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Primate
freedom project |
Welcome to the UW’s Primate Freedom
Project. We are very glad to be a part
of this important mission to bring to the light and to an end the horrors of
non-human primate research. To learn more
about the Primate Freedom Project on the national and international scenes,
please visit http://www.primatefreedom.com/. Please select from one of the following menu
options:
·
What
is the Washington National Primate Research Center?
·
A
Brief Memorial For The Animals…
·
What do they have to say for themselves?
(this will take you
to their site)
WHAT IS THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER (WaRPRC)?
Washington
National Primate Research Center
A National
Institutes of Health-Sponsored
Laboratory Complex
Director: William
R. Morton, D.V.M. and Director of AIDS Research at the National Primate
Research Center. His research interest is retrovirology. He has published extensively on SIV variants
and vaccine development. He is a well-known primatologist and has been an
officer of the Association of Primate Veterinarians.
Morton may
be personally responsible for the deaths of more monkeys than any other single
individual at the Primate Center due to the very large number of his repetitious taxpayer-funded
SIV projects. According to the Primate Center’s newsletter, the Center
Update: “Since the late 1980s, a number of approaches have been shown to
elicit protective immunity in macaques against infection or AIDS-like diseases
caused by the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), [but] … despite promising
results in macaque models, significant challenges remain for the development of
a safe and efficacious vaccine for humans.”
The
Washington Regional Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) has played a key role in
the monkey-based AIDS research failure since the early 1980s. According to the Center Update: “Currently,
AIDS-related research accounts for approximately 50% of the funded research
activities at the WaNPRC…. In the past
4 years, this [funding bonanza] has provided support for 24 principal
investigators on 75 projects using a total of 1,416 animals.” From 1997 through
2000, taxpayer-funded grants to the primate Center were approximately $100
million.
According to
Paul Robertson, a center administrator, "Research is done by more that
300 investigators at the University and from other institutions throughout
the U.S....” Baboons, rhesus, crab-eating, and pigtailed macaques are
consumed at the Primate Center.
Official
documents state that there are 810 monkeys at the Center. Another 1,000
to 1500 macaques live on the 600 ha Tinjil Island in Indonesia. In 1995, Morton
stated that 50 young monkeys are “harvested” annually from the island. More
monkeys are held and experimented on in the Colony Breeding Facility and
virology laboratory at Bogor University in Darmaga, Indonesia. More monkeys are
held and experimented on at the Institute of Medical Primatology near the Black
Sea in Adler, Russia.
The Primate
Center’s monkeys in Indonesia and Russia, all supported by U.S. tax dollars, are
exempt from federal oversight and animal welfare laws.
In addition to
the suffering endured by the many monkeys dying of SIV and the SIV/HIV hybrid
diseases invented by scientists such as Dr. Morton, many other monkeys are
subjected to experiments that the Center works to keep quiet and out of view.
An educated public might become a more vocal critic of the Center’s various
activities.
at
the
Washington
National Primate Research Center
Eberhard E.
Fetz is implanting
permanent electrodes into the brains of monkeys to study the electrical
patterns that result when the monkeys operate computer joysticks with both
hands at the same time. He also employs electrodes he can slide in and out of
their brains as the monkeys are performing for him.
Thomas M.
Burbacher is studying
the monkeys whose mothers he exposed to varying amounts of methanol [a gasoline
additive] while they were pregnant. Burbacher claims, “These studies will
…constitute the only … risk assessment of the consequences of widespread
environmental dissemination of methanol.” But a report prepared for the
Environmental Protection Agency says, “There is abundant data on the potential
health effects of methanol in animals and humans.”
Mark Dubach writes, “My principal role is to
arrange for the induction of seizures by focal drug injections at sensitive
sites in the brain.”
Virginia
Gunderson writes, “The
primary goal of this research is to develop a macaque monkey model for
complex-partial seizures during the first year of life….There is concern that
early seizures may adversely affect cognitive and emotional functioning during
childhood. Cranial assemblies are implanted on project animals using
stereotaxic surgical techniques. In previous years we attempted to induce
seizures by the microinfusion of bicuculline methiodide into an area deep
within the piriform cortex. Unfortunately this procedure was not reliable in
obtaining seizures on a regular basis. Therefore, we tried two other protocols.
First, in four animals we attempted to induce seizures by the infusion of drug
into the hippocampus. Again, the results were inconsistent. Second, in another
four animals, we induced seizures by infusing drug into the entorhinal cortex.
The latter procedure was very successful, and we were able to obtain seizures
in every animal on our first attempt.”
Julie M.
Worlein is infecting
monkeys with SIV. What makes her study any different from the other SIV dead
ends is the fact that half of the twenty monkeys she is killing were separated
from their mothers for two weeks when they were six months old. Her
experimental question is this: Which group, those who got to stay with their
mom’s, or those who were taken away for two weeks, will sicken and die the
fastest?
There seems to
be little limit or constraint applied to the experiments on monkeys underway at
the Washington National Primate Research Center. Senior staff has stated the
basis for our moral outrage succinctly:
“The
behavioral repertoire of nonhuman primates is highly evolved and includes
advanced problem-solving capabilities, complex social relationships, and
sensory acuity equal or superior to humans.” Thomas M. Burbacher and Kimberly S.
Grant [2000. Methods for
Studying Nonhuman Primates in Neurobehavioral Toxicology and Teratology. Neurotoxicology and Teratology. 2000
Jul-Aug;. 22(4): 475-86. Review.]
In memory of: Male, Pig-Tailed Macaque, #J90266, Born
September 18th, 1990 and Died September 8th, 1999
J90266 was born on September 18, 1990 at Medical Lake,
Washington, once a human prison. Medical Lake was remodeled and used as a
primate-breeding center for a number of years. It is now abandoned. One can
only imagine the horror that those walls have seen.
At birth, J90266 weighed little more than a pound. His mother
rejected him when he was only two days old. He was treated for bites and
abrasions to his face. He was sent to the Washington National Primate Research
Center in Seattle. For eight months, he
was held alone in a cage. In the wild, macaques live in dynamic social groups
and interact with a complex and rich environment. This solitary confinement was
a lonely and stressful time.
On
J90266's first birthday he was placed in a "group (cage or room),"
where he remained for four years. He
was removed from the group and treated for a traumatic injury to his second finger.
He was discharged and returned to the group on January 4, 1996. But he didn't
remain there for long. On February 2,
1996 he was again removed from his group and placed in a cage by himself. Then
on the 15th was put on a truck for shipment to another lab.
But
J90266 wasn't sent anywhere, and instead, on the 15th he was taken off the
truck and placed in a single animal cage, sick with diarrhea. He spent the last
3 ½ years of his life caged all alone. During this time he suffered
acute inflammation of the mucous membranes of his eye, mouth, and nose. He endured
an apicoectomey, the removal of an infection from the tip of the tooth root
(similar to a root canal), and then on September 8, 1999, J90266 was killed. He
was 8.97 years old. His death was described as "Euthanasia,
experimental." He weighed only seven pounds.
During his short, lonely life, J90266:
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In The Wild:
Pig-tailed macaques are native to the rain forests of
southeast Asia. Most of their day is spent foraging on the ground but they
are equally at home in the trees. They have evolved to fill a niche of large
vertical dimension as well as a large forest floor area. Their natural
behavior is to explore these large three-dimensional highly complex
environments in their search for food and novelty. When not actively
exploring and foraging individually, these monkeys interact socially
in groups and sleep near each other. In The Labs:
A very large proportion of monkeys held in U.S.
laboratories are housed alone in small, stainless steel cubicles with
wire fronts. |
Ø
was
rejected by his mother;
Ø
was
moved 44 times;
Ø
had
blood drawn 15 times;
Ø
spent
over four years alone in a cage; and
Ø was killed.
The people who "used" him were:
Ø Edward Clark
Ø Laura Newell
Ø Jeffery Wine, and
Ø Lakshmi Gaur
In Memory of : Female, Baboon, #A92025, Born January 1,
1991 and Died June 26, 2000
Baboon #A92025 was manufactured at the Buckshire
Corporation which sold her to the University of Washington. During her short, lonely life she was
subjected to various protocols including experiments that caused permanent
biological changes in her. She was used
as a “dummy” for blood drawing in 1992.
Her bones were permanently altered in the “Bone Marrow Engraftment…”
experiments. Her biology was
permanently changed again in 1993 when human stem cells were introduced into
her system. She was also used as a
breeding machine in November of 1999, just seven months before she was killed.
In March of 1996 one researcher noted that she was
suffering from nosebleeds, sneezing, coughing, and abnormal discharge. However, to push a new protocol into action,
an alternate researcher noted a day later that Baboon #A92025 was healthy and
the experiments were to be continued as planned.
She had blood drawn from her 26 times. She was moved 52 times. And, she spent approximately six years in a
single cage with no interaction with others.
She was euthanized on June 26, 2000 after 9 ½ years of enslavement and
torture.
She spent only broken, shifting moments with other caged
and tortured primates adding up to a total of approximately 3.3 years of
exposure to her own species. The rest
of the time she spent alone, including a two-month stint being tethered.
Tethering is a technique that is used to infuse (inject)
and sample (suck out) fluids in an unrestrained animal over an extended period
of time. It truly turns them into a living laboratory. Typically, a monkey will undergo surgery
that implants tubes (cannula or catheters) into the organ or cavity of
interest. The tubes may be tunneled under the skin and exit through the
animal's back into a protected flexible metal hose. The animal is then fitted
with a jacket to keep him or her from being able to touch the exit site. The
tubes then attach to a port in the cage, so that the animal might appear to be
on a leash or a tether. Tethered
animals sometimes develop sores under their jackets from chaffing. In nearly
every case, tethered animals are singly housed, which may be the worse thing
that can be done to these highly social animals.
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In her life she: Ø
Was
taken from her mother and had her infant taken from her; Ø
Was
moved 52 times; Ø
Had
blood drawn 26 times; Ø
Spent
over six years alone in a cage; and was killed The people who used her are: Ø
Dr.
Robert G. Andrews Ø
Dr.
John Weyhrich Ø
Dr.
Laurence Shields Ø
Dr.
David Anderson In The Wild
Baboons usually live 20-30 years in the wild. Olive
baboons live in medium to large groups with multiple males and females. One
of the most interesting aspects in the lifestyle of olive baboons is the fact
that friendships have been noted. Certain males and females maintain
very close bonds with each other, spending much time together feeding,
grooming, resting, and copulating. Benefits are seen for both males and
females involved in friendships, with males increasing their chances of
mating and likelihood of paternity and females receiving protection from
other males, including protection for their infants. Large body size and patchy distribution
of food resources means that olive baboons must travel over large areas
in order to find enough to eat, typically traveling 5.9 km per day. Home
ranges are approximately 24 sq km in size. |
In The Labs
Most of the baboons at WaRPRC are olive baboons. They are confined
to cages, and with whom they socialize is determined by the whim of
researchers - if they are permitted to socialize at all. |
If you have
adopted a primate through the Primate Freedom Project and have received your
Freedom of Information Act papers regarding the primate you adopted, please
write up a briefing on him/her and e-mail it to: [email protected],
Thank you!
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT
IT?
We can join in
the efforts of the Primate
Freedom Project
to educate the public on what is going on in this facility and other facilities
around the country and the planet. We
can demand that non-human primates be liberated to live as nature intended. We can let the UW know that we will not
tolerate animal cruelty on our turf or anywhere else! If you’d like to get involved, please contact us at [email protected] to learn how you can make a difference for the animals!