Antivivisection

"This I know," wrote poet Robert Browning, "I would rather submit to the worst of deaths as far as pain goes, than to have a single dog or cat tortured on the pretense of saving me a twinge or two."

Vivisection is the general term for any harmful use of animals in science or education.

The recognition of the horror and suffering in these animals' lives coupled with the repulsive common defense – that it is all done for our benefit, in our name – has led to this issue remaining in the forefront of animal activism ever since René Descartes first nailed living alert dogs to boards and cut them open in public in the early 1600s.

The Alliance for Animals has been fighting for the animals in area labs since its inception. Naturally, this work has centered on the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and in Madison, on the University of Wisconsin and Covance Inc.

We can peek into the labs through small windows provided every now and then by reading their published papers, through the efforts of whistle-blowers, through federal inspections, lawsuits, and public records requests. When we get this glimpse, the images and stories are always chilling.

The justification for every moment of suffering in the labs is that the experiments will lead to advances in human healthcare. But this claim is suspect on two fronts.

Animals are very poor often misleading models of human disease and drug response. An insightful report on this point is available from the Medical Research Modernization Committee (MRMC). A Critical Look at Animal Experimentation.

Even if animal experimentation offered us some small hope it would still be immoral.

The Alliance for Animals Primate Group, a committee of AFA, meets weekly. Visitors and new members are always welcomed. For more information contact AFA at 257-6333.

UW's Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) meetings are public. Several of our members attend these meetings regularly. http://www.rarc.wisc.edu/

Click here to see the meeting schedules for the IACUCs: Note that meeting times, dates and location are subject to change, so it never hurts to call and confirm at 265-9241 or 262-1238. http://www.rarc.wisc.edu/acuc/meeting.html

 

First Unitarian Society of Madison

On Sunday, October 31, 2010 at 1 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium three speakers addressed the topic of animal, and more specifically primate research at the University of Wisconsin.  

Participating were Rick Bogle, Co Director of Alliance for Animals (left), biomedical engineering professor John Webster, a member of FUS, and Eric Sandgren, Director of the UW’s Research Animal Resource Center. 

You can watch the video footage here.

Many thanks to the First Unitarian Society for hosting this important talk.