ALF Vandalizes UCLA Primate Vivisector's Home

Los Angeles Times:

An animal rights group has claimed responsibility for flooding the Westside home of a UCLA professor who uses lab monkeys in research on nicotine addiction.

An FBI spokeswoman said Monday that the agency is investigating the claim that the Animal Liberation Front used a garden hose to flood the house of professor Edythe London on Oct. 20 in an attempt to stop her animal experiments.

The FBI, along with UCLA and Los Angeles police, are treating the vandalism as a case of domestic terrorism....

Invariably, when I mention that vivisectors are in it for the money, one of them writes to me and says, "How dare you!" Right. Here's part of the current real estate listing for Dr. London's Beverly Hills home:

1249 Shadybrook Drive
Prime Lower BHPO, CA 90210
TOTALLY REMODELED FAMILY HOME. ABSOLUTE TURNKEY
Offered at $2,595,000
Owner: Edythe D. London

"Best Deal in all of BHPO. Reduced $600k. This won't last. Perfect location on the quiet side of desirable Shadybrook Drive. Located 1.5 miles North of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Absolute Turnkey home remodeled in the best style and taste. 3700 sqft with 4 Bedrooms + Maids and 4.5 Bathrooms. Beautiful hardwood floors [a little water damaged] thru-out entertaining areas. High ceilings, skylights and wide open spaces bring in an abundance of natural light. Sprawling family floor plan with great large walls for artwork. State of the art kitchen with granite countertops. Beautiful swimming pool and surrounding outdoor deck area. This home is perfect for the most discriminating buyer who demands only the best. Also available for lease at $10,500 per month."

And here's one of the photo's:Before considering her work, consider this:

For example, since smokers extract about 1 mg of nicotine per cigarette, a 1 pack per day (20 cigarettes per day) smoker likely receives near 100 percent nicotine replacement using a 21-mg/day patch. However, this patch dose likely underdoses heavier smokers, and higher nicotine doses (44-mg/day) have been shown to provide better relief from withdrawal symptoms and to increase short-term efficacy.” Randolph C. Barrows, Jr., M.D. SMOKING CESSATION (Chapter 3)

And here's a description of some of what she's doing to monkeys:

Two gonadally intact adolescent (4–5 years old) male rhesus monkeys (Macacca mulatta, 8.9 and 7.7 kg) participated in the studies. Monkeys were housed individually in temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms maintained on a 12 h light/dark schedule with lights on at 7:00 A.M. Monkeys were fed Monkey Diet Biscuit daily after each experimental session and were weighed biweekly. They participated in a psychological enrichment program. The animal protocol was approved by the Yale and Veterans Administration Animal Care and Use Committees and is in compliance with United States Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals

Nicotine was administered orally using the dose escalation paradigm described previously (Pietila et al., 1998 ). Nicotine (Sigma, St. Louis, MO) was administered in a saccharin–Kool-Aid (Kraft Foods, Northfield, IL) solution as the sole source of fluid on a daily basis (with the exception of days of nicotine withdrawal before each scan and also for the day of and immediately after the scan). During weeks 0–4, the animals increased their average nicotine consumption from 3.3 to 37.5 mg/kg. During the last 5–8 weeks of the study, the animals' average daily nicotine consumption was 30–38 mg/kg. After 6 and 8 weeks, the nicotine solution was removed and the monkeys had access to water.” Edythe D. London et al. Human tobacco smokers in early abstinence have higher levels of beta2* nicotinic acetylcholine receptors than nonsmokers. J Neurosci. 2006.

So, during the final 3 weeks of the study, the larger of the two monkeys was being administered the equivalent of more than 13 packs a day (8.9 kg X 30--38 mg = 267 mgs) to almost 17 packs of cigarettes a day (8.9 kg X 38 mg = 338.2 mg).

The smaller monkey was being administered the equivalent of between about 11 packs a day and 14 packs a day.

“Such tactics are beyond contemptible, have no place in a civilized society …” says UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. Of course, Block is talking about flooding her mansion, not forcing the monkeys to drink nicotine ladened Kool-Aid.

I can't remember the last time UCLA hosted any substantive public discussion regarding the use of animals in its labs; maybe it never has. In either case, you can't really criticize the garden hose event if the university won't discuss the matter in public.

See too: Tobacco company's research grant to UCLA raises suspicions

And why aren’t you mad?

A few of my last posts have been really mean. But I’m so very angry.

The use of monkeys in research acts as a lens for better understanding the nature of our relationship with other species and even with each other.

Animals consumed or otherwise harmed in research amount to but a very tiny sliver of the animals consumed by us for all other reasons.

The laws governing laboratory animal care and use are significantly more restrictive than those governing agricultural or other use. Monkeys make up only about .3% (less than one third of one percent) of all the mammals and birds used in research, according to some sources. There are unique legal requirements for their care and use, most notably the requirement of a plan to provide some psychological enrichment.

There are very large laboratory complexes dedicated to the use of monkeys that concentrate researchers and animal care specialists in one place. The use of other common species in the U.S. is widespread and more or less evenly dispersed throughout university and private labs.

With the publicly funded large primate labs we have a sort of captive ant colony living between glass plates we can observe and evaluate – in spite of their efforts to keep their work hidden and secret. And, because of the special laws governing the laboratory use of animals, and the special laws dealing with monkeys, and the concentration of expertise and resources at these large primate labs, they present us with a best-case real-time example of regulated animal use in the U.S.

This casts problems like the Vilas Monkeys, Jennifer Hess, Ei Terasawa, and the 628 Pieces of Primate Research Garbage in a special light.

Repeated lying, hush money, unmonitored run-away research, and blatant cover up must be very common throughout the nation’s animal labs. Or else, the University of Wisconsin is a wild exception.

And the animals are suffering horribly. This is the baseline reality against which all the problems must be considered.

And the claimed benefit to us of their suffering is – at best – debatable.

And, we know more now about the minds of other animals than ever before. Few serious students still argue that animals don’t have minds. Monkeys are said to have minds very like our own. It is the presence of mind in animals – particularly monkeys – that is used as a justification for very cruel experiments each and every year.

And, like bombs and secret prisons, this is an evil enterprise conducted in my name, with taxes taken from me.

And then, as if things couldn’t be any worse, a local Madison magazine has its collective editorial head so far up its ass (I’m back to being mean) that it names one of the primate vivisectors “Person of the Year.” Egad. Strap the suicide bombs on me now!

And, an anti-domestic violence group sings the praises of the largest contract animal testing lab in the world – cited on multiple occasions by the USDA for inadequate veterinary care and various animal care and use violations.

Everyone should be angry. Everyone.

I know that everyone isn’t angry, and I get even more pissed off when I consider the reasons they aren’t, which is commonly money or ignorance; sometimes its cruelty, sometimes callousness, but usually just plain old disinterest. Ho hum, they’re only animals, who cares if they're suffering?

When the Jews were being gassed and melted into soap, did anyone in Germany give a damn? I suspect that those who did were in the tiny tiny tiny minority and that the doctors experimenting on them, the police arresting those who complained, the government and universities who colluded, were smug in their power to control public sentiment.

If you aren’t mad too, then you’re clearly part of the problem.

Oculomotor unit behavior in the monkey.

Robinson, D.A. Oculomotor unit behavior in the monkey. J Neurophysiol. 33:393-403, 1970.

Steinem, DAIS, and Covance

Local readers will be aware that Gloria Steinem was recently the keynote speaker at an October 16, 2007 fundraising event for the Madison-based Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, or DAIS. And, that she asked DAIS to drop Covance as a sponsor of the event when she learned that the company has a very long, very well-documented history of violent animal cruelty.

Wisconsin State Journal columnist Melanie Conklin wrote about the dust-up:

"As soon as we found out it was a concern for her we stopped the sponsorship of the event, " says DAIS executive director Shannon Barry. "We really want to be respectful of Gloria 's wishes and we had no idea there was any problem."

Who would have thought that Steinem would be offended by a corporation hurting animals?

Covance spokesperson Mona Terrell calls Steinem 's decision "a regrettable publicity stunt. "

As if Steinem needs more notoriety.

"Ms. Steinem 's decision to align herself with groups that oppose medical research is an unfortunate and selfish distraction from the true purpose of this event, which is to support victims of domestic abuse,” Terrell says.

Medical research like forcing pesticides down dogs’ throats.

"It is ironic that Ms. Steinem ... is criticizing the life-saving research that Covance and companies like ours have done to benefit women, children and even pets who suffer from debilitating illnesses."

[Note to paid propagandists: Always appeal to the image of sick women, children, and pets.]

Steinem's name has attracted many new sponsors for the annual luncheon, which will cover the financial loss of Covance, says Barry. Also helpful is that Steinem is donating her time.

Despite this wrinkle, Barry can 't wait to meet Steinem.

"To be in the presence of someone that iconic is like Christmas a thousand times over. ... It was her book, which I read when I was 14, that put me on the path to the work I do."

Barry adds that Steinem's presence may also help make the community aware of the magnitude of the problem of domestic violence.

"One-third of all arrests in Dane County are domestic violence-related, " says Barry. "I 'm hoping Steinem 's presence here will get that message out."

DAIS executive director Shannon Barry followed up with a letter to the editor of the Capital Times on October 23, 2007:

DAIS was notified by Gloria Steinem's office a couple of weeks ago that Steinem was not comfortable appearing at an event sponsored by Covance. This statement came after Steinem's office was contacted by the Alliance for Animals. It was suggested to us by Steinem's office that she might not attend the event given this sponsorship.

When DAIS learned of this, we immediately asked to meet with Covance. The company was extremely sympathetic and voluntarily offered to remove its name as a sponsor of the luncheon....

DAIS continues to be grateful to Covance officials for their support. Covance has been a leader in Dane County through the company's response to domestic violence victims employed in that organization. Not only have company officials created proactive employee assistance programs to deal with domestic violence, but they also have provided generous financial contributions to support the survivors.

We are grateful to Steinem for volunteering her time to speak on behalf of the issue of domestic violence and our organization. We are also grateful to have a community partner such as Covance that has not only financially supported us, but that has also lived the change we wish to see across Dane County.

Ok, Shannon Barry feels that being in Steinem’s presence is “like Christmas a thousand times over,” and that Steinem’s presence here and her talk could help make the community aware of the magnitude of the problem of domestic violence. Understandable, but she also feels that violence directed toward animals is ok so long as the aggressor is making monetary contributions to her organization. Hello?

Ms. Barry can’t have it both ways. This is the age-old story of the newly elected politician going to Washington with the best of intentions, but soon being corralled by the “generosity” of the polluting or predatory industries or agencies they had hoped to regulate. It’s all about something called ethics. Steinem has it, Barry doesn’t.

Barry bemoans the fact that the Covance sponsorship angle got local media coverage, not necessarily sympathetic to the animals, but she has no one to blame but herself and DAIS. She should have stayed on point. She could have spoken about the acknowledged domestic violence among Covance employees and called attention to the fact that kicking a dog or slapping a monkey at work just might bleed over into one’s domestic life. She could have spoken about the fact that violence begets violence, but she didn't. Instead she chose to grovel and praise the deep pockets of a leading animal abuser.

“You can’t blame Covance,” she seems to say.

I’m reminded of the beaten women I’ve encountered who resist blaming their abusive spouses.