MONKEYS:

Hallowed Halls or Halls of Horror?
Recent United States Department of Agriculture reports on non-human animal usage at the University of Minnesota indicate that approximately 3400 individual beings were used in their research labs in one year alone, 182 of which are non-human primates ("Minnesota Facilities Reports"). The person heading primate research for the Department of Neuroscience, Dr. Marilyn Carroll, has been at the helm of these activities since the mid-1980s. Over the years, the National Institutes of Health has awarded millions of dollars in tax-payers' money to support Carroll's studies ("Government Grants").

In sum, for over 25 years, countless rhesus monkeys, rats and mice have had drug addiction forced upon them. These beings are made literal prisoners in the laboratory and also made prisoners to alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin addiction. In return, researchers observe their cravings, withdrawal symptoms, relapses, etc. ("Marilyn E. Carroll"). In these labs, our primate relatives and other sentient individuals experience "seizures, loss of muscle coordination, nose bleeding, respiratory problems, sinusitis, skin infections and more" ("University of Minnesota"). Eventually, many are "euthanized," in the parlance of the discipline. In real terms, they are killed. However, as noted by the Primate Freedom Project in a 2008 letter to the University of Minnesota's President, Dr. Carroll, being neither a veterinarian nor a primatologist, is not qualified to make these final life-and-death determinations (Barnes).

Rats and mice, beings undoubtedly capable of experiencing suffering and stress, are sadly not offered consideration under the Animal Welfare Act, so the numbers at which they are exploited go uncounted. As to Rhesus monkeys, they are used in particular precisely because they are so much like humans, yet their comparable capacities for suffering, fear and isolation are completely ignored in the world that Dr. Carroll has created for them, a world in which their pain is mere fodder for the scientist's notebook.

Twenty-five years. The money keeps flowing. The drugs keep coming. The animals keep suffering. Help bring these horrors to an end!

SOURCES:
Barnes, Jean. "Letter to UMN President Bruininks." Primate Freedom Project. 28. Aug. 2008. Web. 27 March 2011. PDF.

"Government Grants Promoting Cruelty to Animals." S.A.E.N. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.

"Marilyn E. Carroll, Ph.D." Department of Neuroscience: University of Minnesota. 13 Feb. 2004. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.

"Minnesota Facilities Reports and Information: USDA-APHIS." 30 Nov. 2009. S.A.E.N. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. PDF.

"University of Minnesota." Primate Freedom Project. 2005. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.

   


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