* News Conference Advisory *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Contact: Michael Budkie 608-257-6333 or 513.575-5517
Attention: News Desk
MADISON -- The nation's leading animal protection
groups are calling for unprecedented Congressional hearings to
investigate the widespread of abuse in the nation's eight regional
primate research laboratories including the Wisconsin National Primate
Research Center here.
A national news conference will be held in Madison
Thursday, 10 a.m. at 122 State Street (4th floor conference room) to
release details of the letters sent to leaders in Congress this week.
The announcement coincides with a meeting of the
Society of Primatologists meeting in Madison this week.
"Reports filed by the facilities which comprise the
Primate Center System reveal substantial and widespread problems...very
substantial physical and health care issues exist regarding the primates
housed at many of the Primate Research Centers," said Michael Budkie,
executive director of SAEN in his letter to the Senate and House health
committees.
Mr. Budkie is expected to list serious problems in the
nation's eight primate centers, including the one in Madison, where the
infant mortality rate of non-human primates is nearly 60 percent.
Among the national organizations calling for the
hearings are Stop Animal
Exploitation Now, Primate Freedom Project, Animals
Voice, International
Primate Protection League, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals,
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Medical
Research Modernization Committee, and the Alliance for Animals.
-30-
