Animal Cruelty

Based upon the traditional assumption that animals respond the same way that humans do when exposed to certain products, animals are continually used to test safety and/or effectiveness of human and veterinary drugs, household and personal care products, chemicals, medical devices, radiation-emitting products (e.g., microwaves, cell phones, etc.), among others. We must remember, however, that animals are not 'little people,' and their bodies often respond differently than ours do. As a result, the animal-based research and testing methods continue to fail legitimate human needs, while new discoveries in the field of alternatives have led to new and improved techniques that do not involve live animals.

As many as 115 million animals are experimented on and killed in laboratories in the U.S. every year. Much of the experimentation-including pumping chemicals into rats' stomachs, hacking muscle tissue from dogs' thighs, and putting baby monkeys in isolation chambers far from their mothers-is paid for by you, the American taxpayer and consumer, yet you can't visit a laboratory and see how the government has spent your money. You can't even get an accurate count on the number of animals killed every year because experimenters and the government have decided that mice and rats and certain other animals don't even have to be counted.

Animal experimentation is a multibillion-dollar industry fueled by massive public funding and involving a complex web of corporate, government, and university laboratories, cage and food manufacturers, and animal breeders, dealers, and transporters. The industry and its people profit because animals, who cannot defend themselves against abuse, are legally imprisoned and exploited.

As babies, they are subjected to painful mutilations without anesthesia or pain relievers. Their tails are cut off to minimize tail biting, by two to three weeks of age, 15% of the piglets will have died. Those who survive are taken away from their mothers and crowded into pens with metal bars and concrete floors.

Animals for Entertainment: Since 1990 captive elephants have killed 43 people. Elephants are peaceful animals, and this suggests that their treatment and cruel training techniques cause the animal to suffer and act in defense. Bullfights and cockfights still exist in today's world. Bullfights in particular being incredibly gruesome and cruel, with animals being tortured and having spears thrown into their backs until they finally succumb to a slow death. Greyhounds after finishing their racing life are often killed or sent for experimentation.

Animal Experimentation: It is said that over 70 million animals are tortured and killed in US laboratories each year. Rabbits are routinely blinded in a process named the 'Draize' test. The Draize test protects companies from potential lawsuits, and does not necessarily