Parkinson's Disease and the Michael J. Fox Foundation
Alternatives to Animal Testing, Experimentation and Dissection - An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

People for Reason and Science in Medicine (PRISM)
April 2016

[NOTE: Please also read Crude monkey tests slowing down progress for Parkinson’s]

Since 2000 the Michael J. Fox Foundation has spent over $149 million dollars to fund PD research, much of that being animal experimentation which has nothing whatsoever to do with finding treatments for people with PD. Since every species has its own unique metabolism, bio-chemistry, genetic make-up and physiology, any experiments or drug testing perpetrated on animals is completely irrelevant to human beings.

A virus cocktail is injected into the monkeys’ brains forcing them to live with brain damage and unspeakable pain until they are killed by the vivisectors.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is caused by degeneration of a specific part of the brain found in the basal ganglia and is the 14th leading killer in the United States. Some of the environmental factors which may be associated with PD are pesticides, industrial carcinogens which build up in animal fat, nitrites found in cured meat, and dairy products which contain neurotoxic chemicals. These chemicals can accumulate in the brain over a long period of time and have been found in the brains of those with PD during autopsy.

In 2012, The Michael J. Fox Foundation had assets of over $38 million. The yearly salary of CEO Tod Sherer was $445,616 and the salary of co-founder and executive vice president Deborah Brooks was $510,000. Since 2000 the Michael J. Fox Foundation has spent over $149 million dollars to fund PD research, much of that being animal experimentation which has nothing whatsoever to do with finding treatments for people with PD. Since every species has its own unique metabolism, bio-chemistry, genetic make-up and physiology, any experiments or drug testing perpetrated on animals is completely irrelevant to human beings. Marmoset monkeys are the PD vivisectors’ victims of choice.

A few examples of the many experiments inflicted on them include the following...

By Cure Parkinson’s Trust - A UK charity which fundraises in the U.S.

• Marmoset monkeys are over-dosed with MPTP, a neurotoxin, and injected with the street drug Ecstasy until they develop PD symptoms.
• The monkeys are confined to their cages alone where they suffer extreme pain while their movements and symptoms are recorded.
• Marmoset monkeys are injected with much higher doses of a toxic drug mixture in order to induce uncontrolled movements, psychotic behavior and hallucinations.

By The Michael J. Fox Foundation

• Doses of Doxycycline are injected into the skulls of Macaque monkeys to see if the antibiotic can penetrate the blood/brain barrier of a primate’s brain.
• Ketamine and other tranquilizers are administered to the monkeys, a hole is drilled into their skulls and a stereotactic ring is affixed to keep them from moving their heads.
• A virus cocktail is injected into the monkeys’ brains forcing them to live with brain damage and unspeakable pain until they are killed by the vivisectors.

The vivisectors funded by The Michael J. Fox Foundation promise that “cures” will come from their cruel and useless experiments on animals which the vivisectors themselves know are fraudulent.

Fundamental Problems of Using Animals in PD “Research”

• Monkeys do not develop Lewy bodies, which are clumps of abnormal protein found in the brains of humans with PD
• Monkeys do not develop rest tremors as do human patients with PD
• Genetics, age related and environmental factors, cognition and emotion cannot be measured in animals
• An artificially induced disease in animals which merely mimics symptoms of human disease has no correlation to a disease which spontaneously occurs in humans
• Rodents are especially resistant to drugs injected into their brains to produce PD symptoms
• Animals who have been injected with MPTP to mimic PD symptoms can recover, unlike humans who suffer chronically with PD
• Ecstasy could never be used to treat humans because of the toxic effect on the brain
• The human brain is different from that of any other mammal’s brain
• All of the reasons stated in the second paragraph

Methods of Identifying PD

• Positron Emission Tomography – Scans enable a detailed picture of the illness
• EROS uses lasers which can pass through the skull to image the brain
• In Vitro Study involves looking at brain tissue and understanding chemical reactions and biology of the brain
• Computer modeling
• Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy enables chemical analysis of the brain without surgery

Treatment of PD

The most common treatment for PD is Sinemet, a combination of carbadopa and evodopa, which converts to dopamine in the brain. Side effects include worsening tremors, painful urination, seizures, hallucinations, confusion, depression, suicidal thoughts, unusual behavior, extreme high or low blood pressure and gastrointestinal bleeding.

Dr. Alim-Louis Benabid of France, after performing clinical studies of humans, developed an effective surgery called deep brain stimulation for treatment of Parkinson’s by using electrical stimulation on the subthalmus of the brain. Nevertheless, vivisectors insisted on becoming part of the process by performing electrical stimulation experiments on animals whose brains in no way correspond to human brains and taking credit for perfecting the procedure. Dr. Benabid received an award from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for his breakthrough but even so, the foundation continues to fund irrelevant, barbaric animal experiments that are a complete waste of their time and money.

Alternative Therapies and Prevention

• Avoid exposure to pesticides by choosing organic produce
• Adopt a vegan diet
• Green tea has a naturally occurring chemical that protects dopamine neurons affected by PD
• A doctor can advise about the use of IV glutathione which you can administer yourself and which is often deficient in people with PD
• Coenzyme-Q is an antioxidant which improves mitochondrial functioning
• Creatine is a compound that boosts dopamine availability and protects neurons
• Acupuncture can boost energy and improve sleep
• Exercise. Obesity can increase your chances of getting PD up to 300%. 

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