HRA updates

Outrage at cruel greyhound experiment conducted at an Australian university

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:00:00 GMT

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The Experiment Is on Us: Science of Animal Testing Thrown Into Doubt

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:00:00 GMT

New scientific research has cast grave doubt on the safety testing of hundreds of thousands of consumer products, food additives and industrial chemicals.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/16208-the-experiment-is-on-us-science-of-animal-testing-thrown-into-doubt

Media Release - Taxpayer funded cruelty!

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

To commemorate ‘World Day for Animals in Laboratories’ Humane Research Australia is demanding answers as to why millions of animals still continue to suffer unnecessarily each year in Australia’s medical and scientific research laboratories. And why hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are wasted annually on cruel, ineffective and unnecessary animal experimentation.

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Case study - 8 baboons used (then killed) to study the healing process of shoulder tendon surgery

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Surgeons at the Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney) surgically cut the tendons and damaged the rotator cuff in healthy baboons in an attempt to replicate the healing process in humans.

Eight female baboons, all over 15 years of age, had been used in experiments and breeding programs all their lives and scheduled for death, were taken from Australian Baboon Breeding Colony to be used in these highly invasive experiments.

http://www.humaneresearch.org.au/case-studies/Baboons_used_in_shoulder_surgery

Case Study - Traumatic Brain Injury induced in rats by dropping weights on their exposed brains

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

Vivisectors at Monash University have been attempting to study the long term consequence of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in the cortex of laboratory rats to see what changes take place in neuronal processing.

http://www.humaneresearch.org.au/case-studies/Traumatic_Brain_Injury_to_rats

HRA response to The McKeon Review

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:00:00 GMT

The Minister for Health, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, last week released the report of the McKeon Review - Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research - Better Health through Research.

The Strategic Review of Health and Medical Research in Australia was established by the Australian Government in late 2011. The Review was to report early in 2013 and recommend a 10-year strategic health and medical research plan for the nation.

The full report and the summary version of the report can be accessed on the Review website homepage http://www.mckeonreview.org.au

According to the report, “The purpose of health and medical research (HMR) is to achieve better health for all Australians.”

Humane Research Australia appreciates the importance of having a long term strategy to address the future of Australian health, however the final report fails to:

acknowledge the dangers of our current practice of relying on animal-based research

identify the need to develop non-animal methodologies that are species-specific

promote lifestyle education, and instead appears to foster the development of an industry which relies on sickness within the community to continue its existence.

Humane Research Australia considers that reliance on animal-based data is a major failing in our current research sector and is disappointed about this blatant omission in any long-term plan for human health.

A more logical strategy would be to shift the focus toward health education and lifestyle choices in order to reduce the burden on our healthcare system. It seems absurd that public funding is used to research disease (on the wrong species) whilst we already have the capacity to heal many people who are sick and dying of preventable illnesses due to lack of education and under-resourcing of hospitals and medical staff.

The need for non-animal methodologies (species-specific research)
Systematic reviews conducted in the areas of toxicity testing and biomedical research have shown that alternatives are far more predictive of human outcomes than data obtained from animals.

Overseas researchers have government funded institutions dedicated to the development and validation of alternative methodologies. The Australian government needs to show a commitment to the development and validation of non-animal methodologies.

It is hoped at the very least, the McKeon Review will encourage closer scrutiny of the way in which Australia uses its research funding and reduce the chances of wasted resources “invested” into such non-essential research such as breast implants in pigs, shaking lambs to death, feeding alcohol to pregnant sheep and marijuana to rats.

European Union ban on animal-tested cosmetics comes into effect 11 March

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:00:00 GMT

After decades of lobbying by British anti-vivisection groups, the European Union ban on animal-tested cosmetics comes into effect on 11 March 2013.

Our heartfelt appreciation goes to all those who have fought so hard and for so long for this victory.

Now, Australia needs to follow their lead!

EU bans sale of animal tested cosmetics

Another challenge to the mouse model

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Many thanks to Monika Merkes PhD, Honorary Associate, Australian Institute for Primary Care & Ageing, La Trobe University (and member of HRA's Advisory Panel) for the following update on the issue of animal research.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2013/03/02/another-challenge-to-the-mouse-model/

World’s First for Animal Replacement Science Announced

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

The UK’s leading humane medical research charity, the Dr Hadwen Trust (DHT), and Queen Mary, University of London, have joined forces to lead the global development of human-relevant methods and alternatives to animal use in diverse areas of bio-medical research.

http://www.drhadwentrust.org/latest-news/news-and-views/post/171-worlds-first-for-animal-replacement-science-announced?utm_source=smartmail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=World%E2%80%99s+First+for+Animal+Replacement+Science+Announced

Media Release - Australian Beauty Industry called on to End Cosmetic Cruelty

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

As Europe Bans Sale of Animal-Tested Cosmetics, LUSH and Humane Society International CEOs Call on Australian Beauty Industry to End Cosmetics Cruelty

Australian Beauty Industry called on to End Cosmetics Cruelty

Of mice and men: role of mice in biomedical research questioned

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

A study recently published in the peer-reviewed journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National of Academy Sciences) shows that mice are poor models for human inflammatory diseases. The paper, which focused on sepsis, burns and trauma, raises questions about the fundamental role of mice in biomedical research.

http://theconversation.edu.au/of-mice-and-men-role-of-mice-in-biomedical-research-questioned-12237

Mice Fall Short as Test Subjects for Humans’ Deadly Ills

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

For decades, mice have been the species of choice in the study of human diseases. But now, researchers report evidence that the mouse model has been totally misleading for at least three major killers — sepsis, burns and trauma. As a result, years and billions of dollars have been wasted following false leads, they say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/testing-of-some-deadly-diseases-on-mice-mislead-report-says.html?_r=1&

And here is the response by Dr Ray Greek:

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/animal-rights/death-knell-mouse-research-no-way

Case study - cats in vision research at University of Sydney

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

In a recent 2011 publication,(1) researchers at the University of Sydney describe one of their many experiments in which cats were subjected to experiments that attempts to understand the connections between a part of the cat brain (area 18) and the responses of their neurons to visual stimuli.

http://www.humaneresearch.org.au/case-studies/Cats_in_vision_research

Scientific research on primates: What do we owe animals like us?

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

http://theconversation.edu.au/scientific-research-on-primates-what-do-we-owe-animals-like-us-11673

Animal testing debate resurfaces

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Karol Orzechowski - Director of Maximum Tolerated Dose - interviewed on Weekend Sunrise.

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/266ef616-6aa3-309d-80da-900f0efefbe1/animal-testing-debate-resurfaces/

Victory! Pesticide tests are not for the birds - or any animal

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Hundreds of animals will be spared from being used and killed in cruel pesticide tests, thanks to recent PCRM victories.

http://www.pcrm.org/media/blog/jan2013/victory-pesticide-tests-not-for-birds-animals

Evocutis boosted by interest in animal replacement technology

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Eradicating animal testing in the cosmetics industry has taken another step forward as UK-based Evocutis has secured ten new contracts totalling £280,000 (€337,000) for its alternative method.

http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Business-Financial/Evocutis-boosted-by-interest-in-animal-replacement-technology

US National Institutes of Health halts funding for medical research on chimpanzees

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

THE National Institutes of Health, America's foremost medical research agency, will no longer fund studies involving chimpanzees, as it prepares to revise its policies on using the primates.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/us-national-institutes-of-health-halts-funding-for-medical-research-on-chimpanzees/story-e6frg8y6-1226560720777

Mathematicians to reduce animal testing

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Animal testing is one of the most contentious issues in today’s chemical industry. Both sides of the fight, whether strongly against, or of the view that it is the better of two evils, agree that the moral choice is a difficult one. It is obvious that the perfect solution would be to develop a way of testing a drug’s safety and effectiveness without using animals.
http://www.nouse.co.uk/2013/01/22/york-mathematicians-to-reduce-animal-testing/

Raise a glass to help end animal experiments

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Through the generosity of Goodwill Wine, we are now making it easier than ever to help end animal experiments!

After losing his home in the Black Saturday fires, owner David Laity was so grateful for the kindness and assistance afforded to him that he chose to pass on the goodwill by assisting needy charities and created Goodwill Wine. He now donates 50% of his profit margin.

The wines selected for Humane Research Australia do not contain any animal products. Purchases are made directly from Goodwill Wine and not through our online shop.

Not only will the purchase of these wines mean a financial contribution to our important work, by giving a bottle as a gift you are also helping to raise awareness of this hidden industry.

So please raise a glass and help us bring an end to the unethical and dangerously misleading practice of animal experimentation.

Click here to purchase.

Animal welfare researchers must be honest about motivations

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Escaping the truth about the world that we live in should be far from any scientist’s mind.

http://theconversation.edu.au/animal-welfare-researchers-must-be-honest-about-motivations-11479

How international law brought back animal testing of cosmetics

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

Call it "the global squeeze." And it's not the kind of squeeze a company takes kindly to. Caught between conflicting ethical and legal demands imposed by an increasingly global marketplace, companies may find that they are vilified in one country merely because they have conformed to the rules of another.

Consider the case of three leading cosmetics companies: Avon Products Inc., The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., and Mary Kay Inc. Back in the 1980s, they began advertising that they didn't use animals to test their products. They trained their sales staffs to promote their "cruelty-free" policies, and they were proudly listed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as companies that do not test on animals.

http://www.ctlawtribune.com/PubArticleCT.jsp?id=1357477387593&thepage=1

India likely to impose blanket ban on testing cosmetics on animals

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

NEW DELHI: India in a landmark move is planning to impose a blanket ban on testing cosmetics on animals.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-likely-to-impose-blanket-ban-on-testing-cosmetics-on-animals/articleshow/17865653.cms

Import ban on animal-tested products goes into effect (Israel)

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:00:00 GMT

http://www.timesofisrael.com/import-ban-on-animal-tested-products-goes-into-effect/

95% of lab animals in the USA have no legal protection from cruelty

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

A federal anti-cruelty law called the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) gives some protections to warm-blooded animals used in research laboratories. That is, to 5 percent of them. It leaves the rest — rats, mice, and birds — out in the cold.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/95-of-lab-animals-have-no-legal-protection-from-cruelty.html#ixzz2GIVWGspk

Shipping primates for research slowly becoming taboo

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

In a victory for animals, the Canadian Transport Authority (CTA) has announced that it will uphold Air Canada’s decision to stop shipping primates who are destined for experimentation.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/shipping-primates-for-research-slowly-becoming-taboo.html#ixzz2GIWQWwPS

UK poll reveals attitudes to animal testing

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

One in three adults favours ban on use of animals in all experiments

Almost one in three (31%) adults say the government should ban all experiments on animals for any form of medical research, according to a new ComRes poll for BBC Radio 5 Live.

http://www.drhadwentrust.org/latest-news/news-and-views/post/169-attitudes-to-animal-testing

The Punch - Don't give the gift of cruelty this Christmas

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Considering the comments posted on previous articles on The Punch, it’s safe to say that the issue of animal experimentation for medical research is a controversial topic, often generating strong views from largely polarised positions.

When it comes to the specific testing of cosmetics on animals however, clearly the jury is in. The vast majority of us consider it cruel and unnecessary to subject animals to painful tests merely for the sake of our own vanity.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-give-the-gift-of-cruelty-this-christmas/

Media Release - Shoppers urged to celebrate a cruelty-free Christmas

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Australians are being asked to show their compassion this Christmas by ensuring that their cosmetic and perfume gifts have NOT been tested on animals.

Shoppers urged to celebrate a cruelty-free Christmas

Scientists kill half a million animals

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Almost half a million animals were killed for research in Victoria last year, including more than 400 cats, dogs and monkeys.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/scientists-kill-half-a-million-animals-20121201-2ao42.html

World AIDS Day - Why is there still no cure?

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Whilst advances in the control and treatment of HIV/AIDS have arisen from population studies and preventative programs, we still have no cure. Could it be perhaps, that it's because much research is focused on the wrong species?

Read our latest papers which discuss why the use of pigtail macaques in HIV research is scientifically flawed.

A comparison of two studies

Primates and HIV Research - Infecting our closest relatives

And the following case study to know what actually happens to these monkeys - some of which are even imported from Indonesia!

Infecting pigtail macaques with HIV

Bulletin 5 - Choosing Cruelty Free

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Thought cosmetic testing on animals was a thing of the past? Think again!

One of the most unjustifiable uses of animals in research is for cosmetic and product testing. We have an abundnce of safe products already on the market. Subjecting animals to pain and sufering for the sake of our own vanity is inexcusable.

Bulletin 5 - Choosing Cruelty Free

The monkey farm: Primates being bred for experiments

Sat, 24 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

DOWN a gravel track, surrounded by surveillance cameras, high metal gates and electrified wire, is a long, unmarked building with a dozen cages on each side.

Macaque monkeys hang on the wire of these sparse enclosures. They chirp, and two poke out their tongues provocatively.

Several of the possum-sized monkeys have bulky yellow collars around their necks. But through a zoom lens, it's clear the collars are more like yokes, with handles attached. These primates are no pets, and this is not a zoo.

Editorial:

Testing on animals and the moral imperative. Victorian primate research raises serious questions

Defence Force supports monkey tests

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/defence-force-defends-monkey-tests/story-fnek2nxs-1226523003707

New Greens bill to ban importation of live primates for research

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

The Australian Greens have a new bill to ban the importation into Australia of live primates for research designed to address the cruel and inhumane trade in intelligent, live primates caught in the wild and sold to a booming research market.

http://lee-rhiannon.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/new-greens-bill-ban-importation-live-primates-research

Humane Research Australia was kindly invited to paticipate in their press conference at Parliament House, Canberra.

The elusive ethics of animal ethics committees

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:00:00 GMT

More than six million animals are used in experiments in Australia each year. Many endure pain and distress, and most are killed after their use.

The research community claims that our regulatory framework ensures animals are only used for scientific purposes when their use is essential and justified. We challenge this “clean image” and believe much animal experimentation today is unreasonable and continues the abuses of the past.

http://theconversation.edu.au/the-elusive-ethics-of-animal-ethics-committees-10056

Public opposition to animal testing grows

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Trust in scientists and the rules governing the practice of animal testing is falling, new research shows.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/oct/19/public-opposition-animal-testing?newsfeed=true

Let's quit monkeying around

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Examining the role of animal testing in neuroeconomics and beyond.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/markets-in-mind/201210/lets-quit-monkeying-around

BUAV criticises cruel GM food rat experiment

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:00:00 GMT

http://buav.org/article/1112/buav-criticises-cruel-gm-food-rat-experiment

Nothing to hide: Opening the files on animal research

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:00:00 GMT

http://theconversation.edu.au/nothing-to-hide-opening-the-files-on-animal-research-9686

Leading Animal Ethicists Call for Full Disclosure on Testing

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:00:00 GMT

(Press release from Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics)

Patients prescribed drugs tested on animals should be told details of exactly what it involved, including any suffering caused, say some of the world’s leading animal ethicists.

The editors of the Journal of Animal Ethics (JAE), published this month by the University of Illinois Press, want full disclosure on the nature of testing used in drug development. They say people should know “not only whether animals were used, but also what kind, how many were used, the precise procedures to which they were subject, and the nature and severity of the pain and suffering, if any, that they had to endure.”

The editors point to the comments of Lord Robert Winston, the famous pioneer of fertility treatment, in a debate on animal experiments in the House of Lords in the United Kingdom. Lord Winston stated: “I do not think we can argue that there is any substitute for animal research. Of course, reduction is possible but I do not think that substitution is … We need to say very clearly that it would be unthinkable to take any drug which has not been tested on an intact animal. In fact, there is a case for having legislation to make it clear that a particular drug has only been possible for human consumption because of animal testing. This could be stamped on the packet, rather like a cigarette packet.”¹

However, they consider Lord Winston’s proposal too modest: “Animals are subject to a whole range of uses in laboratories from the routine testing of household products, cosmetics (though some limitations have been placed on this in Europe) including the testing of agricultural products, poisons, sprays and herbicides, even fire-extinguisher substances. And that doesn’t include the use of animals in military experiments. If full disclosure, based on the right to know, is the position of animal researchers, and they have nothing to hide, there can be no grounds for postulating that only medical products should be singled out. Let us know all the details, the benefits (if any) and also the costs to the animals themselves.”

In the editorial the authors also call for information about “the way in which some animal experiments lead to no worthwhile discovery, those experiments that have impeded medical progress, even how many animal-tested drugs have been recalled after harming humans?” The editors ask whether we should not all have the right to know “about the experiments on human animals that have also, directly or indirectly, contributed to the increase of scientific knowledge as well as drugs and vaccines?” They suggest that Lord Winston may “have overlooked the long history of experiments on human subjects, including prisoners of war, enlisted soldiers, people of color, and the mentally challenged. Have these contributed nothing to medical advances? To take just one example, what of the early clinical trials of tuberculin treatments on orphan children (“intact [human] animals”) that took place in Philadelphia in 1908?”²

They call for a full disclosure: “Yes, let there be disclosure. Let the facts and the history be known. Let us not shirk the details. Anything less may serve particular interests but is less than the full disclosure we have a right to expect.”

The JAE has been launched by a US and UK academic partnership with the goal of widening international debate about the moral status of animals, and is the result of years of collaboration between the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and the University of Illinois Press. It is edited by the internationally known theologian the Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey, Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and Professor Priscilla Cohn, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University and Associate Director of the Centre.

Multidisciplinary in nature and international in scope, the JAE covers theoretical and applied aspects of animal ethics. To subscribe to the Journal, please visit the Journal’s website at http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/jane.html.

For more information, please contact Sam Calvert, Samantha Calvert Marketing & PR, sam@samcalvert.plus.com / +44 (0)1782 505430 / +44 (0)7967 042050.

Notes to editors

¹Lord Robert Winston, Hansard (House of Lords), 24 October 2011, column 623, available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/111024-0002.htm#11102443000399, see also the report in the Daily Telegraph for the following day; available a http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8858219/Drugs-should-carry-animal-testing-labels.html.

²Susan E. Lederer, Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America before the Second World War (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1995), see pp. 78-82.

The Reverend Professor Andrew Linzey is a Member of the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford. He is Honorary Professor at the University of Winchester and Professor of Animal Ethics at the Graduate Theological Foundation, Indiana. He has written or edited 20 books, including Animal Theology (SCM Press/University of Illinois Press, 1994) and Creatures of the Same God (Winchester University Press/Lantern Books, 2007), and Why Animal Suffering Matters (Oxford University Press, 2009).
The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, founded in 2006 by its director Professor Andrew Linzey, is an independent Centre with the aim of pioneering ethical perspectives on animals through academic research, teaching and publication. The Centre has more than 50 Fellows drawn from a variety of academic disciplines from throughout the world. For more information about the Centre and its Fellows, please see its website at www.oxfordanimalethics.com.
The Centre is dedicated to the memory of the celebrated Catalan philosopher José Ferrater Mora. His prodigious scholarship is widely acclaimed, and the Centre honours his name because of his outstanding contribution to humanitarian thought, particularly in the area of animal ethics.

Media release - New Zealand researchers condemned for genetically modifying cows

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:00:00 GMT

New Zealand researchers condemned for genetically modifying cows

Why animal ethics committees don't work

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 14:00:00 GMT

http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bts/vol15/iss1/8/

Starving monkeys won't help humans live longer

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:00:00 GMT

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/09/10/2683912/starving-monkeys-wont-help-humans.html

Can technology help us put an end to animal experiments?

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 14:00:00 GMT

http://io9.com/5940566/can-technology-help-us-put-an-end-to-animal-experimentation

New case study - Infecting Macaques with HIV

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:00:00 GMT

http://www.humaneresearch.org.au/case-studies/infecting-macaques-with-HIV

Scientists Finally Conclude Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious Beings

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:00:00 GMT

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201208/scientists-finally-conclude-nonhuman-animals-are-conscious-beings

REACH, animal testing, and the precautionary principle

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Relatively little is known about the toxicity of the many chemicals in existence today. This has prompted European Union regulatory authorities to launch a major chemicals testing program, known as Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

http://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=10625

Animal research provides a flawed model, so why not stop?

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 14:00:00 GMT

http://theconversation.edu.au/animal-research-provides-a-flawed-model-so-why-not-stop-7890

Primates and HIV Research - Infecting our closest relatives

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Primates and HIV Research - Infecting our closest relatives