AV activism

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 1998:

Allegedly abusive animal experiments have
occasionally been halted by protest, professional
review, political intervention, and/or legal action, but
Radley Hirsch, founder and owner of San Francisco
Audio, may be the first supplier of research equipment
to delay or even stop an experiment by turning down a
customer. University of California at San Francisco
researchers Marshal Fong and Stephen Cheung want
to deafen six squirrel monkeys, then cut into their
brains to see the damage. Receiving the Fong/Cheung
order on February 11, Hirsch started to build a sound
system to their specifications, then balked upon discovering
what it was for. “It all comes back to you,”
Hirsch told Keay Davidson of the San Francisco
Examiner. “If you’re an evil person, bad things happen
to you. If you’re a good person, nice things happen.”

At least 49 animal rights groups have united
as the Coalition to End Primate Experimentation,
coordinated by Linda J. Howard at either fax 301-493-
5355 or >>CEPEmail@yahoo.com<<. “We are calling
for the creation of a presidential advisory committee
composed of primate experts and informed laypeople,”
the coalition declared in a joint “Call for an immediate
moratorium on primate research,” to “make a recommendation
to the president and the nation regarding the
ethical implications of continuing exploitative primate
research. Until the committee’s report is finalized, federal
funding for primate research should cease.”
Last Chance for Animals founder Chris
D e R o s e on June 16 showed off $100,000 cash at the
Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, posted as a
reward for anyone who provides information leading to
the conviction of researchers or institutions for either
animal abuse or falsifying research.
The American Anti-Vivisection Society o n
June 10 was advised by BIC, the makers of BIC pens,
that after an interval of “working with experts in product
safety testing to evaluate reliable alternatives to animal
testing in the development of new products,” the
firm has “declared a worldwide moratorium on all animal
testing.” The announcement noted that future
developments, including regulatory change, could
force a resumption of animal testing, but added “BIC
also continues to support legislation that eliminates testing
on animals.”