| LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- ANIMAL RESEARCH Stop Animal Research Click here to read the letter to the editor printed in The Athens Messenger (4/22/05)
Dear Editor: No law requires P&G to force huge amounts of substances into animals' stomachs or to smear chemicals on the shaved, abraded backs of rabbits and guinea pigs. Faster, cheaper, and more accurate non-animal tests are now available and are being used by many other companies. We hope that P&G will step to up to the plate and make good on its word. Until then, people who care about animals will continue to boycott P&G's products. Printed in the Albuquerque Journal Saturday, September 25, 2004 Chimps' Treatment Indefensible FOR MORE THAN 40 years, I have documented the emotional and intellectual complexity of chimpanzees in their native habitat, and am all-too-familiar with their barren lives in laboratories. I have testified before Congress about my deep concerns regarding conditions for chimpanzees in labs— including the Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF)— and lobbied for their permanent retirement. For years, I have closely followed the situation at the APF . Given the long and tragic history of negligence that has occurred at the APF (previously known as the Coulston Foundation,) I was saddened— but not surprised— to learn of the criminal animal cruelty charges recently filed against the APF's current operator, Charles River Laboratories, by New Mexico District Attorney Scot Key. I have reviewed the charges against this company, and I cannot adequately express my shock and dismay at the alleged treatment of Rex, Ashley and Topsy— chimpanzees who were among the subjects of my intense concern in my previous congressional testimony. That these critically ill individuals apparently were left in the care of untrained maintenance employees— resulting in the deaths of Rex and Ashley, and the near-death of Topsy— is indefensible. Even more appalling is the district attorney's allegation that "it was standard practice for trained personnel to leave the facility at the close of a normal business day and leave the care etc. of the chimpanzees to untrained security personnel and/or maintenance personnel." I agree with Key's statements in the media lambasting the failed oversight of federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, which owns and manages the APF. He is the only law enforcement officer looking out for the chimpanzees and I applaud his willingness to stand up in their defense. I look forward to seeing the evidence from his investigation revealed in open court, so that people everywhere can see for themselves the cruelty that occurs behind the closed doors of laboratories. It is my sincere hope that this case will provide a glimpse inside the secretive world of chimpanzee research and help to build critical mass for the effort to end experimentation on humankind's closest genetic kin. JANE GOODALL |