STOP US ARMY from misuse of MONKEYS (non-violent action)

UPDATE: Less than One Week to Stop the Army's Cruel Use of Monkeys

The U.S. Army is gearing up to poison monkeys in a chemical warfare training course in Maryland next week, and we need your help to stop this cruel exercise before it is too late. Last week, we asked you to contact Congress, but now we are taking our efforts directly to the U.S. Army and telling its leaders to stop this cruel and unnecessary training today.

In the chemical casualty training session, vervet monkeys are injected with a toxic overdose of physostigmine that produces symptoms of a nerve agent attack. Monkeys stop breathing, vomit, defecate, and seize violently while trainees watch.



Under anesthesia that can worsen the effects of the attack, monkeys are unable to make alarm calls or otherwise indicate that they are in pain. But medical records and a video obtained by PCRM through the Freedom of Information Act show that these monkeys suffer both during and after the exercise.

The use of monkeys for this training is cruel and clinically irrelevant, but the Army refuses to replace animals with available, effective human-based training methods. Even worse, the Army has ordered more monkeys for this course—20 monkeys will be delivered to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland by the end of the month. This is an ideal time to urge the Army to re-evaluate the utility of this protocol.

Please call Army medical leaders today and tell them to halt the use of monkeys in this exercise before next week:

URGENT: Ask the Army to Stop Poisoning Monkeys...take a minute to let Maj. Gen. Nick Justice, Commanding General of Aberdeen Proving Ground, and Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, Army Surgeon General, know that you want the U.S. Army to immediately halt the use of vervet monkeys in chemical casualty management training.

...Here are some talking points:

The use of monkeys in chemical casualty management training is cruel and should be stopped before the training course the week of Sept. 12. Monkeys’ anatomical differences from humans make it hard for trainees to recognize the signs of nerve agent attack. Modern, superior human-based training methods are already available and are being used in civilian medical training courses. A transition to only human-based methods would provide a better educational experience for military medical trainees.

Please halt the upcoming shipment of monkeys to be used for this training.
CONTACT INFORMATION

Maj. Gen. Nick Justice, Commanding General of Aberdeen Proving Ground
Phone: 410-278-0833

Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, Army Surgeon General
Phone: 703-681-3008

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Thank you for your support on this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Kucinich
Director of Government Affairs

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Ste. 400
Washington, DC 20016 Phone: 202-686-2210
E-mail: info@pcrm.org