Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, located in Washington, D.C., works for animal welfare in a variety of ways. The group provides education programs in human nutrition and health; encourages the prevention of disease through lifestyle and diet, rather than animal experimentation; and initiates lawsuits, most recently against the National Institutes of Health.
The committee objects strongly to the fact that the Department of Defense does not have to disclose information about animal experiments through the Freedom of Information Act. The committee also notes that military facilities do not have to be inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and that animals used by the military in experiments are not covered by the Animal Welfare Act. They believe that much of the military's animal research is useless and a waste of taxpayers' money.
The committee is in favor of animal alternatives for military use, including the use of gelatin and soap blocks for research in ballistics, current imagery techniques for data on brain injuries, and a computer model called HUMTRN, which supplies an enormous amount of information about any substance ingested by humans that can be identified chemically.
Part of the committee's effort is a compilation of data on military research protocols for the Armed Services Committee and the Government Accounting Office. The committee re-views research protocols for scientific validity, relevance, and humaneness. These protocols must pass rigid standards for control and design.
In addition, the committee sponsors a summer fellowship for medical and veterinary students in order to encourage cooperation between mainstream medicine and animal protection organizations. Students work on a scientific project, which may be published, and attend seminars on non-animal alternatives and regulations regarding experimentation, among other topics. The program is intended to serve as a forum for discussion between people who use traditional research techniques and those interested in alternatives.
Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an independent organization concerned with the suffering of animals in research and educational facilities, in training, on the farm, and in performance. What sets this group apart from others is that it specializes in the work of psychologists and their attitudes toward animals as reflected in their experiments and textbooks. They have developed a scale which measures the invasiveness or severity of research procedures. They also study introductory psychology textbooks with the idea of improving animals' images and promoting greater respect of animals' rights.
These psychologists would also like to make sure that animal use is monitored and regulated and curricula revised to include animal protection issues. As psychologists, they want to study such issues as human-animal bonding, non-aversive training methods, and measurement of pain in animals. Although membership is not confined to psychologists, their thrust is psychological. The organization publishes Humane Innovations and Alternatives to Animal Experimentation annually, as well as a bulletin that is free to members. In addition, they maintain a library of animal protection publications.
Humane Farming Association
There are a few independent organizations that specialize in farm animal protection issues. The Humane Farming Association in San Francisco, California, has launched campaigns against factory farming in general and veal calves in particular. The group approaches its work from more than one angle: education of the public, boycotts of the producers, legal action, and legislation. Magazine and television advertisements may prove to be their most effective means of consumer education in this campaign.
Farm Animal Reform Movement
The Farm Animal Reform Movement, based in Bethesda, Maryland, conducts campaigns on a variety of issues, although the veal issue is obviously one of primary importance to them. The movement believes that farm animals, because they are raised for slaughter, have even fewer protections than most animals. Farm animals are caged, deprived, drugged, and manhandled before they are killed.
The movement, founded in 1981, originated because of a growing awareness of intensive animal agriculture, often called agribusiness. The movement operates through a network of local groups and individuals in the United States and Canada.
The group instigated the Veal-Ban Campaign, which was effective in persuading restaurants not to serve veal. It also staged a sit-in at the office of the Secretary of Agriculture and conducted slaughterhouse vigils and a compassion campaign in 1988.
The movement is opposed to immobilizing sows in cages and keeping them continuously pregnant; opposed to keeping laying hens in battery cages where they are de-beaked to prevent cannibalism; opposed to resource destruction caused by raising so many animals for food; and opposed to the use of antibiotics in animal feed and the consumption by humans of animal fat.
The movement conducts the annual Great American Meat-out, which reaches about twenty million people through a variety of events, and the World Farm Animals Day, which features exhibits, marches, memorials, and civil disobedience.
The organization also has developed a humane farming curriculum for high school students and advanced skills seminars for activists. It is developing a farm animal humane education module for school curricula that will consist of illustrated fact sheets describing the factory farm and offering suggestions to improve it.
Animal Protection Institute of America
The Animal Protection Institute of America in Sacramento, California, also sees a threat to farm animals. This group was started in 1968 and boasts a membership of 150,000 with 10,000 special volunteers. It is concerned with farm animals, as well as wildlife and habitat, legislation affecting animals, and all threats to animal life. It is aware of the factory farm system begun in the 1950s and that the American family farm was not as involved in the intense agricultural business as it is today.
In addition to the plight of veal calves and the continuously pregnant sow, the institute is also concerned with the crush-killing of male chicks and the milking of cows by machine to produce 10 times more milk than normal. Organizations such as this one are also concerned with the effects on human life of chicken that is often contaminated with fecal matter and antibiotics picked up in animal feed.
Animal Legal Defense Fund
The Animal Legal Defense Fund, located in San Rafael, California, was started in 1979 when a group of lawyers decided that they wanted to learn about legislation protecting animals. The animal rights movement was growing, but there was no national organization that provided legal expertise on vital issues regarding their welfare. Today the group functions as the sole nationwide legal organization dedicated to the promotion and defense of animal rights. It defends the rights of wildlife, farm animals, and companion animals in the home, on the farm, in the laboratory, and in the wild.
The fund is trying to give a voice to innocent animal victims of mistreatment, cruelty, or abuse. The group's more than 45,000 members use a network of over 300 lawyers to fight for the welfare of animals in the courts and in Congress. The group created an Animal Bill of Rights to send to the 101st Congress. It will take legal action against any government entities, corporations, educational and research facilities that are in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. It has halted deer and black bear hunts in Illinois and California, for example. Members call themselves "the law firm of the animal rights movement," and they understand that many of the tactics of the civil rights movement can be effective toward establishing laws and enforcement procedures for animals.
Through its newsletter, The Animals' Advocate, the fund informs members of pending legislation that affects animals and recommends possible action. These issues may concern animal patenting, wildlife protection, consumer products testing, or genetic manipulation. The fund also operates a Dissection Hotline for biology students who do not want to dissect animals in the classroom. Some schools require dissection as a requirement for graduation, and the hotline has advised students in more than 10,000 calls in the first year of operation. The fund is prepared to give the student advice on negotiating with school officials or teachers, or even to provide legal assistance.
American Fund for Alternatives to Animal Research
The American Fund for Alternatives to Animal Research in New York City tries to bring about cooperation between animal researchers and animal protectors in order to develop animal alternatives in the laboratory, testing facilities, and in the classroom. The fund provides grants to bona fide individuals or groups engaged in research to seek alternatives to animal use. It has been in business since 1977 and has provided funds
1. to develop a replacement for the Draize Eye Test;
2. to teach a special intensive course in tissue culture and in vitro toxicology to young students planning biomedical careers;
3. for purchases of a dog dummy (resusci-dog);
4. to develop a polio vaccine test using human neuroblastoma cells; and
5. for a project to assist high school teachers in the introduction of tissue culture into the laboratory.
The fund recently sponsored a program that will supply high school biology teachers with cell cultures provided by the Center for Advanced Training in Cell and Molecular Biology at the Catholic University of America. The center will initiate the protocols and send them to the school where the students will complete and evaluate the work. Complete instructions, as well as videotapes, will also be supplied.
The organization also publishes the results of the research projects it has funded, such as projects on the application of organ culture on the study of neoplasia or alternatives to using animals in cancer research. The organization also promotes the use of electronic animals and animal mannequins in veterinary schools to minimize the use of live animals in the classroom. Videotapes and computer programs are available that explain frog dissection, so that students need not dissect live frogs. (The National Association of Biology Teachers has also recently come out with a statement urging teachers to use alternatives to dissection and vivisection.)
The fund also urges supporters to write to their senators and representatives in Washington, D.C., to urge passage of bills that will protect animals. It also encourages supporters to use animal-friendly (also called cruelty-free) cosmetics, cleaning products, and clothing. (A list of cruelty-free companies and products is available from Beauty Without Cruelty; it includes such products as ultra leather, ultra suede, washable and leather-look shoes, and canvas shoes.)
Using alternatives to animals in research and products may not provide the immediate solution to animal use, but it may prove to be a logical intermediate step toward eliminating animal-derived products. The American Fund for Alternatives to Animal Research will continue to fund projects that work toward that possibility.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
An animal rights group that defends all animals in all circumstances is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in Washington, D.C. Their concerns encompass farm animals, fur farm animals, entertainment or performing animals, laboratory animals, racing animals, zoo animals, wild animals, and animal products. PETA's goal is to relieve pain and suffering of all these animals. They launch campaigns to publicize the results of their investigations and research; they stage demonstrations against toy manufacturers, corporations, and government agencies; they call for boycotts of animal-tested products and animals in entertainment; they encourage letter-writing campaigns to Congress on pending legislation; they investigate, publicize, sue, and are sued.
Their magazine, PETA News, informs members of their latest campaigns and pending laws, provides meatless recipes and nutritional advice, supplies activities for children, and features pertinent follow-up on ongoing campaigns. The organization also publishes a catalog offering books, videos, and other gift ideas.
National Anti-Vivisection Society
The National Anti-Vivisection Society, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, has as its main purpose the goal of educating the public to the cruelty of using animals in research or medical testing and training. The group performs its work by holding classes, disseminating literature, lecturing, and forming new anti-vivisection societies where needed. It has a board of directors, which administers all phases of the organization, with the help of a president, executive director, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer.
One of the society's major focuses in recent years has been the campaign waged against the Lethal Dose-50 and the Draize Eye Irritancy Test. Making known the alternatives to animal testing and encouraging the use of cosmetics and cleaning products that do not use animals for experimentation was the chief goal of this campaign.
The society also sponsors lectures by proponents of humane treatment of animals, reports on technological advances and pending legislation that will affect animals, and introduces members to new organizations or to new projects sponsored by existing organizations.
It also produces videotapes that are available from Focus on Animals. Through its membership bulletin, NAVS, the society prints pertinent articles, publicizes new books, and encourages letter-writing campaigns against offending corporations or to members of Congress who are on committees concerning animal welfare legislation. The society also publishes a catalog of cruelty' free products for its members.
In Defense of Animals
A similar organization, In Defense of Animals, was started by a veterinarian to protest the LD-50 and Draize tests, animal addiction experiments, and the use of fur and ivory. Headquartered in San Rafael, California, the group claims to have 50,000 members and supporters who are encouraged to boycott specific corporations that still use research animals in their laboratories and to protest against any corporate or educational organization that conducts animal experimentations.
Animal Rights Mobilization
Animal Rights Mobilization has made dog laboratories in medical schools a major target for protest. This organization, located in Williamsport, Virginia, believes that no medical student needs to use live animals for surgical training when there are alternatives available. They also believe that using these outmoded methods can not only harm humans and other animals but actually deter progress in finding medical solutions to the treatment of disease.
Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights
The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights in Vacaville, California, was founded by veterinarians who decided to apply their scientific knowledge to the elimination of animal suffering in medical and product research. They are doing this through a national education program that involves television and radio spots and ads in newspapers and magazines. They do not confine membership in the organization to veterinarians.
For the past several years, these veterinarians have also testified whenever possible at public hearings on legislation affecting animal welfare. They are also starting up student chapters at veterinary schools throughout the country and hope to reach all schools with pre-veterinary programs in the near future.
These veterinarians are also against the releasing of impounded animals for research. They are in favor of using animal alternatives in research, such as computer simulations and tissue culture. In veterinary schools, they favor the use of inanimate objects in order to practice manual dexterity and the use of animal cadavers for advanced procedures. During clinical training, they are encouraged to use actual animal patients only on the most basic operations. They also are against the crate housing of veal calves, and believe that if veal calves must be raised for slaughter, they should at least be housed more humanely and thus enabled to live normal (though abbreviated) lives.
