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Letter to Capralogics, Inc
9/22/06 Mr. White, I am contacting you today in reference to your statements in the
Worcester Telegram & Gazette of today’s date, from which I quote: and: “We are not a vivisectionist facility, quite simply, because no
surgery is performed here. The animals are inoculated with proteins to
produce antibodies and we subsequently draw blood. It would be akin to
giving someone a flu shot and then coming back and drawing a blood
specimen to see that antibodies had been produced.” These statements clearly have the intent of persuading the public
that everything is fine at your facility and that somehow a mistake was
made. Apparently, you want the public to believe that all of the animals
confined at your facility are happy, healthy, and care-free. However, as you know, this is not the case. The government recognizes
your company as a laboratory – Capralogics is registered with the USDA
as a research laboratory, #14-R-0156 – so you do perform vivisection.
Since your business is to sell antibodies to other laboratories, your
animals must be in a situation which causes them to produce antibodies.
The only way in which an organism can produce antibodies is to be sick,
or to be reacting to a foreign body. The very nature of your business
requires that you make animals sick in some way. Therefore, saying that all of the animals at your facility are
healthy is by definition dishonest. The production of antibodies,
specifically, requires that an animal have substantial lesions.
Typically animals that chronically have large lesions would not be
considered to be healthy and happy. The photos released by those who rescued rabbits from your facility
clearly depict open lesions on the ears of rabbits, potentially a very
painful situation. However, your 2005 report to the USDA lists 322
rabbits, 5 sheep, and 69 goats as feeling no pain due to the use of
anesthetics or analgesics. It is highly unlikely that rabbits, goats or
any other species could go through this process without experiencing any
discomfort of any kind – unless your policy is to keep them totally
anesthetized 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, the photos depicted
animals whose eyes were open and in restraint devices. Restraint devices
would not be necessary if the animals were anesthetized and unconscious.
Also, as you should know, it is possible to produce antibodies in
vitro, without the use of any animals whatsoever.1 Therefore, your use of animals in this process is totally
unnecessary. Since, as you say in the Telegram story you “have nothing to hide,” I
would like to take you up on your statement. If you are to dispel
concerns about your facility, then I believe that it is an absolute
necessity that you provide access to your facility. The ability to
examine all animals and practices at your laboratory would erase doubts
in the minds of all concerned. Included in this inspection it will be necessary to have the
opportunity to assess the health of the rabbits, goats, and sheep in
your facility, examine the painkillers used during the process of
removing antibodies from the animals’ lesions, and to observe this
process first hand. I would also like to examine all health care records
for the animals at your facility. Since I am educated in the care of
animals in laboratories and experimental procedures, I am certain that
this process can be accomplished without compromising your operation in
any way. I also feel that it would serve the public interest if media
outlets, such as the Telegram & Gazette were taken on this tour with me
to give them the opportunity to photograph your operations. If you truly have nothing to hide, then this tour should be no
problem whatsoever. I will expect a reply by the close of business
today, 9/22/06. I can be reached at 513-575-517 or by email at
[email protected]. Sincerely,
Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., 1. Falkenberg, F. W., Hengelage, T., Krane, M., Bartels, I.,
Albrecht, A., Holtmeier, N., and M. Wuthrich (1993). A simple and
inexpensive high density dialysis tubing cell culture system for the in
vitro production of monoclonal antibodies in high concentrations.
Journal of Immunological Methods 165:193-206.
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