In response to pressure from PETA-India, Air India wrote to the group in July saying “we ... do not accept animals for experimental purposes.” On 23 August, Air India issued a circular to all its managers and cargo staff declaring “Air India does not carry ‘Live Animals for experimental purposes’”. But Kalpagam Polasa, acting director at the NIN, told Nature last week that weekly flights of her institute’s animals on Air India continue, labeled in the ‘live animal’ category, and costing her institute three times as much as previously. The airline did not respond to requests for comment.
Many scientists may shrug their shoulders at the personal impact of the trend in cargo-carrier policies, says Joseph Haywood, vice-president for science policy at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology in Bethesda, Maryland, and vice-president for regulatory affairs at Michigan State University in East Lansing, where he is responsible for animal transport for the university. But, he says, “when they need that specific animal model to ask a critical question, they need to have that model. It could be across the street or across the world. We are moving to global science.”
This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on September 19, 2012.
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14 Comments
Add CommentWell, I guess it's time to form PETH (People for the Ethical Treatment of Humans).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDo they have any problem shipping endangered species or exotic invasive species? You have to jump through hoops to get species for scientific investigation. Yet another reason science is packing up and leaving america.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHave people forgotten that the SPCA was originally established for the protection of children, who were not considered completely human yet. Since they were not considered worthy of human rights, they were protected as animals. While animals still protect our health, the organization, no longer cares about Man's well being. GK
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisArticle should be titled "FedEx and UPS Commit to Hinder Research that saves lives of Humans."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI never hear about PETA doing anything about saving domesticated animals.If they dealt with that issue by spending some of their money on sterilization and housing homeless pets, they would be too bust to worry about the rest of the animal kingdom that has survived just fine before the PETA invasion.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople who are using sentient beings for research are the lowest of the low. There ARE other ways to test. If humans want to test a new procedure then get a human volunteer who knows why and what will be done to him. Just because we can does not mean we should be cruel to our distant kin on this earth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismaravill, define cruel, please.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI see we have a rat lover. Well, Maravill I hope they love you back if you are ever unlucky enough to be dying of an affliction that may have been curable with research using rats or other disease carrying vermin. I'm sure if they were using humans for research, you would be the first to volunteer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShipping livestock requires some FDA and Department of Agriculture permits and it is handled by specialized shippers (so are motorcyles, boats, or anything that needs extra equipment). This sounds like a "feel good" stunt, like "Glutton Free Kosher Salt" ..
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with jcelko, neither carrier is a major hauler of live animals for any purposes. They do allow them in specialized circumstances but there are much better ways to ship them using specialized carriers. Of course that doesn't keep people from lobbing stones as if they have stopped all live animal research.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisG. Karst, yes of course they were. I also hear that before the SPCA children were considered as food by the liberals of the day. They real goal of the SPCA was to direct people away from this horrid act in order to save them from being eaten and set up guidelines where they could be used for invasive scientific experiments. I also hear that PETA is setting up late term abortion clinics so that they can get fetuses with beating hearts for the purposes of growing them for drug trials and experimental surgeries.
PETA does have neutering and spaying campaigns. In reality I have major issues with the way PETA carries out its business. Their goal isn't to prevent animal extinctions but to promote the ethical treatment of animals. Who campaigns for the "unethical" treatment of animals? However, they cross the line into absurdity too many times, such as threatening to put a lake full of fish to sleep before a fishing tournament and having an advertising campaign in college campuses urging kids to drink beer instead of milk because milk is so horribly bad for you bonging 4 beers at a time isn't nearly so bad. Such tactics have only fueled people who think its perfectly fine to cause pain and suffering, such as applying chemicals directly to the eyes of rabbits, as long as there may be some benefit to humans.
On another note, when they have affirmed that they will not ship "non-human primates" does this imply that they are going to be getting into the business of shipping "human primates"??
maravil - On a regular basis there are attempts to find treatments for head injuries. I expect you to volunteer to have a massive head injury so a simian will be spared. Please post your name and address so the researchers can find you and accept your glad offer to participate as a test subject.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow do the species traitors at peta feel about research animals used for researching cures for veterinary illnesses?
On a positive note, Russia and China sneer at idiots like this and will continue to do animal research. I'm not sure if I like the idea of those two countries dominating science research as the USA and Western Europe slide into stagnation. I guess that those that adapt to reality will survive and those that don't will fail and die out.
Interesting how people conflate the ethical treatment of animals with the unethical treatment of humans. What exactly is a species traitor anyway? I agree with Ungy in that PETA has some noble goals but stray far too often into the realm of absurdity that often hurts their stated cause. I will never be a strict vegan and will continue to eat meat. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't care how livestock and other food animals are treated. The process of making Foi Gras is very often cruel and unneccessary and I have no problem with it being banned in many places. However, their stance that there should be no fishing or milk production at all is sheer nonsense.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...continued from 1. (ONE)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this2. (TWO)
Secondly, mostly about Dogs...
The Wolf came to us to make a deal, aware or not, the Wolf still came to make a deal...
The Wolf showed us (they can't speak), "You (humankind) give me food, I (Wolf) will warn you of danger and sometimes, even help protect you".
The Wolf, showing ever further dedication to us, became our hunting partners and even herds our animals, by becoming... Dog.
Not only has the Wolf fully honored the agreement, they have now become even more subservient to humankind.
If the Dog wasn't around, could humankind have developed so quickly? Without the Dog to help protect us (and our food sources, both animal and plant) against the massive amount of predators and other dangers, humankind could never have become this advanced, this quickly. We might not even have made it, if it wasn't for the vigilance and unconditional loyalty of the Dog.
How do we repay them? Casting them into the street when they misbehave or get too old, eating them (many-many-many cultures eat Dog), using their skin to make fashion clothing (yes, some cultures use Dogs to make Dog skin "leather" items), even dissecting their brains after we poison them?
Sometimes, we'll see a movie or read a story about how great the human spirit is. Really? We can't even keep a simple deal with another life form.
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Regardless of your spiritual conviction or scientific position on higher intelligences, one way or another, we are not alone and we are not the last word in the universe or even just this one galaxy. One day, we, very well could be "interpreted", possibly even "judged". We "judge" our criminals for crimes not committed against ourselves, but against others. What if we are "judged" for crimes not committed against our "judges", but against others, just like we do every single day.
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If most of you can think about some little tortured puppy, painfully whimpering in a tiny cage somewhere, waiting to be slaughtered... and still sleep peacefully, then our fate is probably sealed anyway.
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(Note to the most esteemed publishers of this great periodical publication, this article may be reproduced, but not edited, other than for grammar, punctuation and removing the reference hyperlinks)
Dr. H. Kanamit
Hmmmm... Two things...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1. (ONE)
First, we are not the only intelligent life. In fact, we are definitely not the most intelligent life either:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_habitability
The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The oldest stars in our galaxy (Milky Way) are about 13.4 billion years old. NASA has already found two planets that have estimated age of 13 billion years.
Even if a civilization is "only" a few million years, in advance of us, no one can even imagine the technology "they" have. Not to mention that "they" have probably found ways to enhance / evolve their own genetics (making themselves smarter, extending their life spans. etc).
...now...
We have already sent out very powerful signals, telling any civilization that there is intelligence here. There's a "bubble" about 50 light years in diameter (and growing very, very fast), consisting of television and radio signals emanating from Earth. Any intelligence that passes through that "bubble", will know that we are here. It will happen. Could be tomorrow, could be a billion years from now, could be anytime in-between... could be next year... That "bubble" is growing literally at the speed of light, every second, it's diameter gets about 186,000 miles bigger. The chances of another form of intelligence detecting that "bubble" is increasing... in the most exponential shape (sphere) and at the fastest possible speed in the three dimensions of known non-quantum, non-hyperspace space/time.
In other words, we will be found.
When a vastly more intelligent life form encounters us, how are they going gauge their interactions?
Keep in mind, they aren't going to think like us, all they are going to be, is vastly more intelligent.
Humankind's dominance over other life is painfully obvious, to any outside observer. "They" will keenly see that we are the most intelligent life form here.
Based on our own behavior, what are the acceptable terms, of how to treat lower life forms?
What are our own "rules of engagement"?
I can just hope that I'm not around to see how that's interpreted.
It's real, it will happen. Humankind has never sent out signals before. We are now and "they" will come someday. We just don't know when.
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(Note to the most esteemed publishers of this great periodical publication, this article may be reproduced, but not edited, other than for grammar, punctuation and removing the reference hyperlinks)
Dr. H. Kanamit