Editorial: Peace talk

May 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

One of our cover stories this month deals with the ongoing process of strategic disengagement,
on both sides, from the 200-year-old battle over animal use in laboratory
research––not as a matter of either side abandoning goals, but as a matter of recognizing
that common goals may be achieved more readily if the conflict is less intense.
ANIMAL PEOPLE over the past year has advanced 10 suggestions for strategic
disengagement in a manner which would simultaneously meet the major practical demands
of the animal rights community and the major needs of biomedical research. They are based
largely on inclinations already evident among both activists and researchers.
ANIMAL PEOPLE does not pretend that these suggestions can resolve the
inescapable conflict over the rightness or wrongness of animal use per se. But they might
form a mutually acceptable protocol for progress.

EDITORIAL: Peace talk

May 1, 1996 juanitoG Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

ANIMAL PEOPLE over the past year has advanced 10 suggestions for strategic disengagement in a manner which would simultaneously meet the major practical demands of the animal rights community and the major needs of biomedical research. They are based largely on inclinations already evident among both activists and researchers. Read more

Seeking the psychological well-being of primates

May 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1996:

NEW YORK, N.Y.––Even before Congress in 1985 amended the Animal Welfare
Act to mandate that laboratories are responsible for the “psychological well-being” of nonhuman
primates used in research, Henry Spira may have known that resolving the long impasse
in the 200-year-old debate over the ethics of using animals in biomedical research would
come down to accommodating primate behavior.
No primatologist himself, Spira brought to animal advocacy a background including
a multinational childhood, waterfront union organizing, and 22 years of teaching English
in inner city schools. Throughout, Spira noticed that what most people want most in any
conflict is not the goal itself, but rather, not to lose.
Losing means losing stature in the troop. Loss of stature means loss of security.
Goal-oriented negotiating, Spira realized, means finding a way for both parties to gain
stature: to achieve important objectives without sacrificing principle.
Read more

Whistleblowers fight back

March 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:

Jan Moor-Jankowski, M.D., founder and director for 30 years of the
Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates at New York University,
raised $1.2 million to retire the 225 LEMSIP chimps, coincidental with his own
retirement––but NYU last year froze the funds, closed LEMSIP, and ousted both MoorJankowski
and his lieutenant, James Mahoney, after they resigned from the NYU Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee, and filed complaints of primate care negligence with the
USDA that obliged the suspension of the NYU addiction research unit run by Ronald Wood.
The USDA probe of the Wood case is reportedly now complete; whether charges will be filed
or Wood will resume his work is yet to be seen. NYU president Jay Oliva and NYU Medical
Center associate dean David Scotch meanwhile sold the LEMSIP chimps to the Coulston
Foundation, a New Mexico-based research supplier, which is to take possession of the chimps
on March 15. Moor-Jankowski in 1991 won a landmark Supreme Court verdict for press freedom
against the Austrian pharmaceutical giant Immuno AG, which sued him for libel, as editor
of the International Journal of Primatology, after he published a letter-to-the-editor by
International Primate Protection League founder Shirley McGreal. Coulston filed a brief backing
Immuno. Investigating whether Moor-Jankowski was illegally punished for whistleblowing,
the USDA on December 22 subpoenaed Oliva, Scotch, and all related records.

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

March 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:

“We have raised 96% of the funds
for the Buckshire 12! It looks like they will
be here in March,” Primarily Primates secretary
Stephen Rene Tello told ANIMAL PEOP
L E at deadline. The Buckshire Eight, a
group of nonbreeding chimpanzees otherwise
destined for terminal research, became the
Buckshire 12 in January when the Buckshire
Corporation, eager to be out of the chimp
trade, offered to add four “prime breeder”
females to the group. “This meant we could
directly help prevent the breeding of chimps
for research,” explained Tello. It also meant
Primarily Primates needed to raise the funds to
build not just one more chimp enclosure, but
two. “Thanks to the direct efforts of Nancy
Abraham,” Tello added, “the Jacob Bleibteu
Foundation of New York agreed to fund a second
enclosure in its entirety.” That permits
“the largest retirement effort of its kind to
date,” said Tello. Primarily Primates still
needs support for the chimps’ ongoing care, at
POB 15306, San Antonio, TX 78212-8506.

Primates

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

Forced to cut costs by 24 weekends
of rain during the first nine months of
1995 plus a $53 million construction debt load
for expanded marine mammal facilities,
Marine World Africa USA on October 31 discontinued
the chimpanzee act run since 1982
by husband-and-wife team Liam and Kim
Hussey. Of the seven MWAUSA chimps,
four, ages 13, 15, 21, and 22, were already
retired from performing, and two others, ages
9 and 11, were near the usual upper age limit
for performing chimps. They are, however,
just coming into their prime breeding years,
and are highly valued members of the
American Zoo and Aquarium Association administered
chimpanzee Species Survival
Plan gene pool. “We have always wanted to

Help for dogs who have been hit by cars

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana––The Purdue University School of Veterinary
Medicine’s Center for Paralysis Research seeks dogs with spinal fractures, to participate in a
study of oscillating field stimulators, a type of surgically implanted rehabilitative device.
Eligible dogs cannot weigh more than 35 pounds; must be two to eight years old; must have
suffered fracture and dislocation of bones in the spinal column, a type of injury common in
dogs hit by cars, within the past 14 days; and must be completely paralyzed in the hindquarters.
Prospect dogs must be brought to the center by the owners. The center will cover all
medical costs of dogs accepted into the study. For further details, call 317-494-7600.
This is the second major Purdue study of spinal injuries in dogs to use only dogs
who already need medical help. A study of naturally occurring disc herniations, begun in
1988, has helped more than 300 dogs, 90% of whom were otherwise euthanasia candidates.

Call for uniform cruelty-free standards

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

WASHINGTON D.C.––The
National Consumers League and the
Massachusetts SPCA have asked U.S.
Commissioner of Food and Drugs David
Kessler to follow the lead of the European
Community in requiring that “any reference
to testing on animals” in product
labeling or advertising “state clearly
whether the tests carried out involved the
finished product and/or its ingredients.”
Consumer surveys done for the
NCL and MSPCA found that while 63%
of women prefer to buy cruelty-free health
and beauty aid products, many are confused
by the six different types of “cruelty-free”
claims in common use, many of
which conceal certain kinds of animal
testing. Lists of cruelty-free companies
circulated by animal protection groups are
rarely up-to-date and accurate. The NCL
and MSPCA said 90% of women would
favor a uniform cruelty-free standard.

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH & TESTING

January 1, 1996 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 1996:

The December edition of ANIMAL
PEOPLE had just hit the mail,
reporting that University of Washington
Regional Primate Research Center acting
director Dr. William Morton had declined to
comment on a series of leaked reports about
animal care problems, when Morton and staff
faxed us confirmation of most of the material
––delayed to coincide with official announcements.
As reported, the Washing-ton RPRC
in October agreed to a $20,000 civil penalty
for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare
Act contributing to the accidental deaths of
exposure of five baboons; half will be spent
for facilities improvements and repairs, environmental
enrichment, and employee training.

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