“Since
UBC has repeatedly refused to disclose any details about its experiments
on
animals, we decided to run the ad to show the grim realities of animal
research,” said Brian Vincent, Director of Stop UBC Animal Research.
“We
hope the ad will get people to start asking UBC what the university is
doing to animals behind closed doors.”
The ad kicks off the organization’s
fall campaign.
Stop UBC Animal Research said it had a series of actions,
protests, and other events in the works to raise awareness about UBC’s
animal
experiments. Since the Vancouver-area group was formed last year, it has
exposed UBC’s extensive animal research programs. Every year, UBC
conducts
thousands of research projects involving animals, including on pigs,
mice,
cats, rabbits, monkeys, and others. Some of that research employs
extremely
painful and ultimately, lethal procedures. Nearly all the experiments
are done
with little public scrutiny.
Stop UBC Animal Research’s months-long
investigation of UBC has revealed disturbing details about the
university's
research. For instance, one UBC researcher has experimented on cats for
30
years. In his papers, the researcher described how he had cut open the
backs of
cats to expose their vertebrae, inserted titanium screws into the cats'
spinal
columns to inhibit movement, and built restraint chambers around the
cats'
exposed vertebra to give researchers access to the cats' spinal columns
and to
fix the animals in a sitting position for recording sessions. Stop UBC
Animal
Research also discovered UBC researchers have:
· Repeatedly
poured saline solution into newborn piglets’ lungs to induce respiratory
failure
· Exposed
mice to cigarette smoke for up to six months in emphysema research
· Injected
toxins into monkeys' brains to simulate “parkinsonism”
· Administered
electroconvulsive shock to monkeys to induce seizures
· Blinded
monkeys in vision deprivation studies
VANCOUVER, BC – This week, 
