Grace Slick Asks Congress to End Chimpanzee Experiments

[bananas]

Grace Slick Asks Congress to End Chimpanzee Experiments

Grace Slick -- of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship fame -- is urging Congress to end experiments on chimpanzees. Slick, whose 70th birthday is today, recorded a voicemail inviting politicians to a Capitol Hill multimedia exhibit about chimps with the hope that they will move to phase out the use of the animals in invasive experiments and retire all federally-owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries.

The voice behind 'Somebody to Love' and 'We Built This City' is working in partnership with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine on the initiative, which supports the Towns-Reichert Great Ape Protection Act. In her voicemail, delivered Monday night, Slick said, "We all need somebody to love, so I was shocked to learn that laboratories can keep chimpanzees locked up in metal cages about the size of a kitchen table. It's time for to join the long list of countries that prohibit invasive experiments on these amazingly intelligent animals."

The exhibit was designed to draw attention to the ethical and scientific implications of chimpanzee experiments. According to the PCRM, when used in experiments, chimpanzees suffer from early separation from their mothers, social isolation, prolonged captivity, sensory deprivation and repeated physical harm. The Great Ape Protection Act would end invasive research on chimpanzees, release federally owned chimps to the aforementioned sanctuaries and end federal funding for the breeding of federally owned chimpanzees.

Happy Birthday, Grace.
:yourock:

https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=4242

The Great Ape Protection Act (H.R. 1326), introduced by Reps. Towns (D-NY), Reichert (R-WA), Langevin (D-RI), and Bartlett (R-MD), will phase out invasive research on chimpanzees in laboratories, retire the approximately 500 federally-owned chimpanzees to permanent sanctuary, and codify NIH's administrative ban on the breeding of chimpanzees for invasive research.

The introduction of H.R. 1326 followed the release of disturbing results from a nine-month-long undercover investigation by The HSUS that exposed severe mistreatment among the more than 320 chimpanzees and approximately 6,000 other primates at the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Louisiana. Those chimpanzees, living lives of deprivation and misery, are among the approximately 1,000 chimpanzees languishing in eight laboratories across the U. S. The vast majority of them are not being used in active research protocols, but instead are being warehoused, costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Chimpanzees, an endangered species, are highly intelligent, socially complex, and long-lived creatures. Many chimps currently warehoused in research facilities have lived for decades behind bars, some since well before man first landed on the moon.

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to urge your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 1326, the Great Ape Protection Act. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 or click here to look up your Representative and the Capitol office phone number.

After you make your call, fill in and submit the form at the right to automatically send a message to your U.S. Representative. Congress receives a lot of email. Be sure to make yours stand out by editing the subject line and message. Some congressional offices may also require you to fill out additional information in order to submit your message. Please take these additional steps, if needed, to ensure your message goes through.

http://www.hsus.org/animals_in_research/animals_in_research_news/undercover_investigation_reveals_chimpanzee_abuse.html

Undercover Investigation Reveals Cruelty to Chimps at Research Lab

March 4, 2009

A nine-month undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has pulled back the curtain on the secretive, federally-funded New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Louisiana, revealing routine and unlawful mistreatment of hundreds of chimpanzees and other primates.

<snip>

Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace said, "In no lab I have visited have I seen so many chimpanzees exhibit such intense fear. The screaming I heard when chimpanzees were being forced to move toward the dreaded needle in their squeeze cages was, for me, absolutely horrifying."

One of the chimpanzees at the facility—Karen—was taken from the wild and has been housed in a primarily barren laboratory setting since 1958, when Dwight Eisenhower was president.

The HSUS is calling for her to be released to a sanctuary—along with many other elderly chimps who were taken from the wild decades ago. Another chimpanzee—28-year-old Siafu—attempted to communicate with center staff by "signing."

Chimpanzee expert Roger Fouts believes Siafu's frustrated, repetitive movements were crude begging gestures, based on his viewing of the HSUS tape.

<snip>

[rucky]

1. I thought she meant she wanted congress to stop trying to write legislation. n/t

[xchrom]

3. oy -- after that two thousand -- or damn near -- health care legislation --

that would be a logical thought.

[texastoast]

2. Another boomer to bitch about

:sarcasm:

[PavePusher]

4. Huh, she notably failed to volunteer to be experimented on in their place...

Anyone who has benefitted from primate research and supports this, really needs to give up those benefits immediately.

[Posteritatis]

5. +1 (nt)

[pokerfan]

6. k&r

They're our cousins for pete's sake.

[auntsue]

7. Given the close gene connection

research is enlightening, and can be important - I'll give you that but for the same reason humane treatment is essential. Medical procedures can be done with a minimum of discomfort (i know this from experience) with enough training and patience. I worked with pre-schoolers sometimes they had to have shots etc. with proper preparation there were no tears.
I think there should be limits and strict protocols. Chimps are not "critters" they are noble beings.

[Orrex]

8. After "We Built This City," she's in no position to demand anything

[NNadir]

9. ...

:yourock:

[NNadir]

10. This has to be your classic "appeal to authority" Pop mentality post of all time.

It's so great, I think I'll bookmark it.

"Grace Slick says..."

I wonder how many of Grace Slick's drug pickled pals could have gotten liver replacements without animal experiments.

I wonder if she still gets loaded with Phil Lesh and David Crosby?

[bananas]

11. NNadir just made several logical fallacies.

First, the OP made no implication that Grace Slick was an authority.
I was simply applauding her for her activism on this issue and wishing her happy birthday.
I followed that with some background information on the bill from the Humane Society website.
The Humane Society excerpts I used quoted Jane Goodall and Roger Fouts, but since they are actual experts in the field, it's not a fallacy to quote them, on the contrary, it's a valid argument.
So NNadir has demonstrated that he doesn't understand what "appeal to authority" means.
NNadir then went on to make some fallacious ad hominem arguments.

[Orrex]

12. By citing Slick in the subject line, you implied her authority

You could have started your OP with Goodall and Fouts, but instead you went for the (nominal) star power of Grace Slick. That kind of get-their-attention tactic is an appeal to authority.

It doesn't make your argument fallacious as a whole, of course, but it is a propaganda gimmick nonetheless. And, given the too-common trend elsewhere of treating celebrities as experts, I can see why NNadir balked at your subject line.

[bananas]

13. Nope.

If this were a professional peer-review scientific journal, then citing someone in the subject line might imply their authority. But this isn't a professional peer-review scientific journal, it's a discussion forum on a political website, mentioning someone in the subject line only implies they are doing something relevant to science, including political activities relevant to science. Which is exactly the case here.

Frankly, I think most people here know who Grace Slick is and wouldn't make the inference that she's an authority on primate research from the subject line.

[Orrex]

14. I'm sure that you see it that way