Spread the message for hope You Can

An interesting year 2016. Not only because there is a presidential election in the US and candidates must outline their vision of the future of biomedical research but most certainly also because support towards animal research is increasing on two critical aspects.

Firstly, researchers are doing more to talk about their research and the use of various animal models such as non human primates and why they are critical towards medical progress. As a matter of fact around 400 of them have signed a public letter to endorse the use of non human primates as critical if we are to find cures for neurodegenerative diseases and more. Do take a look at who signed and the research they are involved in. I mean this is huge for those are heavy weight researchers whose opinions are not to be taken lightly. In addition thereto over 20 organizations signed the letter on behalf of their members. They are the major league of research and if these combined can not persuade you of the necessity and value of this work then nothing can or will.
Do remember there are millions of us out there waiting for a cure or a treatment and bio medical research represents hope, a means of making medical progress for humans and animals alike.

Secondly, a direct outcome of this hard work are visible undeniable results. There is a lot of progress. I can't mention all of them there are too many but they are Tangible and impacting the lives of us all. See the image below describing research achievements with non human primates as of the year 2000. On this blog for example there have been over 46000 views and my 25K tweets about research reach a growing and interested audience. One that makes the difference between propaganda and informing the public.

Think of those affected by ebola, malaria, zika-virus or hiv , think of their loved ones enduring the decline, the pains and the void once fallen to the disease. Look at this and say these disabled people, amongst whom my beloved brother, do not deserve a better life? It is not about animals or us, it is about us and animals for we all need medical progress.

Facing the truth about #animalresearch

Back in 2013 Erica Trent wrote an article about animal research and her experience as a MIT student neuroscience.
She tells us how difficult it was for her to do that what was expected of her. Obtain data from a rodent that had to be killed by means of euthanasia. She then realized how much of our current bio medical knowledge came from this emperical data and how this in turn led to medical progress. How many treatments and drugs first started in animal labs and she felt thankfull towards the animals that had been sacrificed. You can read the piece here http://tech.mit.edu/V133/N39/trent.html?comments#comments

It takes courage to do what she did. It takes even more courage to talk about it openly and face the comments, good or bad, from the public.
Every student taking these courses goes through the same struggle, although some a bit more intensely than others, yet all understand that the purpose is not to kill but to save lives.

That doesn't make the sacrifice easier but it does give it perspective. Just as when we prepare ourselves for surgery we know that we will hurt when we wake up and that there is a risk that we may not make it or things dont work out as expected but in the end it is for our good. It is what it takes to heal or cure. We certainly do not yell at the surgeon, nor do we protest at his house or start an e.mail campaign to stop him from hurting us :(!

So why do we allow others to do so against researchers that use animal models? Is this same research not also advancing our knowledge of the animals themselves?

Instead of thanking them for the benefits we now all enjoy, we stand by and let animal rights zealots treat them as garbage. What a shame!  This will not happen in my house I can tell you that much. My children know the hard work it takes to give us cures and treatments.

Talking about zealots, it appears now that the animal rights extremists are starting to smell the coffee and are wondering about their decline. It appears that animal rights isn't natural per Wesley J Smith here in the National Review.

Well it seems after all that we are getting into a good start for 2016!  Let's keep it that way and focus a bit more on donations to those who cure us rather than Peta or Hsus. They have done more damage to animal conservation than they will ever dare to admit, if they ever do. I know because I have worked with Zoo's and Aquaria - they too deserve better.

I want to mention the death of a great man Aït Ahmed, may he rest in peace. Algerians from North to South and East to West have lost a great leader. Azul Hocine lahisahel ou que tu sois

Urge Your Senators to Oppose the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act!

Urge Your Senators to Oppose the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act!

FASEB and NABR are asking you to contact your Senator and the congress to oppose this legislation. Here's why explained by FASEB President Judith S. Bond. You can also follow the link below and send a letter or email to your Senator by giving your zip code! Think of research on, and medical progress for those affected by,  HIV/AIDS - EBOLA MARBURG VIRUS ETC.

Dear Colleague,

We need your help to counter a serious threat to the humane use of animals in research. The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S 810), which would prohibit the use of chimpanzees in medical research, may be voted on in the Senate this week (it was approved by a Senate committee in July)! Passage of this bill could have devastating consequences for ongoing research into human diseases such as hepatitis C, as well as studies benefiting the great apes themselves. Even if you do not work with great apes, you should be concerned about this bill because it would end research deemed by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to be ethically sound and scientifically important and could pave the way for legislation to ban research with other species

Those who oppose the use of animals in research are making an aggressive effort to get this bill passed before Congress goes home for the year. We must let them know that chimpanzees are important animal models for research. Please take action now by going to http://capwiz.com/faseb/issues/alert/?alertid=62215781 to send an email to your Senators urging them to oppose the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act.

Sincerely,

Judith S. Bond, PhD

FASEB President
 

 

Warning this medical progress is not supported by those that oppose animal USE such as PETA, BUAV and HSUS!   

 

If you prefer to write directly as opposed to using the FASEB site, here is some text you can use from the same site.

As a constituent and biomedical researcher, I am writing to urge you to oppose the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S 810). This legislation, which would ban all invasive research involving great apes, ignores the scientific advice of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), would halt valuable ongoing disease research, and could severely compromise human health in the face of a rapidly spreading infectious disease for which no other animal or non-animal model is appropriate.
The IOM does not endorse a ban on the use of chimpanzees in research. In its recent report, "Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Assessing the Necessity" the IOM recognized "how disruptive an immediate outright ban would be, affecting animal care and potentially causing unacceptable losses to the public's health." Its report concluded that chimpanzees may be needed to treat new, emerging, or reemerging diseases or disorders; to complete development of monoclonal antibodies aimed at treating cancers and autoimmune diseases; and for behavioral and comparative genomics research. Many of the IOM committee and numerous other scientists and physicians believe that chimpanzees are necessary for evaluating hepatitis C vaccines. 

The Ebola virus is ravaging wild populations of chimpanzees and gorillas. In 2010, the first studies were conducted on laboratory chimpanzees to test the safety of a potential vaccine that could be used to protect these animals from this deadly disease. This and other research aimed at protecting wild apes would have to come to an end if this bill is adopted.
The claim that the bill will save money is false. The Congressional Budget Office recently determined that the legislation will actually cost $56 million to implement.
Passage of the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act would ignore the recommendations of the IOM and inhibit our efforts to improve human and animal health. I strongly urge you to oppose S 810, the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act.
 

NABR issued the following ALERT for US Constituents to act upon:

Urgent Alert:
Please Contact Your Senators Today to Oppose S.810,
The Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act

Late last week, a few members of the Senate attempted to take a step forward in bringing S. 810, the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (GAPCSA), to the floor for consideration. The attempt failed, in part because many Senators had already left for the weekend. However, supporters of the bill are likely to continue these efforts in the waning weeks of the 112th Congress so it is crucial that you IMMEDIATELY contact your members of Congress in opposition to GAPSCA. THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW!

• The legislation would take the unprecedented step of prohibiting the use of a research model, allowing public comment about the merit of specific research projects and protocols and opening the door for future prohibition of other research models.
• Legislation is unnecessary as NIH is in the process of implementing the recommendations of the IOM study, which was requested by NIH.
• Despite the fact that the bill claims to be a "Cost Savings" the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined the legislation would actually cost $56 million over the 2013-2017 period.

This legislation has serious implications for ALL biomedical research involving humane and responsible animal research, which is dedicated to improved treatments and cures for the many diseases afflicting both people and other animals. Not only will S. 810 prohibit the use of chimpanzees as a model for vital life-saving research, but it will subject scientific research (both private and federally funded) to the approval of the Secretary of Health & Human Services. Simply put, this legislation will put the future of biomedical research on dangerous ground.

Please click here to visit NABR's Capwiz page to send a letter to your representatives in Washington. If you would like to call your Senator, please click here to find their phone number. Please urge your family, friends, and fellow researchers to do the same as soon as possible! 

 

To find out more about the importance of research on Pan Troglodytes , read this fact sheet here!!

This post follows a previous alert / post I wrote 26.07.2012 that you can read here:

http://research4drugdiscovery.blogspot.com/2012/07/beware-take-action-for-animal-research.html