AnimaNaturalis will take legal action against Vivotecnia laboratory, because of the continued abuse of animals
AnimaNaturalis and Acción Legal Animalista announce legal action
for the alleged crime of animal abuse with prison sentences of up to 18 months for those responsible and a professional disqualification of up to 4 years.
Given the evidence that appeared in different media of the existence of a systematic practice of mistreatment, torture, and death of animals subjected to experimentation in the laboratory of the Vivotecnia company, based in the town of Tres Cantos in Madrid, AnimaNaturalis announces that they are going to take legal action by filing a criminal complaint for a continuing crime of animal abuse in article 337 of the penal code, sections 1 to 3, which includes prison sentences of up to 18 months and professional disqualification of up to 4 years.
Likewise, AnimaNaturalis will verify if any alteration or falsity has been committed in the documentary records or controls so that these degrading and inappropriate practices of civilized society have been able to escape the control of public verifiers or auditors.
We trust that the Vivotecnia laboratory and its administrators, no matter how much they hide behind a corporate network, must answer to the judicial authority for their actions.
“It is time to seriously question the system of inspections and audits in animal experimentation laboratories” explains Aïda Gascón, director of AnimaNaturalis in Spain. “The terrible images, obtained for two years in a covert way, show that they are not isolated cases.”
The case has been uncovered by the NGO Cruelty-Free International(CFI) which shows acts of animal cruelty in the Madrid laboratory Vivotecnia, an organization dedicated to contract research (CRO) for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
WAV Comment – as some of you may know, I, Me, Mark, have had Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for 21 years. Despite some problems I have daily with my illness, I will NEVER support the use of live animals in ‘scientific’ research to achieve the goal of ‘finding MS cures’. To me, the activities of Elon Musk and Neuralink is purely aimed at a goal of making yet more money at the expense of other living beings.
Unfortunately, I know that there are still places where animals are still used for MS research – to find the ‘golden fleece’ of a cure. Well, in my humble opinion, using animals for the ‘cure’ will never bring results. I would like to inform you that being in the ‘MS camp’ all these years, I have looked into the issue a bit – the main finding in the early days of my personal diagnosis was that: animal species do NOT suffer from MS; so, what is MS ?
The cause of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is still unknown. It’s considered an autoimmune disease in which the (individual concerned) owns body’s immune system attacks its own bodily tissues. It ‘sees’ a natural bodily daily function (of repairing tissue myelin) instead as the naturally produced myelin being an invader into the bodily system; so basically it (wrongly) attacks it. In the case of MS, this immune system malfunction (the immune system gets the wrong message) thus attacks and destroys the fatty substance that coats and protects all nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord (called myelin). The de myelination in various locations around bodily nerve fibres causes scarring (the ‘sclerosis’) which them interrupts or stops messages being sent from the brain to the specific area of the body where the de myelination has occurred; for example the spinal cord may be affected and so messages don’t get through to the legs= a person cannot then walk as a result. All your leg muscles may be fully functional and in the right place; but as the message from the brain to the leg muscles (via the myelin) does not go through ‘good’ functioning myelin, there is no message to the leg muscles; so the legs do not work.
MS causeur is un known, but basically it can affect anyone during their life. Some people in their teens; others in mid life; others later in life.
My argument – if animals do not get MS; then there is a reason in their body process / structure which is different to humans. Positive MS research to me would be to find out why animals don’t get MS and yet humans do; why the difference; and this can be achieved through non death research rather than the current system of ‘creating’ MS in a non affected animal, and then trying to find the cure for humans ! – it makes no sense; to me; having a lifetime in aerospace, it is a bit like putting an F1 car tyre on a Boeing 777 to achieve better results;
I find personally that a good plant based vegan diet helps me with my situation a lot. So do neurologists I have had in the past. Cut out all the bad meat stuff; and go for the healthy fruit and plants based food and drink options. As a result, my energy levels are really good. I think my brain still works ok; as I can do the computer work needed to run this site every day with Venus.
I have always hated animal abuse in whatever form; I still do and always will. I will fight in defence for them until I go to my grave. Things like the Elon Musk case really bum me off; I support medical research, but only when it does not involve using live animals of any kind.
Here are good non animal research programmes; to me; this is the way forward for positive medical results.
“One Voice” has seen information according to which more than a thousand long-tailed macaques have been imported year after year and forwarded to our neighbors elsewhere in Europe.
For many years France has been, via the ‘Silabe Platform’ (near Strasbourg), a staging post for – and moreover a place for experiments on – thousands of primates from Mauritius and Vietnamen route to laboratories in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy, such as Accelera,Aptuit, Bayer AG,Covance and Merck, where they spend the rest of their sad lives subjected to experiments.
According to the research of the association“One Voice”, France is the hub for the international monkey trade and the heart of a secretive and cruel trade.
“Silabe” stands for Simian Laboratory Europe and was originally founded as a private company that benefited from government funds.
“Silabe” has already been at the heart of controversies, revelations, demonstrations, and campaigns, in particular by other French associations, which had found themselves up against a brick wall.
It is now part of the Universityof Strasbourg and takes the form of a national public educational establishment of a scientific, cultural, and professional nature (!!!)
Texas A&M University has repeatedly tried to hide what has gone on in its canine muscular dystrophy (MD) lab—and repeatedly failed.
Today, the school can chalk up another loss.
In a first-of-its-kind ruling within the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has denied the university’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit that PETA had filed against it.
The litigation challenges the Texas A&M vice president of brand development’s refusal to allow us to place an ad on the school’s buses featuring Peony, a dog used in the university’s canine MD experiments.
This groundbreaking victory means that we can now collect evidence from Texas A&M regarding its denial of our ad, which we allege is a free-speech violation.
Under pressure from PETA supporters, the laboratory has released dozens of dogs for adoption and ended its breeding program. But the school continues to warehouse 21 dogs—many of whom are completely healthy—in its barren metal cells.
If you haven’t done so already, please take action to help free them
Hundreds of animals die every year for weapons experiments and surgical training
During surgery training or experiments with poison gas, the Military “consumed” thousands of animals in recent years.
A request in the German parliament now revealed comprehensive figures for the first time!
When it comes to animal experiments, pharmaceutical research institutions are usually the focus of the public. However, it is less well known that the German military “consumes” hundreds of pigs, rats, and mice in experiments every year.
This is also due to the fact that such experiments are not fully disclosed in the Federal Government’s publications on animal experiments.
The answer from the Defense Ministry to a request from the parliamentary group “Die Linke” (The Left Party ) now creates clarity.
According to this, the Bundeswehr has used more than 7,500 animals in experiments over the past two decades.
Between 2012 and 2019, the group spent almost two million euros on animal experiments for training and for military technology and military medical research.
Around 85 percent of the animals were rats and mice. There were also 590 guinea pigs, but also 27 monkeys, 144 dogs, and more than 300 pigs, sheep, goats, and horses (!!!).
The overview of the uses shows: rodents were exposed to nerve agents such as VX,soman, or mustard gas, pigs were seriously injured to simulate nerve damage or anemia, rabbits were injured to cartilage, and the long-term effects of radiation were investigated in mice.
An undercover PETA investigationinto Moulton Chinchilla Ranch (MCR), a huge chinchilla breeding factory in Chatfield, Minnesota that had approximately 1,000 chinchillas confined in wire-mesh floor cages in a shed that stank of ammonia, found that these exotic animals were denied not only everything that is natural and important to them but also the most basic needs, such as effective veterinary care for chronic infections and severe, life-threatening injuries that caused suffering and even death…
Based on PETA’s evidence, law enforcement agents conducted a raid on MCR and launched a criminal investigation.
Without escape
Chinchillas are active and curious animals, who love to run, jump and climb (activities that are extremely important to their physical and psychological health), but at MCR, they remained confined in small desolate, rusty cages with a wire mesh floor. They had nowhere to take refuge or hide, something extremely stressful and terrifying for these nocturnal prey animals.
Charlene was not treated for this excruciatingly painful foot injury, which resulted in a bloody stump with exposed bones. The PETA investigator rescued her. He took her to emergencies, she underwent surgery and she continues to heal.
The dirty shed was crammed with cages, the walls and ceiling covered with insect debris.
There were feces piled up just outside the shed, and some even entered the shed through a door. Many of these social animals, who in the wild live in herds of up to 100 individuals in the Andes Mountains, were locked up alone in cages. Others were so tightly packed into cages that they could barely move.
Some only had a piece of wood to sit on or chew on. No toys, no place to lie down, no environmental enrichment.
Deprived of everything that is meaningful to them, chinchillas in these stressful and inhumane conditions mutilated themselves and their cage mates, a sign of severe stress. One young animal had its ears practically bitten off.
PETA is celebrating great news out of China! Beginning on May 1, the Chinese government will allow companies to apply for an exemption to market most imported “general cosmetics”—such as shampoo, body wash, lotion, and makeup—without the usually required animal testing.
This news comes after our determined campaign that ramped up in 2012, when PETA revealed that some formerly cruelty-free companies had quietly started paying the Chinese government to test their products on animals in order to sell them in China. Hundreds of thousands of animals each year have been subjected to tests in which products were forced down their throats, rubbed onto their raw skin, or applied to their sensitive eyes.
After uncovering this, PETA funded training for Chinese scientists in the use of non-animal methods. This work is paying off!
Read more about this breakthrough here. Please continue to support 100% cruelty-free companies when purchasing personal-care products by referring to our Beauty Without Bunnies database of more than 5,200 compassionate companies and brands that don’t test on animals anywhere in the world.
While you’re here, please do more for animals in labs:
In a groundbreaking ruling, the European Court of Justice ruled Esso Raffinage not to have to carry out a series of tests on rabbits. The oil company went to the highest European court because the authority ECHA wanted to force him to do the animal tests, even though the company had submitted other safety data.
As part of the REACH= (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals) chemicals regulation, the chemical industry has to submit extensive data on its chemicals.
Oftentimes these involve animal testing. In one case, the European Chemicals Agency(ECHA) asked ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Raffinage to conduct a developmental toxicity study on hundreds of rabbits.
The company presented evidence from other sources of the safety of its chemical in an attempt to avoid the rabbit tests.
The ECHA – represented by the member state Germany – insisted on the animal tests and Esso brought the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Our European umbrella organization, the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments(ECEAE), submitted detailed arguments against carrying out the test.
The ECJ ruled in favor of the oil company.
The judges emphasized that according to the REACH guideline, animal experiments can only be carried out as a “last resort”. The obligation of companies to adhere to this principle also applies if the ECHA has initially decided that animal experiments must be carried out.
ECHA is obliged to take into account the non-animal testing data proposed by the company.
A milestone in jurisprudence!
If Esso had lost, it would have opened the door to countless other REACH animal tests.
The positive verdict will hopefully encourage other chemical companies to refuse animal testing.
Dr. med. vet. Corina Gericke(Doctors Against Animal Testing)
And I mean...ExxonMobil, known in Europe as Esso, is the world’s largest oil company with an annual turnover of 228 billion US dollars, roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of Sweden.
Exxon is making billions of dollars in oil sales.
At the same time, the group has been vehemently denying for years that burning oil has anything to do with climate change
ExxonMobil (Esso) fought with all means against the introduction of the first, binding international climate protection agreement (Kyoto Protocol), refused compensation for the damage to the Exxon Valdez, ignores human rights to this day, and is the only oil company to invest hardly a cent in the development of renewable energies.
The real business of the oil giant is “extract oil, process oil, sell oil” at any price.
Because oil means power.
And yet suddenly the company derives from its power a certain responsibility against senseless animal testing.
Esso sues in order not to have to conduct animal tests, wins, and hundreds of animals are spared a cruel fate.
We are amazed!
And we wonder what went wrong this time in the deal with their loyal german friends “ECHA”!
Which, fortunately, led to a very positive result.
No, Elon Musk, there is nothing ‘cool’ about experimenting on animals
Neuralink Corporation, a company Musk co-founded, has wired up a monkey’s brain with an implant to attempt to make it play video games with its mind – can this ever be acceptable?
Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, became the richest person in the world last month, according to Forbes. This week, he bought $1.5bn worth of Bitcoin, causing the price of the cryptocurrency to reach an all-time high. Love him or loathe him, what Musk does matters to millions.
This is why it was so concerning to hear the news that Neuralink Corporation, a company Musk co-founded, has wired up a monkey’s brain with a tiny implant to attempt to make it play video games with its mind.
In a private speech given on the invitation-only social media app Clubhouse, Musk said: “One of the things we’re trying to figure out is whether we can have the monkeys playing mind pong with each other. That would be pretty cool.”
This is not the first time Neuralink Corporation has experimented on animals. The company has previously implanted wireless technologies into the brains of pigs. Musk described this as a “Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires”.
Despite the company’s claims that these experiments could help find cures for spinal cord injuries and neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, many other scientists are less convinced.
Sadly, Musk’s actions are hardly an isolated incident. They reflect an increase in the number of experiments on animals taking place, despite mounting public concern and a growth in alternative approaches to scientific research. At leading laboratories in the US, experimenting on animals has increased by a staggering 73 per cent in recent years, while more experiments on animals are conducted in the UK than in any other country in Europe. The latest government figures revealed a total of 3.4 million experiments were completed during 2019, with more than half of these performed in universities, often paid for by the taxpayer.
Take the recent outcry in Edinburgh, where the university was accused of using the widely discredited “forced swim” test to research antidepressants. This is where animals are placed in beakers of water from which they cannot escape, literally giving them the choice of sink or swim. While it’s unclear what provoking a drowning experience in small animals can teach us about the difficulties humans face battling depression, these experiments did raise awareness of some of the creative but barbaric ways we still employ, pushing the limits of animals in the UK.
The harmful use of animals in experiments is not only cruel but so often ineffective. In fact, 90 per cent of drugs that successfully pass the preceding animal tests fail in human trials. Animals do not get many of the human diseases that people do, such as major types of heart disease, many types of cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, or schizophrenia. Often the symptoms have to be simulated, to then be tested on. As a result, fewer than five per cent of medicines tested on animals lead to approved treatments within 20 years.
Analysis of 27 “breakthroughs” in the UK also revealed there was a high degree of exaggeration by animal researchers in their findings. Most do not result in anything useful. Sadly, this hasn’t stopped the UK being the second biggest tester of dogs in Europe, including weed killer tests performed on beagles. Beagles are particularly useful to experimenters because they are a very trusting breed towards humans. These tests are unnecessary, cruel and not supported by the British public.
Yet, as we have seen at Neuralink Corporation, animals are increasingly not being used even to test medical or domestic products. Fifty seven per cent of experiments in universities are now believed to be in the area of basic research, much of it driven by the “curiosity” of university researchers. It can be a vicious cycle – many scientists need to perform experiments to be published but the data they are using for comparison is based on animal testing.
It is obvious we all need to ask questions about the direction we are heading in. There are still too many examples of animal experiments being conducted, even when validated non-animal methods are available that are often cheaper, quicker and in many cases, more accurate.
Science has performed admirably during the Covid-19 crisis, but whether it is in British universities or Silicon Valley, we can all clearly do more when it comes to achieving human-relevant science without suffering.
Revealed: all 27 monkeys held at Nasa research center killed on single day in 2019
This article is more than 1 month old
27 primates euthanized at California facility
Outcry over revelation that animals were not sent to sanctuary
Every monkey held by Nasa was put to death on a single day last year, documents obtained by the Guardian show, in a move that has enraged animal welfare campaigners.
A total of 27 primates were euthanized by administrated drugs on 2 February last year at Nasa’s Ames research center in California’s Silicon Valley, it has emerged. The monkeys were ageing and 21 of them had Parkinson’s, according to documents released under freedom of information laws.
The decision to kill off the animals rather than move them to a sanctuary has been condemned by animal rights advocates and other observers.
The primates “were suffering the ethological deprivations and frustrations inherent in laboratory life”, said John Gluck, an expert in animal ethics at the University of New Mexico. Gluck added the monkeys were “apparently not considered worthy of a chance at a sanctuary life. Not even a try? Disposal instead of the expression of simple decency. Shame on those responsible.”
Kathleen Rice, a US House representative, has written to Jim Bridenstine, Nasa’s administrator, to demand an explanation for the deaths.
Rice, a New York Democrat, said she has been pushing for US government researchers to consider “humane retirement policies” for animals used in research. “I look forward to an explanation from administrator Bridenstine on why these animals were forced to waste away in captivity and be euthanized rather than live out their lives in a sanctuary,” Rice told the Guardian.
Nasa has a long association with primates. Ham, a chimpanzee, received daily training before becoming the first great ape to be launched into space in 1961, successfully carrying out his brief mission before safely splashing down into the ocean.
But the monkeys euthanized last year weren’t used in any daring space missions or even for research – instead they were housed at the Ames facility in a joint care arrangement between Nasa and LifeSource BioMedical, a separate drug research entity which leases space at the center and housed the primates.
Stephanie Solis, the chief executive of LifeSource BioMedical, said the primates were given to the laboratory “years ago” after a sanctuary could not be found for them due to their age and poor health. “We agreed to accept the animals, acting as a sanctuary and providing all care at our own cost, until their advanced age and declining health resulted in a decision to humanely euthanize to avoid a poor quality of life,” she said.
Solis said no research was conducted on the primates while they were at Ames and that they were provided a “good remaining quality of life”.
In recent years the US government has started to phase out the use of primates in research, with the National Institutes of Health making a landmark decision in 2015 to retire all chimpanzees used in biomedical studies. Critics of the practice argue it is immoral and cruel to subject highly intelligent, social creatures so similar to humans to such conditions.
However, other labs continue to use monkeys in large numbers – a record 74,000 were used in experiments in 2017 – with scientists claiming they are far better than other animals, such as mice, for studying diseases that also afflict humans.
Even when monkeys are retired from research purposes, the task of rehoming them in appropriate sanctuaries still proves haphazard.
“What tragic afterthoughts these lives were,” said Mike Ryan, spokesman for Rise for Animals, the group that obtained the freedom of information documents on the Ames primate deaths. “Nasahas many strengths, but when it comes to animal welfare practices, they’re obsolete.”
A Nasa spokesperson said: “Nasa does not have any non-human primates in Nasa or Nasa-funded facilities.”
World Animals Voice 