nuclear-news

Protest against NASA’s radiation tests on monkeys

Because of the biological differences between species, results of radiation experiments on monkeys cannot be reliably applied to humans.

PETA Calls On Space Agency to Ground Cruel and Wasteful Tests and Use 21st Century Research Methods Instead

PETS Media Center
January 13, 2010

Contact:
David Perle 757-622-7382

Washington — Alongside a person wearing a space suit and holding signs that read, “Stop Radiation Tests on Monkeys,” PETA members protest outside the National Air and Space Museum in response to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) plan to subject as many as 28 squirrel monkeys to a massive dose of gamma radiation.

After exposing the monkeys to the radiation, NASA plans to subject the animals to years of additional laboratory experiments in order to observe how the radiation affects their brains and bodies. Monkeys used in earlier radiation experiments conducted by the government have suffered from fatal types of cancer, including brain tumors. They have also suffered from cataracts, cognitive decline, and other illnesses.

“NASA prides itself on looking to the future, but when it comes to crude and cruel animal experiments, the agency is stuck in the Dark Ages,” says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. “Monkeys are highly social, sensitive, and intelligent animals. Harming them in experiments so that NASA can check off another item on its seemingly endless list of questions about outer space is unjustifiable, especially when modern, humane research methods exist.”

Because of the biological differences between species, results of radiation experiments on monkeys cannot be reliably applied to humans. In a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., PETA pointed out that NASA can study humans who have been to space and could also rely on modern research methods, including the use of human tissue cultures that would yield results relevant to humans–something that animal experiments cannot do.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.     http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=14148

January 15, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive