At APE, we believe in new ideas to promote awareness for abused primates around the world.
We are proud to have helped the NAVS/ADI Written Declaration 40/2007 which was a huge success by promoting Maria Daines' song MiaC.
Read all about the MiaC initiative HERE : http://www.ad-international.org/mmap/go.php?id=1069&ssi=61
This is what was achieved by the wonderful NAVS and ADI : http://www.ad-international.org/mmap/go.php?id=1079&ssi=65
"No civilised country should be using highly intelligent and sensitive creatures for experiments, the purpose of which is all too often simply to make money. Crude 18th century medical practices have no place in our 21st century world".
Norman Baker MP
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"I am very happy to support this song and the campaign to ban experiments on primates. It is clear that primates are intelligent beings with feelings. We should not therefore subject them to needless suffering and pain. I hope this song will help highlight the campaign and increase the pressure on Government to ban experiments on them".
Mike Hancock CBE MP
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"Nobody wants to put human life or health at risk but increasingly we are aware that primate testing is largely unnecessary. We can therefore move towards a world when we no longer have to sacrifice primates in the search for scientific advance. In the first instance we can absolutely ban the use of the great apes and of animals caught in the wild. Then we can put the pressure on to find and validate alternatives to the tests that currently use macaques and marmosets."
John Bowis MP
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"I think the song is excellent, and I applaud this noble effort in raising awareness of the horror of primate experimentation".
Paul Blanchard MP
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As an MP, I have always campaigned for the welfare of all animals. As our closest relatives, experimentation on primates is particularly disturbing. I very much hope that this song will continue to raise awareness about the suffering of primates.
Rt Hon Ann Clwyd MP
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"With the wealth of evidence circulating outside the control of the media it is clear to most people that there are big problems in seeking to advance human medicine by relying on the use of animals. Significantly, the use of our closest cousins in this quest reveals insignificant benefits and unacceptable suffering.
It is a widely held view that the time has come for things to change for the better. There are a number of exciting projects in the pipeline aimed at bringing positive changes and Monkey in a Cage is one of them. Despite what we are led to feel, every one of us has an immense amount of power to effect change. Here it begins. "
Kieth Mann
Author ~ From Dusk till Dawn
As a race Mankind has evolved, into a superior technical and scientific wonder of this Earth.
But for all of 'Mans' wonders he has forgotten the simplest thing - to 'respect' the animal kingdom with the rights it truly deserves.
Man 'can' and 'must' find alternatives to animal experiments, for if we do not, an important part of our intelligence as Human Beings is wasted.
Animals are not lower beings, they feel a vast range of feelings close to our own, we owe them a more dignified life, and I wish this song great success in raising awareness to those who SUFFER with no voice, to say - "No to animal testing!"
Melita Morgan
Actress from The Movie Mister Lonely
www.myspace.com/melitamorgan
Britain's Shame : New figures reveal 15 year vivisection high
Home Office figures released earlier this week (23 July 2007) show that during 2006 the number of animal experiments in Britain broke the three million barrier. Only those experiments that potentially cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm are counted. The latest figures represent the highest number of animals sacrificed for 15 years and places Britain at the top of the European cruelty league:
• All animal experiments up by 115,834 to 3,012,032
• Experiments with no anaesthetic up by 109,200 to 1,856,200.
• Poisoning experiments up by 27,400 to 420,500.
• Experiments on mice up 106,022 to 2,067,071
• Experiments on rats down 18,359 to 406,168
• Experiments on birds up 1,272 to 114,428
• Experiments on guinea pigs up 1,165 to 30,184
• Experiments on sheep up 7,048 to 36,377
• Experiments on cattle down 13,776 to 5,334
• Experiments on cats up 24 to 524
• Experiments on dogs down 25 to 7,595
• Experiments on primates down 448 to 4,204
• Experiment on fish up 41,212 to 274,066
• Radiation experiments on all animals up by 2,769 to 11968.
• Inhalation experiments on dogs up 702 to 732
• Experiments on GM animals up 77,900 to 1,035,343
Scientific reviews and the TGN1412 affair are highlighting the failures of animal experiments and their lack of relevance to human medicine. The growing toll of suffering and killing in British laboratories is testament to the Government's cavalier approach to both science and animal protection, and highlights New Labour's failure to fulfil its pledge to reduce animal research that it made prior to coming to power in 1997.
Dr Dan Lyons, Uncaged's Campaigns
www.uncaged.co.uk/
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Did you know…?
Over three million animals are used for experiments in the UK every year. As a result an animal dies in a laboratory somewhere in the UK every 12 seconds. Not only are these experiments scientifically unreliable in predicting effects in humans, but there are many non-animal alternatives that offer a cheaper, quicker and more accurate solution.
The only things that prevent change are the lack of political will to actively seek alternatives and the vested interests that take the path of least resistance. A change of hearts and minds is needed.
BUAV
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The following companies either openly use animal-tested chemicals, or fail to demonstrate that the finished product and the ingredients they use have not been tested on animals since a fixed cut-off date.
COMPANIES TO BOYCOTT
Avon Cosmetics - Jeyes
Beiersdorf - Johnson & Johnson
The Body Shop/L’Oreal+ Lancome
Chanel - Lever - Fabergé
Christion Dior - L’Oreal/Nestlé
Clinique - Miners Cosmetics
Colgate Palmolive - PZ Cussons
Coty - Reckitt - Benckiser
Ecover - Revlon
Estée Lauder - SC Johnson
FCUK - Virgin Vie
Garnier - Yardley
Givenchy - Yves Rocher
GlaxoSmithKline - Yves Saint Laurent
Helena Rubenstein - Unilever
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"Results from animal tests are not transferable between species, and therefore cannot guarantee product safety for humans...In reality these tests do not provide protection for consumers from unsafe products, but rather they are used to protect corporations from legal liability." -- Gundersheimer, Herbert, M.D., Baltimore 1988
"I do not believe that any of the suffering I have caused to laboratory animals has helped humanity in the slightest." -- Ryder, Richard D., English scientist and author
"I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence."
(Mahatma Gandhi)
"Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character."
(George Bernard Shaw)
"We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form". ~William Ralph Inge
"To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime."
Romain Rolland, author, Nobel Prize 1915
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ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
At the start of the 21st Century, non-animal techniques have become the cutting edge of medical research. Animal experiments are being replaced by a range of alternative methods that frequently prove cheaper, quicker and more effective - as well as saving lives.
Cell culture
It is possible to obtain human cells and tissues from biopsies, post-mortems, placentas, or as waste from surgery, and grow them in the laboratory. Cell cultures are used in many medical fields, and have contributed enormously to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of cancer, Parkinson's disease, and AIDS. Cell cultures are routinely used in vaccine production, toxicity testing, drug development and to diagnose disease.
It is important that human cells, rather than animal cells, are used for medical research, to avoid the problem of relating results from one species to another. To encourage the use of human tissue the Dr Hadwen Trust has helped establish the Human Tissue Bank at Leicester. The Dr Hadwen Trust has funded research using human cells and tissues to replace animal experiments, into Alzheimer's disease, cancer, rheumatism, cataracts, allergies, meningitis, and more.
Molecular methods
Technological advances are resulting in new and improved molecular methods for analysing and identifying new compounds and medicines. The Trust has provided analytical equipment to researchers selecting new anti-cancer and anti-malaria drugs, based on their molecular interaction with DNA, as an alternative to selecting drugs by animal tests.
Research at the molecular level is being used to understand the biochemistry and genetics underlying various illnesses, and leading to better treatments. A Trust researcher is using newly devised technology to rapidly analyse DNA from patients all over Europe and identify genes that predispose individuals to fibrosing lung disease. This approach is an alternative to modelling the illness in animals such as genetically modified mice.
Microorganisms
Tests with simple microorganisms, such as bacteria and yeasts, are being used as early indicators of chemicals likely to be harmful, and are frequently faster, cheaper and more humane than animal tests. Bacteria can be genetically manipulated to manufacture useful products previously obtained from animals, such as human insulin and monoclonal antibodies.
The Trust's research into diabetes successfully used a microscopic organism called Hydra, as an alternative to diabetic animals. Whilst another Trust researcher has developed a test-tube method of growing the microbes responsible for causing sleeping sickness, a fatal tropical illness, replacing the mice normally used for research into this disease.
Computer models
Computers are increasingly being used to model the structure and actions of new drugs, and to predict their safety. Computer models of whole biological systems are now being developed on which experiments can be conducted, as alternatives to experiments on animals.
The Trust has funded research on various computer models including a model of the human p lacenta and foetus to study problems affecting unborn babies; and a model of the human jaw and teeth for dental research. These models are based on relevant human data and can be used to carry o ur simulated experiments, in place of experiments on animals. We have also supported work using mathematical modelling to improve cancer trea tments, and to explore illnesses of ageing.
Population research
Studying the diseases in human populations, and the effects of lifestyle, diet and occupation, has already revealed a great deal about cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis , and birth defects. Such information is vital to improving human health and providing clues to the causes of illnesses. The Trust is funding part of a large population study into how fetal and infant growth influences the development of heart disease in later life, as an alternative to experiments on pregnant animals.
Volunteer studies
One of the best ways to conduct medical research is by studying the whole human being. New scanning and imaging techniques are making it increasingly possible to conduct safe and ethical studies of human volunteers, where previously animals had been used.
Trust projects use a variety of sophisticated imaging techniques to non-invasively investigate the intact human body. These include using a MEG scanner to study epileptic patients; investigating pain in patients with fMRI; and developing a novel technique, TMS, to study the function of the human brain in healthy volunteers
UPDATE : Funds are desperately needed for 'Pro Animalia' a group in Indonesia helping primates - there are 1000 friends on Britches page, but so far only 6 people have purchased a T-Shirt; it was hoped a lot more would support this campaign and buy one too. If you are unable to buy-please promote this campaign as much as possible to raise much needed funds - THANK YOU.
