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Articles and
Reports Letter to President Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan
7/7/08 Mary Sue Coleman, President President Coleman, I am writing to you today because I am very concerned about the
primates used in the laboratories of two University of Michigan (UM)
Researchers, James Woods and Gail Winger. I have obtained UM internal
records utilizing the state public records act and the information
contained in these documents is extremely disturbing. Scallywag, one of the U of M primates, is listed as losing weight
from the constant activity associated with psychologically abnormal
behavior. Another Primate named Clash is listed as having a 12% weight
loss of unknown origin. Another rhesus monkey is listed as declining
from 6.8 kg to 5.8 kg (15 pounds to 12 ¾ pounds) a 15% weight loss in
just 3 months. This animal also has constant muscle contractions, and is
hypothermic. It almost sounds as though she is experiencing drug
withdrawal. Yet another primate named Data had a weight loss of 10.5% in
a short period. Harpo is listed with 4 incidents of self-mutilation in 5 days during
2006, this after a long history of self-destructive behavior. Eminem
wears “long sleeved jacket due to history of self-mutilation.” Scallywag
exhibits abnormal behavior when people are in the room. The list goes on
and on. Based on their behavior, these animals are clearly suffering from
serious psychological pathologies. This is not surprising since
according to the publications of UM researchers these primates are
housed in cages which are 83.3-cm long by 76.2-cm wide by 91.4-cm deep
(J Exp Anal Behav. 2006 September; 86(2): 181–195). While this may meet
minimal requirements, clearly it does not meet their psychological
needs. In their natural habitat rhesus monkeys have much larger
environments which allow for very complex behavior which have become
part of their genetic makeup as they have evolved to survive. These
behaviors are not possible in small stainless steel cages. The effects
of the addictive drugs and experimental apparatus to which they are
subjected in the experiments of Winger and Woods serve only to make the
psychological frustration of these primates worse. Additionally,
according to another publication (Drug Alcohol Depend. 2005 February 14;
77(2): 161–168.) many of these primates are individually housed. This
situation serves only to increase the stress which these animals
experience, and increases the likelihood that they will become insane
because in their natural habitat these animals are members of large
social groups. In order that I may have the opportunity to ascertain the current
conditions of these primates I officially request the opportunity to
tour the labs of Gail Winger and James Woods and to see rhesus monkeys
used in their experiments and the housing for these animals. I also
believe that it would be extremely beneficial if representatives of the
news media from the Detroit/Ann Arbor area have the opportunity to
participate in this tour so that the public may be allowed to see these
experiments, since they are publicly funded. Additionally, I believe that it is necessary to obtain further
information regarding the current conditions of these animals. This
request is made pursuant to the freedom of information act of the state
of Michigan, Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. 15.231 et. seq. This letter is to direct you, your officer(s) and/or agents to
provide me with copies of any and all documents and/or records as
described below: All medical records for all primates used/held for use within the
laboratories or for the experimentation of James Woods and/or Gail
Winger for the period 8/1/07 – present. Also requested are copies of all
correspondence between the University of Michigan and the USDA for the
last two years. Also requested are copies of all correspondence between
the University of Michigan and the Alpha Genesis Corporation (aka labs
of Virginia) for the last two years as well as all records for primates
which have come from this facility for the last year. If it is determined pursuant to Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. 15.234(3) that
this request would result in "unreasonably high costs to the public
body", the requester is prepared to pay for all actual search and
reproduction fees, pursuant to Mich. Comp Laws Ann. 15.234 up to an
initial amount of two hundred dollars ($200.00). If the fees will exceed
this amount provide me with a detailed estimation of the fee in advance
before performing said work. The requester asserts that all records requested above are public
records as defined by Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. 15.232 (c). Should you come
to an opposite decision, please segregate all claimed exempt portions,
provide access to the remaining information and provide me with specific
reference to the exemptions of the law(s) or any other provision that
prohibits said disclosure that you believe to apply, pursuant to Mich.
Comp. Laws Ann. 15.235(4), 15.244. The requester, further, requests a response to this request within 5
business of the receipt of this request pursuant to Mich. Comp. Laws
Ann. 15.235(2). It is clear from the information contained in the documents which the
University of Michigan has previously provided that these primates are
suffering from very serious psychological abnormalities which are caused
by the combination of psychoactive drugs, social isolation and unnatural
confinement. The combination of these three issues has a very real
potential to render the experimentation in which these animals are used
scientifically meaningless. While it is always difficult to extrapolate
meaning from non-human animals in artificial laboratory environments to
the human setting, this process is clearly made much more difficult, if
not impossible, when the primates have been driven insane by the
experimentation in which they are used and the environment in which they
are housed. Additionally, these animals were obtained from other laboratories
which also performed experimentation of a psychological nature. These
laboratories included Virginia Commonwealth University, Yerkes Primate
Research Center, and the National Institutes of Health. It is highly
likely that the experimentation in which these animals were previously
used at other laboratories had the potential to cause major behavioral
abnormalities. In other words, these primates may have been insane
before they arrived at the University of Michigan. All of these circumstances taken together have the potential to
invalidate these experiments, thereby wasting millions of dollars in
federal grants. Therefore, I believe that the University of Michigan
should allow the public to see what is happening within the laboratories
of Gail Winger and James Woods. I will look forward to a response to this letter within five (5)
business days. Sincerely,
Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., See also :
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
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