Animal rights activist is removed from government

[Guest guest]

can we have a protest ....

jayasimha

 

India's high profile animal rights activist and former

minister for welfare Ms Maneka Gandhi has been removed

from her position as chairwoman of the government's

Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision

of Experiments on Animals.

 

The committee had earned the wrath of Indian

scientific researchers over recent years for its

approach to animals in scientific research and for its

" raids " on both government and private laboratories

(BMJ 2002;325:1192)[Free Full Text].

 

The committeewhich gives permission to registered

institutions to carry out animal experimentationhas

inspected 467 laboratories nationwide since December

1998. It has found that 400 did not have basic

facilities for housing and care of laboratory animals,

according to the latest committee report published in

the women's journal Manushi, which has devoted an

entire issue to the subject of animal welfare.

 

Ms Gandhi says that the conditions in Indian

laboratory animal houses and the practices used in

experiments with these animals are among the worst in

the world.

 

" While millions of animals have been killed in the

name of research in India, almost 90% of this research

has been useless and has been unnecessary duplication

of research already done abroad, " she told the BMJ.

 

Sandip Basu, the director of the National Institute of

Immunology in New Delhi, calls the raids

" non-governmental organisation-type actions of the

Maneka brigade. "

 

His institute was inspected by the committee twice,

but no report has been provided to them, despite his

demands, said Dr Basu.

 

He vehemently contradicts the committee's assertions

publicised in its newsletter under the title " Primates

pickled in cages for 18 years " (www.cpcsea.com).

 

" I can vouch only for my own institute and say that

the animals have been kept in conditions that are not

only internationally acceptable but have been recorded

by collaborative institutions like the US National

Institutes of Health, " he said.

 

" This is an anti-science mindset that we are up

against, and Maneka Gandhi is just a symbol of that, "

said Dr Basu.

 

Scientists have demanded a thorough restructuring of

the committee to include " technically knowledgeable

experts rather than the emotional ones. "

 

As for Ms Gandhi, she remains unfazed and

unapologetic: " It is quite obviously a conspiracy of

the scientific establishment to get me removed, " she

told the BMJ. " The scientific establishment would like

to turn the committee into a toothless body, but I

don't think they will succeed now. "

 

can we have a wide protest against this

jayasimha

 

 

 

 

Everything you'll ever need on one web page

from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts

http://uk.my.

[Guest guest]

jaya iyengar wrote:

>can we have a protest ....

>jayasimha

 

There is an Indian Government web page where one can submit comments to the

office of Prime Minister Vajpayee.

 

http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm

 

Unfortunately, the format for typing comments is very user-unfriendly, and

submitting the comments just leads to an error message. Does anyone know

either an email address for Prime Minister Vajpayee, or his full snail-mail

address? The snail address I have is incomplete (but would probably work):

 

Prime Minister

Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee

New Delhi

India

Fax: 011 91 11 3016857

 

Officially, Maneka Gandhi was removed from office because her post was

deemed to be an " office of profit " and, therefore, incompatible with her

status as a Member of Parliament

(http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid= & id=106840). In fact, she was

probably removed not only for her animal rights work, but also because she

is at odds with Sonya Gandhi (http://www.the-week.com/21dec02/events2.htm).

 

Here is a draft of a protest letter:

 

Dear Prime Minister Vajpayee,

 

I am writing to protest at the removal of Maneka Gandhi from her post as

Chairperson of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of

Experiments on Animals. Although the official explanation of her removal

from office was that her post was an " office of profit " and, therefore,

incompatible with her status as a Member of Parliament, it appears that

Maneka Gandhi's support for the welfare and rights of animals contributed

to her removal from office.

 

Maneka Gandhi, while serving in her former post, pointed out that " While

millions of animals have been killed in the name of research in India,

almost 90% of this research has been useless and has been unnecessary

duplication of research already done abroad " . I urge you to implement

measures to discontinue this unnecessary animal experimentation.

 

 

And here is a shorter version, formatted for the unfriendly web form at

http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm (if anyone gets that page to work, I'd

be interested to know):

 

I am writing to protest at the removal of Maneka Gandhi from her post

as Chairperson of the CPCSEA. Officially, she was removed because

the post was deemed incompatible with her status as a Member of

Parliament. But it appears that she was fired because she promoted

animal rights, and criticised animal experiments, stating that 90% of

those conducted in India are unnecessary. I urge you to implement

measures to discontinue these unnecessary animal experiments.

 

 

If anyone wishes to use either of these texts, or to improve on them,

please feel free to do so.

 

Gerry

[Guest guest]

Gerry Morgan wrote:

>And here is a shorter version, formatted for the unfriendly web form at

>http://pmindia.nic.in/writetous.htm (if anyone gets that page to work, I'd

>be interested to know):

 

Just to follow up on this, the page worked when I tried it again today, and

I have submitted my comments to the Indian PM's office.

 

Gerry