Sat 4/5/08: Protest Yale presentation for kids about the "fun" of vivisection!

ON ACCOUNT OF THE OUTPOURING OF DISMAY FROM ACTIVISTS, THE 4/5 LECTURE BY VIVISECTOR MARINA PICCIOTTO HAS BEEN CANCELED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

Email Science Saturdays and thank them for choosing compassion over cruelty:

Patricia Wooding, Coordinator of Science Saturdays
patricia.wooding@yale.edu
203.436.8105 (office)

Contacts:


Why we protested against Marina Picciotto's experiments on animals:

This Saturday, Yale University’s Science Saturdays series will be hosting a presentation by a Yale mouse vivisector, Marina Picciotto, who will teach children about her experiments in which she forcefully exposes mice and rats to nicotine and other drugs and then kills them by decapitating them in order to study the effects of the drug on their brains (you can read the announcement here). Some of her studies involve hanging mice by their tails from paper clips to observe the effects of nicotine exposure on their physical activity, and others entail exposing pregnant female rats to cocaine to induce brain damage in their pups and then placing the pups in cages where their feet are repeatedly shocked. All of the animals are killed by decapitation in these studies as well.The press release that was issued in conjunction with the event states that goal of these lectures is “to remind ‘kids of all ages’ that ‘science is fun’ and the photo accompanying the announcement depicts Picciotto playfully holding a mouse in her hand. However, this depiction is a false representation of the reality of animal experimentation and there is nothing fun about “science” that involves the confinement, mutilation and killing of thinking, feeling animals. Yale should be promoting ethical, progressive science, not cruelty to animals under the guise of “fun.” Modern, human-based research using non-invasive brain imaging with fully-consenting humans is ethical, incredibly fascinating to learn about and has been invaluable in our understanding of how the human brain reacts to substance abuse.

Research has shown that many students in all phases of their educational careers are uncomfortable with the use of animals in scientific research and that these effects can be long-lasting. Exposing young people to animal experimentation as “science” can foster a callousness toward animals and nature and even dissuade some students, especially females, from pursuing careers in science (even in fields that do not entail the use of animals).

On top of all of this, it is only insult to injury that Picciotto’s studies force animals to carry the burden of humans’ poor lifestyle choices. Animals are not disposable tools that we have the right to exploit to fulfill the whims of any scientist, or for anyone else’s benefit or curiosities. Mice and rats have rich lives all their own, and these lives should be respected, not violated because they are different. The animals suffer greatly, both psychologically and physically, as a result of being used for experimentation.

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