10 More Reasons to Boycott Harvard

10 More Reasons to Boycott Harvard



An interesting read. One could assume that many disgusting practices lie behind the hallowed doors of Harvard. But of course, most people won’t even question them. Why? Well, because they’re Harvard!

10 More Reasons to Boycott Harvard

by Mass Animal Rights Coalition

http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/65654/index.php

Besides Harvard economist destabilization of Russia, besides Harvard investment in war, slaughterhouses, earth destruction, besides Harvard's abuse of the community and exploitation of labor, Harvard is one of the world's most barbaric animal torturers.

10 MORE REASONS TO BOYCOTT HARVARD

1. Harvard researcher David Adams has repeatedly tried to transplant
pig kidneys and hearts into baboons. This failed at least 11 times,
killing both animals every time. Primates and pigs rank 2nd and 4th
in animal intelligence. We'd be hard pressed to give David Adams
such a high ranking.

2. As of 1999, Harvard researcher John Assad was attaching PERMANENT
head restraint bolts to primates' skulls so he can keep them still
to benefit his research. John, John, now how could you really think
this was an okay thing to do? Didn't your mother teach you the
Golden Rule?

3. At Harvard, primates can be denied food and water for up to 23
hours a day and restrained in restraint chairs, unable to move, for
up to 104 hours in a row. These factors induce the uncontrolled
variable of a considerable level of stress (which surpresses the
immune system)and compromises any research results. So basically,
researchers can't really know WHAT their data shows. Except that
they need to publish or perish so it's business as usual.

4. Harvard researchers have implanted electrodes into primates'
brains and eyes. This is a very common practice. Can you spare a few
hours this weekend to help us say this is wrong?

5. Because primates don't get AIDS and humans don't get SAIDS
(simian AIDS), Harvard researchers have combined the two, creating a
new and highly fatal disease. You don't have to have a Harvard
degree to know the last thing we need are new genetically engineered
diseases.

6. According to IDA's Lawrence Carter-Long, "Researchers from
Harvard and Boston Universities concluded that medical measures
(drugs and vaccines) accounted for between 1 and 3.5% of the total
decline in mortality rates since 1900. Scores of animals were killed
in the quest to find cures for tuberculosis, scarlet fever, smallpox
and diphtheria, among others, but was their unwilling contribution
important to the decline of these diseases? Dr. Edward Kass of
Harvard Medical School, asserts that the 'primary credit for the
virtual eradication of these diseases must go to improvements in
public health, sanitation and the general improvement in the
standard of living.' These benefits have nothing to do with animal
studies." If only 1-3.5% of improved life expectancy comes from
medical measures, then why is NIH giving researchers tens of
billions of our tax dollars every year?

7. According to Harvard's own researchers, the only effective
welfare measure for lab primates is group housing but nationwide 35%
of primates are not group housed in labs.

8. According to Michael Budkie, executive director of SAEN, 605
primates at NEPRC may have been exposed to pain in 2003 but Harvard
claims that zero primates were exposed to pain. In a 2002 analysis
of NEPRC research, Budkie noted a discrepancy of 49 deaths in
differing research reports (one reported 368 deaths and another
reported 417). Not only can't Harvard seem to count very well, but
it's hard to imagine that over 400 primates died in 1 year and all
of them simply "passed away in their sleep."

9. The Animal Welfare Act was violated 1780 times by laboratories
during the 2005 reporting year, a three-year increase of over 60%.
Think how high that number would really be if a) The AWA were truly
enforced and b) if it applied to ANYTHING that goes on during the
experiments. You see, the AWA ONLY covers cage size, feeding
schedules, etc., all of which can be ignored if it is deemed "vital"
to the experiment. So basically, it is an "anything goes" situation
in reality. Talk about a loophole!

10. Nationwide, more researchers are studying monkey sex and
reproduction (37 studies total) than either heart disease (29
studies) or cancer (21 studies), the #1 and #2 human killers. Hey
brainiacs, go study monkey sex on your own dime. Or better yet,
don't study it at all.

In case you missed our first 10 reasons to attend the protest on
Saturday at Harvard, here they are:

1. To commemorate World Week for Animals in Laboratories, an
international week of protest to help lab animals. All over the
world, activists will be taking to the streets for lab animals.

2. Harvard ranks 2nd in the nation in federal tax dollars received
for animal experimentation, about 300 million dollars. That's enough
to pay for health insurance for over 20,000 families.

3. Despite decades of saying that they apply the 3R's (reduction,
refinement, and replacement), Harvard has EXPANDED its primate
population by over 50% in the last 8 years.

4. Harvard is expanding to provide primates to the BU Bioterror Lab.
There, BU will expose primates and other animals to Ebola, anthrax,
bubonic plague, and other nightmare diseases.

5. There are 3 phases of human trials for drug safety. 91% of all
drugs tested on animals FAIL in the FIRST phase. This most recently
occurred in England where 6 people were sent to the Intensive Care
Unit after taking a tiny dose of a drug "tested safe" on primates in
large doses.

6. Harvard pulls in about 2 million dollars a year to give drugs to
animals, that's enough to treat over 1000 addicts. Harvard has
published 75 separate papers and studies about cocaine use in
primates. One researcher, Bertha Madras, has been giving drugs,
mainly cocaine and heroin to animals for over 40 years. So we say to
Harvard: we have plenty of addicts to study, and recreational drug
research is not exactly cutting edge technology worthy of torturing
our closest animal relatives.

7. Researcher Roger Spealman addicts monkeys to cocaine, breaks them
of their addiction, then "induces social stress" to see if they re-
addict. Oh, pulease. You don't have to be a Harvard professor to
know this is stupid and wastes tax dollars; any drug counselor can
tell you that stress can cause re-addiction, and, the last we knew,
monkeys don't naturally seek out cocaine in the first place!

8. Another researcher studies fear in monkeys. He has trained
raptors (hawks and other birds of prey) attack young monkeys in
order to monitor their fear reactions. This is both cruel and
moronic.

9. Peta recently ranked the worst institutions in the nation for lab
animal treatment and abuse; Harvard ranked as 6th worst out of
thousands of institutions. Harvard's own research revealed that 89%
of monkeys studied had psychological abnormalities, and 1 in 4
injured themselves.

10. Harvard has claimed since 1989 to be right around the corner on
an AIDs vaccine breakthrough. The rest of the AIDS research
community has rejected primate research for about 10-15 years.
Monkeys don't get AIDS so these bozos aren't even studying human
diseases.

Bonus point: Harvard keeps close tabs on how many activists turn up
for the protests.

Please help us stand up for these animals. Harvard primate labs:
shut them down!

See also:
http://www.massanimalrights.org
http://www.neavs.org