(NP) Biomedical research in Nepal

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--- On Fri, 2/13/09, Khalid Mahmood <thetension wrote:

 

Khalid Mahmood <thetension

FW: Biomedical research in Nepal= ASMP

Friday, February 13, 2009, 11:57 AM

 

To

 

 Dr. Sanjib Sharma

 

c/o B P Koirala Institute of Health Science (BPKIHS), Dharan NIPAL

   

 

Animal Testing at Your Institute;

 

Dear Dr Sharma ,

 

As a Humanitarian and best friend of Animals & birds I am upset to discover that

unmonitored animal testing is taking place at the B P Koirala Institute of

Health Science (BPKIHS) in Dharan. Despite the fact that there is no law or

monitoring system to supervise animal testing, students at your institute

conduct tests on sheep, rabbits and mice. We are especially shocked to hear that

the rabbits have undergone different kinds of heart surgery and are being used

to test eye drops.

 

 

 

We request you to take the immediate following actions:

 

 

 

-          Call for an immediate halt of animal experimentation at your

institute

 

-          Replace testing with humane methods such as software

packages available in India

     Treat and rehabilitate the animals with the help of professionals.

In our view animal experimentation by medical institutes is useless, cruel and

squanders precious resources. 

 At your institute too it may be found that there is no full-time veterinarian

to take care of animals on a day-to-day basis or caretakers to look after the

animals at night. Most of the procedures are probably performed by students.

Housing conditions may be bleak with insufficient air conditioning, proper

lighting, or hygienic water bottles, cages and food.

As you might know testing eye drops in rabbits (the socalled Draize test) is

very controversial. They are viewed as cruel by critics, as well as unscientific

because of the differences between rabbit and human eyes, and the subjective

nature of the visual evaluations. Because of its controversial nature, the

Draize test in the U.S. and Europe these days is hardly being carried out.

Conducting heart surgery on rabbits is even more cruel and is banned by law in

most countries.

 

Not only are animal tests extremely cruel, they are also completely inaccurate

because of the vast physiological variations between species. Animal studies

teach us nothing about the health of humans because human reactions to illnesses

and medications are completely different from the reactions of other animals.

Other species absorb, metabolise and eliminate substances differently than

humans do. The truth is that testing on animals is just plain bad science which

harms humans and other animals alike.

 

Clinical trials, the use of human volunteers, case studies, autopsy reports and

statistical analyses permit far more accurate observation – as well as the use

of actual environmental factors related to human disease – than is possible

with animals confined to laboratories.

In many cases, not only does animal testing hurt animals and waste money, it

also harms and kills humans. For example, thalidomide, Zomax and DES were all

tested on animals and judged safe, but they had devastating consequences for the

people who used them.

 

Animal testing is no longer the golden rule. All over the world scientists find

much better, safer alternatives. We hope you will follow in their footsteps by

showing enlightened management and ban animal testing at your institute.

 

Looking forward to your positive response.

 

with love and peace ; 

 

KHALID MAHMOOD QURASHI

 

President,

 

Animal Save Movement Pakistan

 

H #1094/2 Hussain Agahi Multan 60000, PAKISTAN

 

Cell #00923007368557 , ph #0092614781691