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Stop Animal
Exploitation NOW!
Events and Campaigns The Water Project Many people believe that animals in laboratories are
protected from abuse by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), and that was the
intent of this law – to prevent the kinds of things that most of us
would consider to be cruel. This law was designed, like most state
cruelty laws, to prevent abuse. Minimum standards, in the form of
federal regulations, were to be established to give force to the spirit
of the AWA. The United States Department of Agriculture, through the
Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, was given the authority to
promulgate regulations to protect animals in the possession of
laboratories, exhibitors, dealers, etc. “The Secretary shall promulgate standards to govern
the humane handling, care, treatment, and transportation of animals by
dealers, research facilities, and exhibitors.” In fact, the USDA has put forth regulations that
appear to do these things, such as: “Deprivation of food or water shall not be used to
train, work, or otherwise handle animals;” These regulations have the potential to protect
animals from some forms of abuse. But in some instances they were
weakened by exceptions, and the exceptions invariably seem to apply to
research laboratories: “Provided, however: That the short-term withholding of
food or water from animals, when specified in an IACUC-approved activity
that includes a description of monitoring procedures, is allowed by
these regulations.” In other words, a committee which is made up primarily
of researchers, and people who are in the hierarchy of research
institutions, can decide that it is ok for their staff to deprive
animals of food and/or water. The result of this essential non-regulation is that
literally hundreds of research protocols exist that systematically
deprive primates of water for as much as 22 hours per day, 5 days per
week. What do the experts say about how much water a primate
needs? Well, the Guide for the Care and Use of Animals in Neuroscience
and Behavioral Research quotes information showing a range of
possibilities – from 75 ml/kg to 110 ml/kg. The bottom end of this
range, 75 ml/kg, translates into roughly 11.25 oz/lb of body weight.
This means that a 22 lb primate should consume roughly 250 oz of water
per day. This is equivalent, in terms of volume, to consuming
approximately 21 cans of soda in one day, assuming that these are 12 oz
cans. What happens to primates that are being used in a
protocol that involves “fluid restriction” or “fluid regulation”– the
researcher’s euphemisms for water deprivation? It is not uncommon for
primates of roughly 22lb body weight to receive only 1/5 – 2/5 of a cup
of water per day – or less than 1/3 of a 12oz soda can. This is a daily
total – less than 4 oz of water for an entire day. This kind of deprivation is nothing less than
barbaric. This should not be allowed under any circumstances. There are
certain kinds of things that are just plain wrong -- no exceptions, no
provisos. This is just wrong, and it cannot be sanctified with the
approval of any committee. Therefore, the exception to this regulation, which
starts with the words “Provided, however, . . .” (above) should be
removed. There should be no exceptions. Our goal in The Water Project is to eliminate this
practice from medical research. If this kind of procedure took place
outside of an animal laboratory, the perpetrators would be jailed for
animal cruelty. Unfortunately, research laboratories are usually
exempted from state anti-cruelty laws. The people that practice this kind of barbarity on
animals often use grants from the National Institutes of Health to fund
their projects. In other words, your tax money pays for these barbaric
experiments. Tax dollars that could be funding treatment programs for
victims of substance abuse or health care for low income families are
instead being used to torture animals. We have a right to voice our opinions on this issue;
after all we’re footing the bill. And this is exactly what we are asking
you to do. There are several ways that you can voice your opinion.
Please contact the Secretary of Agriculture to demand
a change to the regulations which allow the use of water deprivation for
the training of animals in research projects. The regulations disseminated by the United States
Department of Agriculture must be changed. Please contact the Secretary
of Agriculture, asking him to change 9 CFR 2.38 so that depriving
animals of food and/or water is NEVER an acceptable training method,
even if the researchers seem to think so. The text: “Provided, however:
That the short-term withholding of food or water from animals, when
specified in an IACUC-approved activity that includes a description of
monitoring procedures, is allowed by these regulations.” should be
removed from the regulations (9 CFR 2.38 (2) (ii)). Mike Johanns, Secretary U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W. Room 200-A Whittenbg Washington, DC 20250
(202) 720-3631 mike.johanns@usda.gov
Demand that the process of amending this regulation be
started immediately. Don’t take no for an answer. Secretary Johanns needs
to hear from you early and often. We must also let the people who are utilizing this
barbaric practice that they need to stop immediately. Therefore, we will
be posting a “Monkey Abuser of the Week” every Tuesday to give you the
ability to voice your opinion to the abusers themselves. The link below will take you to the “Monkey Abuser of
the Week” page. On this page we will give you the details of what
happens in the experiments performed by this person, so that you can
judge for yourself just how barbaric they are. You will then be given
the contact information necessary to reach this person at the laboratory
where these procedures are performed. We ask that you contact them in a
civil and non-abusive way to insist that they immediately end the
practice of depriving primates of water. Don’t take no for an answer.
Don’t feel nervous about doing this. These “experimentalists” are
essentially your employees; you have a right to express your opinion to
them. Please bookmark this page and come back often. Hundreds of people
qualify for the title “Monkey Abuser” and we plan to show you all of
them.
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