Showing posts with label animal experiments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animal experiments. Show all posts

Friday, 16 June 2023

White Coat Waste Project stops American taxpayer funding of Putin's Cat Lab (and more)

This is a cross post. It's important. The brilliant White Coat Waste Project (WCW) are an incredibly important organisation. They work independently and they lobby the US government to change their incomprehensible ways. They call it 'madness' that Americans through their taxes fund cruel animal experiments abroad. They are correct. It is mad on several levels.

And isn't just any old foreign country. The American government has been funding through the Department of Defence (DOD) and via a disgraced Wuhan lab funder, EcoHealth Alliance, experiments on the coronavirus found in bats discovered in a mineshaft in the north of China.

RELATED: Stronger evidence that COVID-19 started at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

On my research, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been involved in military biowarfare testing. They have connections to the military. This novel coronavirus was discovered in bats. It killed people early on and it seems that it was decided to develop it as a biowarfare agent. 

And it is now believed by many that the Covid-19 pandemic started at the Wuhan lab. And to think that via EcoHealth Alliance American taxpayers were funding this laboratory.

It is madness as WCW state. But through tireless campaigning and lobbying, WCW have achieved a very important milestone. They have convinced the US government to stop this funding.

White Coat Waste Project stops American taxpayer funding of cruel animal experiments in foreign countries
White Coat Waste Project stops American taxpayer funding of cruel animal experiments in foreign countries. Image: WCW.

RELATED: White Coat Waste Project pressured Biden administration into defunding Russian animal experiments.

The American taxpayer was also funding cruel tests on cats in Russia for, as I understand it, military purposes. Clearly, this went under the radar from the perspective of the American public. Through WCW the ridiculousness of this funding was exposed and through tireless campaigning they have stopped it.

I received an email from WCW which states that the US House panel that funds the Department of Defence (DOD) has passed its 2024 spending bill which includes key language that WCW wanted to see in the bill and which cuts DOD funding to the Wuhan animal lab and other laboratories in China, Russia and other adversarial nations.

And the bill also cats funding for other animal experiments and virus hunting as they call it or other projects in China.

The WCW campaign documented at least 32 animal testing laboratories in Russia and China which were receiving funding from American taxpayers.

Also, following their efforts, the NIH (National Institutes of Health) has recently disqualified the Wuhan animal lab and all animal lives in Russia from taxpayer funding.

If and when the bill is passed by the full US House and becomes law later in 2023 the then statute will disqualify all labs across China and Russia from Pentagon funding as well.

WCW worked with House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Members Reps. Chris Stewart (R-UT) and Dave Joyce (R-OH) to include this important measure in the bill. They commented as follows:

Statement from Justin Goodman, Senior Vice President, White Coat Waste Project:

“Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill for foreign enemies’ animal experimentation labs, and we’re proud of the progress we’re making to find, expose and defund this waste and abuse in Wuhan and beyond. If signed into law, this bill would prohibit the Pentagon from sending tax dollars to white coats in dozens of animal labs run by China, Russia and other adversarial nations. Our Worldwide Waste campaign first exposed how the DOD, NIH, USAID, and other federal agencies recklessly ship billions of tax dollars to unaccountable foreign animal labs, including how EcoHealth funneled funds to the Wuhan lab for dangerous gain-of-function animal experiments that likely caused COVID and how taxpayer unwittingly funded a Kremlin-linked lab crippling cats. The solution is simple: Stop the money. Stop the madness!”

Statement from Congressman Chris Stewart (R-UT)

“Our foreign adversaries, particularly China, have proven they should not and cannot be trusted with American taxpayer dollars to conduct laboratory research and experiments. Cutting American funding to research labs in adversarial nations that pose a threat to our national security should never be a partisan issue. I’d like to thank my colleagues who have recognized the importance of this effort.”

Tuesday, 6 December 2022

Allegations against Elon Musk's Neuralink business of animal abuse

It appears that some staff at Elon Musk's Neuralink business have acted as whistle-blowers (or the information has leaked out) in saying that because Musk is driving his staff very hard, they are taking shortcuts in animal testing which is resulting in at least potential animal welfare violations and possibly unnecessary deaths because mistakes are being made.

"Elon Musk’s Neuralink, is under federal investigation for potential animal welfare violations." - Metro.co.uk
Allegations of rushed animal testing experiments at Neuralink facility leading to unnecessary deaths
Allegations of rushed animal testing experiments at Neuralink facility leading to unnecessary deaths. Image: MikeB based on images in the public domain.

Musk's Neuralink business has the intention of being able to place brain implants into paralysed people to enable them to walk again. And he hopes that his technology will cure other neurological health problems in people.

In order to achieve his goal, he has to do animal testing which he reportedly dislikes but he makes sure that they are "the happiest animals" while they are alive. Sadly, they end up dead after the testing.

There is no way around the fact that animal testing is cruel, and many people believe that it is unnecessary because you can create artificial models which substitute animal testing.

Perhaps this isn't applicable in this instance, and Mr Musk is reliant upon the testing of animals including pigs. He said at the time of the launch of Neuralink that they had three pigs with coin-sized implants in each of them and they were "healthy, happy and indistinguishable from a normal pig".

And as you might know, animals under testing procedures normally end up being euthanised because the testing on them makes it unviable for them to live afterwards. So, the basic concept of animal testing is immoral.

Sky News reports that there have been internal complaints by Neuralink staffers that animal testing is being rushed leading to "needless suffering and deaths" (initially reported by Reuters).

Allegedly, 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys have died following experiments since 2018.

And further, allegedly, 25 pigs were reportedly implanted with devices that were the wrong size. The error occurred it is said because the experiment was carried out without sufficient preparation.

And allegedly the cause of that error was that they were being rushed by Alan Musk applying too much pressure on staff.

Although, it has to be made clear that there are no records of violations against regulations taking place at the facility. At this stage, I stress, these are allegations. I don't want to be sued by Musk thank you very much. 😒😊😢

Neuralink has sought approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. Scientists are developing tiny implants with more than 3000 electrodes. There are attached to flexible threads which are incredibly thin about 1/10 of the diameter of a human hair which are capable of monitoring about 1000 neurons according to the report that I have seen.

Other employees interviewed by Reuters say that Neuralink treats animals quite well compared to other research facilities. The animals have been given freedom to roam and the facility has been likened to a "monkey Disneyland".

Sunday, 18 July 2021

Millions of UNUSED research animals killed in Germany including cats

A report which was discussed in April 2020 in the news media revealed a shocking statistic namely that in Germany 3.9 million animals died at research laboratories and these animals had never been used in research. I'll restate that because it is so shocking. Animals brought into research laboratories or bred there and which were not subsequently employed in the research were killed nonetheless and the number of these animals stands at 3.9 million. The figure relates to 2017 in Germany.

Animals not used but killed in Animal research in Germany amounted to 3.9 million in 2017
Animals not used but killed in Animal research in Germany amounted to 3.9 million in 2017. Photo: Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from Pixabay.



The information was released after the Green party requested the information. Perhaps more shockingly, across the entire European Union 12.6 million animals were killed under the same circumstances. I find that number hard to digest. Is it really true? It is saying that almost 13 million animals were killed for no reason! No reason whatsoever. This is mass animal cruelty but entirely legalised.

Initially the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to sugarcoat the statistics by releasing the number of animals killed after they were experimented on. That number is high enough at 2.8 million in Germany in 2017. Apparently 2017 saw the highest number of animals ever bred for research in Germany. They included 718 cats, monkeys, fish and over a quarter of a million rats.

About 50% are used for basic research experiments, 27% used in testing for new medicines, while 15% were tested in respect of specific diseases. Across Europe animal experiments are banned to research cosmetics. The same applies to the UK.

Comment: there are many instances when animals that have been tested on for scientific purposes are still viable as domestic pets but they are invariably killed. But, in the EU, when they are not even used, abused, exploited and injured by scientific researchers they are still killed and thrown away. You just can't fathom it can you?

The German Animal Welfare Act allows the use of animals in research despite the fact that the law provides extensive and far-reaching protection. Interestingly, animals under the law in Germany are regarded as "fellow creatures". Hardly true. In order to justify experiments on animals in Germany the researchers must always show that the goal of the experiments cannot be reached using any other methods or techniques. Specifically, experiments can only be carried out if at least one of the following criteria is fulfilled:

  • The experiments serve the purpose of prevention, diagnosis or treatment of diseases in humans and animals;
  • They help recognize environmental hazards;
  • They are part of safety testing for materials or products;
  • They are necessary for basic research.

Note: I've taken those words verbatim from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics webpage in the interests of complete accuracy.

Sunday, 16 May 2021

Understanding how cats walk using robotics

Japanese scientists at Osaka University have built a cat robot to help understand how cats walk in terms of neurology. I'm going to use their words verbatim from their video which is published below.


The walking mechanism of quadrupeds is still a mystery. Some of the neural mechanisms that control cat walking were discovered in animal experiments in the twentieth century. At present, however, experiments on animals are strictly restricted, making it difficult to investigate the mechanisms of living, moving animals. 

To understand how quadrupeds walk efficiently and stably, we have developed a quadruped robot to substitute for experimental animals. This robot has adaptable and powerful motors, and can reproduce the neuro-muscular dynamics calculated by the computer. When we reproduce the reflex circuit of a cat in each leg, the walking motion emerges from the interaction between the robot and the environment. 

The robot can reproduce animal experiments conducted in the past. Moreover, the robot allows for experiments that are difficult in animals, such as sudden nerve amputation while walking. Using the robot to explore reflex circuits that produce a stable gate, we discovered a circuit that includes a structure called the "reciprocal excitatory reflex between hip-knee extensors". 

We showed that cutting the reciprocal circuit makes the walking unstable, and that the reciprocal circuit produces a phenomenon called "prolongation of stance phase" as in cats. The results suggest that the reciprocal excitatory circuit is an important candidate for the reflex circuit that controls cat walking. In the future, as more robots substitute experimental animals, more researchers may be able to investigate animal mechanisms under a variety of experimental conditions.

Comment: I love it because any science which helps to avoid animal testing is great science as far as I am concerned. Animal testing should be completely banned. There should be, and indeed there are, alternatives. This is one example. Please let there be more going forward.

Linked: Cat Gait. -- Direct register cat gait.

Note: videos on this site are typically made by people other than me and held on YouTube servers or the servers of other businesses (not the server storing this website). Sometimes the videos are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Screenshot from video.


Wednesday, 3 March 2021

Trusting friendly domestic cats tortured by US Government in experiments

OPINION AND COMMENT: I am referring to animal testing, specifically cruel experiments on friendly domestic cats in a government facility. Animal cruelty funded by American taxpayers' dollars. The research was carried out by the Department of Veteran's Affairs at three labs one of which is in Los Angeles.

Cat used in animal testing in a US gov facility for VA
Cat used in animal testing in a US gov facility for VA
Photo: CBS LA.

The Metro online newspaper refers to one friendly little cat, Artemis, who was aged one at the time; a young cat with his life ahead of him. He was inexperienced and expecting his humans around him to be as friendly as him. 

The cruel so-called scientists, more like torturers and abusers, drilled holes in his head to implant electrodes to analyse sleep patterns. He endured three years of tests and was killed at the end and dissected. Difficult to comprehend how educated people could do this. 

Other cats were kept in small cages, it is reported and injected with chemicals. They were eventually asphyxiated and killed. Animal advocates argue that the experiments were pointless and useless in terms of understanding human physiology. 

Madeleine Bernstein of the LA Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said: "It blows my mind that we can fight a pandemic with a code, but they have to bash a cat in order to come up with some sleep pattern. It really doesn’t make sense in 2021."

The experts say that experiments on cat's brains don't really assist humans. In 2020 the LA lab spent $5 million on torturing cats in experiments.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) claim, as expected, that the experiments were designed to improve treatments for veterans injured in combat.

They say they'll end the experiments in 2021 but there seems to be some distrust over their word. White Coat Waste Project (a taxpayer watchdog group) say the VA can't be trusted.

A bill is in Congress appropriately called CATS. It will end the torture if and when it is passed into law. 

I have written about this sort of thing before on another website. Click here to read it if you wish.

Monday, 2 June 2014

Disgusting, Abusive And Medically Useless Experiments On Cats

Reports are coming in on January 1, 2014, on the radio and in the online press, that at University College London (UCL), animal experiments on cats have taken place which have been described as a from of torture. It is not clear when they were carried out but the scientific papers were published last year.
This is for illustrative purposes only.
This is not one of the cats

At least 11 cats had parts of their skulls removed.  The cats were paralysed, had their skulls broken and electrodes were stuck into their brains, spines and ribs in what appears to be the most disgusting and abusive of animal experiments.  These are certainly the most abusive that I have come across and for me all animal experiments of any kind are unjustified. But these animal experiments are beyond reason.  This is madness and it makes me mad.

The cats were being tested so that science can better understand the human body we are told.  It makes you sick doesn't it?

The director of Animal Aid, Andrew Tyler, heavily criticised the experiments and rightly so.  He described the experiments as torture. He stresses once again that there are plenty of alternative methods and scientists do not have too grossly abuse domestic cats in this way and for what?  What kind of advantages does it give to people?  In any case, if people want to learn about their bodies, I say do experiments on yourselves.

In other tests a plate was screwed onto the skulls of kittens!  The kittens were placed facedown with clamps on our backs.  Incisions were made around the spine and rib cage to allow the insertion of electrodes.  A part of the spinal-cord was exposed.  It makes me sick to report that a part of the skull was removed so that an electrode could be inserted into the brain to measure brain activity.

We're told that all the cats were anaesthetised during these experiments.  Half of the cats were killed at the end of the experimentations.

A spokesperson, Wendy Higgins, of Humane Society International UK, says that the cats would have undoubtedly suffered considerably.  I suppose that is common sense.

This really must stop.  These cats are being used as a disposable research asset: used and abused and then thrown away.  This is uncivilised.

Wendy states:
 “inserting electrodes into kittens' brains does not represent advanced 21st-century science and it's time we consign this type of cruel and outdated research to the history books.  This is science at its worst."
I'll write more on this story later today. Source: Mirror and radio.

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