PETA Founder ‘Tortured’ in Protest of Defence Ministry’s Tests on Animals

For Immediate Release:

20 April 2016

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

PETA FOUNDER ‘TORTURED’ IN PROTEST OF DEFENCE MINISTRY’S TESTS ON ANIMALS

Action Comes After Documents Reveal Dozens of Monkeys Infected With Ebola and Killed

London – Today in Trafalgar Square, PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk was strapped to a medieval torture device and fitted with a gas mask hooked to tanks of “toxic chemicals” – all in protest of the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) recently revealed use of 57 monkeys in cruel and deadly laboratory tests. PETA’s action comes just days ahead of World Day for Animals in Laboratories on 23 April.

For Photos click here, here and here.

More images from the demonstration available on Rex Features.

“When we have access to computer models, human tissues and other modern research methods, it’s unfathomable that the Ministry of Defence is still torturing and killing animals”, says PETA founder and Managing Director Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on the MoD to join the 21st century and stop using and abusing monkeys in archaic experiments.”

In one recent MoD study, marmosets were infected with a strain of the Ebola virus, and genital bleeding was observed in some of the monkeys. In another study, marmosets were infected with a bacteria that began to rot away the animals’ lungs. PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – notes that studies of naturally occurring diseases in humans, sophisticated tests using human cells and tissues, and advanced computer-modeling techniques are less costly, more effective and far more humane.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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