Heart 4 Animals

Have you ever wondered how many animals suffer in labs? It’s a good question. Because there are so many animals in laboratories and records are not kept for all animals, estimates of the number of animals tortured and killed annually in U.S. laboratories vary widely but are in the millions.

The Animal Welfare Act requires laboratories to report the number of animals used in experiments, but it does not cover mice, rats, and birds (used in some 80 to 95 percent of all experiments). Because these animals are not covered by the act, they remain uncounted, and we can only guess at how many actually suffer and die each year.

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Many household products and cosmetics companies still pump their products into animals’ stomachs, rub them onto their skin, squirt them into their eyes, or force animals to inhale them as aerosol sprays. Charities such as the March of Dimes use donations from private citizens to fund experiments on animals, and the FDA requires all drugs to be tested on animals. However, animals differ from humans significantly, making animal drug tests unreliable and dangerous. New research methods, such as computer models, cell cultures, and human studies are more accurate, less expensive, and much more humane.

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Meet David Waitzman, an animal experimenter at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Waitzman had a $1.7 million grant from the federal government that funded his cruel research on monkeys. He used the money to drill holes into monkeys’ skulls and implant steel coils in their eyeballs over and over again.

Let me share with you a shocking account from an actual cage log of Cornelius, one of the tortured monkeys in Waitzman’s experiments. Cornelius suffered from tremors and seizures for more than eight months after Waitzman drilled into his skull, yet Waitzman continued to use Cornelius in experiments in which he was held immobile in a restraint chair and his brain was poked and prodded. On his final day, Cornelius started vomiting and convulsing during an experiment. The convulsions developed into grand mal seizures, and Cornelius died from cardiac arrest.

So many helpless animals like Cornelius—some just babies—are condemned to spend their entire lives in barren metal cages in windowless laboratories. They are force-fed, injected with toxins, and afflicted with painful diseases. Chemicals are sprayed in their eyes and poured down their throats, and electrodes are implanted in their brains. Experimenters cut tissue from animals’ bodies without any anesthesia. All the animals are scared, and many die slow, painful deaths, as Cornelius did.

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Companies that do not test on animals proudly state it on their labels. Send back items that you have from companies that test on animals, and write a letter to the companies explaining why you won’t buy their products anymore. For more information on animal testing and a list of companies that do not test on animals, see PETA’s Shopping Guide for Caring Consumers and be sure to share it with your friends! Learn more . > Donate to help PETA in its efforts to stop unnecessary Animal Testing .

Souce: PETA