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Radiation tests on monkeys might be stopped

“Since there is currently no realistic timetable for deep space travel, there is simply no ethical justification for putting these monkeys through these inhumane and possibly fatal experiments at this time,” the lawmakers concluded.

NASA monkey radiation experiment facing animal-cruelty accusations THE HILL, By Tony Romm – 03/08/10 NASA’s Brookhaven National Laboratory is coming under intense scrutiny this week following complaints that its forthcoming $1.75 million radiation experiment on monkeys violates a score of animal-rights laws.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) on Monday filed an official complaint against the space agency, which approved a grant for the experiment last year to understand the effects of long-term radiation exposure on the human body in space…..
The groups’ criticisms echo those laid out by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and seven other lawmakers in a letter to NASA last month.
In it, House members called on the agency to cancel the grant for that experiment because deep-space travel is still years of work away.

“A recent NASA commission acknowledged that Mars is not the ‘best first option’ and that, under NASA’s current budget, it is not feasible,” they wrote in the letter, dated Feb. 25.

“Since there is currently no realistic timetable for deep space travel, there is simply no ethical justification for putting these monkeys through these inhumane and possibly fatal experiments at this time,” the lawmakers concluded.

NASA monkey radiation experiment facing animal-cruelty accusations – The Hill’s Hillicon Valley

March 9, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Religion and ethics, USA | cancer, nuclear, radiation, radioactive