Air India blocks research.

Important Update!
Now that Air India has decided to continue laboratory animal transportation, they have become the target of  those that oppose animal use. The battle rages on Air India's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/air.india.airlines#!/air.india.airlines and PETA has a campaign up and running for all to lobby the airline. Of course PETA doesn't just stop there it lobbies Airlines to stop COVANCE from doing research on animals and introduces resolutions to shareholders meetings - read here http://www.peta.org/features/covance-incs-cruel-animal-experimentation.aspx/

Please go ahead and show your support to Air India by leaving positive comments in support of their decision to continue transporting laboratory animals. Also make sure you sign the petition towards medical advancement through science and animal research - because medical progress matters to all of us!!
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/support-medical-progress-through-science-and-animal-research

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Reading this article , should send shivers down your spine!

An Air India cargo manager issued , or most likely was asked to issue, a circular in which staff were instructed not to accept laboratory destined animals on Air India flights. The article furthermore says that appeals from the scientific community, the secretary of the Biotechnology department and the head of the Scientific Advisory Council to India's Prime Minister appealing the decision have all fallen on deaf ears. Even the Minster of civil aviation could not change the poorly conceived decision.
The Times of India in this article, not surprisingly mentions PETA involvement. (SEE Comments section for an update as to Air India's decision to re-instate the carriage of laboratory animals)

Again a perfect example of a minority dicating their views onto a silent majority. None of these animal extremist groups, be they PETA, HSUS, BUAV or HSI have been elected to implement their views or their agendas. Their tactics are well known and their aims are to stop any animal use by direct and indirect actions. For examples of indirect actions please read my post called Animal welfare unpopular. Their affiliations and sharing of resources are known too, read here.

In the US, Camille Marino of Negotiation is over (NIO) has been imprisoned according to the extremist web site.  Cyber threats have to stop and those that incite others towards commiting this kind of intimidation actions should be sued - see for example smash hls south florida and their target list. The fact did not go unnoticed as is reported here in Nature's blog.

The fact of the matter is that animal research follows stringent rules , don't take my word for it read this article and make your own opinion. It also remains necessary as is illustrated by the Cancer Research blog in the article that relates the creation of a life saving drug Imatinib (Gleevec/Glivec) against Cancer. Read the story of those that were involved. Perhaps you or a family member, a friend or a relative have been saved by what was then called a miracle drug in Time magazine?

Remember, animal research is important because it contributes to finding cures and medical progress matters to all of us! If you agree with the above, if you support animal transport regardless of its purpose or if you disagree with Air India and all those taking us hostage and preventing medical progress to take place, please take a few minutes and sign the online petition that supports medical advancement through science and animal research. Thank you!

 

Animal extremists target Airlines, Airports, Freight Forwarders and all related in any way to research on animals

Without the airports, airlines, ferries and customs clearers this trade would not be able to go on. They are the ones keeping these animals suffering and they are the ones we need to stop in order to shut down the trade in animals for vivisection. Get involved today and play your part in this monumental fight.

IT'S TIME TO CLOSE THE GATEWAY'S TO HELL!

The above paragraph comes from a Transit Cruelty web page part of NAVA's Gateway to hell campaign. On the same web site carriers are called targets, as are trucking companies or freight forwarders. http://www.antivivisection.info/campaigns/gateway/airlines.html

It is nothing new, there are similar campaigns from like minded organizations. Read this web site:

http://www.airsouffrance.fr/

The actions are not without consequences to science and medical advancement as is reported here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9142442/Ministers-seek-deal-to-save-animal-testing-imports-being-taken-over-by-military.html

Calling someone or a company a target goes beyond the right to demonstrate peacefully or to use the freedom of expression when the aim is to stop the animal use by all means necessary. In this case the efforts aim at transportation and more specifically air transportation. Some extremist groups target importers or those companies that work with pharmaceuticals or research institutions such as universities.

Take a look here:

http://smashhls.com/category/targets/ and here

http://smashhls.com/2012/07/17/third-demonstration-at-john-resutas-cutler-bay-home/

The aim remains the same : to stop any animal use.

After years of criminal harassment, arson, constant threats and million $ in damages to properties etc, in the US and the UK things have finally changed for these kind of behaviours are no longer tolerated. Animal extremist activists are finally prosecuted and jailed.

Camille Marino, a Florida based Animal extremist known for her activism on her infamous blog Negotiation is over, will now serve time in jail, as is reported here http://speakingofresearch.com/2012/07/16/marino-is-over-hopefully/.

David Jentsch , an unlikely activist as he likes to call himself and founder of Protest for Science, http://unlikelyactivist.com/about/ , is a scientist and once a victim of animal extremists. He describes in his post how after constant intimidation and harassment he took things in his hands and went to court to sue Camille Marino and won. A welcome development towards answering animal extremists.

The time of apologetic messages about why animals are used in research is over and the research industry players refuse to be held hostage by these groups. Their messages and outreach efforts are increasingly being heard by the general public and politicians as is witnessed here

http://animaltestingperspectives.org/2011/news-and-interviews/basics-news-and-interviews/are-scientists-out-of-step-with-public-on-animal-research/ .

Facts and Figures for the EU are available here: http://www.animalresearchforlife.eu/index.php/en/factsfigures

So what about research itself ? Does it or not contribute to medical advancement? Is it really necessary?

Take a look here: http://www.nabr.org/Biomedical_Research/Medical_Progress.aspx and find out through work done by Nobel price winners using animals.

Do think twice before saying no to transporting research animals for the very drugs transported under temperature controlled conditions more often than not originate at the very beginning of the drug discovery process :

http://www.animalresearch.info/en/drug-development/the-process/

If you are interested in medical advancement and how animal research contributes, or are being pressured by animal extremist groups feel free to read my blog posts here:

http://research4drugdiscovery.blogspot.ca/

or to contact me at Raemdoncke@gmail.com

A world apart

Sometimes taking a step backwards is necessary. Looking at what is happening in animal research I have said it before, is fascinating. One such institution involved in animal research in the US is the Washington National Primate research Center. It does research on AIDS and related diseases, Non human primates systems biology, neuroscience, evolutionary emergence of infectious diseases and more.

Take a look at their  web pages:

Washington National Primate Research Center

Not all of us fully understand the use of non human primates in research but looking at the various articles and the fields the researchers are involved in, sheds light on what it is they are trying to achieve and how research improves human health. Of course science is not providing an immediate answer to what are complex questions but instead it tries to unravel bits and pieces, the answers of which together in a collaborative effort over time lead to the understanding of mechanisms and processes that affect humans and animals alike.

When in the eighties people started to die from an unknown disease later called AIDS and caused by the human immunodefeciency virus, there were more questions than there were answers. Many died of the disease, whereas now when treated that is, they no longer do.  It is easy to in a few paragraphs jump from where we were to where we are at now. Nevertheless it took many scientists, a lot of money, time and work to answer such questions as the causes of AIDS, symptoms, infection, diagnosis and treatment.  And Yes animals were used to find answers. If you were involved in this research you as a member of this community would have had to live with the pressures of understanding the disease, finding treatments and establishing pathways to potential cures such as through vaccines, whilst being asked to reduce the amount of animals used in research. I take my hat off to you. For more information on primate use in research, you can go to
Macaque


For us members of the general public, it is therefore important to make the link between animal research and the process that leads to drug discovery and the bringing to market of  drugs.
This site gives you an excellent overview of the drug development process.
The drug development process

And then there are people like this that are a world apart. I will let you make your own opinion.

south Florida smash hls  or this negotiation is over and airsouffrance or BUAV cargo cruelty campaign

Mine is made. My vote goes to research!