Day: September 8, 2004

Virginia HB 1018 – Alternatives to Dissection


CHAPTER 918


An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 22.1-200.01,
relating to alternatives to animal dissection in public school courses and
curriculum.

[H 1018]

Approved April 15, 2004

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered
22.1-200.01 as follows:

§ 22.1-200.01. Alternatives to animal dissection.

Local school divisions shall provide students with alternatives to animal
dissection techniques within the relevant public school curriculum or course. The
Board of Education shall establish guidelines to be implemented by local school
divisions regarding such alternative dissection techniques. Such guidelines
shall address, but shall not be limited to, (i) the use of detailed models of
animal anatomy and computer simulations as alternatives to dissection; (ii)
notification of students and parents of the option to decline to participate in
animal dissection; and (iii) such other issues as the Board deems appropriate.

Prosecutors File Motion to Revoke Kevin Kjonaas' Bail

Federal prosecutors this week asked a judge to revoke the bail of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty’s Kevin Kjonaas and jail him until his upcoming trial on charges of conspiracy to terrorize, interstate stalking, and conspiracy to commit interstate stalking.

As part of his bail terms, Kjonaas is barred from “disseminating any personal or private information about company employees and their families, and from threatening or inducing others to threaten anyone.”

Federal prosecutors claim that Kjonaas violated the terms of his bail when activists showed up to protest at the home of Chiron counsel William Green on August 15. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles McKenna and Ricardo Solano argued in their motion that,

There is clear and convincing evidence that the attack on Green’s home was coordinated by SHAC-USA, and defendant (Kevin) Kjonaas — as the president of SHAC — is responsible for its activities.

McKenna and Solano note that the protest was publicized on SHAC’s web site, that demonstrators carried a banner displaying the URL to SHAC’s web site, and that leaflets were passed out on SHAC stationery.

Kjonaas’ attorney, Isabel McGinty, responded that her client had resigned as president of SHAC almost two weeks before the protest, and besides the protesters identified themselves as being with the Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition.

Source:

Feds want animal rights activist in jail. John Martin, New Jersey Star-Ledger, September 7, 2004.

Jerry Vlasak Delivers Videotaped Speech to International Animal Rights Conference

Having been barred from entering the UK due to his statements justifying and supporting violence, animal rights activist Jerry Vlasak gave a videotaped speech to the 350 attendees at the Internatinoal Animal Rights Conference 2004.

Here are some highlights from Vlasak’s speech,

Our movement cannot be isolated in a vacuum. The animal rights movement has got to be viewed in a historical context. Our movement is no less important or radical than the fight against Apartheid or the fight against human slavery, fights against oppression in Algeria, Vietnam, Northern Ireland and other places all around the world.

We, like those freedom fighters who came before us are on the front lines, trying to educate a largely greedy, corrupt and violent society and to expose the needless suffering and agony which goes on daily inside abattoirs, laboratories and zoos; billions of animals suffer and die world wide.

. . .

The scientists who still use animals in their research are not only frauds, but are addicted to an outdated form of research. That Colin Blakemore for instance, who has sewn kittens eyes closed for fun and profit, is no more of a true scientist then the mad scientists in the monster movies we watched in the 50’s. Blakemore is not a doctor. Like most animal experimenters, he is simply a “wanna be” medical doctor who didn’t have the social skills nor the brains to make it through medical school. And those medical doctors who are performing experiments on animals are simply the instruments of a corrupt university system and the pharmaceutical industry.

. . .

In closing, I’d like you to ponder this thought when you get back home after the conference has ended and you are safe and sound in your homes and have a stomach full of tofu and rice; “If it were my mother, my child, my sister or brother inside an HLS lab or the primate labs at Oxford, what would I do to save them?

We do what we do because . . . .WE HAVE SEEN AND WE KNOW!

Odd enough, no call to boycott these drugs that can’t possibly work since they are based on animals rather than human beings.

Sources:

Barred animal rights activist addresses conference by video. James Tapsfield, Press Association News, September 4, 2004.

Banned activists resorts to video. The BBC, September 5, 2004.

Dr. Jerry Vlasak’s Speech. September 6, 2004.

Albuquerque Public Schools Criticizes PCRM Lunch Survey

After a Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine survey criticized the nutritional value of lunches served at Albuquerque Public Schools, a nutrition coordinator for the school system says she never would have cooperated with the survey if she had realized that PCRM was an animal rights group.

Stephanie Fila, nutrition coordinator for APS, told the Albuquerque Tribune that she didn’t realize PCRM was an animal rights group advocating a vegan diet when she responded to their survey. According to Fila, the APS lunches meet all USDA requirements and added that,

Real physicians would not recommend a vegan diet for growing children.

Jeanne Stuart McVey, while acknowledging that Physicians Committee for Responsible MEdicine actually has very few physician members, defended the nutrition survey saying,

We are advocates. But we really look at the science. We promote healthy diets, and there are so many studies showing that meat is just not the healthiest thing.

McVey also tried to distance PCRM from People for the Ethical Treatment, claiming that PCRM no longer receives funding from PETA,

. . . in the past, PETA might have supported one of our animal-testing programs, but we do not get funding from them now.

Of course McVey forgets to mention The Foundation to Support Animal Protection which appears to have been set up specifically to allow PETA to fund PCRM while hiding the relationship between the two groups.

Source:

APS: Lunch study unfair. Frank Zoretich, Albuquerque Tribune, September 4, 2004.

More Details on Assault on Anti-Circus Protesters

In August I noted a report of an assault on anti-circus protesters in Dublin, Ireland. Irish newspaper The People has published a more detailed account of the attack.

According to activists with the Ireland-based Alliance for Animal Rights, a group of men approached the activists as they protested outside the Circus Vegas in Castleknock, Dublin. The Alliance for Animal Rights’ Bernie Wright told The People,

A group of men approached us and started verbally abusing us. One of them lashed out with his fists at Ciaran [Long]. He suffered heavy bleeding and facial injuries which needed stitching in James Connolly Memorial Hospital. After this all hell broke loose and the rest of the group went for us and grabbed a video camera that we had with us. I myself was punched and kicked and received cuts to my hands. One of our group then managed to break away and phoned the ambulance and Gardai.

One man has been arrested and charged in the incident. If convicted, lets hope he serves a nice long stint in jail — there’s simply no place for such violence.

Source:

Protester is attacked by vicious thug. Tom Prendeville, The People, August 29, 2004.

Alliance for Animals Files Complaint Over Deaths of Marmosets at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Alliance for Animals has filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the death of three marmosets at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center in July.

Center director Joseph Kemnitz told the Associated Press that the three animals died when they were left in a cage that was being sanitized. According to Kemnitz the employee responsible apparently became distracted and the marmosets were not removed before the sanitizing procedure began,

It was a terrible accident. Probably the animals died of the heat exposure. It was probably a very quick death.

Alliance for Animals’ Lori Nitzel, however, charges that it was negligence. She told the Associated Press,

This appears to be a case of gross negligence and suggests that the operating procedures and training of staff at WNPRC are insufficient to assure compliance with the animal welfare act.

According to Kemnitz, the Center reported the incident reported to the USDA in July. The employees responsible for the marmoset’s deaths were removed from caring for the primates while they underwent retraining.

Sources:

Animal rights groups filed complaint over marmosets’ deaths. Associated Press, August 25, 2004.

Animal-Rights Group Files Complaint Over Monkeys. Gena Kittner, Wisconsin State Journal, August 25, 2004.

Three Marmosets Boiled Alive at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. Press Release, Animal Alliance, August 24, 2004.