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Join the campaign to end the abuse of nonhuman primates in University of California lab The University of California system imprisons over 7800 primates,
primarily at laboratories connected to branches in Davis, San Francisco,
and Los Angeles. Many of these primates (rhesus monkeys, vervets, etc.) are used in
highly invasive and painful experiments involving procedures like
restraint chair use, water deprivation, infectious diseases, and bolting
of devices to the skull. (see: UCLA,
UC San Francisco,
UC Berkeley and
UC Davis) These experiments have been called: “unethical,” “distressful” and
causing “great pain and suffering” by veterinary and scientific experts
across the U.S. We estimate that UCLA, UCSF, and UC Davis collectively receive over ½
Billion dollars in federal funding for animal experimentation per year
(see funding stats). Officials of the University of California branches have consistently
refused to meet with activists to discuss these issues. Through
legislation (AB 2296) the
University of California has sought to eliminate access to public
records related to animal experimentation and to make certain kinds
of protests illegal. "Experts in veterinary medicine,
primatology, ethology, bioethics and animal behavior have evaluated the
procedures used in many animal experiments. These procedures include
depriving animals (such as non-human primates) of water for extended
periods of time, confining them to restraint chairs, and attaching
restraining bars and recording cylinders to the skulls of these same
animals with steel screws. These experts have unanimously determined
that these procedures cause unrelieved pain and distress in these
animals. The projects listed below utilize at least one of these
procedures, and many involve all of them. It is clear that these experiments subject animals to severe pain and
distress. These procedures are used within University of California
laboratories in Berkeley, San Francisco, Davis and Los Angeles." SAEN has now contacted the
University of California Board of Regents with a
letter requesting a meeting to
discuss these points: 1. Elimination of the use of food and/or water deprivation in
non-human primates for any reason but pre-surgical fasting. Depriving
non-human primates of sustenance for extended periods as is currently
practiced by university of California laboratories is inhumane,
unethical, and has been declared causative of pain and distress by
scientific experts. 2. Elimination of the surgical attachment of devices such as
restraining bars and recording cylinders to the skulls of non-human
primates. These devices have also been declared by experts to cause pain
and or distress in primates. 3. Elimination of The use of primate restraint chairs in projects
involving non-human primates. These devices severely restrict the
movement of primates and have been declared by experts to cause
substantial distress. 4. Establishment of a fully funded retirement program for all
primates that are not currently utilized in ongoing research projects.
We have also requested inspection tours of all UC labs that use
animals in experimentation. Please write to the
Regents to add your voice to ours. We have announced this campaign to the news media in a
press release Further information about the individual labs that constitute the
University of California system. SAEN Campaign Contacts for California Sacramento/Davis: Linda -
[email protected] Los Angeles: Julia -
[email protected] San Francisco: Douglass -
[email protected]
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