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Electric shocks not painful? Nationally-known labs lie to federal agencies about animal tests; USDA report ‘fraught with errors,' claims national research watchdog FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON, D.C. – When is an electric shock not painful? Apparently,
when testing labs and the government say it's not, according to a national
research watchdog group that charges a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture report on
animal lab testing is "fraught with errors" and hides horrific abuse – and
even the existence – of thousands of primate research animals. According to Ohio-based SAEN, the recently-posted USDA Animal Welfare
Enforcement Report (AWER) on animals used in painful experimentation is
seriously flawed. Even the numbers are false, says SAEN, noting a 2005
AWER lists 740 primates used in tests for the state of North Carolina.
But, Wake Forest University alone uses 1,318 primates. It's all part of a growing trend of deceptive reporting, said SAEN.
Violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) by laboratories increased by
18.4 percent in one year, and a whopping 90 percent in the last five years
– even though AWER documents that overall animal experimentation decreased
14 percent in 2006. "These supposedly reputable facilities are simply lying to both the
federal government and the American people. Experiments which subject
animals to extreme confinement, electric shocks or severe hunger and
thirst are often not counted as causing pain or distress," said Michael A.
Budkie, A.H.T., Executive Director of SAEN. "The compilation of such a shoddy report raises serious questions about
the ability of the USDA as a regulatory agency," said Budkie. "This report
is fraught with errors, and conveniently conceals the highly painful
nature of experimentation on primates, making this practice appear to be
well-regulated and humane. Nothing could be further from the truth." He said labs in 16 states that experiment on approximately 34,000
primates supposedly only subjected 99 of them – or, less than one-half of
one percent – to any unrelieved pain. The labs would include nationally
known facilities at Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, Tulane, University of
Texas, University of Wisconsin, University of Washington, University of
Alabama, University of Minnesota, Vanderbilt, University of Oklahoma
(Health Sciences Center), Washington University and Wake Forest. -30-
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