A n i m a l W r i t e s
© sm
The official ANIMAL
RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue #
09/10/00
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ Park StRanger@aol.com
~
MicheleARivera@aol.com
~ SavingLife@aol.com
Layout ~ Corrynthia@aol.com
THE NINE ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ Another Step Towards Success!
2 ~ Raised in Fear by Scott Lustig
3 ~ Hounds Return to the Woods in Pursuit of Washington's
Cougars
from
BuniHugR@aol.com
4 ~ Strolling With Our Kin, Available Now!! from
Aavsal@aol.com
5 ~ APNM 2000 Humanitarian Awards Dinner from
BHGazette@aol.com
6 ~ Calling All Songbirds! Animal-Protection Group Seeks
Submissions for
Annual
Genesis Award from Phillip Nawroth
7 ~ World Farm Animals Day Website Launched from FARM
8 ~ Poem: JAWS by WantNoMeat@aol.com
9 ~ Quote to Remember: Marc Beckoff
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Another Step Towards Success!
McDonald's
Tells Farmers To Treat Chickens Better - August 23, 2000
http://www.upc-online.org/000823mcdonalds_announcement.html
Be
sure to read the exciting news at the United Poultry Concerns (UPC) website
shown above. This is a big step forward for animal welfare. It
won't prevent the slaughter of these animals, but will make their treatment a
little better while we continue to work towards the veganism that will better
protect "farm" animals.
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Raised in Fear
by Scott Lustig
<Scotso76@aol.com>
At the State University of New York Health
Science Center, infant monkeys are being torn from their mothers.
Help put an end to the shameful, decades-long practice of maternal deprivation
experimentation
For over 30 years at the State University of New York (SUNY) Health
Science Center in Brooklyn, Professor Leonard Rosenblum has been tearing
baby monkeys away from their mothers to induce anxiety, panic and
depression. Why? To study the effects
of maternal deprivation on the development of panic and other anxiety disorders
in children and to investigate the workings of these disorders. But 50 years of
research from clinical (human) studies have already demonstrated that children
raised in stressful conditions and denied their mother's attention are more
likely to develop anxiety disorders in later life. Still, the monkey
experiments continue at huge expense. Indeed, since 1990, Rosenblum has
collected over $2.5 million in taxpayers' money, on top of several more
millions received over the last three decades. The National Institutes of
Health serves as a primary public source for his funds.
Raised in Fear
In his most common experimental model, Rosenblum forces macaque monkey mothers
and infants to live with unpredictable access to food. At first, the mothers
find food easily. Then, the food is hidden and dispersed, making it hard to
gather. The mother monkeys must repeatedly endure this alternating access
to food. Unable to feed their infants regularly, the mothers suffer constant
anxiety. The babies, in turn, deprived
of their mother, become isolated and withdrawn. These normally playful, curious infant monkeys sit hunched over,
crying, shaking and clasping themselves. When the infants' mother returns, they
cling to her desperately, never knowing when she will unpredictably be forced
away from them again.
Three decades after Woodstock and Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon,
Rosenblum's severely painful and invasive experiments are continuing. He began
them in the 1960s, when monkey maternal deprivation experiments were first
conceived. At the time, it was thought that monkey experimentation would shed
light on the association between maternal deprivation and psychological
distress in humans, first identified by researchers in the 1940s and 50s. Since
then, infant monkeys have been subjected to numerous cruelties in the name of
"research," all varying in the nature of the deprivation and
isolation forced upon them. Infant monkeys have been given artificial
"puppet" mothers that are manipulated by researchers. In some
experiments, their body temperatures are made ice cold, preventing the infants
from clinging to them. Other artificial "mothers" have been
constructed of sandpaper or other uncomfortable materials, and some
"mothers" even dislodged the clinging infants with hidden spikes,
catapults, compressed air, or vigorous shaking.
Researchers have also placed mother-deprived infants with foster mothers, then
repeatedly deprived them of the foster mothers and placed them with other
foster mothers, preventing the infant monkeys from ever experiencing any real
bonding or maternal care. In one of the most egregious of maternal deprivation
experiments, during the early 1970s University of Wisconsin's Harry Harlow
confined infant monkeys alone for weeks in metal isolation chambers. Harlow
himselfplk referred to these chambers as "a modified form of sadism."
In addition to monkeys, other animals used in maternal deprivation research
have included rats, dogs and cats.
Other researchers today besides Rosenblum perpetuate this cruel practice. At
Emory University in Georgia, Charles Nemeroff, Paul Plotsky, Charlotte Ladd,
and a host of other researchers are studying the mechanisms of certain brain
chemicals involved in producing the distress reaction to maternal deprivation.
These experiments have included subjecting monkeys to the same model of
unpredictable food access "perfected" by Rosenblum. At the University
of Wisconsin, Gary Kraemer deprives female infant marmoset monkeys of maternal
attention in order to study the neurochemical reasons why female human children
who are raised abusively and neglectfully tend to become abusive and neglectful
themselves as mothers.
Conflict and Inconsistency
Animal advocates, along with a growing number of scientists, have criticized
the experiments of Rosenblum and his colleagues. According to Stephen Suomi,
himself a noted and continuing maternal deprivation researcher, "Most
monkey data...have only verified principles that have already been formulated
from previous human data. To date the monkey data have added little to
knowledge of mother-infant interactions." Murray Cohen, a psychiatrist and
director of the Medical Research Modernization Committee, says that Rosenblum's
animal studies do not validly represent panic and other human psychological
disorders. Cohen says, "Rosenblum knows that the diagnostic symptoms of
panic disorder (e.g., palpitations, sensation of respiratory distress, feeling
of choking, chest pain... feeling of loss of control, fear of dying, numbness)
simply cannot be assessed in monkeys because these symptoms must be
subjectively experienced and reported by the patient rather than observed by
the clinician. The diagnosis, then, cannot, by definition, be given to
non-human primates."
Among Dr. Cohen's other arguments are that monkeys differ in reactions to
maternal deprivation depending on their species, making it impossible to
determine which species is the valid model for humans. Moreover, Cohen argues
that aside from the stress they suffer from deprivation experiments, the
monkeys suffer additional stress from the injections, restraining jackets, and
other devices and tests they are forced to undergo. Also stressful are the
standard conditions of the lab, including repeated transport and handling,
artificial lighting, caging, noise levels and chemical sterilizers. These types
of laboratory stressors influence the monkeys' behavior and physiology,
distorting the research results.
The gamut of maternal deprivation experiments, including those being conducted
by Rosenblum, are fraught with conflicting and inconsistent data, according to
Martin Stephens, Vice President for Animal Research Issues at the Humane
Society of the United States. Stephens states that in the majority of
experiments, the monkeys' responses have contrasted widely with what the
researchers had expected based upon information from previous experiments.
"The time is long past when such experiments, which cause considerable
distress in animals, are tolerable," says Neal Barnard, psychiatrist and
president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "These vaguely
rationalized and obviously distressing experiments should not have been
done."
Even Rosenblum himself has cast doubt on his own research, writing in 1995:
"Because of limitations imposed on the
interpretation of behaviors observed
in nonverbal primate subjects, extrapolations of primate
findings to human
panic and anxiety should be made with caution."
(Psychiatric Clinics of
North America) And, cementing the fundamentally weak
usefulness of
Rosenblum's studies for making sound contributions
to understanding of
panic and other anxiety disorders, the esteemed
British medical journal
The Lancet stated succinctly, "animal models
of anxiety cannot substitute
for clinical [human] studies." (10/3/98)
Money Wasted, Human Needs Unmet
Currently, 16 million Americans suffer from panic and other anxiety
disorders. Thankfully, many are getting help through therapy and
medication-treatments developed through clinical studies with humans, not
animals. But while Rosenblum's research continues to attract large amounts of
funding, the needs of many human anxiety disorder sufferers go unmet. Even
though one of the stated purposes of Rosenblum's research is to help children
suffering from anxiety disorders, the New York Times reported last December
that nearly 400 severely mentally ill children in New York State alone (where
Rosenblum works) are on waiting lists to enter residential treatment
facilities, "but cannot be admitted because the existing facilities are
filled to capacity. They are languishing in hospitals, foster care, or
jail." (12/24/99)
Shortages of funding also hamper provision of clinical treatment services like
outpatient therapy, medication, mobile crisis teams and day treatment-all
increasing the risk that children with anxiety disorders will experience
suicide, school violence, juvenile crime and family break-up.
Criticism of animal models is further justified by the availability today of
technologies in brain imaging, like positron emission tomography (PET) and
magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), which are providing more accurate data
on human brain processes. As the mental disorders research community has become
more familiar with the usefulness of these devices, it has become more
outspoken in admitting to the weakness of animal models-while at the same time
advocating for further study into the potential of other non-animal research
tools. According to an editorial in the American Journal of
Psychiatry (May, 1999), "From reliance on animal models of psychopathology
with all of their shortcomings, the field has evolved to the use of
multidisciplinary techniques, of which functional brain imaging represents one
of the most promising."
It is past time for the termination of Leonard Rosenblum's 30-plus years of
experimentation, which has contributed so little to our understanding of human
panic and anxiety and yet cost so much-millions of public dollars, significant
numbers of animal lives, and incalculable amounts of animal suffering. SUNY
Health Science Center would do much more to honor its "commitment to
confront the health problems of urban communities," as expressed in their
mission statement, by terminating Rosenblum's studies and further directing its
resources and its considerable expertise to current human mental health needs.
Then, the macaque monkeys-infants and their mothers-who have spent so much of
their lives in Rosenblum's lab in small, desolate cages, can gain their freedom
and touch the ground and see the sun. By affirming policies that are just,
humane, and responsive to human needs, we can truly promote public health.
What You Can Do
Contact: Dr. John C. LaRosa, President
SUNY Health Science
Center
450 Clarkson Ave.,
Brooklyn, NY 11203
Tel: 718-270-2611; Fax:
718-270-4732,
and John W. Ryan, Chancellor
State University of New
York
SUNY Plaza, Albany, NY
12246
Tel: 518-443-5157.
Tell them to end Rosenblum's cruel and wasteful experiments and direct the
resources of SUNY's Health Science Center to services for and research
with anxiety disorder patients. Also contact your federal and (if you are
a New York resident) state representatives and urge them to stop the use of taxpayers'
money for Rosenblum's and other maternal deprivation studies. Tell them that
such money would be better spent meeting current human needs.
You can read the abstracts to Rosenblum's studies on-line:
visit MedLine at Entrez-PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed
Murray Cohen's extensive critique is available at:
Medical
Research Modernization Committee
http://www.mrmcmed.org/
Scott Lustig lives in New York City. He is a co-leader with Urban Action
Engine, Inc. of this campaign against psychological experiments on monkeys at
the SUNY Health Science Center in Brooklyn. He works as a case manager for
people with developmental disabilities.
Contact: scotso76@aol.com
or visit www.urbanactionengine.org
for information (website under construction).
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Hounds Return to the Woods
in Pursuit of Washington's Cougars
from BuniHugR@aol.com
In
1996, Washington State citizens passed Initiative 655 by a landslide 63%
vote. 1-655 banned the unfair practices of bear baiting and hound hunting
of bears, cougars and bobcats. Just two years later, Washington State
legislators began a concerted effort to weaken or overturn 1-655 and during the
2000 legislative session they passed SSB 5001 - a bill that severely undermines
I-655. SSB 5001 essentially reinstates
hound hunting of cougars for sport. It allows the Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife (WDFW) to issue permits for hound hunters to randomly hunt cougar
populations in areas where there are perceived problems.
The proposed rules for implementation of SSB 5001 include: hunt areas and kill
quotas will be decided one year in advance; hunters can keep the hide of any
cougar killed; professional guide services and an unlimited number of
"observers" can participate in each hunt; hunt boundaries can extend
up to 22 miles beyond any "problem" area; and 68 cougars will be
killed the first year
The WDFW is calling these hunts "public safety cougar removals" but
in fact, this plan has all the elements of a trophy hunt. This
ill-conceived scheme will do nothing to alleviate the WDFW's perceived
"cougar problems". Prominent cougar biologists unequivocally state
that cougar hunting, with or without hounds, does not decrease the chances of
human-cougar encounters.
WHAT YOU CAN DO (If you live in Washington State)
1. Attend the Fish and Wildlife Commission Hearing. The Commission will
take public comments on the WDFW's proposal. An overwhelming number of 1-655
supporters from across the state MUST attend the meeting. Car pools will be
arranged. Saturday, September 16, Red Lion Hotel, 1225 N. Wenatchee Avenue,
Wenatchee, Washington
2.
Contact Governor Gary Locke immediately at:
The Honorable Gary Locke
Office of the Governor
Legislative Building
P0 Box 40002, Olympia, WA 98504-0002
email: governor.locke@governor.wa.gov
phone: 360-753-6780 or fax: 360-753-4110
Let him know that the WDFW's proposed implementation
of SSB 5001
blatantly violates the intent of the bill as well as
citizens' 1-655.
Important: Send a copy of your letter to the Fish
& Wildlife Commission,
600 Capitol Way N, Olympia, WA 98501 by Sept 8.
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Strolling With Our Kin,
Available Now!!
from Aavsal@aol.com
Animalearn
Publishes Strolling With Our Kin: A Powerful New Book By Marc Bekoff
That Encourages Young People To Make Ethical Decisions And Take Action On
Behalf Of Our Animal Kin
Philadelphia, September 7, 2000: As a part of 2000: Year of the Humane Child,
the American Anti-Vivisection Society's (AAVS) education division, Animalearn,
released today Strolling With Our Kin: Speaking For and Respecting Voiceless
Animals by noted ethologist Marc Bekoff, A.B., Ph.D. The book's foreword is
written by Jane Goodall. The AAVS-supported work is a piece that
encourages young people to examine our relationship with other species.
Bekoff takes readers on a philosophical and ethical odyssey examining how we
can all live in harmony with our fellow kin. He asks us to explore our
thoughts and expand our views of a world made up of many species, only one of
which is human. He enables readers to examine our own ethical
inconsistencies and asks us where we go from here. Bekoff leaves us with
the feeling that we too can help save and heal animals in this world, that we
too can stroll with our kin by acting on behalf of them.
Katherine Lewis, Director of Animalearn, stated that "Strolling With Our
Kin will be a valuable book for young adults who are interested in broadening
their perspective of the world." She noted that "AAVS was happy
to publish a book that makes such a valuable contribution, drawing on young
peoples natural connection to other species and allowing them to make
connections, ask questions, and ultimately make a difference." This
powerful and positive book relates strong messages regarding the way we treat
animals.
Marc Bekoff is professor of Environmental Population and Organismic Biology at
the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is also an author and
lecturer. Jane Goodall is a world-famous primatologist, whose work with
chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania revolutionized our understanding of our closest
ancestor. She is the author of In the Shadow of Man and many other
books. Bekoff and Goodall have recently initiated a non-profit
organization called Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Contact: Katherine Lewis, Director
Animalearn
Phone (215) 887-0816
Fax (215) 887-2088
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APNM 2000 Humanitarian Awards
Dinner
From: BHGazette@aol.com
Animal
Protection of New Mexico will hold its 2000 Humanitarian Awards dinner on
November 18 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. APNM is seeking nominations to
recognize individual and collaborative acts of humane integrity. Agencies,
organizations, business and individuals can be nominated in each
category.
Deadline is October 1.
For more information, contact 505-265-2322 or www.apnm.org.
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Calling All Songbirds!
Animal-Protection Group Seeks
Submissions for Annual Genesis Award
from Phillip Nawroth <pnawroth@arktrust.org>
LOS ANGELES -- Sept. 8, 2000 -- The Ark
Trust, Inc., a national, non-profit animal-protection organization and
presenter of the annual Genesis Awards, is seeking positive animal-related
songs for submission in the Doris Day Music Award category.
Each year, The Ark Trust screens applicants for the award which honors
outstanding, animal-sensitive musical work. Last year's Doris Day Music Award
winner was Kingfish for "Sundown on the Forest", a song dedicated to
Julia Butterfly Hill who spent two years in an ancient redwood tree 180-feet
above ground in northern California in order to prevent a timber company from
cutting it down. After prolonged negotiations and worldwide media attention,
she succeeded in protecting the environment and surrounding wildlife.
Past winners of the prestigious award include Sir Paul McCartney ("Looking
for Changes"), Megadeth ("Countdown to Extinction"), David
Crosby and Graham Nash ("To the Last Whale"), a Grateful Dead music
video ("We Can Run"), Michael Jackson for two music videos
("EarthSong" and "Man in the Mirror") and the late John
Denver, for his touching song "You Say the Battle Is Over."
In a related musical note, Prince won a Special Achievement Award last year for
his liner notes on "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic" in which he decries
the suffering of sheep to produce wool clothing. To the delight of the 1,100
audience members, he accepted the award in person.
The submitted song must be of general interest to the public and present
animals in a positive light, or present issues central to animal-protection
advocacy. Songs must be aired or released for the first time between Jan. 1,
2000, and Dec. 31, 2000. Songs aired or released prior to December 2000 must be
received by Dec. 8, 2000. Songs aired or released in December must be received
by Dec. 29.
The Genesis Awards honors outstanding individuals in the major news and entertainment
industry who have spotlighted animal issues in their works with courage,
creativity and integrity. The Fourteenth Annual Genesis Awards was hosted by
Wendie Malick ("Just Shoot Me") and David Hyde Pierce
("Frasier"). An edited version of the gala was aired as a
television special on Animal Planet in June, its 10th year on television!
The star-studded, taped-for-television Fifteenth Annual Genesis Awards is
scheduled at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Saturday,
March 10, 2001.
Submit your Doris Day Music Award entry on CD or tape to:
The Ark Trust
Genesis Awards Submissions
5551 Balboa Blvd.
Encino, CA 91316.
There is no entry fee.
For more information,
call (818) 501-2275 or visit The Ark Trust Web site at: www.arktrust.org
Phillip Nawroth
Public Information Manager
The Ark Trust, Inc.
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World Farm Animals Day Website
Launched
From: FARM
<farm@farmusa.org>
The
website for World Farm Animals Day (October 2, 2000) has just been revised to
reflect this year's tie-in with the general elections and is ready for action.
The theme is "Putting Animals In Politics" & "Elect for Farm
Animals."
Click on http://www.farmusa.org/wfad/wfad-index.html
for information or an Action Kit.
The key recommended activities are:
1) Sending questionnaires to Congressional, state, and local candidates for
public office requesting their position on mistreatment of farm animals,
subsidies for agribusiness, environmental and public health threats by factory
farms, and availability of vegan food in schools
2) Arranging vigils in front of state capitols and other government and
political buildings to raise the awareness of public officials and their
constituents to the tragedy of farmed animals.
Be sure to register your action(s), even if your plans are incomplete. This
will enable us to publicize your event(s) to local activists and the media and
to send you additional information, banners, posters, photos, and other useful
items for your event(s). You can do it on our web site at:
http://www.farmusa.org/wfad/wfad-index.html
by
e-mail at: wfad@farmusa.org
or by phone at: 1-888-FARM-USA
Last Thursday, we sent out 1,250 Action Kits explaining all this in great
details and providing sample questionnaires, petition sign-up sheets, media
letters, and handouts. We are recruiting hundreds more activists in all 50
states and a dozen foreign countries, launching a national media and
advertising blitz, soliciting proclamations from governors and mayors, and
sending a questionnaire to candidates for national public office. We are
looking to the greatest observance ever!
World Farm Animals Day is the one day a year when every person cursed with a
conscience and awareness is honor-bound to express his/her outrage at the
tragedy of farmed animals and demand drastic reforms.
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JAWS
by WantNoMeat@aol.com
Silently a trap lies in wait
camouflage is it's surprising trait
Scented to lure victims near
his final step knew no fear
The trap triggers mercilessly
he struggles in vain to be free
These awful jaws prove too strong
and his misery will be long
Bones broken in the snap
by a man-made brutal trap
Tighter and deeper it grips
as tendon painfully rips
Blood warms the cold steel
as layers of skin begin to peel
Secured in this leghold he stays
hunger, agony and passing days
The trapper appears at the sight
this victim just too weak to fight
Ruthlessly, this life is lost
some fashions come at a shameful cost
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Quote to Remember
"For all children everywhere. May you
drench your interactions with our animal kin with respect, compassion, spirit,
humility, and love. Keep hope even when things seem grim. Don't let
go of your dreams. There are many better tomorrows......"
~ Marc Beckoff <bekoffm@spot.Colorado.EDU>
from the dedication in his new book ~
Strolling With Our Kin
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Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl 33673-7053
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal Rights Online=-
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