Animal research in doubt

There is a buzz going on about a recent article in the New York Times that deals with mouse models and their validity as models in some disease research. You can read the article here.

Scientists are quickly pointing out that the use of a single inbred mouse strain as was the case in this study, is not representative. Furthermore it is known that certain inbred mouse strains are resistant to septic shock, whereas others are much more susceptible. So yes the use of a certain inbred mouse strain in one study failed to translate into medicines for mankind and illustrates the limits of this particular strain for a given research or disease, however in my mind the article also reminds us of the importance of choosing the adequate or most valid animal model for a study. If I am not mistaken certain countries demand the use of two different animal species in studies such as for example rodents and primates. I now better understand the logic behind such a policy.



For a further in depth look at the article and its shortcomings, read this piece below. http://community.jax.org/genetics_health/b/weblog/archive/2013/02/13/why-mice-may-succeed-in-research-when-a-single-mouse-falls-short.aspx

All of this to say that in Science there are questions and it is only in attempting to answer them that discoveries and shortcomings come to light. Obviously Peta has a different take and calls the whole exercise a waste. Oh wait a minute if you are a firefigther and victim of skin burn, an unlikely incident for Peta staff writing from their cozy offices, I guess having a cure or treatment available is not important nor valuable, just let them people suffer! Animals aren't ours to experiment on.

Talking of animal research and its benefits I invite you to read this piece by Denise Beckfield whom says that whilst she opposes animal cruelty in research she benefits from it through surgery and medication.
Paralysed people too hope to one day find the use of their limbs back. Here's what's happening in research to assist those afflicted.  And here too http://ht.ly/hQY2D , or if you prefer the video click below. Still convinced that animal research is a waste?





 

TRAIL TO JAIL

A many years ago when I joined an all freigther operation I learned to apply preventive measures to ensure customers experience prime time customer satisfaction when using our services. This was part and parcel of a due dilligence process. This mindset has never left me and other employers have enjoyed the benefits thereof. You can read about this mindset in this excellent article that describes the crucial role of  animal research and its contributions to saving lives here.

Nowadays it seems one first has to experience something really bad before anything happens. Despite AETA, Animal extremists know this very well and their actions are slick orchestrated public relations campaigns to turn you into active figthers that combat for what is labeled ethically right. A prime example is the case of Camille Marino who's infamous TRIAL TO JAIL is well documented in this article
http://gawker.com/5976473/?post=56314650

Let's be clear the objective is not to engage debate but to stop animal use, regardless of medical progress and life saving medical procedures or drugs and the fate of millions of people that suffer or are waiting for cures. Did you know that there are over 34 million people worldwide infected with HIV? You can read about it here. One thing is sure ERADICATION of this disease will not be achieved if we leave it up to animal extremists (BUAV, PETA, HSUS, HSIC etc) for they oppose animal use and leave at a minimum 34 million people behind because they do not fit with what they consider right.

Others join the fray and portray those involved with animal research as Targets and prompt readers for action. As you can see here. No matter what you do they will always take things a step further and depict your legal activities as torture or immoral and inundate you with pre-written emails. However when they impose longer transit times onto animals to be transported because an airline decides to no longer carry research animals then that is called a victory... a victory with a bad smell that is.
And they call themselves Charities ....I say take away their tax exempt status. 

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!

 

Lost a battle but remember to win the war!

There is no victory in the announcement from PETA against Fedex, UPS and DHL.

Neither is there one as a result of this article in Nature called lab animal flights squeezed.

There is a set back, a battle has been lost. Patients have been silenced again by a radical minority.
But let's take a closer look at what has been written:
neither transporters are big players in the movement of animals. Why?
Well because mail or courier companies do not operate the same way as passenger or cargo airlines. They have sorting facilities that handle small parcels and therefore are not set up to handle live animals. Take a look at the videos below.

They may fly a charter here and there as Fedex does for larger zoo animals for example and as  the passenger carriers do. This kind of work attracts a lot of positive PR for them and the animal is treated with the red carpet, a VIP treatment of sorts.  Carriers involved in the movement of an endangered species, a repopulating effort, a re-introduction into the wild or an animal rescue attract positive support. Ask WWF or the Association of Zoo's and Aquariums, they know the value of the contribution of air carriers. Even PETA acknowledges this fact. So what is this double language? A double standard ? One for the public and one for when the issue suits the goal?

Gone is the cruel cargo, the crammed cages, the inhumane transport conditions, the suffering. Same aircrafts, same transport conditions. Airlines around the world follow identical rules and standards in terms of containers for air transport of live animals. All countries signatories to the Washington Convention known as CITES, accept, recognize these standards and airlines enforce them. But that is not what BUAV or PETA want the public to know. Why would one donate $$ when the facts are not the reality they want the public to believe? 

Remember to stand behind your industry associations and make sure transportation is on their agenda. Communicate achievements, breakthroughs and contributions to medical advancement to the general public, speak out about what it is you do and why. It is the credible way to win the war.


 

HSUS, PETA share $ and resources, Air China stops primate transport

Source Animal Agricultural Alliance

There is a complex interplay going on between animal organizations that involves money and people. No wonder then that there is commonality in targets, strategy and in moving forward against animal use industries. Here's how the Animal Agricultural Alliance describes it:

Radical activist organizations are leading the fight to grant animals the same legal rights as humans. The ideology of the animal rights movement- that animals are not ours to own, enjoy, or use in any way- is a direct assault on farmers and pet owners. Activists often hide their true agenda in order to gain the support of unknowing pet lovers. Here, you will find current updates from the world of animal rights.

In fact talking of targets and opposing animal use,  yet another airline - Air China - has ceased transporting laboratory destined monkeys, as PETA reports a victory against NHP laboratory animal transport:

http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2012/07/31/victory-cruelty-won-t-fly-with-air-china.aspx

Repeated by smash hls

http://smashhls.com/2012/08/01/air-china-no-longer-transporting-monkeys-for-vivisection/

The sad story continues? Not really. Facts and figures show that the majority of laboratory animals consist of rats and mice. Whilst research does need primates, the locations where research now takes place, are simply moving closer to where the animals are.

Should you be interested in where all these charitable donations go to at PETA take a look here: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4314

PETA in FY2011 earned $30,591,252 in contributions, whereas total expenses amounted to $36,869,314 leaving a $-5,057,199 deficit for the year!

Not bad for a registered charity that apparently doesn't run or own shelters and lives of public donations. According to the charity evaluator that leaves them with an overall one star rating out of four.

Extremists target AF-KL, United, Air China

Another merry go round for animal extremists by WAR-Faun, Peta against airlines!

**Join the WAR-FAUN Anti-Vivisection Alliance as we again converge on Air France-KLM Executive Offices in NYC to call them out for their complicity in the "lab" primate-trafficking blood trade! Come and stand with us in defense of our evolutionary next-of-kin at a WAR-FAUN Gateway to Hell! demo on Friday, July 27th!**

http://www.meetup.com/FAUNNJ/events/68131412/

 

United's One-Way Flights Are Deadly for Monkeys Claims PETA

Here's what PETA wants you to do:

In addition to not booking a flight with United Airlines and the other heartless airlines that transport monkeys to U.S. laboratories, please take another step to help end this cruel practice by urging these airlines to adopt a policy against the transportation of monkeys destined for laboratories.

Also, take a moment of your time to let United Airlines know that you will not be flying with the airline until it stops transporting monkeys to laboratories:

● Post a message on United Airlines' Facebook page.

● Tweet at United Airlines on Twitter.

● Send an e-mail directly to United Airlines.

This is part of PETA's AIR CRUELTY campaign which asks airlines to stop shipping monkeys to be tortured. Here's what they want you to say to UNITED at their PETSAFE email:

I was dismayed to learn that your airline continues to facilitate cruelty to animals by transporting primates destined for laboratories. These highly social, intelligent beings are routinely mutilated, poisoned, deprived of food and water, forcibly immobilized in restraint devices, infected with painful and deadly diseases, and psychologically tormented.
Additionally, primates suffer from the long and grueling transport in the cargo holds of planes and in the backs of trucks. For these reasons, nearly every major airline including Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and Aer Lingus refuses to transport primates for use in experiments. It is shameful that your airline lags behind and continues to support this cruel practice.
Please join leading airline companies and adopt a formal policy prohibiting the transport of primates destined for laboratories to ensure that your company plays no role in the suffering of these animals.

If you want to look at the campaign follow this link

Another association American Anti Vivisection Society has a letter up too, protesting United's policy of transporting laboratory animals. The emails are sent to Jeffery A. Smisek President and CEO. Follow the link here to view the Transport Trouble campaign.
PETA also wants Air China to stop transporting non human primates, here's what their web site says:

Even though nearly every major airline in the world has abandoned the disgraceful practice, Air China continues to transport hundreds of monkeys from Asia to their deaths in some of the cruelest laboratories in the United States.

To read it follow the link here


This type of continued harassment has got to stop for the intention is to damage the reputation of the airlines and cause economic loss. If you can not stop research don't try stopping transportation! There is no law saying this transportation activity is illegal and certainly neither is animal research! In fact the benefits and medical advances using animal research have been demonstrated over and again.

Animal extremist message spreading East

Peta most recently has asked its members and the public to urge Air China to stop shipping monkeys to laboratories. There is a build in email campaign containing a pre-written text that one can use to send straight from the page. To whom I don't know since I did not try.
The above is part of a greater campaign that targets any airline involved in primate transport (see link below).
https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3888

With this PETA joins the likes of the BUAV whom have launched similar campaigns to stop primate transport. The idea behind it is simple: stop transportation of laboratory animals, or make it as difficult as possible and animal based research will come to a grinding halt. BUAV actually goes a step further in that they associate the use of young primates with a baby trade. http://www.buav.org/our-campaigns/primate-campaign/

Animal breeding countries are approached at the highest level (see letter email campaign to the Prime minister of Mauritius). The BUAV is the trading name to end all animal experiments.
The people that work at breeding centers whether they are animal care takers or doctors in veterinary medicine should just give it all up and work elsewhere I guess? That part of the equation is never mentioned by animal extremists. The use of their resources is primarily a domestic issue and is certainly not an illegal activity, transporting laboratory animals even less so! Even though primates are listed on CITES appendices, the convention does not prohibit trade but provides for a mechanism and the conditions under which trade can take place. Granted that bans can (and are) be imposed.
The increasing campaigns and lobbying affects also zoo's that are involved in conservation and re-introduction efforts, for carriers opt out from transporting animals altogether.

The animal extremist message is spreading its wings eastward in Europe as one can see from this international animal rights gathering web site:
http://www.argathering.net/workshops.html

Here's how they define themselves:

The International Animal Rights Gathering is an annual event which brings together activists from all over the world for a weekend of workshops, talks, discussions, films, information stalls, entertainment and networking. The aim of the gathering is to promote and improve co-operation and co-ordination between activists from many different countries, with the aim of building a strong coherent global movement to fight animal exploitation and spread compassion. This is particularly important bearing in mind that most animal exploitation and abuse is an international business which operates across international borders, so it's vital that we as a movement also learn to think and work globally too.

When confronted with animal extremists, Airlines simply opt out from animal transportation and that is good for no one, except animal use abolitionists. Sad but true.

An invitation

Again and again the same falacious tactics are used to lobby airlines to stop transporting non human primates. PETA has such a campaign going on the web. It is called: ask airlines to stop shipping monkeys to be tortured. The call to action is fallacious for it makes a link between airlines and torture. It also creates an impression that there is no oversight whatsoever as to what is happening in a laboratory, in aviation and the importations of animals. There also isn't a word about regulatory authorities and the hard work they do on all the shipments that enter a country (vets, inspectors etc).

Whilst the picture on the web site displays wooden crates, there is no obvious sign of an animal being cramped in them. The message also infers that there are no inspections or other criteria for shipping animals into the US, which is absurd. I can assure you that, often in tandem with government agencies, airlines have been setting international container standards for shipment of animals since 1969 at a time where animal welfare was a notion few had heard of. That is not to say that everything was perfect but certainly nothing was left unattended.

These international airline standards are reviewed on an annual basis and published annually by IATA in the Live Animals Regulations manual. These same container standards are recognized by CITES through a resolution and are applicable for the transportation of CITES listed species. They are also applicable in Europe through EC directive 1 2005. The animal welfare organisations such as the HSUS, WSPCA etc are aware of this CITES resolution as are the signatory countries to the Washington Convention.  Some of them participate in the meetings of the CITES transport working group, as I have done in the past. It doesn't prevent the animal extremist organisations to spread wrong information and lead the general public to action airlines and associate airlines with the suffering of animals.

Asking the airlines to stop transporting monkeys because they are destined to laboratories is like asking airlines to stop transporting passengers because they are involved in a perfectly legal activity that PETA just happens to not like, such as for example farming, fishing, clothing, chemical testing, drug discovery, food and other retail, cosmetics, companionship animals, animal conservation etc. the list is just too long to go on but you get the picture. Guilty by association is the message to their members and the public, what are you going to do about it. Send them a clear message, it is already pre-written for you and all you need to do is to click on "send this message". 

If you are working in an animal use industry or your company caters to them, make sure your voice is heard through your associations and your government representatives. The time for change is now.