Obama Suggestion

RE:

AN AMERICAN CHAPTER OF CHANGE & HOPE;

YES WE CAN

To The Honorable President-Elect Obama: All of the hard work was worth it. I knocked on doors, made phone calls, and, as an individual, feel a sense of victory in your historic victory. I am honored that you, President-Elect Obama, are the new face of America. The world is watching us and I am confident that you will restore our respect in the international community. I realize that in a climate of economic instability, the issue I am deeply concerned about and committed to is not easily addressed initially; however, just as you have proposed incentives for energy-efficient alternatives as well as penalties for those who continue to perpetuate environmental destruction, I believe our inhumanity versus our humanity can be addressed in a similar manner -and prove to create economic opportunity. Every year, tens of millions of animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories on college campuses and research facilities throughout the United States. Still more animals are used to test the safety of cosmetics, household cleansers and other consumer products. These innocent primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents and other animals are used against their will as research subjects in experiments and procedures that would be considered sadistically cruel were they not conducted in the name of science. pathology such as drug testing. Vivisection is Dangerous & Unnecessary: The dangers, as well as the invalidity, of animal experimentation is widely recognized by medical researchers: In 2006, Health & Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt observed that “Currently, nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies.” As Yale University's Dr. David Katz writes, "Extrapolation from rodent research to outcomes in people is notoriously uncertain and fraught with danger. Basic science studies and animal experiments have resulted over the years in headlines about cures for cancer, a definitive obesity gene and effective AIDS vaccines, to name a few. None of these has yet to materialize, and early hyperbole in each case gave way to disappointment." Proposed Economic, Reliable & Humane Alternatives: Scientific and technological advances are far more effective than experimenting on other species to gauge potential reactions in humans. Pharmagene Laboratories in Royston, England, has rejected all animal studies because they are unnecessary and outdated. The pharmaceutical company uses sophisticated computer technologies that show the effects of chemicals on the human body. Says Pharmagene cofounder Gordon Baxter, "If you have information on human genes, what's the point of going back to animals?" Physiome Sciences in New Jersey has developed software programs that simulate the human body's organs and processes. Its computer model of the heart is so advanced that it can be used to predict the heart's reaction to pharmaceutical compounds, eliminating the use of animals.

TOPKAT is a software package that allows researchers to predict the oral toxicity and the degree of skin and eye irritation of chemicals. It is faster, cheaper, and more accurate than animal tests and is now used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Army. Molecular assay systems (test-tube tests) can show how human and animal bacterial cells react when exposed to various compounds. These speed up the testing process and enable scientists to tests thousands of substances at the same time%u2013something that is impossible with animal studies. The Irritation Assay System has spared millions of animals from blinding eye- and skin-irritation tests. This simple test-tube procedure is used by many personalcare product manufacturers. Scientists can now "grow" artificial human skin for skin grafts and for skinirritation testing. The National Cancer Registry and other disease-reporting mechanisms reveal exactly what is happening to people under all kinds of conditions and tell us more about human disease than animal studies ever will. DNA studies are unlocking the doors to human illness and birth defects. These studies show us that trying to learn about the human body by experimenting on animals is like trying to drive from Boston to San Francisco using a map of France. Animal Experimentation at the Educational Level: Educators recognize the necessity for humane alternatives. Nancy Harrison, MD; Pathologist-San Diego, CA: "Computerized dissection alternatives have grown so sophisticated they now surpass traditional wet dissections in many ways. Numerous studies published in the literature of the education profession demonstrate same or better academic performance by students who study alternatives. Given that animal dissection is ethically objectionable to many students, it's only reasonable to allow students free access to alternatives. No student should be forced to participate in the academically inferior teaching mode of animal dissection. Serious pre-meds and pre-vets can best master the dissection by repeatedly studying the superb images found on CD-ROMs." There are currently nine states with laws that allow students to object to dissection and use an alternative. These states are California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Additionally, there are two states with resolutions and educational policies: Maine, and Louisiana. Maryland has a mandate that students and teachers are provided information on alternatives to dissection. An Obvious Conclusion: The international community is becoming increasingly intolerant of unnecessary animal exploitation. For example, beginning in March 2009, the European Union will ban cosmetics and toiletries tested on animals. Further, the European Union will ban the import of animal-tested cosmetics and toiletries from other countries, including the United States. This is a huge step toward abolishing obsolete animal research in favor of biochips, which mimic human physiology; other species do not.

The United States needs to take a pro-active position in promoting compassion and protecting, rather than exploiting, the most vulnerable among us. Respectfully yours,