Army Violating DoD Animal Welfare Policy by Exposing Primates to Nerve Agent ‘Simulants’

For Immediate Release:
August 4, 2005

Contact:
Shalin Gala 757-622-7382  

Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. — PETA has sent an urgent letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, urging him to immediately stop the Army’s use of nerve-agent-like chemicals on monkeys in resuscitation exercises—a blatant violation of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) animal welfare policy. PETA has learned that the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, located at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in northeastern Maryland, is using vervet monkeys in a course called Medical Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties, in which students learn how to "manage casualties of chemical and biological agent exposure … by participating in the resuscitation of a lab animal [monkey] exposed to a nerve agent simulant."

DoD’s February 16, 2005, animal welfare policy clearly states that monkeys cannot be used for this type of testing: "Prohibited uses for dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, and marine mammals are the following: … Inflicting wounds with any type of weapon(s) to conduct training in surgical or other medical treatment procedures."

A recent participant in the course—Dena Roth, emergency operations coordinator for the University of Georgia—described in writing how one monkey was put into a state of "cholinergic crisis." Cholinergic crisis is characterized by several severe symptoms, including vomiting, seizures, coma, and paralysis—which can lead to death if the lungs are affected.

PETA points out that videos, lectures, manikin models, and human field training are more than adequate to teach all the learning objectives in the course. Additionally, the Army has developed—and recommends—a state-of-the-art simulator called STATCare, which can assess patients, perform chemical exposure and antidote modeling, and display medically relevant animation, all on a computer.

"We’re calling on Secretary Rumsfeld to stop the Army’s war on primates and all other animals," says PETA Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland. "Terrifying and tormenting monkeys in laboratories is indefensible and in no way protects soldiers."

PETA’s letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site