Experiments included drilling holes into monkeys’ skulls to inject PCP into their brains and then have them perform certain tasks to see the extent of brain damage.
ABIGAIL JANE: Following a White Coat Waste (WCW) Project campaign, the US Department of Veterans Affairs Minneapolis Lab has ended its wasteful and deadly experiments on primates. The VA is notorious for its animal cruelty and bad practices.
These tax-funded experiments included drilling holes into monkeys’ skulls to inject PCP into their brains. This caused brain damage, and the research would go on to have the monkeys perform certain tasks to see the extent of the brain damage.
Researchers would screw posts into the monkey’s heads to keep them stationary while performing tests. Just extending the cruelty a bit further. It was also recorded that they would restrict water from the primates for long periods of time…
According to WCW:
Using the Freedom of Information Act, our investigators exposed that these disturbing and contrived tests involved drilling holes into monkeys’ skulls and injecting them with drugs including the hallucinogenic street drug PCP (AKA ANGEL DUST!) to damage their brains. The experimenters then forced the monkeys to watch or point to objects on a screen to measure the extent of the brain damage… the experimenters screw posts in their heads to forcibly immobilize them during experimental trials…
The scathing July 2019 internal VA report obtained by WCW via FOIA found that the Minneapolis VA was abusing monkeys by restricting water to primates for extensive periods of time and not keeping track of how long! Additionally, the VA found that laboratory staff didn’t know how to prepare, label or store the PCP that was being given to the primates… Documents we obtained also show that the lab refused to retire monkeys at the end of testing, and instead killed them unnecessarily. SOURCE…
Daniel Lopez, Research Manager at taxpayer watchdog White Coat Waste Project said in an emailed statement, “Drilling into primates’ skulls, depriving them of water and injecting them with PCP is wasteful and cruel and doesn’t deserve taxpayers’ support…
In the e-mailed release, Rep. Brian Mast, who worked with WCW on ending these experiments, said, “Taxpayer-funded animal cruelty is unacceptable. The announcement from the Minneapolis VA is an important step in the right direction, and we’ll continue to work to ensure all of these projects are ended”…
The VA project was supposed to go on for another three years; however, it was shut down early this past April… This is a huge victory for animal rights activists everywhere as well as for the basic rights of animals. SOURCE…
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