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Newsletters Military Experiments -- The War on Animals The Department of Defense (DOD) is one of the most infamous abusers
of animals in laboratories and was the subject of congressional
investigative hearings in the early nineties. While minor changes have
led to increased accessibility to information (such as an internet
accessible database of DOD animal research projects), independent
oversight has not increased. The USDA, the federal agency required to
enforce the Animal Welfare Act within U.S. laboratories, does not have
the authority to inspect facilities owned by other federal agencies.
This leaves the animals totally at the mercy of the very individuals who
are experimenting upon them. Recently leaked government reports have given us a look inside the
labs of the DOD, and what was revealed is very disturbing. DOD labs
subject animals to radiation, laser injuries, microwaves, and chemical
weapons. The currently available information is incomplete, because it does
not contain data relevant to several of the DOD’s largest labs: Armed
Forces Radiobiological Research Institute, Walter Reed Army Hospital,
and Fort Detrick. In the past these facilities collectively used over
100,000 animals per year in some of the DOD’s cruelest experiments. One of the facilities which we know the most about is the Air Force
Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX.
AFRL’s animal experimentation has been a cause for concern due to the
types of experiments performed, as well as the extremely long term
nature of the projects. In 2004, 2091 animals were used in experiments by AFRL ranging from
dogs, rabbits, pigs, monkeys (rhesus and other species), mice, frogs,
rats, to snakes. 43.4% (907) of these animals were used in painful
experiments without benefit of anesthesia. This may be the highest level
of experiments with unrelieved pain of any laboratory in the U.S.
Fifteen of the animals experiencing unrelieved pain were dogs, five were
primates, 685 were mice, and 202 were rats. The type of experimentation conducted at Brooks AFB clearly reveals
the reason for the highly painful nature of these protocols. DOD
information discusses the use of primates in projects involving laser
injuries, microwaves, and radiation. Pigs are used in munitions research
and wound research. Rabbits and guinea pigs are used in radiation
research. Rabbits are also used in microwave experiments. The nature of
these experiments clearly reveals why AFRL is probably the most painful
lab in the nation. The DOD Biomedical Research Database reveals that the AFRL receives
$5,359,870 per year in funding for 34 separate projects. These research
projects do not appear to be unique in nature. Medical literature
searches on the PubMed website, which is used to search medical journal
articles, shows that many of the projects at the Air Force Research
Laboratory are potentially duplicative. This website lists citations for
1717 research projects involving radiation in macaque monkeys. This same
website lists 3546 publications that examine wounds in pigs. While
Brooks is one of only a few labs currently studying laser eye injuries
in macaque monkeys, other labs studied this area dating back to the
1970’s. Similarly, microwaves have been studied at other military labs
and in other research facilities. The researchers at AFRL are in the
business of producing protocols in areas that are already being
investigated thoroughly by other researchers. Documents obtained from the Air Force and government databases
illustrate that the protocols at Brooks AFB appear to be very long
lived. Experiments which are similar (if not identical) to current
experiments date back into the late 1990’s and beyond. How much longer
will these experiments be allowed to continue? How many more animal
lives will be swallowed up by experiments that have already spanned
decades and wasted millions of tax dollars? At a time when U.S. military
personnel have to pay for their own equipment (i.e. Kevlar vests), it is
absolutely criminal to waste over $5 million per year on unnecessary
experiments. Other laboratories owned by the Department of Defense also use large
numbers of animals. Fort Bragg in North Carolina uses over 2700 animals
per year in medical training programs. The Uniformed Services University
of Health Sciences in Maryland uses over 800 animals in similar
procedures. Please write to your legislators to ask for independent
inspections of military labs and for an investigation of DOD experiments
for redundancy. Contact information at:
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