The fact that animal research is legal makes it the most compelling cruelty in the country, said Actions for Animals volunteer Wendy Murphy, at a demonstration Tuesday.
Action for Animals, a local nonprofit organization, joined with UT's Students Against Cruelty to Animals to inform the public about experimentation on animals and why they say it is not ethical or necessary. April 22-28 is World Week for Animals in Laboratories, which is put on by the national organization In Defense of Animals.
Members and volunteers from both organizations handed out brochures with pictures of monkeys tied to posts and rabbits immobilized in stocks to illustrate some practices in animal research. Posters depicted more gruesome practices, such as a monkey with an electrode attached to a bloody skull.
"[Animals] suffer even if they're not having extremely invasive things done to them," Murphy said about other conditions of animal research, such as isolation and sensory and maternal deprivation.
As well as presenting the topic of animal research, participants also spoke about why they believe this type of research is not necessary. Experiments are not doing what they're supposed to, because they test animals for a product that will be used on humans, said Timothy Verret, volunteer and membership coordinator for Action for Animals.
Animals are often used in research as models of a disease to find out if a drug is safe and effective against a disease, according to the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science Web site. They can also be used to show normal reactions to substances that may be harmful if ingested or contacted, so that consumer products can be used and marketed safely.
Several federal agencies have established guidelines for humane care and use of animals in science. Institutions using animals also have their own set of rules and regulations, all geared toward minimizing discomfort to the animals and ensuring that alternatives to animals are used whenever possible, according to the organization.
Verret spoke about a rabbit Draize test in which the animal is locked in a stock so it can't move, and products such as cosmetics are dropped into the animal's eyes. Because the rabbits can't scratch their eyes, they often become agitated and break their backs, he said.
Murphy focused on primate research, a topic she said researchers are interested in because primates are so much like humans. But it is for this reason that animal rights supporters think it is so inhumane, she said. Monkeys obviously differ from humans in some aspects, and if researchers could get past the idea of using animals for experiments, they would get much further, Murphy said.
"It's a matter of good science and bad science," Verret said. "These tests are not working."
Because most people think researchers treat animals humanely, it is important to educate people about animal experimentation, said Kelly Sloan, a history junior and president of Students Against Cruelty to Animals.
The American Veterinary Medical Association recognizes that animals play an essential role in research, testing and education for continued improvement in the health and welfare of human beings and animals and believes that humane care of those animals is necessary to continue their use, according to the organization's Web site. The organization endorses three principles of research: "refinement of experimental methods to eliminate or reduce animal pain and distress, reduction of the number of animals consistent with sound experimental design and replacement of animals with non-animal methods wherever feasible."
Demonstrators also mentioned UT psychology professor Wilson Geisler's visual experiment on primates, which they said began in 1981 and is planned to end in November 2007. Geisler refused to comment.
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