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Protest Experimental Exploitation during WWAIL

Participate in or organize an event between April 22nd and 28th

This year's World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL) begins on April 22nd, so start making your plans now to take part in this global consciousness-raising event. IDA has acted as the international coordinator of WWAIL since 1986, and each year sees more activity aimed at ending the suffering of animals used in experiments

While tens of millions of animals are killed in medical experiments and products testing every year, the public knows little about what goes on behind locked and guarded lab doors because the research industry deliberately hides their animal abuse and portrays themselves as dedicated to the humane treatment of animals. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. Some recent scandals that have come to light show just the tip of the iceberg, and call activists to take action to expose the cruelty of animal research during WWAIL and throughout the year.

In late February 2007, IDA's Rita Anderson, director of the Committee for Research Accountability (CRA), discovered that at least 18 dogs and 191 pigs were killed at the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC) since 2000 during training workshops for the sales staff of Valleylab, an electrosurgery systems manufacturer. Valleylab paid UCDHSC to train its staff in the use of the company's medical equipment using their staff and facilities, where about 100 of these sales training labs were held.

Not surprisingly, UCDHSC, a public university funded by taxpayers, kept these activities secret. Anderson had to review about 350 pages of documents obtained from an open records request to find out that they were even taking place, following which she immediately notified three University of Colorado Regents. In response, the university announced they would permanently end the labs. In an email forwarded by a CU Regent, the university’s attorney stated, "The campus has decided to stop these activities because it is not part of UCDHSC's core mission. Therefore, the campus will no longer allow our facilities to be used for programs where the sole purpose is the training of sales personnel."

UCDHSC's arrangement with Valleylab is reminiscent of another recent incident at the Cleveland Clinic in which a neurosurgeon killed a dog as part of a medical device sales demonstration of a machine manufactured by Micrus Endovascular Corp.. IDA and other animal protection organizations argued that the dog's life could have been spared if the doctor had instead used a high-tech silicone model that is equally or more effective for training people in the use of medical equipment. Unlike UCDHSC, Micrus has yet to denounce the killing of live animals in sales demonstrations of their medical equipment.

For the past several years, Rita Anderson has spearheaded a much-publicized campaign to end widely criticized primate experiments taking place at UCDHSC led by researcher Mark Laudenslager. Her efforts bore fruit in September 2006 when 11 of the "CU-34" bonnet macaque monkeys used in these studies were sent to a Texas primate sanctuary. "In light of years of maternal separation and alcohol studies on monkeys and now this Valleylab issue," said Anderson, "my concern is that we do not know what else is being done behind the locked doors of CU's laboratories. Since neither the Health Sciences chancellor nor the Regents were aware the sales labs were taking place, we can only wonder what other activities university officials are hiding from the public. People have a right to know, and I intend to do everything I can to find out."

Tragically, such cruelties are taking place in university labs and products testing companies throughout the U.S. and abroad. WWAIL provides animal advocates with an opportunity to make the public more aware that animals are being abused every day in experiments and to hold researchers accountable for disregarding the lives of other species.

What You Can Do

Visit www.vivisectioninfo.org to learn more about animal experimentation. Then visit www.wwail.org to find out whether an event has been planned for your area and to organize and register your own WWAIL event.