Put Your Compassion to the Test
As you read this, hundreds of mice, rats, cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, monkeys and other animals are dying in cruel and unnecessary medical and product-testing experiments. In fact, approximately 100 million animals are used in experiments every year. They die in pain, alone, without a gentle touch or a soothing voice. Animal studies teach us nothing about the health of humans, because animals of different species absorb, metabolise and eliminate substances differently than humans do. The truth is that testing on animals is bad science: It is unreliable and unnecessary.
You can keep the pressure on those responsible for these cruel tests by signing the pledge below and joining the thousands of caring consumers who refuse to purchase products from corporations that abuse animals. Also, don’t forget to forward this pledge to your friends and family and ask them to join you in signing.
For a list of products not tested on animals, see Looking Good Cruelty-Free.
Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Take Our Pledge
Testing on animals is cruel and unnecessary. By signing petaDishoom’s pledge, I refuse to give my money to companies that make animals suffer for their products or to support corporations that abuse animals.
Signed by:
Background Information |
Top 10 Things to Know About Animal Testing
Does your professor corner you to ask why you don’t like animal testing? Don’t quite know what to say when your friends ask why you buy only cruelty-free products? Looking for easy ways to talk with classmates about companies that test on animals? Check out our Animal Testing Top 10:
1. It’s wrong to subject animals to imprisonment, violence and death – animals are not ours to use for experimentation.
2. Ninety-two out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in clinical trials in people.
3. Animals don’t suffer from diseases in the same way that people do. The former head of the US National Cancer Institute summarised the last 25 years of cancer research by admitting, “The history of cancer research has been the history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades, and it simply didn’t work in human beings”.
4. Animal studies mislead researchers and waste precious time and resources. Famed primatologist and Harvard professor Richard Wrangham points out: “Every significant advance in the fight against AIDS has come through in vitro work, epidemiology, and studies of human volunteers. Early work with chimpanzees funneled scarce research funds away from more fruitful approaches”.
5. The list of medical conditions and therapies discovered and developed without animals is extensive and includes anaesthesia, antisepsis, germ theory, morphine, radium, X-rays, the link between cholesterol and heart disease, the link between smoking and cancer, CAT scans, PET scans and MRIs.
6. There are more effective research methods, including microdosing, the Hurel biochip, tissue engineering, sophisticated computer modelling and more.
7. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, doesn’t prevent poorly designed, redundant or painful experiments.
8. Three of the most commonly used types of animals in laboratory tests – mice, rats and birds – are rarely given even minimal protection.
9. Every time that PETA sends an undercover investigator into a laboratory, physical abuse and neglect are documented. Animals are yelled at, hit, left to suffer after surgery without anaesthetics, repeatedly operated on, crammed into small cages, denied veterinary care and more.
10. Approximately 100 million animals are used in experiments each year. You can help PETA speak out for animals suffering in laboratories in India and around the world by making a special donation today.
Imagine living locked in a closet without control over any aspect of your life. You can’t choose when and what you eat or how you spend your time, and you’re not allowed to be with friends or family. You can’t even decide when the lights go on and off. Think about spending your entire life like this, even though you haven’t committed any crimes. This is what life in a laboratory is like for animals. It is deprivation, isolation, misery and death.
Medical historians tell us that the majority of true medical breakthroughs have occurred in the clinic, not in the animal lab – the links between the pancreas and diabetes, plaque in the arteries and heart disease, cigarette smoking and lung cancer, etc. Also, sophisticated alternatives to animal tests, such as computer simulations and cell and tissue cultures, are faster, safer and less expensive.
To help animals in labs, please sign our pledge against animal testing and consider making a donation to help PETA India expose abuse in laboratories through undercover investigations. Looking for more ways to help? Join the petaDishoom Street Team and receive local action alerts and regular updates on petaDishoom’s campaigns against cruelty to animals. You’ll even earn prizes like T-shirts, caps, key chains and more.
