We, the Undersigned, draw the attention of: Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec
La Fondation canadienne pour l’innovation
Développement économique Canada
to the following:That, 22.5 million dollars, including tax-payers money, will be required for experiments that raise major ethical and scientific concerns.
That, authorities at the Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS) fail to acknowledge that so-called animal models (including non-human primates) have caused human suffering and death, delayed medical progress, and diverted research funds away from more reliable and modern scientific methodologies.
That, the confinement and manipulation of animals (including non-human primates) involves pain and suffering. And, that subjecting sentient beings to the horrors of vivisection is totally unethical, particularly when reliable and modern methods that do not require animal models exist.
As claimed by INRS, the rigorous supervision and respect of international standards of animal care fall short to improve a methodology with a track record of failure (animal modeling). INRS states that monkeys are representative of the human condition; however INRS fails to prove this statement.
INRS’s claimed participation in past achievements (vaccines for Tuberculosis, Polio, Influenza, measles), as underlined by INRS Director Mr. Pierre Lapointe, offers no evidence that: 1) animal models were essential to the discovery, efficacy, safety of such vaccines 2) that animal models remain essential, as of today. The fact that one animal model is being used in a particular type of research is no evidence that this animal model is essential. We, the Undersigned, ask the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec, la Fondation canadienne pour l’innovation and Développement économique Canada to stop financing and supporting a new primate research center (CNBE) in Montreal, QC., designed to house 150 to 200 non-human primates to test vaccines for malaria, hepatitis, AIDS, and to study cardiovascular conditions. Instead, the Undersigned ask the INRS to use the money planned for this center to fund ethical and human-based research for malaria, hepatitis, and AIDS vaccines.
