Citizens for Alternatives
to Animal Research and Experimentation (CAARE)
January 2017
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a new initiative, Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans Program to closely examine the physiology of human exercise. The program will invest $170 million through 19 grants to delve into the molecular mechanisms behind the benefits of exercise.
Regretfully the NIH also plans to award three of the nineteen grants to study animal models of human exercise, an entirely incongruous concept!
It is scientifically insupportable to use animals to study precise molecular mechanisms in humans. This has been clearly demonstrated by the failure of animals in human drug and chemical toxicity tests. These failures occur exactly because of the differences that occur at the molecular level between humans and animals.
Sign an online petition: Oppose federal funds for "rat studies" of human exercise.
And/Or better yet, make direct contact:
Dr. Francis Collins
Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, Maryland 20892
phone (301) 496-4000
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a new initiative,
Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans Program to closely
examine the physiology of human exercise. The program will invest $170
million through 19 grants to delve into the molecular mechanisms behind the
benefits of exercise.
The goal is to investigate how physical activity impacts precise molecular
mechanisms. Extensive human clinical trials using volunteers from diverse
races, ethnicities and ages will be carried out at seven clinical centers
across the U.S. Tissue samples collected from study participants will be
analyzed for chemical changes.
Regretfully the NIH also plans to award three of the nineteen grants to
study animal models of human exercise, an entirely incongruous concept!
Please join CAARE is voicing your opposition to NIH’s plan to include animal
experiments in this program. The funding is being allotted from the NIH
Common Fund which claims to support research that is “transformative.” There
is nothing transformative about these cruel, crude and outdated animal
experiments.
These experiments are entirely non-lifesaving and non-essential. They
subject animals to life in captivity, deprived of everything that is normal
to them, only to be forced into hours of endurance treadmill tests or used
in invasive “resistance” experiments. All will be killed as part of the
experiment.
While the standard treadmill studies will be used to measure endurance, how is it possible to “model” resistance training in a rat? Scientists can’t give them weights and have them to perform repetitions!
CAARE’s research indicates this is carried out by implanting electrodes to direct impulses into the sciatic nerve of anesthetized animals, forcing muscles to contract. After the study, the animals are killed to dissect the muscle.This is a perfect example of how animal experiments are entirely artificial and wholly lacking in relevance to human physiology. These invasively stimulated muscles undergo different mechanisms than normal exercise and incorporate other events like tissue trauma from insertion of electrodes, among other factors. xxIt is scientifically insupportable to use animals to study precise molecular mechanisms in humans. This has been clearly demonstrated by the failure of animals in human drug and chemical toxicity tests. These failures occur exactly because of the differences that occur at the molecular level between humans and animals.
Thank you for everything you do for animals!
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