonhuman animals. The Gilbert lab uses many species of animals in their research, but the two most often used are man's best friends and their farm animal equivalents- pigs. Dogs and pigs are both very intelligent, friendly animals. Their domestication has led them to be companions of humans for thousands of years and recent studies have shown that dogs are very similar to humans in their social behavior. In the Gilbert lab, they are not human companions, they are research subjects.

While many of Gilbert's publications are not open to the public, and the specific details unavailable, the research abstracts briefly describe many of these processes.

In one study, Gilbert's lab induced seroma formations in dogs [1]. A seroma is a pocket of fluid that develops in the body of animals (including humans) after surgery. Seromas can be very painful. These animals were "designed" to reliably form seromas, which do not always occur in surgery. On top of this, dogs differ greatly from humans on a cellular level. Nonetheless, these dogs were given seromas in their abdomens, and to injure them even further, "additional tissue damage was inflicted using electrocautery." Electrocautery means using heat and electricity to burn the tissue much like a soldering iron.

In other studies, they damaged the thoracic walls (the walls of the wind pipe) of dogs and then used parts of their own ribs to heal the holes [2,3]. They also patented their methods and undoubtedly make money from spreading the word about their research, while inspiring others to adopt similar practices. Many other publications detailing other painful procedures on dogs, pigs, and other animals can be found here. For your reference, "canine models" use dogs and "porcine models" use pigs.

Under the guise of helping humans, these dogs endured painful procedures and ultimately death. Unfortunately, animal models do not reliably predict human response. Contact Thomas Gilbert at gilberttw@upmc.edu .

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Gilbert, TW et al. (2008). Lysine-derived urethane surgical adhesive prevents seroma formation in a canine abdominoplasty model. Plastic reconstructive surgery. 122(1), 95-102.
[2] Gilbert, TW et al. (2008). Repair of the Thoracic Wall With an Extracellular Matrix Scaffold in a Canine Model. Journal of Surgical Research. 147(1). 61-67.
[3] Gilbert, TW et al. (2008). Morphologic assessment of extracellular matrix scaffolds for patch tracheoplasty in a canine model. Ann Thorac Surg. 86(3). 967-74

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories: The Olson Lab

2009-03-15T20:03:00.004-04:00

Photo Credit: Yann Arthus-Bertrand/CORBIS

Profiles:
http://cnup.neurobio.pitt.edu/people/peopleDetail.aspx?uid=49
http://www.cnbc.cmu.edu/faculty/olson.shtml
http://www.all-creatures.org/saen/pa/res-fr-pa-upitt-grant-olson-2006.html

The Olson Lab of Carnegie Mellon University does research involving invasive methods of measuring the vision of performing nonhuman primates. In this research, the monkeys are first given intensive surgeries [1,2,3]. They cut open the monkeys' heads to expose the tops of their skulls, implant screws into the bone, fasten a plastic cap over the skull, in which a head restraint bar is fastened. Coils are then placed on the eyeballs to record their movement. These remain implanted in the animal's heads for the entirety of their training which can last for months. Cylindrical recording devices are then cemented into place in the animals heads in order to record from cells in their brains. Before every session, new electrodes are inserted into their brains. Olson's articles tend not to say what happens to the animals when the experiments are finished. Since new surgeries are performed for each experiment, we can assume new animals are brought in for every one. Even if they were not, it would mean a very sad existence for the animals whose lives would be spent in cages for this research.

As we have stated in other entries, these animals are highly intelligent. Nonhuman primates like the rhesus monkeys used in Olson's experiments have complex emotions, form loving relationships, and recent studies show they plan for the future [4,5] much like humans do. The confinement to cages in unnatural and non-stimulating environments is already extremely cruel and is very stressful for these animals. This often leades to mental health problems including self-injury and stereotypic pacing or circling in their cages. The research carried out on them by laboratories like this one creates even greater suffering.

Furthermore, similar studies can be done ethically in human beings using functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI) and using eye-tracking methods. Functionality of the human brain is studied in this manner by many researchers around the world. There is no need to study monkey brains in order to understand that of humans when we can easily do so in humans themselves without harming humans or any other animals in the process.

Contact Carl Olson at colson@cnbc.cmu.edu.

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

[1] Mooreman, DE & Olson, CR. (2007). Combination of Neuronal Signals Representing Object-Centered Location and Saccade Direction in Macaque Supplementary Eye Field. J Neurophysiol. 97. 3554–3566,
[2] McMahon, DBT & Olson, CR. (2007). Repetition Suppression in Monkey Inferotemporal Cortex: Relation to Behavioral Priming. J Neurophysiol. 97. 3532-3534.
[3] Mooreman, DE & Olson, CR. (2007). Impact of Experience on the Representation of Object-Centered Space in the Macaque Supplementary Eye Field. 97. J Neurophysiol. 2159-2173.
[4] Researchers say animals plan for the future: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/12/ap/tech/main4798684.shtml
[5] Zoo chimp 'planned' stone attacks: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7928996.stm

Send To Phone

Get to know your local laboratories- Gebhart and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research

2009-03-02T12:23:00.006-05:00

The following video is about mice and rats who make up the majority of animal research:

At the Pittsburgh Center for Pain research, many of these animals suffer and die every day. Because they are not covered under the animal welfare act, they suffer even worse fates than other species of animals such as cats, dogs, and nonhuman primates. Because mice and rats are cheaper, smaller, quieter, and easier to manipulate, and because there is little protection against the suffering they can endure, they are often used in pain research.

Gerald F. Gebhart, the director of the research center, and his colleagues have done research that has caused countless animals to suffer and die. Their research focuses on causing chronic pain in mice and rats as well as causing inflammation of various organs such as the bladder and colon. Several of these articles focus on creating a Hyperalgesia model in animals, making them extremely sensitive to pain. Methods in this research include injecting harmful chemicals into the animals' faces [1], injecting irritants into their bladders [2], injury through hind paw incision and inflammation by administering acid into the animals' colon [3]. Methods of testing how well these procedures work include holding painful stimuli (like heat) to the animals' paws or other areas and observing their behavior (such as pulling away).

One of the most disturbing parts of this research is how the animals are killed. In one study, the method of killing is listed as "exsanguination" [2] which basically means to let the animal bleed to death. Another method is to poison them by CO2 inhalation [4] until they die (which takes 5 minutes or more [5]). On top of all of the pain caused in these animals, the researchers could not even allow the animals a fast death.

It is important to put research on mice and rats at the forefront of the anti-vivisection movement along with all other species of animals. Not only do these animals feel pain and suffer just like dogs and cats, but they are not given even the minimal protections from suffering afforded by the animal welfare act. Because of this, they suffer the worst procedures in the largest numbers. On top of this, their generalizeability to human reactions is slim to none in most cases.
Contact Gerald Gebhart at gebhartgf@upmc.edu.
Office: W1444 Biomedical Science Tower, 3500 Terrace St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Telephone:412-383-5911

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Morgan, JR & Gebhart, GF. 2008. Characterization of a model of chronic orofacial hyperalgesia in the rat: contribution of NAv 1.8. The journal of pain. 9(6). 522-531.
[2] Dang, K, Lamb, K, Cohen, M, Bielefeldt, K, & Gebhart, G.F. (2008). Cyclophosphamide-Induced Bladder Inflammation Sensitizes and Enhances
P2X Receptor Function in Rat Bladder Sensory Neurons. J Neurophysiol. 99. 49-59.
[3] Cameron DM, Brennan TJ, & Gebhart GF. (2007). Hind paw incision in the rat produces long-lasting colon hypersensitivity. J Pain. 9(3). 246-253.
[4] Xu, L & Gebhart, GF. (2008). Characterization of Mouse Lumbar Splanchnic and Pelvic Nerve Urinary
Bladder Mechanosensory Afferents. J Neurophysiol. 99. 244-253.
[5] Rodent Carbon Dioxide Euthanasia: http://casemed.case.edu/ora/arc/templates_carbon_dioxide_euthanasia.html "Template".

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories - Murphey-Corb and the Primate Research Center for Infectious Disease

2009-02-22T10:36:00.003-05:00

Macaque used in AIDS research. Photo credit: Dan Lamont/Corbis

"What good does it do you to test something [a vaccine] on a monkey? You find five or six years from now that it works in the monkey, and then you test it in humans and you realize that humans behave totally differently from monkeys, so you've wasted five years."
-Dr. Mark Feinberg, Leading AIDS researcher [1]

"What has animal-modeled research of AIDS yielded? Wealthy primate researchers and dead ends... There is still no vaccine and there is still no cure. Arguably, this is due partially to nonhuman research. Grant-hungry animal experimenters have depleted AIDS research funds with highly dubious animal studies. The fact is that non-humans do not get AIDS..."
-Drs. C Ray Greek MD & Jean Swingle Greek DVM, Sacred Cows and Golden Geese [2]

This entry is preceded by these two quotations in order to create the most realistic picture of the group of studies we are going to discuss in this entry. Some people are immediately angered when the topic of AIDS research on nonhuman animals is brought up because they believe millions of animal lives are worth the cost of a cure. Those who support animal research exclaim "Would you support an experiment that would sacrifice 10 animals to save 10,000 people?" This is a false relationship.

The ethical reasons alone are enough to end animal experimentation, but it is equally important to acknowledge the amount of humans that still suffer because of AIDS research on nonhuman animals. Nonhuman animals can not get AIDS and as a result, they are given other viruses. While these studies go on, humans are dying everyday. This results in research, whose only benefit is lining the pockets of those conducting the experiments. The following researcher, the director of the Primate Center for Infectious Disease, has been profiting from this research for decades. Here we will attempt to briefly explain some of the horrific procedures done on nonhuman animals in her most recent publications.

Websites:
Faculty Page
Grant Support and Other Info

Firstly, Murphey-Corb's lab research has involved hundreds of animals. One of her articles used over 70 primates [3], all who suffered slowly with Simian Immunodeficiency Virus [SIV] (a virus similar to human AIDS in monkeys). In her research, monkeys are also given other diseases, like malaria or viral vectors like herpes, on top of their SIV in order to study the interactions between these viruses [3,4]. While learning a lot about how these viruses affect nonhuman primates in a caged and controlled settings, she learns almost nothing of how AIDS affects humans in real world settings.

Many monkeys used are listed as coming from "Indian origin". What this means is that these animals were either kidnapped from the wild or possibly bred in conditions that would be illegal in the United States. These practices are indefensible.

One of the most disturbing things about this research is that these animals are almost always "moribund" when they are finally euthanized. Moribund means that the animal is near death. The amount of suffering from the time the experiment begins until the time of moribundity is great and the animals are ultimately in the advanced stages of disease when they are finally killed. Even more disturbing is that there are still arguments and debates about when it is still "humane" to euthanize a moribund animal and what should be defined as moribund [5]. Even if these animals were given some sort of proper treatment for the diseases forced upon them, they can not tell the researchers they are in pain or that they feel sick. They can not ask for help or ask to be set free. They simply suffer to death, or are killed right before death.

This research also uses animals engineered to have a lower immune response in order to allow the diseases to progress further and faster than they normally would [6]. Researchers are taking nonhuman primates who differ greatly from human beings in the diseases they get and their reactions to treatments, they are engineering them to be more susceptible to the already different disease, then they given them diseases that are not HIV and AIDS, in order to predict HIV/AIDS responses and cures in humans. With most money being spent on harming nonhuman animals, there is little funding left for research using models whose findings directly apply to humans. To reiterate, this results in the ongoing suffering and death of those afflicted with AIDS. To read more about the issues with AIDS research on animals, you can click here or consult the sources below.

Michael Murphy-Corb can be contacted at mcorb@pitt.edu.
Office: E1252 Biomedical Science Tower, 3500 Terrace St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Lab: E1203 Biomedical Science Tower, 3500 Terrace St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Phone: 412.648.9462
Fax:412.648.1448

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] McKenna, M.A.J. “Science Watch ‘Manhattan Project’ for AIDS Q&A With Dr. Mark Feinberg ‘We Need the Human Trials as Well,’” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 21 Sep. 1997.
[2] Greek, CR & Greek, JS. (2000). AIDS and Humbled Science. Sacred cows and golden geese: the human cost of experiments on animals. Continuum International Publishing Group. 183.
[3] Nti, BK, Slingluff, JL, Keller, CC; Hittner, JB, Ong'echa, JM, Murphey-Corb, M, Perkins, DJ. (2005). Stage-specific effects of Plasmodium falciparum-derived hemozoin on blood mononuclear cell TNF-α regulation and viral replication. AIDS. 19(16)4. 1771-1780.
[4] Wolfe, D, Niranjan, A, Trichel, A, Wiley, C, Ozuer, A, Kanal, E, Kondziolka, D, Krisky, D, Goss, J, DeLuca, N, Murphey-Corb, M, & Glorioso, JC. (2004). Safety and biodistribution studies of an HSV multigene vector following intracranial delivery to non-human primates. Gene Therapy. 11. 1675–1684.
[5] Toth, LA. (2000). Defining the Moribund Condition as an Experimental Endpoint for Animal Research. ILAR Journal. 41(2).
[6] Venneti, S et al. (2004). PET imaging of brain macrophages using the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor in a macaque model of neuroAIDS. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 113(7). 981-989.

Send To Phone

Get to Know your Local Laboratories - The Yates Lab

2009-02-11T19:44:00.007-05:00

This entry will be the first of many to explain what is going on inside local animal laboratories. Based on knowledge of what goes on in animal laboratories in general, we can assume that the suffering of these animals extends past these already painful and deadly procedures. However, these entries will only use information that has been published.

Vivisection is opposed on ethical, scientific and medical grounds. Without a medical background, laboratory procedures can be hard to understand. This site will explain these procedures in more common terms. Below is one of first two animal laboratories this site will be focusing on.

The Yates Lab

Laboratory Website

From the Yates Lab website: "Our facilities permit studies on a variety of animal species, and allow the use of anesthetized, decerebrate, and chronic preparations."

Translation: Anesthesia refers to relating to or producing insensibility or temporary loss of bodily sensations. Decerebration is the elimination of brain functions in an animal by removing a section of the brain, cutting across the brain stem, or severing arteries to the brain. (source). In other words, it means cutting into important areas of the brain and disabling their functioning. This affects the functioning of the rest of the animal’s body as well.

In this lab, "chronic preparations" refers to giving an animal like a cat intensive skull and brain surgery where a connection is made available to the brain for neural (brain cell firing) recording procedures. The animals are anesthetized for the surgery but do wake up in pain. All surgeries are very painful, even with painkillers. Below are images of cats who have suffered chronic preparations. While not taken inside the Yates lab, these photos show a similar procedure. (Due to the public outcry that would ensue from such images, researchers do not photograph the cruelty animals endure).

During procedures described in the most recent publications from the Yates lab, cats' heads were screwed into place and their bodies were placed in a restraining tube. They are trained to do a certain task shortly after surgery. In one case, a screen had patterns the moved and flashed around the animals (Miller et al, 2008 [2]) and in another, the cats were placed in a hydraulic tilt machine which moved them while they watched a similar screen (Miller et al, 2008 [1]). The animals are conscious and alert the entire time.

In Yates' lab, animals are given electrolytic lesions after the chronic preparations and other experimental procedures are finished. This means electrolysis procedures are used to sever brain connections. After the lab is finished using these nonhuman animals, they are killed and their brains are dissected. We ask that you think of your own companion animals or cats you have known while imagining what the animals go through in these procedures. It is important to see these animals as far more than "research subjects" as the lab sees them. They are living things that suffer for these studies. We can only imagine the terror in being transported, kept imprisoned in a cage, given painful surgeries and strange drugs, then bolted to a restraint device with screens flashing and bodies tilting in multiple directions and orientations.

The conclusions from the Yates laboratory studies indicate that animal neurons (i.e. brain cells) are different from species to species and from nonhuman animals to humans. For this reason, these studies have little value in helping understand human brain cells.

Many other animal species suffer at the Yates lab as well, including ferrets and rats. All of them die when the studies are over.

Bill Yates can be contacted at byates@pitt.edu.

Work:

Dr. Bill Yates
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Otolaryngology
Eye and Ear Institute, Rm 519, 203 Lothrop St, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

PH: 412-647-9614
FX: 412-647-0108

This lab is but one of the hundreds that exist in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. More will be covered in this blog in future entries.

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[1] Miller, D.M., Cotter, L.A., Gandhi, N.J., Schor, R.H., Huff, N.O., Raj, S.G., Shulman, J.A., & Yates, B.J. (2008). Responses of caudal vestibular nucleus neurons of conscious cats to rotations in vertical planes, before and after a bilateral vestibular neurectomy. Experimental brain research.
[2] Miller, D.M., Cotter, L.A., Gandhi, N.J., Schor, R.H., Huff, N.O., Raj, S.G., Shulman, J.A., & Yates, B.J. (2008). Responses of rostral fastigal nuclear neurons of conscious cats to rotations in vertical planes. Neuroscience, 155. 317-325.

Send To Phone

Get to Know your Local Laboratories - The Strick Lab

2009-02-11T12:44:00.007-05:00

The Strick Lab

Strick's lab implements various methods of invasive research using various nonhuman primates. These species include capuchin monkeys and rhesus macaques. These animals are studied because of their intelligence. Their intelligence level is similar to that of toddlers and young children, or possibly more so because they are self sufficient at this intelligence level. They also excel in areas that even adult humans do not. Because of this, being confined in a cage is very stressful for them. Like most other species used in laboratory research, primates begin showing signs of mental distress such as rocking back and forth in their cages and injuring themselves. The image below shows the elbow of a macaque that would bite himself while confined in a cage.

Macaque Self-Injury. Photo credit: Brown.edu Primate Research Laboratory Newsletter.

Laboratories claim that they do their best to prevent these behaviors, but they are inevitable when animals are confined in small cages and prevented from engaging in natural behaviors, on top of all of the invasive procedures preformed on them.

From the Strick website: "One of the major challenges of modern neuroscience is to define the complex pattern of neural connections that is the substrate for behavior. Dr. Strick's laboratory has developed a unique approach to this problem which employs transneuronal transport of neurotropic viruses. Dr. Strick's laboratory has developed a unique approach to this problem which employs transneuronal transport of neurotropic viruses."

Translation: A neurotropic virus is a virus which is capable of infecting nerve cells, or which does so preferentially.(source) In other words, Strick's lab uses harmful viruses like Herpes or Rabies to better understand the nonhuman primate neural system (Akkal, Durn, & Strick, 2007 [4]).

Strick's lab also uses chronic preparations (intensive brain surgeries; see Yates Lab entry) in these animals in order to record from neurons (Matsuzaka, Picard, & Strick, 2006 [3]). Below are images of macaques who have suffered chronic preparations. Again, while not from Strick's lab, they are of similar procedures.

Macaques used neural recording research. Photo credit: Yann Arthus-Bertrand/CORBIS

Like the Yates lab, Strick's lab also lesions the brain days or longer before killing the monkeys.

Strick was hailed in a recent article for his studies in nonhuman animals in which he uses the rabies virus to trace neural pathways. Even though there are similar methods of studying the brain and its activity that are completely safe in human beings, Strick claims that his research is done to help humans. He claims that his lab hopes to detoxify the rabies virus to use it in Parkinsons and Alzheimers patients. However, nonhuman animals do not get Parkinsons or Alzheimers and nonhuman animals react very differently to diseases than humans do. Extrapolation of disease from nonhuman animals to humans is less accurate than a coin toss (and far more dangerous). We ask that the Strick lab step it up if they do indeed care so greatly for humans suffering with these diseases and do some research that will help us understand the animals that get Parkinsons and Alzheimers: Humans.

Peter Strick can be contacted at strickp@pitt.edu.

Office: Biomedical Science Tower 3, Room 4074

3501 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Ph:412-383-9961

Fax:412-383-9061

This lab is but one of the hundreds that exist in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. More will be covered in this blog in future entries.

Have information on an animal laboratory that you would like to share? Email us about it. We will protect your privacy.

References
[3] Matsizaka, Y., Picard, N., & Strick, P.L. (2006). Skill representation in the primary motor cortex after long-term practice. J Neurophysiol. 97. 1819-1932.
[4] Akkal, D., Durn, R.P., & Strick, P.L. (2007). Supplementary motor area and presupplementary motor area: targets of basal ganglia and cerebellar output. The journal of neuroscience. 27(40). 10659-10673

Send To Phone

Nonhuman Animals a Poor Model for Human Medications

2009-02-09T18:44:00.000-05:00

The following is a list of medications that were proven to be safe in nonhuman animals but caused life-threatening illness and/or death in humans:

Note: “These are only a fraction of the medications tested on animals that went on to produce severe to life-threatening problems in humans. A complete list would fill an encyclopedia."
-Greek MD & Greek DVM

Diethylstilbestrol (DES)
Ticlid (Ticlopidine)
Rexar
Celebrex
Zimeldine
Enbrel (etanercept)
Zafirlukast (Accolate)
Birth Control Pills
Chloramphenicol
Fialuridine (FIAU)
Isuprel (isoproterenol)
Flovent (fluticasone propionate)
Methysergide
Suprofen
Surgam
Selacryn
Perhexiline
Domperidone
Novantrone (Mitoxantrone)
Carbenoxalone
Cleocin (Clindamycin)
Beta-Blockers
Benzodiazepines
Linomide (roquinimex)
Cylert (pemoline)
Eldepryl (selegiline)
Fenfluramine & Dexfenfluramine Combo
Troglitazone
Seldane (terfenadine)
Duract
Omniflox
Floxin
Flosint
Nomifensine
Amrinone
Clioquinol
Practolol (Eraldin)
Opren
Zomax
Enalapril
Tocainide
Orap (Pimozide)
Maprotiline
Wellbutrin (Bupropion)
Halcion (trialzolam)
Ritodrine
Ridaura (Auranofin)
Primacor (milrinone)
Thalidomide

The following is a list of medications that were shown to cause life-threatening illness and/or death in nonhuman animals but are beneficial to humans and still used today:

Again, this is only a fraction.

Pennicillin (Antibiotic)
Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
Aspirin
Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin)
Phenylbutazone
Chloroquine
Pinicillamine
Clonidine
Thiazine
Depo-Provera
Digitalis
Streptomycin
FK 506 (Tacromilus)
Prednisone
Cortisone
Omeprazole (Prilosec)
Isoniazid
Furosemide Fluoride

For the source of this information and the exact things that happened as a result of the faulty testing of these drugs, see: Dr. C. Ray Greek MD & Dr. Jean Swingle Greek DVM. 2000. Sacred Cows and Golden Geese: The Human Cost of Experiments on Animals.

Animal Research In Twenty Minutes

2009-02-05T20:27:00.001-05:00

WASTED LIVES is a documentary by Animal Aid UK, which gives a short overview of the problems with, arguments against, reasons for, and alternatives to animal research.

Note: We are not affiliated with Animal Aid UK, we just like their documentary.

Choosing the Targets

2009-02-05T19:10:00.004-05:00

This website has entries about various animal laboratories in the area and many more continue to be added. Keep in mind that all of the information we present on these labs and what they do to animals comes directly from the researchers' own publications. The suffering and pain inflicted on animals is published in their own words in scholarly articles. We do not extrapolate past this, although it is usually the case that animals suffer even more fates than those published in research articles. The labs we expose are chosen for the following reasons (in no hierarchical order):

*There are research alternatives available in humans, that are harmless, noninvasive and that can study similar mechanisms without the need for nonhuman animal models.

*A few of the labs carryout some human research. There is no reason why they cannot move to do all of their research using ethical human models.

*The procedures done on the animals are painful, invasive, cruel, and unethical. The animals do not volunteer, they are bought from breeders or come from other more unscrupulous sources, they are given painful and intensive surgeries, they are given little time to heal, forced to perform experiments, are kept imprisoned in cages and tanks, and are killed when the experiments are finished.

*The animals used are intelligent and sentient. [Note: Animals do not deserved to be cruelly experimented on regardless of intelligence. All species are deserving of freedom. Animals in all labs are as capable of experiencing pain and suffering as humans do. As a result, we discuss many species of animals in our entries.]

*The research being done is paid for by tax dollars. Every citizen deserves to know the truth about animal experimentation and reserves the right to oppose his/her money going towards it.

Animals deserve to be free from needless experiments and suffering for others' profit and intellectual interest.

Send To Phone

Campaign Overview

2009-01-27T11:18:00.006-05:00

There are hundreds of nonhuman animal laboratories throughout the city of Pittsburgh. The animals used and abused in these facilities range from frogs to dogs to nonhuman primates and everyone in between. Some labs research pain or head injuries using rats, while others research vaccines using primates. All of these facilities have two things in common: Needless suffering and the death of countless animals.

The following buildings contain multiple animal research laboratories:

Biomedical Science Tower 1- 3500 Terrace St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Biomedical Science Tower 2- 200 Lothrop St, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Biomedical Science Tower 3- 3501 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
UPMC Eye and Ear Institute- 203 Lothrop St, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Rangos Research Center- 4401 Penn Ave, Suite Third Floor Conference Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15224 (New Location)
The Primate Research Laboratory, Blawnox, PA 15238
Mellon Institute- 4400 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213
Magee Women's Hospital- 300 Halket St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213
The Brain Imaging Research Center- 3205 East Carson St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203
...and many more.

PAAV has exposed only a fraction of the laboratories that exist in the area. There are hundreds. The procedures performed on the animals are invasive, painful, long, and eventually lead to the death. The main reason for PAAV's opposition, among many, is the unethical and cruel nature of these studies. These laboratories are listed here so that the public can gain a better understanding of these practices occurring within Pittsburgh and choose to take action as they see fit.

PAAV is educating the public and holding researchers and those who fund them accountable. PAAV lists the websites, research information, and funding information about nonhuman animal laboratories for educational purposes. The majority of these animal laboratories are funded by tax dollars. Government grants fund most animal research. The public deserves the right to know about these animal experiments and to decide where tax payer money is going.

This is an organized community of those who oppose vivisection, not a hierarchical organization. If you are interested in becoming involved, contact us at info@pittaav.com.

Send To Phone

Get to Know Your Local Laboratories

2009-01-01T20:58:00.013-05:00

Resources and Articles

2008-12-31T21:30:00.003-05:00

The following are resources or recent articles on nonhuman animal research.

Animal Research Lab List

Animal Research in 20 Minutes: Animal Aid UK's WASTED LIVES

Green is the New Red

Primate Freedom Project

Americans for Medical Advancement

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Stop Animal Exploitation NOW [SAEN]

American Anti-Vivisection Society

33 Reasons Animal Testing is Pointless

Are Animal Models Predictive for Humans? Niall Shanks Phd, Ray Greek MD, & Jean Greek DVM

Medication Lists

Animal Aid: Good Science vs. Bad Science

Companies that DO and DO NOT their products on animals

Humane Charities

Animal Testing Alternatives

Dissection Alternatives

Primate Experiments: The Painful Reality

Monkeying Around with Human Health

Doctors Speak out Against Animal Research

Reports Shed Light on the Cambodian Monkey Trade

Baby Chimps as smart as Human Infants

Class B Animal Dealers Under Federal Scrutiny

Books by C. Ray Greek MD and Jean Swingle Greek DVM

Dr. Jane Goodall Appeals for Animal Testing Ban

Have any interesting sources or articles to add? Email us.

PAAV Biweekly Newsletter #3- 3/30/2009

2008-12-29T19:22:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Associatiion for the Abolition of Vivisection (PAAV) second biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher and Other Entries Added to Website
-Animal Research News
-WWAIL Protest Scheduled for April 22nd
-Member Meet-Up a Success
-Quotes of the Week

New Entries Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

Gilbert and the Depts of Surgery and Bioengineering: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/03/gilbert-and-departments-of-surgery-and.html

We also added two entries in response to feedback we received at our community meeting. One explains more thoroughly why animal research is done and the other explains the alternatives in more detail.

Why they do it: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-do-they-do-it.html

Alternatives to Nonhuman Animal Research: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-are-alternatives.html

Animal Research News

UK Scientists grow a living human "Brain" (as a better model for testing than nonhuman animal research): http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090326/tuk-uk-scientists-grow-a-living-human-br-45dbed5.html

Support the Great Ape Protection Act and take action: http://ga1.org/campaign/gapa_2009
The Current Use of Live Pigs and Goats in Combat Casualty Care Training and Live Vervet Monkeys in Chemical Casualty Care Training (take action): http://www.pcrm.org/resch/dod/dodcurrentuse.html
WWAIL Protest Scheduled for Wednesday, April 22

Please join the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection (PAAV) in observing the World Week for Animals in Laboratories. (WWAIL)

Protesting outside of one of the largest animal research facilities within Pittsburgh, PAAV will be educating the public with leaflets and eye-catching posters. Using rush hour to reach a maximum amount of people, this demonstration will be held from 6pm to 8pm.

If you already have an anti-animal research or vivisection poster, or made your own, bring it along!

During the second hour of the protest, we may also have a candlelit vigil for the thousands of animals that have perished in the research center.

Date:
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Time:
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:
University of Pittsburgh Biomedical Science Tower 3
Street:
3501 5th Ave
City/Town:
Pittsburgh, PA

View Map

Community Meet-Up a Success

We want to thank all of you who joined us for a community meeting on Saturday. We accomplished a lot of things and a grateful for everyone's input. If you missed this meeting, we hope that you can make it to the next one. If you are interested in becoming more involved with meetings and other PAAV events, send an email to info@pittaav.com.

Quotes of the Week

"Animal experimentation is not necessary. It is expensive. It is inaccurate. It is misleading. It consumes limited resources. And further, it is detrimental to the very species it professes to be working to help -- humankind."

-Dr.s Ray Greek MD & Jean Greek DVM, Sacred Cows and Golden Geese, 2000, p 223

"Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives."

-Albert Schweitzer

Biweekly Newsletter #2: 3/16/2009

2008-12-15T20:31:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection (PAAV) second biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to Website
-Animal Research News
-WWAIL Protest in April in the Making
-Member Meet-Up
-Quotes of the Week

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

The Olson Lab: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/03/olson-lab.html

Animal Research News

March 11th Sees Historic Ban on Animal Testing for Cosmetics in the European Union:
http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/animal-welfare/adi-march-11th-sees-historic-ban-on-animal-testing-for-cosmetics-in-the-european-union-$1279483$464772.htm

Ex-Employees Claim 'Horrific' Treatment of Primates at Lab:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=6997869&page=1

"Lab on a Chip" Quickly Detects Pollution Without Animal Testing:
http://www.greenrightnow.com/kabc/2009/03/12/lab-on-a-chip-quickly-detects-pollution-without-animal-testing/

PETA Complaints Spur USDA Warning to Oregon National Primate Research Center in Hillsboro:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/peta_complaints_spur_usda_warn.html

World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) Protest

We have spoken to a few of you who have expressed interest in doing a protest for WWAIL the week of April 18th-26th. See http://www.wwail.org for more information about the event. We would like to do the a protest as well as some leafletting on a week-night during rush hour. We would like to give people the opportunity to get out of work first so it would likely occur around 6pm. If you are interested in attending, please send us an email at pittaav@gmail.com letting us know which of the following days would work for you:
Monday, 4/20; Tuesday 4/21; or Wednesday, 4/22. Also, if you would like to be more involved in event planning, please send us an email.

PAAV Member Meet-Up

We would like to organize an event where PAAV members can meet for lunch or coffee/tea and discuss ideas for future campaigns. If you would be interested in attending something like this, please let us know by emailing us at pittaav@gmail.com. More will be revealed in future newsletters.

Quotes of the Week

"There are in fact only two categories of doctors and scientists who are not opposed to vivisection: those who don't know enough about it and those who make money from it."
-Dr. Werner Hartinger MD

"Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character."
-George Bernard Shaw

Newsletter #1, 3/2/2009

2008-12-13T23:35:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the first issue of the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection (PAAV) biweekly newsletter. We hope to send out updates on researchers, campaigns, and other things twice a month in this format. We want to make this collective as inclusive as possible, so we invite everyone to make comments and suggestions. As far as we are concerned, everyone receiving this email is part of our collective and should have an equal voice. If you would like to become more involved with this movement, please let us know by emailing us at pittaav@gmail.com.

We will try to keep these newsletters short and to the point. If you are interested in more information, we hope you will consult the website at http://pittaav.com. If you are receiving this email, you are on our email list. If you have received this email in error, please reply with "remove" and we will remove you from the list.

In this edition:
-New Researchers Added to the Website
-Call for volunteers and input on WWAIL
-Animal Research News
-Get involved!
-Quotes of the week

Two New Researchers Added to PAAV website

We have added two new research facility entries to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

Murphey-Corb and the Primate Research Center for Infectious Disease:
http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/02/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories_22.html

Gebhart and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research:
http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/03/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories.html

Please read the descriptions and feel free to contact us with any questions or comments. If you have information on or are concerned about a lab that you would like to see featured on our site, please email us at pittaav@gmail.com and tell us about it.

World Week for Animals in Laboratories is Approaching

World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) is approaching and PAAV would like to do at least one demonstration during this time. WWAIL takes place every year in April. This year it is the week of April 18-26. To read more about WWAIL, please visit this link: http://wwail.org/

If you would be interested in helping to organize a peaceful event during this time or if you would be interested in attending one, please email us and let us know.

Animal Research News

Victory: University of Michigan ends its Live Dog Lab, but UMDNJ still using live pigs in ATLS courses:
http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=1057
From PCRM.org- Please contact UMDNJ president William F. Owen Jr., M.D., and politely urge him to end the practice of using live animals as teaching tools in Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses. The alternatives are cheaper, more effective, and more humane:
https://secure2.convio.net/pcrm/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=199

"Animals Cannot Predict Human Response" press release by Dr. Ray Greek of AFMA (curedisease.com):
http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com/newsroom/news_view.phtml?news_id=2768

"Animal Research Lacks True Oversight", Article by Dr. Alka Chandna:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/104504/animal_research_lacks_true_oversight

Huntigdon Life Sciences Exposed- Yet Again!
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/02/421814.html

Get Involved!

If you would like to be more involved in the planning and organization of the PAAV website, events, and other things, please email us and let us know. There are no requirements for membership other than a desire to help animals in laboratories.

Quotes of the week

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."
-Alice Walker

"The question was, can we give up animal experiments without halting medical progress? My answer is that not only one can, but that one must give up animal experiments not to halt medical progress. Today’s rebellion against vivisection is no longer based on animal welfare…But we have now become convinced that we should put an end to animal experimentation not out of consideration for animals, but out of consideration for human beings. I won’t speak now of the pharmacological disasters due to animal experiments, that would be too simple. I mean the constant, daily harm caused to medical science by the belief in the validity of animal tests."

-Prof. Pietro Croce, M.D., in an interview with CIVIS, Jan 11, 1986

Biweekly Newsletters

2008-12-13T23:31:00.016-05:00

We send out bimonthly newsletters. You can view previously released newsletters below. You can also receive them by email. If you would like to be on our email list, please send an email to info@pittaav.com.

Newsletter #1, 3/2/2009

Newsletter #2, 3/16/2009

Newsletter #3, 3/30/2009

Newsletter #4, 4/13/2009

Newsletter #5, 4/27/2009

Newsletter #6, 5/11/2009

Newsletter #7, 5/25/2009

Newsletter #8, 6/8/2009

Newsletter #9, 6/22/2009

Newsletter #10- 7/6/2009

Newsletter #11, 7/20/2009

Newsletter #12, 8/3/2009

Newsletter #13- 8/17/2009

Newsletter #14- 8/31/2009

Newsletter #15, 9/14/2009

Newsletter #16- 9/28/2009

PAAV Biweekly Newsletter #4- New Researcher, Protest Reminder, March of Dimes Boycott, and more!

2008-12-12T21:52:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection (PAAV) fourth biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to Website
-Animal Research News
-WWAIL Protest Reminder for April 22nd
-Boycott March of Dimes
-Quotes of the Week

New Entries Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

Ho and the Pittsburgh NMR Center for Biomedical Research: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/04/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories-ho.html

Animal Research News

Pfizer pays out £50m after their drug kills Nigerian children: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_experiments/ALL/2111//

Physicians Relish Debate With Pro-Test UCLA Organizers: Apologists for Animal Abuse Challenged to Publicly Defend Their Position: http://www.animalliberationpressoffice.org/press_releases/2009/pr_09_04_02_protestdebate.htm

UCLA Pro-Vivisection Organizers Refuse Debate Offer by KPCC Radio: Apologists for Animal Abuse Apparently Unable to Defend Their Position Against Physician Jerry Vlasak: http://www.animalliberationpressoffice.org/press_releases/2009/pr_09_04_06_protestdebate.htm

Peter Young urges UC Berkley students to set animals free: http://www.insidebayarea.com/animals/ci_12108985

Thank you, Ingrid. Thank you, Peter. (Article on Animal Research): http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/97146

Reminder: WWAIL Protest Scheduled for Wednesday, April 22

Please join the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection (PAAV) in observing the World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL). See www.wwail.org for more.

Protesting outside of one of the largest animal research facilities within Pittsburgh, PAAV will be educating the public with leaflets and eye-catching posters. Using rush hour to reach a maximum amount of people, this demonstration will be held from 6pm to 8pm.

If you already have an anti-animal research or vivisection poster, or made your own, bring it along! We are getting word that many people will be showing up so if you can make a poster or recycle one from a past vivisection protest, please do! We will do our best to have enough but any extra ones help!

During the second hour of the protest, we may also have a candlelit vigil for the thousands of animals that have perished in the research center.

Date:	Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Time:	6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location:	University of Pittsburgh Biomedical Science Tower 3
Street:	3501 5th Ave
City/Town:	Pittsburgh, PA
	View Map

Boycott March of Dimes and Support Humane Charities

Charities that do not fund animal testing exist for most areas of health research. Your money will go to research that will best benefit humans and also spare the animals. To learn more about charities that do not fund animal testing, go here: http://www.humaneseal.org/search.cfm?ap=y

The following is from the recent newsletter of a local animal rights group: Voices for Animals of Western PA (www.vfaonline.org). We wanted to share it with you.

March of Dimes Kills Animals: Before you walk, know where your money is really going

It’s the time of year for March of Dimes’ annual fundraiser, Walk America, which is held to raise money for birth defect research. You may have seen the ads on TV and were considering signing up to walk yourself or you might be receiving memos from your company employers asking for you to participate in the event or make a donation. “Walk to Save Babies!” the appeals proclaim. What many people don’t realize however is that these donations the March of Dimes raises go to fund cruel and completely unnecessary experiments on animals.

The March of Dimes spends up to $30 million of your donations annually on wasteful and unethical experiments on kittens, birds, lambs, monkeys, ferrets, mice, rats, and other animals. Some of these experiments include:

- sewing newborn kittens eyes shut and leaving them in that state for over a year

- tethering pregnant monkeys by their uteruses using monitoring cables that run through their uterus into their fetuses’ bodies-the monkeys were kept in cages so small they didn’t even meet the minimal size standards of the federal Animal Welfare Act

- severely dehydrating pregnant sheep to study adult human health problems like hypertension

- brain damaging and freezing newborn ferrets

- deliberately injuring the lungs of newborn lambs

- deliberately injecting pregnant animals with cocaine, nicotine and alcohol

These experiments are not only extremely cruel they are also extremely pointless and unnecessary. It’s been well known for many years how drugs and alcohol affect a human fetus, so what further knowledge could possibly be gained by injecting cocaine in pregnant animals? Given that human physiology and the fetal development period is vastly different from other animals and even different between species of animals, the results of any of these tests would not be able to be reliably applied to humans anyway. And despite these tests, the Center for Disease Control continues to report that the incidents of birth defects are on the rise. Advances in birth defect research don’t come from animal tests-they come from human clinical trials and studies. For instance, randomized clinical trials revealed the link between folic acid supplementation and reducing the incidence of Spina Bifida and anencephaly, and human studies were responsible for finding magnesium sulfate helps prevent mental retardation and cerebral palsy, as well as finding the connection between maternal smoking, drug abuse, and alcohol use and increased infant mortality.

The March of Dimes needs to stop throwing donations away on funding these cruel and wasteful experiments on animals and put all their donation dollars towards funding human clinical research only, as many birth defect charities already do. If you would like to help babies, instead of supporting the March of Dimes, make a donation to one of these humane birth defect charities:

- Birth Defect Research for Children

- Easter Seals

- Little People’s Research Fund, Inc.

- National Craniofacial Association

- Spina Bifida Association of America

- Warner House

If you work for a company that supports the March of Dimes or know of a company that does, consider writing to them and ask them to support one of these ethical charities instead. Regular sponsors of March of Dimes include companies like Blockbuster, Kindercare, CIGNA, FedEx, Ford Motor Company, and Sprint. A list of these company sponsors and their addresses can be found here: http://www.pcrm.org/resch/anexp/natl_modsponsors.html

For more information about the March of Dimes and their funding of vivisection, please visit http://www.pcrm.org/resch/charities/mod/index.html

Quotes of the Week

"I am against vivisection because it is immoral and completely useless for the progress of human medicine. Animals have a physiology and reactions quite different from ours. I am of the opinion that all experiments on live animals should be abolished because they only lead us into error."

-Dr. Marie-Louise Griboval, Paris France

“The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?"”

-Jeremy Bentham

Newsletter #8, 6/8/09

2008-06-09T22:15:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) eighth biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to Website

-Breaking News: University of Pittsburgh Labs accused of Fraud

-PAAV starting Bimonthly Protests- Thursday, June 18th @ 6pm

-Animal Research News

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

Gandhi and the Department of Otolaryngology: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/06/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories.html

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy

Breaking News: University of Pittsburgh Labs accused of Fraud

Two researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are included in an investigation request made by an independent animal research watchdog. For the full story, go here: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/06/breaking-news-watchdog-seeks-probe-of.html

PAAV first bimonthly protest is on Thursday, June 18th, 6pm-8pm!

PAAV has voted to begin protesting laboratories in the Pittsburgh twice a month. The first protest will be at the Biomedical Science Tower 3 on Fifth Ave in Oakland (the same location as the World Week for Animals in Laboratories protest if you were able to attend that one) and Biomedical Science Tower 1 (which is just around the corner). Meet in front of Biomedical Science Tower 3 at 3501 5th Ave (on the corner of 5th and Darragh st), Pittsburgh, PA, 15213. If you are having trouble finding directions, email us at info@pittaav.com for more information.

During the first hour, we will be holding signs and handing out leaflets with details on some of the research that goes on in the buildings. The second hour of the protest will consist of a candellit vigil for the animals that suffer and die each day in laboratories in Pittsburgh.

Animal Research News

Me and My Monkey: Confessions of a reluctant vivisector: http://www.slate.com/id/2219228/

Major parties unite in call for an end to the use of animals in testing household products: http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/animal-welfare/buav-major-parties-unite-in-call-for-an-end-to-the-use-of-animals-in-testing-household-products-$1300879$364615.htm

Virtual twins could bring the end of animal research: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227111.300-virtual-twins-could-bring-the-end-of-animal-research.html

Victory: OU medical center ends animal use! http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/jun09/sheep.html

Want to be more involved with PAAV? Send us an email at info@pittaav.com and let us know!

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Newsletter #7, 5/25/2009

2008-05-25T22:12:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) seventh biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to Website

-Two New Entry Categories Added to Website

-Animal Research News

-Quotes of the Week

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

Colby and the Neuroscience Department: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/05/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories_22.html

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy

New Entries on Alternatives Added to the Website!

At our last community meeting, PAAV came up with ideas on how to expand the information we put out there on our website. Two members agreed to begin writing sections on alternatives to animal tested treatments and medications and alternatives to animal tested products. The first entry is already up!

Alternatives to Animal Tested Treatments- Allergies: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/05/alternatives-to-animal-tested.html

Look for more on these topics in the future.

Animal Research News

Primate Labs a Tragedy: http://www.thereporter.com/ci_12368613?source=most_emailed

USDA investigates Clemson University Animal Research: http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/may/14/usda-investigating-clemson-animal-research/

54 Cosponsors Now on the Great Ape Protection Act: http://www.releasechimps.org/2009/05/14/legislative-update-33009/

Their Calling is Defending Rats, Yet These Folks aren't Lawyers (Animal Lovers Go to Bat for Lab Rodents; Karen Borga Has Something Up Her Sleeve): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124243142041325619.html

Quotes of the Week

“How fortunate we didn’t have these animal tests in the 1940s, for penicillin would probably never been granted a license, and possibly the whole field of antibiotics might never have been realized.”

-Alexander Fleming, 1945 Nobel Prize winner "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases"

"Atrocities are not less atrocities when they occur in laboratories and are call medical research."

-George Bernard Shaw, Nobel Prize Winning Playwright

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Newsletter #6, 5/11/2009

2008-05-11T18:09:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) sixth biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to Website

-Member Meet-Up

-May 16th is Wordwide Boycott Proctor & Gamble Day

-Animal Research News

-Quotes of the Week

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

Ross and the Center for Vaccine Research: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/05/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories.html

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy

PAAV Member Meet-Up

The next PAAV community meeting meeting has been scheduled for Sunday, May 17th, at 2pm. The meeting will be held at The Quiet Storm Cafe again which has vegan options. For menu and directions to the place, see this site: http://www.quietstormcoffee.com/map/

Anyone is welcome. Feel free to bring your friends. RSVP by emailing us and let us know if you'll be able to make it so we can make sure there are enough seats for everyone.

We will be discussing ideas for future actions, people's feelings on past events, and other things. So, be sure to bring your thoughts and ideas to the meeting!

Saturday, May 16th, is Worldwide Boycott Proctor & Gamble Day

Proctor and Gamble, creators of brands like Charmin, Tide, Bounce, Pringles, and more, have been known for their useless product testing on animals for as long as they have existed. Go here for a full list of P&G's animal tested products: http://www.uncaged.co.uk/pgproducts.htm

May 16th is a day where people across the globe will be expressing their opposition to this testing in various ways.

To read more about Proctor and Gamble's animal testing, go here: http://www.uncaged.co.uk/pg.htm

To learn more about IDA's letter writing campaign against P&G's animal testing, go here: https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1264

For lists of companies that do and do not test their products on nonhuman animals, go here: http://search.caringconsumer.com/

Animal Research News

Getting away with Murder: Whatever happened to 'Above all do no harm'? http://www.opednews.com/articles/Getting-away-with-Murder--by-Jason-Miller-090429-315.html

Catheter and Mouse: Sharing information on failed animal experiments would help both scientists and rats: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13610855

Dr Hadwen Trust: EU Parliament vote on animal experiments law gives “a glimmer of hope for animals but doesn't go far enough." http://www.politics.co.uk/opinion-formers/press-releases/animal-welfare/dr-hadwen-trust-eu-parliament-vote-on-animal-experiments-law-gives-%E2%80%9Ca-glimmer-of-hope-for-animals-but-doesn-t-go-far-enough--$1293212$447630.htm

Animal rights groups concerned with University's treatment of lab animals http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2009-05-05/animal-rights-groups-concerned-universitys-treatment-lab-animals

Protesters demand end to Oxford animal testing http://www.cherwell.org/content/8684

Quotes of the Week

"Unfortunately these experiments will continue in a self-proliferating manner until they are curtailed by brave and innovative decisions on the part of people in positions of authority who have the courage to declare openly that the emperor has no clothes and that it is time to stop wasting money and animal lives on the pretense that manipulating several variables in rats, dogs, cats or monkeys has anything to do with human psychology."

-Dr. Murry Cohen, M.D.

"The reason why I am against animal research is because it doesn't work, it has no scientific value and every good scientist knows that."

- Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Newsletter #5, 4/27/2009

2008-04-27T19:27:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) fifth biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to Website
-WWAIL Protest Details and Images
-Animal Research News
-Member Meet-Up
-Quotes of the Week

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

Lewis and the Translational Neuroscience Program: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/04/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories.html

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy

World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) Protest a Success!

On 4/22/2009 we protested the suffering of animals in laboratories across Pittsburgh and called for their liberation. We walked from building to building, exposing those that do animal testing in Oakland to the public- including Biomedical Science Towers 1-3, Rangos Research Center, Clapp Hall, Mellon Institute, and others. We spoke shortly about each facility before marching on to the next. Thank you to everyone who joined and to all of the members who put in the effort organizing and making signs. Photographs of the event can be seen here courtesy of Disturb the Peace Photos:

http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/03/paav-is-participating-in-world-week-for.html

Animal Research News

Nine Snow Monkeys Escape from Oregon Animal Lab: http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/04/04/nine-snow-monkeys-escape-from-oregon-animal-testing-lab/

Animal Drug Testing Fails to Protect Humans: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/138399

Animal Rights Activist Named Alongside Bin Laden on FBI Terrorist List: http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/animal-rights-activist-fbi-terrorist-list/1782/

Anti-Covance Rally to Protest Abusive Animal Testing: http://www.examiner.com/x-7851-Phoenix-Pet-Welfare-Examiner~y2009m4d19-AntiCovance-rally-to-protest-abusive-animal-testing

Farming Animals Kills People: http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_factory/ALL/2119//

PAAV Member Meet-Up

We are planning another community planning meeting. Date, time, and location to be announced. If you are interested in becoming more involved with PAAV and our events, please email us at info@pittaav.com.

Quotes of the Week

"Human disease occurs as a result of a combination of factors including genetics, growth and development, positive or negative lifestyle activities, and social and environmental influences: These factors are profoundly dissimilar in humans and animals. Experimental research on animals to find the causes and cures for human ailments is pure folly- at best an appalling waste and diversion of resources and at worst the cause of much humans suffering and disease."
-Les Stewart, D.D.S., February, 1987, Last Chance for Animals, Tarzana, California

"It is no longer, then, a matter of balancing the cruelty of suffering animals against the gain to humanity spared from suffering, because that is not the choice. Animals die to enable hundreds of new drugs to be marketed annually; but the gain is to industry rather that mankind."
-Dr, Louis J. Vorhaus, The Saturday Evening Post, May11, 1963

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Past Events

2008-04-25T22:41:00.006-04:00

World Week for Animals in Laboratories protest on 4/22/2009

Protest of the Biomedical Science Towers on 6/18/09

Protest of Animal Suffering at Mellon Institiute on 8/15/2009

Primate Liberation Week Main Action, 10/24/2009

PAAV World Week for Animals in Laboratories Protest

2008-04-25T21:45:00.000-04:00

On 4/22/2009 we protested the suffering of animals in laboratories across Pittsburgh and called for their liberation. We walked from building to building, exposing those that do animal testing in Oakland to the public- including Biomedical Science Towers 1-3, Rangos Research Center, Clapp Hall, Mellon Institute, and others. We spoke shortly about each facility before marching on to the next. Thank you to everyone who joined and to all of the members who put in the effort organizing and making signs. Here are some images from the event courtesy of Disturb the Peace Photos:

And courtesy of Kevin Crivelli:

National Primate Liberation Week Actions

2007-10-06T21:52:00.000-04:00

National Primate Liberation Week is October 17th – 24th. Multiple events are in the works that will target local animal research facilities.

The main event will take place on Saturday, October 24th at 3:30pm.

This event welcomes a diversity of tactics. We will start at Mellon Institute (5th and Bellefield in Oakland) to protest the multiple animal researchers inside and will make our voices heard. We will then march down 5th ave to the Biomedical Science Towers, ending at Biomedical Science Tower 3 (3501 5th Ave). The march is non-permitted but there will be room for those with varying levels of interest.

This protest is going to be a white bloc meaning those that choose to will be wearing white coveralls. We will also have leaflets detailing four nonhuman animal researchers at the places we will be visiting. We will have white hazmat suits and masks available for people as well as signs and a banner so all you need to do is bring yourself (and hopefully your friends). While being part of the white bloc is not required, it is encouraged for purposes of solidarity, anonymity, and visual impact.

Other events are in the works and we will keep you posted. If you would like to stay updated but are not already on our email list, send an email with "subscribe" in the subject line to info AT pittaav DOT com.

Date:	Saturday, October 24, 2009
Time:	3:30pm - 5:30pm
Location:	Mellon Institute- 5th Ave and Bellefield, Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA

Newsletter #16- 9/28/2009

2007-09-28T11:37:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-Lab Animal Suffering Reduced During G20 Summit
-PAAV stands in Solidarity with Those Who Suffered During the G20
-New Entry on Website; Animal Testing: Local Exploitation - Global Ruin
-National Primate Liberation Week Approaching

Lab Animal Suffering Reduced During the G20 Summit

Due to calls to action on various animal testing facilities around Pittsburgh, many of these facilities ceased or slowed their cruel exploitation of animals during the days of the g20 summit. The windows of Biomedical Science Tower 3 were boarded up and Mellon Institute was under constant security. Mellon Institute also suffered property damage at actions during the G20 Summit. As a result of these things, many animals imprisoned inside the walls of these buildings were not subjected to the further horrors of being experimented upon for those days. Unfortunately, their suffering is not over until they are free.

PAAV stands in Solidarity with Those Who Suffered during the G20

Many protesters and bystanders were brutalized by police on Thursday and Friday. Less lethal- but sometimes deadly- weapons like rubber bullets, bean bag bullets, OC gas, pepper spray, and tasers were used with little restraint by officers who descended upon various areas of the city. Some of the most upsetting events took place on the University of Pittsburgh campus where students where trapped by riot cops in various areas of Oakland while being told to disperse, even though no provocations occurred. Without an ability to get to safety, and with their dorms and streets blocked by riot police and clouds of harmful and frightening gas weaponry, many people were injured and/or arrested. Some have made it out of jail while others still remain trapped inside. PAAV stands in solidarity with all of those harmed and/or arrested during these abuses of power.
For some images and videos of the state oppression in Pittsburgh during the G20 summit and after, go to www.pittsburghpolicebrutality.com

New Entry on Website; Animal Testing: Local Exploitation - Global Ruin

When some people think of the opposition to animal testing, they think of a very specific issue with a very narrow focus. However, the animal research industry affects not only other animals, but also humans and the planet. The negative consequences of state-funded nonhuman animal research reach far and wide from the local to the global. Following are just a few examples of these connections...

For the full article, go here: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/09/animal-testing-local-exploitation.html

National Primate Liberation Week Approaching

National Primate Liberation Week (October 17th - 24th) is approaching and PAAV will be organizing events during the week. If you are interested in being more involved with PAAV organizing, shoot us an email at info@pittaav.com or just reply to this newsletter.

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Newsletter #15, 9/14/2009

2007-09-15T08:50:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-What's New in the Yates Laboratory?
-Possible Animal Testing Demonstrations During the G20
-Animal Testing in the Media

What's New in the Yates Laboratory?

As promised, PAAV has decided to focus on keeping you updated on two researchers whose work is extremely abhorrent. One of these researchers is Bill J Yates, vivisector of cats, rats, ferrets, and other animals. Read about what is new in the Yate's lab in our newest entry, including his recent research publications, government-funded grants, questionable affiliations, and cruel colleagues.

To read the entry, click here: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/09/whats-new-at-yates-laboratory.html

Possible Animal Testing Demonstrations During the G20

PAAV has been contacted by some people about the possibility of doing protests or demonstrations against nonhuman animal research during the week of the G20: Monday, 9/21 - Friday, 9/25. If this is something you would be interested in doing, please email us at info@pittaav.com with your availability during this week and ideas if you have any. Simple willingness to participate in an action is enough reason to contact us so don't be shy!

Animal Testing in the Media

Animal Rights Activists Protest The Australia and New Zealand Laboratory Animal Association (ANZSLAA): http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=11288

Fox Chase Cancer Center receives $8 million NIH grant to expand laboratory animal research facility: http://www.genengnews.com/news/bnitem.aspx?name=61786934

Toxicity Testing Gets a Makeover: http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090908/full/461158a.html

Protesters March Through Villaige to Protest Animal Testing at Wickham Laboratories: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Protesters-march-through-village.5642448.jp

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Newsletter #14- 8/31/2009

2007-09-01T18:02:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-Working on the Targets
-Do You Have Information from Inside a Local Laboratory?
-Animal Testing in the Media

Working on the Targets

We have decided not to put out a new researcher post this week, but rest assured, it is not because we have run out of researchers. There are several more cruel laboratories in Pittsburgh that have not yet been featured on our website.

Instead, PAAV has decided to focus on keeping you updated on two researchers whose work is extremely abhorrent. We will be working to find out more information on these researchers who will be revealed in the near future. We will also be posting an interview with a worker from inside a local laboratory. Stay tuned for more in the near future!

Share your Info on Local Animal Research Facilities

Do you work in an animal research laboratory or have you worked in one in the Pittsburgh area? Do you feel uneasy about some of the things you have experienced or seen? Are you interested in exposing some of these things to the public?

We can help you expose what is going on and you can be kept completely anonymous if you choose to be. We will protect your privacy in a variety of ways. If you are interested in helping animals by making others more aware of what you have seen, please contact us at info@pittaav.com. If you are not comfortable with giving us information via email, please send us your contact information and we can arrange a phone interview or a meeting in person.

Animal Testing in the Media

Stand up for Great Apes by Supporting the Great Ape Protection Act: https://secure3.convio.net/aavs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=185

Maneka Seeks Ban on Using Animals for Experiments: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/maneka-seeks-ban-on-using-animals-for-lab-experiments_100234971.html

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Newsletter #13- 8/17/2009

2007-08-17T22:53:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to the Website
-PAAV's Past Protest at Mellon Institute
-Do You Have Information from Inside a Local Laboratory?
-Animal Research News

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories: The Lee Lab

The laboratory of Tai Sing Lee imprisons and subjects macaques to the abuses of testing using invasive, surgically implanted brain cell recording devices among other things. Sing's computer science background allows him to also work on the engineering and studying of devices in order to find more ways to use these things on the animals trapped behind the walls of Mellon Institute and animals caged in other laboratories...

To read more, click here: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/08/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories-lee.html

PAAV's Protest at Mellon Institute

On Saturday, August 16th, we went to Mellon Institute to protest the 13 animal testing facilities that exist inside. Before our arrival, someone notified the University that we would be there, leading the administration to send out a letter telling everyone in the building not to come to work that day. As a result, simply having a presence at this facility may have led to an entire day without procedures and other tortures being performed on the animals imprisoned inside.

There was high traffic as well, leading to many people being exposed to the truths of what goes on within Mellon Institute through viewing our signs and reading out leaflets. We will undoubtedly hold future actions at this facility. Some pictures of the protest can be seen here: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/08/protest-animal-suffering-at-mellon.html

Share your Info on Local Animal Research Facilities

Do you work in an animal research laboratory or have you worked in one in the Pittsburgh area? Do you feel uneasy about some of the things you have experienced or seen? Are you interested in exposing some of these things to the public? We can help you expose what is going on and you can be kept completely anonymous if you choose to be. We will protect your privacy in a variety of ways. If you are interested in helping animals by making others more aware of what you have seen, please contact us at info@pittaav.com.

Animal Research News

Lab Animal Alternatives are the New Guinea Pigs: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=137381

Vanderbilt Chemist Receives Grant to Develop Animal Testing Alternative: http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2009/08/13/vanderbilt-chemist-receives-grant-to-develop-animal-testing-alternative.86594

£4.5million jackpot share for non-animal testing Coventry scientists: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2009/08/06/4-5million-jackpot-share-for-non-animal-testing-coventry-scientists-92746-24331241/

Victory for Dogs in New Orleans and Pigs in Canada: http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/aug09/neworleans.html

Monkey Farm Could Prove Catasrophic to Public Health: http://www.pcrm.org/newsletter/aug09/monkeyfarm.html

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Want to be more involved with PAAV? Send us an email at info@pittaav.com and let us know!

Newsletter #12, 8/3/2009

2007-08-02T10:27:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to the Website
-Protest Animal Suffering at Mellon Institute
-Animal Research News
-Get More Involved with PAAV

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories: The Sommer Lab

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy.

Protest Animal Suffering at Mellon Institute

PAAV will be protesting in front of Mellon Institute of Carnegie Mellon University and affiliate University of Pittsburgh in Oakland in opposition to the 13 nonhuman animal laboratories that exist within the building. These laboratories revolve around the suffering and death of multiple species of animals including mice, rats, and macaque monkeys. We will be holding signs, handing out leaflets, and engaging and educating the public about the cruel research that occurs behind the windowless walls of the building. We will have signs and leaflets so all you need to do is bring yourself (and hopefully your friends). Feel free to bring your own signs as well if you like. We hope to see you there!

Date:	Saturday, August 15, 2009
Time:	3:00pm - 5:00pm
Location:	Mellon Institute - It's a huge building with pillars and almost no windows, you can't miss it.
Street:	5th Ave and Bellefield
City/Town:	Pittsburgh, PA
	View Map

Email:

info@pittaav.com

Animal Research News

NC3Rs awards £4.5 million for projects on animal testing alternatives: http://www.pharmatimes.com/ClinicalNews/article.aspx?id=16326

Twilight for the Animal Testing of Cosmetics? http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/animal-testing-cosmetics-460709

The long fight against animal testing: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/23/animal-research-rate-rising

Dr. Danny Penman: I support vivisection but must we really kill 4 million animals? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1201556/DR-DANNY-PENMAN-I-support-vivisection-really-kill-4million-animals.html

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Want to be more involved with PAAV? Send us an email at info@pittaav.com and let us know!

Send To Phone

Newsletter #11, 7/20/2009

2007-07-20T22:02:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to the Website
-New Entry on Alternatives Added to Website
-Animal Research News
-Get More Involved with PAAV

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories: The de Groat Lab

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy.

New Entry on Alternatives Added to PAAV website

We have added a new entry on alternatives to animal tested treatments and medicines on insomnia.

To read this entry click here: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/07/alternatives-to-animal-tested.html

Animal Research News

Progress in Cutting Animal Testing: http://www.eurobiotechnews.eu/insight-europe/politics-law/articledetail/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=10281&tx_ttnews[backPid]=27&cHash=3b087958fb
Stop Animal Testing in USA; Traumaman More Ethical Option: http://media.www.usavanguard.com/media/storage/paper973/news/2009/07/13/Opinion/Stop-Animal.Testing.At.Usa.Traumaman.More.Ethical.Option-3751491.shtml

Animal Rights Anti-Terror Law Challenged: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/07/13/Animal-rights-anti-terror-law-challenged/UPI-43921247513380/
The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act: The Most Dangerous Domestic Terror Law You've Never Heard Of: http://www.alternet.org/rights/141328/the_animal_enterprise_terrorism_act:_the_most_dangerous_domestic_terror_law_you%27ve_never_heard_of/
Malaysia activists slam animal testing facility plan: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jFDQk1f0DpgsrHRPbRFS_OF8h1pQ

Get More Involved with PAAV

Would you like to be more involved with PAAV? We are looking for volunteers from all sorts of backgrounds to be more involved with the group. We are inviting people to be more involved in decision making, writing for the website, and activism, but if you are interested in doing something else to help out, you would be welcomed as well. Anyone can join and no amount of experience is necessary. The only requirement is a want to help laboratory animals and stop their use in testing industries. If you are interested in becoming more involved, email us at info@pittaav.com and tell us a little about yourself and how you'd be interested in helping.

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Want to be more involved with PAAV? Send us an email at info@pittaav.com and let us know!

News and Updates

2007-07-06T22:34:00.001-04:00

Animal Research In Twenty Minutes 2/5/2009

Breaking News: Watchdog seeks probe of leading U.S. labs- Including the University of Pittsburgh 6/1/2009

Good News for Animals 7/6/2009

Newsletter #10- 7/6/2009

2007-07-06T21:56:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher Added to the Website

-Good News for Lab Animals!
-Other Animal Research News

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories: The Grace Lab

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy.

Good News for Animals!

In the past two weeks, two things have happened that could end up being great for laboratory animals. We decided to highlight these news stories in this newsletter because of their importance to the anti-vivisection movement.

Next-Generation Risk Assessment: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/87/8725gov1.html

No Animal Toxicity Testing Plan from EPA: http://www.examiner.com/x-6180-Birmingham-Science-News-Examiner~y2009m6d25-No-Animal-Toxicity-Testing-Plan-from-EPA

No more test tubes on four feet? EPA moves toward animal-free toxicity tests:http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=09062222-no-more-test-tubes-on-four-feet-epa-moves-toward-animal-free-toxicity-tests

Settlement to require animal labs to post data: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwHTi2eSvz6-c1aMfzYwEjSHwCvgD995TPU00

USDA settles suit, opens access to animal research reports: http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm/Veterinary+news/USDA-settles-suit-opens-access-to-animal-research-/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/608633?contextCategoryId=378

Animal use details go online: http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/55813/

Other Animal Research News

One animal killed every hour in NSW for scientific testing: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25726439-421,00.html

NASA chimps earn Florida comfort after taking a punishing step for mankind: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6631349.ece

Want to be more involved with PAAV? Send us an email at info@pittaav.com and let us know!

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
info@pittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Newsletter #9, 6/22/2009

2007-06-22T08:42:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection's (PAAV) biweekly newsletter.

In this edition:

-New Researcher and Alternatives Entries Added to Website

-PAAV Protests: Past and Future

-Animal Research News

New Researcher Added to PAAV website

We have added one new research facility entry to the website.

Get to know your local laboratories:

The Balaban Lab: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/06/get-to-know-your-local-laboratories_21.html

If you have information on a lab or researcher that you would like to share, please email us about it at info@pittaav.com. We will protect your privacy

We have added one new entry on alternatives the website.

Alternatives to Animal Tested Treatments: Colds: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/06/alternatives-to-animal-tested.html

PAAV Protests: Past and Future

Thank you to all of you who made it out to the protest at the Pitt Biomedical Science Towers on Thursday! We held signs and handed out a lot of information to people on Fifth avenue and intersecting streets in Oakland. Leaflets we distributed included information about the research done inside the Biomedical Science Towers as well as contact information of the researchers. You can view pictures from the protest here: http://pittaav.blogspot.com/2009/06/protest-of-biomedical-science-towers-on.html

We have set a location for the next protest but a date and time has not yet been decided upon. Keep an eye out for future emails inviting you to our next event. Hope to see you there!

Animal Research News

Medical Experts Shoot Down Military Animal Testing: http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/video-peta-says-medical-experts-shoot-down-military-s-animal-testing-r-1245523838

Animal Experiments Could End in a Generation: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6433170.ece

Animal Testing for Cosmetics and Household Products: http://ts17.gazettelive.co.uk/2009/06/animal-testing-for-cosmetics-household-products.html

New Scientist: Why Japan's Whaling Activities are not Research: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227136.100-why-japans-whaling-activities-are-not-research.html

Want to be more involved with PAAV? Send us an email at infoATpittaav.com and let us know!

--
Pittsburgh Association for the Abolition of Vivisection [PAAV]
infoATpittaav.com
http://www.pittaav.com

Alternatives To Animal Testing: Products

2007-05-22T18:26:00.000-04:00

More to come!

Alternatives To Animal Testing: Treatments and Medicines

2007-05-22T18:24:00.004-04:00

One way to boycott the animal testing industry is to boycott, when possible, medications and treatments that are tested on animals. While for some, this is not an option, we would like to offer alternatives to animal tested treatments when they are possible.