Ad appearing in the Post
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In a full-page
Washington Post ad on July 22, PETA slams Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Andrew Von Eschenbach, for pushing crude and unreliable animal tests, including on dogs.
In addition to millions of mice and rats—hundreds of thousands of dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, fish, birds, and primates are poisoned each year with pesticides, industrial chemicals, vaccines, and drugs.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) often require that these substances be tested in at least two animal species, even though these tests do not accurately predict how a substance will affect humans. Beagles have become the dog of choice for most tests because of their size and gentle nature.
These dogs spend their whole lives in barren cages, deprived of everything natural and important to them. They are denied the love of a family, a home, and the freedom to run, play, and feel the earth beneath their feet.
Breeding facilities around the world profit by selling dogs to vivisectors. Testing facilities make money by forcing the dogs to withstand sickening doses of toxic substances until they are poisoned to death or killed when the experimenters are done with them.
Dog inhalation tests
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To make matters worse, companies are exporting their animal testing to China where, according to
Forbes magazine, "Lab animals are plentiful and pesky protesters are kept at bay," and, as the
Economist states, "Animals are treated dreadfully ...." An article in
The Boston Globe quoted the head of a pharmaceutical company as saying, "China is a good place to be [for U.S. companies], as it is the world's largest supplier of lab monkeys and canines—mostly beagles." The article states these companies want "to turn China's dogs into global economic assets."
Chemical, pesticide, and drug companies conduct these tests because the FDA and the EPA require them to do so, and they make a profit regardless of what the
animal tests show. (If the animals are OK, they claim that their products are safe. If the animals get sick or die, they can claim that the animal test results aren't relevant to humans.)
You can help stop this cruel testing! Join PETA's efforts and use the form below to convince Congress and the FDA that these requirements are cruel and outdated and need to be changed.
