I received this email this morning from the kind folks at Speaking of Research. Take a look…
We could really do with your help on this one. PeTA and Camille’s loons have the bit between their teeth and are getting quite a lot of traction in the local press and the web from their lies and distortions regarding Primate Products, and their campaign seems to have gained quite a lot of momentum. While most of Primate Product’s clients have stood firm the pressure is only going to grow, as DrugMonkey’s post yesterday indicates.
[Please read] Allyson’s post (see Confronting Misrepresentation) . We need to teach organizations like Primate Products Inc and the University of Florida that they need to engage more with the public, and that there are those out there willing to support them.
Please help us if you can, you and your readers could help to turn things around.
Paul
As a bit of background, photos of injured monkeys from a Florida company called Primate Products were “leaked” to the media. The photos show monkeys with injuries and were taken by company veterinarians to document the medical care they were receiving But, you should absolutely go read Allyson’s post. Her analysis is spot on, especially with regards to the misrepresentation of events. As Allyson writes:
Examples of misleading coverage of animal research presented publicly without
essential background, context, or explanation from sources within the animal
research community abound. More often than not, these stories are shaped
primarily by animal activists who are unconstrained by desire to provide
accurate information… Also notable in these stories is that
not only do they rarely receive full consideration of all of the facts, but they
also are rarely matched by widespread coverage when the results are in from the
federal agency investigations that activists typically call <warning: AR extremist site>
for in their press releases.
This made me think of my recent foray into the realm of anaphylaxis. If you walked into an emergency room and took a picture, without context or a base of knowledge from which to evaluate the photo, any number of horrendous stories could be concocted around the photo and sold to the public.
Figure 1: In this picture, an evil torturer drips an acid into the eyes of a restrained subject for her own pleasure and enjoyment.
Most people would look at the above picture though and immediately call “bullshit” on its caption. But, that’s because most of us have sufficient experience to accurately evaluate the image. Most of the general public does not have the experience to evaluate animal images in the media, and that’s why the responsible evaluation by experts is so important. Again, Allyson writes:
In the case of the Florida facility, the federal
agency charged with oversight, the United States
Department of Agriculture, has performed an investigation in response to the
photographs made public by activists. The results of the USDA focused
inspection regarding the allegations were “No non-compliant items identified
during this inspection.” In addition, the National Institutes of Health Office
of Laboratory Animal Welfare wrote a letter of agreement saying it “finds the
institution to operating in accordance with the provisions of the PHS Policy on
Humane Care and use of Laboratory Animals”. When the reports are made publicly
available SR will post them here.Although company officials have not yet commented publicly, the USDA report
makes it clear that many of the allegations and speculation about the Florida
company that were offered to the media and via extremist websites by various
activist groups are untrue.Speaking of Research does not expect that the activist groups
that have promoted this story will provide coverage of the USDA report that
shows their claims have no basis. Nor do we expect that they will discuss the
real conclusion, which is that socially-housed monkeys engaged in behavior that
is not uncommon for primates and hurt each other. In truth, many activists are
not interested in the USDA’s conclusions, or in whether laboratory animals are
socially or individually housed.
This is why it is so important for those of us with an audience to publicize these findings. Both the USDA and the National Institutes of Health have found no evidence of neglect. Animals shown in the photo were receiving medical attention for the types of injuries they might display in the wild. Yet, the loudest voices are always the most extreme.
But, there is no reason that our voices can’t also be loud. Head over to Speaking of Research and offer your support.
Thanks Isis:-)
Dang. You edited out the best part of Paul Browne’s email. It was nice to read that the only people who visit Speaking of Research online are animal rights activists! But thanks for leaving up Paul’s comments about how much “traction” the activists are getting. Words of encouragement!
Don, that the allegations against PPI have been getting quite a bit of coverage in local news outlets is hardly a secret, hence our concern at finding that those allegations were based on lies and misrepresentation.
As for visitors to the SR website, well we do tend to get a lot more when we’re pointing out the lies and threats that your lot like to throw about than when we’re discussing science…but I guess that is in its own way a sad reflection on the state of public discourse these days.
So enjoy your gloat for a moment, before the realisation sets in that now everyone will find out just how dishonest you have been.
We compassionate folks at Smash HLS liked the original email so much we reposted it on our blog. http://smashhls.blogspot.com/2010/10/pro-vivisection-extremists-collaborate.html
As we’ve said before, we won’t stop until the imprisoned primates are rehomed in safe sanctuaries. And we don’t hesitate to proclaim our goal is the complete abolition of vivisection, an end to its reign of terror, which has mutilated, maimed, and murdered countless human and non-human animal lives. For science not psuedoscientific sadism.
I love that caption you have there. Hilarious!
Isis,
In your words … “In truth, many activists are not interested in the USDA’s conclusions” I have a reply to that.
Could it be that PPI, The University of Florida and the USDA are indeed strange bedfellows? As long as there are pockets to be filled and money to be made, coverups will continue. So, no … I for one am not interested in their conclusions.
Be assured, the ARA’s will never rest. We are compassionate and honest and we speak loud for the tortured research animals. And we are being HEARD.
I could reply to most everything in your blog because of all the half truths posted within. But I’m off to do better things. Thank you for exposing and embarassing yourselves.
– We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our DUTY to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to ALL living things, humanity will not find peace.
– Albert Schweitzer, The Philosophy of Civilization.
Wait, where have I seen that exact comment before. Oh, right. Nutjobs who lack imaination, what a surprise….
A thousand pardons. Correction:
I, for one, am not interested in their conclusion *until they admit the REAL truth.
Thank you.
The USDA and UF are bed fellows? What evidence do you have of that?
“safe sanctuaries”? The nature of such a thing is what, exactly? Typical AR extremist nonsense. Can’t think one microsecond into the future of their own proposals. This is why PeTa ended up killing all those “rescued” dogs and throwing them into strip mall dumpsters. Why those lackwits in MN dumped helpless lab animals into fields- where the promptly all died. The notionthat you folks care one bit for animals is a tired joke.
prof-like,
“This is the kind of stuff that drives me nuts,
**as I have mentioned before**
because what is really meant is that we’re running out of ‘interesting’ animal genomes to sequence.”
Sound familiar? Lacks “imaination” if you ask me.
(Perhaps you meant imagination?)
Oh noes!!! A spelling error! Therefore you are teh wrongz about everything! BURN!!!!!!!!!!
Evidence? When the reports are made publicly available I will post them here.
Good day.
“countless” humans have been murdered and maimed for ” vivisection’s reign of terror”? Really? What are you referring to there?
HA HA HA!!! You are basing your accusations on some imaginary sekrit reports?
Tell me your also voting for Christine O’Donnell?
One wonders if there can be a “REAL truth” that does not align in every particular with your uninformed assumptions, Ginger….
Just quoting you honey.
Regardless of how the wounds were inflicted on the animals, it doesn’t change the fact that they are taken from their natural habitat, caged and subjected to disfiguring and horrible experiments.
Cram a bunch of animals together in a small cage and all of that goes out the window. What you get is social chaos. Unable to establish a stable social hierarchy, the animals literally go crazy and attack one another. A lot of the times they even inflict injury on themselves.
The same would happen if you took a bunch of humans and stuffed them in a tiny cage. Eventually they are going to go crazy and attack one another.
Using humans as an example, aggression can be found in our natural habitats as well as in our prisons. Does that mean that both environments are the same? Of course not!
“HA HA HA!!! You are basing your accusations on some imaginary sekrit reports?
Tell me your also voting for Christine O’Donnell?”
I have classified information on Primate Products… they get their monkeys… from CHINA
*waits for collective gasp of shock and horror*
The argument that “ Most of the general public does not have the experience to evaluate animal images in the media, and that’s why the responsible evaluation by experts is so important.” is complete and utter BS. You do not have to be an “expert” to see the suffering and fear on the faces of these animals imprisoned in labs. Not only that, but you can also read about some of the research that has been inflicted upon these subjects over the years and draw some pretty obvious conclusions. For starters, lets take Harry Harlow and his “Pits of Despair” and “Rape Racks”. I would like to see hear a responsible evaluation in relation to those two devices from the mouth of an “expert”.
Have any of the people who are supporting “safe sanctuaries” ever spent time (ie hours a day over weeks) watching primates in the wild. I don’t mean the cute PBS shows, I mean watching animals in a undisturbed habitat? (and yes, they exist, and yes it is possible to do this). Ever seen what these animals do, and how healing proceeds in a setting without vets? Come back and advocate for “sanctuaries” when you know something about real primate behavior, not your inferred and assumed view of what “they feel”.
“You do not have to be an “expert” to see the suffering and fear on the faces of these animals imprisoned in labs.”
Wow. I’ve seen suffering and fear on the faces of primates in emergency rooms. How foolish I was to not realize that the pain and despair was caused by the doctors!
“Rescue” any dogs lately, Steve?
Kermit
Kermit:
Even if the wounds were self inflicted or from other monkeys it is PPI’s fault. The conditions that the monkeys are in can create tension that is released through self injury or fighting. You can even see this when you keep aggressive or intelligent fish in a too small tank. It is the keepers responsibility to make sure the monkeys are not injured.
Science is an easy target for animal rights activists, many of whom do not know the extensive regulatory processes in place to minimize animal pain and distress. While the system isn’t perfect, I feel that most researchers take good care of animals because of their own ethics, to comply with regulations, and to promote solid research findings (results are unreliable and highly variable when factors such as other secondary infections, poor housing conditions, etc are introduced).
However, such consideration is not always seen in the “real world.” Yesterday, my landlord gave me mouse traps that consist of adhesive pads that trap the mice until they dehydrate/starve to death. If I proposed the use of these to my IACUC, they would laugh me out of the building, even if I could make a convincing case that the data I could obtain killing mice this way would cure cancer and save all the dying babies in the world.
I guess my point is that, while animal research may be a high profile target, there are much crueler things being done to animals all over the place with NO justification (such as saving human lives). It would be nice to see activist go after those things for once…
I’d probably be less bitter if I hadn’t had a PETA member infiltrate my animal group AND DO GREAT HARM TO MY RATS, then document it as if I had done it. Don’t hold rats by the tip of their tails, PETA, it hurts the rat! And rats can dehydrate if you fail to push their boxes in! And don’t get me started on the disease this chick spread through the neighboring mouse colony because of her poor animal care techniques.
You extremists are all pro animal rights until your child or your parent is dying of a disease for which there is no cure. Then suddenly, amazingly, you want everything done possible to find the cure. And, I bet you want the drug THAT WAS TESTED IN ANIMALS that might just cure the disease.
“Don Bradford” #2 above, you do realise that we all know that you are not the real Don Bradford? You should really tell Camille, though I guess one more lie isn’t going to make a whole lot of difference to her website.
What a great post. The picture and caption (not to mention all the commentz!!!111!!) are give me some great talking points for a class I am teaching.
Just wondering if that HLS footage of the companies research staff punching beagles in the face and laughing about is actually humane and I just was fooled by crazy AR activists due to my lack of qualifications?
Steve, nobody is saying that abuses never happen, every profession has its Harold Shipmans, but the fact is that a lot of the time the allegations made by AR activists are not true.
It is sad that because of failures such as that at HLS (since greatly improved under new management) animal rights extremists have an easier job when they attack good companies such as PPI that put a lot of effort into caring for their animals.
If PETA really put their money where their big mouths were they’d refuse any medical treatment that had been developed through animal testing. That ought to cover what…practically everything? I don’t want to see a PETA member being treated at a hospital anymore because if they were serious about medical testing on animals they wouldn’t be there receiving medical care developed from animal testing.
Most people I know who care deeply about animals organize shelters, fostering, pay for vet treatment of wild animals, donate to preserves and other safe havens for once domesticated wild animals that have been abandoned. All the PETA activists seem to want to do is write angrily on the web and commit occasional acts of burglary, vandalism and terrorism. Reminds me of Christians who scream the loudest about believing in God and their faith versus those who work in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other volunteer efforts.
“Isis,
In your words … “In truth, many activists are not interested in the USDA’s conclusions” I have a reply to that.
Could it be that PPI, The University of Florida and the USDA are indeed strange bedfellows? As long as there are pockets to be filled and money to be made, coverups will continue. So, no … I for one am not interested in their conclusions.”
Ginger is it that you are not interested in the USDA’s conclusions because you believe in some purported collusion between the agency and UF or is it just because their conclusions are not in agreement with your own?
I would like to believe that HLS was simply an isolated incident but then you hear about companies like PLRS in North Carolina who were shut down a few weeks ago due to very similiar complaints. This should not be happening at all, not when dealing with sentient creatures. These animals are unwillingly giving their lives to make ours more convenient, they must be treated with respect and not like “products” as Donald Bradford would like to call them.
What’s truly bizarre is that the monkeys would never have managed to have a brawl if they weren’t housed in large, near-natural group housing, able to express their natural social behaviours. Individual monkeys, or even twos or threes, simply couldn’t have managed that many injured monkeys. As for saying they look miserable – of course they look wretched: they’ve just lost a fight and are being patched up by the medical team! Do you enjoy having cuts cleaned and dressed?
stripey_cat, there is a huge difference between what you are describing as the cause of these AR photos compared to something like a picture of a monkey with a stereotaxic device screwed into it’s skull grimacing in fear, or a baby rhesus clutching itself in the corner after being thrown into a “pit of despair” for 6 months.
You’re off topic. Dare I say, you are wondering into straw monkey territory.
@FrauTech: Oh, it’s better than just not refusing treatment because it was tested on animals. One high-profile PeTA officer (I can’t find her name at the moment) took insulin derived directly from pigs for her diabetes. When someone called her out on it, she said that she thought she could do more good for animals overall by killing the pigs to stay alive than she could by saving the pigs and dying.
Um… Isn’t that basically the argument for all animal research, ever? That we’re doing more good overall with the research than we would by sparing the animals and not doing the research?
The levels of PeTA’s hypocrisy are never-ending.
Isis – thank you for your terrific post and the picture plus caption that make the point so well. Along with the report on the USDA’s clean inspection of the facility, this may encourage people to give more thoughtful consideration of AR tactics and misrepresentation.
http://speakingofresearch.com/2010/10/15/usda-gives-primate-products-inc-the-all-clear/
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