

Activists call for an end to the use of animals in research and education

Listen to an interview with Paul York, an organizer with the Animal Rights Club at the University of Toronto

From the event page:

The University of Toronto is the site of roughly 90,000 unnecessary animal death per year, for the purposes of research and education.

Over 200 of the experiments in 2010 -- involving thousands of animals -- were "class D" -- which means they inflicted very high levels of suffering, and resulting in all cases in death and dissection.

There is a common misimpression that these experiments are necessary for human health. That is not true. 

They are both cruel and unnecessary, since animal testing is not predictive for humans (see the work of Dr. Ray Greek), which invalidates all animal research for human medicine, and because alternatives exist for the use of animals in education.

The predictive value of animal research is 0.34, which is less than a coin toss (0.5); to be valid it should be at least 0.9. So why do they do it then? Because they have always done it that way and because there is a lot of money and power involved -- much as the fossil fuel companies profit from keeping our society addicted to oil when cleaner and less dangerous forms of energy exist (i.e. renewables). 

It is an industry that has become its own end, using the excuse of human medical research to perpetuate itself.

Medical research is moving away from the paradigm of animal testing, which is unproductive and expensive, but U of T is still stuck in the past, training thousand of students methods that are both outdated and barbaric.

The Faculty of Medicine is the site of most of the experiments. 

We will hold a quiet vigil for the animals, in public view, near to the Medical Science building, but still on municipal property, because campus police have prohibited us from doing this on university grounds.

The purpose of this is to remember and honour all the innocent animals trapped in the dungeons of U of T, suffering unspeakable tortures for no good reason.

We call for the end of the use of animals in research and education, and for U of T to adopt more modern and more scientifically and more humane methods of doing research and education, without the use of animals.

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