U.S. primate experimentation is at an all-time high and the USDA
allows facilities to perpetrate serious violations of the Animal
Welfare Act without any meaningful repercussions, such as fines.
For more information and to find out what you can do, please visit:
www.saenonline.org
To read “Letters and Responses” on our website, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/letters.html
Contact info for Dr. Chester A. Gipson of the USDA is below:
Here is the letter we wrote:
23 March 2009
Dr. Chester A. Gipson
USDA / APHIS / AC
4700 River Rd., Unit 84
Riverdale, MD 20737-1234
Phone: (301) 734-7833
Fax: (301) 734-4978
Chester.A.Gipson@usda.gov
Dear Dr. Gipson:
We have become aware of the increase in U.S. primate experimentation
and the subsequent increase in violations to the Animal Welfare Act. An
example: The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (San Antonio,
TX) was recently reported for beginning a post-mortem on a primate which
was not yet dead.
We have also become aware of the flawed reporting of the numbers of
primates being held in facilities. Often over 60 percent of the primates
held by individual laboratories are not included in national
experimentation figures. For example, the entire state of South Carolina
is reported by the USDA to have used 471 primates in experimentation.
However, the Alpha Genesis Corporation (Yemassee, SC) alone held 8204
primates.
These are only two examples of the many, very serious violations.
Please see to it that violators are punished to the fullest extent that
the law allows.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Frank L. Hoffman
Mary T. Hoffman
