TITLE:
42 Ways To Help Animals In Laboratories

AUTHOR:
The Humane Society of the United States

PUBLISHER:
The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20037
Tel: 301-258-3041
Website: http://www.hsus.org/programs/research/pubs.html
Email: Cheryl Ross - cross@hsus.org

ISBN #:
None

RETAIL PRICE:
$3.00 U.S.A
plus $1.50 shipping & handling

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Are you disturbed by the suffering of animals in laboratories? Are you
troubled when you learn of animals being used in trauma studies or for
testing household products, or when you hear about the collection and killing
of animals for school dissection* exercises? If you are reading this booklet,
you may already be concerned about these issues. Or perhaps you are
unfamiliar with the issue of animal use in laboratories and schools and just
want to find out more. In either case, we think you will find this booklet
useful and informative. We also hope it motivates you to act.

The last two or three decades have witnessed some positive developments on
behalf of animals used in research, testing, and education. Perhaps most
notable is the substantial decline of animal use, especially in the testing
of cosmetic, personal-care, and household products. Today we can choose from
hundreds of companies that use no animal ingredients and don't conduct animal
tests. In the field of education, seven U.S. states have recently passed laws
and many local school boards have adopted policies that allow students to
choose humane alternatives to classroom animal dissections or invasive
live-animal exercises. Other improvements have been less visible to the
public but no less profound. The field of alternatives has expanded
significantly, and there has been widespread adoption of the 3Rs, a set of
humane alternative principles developed by concerned scientists. The 3Rs are
replacement, reduction, and refinement.

Replacement of testing techniques that use live animals includes developing
alternatives such as tissue cultures, computer simulations, physical and
chemical techniques, mathematical models, and human studies.

Reduction in the number of animals used in laboratories includes improving
study designs and statistical tests, using groups of students to examine each
animal studied in classrooms, and modifying tests (such as the LD50) to use
fewer animals.

Refinement of animal study techniques to cause less pain and distress
includes developing noninvasive techniques such as ultrasound, magnetic
resonance imaging, and behavioral observations; using less-sentient organisms
(insects, for example, in place of mammals); and improving the use of
anesthetics and analgesics.

People who question the use of laboratory animals continue to play a major
role in these advances. Despite these positive changes, some twenty-million
animals in the United States -- and sixty to seventy-million worldwide -- are
still used in laboratories every year. And the specter of increased animal
use in the near future has been raised by new developments in genetic
engineering, such as the production of transgenic and cloned animals.
Notwithstanding the Animal Welfare Act (federal legislation devised in part
to provide minimum standards for the welfare of animals used in
laboratories), life for animals in laboratories is usually neither natural
nor ideal, and multitudes of them endure conditions ranging from inadequate
to unbearable. Clearly there still is much to be done.

Henry Spira: A Model Activist

Arguably the most successful animal activist of the past twenty-five years
was the late Henry Spira. He organized a campaign in 1975 against inhumane
and scientifically questionable feline mutilation experiments at the American
Museum of Natural History, where cats were subjected to the destruction of
their sense of smell, the severance of nerves to their penises, and the
removal of parts of their brains. The campaign led the museum to shut down
the research. Spira followed this with a successful campaign to repeal New
York's Hatch-Metcalf Act, which had mandated the release of pound dogs and
cats to research facilities (pound seizure, see Action 36). Then, in 1980, he
launched his campaign against animal testing and, specifically, the Draize
Eye-Irritancy Test used on rabbits' eyes for testing cosmetics. As a result
of this campaign, the cosmetics industry established the Center for
Alternatives to Animal Testing at Johns Hopkins University and has spent
millions of dollars on the search for alternatives.
Today alternatives are accepted and supported widely by toxicologists and
regulators, in large part because of Spira's campaign.  Although much of his
activist career was devoted to animals used in research, Spira gave
considerable attention to farm animals as well. He played a key role in
getting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to eliminate face-branding of
cattle and to establish an ad hoc task force on farm animal welfare. Spira's
negotiations with McDonald's led the company to appoint a permanent animal
welfare compliance officer whose job is to ensure that the company's
suppliers advance farm animal welfare. Spira did not have millions of dollars
for his work. Instead, he used relatively simple and inexpensive strategies
to achieve his success. Four main principles explain why and how Spira's work
was so successful. First, Spira got his opponents to pay serious attention to
him. In his early years as an animal activist, before he developed the
reputation and credibility with governments and corporations that he had
later in life, Spira sought to identify specific issues that he could target
effectively. He knew that the feline mutilation experiments, pound seizure
bill, and Draize test would inspire public concern. He also knew that
researchers and officials would find these practices difficult to defend.
Once Spira had identified his targets, he gathered as much information as he
could about the practices before doing anything. This meant using the Freedom
of Information Act (see Action 15) to obtain copies of the grant proposals on
the feline mutilation experiments and government films and reports on how to
conduct the Draize test. Second, Spira increased pressure on his targets if
they did not respond. In his Draize campaign, Spira selected Revlon as a
target because its headquarters were in New York City, where he lived, and
because it was one of the leaders in the cosmetics industry. When Revlon
refused to take any concrete action, Spira took out advertisements in the New
York Times ("How many rabbits does Revlon blind for beauty's sake?"),
picketed Revlon's headquarters, asked questions from the audience when
Revlon's chief executive officer gave public speeches, and bought stock in
the company so that he could attend the annual stockholders' meetings and
voice his views. Third, he compelled his targets to begin dialogues and keep
negotiating. That was the purpose of Spira's street protests and hardball
tactics. He never viewed his opponents as evil or morally corrupt. He focused
on the issues and opened opportunities for change to those whose practices he
criticized. When the time came to sit down to negotiate, Spira sought win-win
opportunities and did not push for unreasonable goals. Fourth, when the
targeted institutions finally took action, he praised them for their
innovations and did not trumpet his victory and their defeat.  By
consistently adhering to these principles, Spira made himself both feared and
trusted as an opponent.  People dreaded becoming a target of his attention,
but they knew that if they agreed on a change, he would keep his side of the
bargain. Spira's determined, pragmatic, and principled activism helped reduce
the suffering of animals in laboratories. There are other examples of
successful activism, but the strategies employed by Henry Spira will work
more often than not.  His strategies are worth emulating as we continue to
work on behalf of animals used in research, testing, and education.

How This Booklet Can Help You

As Henry Spira's example shows, there are many ways to make a difference for
animals in laboratories. This booklet presents a range of actions you can
take, either individually or as part of a group, whether you have
considerable resources or few, a lot of time or very little.

Personal views about animal experimentation vary. Most people, including most
scientists, look forward to the day when harmful animal use is eliminated
altogether. However, there is considerable disagreement about whether to
pursue this goal by demanding immediate abolition or by advocating
progressive reforms. Wherever you stand, it is important to keep in mind that
you can help reduce the suffering of animals without compromising medical or
scientific progress, or your personal ethics. The Humane Society of the
United States (HSUS) is actively working on many fronts to help animals used
in laboratories. For up-to-date information about HSUS programs and campaigns
on behalf of animals in laboratories, visit our Web site at
www.hsus.org/programs/research. As long as animals continue to be used in
ways that harm them, our first priority is to eliminate the pain and distress
they endure; our Pain and Distress campaign is designed to achieve this goal.
We work to make institutions conducting animal research more accountable for
their activities; encourage the adoption of alternatives in all avenues of
laboratory animal use; target particularly abusive situations; strive to
strengthen laws designed to protect animals used in laboratories; help
students and educators adopt humane alternatives by lending out educational
materials; and promote the enactment of laws supporting student choice in
dissection and other classroom exercises that may harm animals. Finally,
through publications such as this booklet, we strive to educate the public
about these issues and about how to effect positive change.

There are many ways you can tackle the complex issues involved in animal
experimentation. You can identify particularly problematic situations and
apply pressure to have them remedied. You can lobby for the introduction of
new legislation or the strengthening of existing laws and regulations
pertaining to animals in laboratories. You can establish a dialogue with
scientists to help you understand their feelings and concerns, and vice
versa. You can educate the public and publicize the issue via speeches,
appearances on radio and television, written articles and letters to the
editor. And you can strengthen your actions by uniting with others who share
your vision.

What follows are some ideas for how you can be an effective force for change
for animals in laboratories. We encourage you to tailor the suggestions in
this booklet to meet your particular style and situation. Please share any
suggestions you might have for future editions of this booklet by contacting
The HSUS's Animal Research Issues staff
(301-258-3041; e-mail: ari@hsus.org).

NOTE: This book is not intended to provide legal advice. You should be aware
that some of the activities advocated in this book may result in adverse
legal consequences when undertaken without knowledge of applicable laws.
Therefore, The HSUS strongly recommends that all activists familiarize
themselves with laws that may relate to their activities and consult an
attorney before undertaking any activity that may be objected to by any
individual or company or that may otherwise be regulated.

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