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

 

Science, medical progress, animals and YOU

Dear reader,

I am concerned about what is happening in Montreal with pharmaceuticals and their R&D centers. Aren't you?

The latest announcement came from Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) in Laval - 170 jobs lost at their Virology research facility, a well known center of excellence with a focus on translational research.

The 36$million investment was discribed as follows by BI in 2008 at the time of opening

(source http://www.newswire.ca/fr/story/284091/boehringer-ingelheim-completes-36-million-investment-in-laval-for-state-of-the-art-research-centre) :

"On behalf of Boehringer Ingelheim, I am proud to be in Laval to mark this historic day within the company as we celebrate this new expansion project," said Christian Boehringer, Chairman of the Shareholders Committee Boehringer Ingelheim.
"The Laval facility has contributed to scientificdiscovery in the area of virology that may not only help patients in Canada,but around the world. This site is expected to make an even greater contribution to the translation of scientific discoveries into drugs which help patients. And that is what Boehringer Ingelheim stands for, research into health areas of unmet need."
As one of the four principal research centers for Boehringer Ingelheim worldwide, the Laval facility focuses on the discovery of new treatments for Hepatitis C and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, which causes AIDS)infection, diseases for which either no vaccine exists or current therapy is unsatisfactory. The new laboratories will allow Boehringer Ingelheim to continue to contribute to and complement its existing product portfolio, which includes HIV treatments VIRAMUNE(R) and APTIVUS(R).

Neither of the diseases mentioned have been cured as far as I know and the quality of the research nor the researchers are at cause for the announced 2013 closure.

So what is happening in the pharmaceutical world? Is research being delocated? Is there no more translational research taking place in Montreal, or is the industry increasingly being prevented from bringing in crucial research animals such as non human primates? In the United Kingdom because of animal rights actions, the situation has deteriorated to such a point that there's no UK based carrier available to transport research animals such as non human primates into the country. Non human primates are critical research models used in the search for cures against both deseases (Hep C and HIV).

I think it is time for the general public to better understand how animal research is linked to medical progress and why we need to have research centers in Montreal, Québec and abroad if we want to continue to be important players in the search for cures and medical advancement.

An initial piece of information can be found here http://www.pro-test.org.uk/MAAR.pdf

and for us in Canada here: http://www.chrcrm.org/en/importance-animals-research

What can you do to help?

1/Stand by the pharmaceutical and airline industry and voice your support through associations such as AALAS – American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (www.aalas.org), CALAS—Canadian Association for Laboratory Animal Science (www.calas-acsal.org) ICLAS – International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (www.iclas.org) and other scientific and professional organizations that advocate for both biomedical research and laboratory animal welfare. Ensure that the issue of protecting humane research animal transportation is on their agendas.

2/Ensure that your elected officials appreciate the importance of research centers and animal research. Ask them to look into the problems of delocating research and the declining pool of available airlines for the continued transport of research animals.

3/Inform others as to the humane and judicious nature of animal research, and why it is still needed. Underscore its achievements and the medical progress to which it has contributed. Information and links to resources to get you started are available from Speaking of Research site, and on my Advancing Animal Research blog at http://research4drugdiscovery.blogspot.ca/