PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

No matter where you stand on international conflicts, it is a painful fact that the Israeli army has also blown up unanesthetized pigs with Scud missile explosives and conducted other painful experiments on dogs, monkeys, doves, mice, toads, and guinea pigs. An article in the March 17, 2000, issue of Ha'aretz, Israel�s most respected daily newspaper, reported that experiments carried out by the Israel Defense Forces on animals were so horrific that the soldiers forced to conduct the experiments had to seek psychological counseling.

The United States military has a long history of conducting cruel animal experiments.

Uncounted Casualties
Each year, at least 320,000 primates, dogs, pigs, goats, sheep, rabbits, cats, and other animals are hurt and killed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in experiments that rank among the most painful conducted in this country. Because these figures don�t include experiments that were contracted out to non-governmental laboratories or the many sheep, goats, and pigs often shot in wound experiments, the total number of animal victims is actually much higher. The cost to taxpayers for these military experiments is estimated to be in excess of $100 million annually.

Top Secret
Military testing is classified �Top Secret,� and it is very hard to get information about it. From published research, we do know that armed forces facilities all over the United States test all manner of weaponry on animals, from Soviet AK-47 rifles to biological and chemical warfare agents to nuclear blasts. Military experiments can be acutely painful, repetitive, costly, and unreliable, and they are particularly wasteful because most of the effects they study can be, or have already been, observed in humans or because the results cannot be extrapolated to human experience.

Sample Experiments
Burns and Blasts: As far back as in 1946, near the Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific, 4,000 sheep, goats, and other animals loaded onto a boat and set adrift were killed or severely burned by an atomic blast detonated above them. The military nicknamed the experiment �The Atomic Ark.�

At the Army�s Fort Sam Houston, live rats were immersed in boiling water for 10 seconds, and a group of them were then infected on parts of their burned bodies. In 1987, at the Naval Medical Institute in Maryland, rats� backs were shaved, covered with ethanol, and then �flamed� for 10 seconds.

In 1988, at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, sheep were placed in a loose net sling against a reflecting plate, and an explosive device was detonated 19 meters away. In two of the experiments, 48 sheep were blasted: the first group to test the value of a vest worn during the blast, and the second to see if chemical markers would aid in the diagnosis of blast injury (they did not).

Radiation: At the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Maryland, nine rhesus monkeys were strapped in chairs and exposed to total-body irradiation. Within two hours, six of the nine were vomiting, hypersalivating, and chewing. In another experiment, 17 beagles were exposed to total-body irradiation, studied for one to seven days, and then killed. The experimenter concluded that radiation affects the gall bladder.

At Brooks Air Force Base in Texas, rhesus monkeys were strapped to a B-52 flight simulator (the �Primate Equilibrium Platform�). After being prodded with painful electric shocks to learn to �fly� the device, the monkeys were irradiated with gamma rays to see if they could hold out �for the 10 hours it would take to bomb an imaginary Moscow.� Those hit with the heaviest doses vomited violently and became extremely lethargic before being killed.

Diseases: To evaluate the effect of temperature on the transmission of the Dengue 2 virus, a mosquito-transmitted disease that causes fever, muscle pain, and rash, experiments conducted by the U.S. Army at Fort Detrick, Maryland, involved shaving the stomachs of adult rhesus monkeys and then attaching cartons of mosquitoes to their bodies to allow the mosquitoes to feed.

Experimenters at Fort Detrich have also invented a rabbit restraining device that consists of a small cage that pins the rabbits down with steel rods while mosquitoes feast on their bodies.

Wound Labs: The Department of Defense has operated �wound labs� since 1957. At these sites, conscious or semiconscious animals are suspended from slings and shot with high-powered weapons to inflict battle-like injuries for military surgical practice. In 1983, in response to public pressure, Congress limited the use of dogs in these labs, but countless goats, pigs, and sheep are still being shot, and at least one laboratory continues to shoot cats. At the Army's Fort Sam Houston �Goat Lab,� goats are hung upside down and shot in their hind legs. After physicians practice excising the wounds, any goat who survives is killed.

In 1992 and again in 1994, doctors with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine testified before Congress on military animal use and worked with the General Accounting Office in an investigation of Michael Carey�s experiments at Louisiana State University. Carey shot 700 restrained cats in the head to �model� human injuries. As a result of the investigation, Carey�s cat-shooting experiments were halted.

Other forms of military experiments include subjecting animals to decompression sickness, weightlessness, drugs and alcohol, smoke inhalation, and pure oxygen inhalation.

Animal Intelligence
The armed forces conscript various animals into intelligence and combat service, sending them on �missions� that endanger their lives and well-being. The Marine Corps teaches dogs �mauling, snarling, sniffing, and other suitable skills� needed to search for bombs and drugs.

A series of Navy tests of underwater explosives in the Chesapeake Bay in 1987 killed more than 3,000 fish, and habitats for hundreds of species have been destroyed by nuclear tests in the South Pacific and the American Southwest.

Military Reform
The military�s tracking system lists approximately 725 military experiments using animals. Such tests are as misleading as they are cruel. Animals often respond to chemical agents and antidotes differently than humans. A rat�s respiratory system differs greatly from that of a human, and rats are more susceptible to toxins because they are unable to vomit. Mice have a genetic tendency to develop lung tumors, rendering much of the research on physiological effects of exposure invalid. Regarding skin tests, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report said, �Since laboratory animals have fur and do not have sweat glands on most of their body, they do not provide optimal models for dermal exposure.�

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, mustard gas, first used in World War I, continues to be a favorite agent for Department of Defense animal experimenters. Yet, good treatments are already available and are easy to use. Military personnel receive a �Mark I Kit� with two self-injectable antidotes to the gas: atropine, which counteracts the effects, and pralidoxime chloride, which binds the nerve agent so it can be cleared from the body. Preventive drugs, such as benactyzine, oximes, aprophen, and physostigmine, are also commonly used. Little about these treatments has changed in the last 35 years, yet military experimenters continue to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for animal tests with the agent.

Under the banner of defense use, animals have been used to test bullet trajectories when blocks of gel are better, as they allow military weapons experts to permanently freeze the bullet trail, something that doesn�t happen with a sheep or dog; they�ve even been put in slings and shot so that medics could practice cutting away dying tissue, when there are far superior ways to train medics.

Innocent Victims
Animals don�t wage wars; why should they suffer because humans do? All nations must reject chemical and biological weapons tests on animals. It makes no difference to the dog writhing in convulsions whether the man administering the poison gas was Afghan, Israeli, or American. All citizens of the world should come together for the peaceful purpose of condemning and demanding an end to this form of terrorism on innocent animals.

You Can Help
In 1993, the General Accounting Office (GAO) began an investigation of the military�s animal experimentation program. Ask your Congressional representatives to contact the GAO and express support for a thorough and complete investigation.

If you don�t know their contact information, please call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-225-3121, provide your state or zip code, and ask to be transferred to their offices or click here to obtain the information through a Web page.

Please also ask them to urge the DoD to implement alternatives to live-animal experiments.

Please contact President George W. Bush and demand an immediate end to U.S. military experiments on animals:

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20515

PEIXIAN, China < The people of Peixian love their dog.

At 7 each morning a crowd of local residents gathers under dusty roadside
awnings on a street corner for their favorite breakfast: a bowl of steaming
soy milk and a piece of pita-like flat bread wrapped around a rasherof
dog.

"I eat breakfast here a couple of times a month," Zhu Xinyong said recently
as he chewed on a wad of oily reddish meat, pulled from the bone by hand.

Before pooch lovers revolt, or grow revolted, they should know that thishas
been going on here for more than 2,000 years.

It started with Liu Bang, first emperor of the Han dynasty, who likedthe
taste of dog meat. Before becoming emperor he was an official here in
Peixian, in today's Jiangsu Province, and frequented a local dog restaurant
run by a man named Fan Kuai.

But Liu Bang never paid for his meals, so Fan Kuai moved his restaurantto
the far side of a nearby lake, taking all of the boats with him to prevent
Liu Bang from crossing the water.

When Liu Bang arrived at the lakeside, though, legend has it that a giant
turtle emerged and carried him across, infuriating Fan Kuai, who killedthe
turtle, chopped it up and threw it into his dog meat stew. As punishment,
Liu Bang confiscated Fan Kui's knives, and the restaurateur was forcedto
use his hands to carve cooked dogs after that.

Ever since, turtle-flavored, hand- pulled dog meat has been a local
specialty. It can be bought, vacuum- sealed in plastic and boxed in gift
packs, at the airport in nearby Xu zhou.

However shocking to Westerners, the use of dogs in northeast Asian cuisine
has gone on just about as long as there have been men and dogs in the
region. It is a specialty meat in many parts of China, eaten occasionallyin
the winter for its supposed warming quality. But it is regular fare in
Peixian.

"I eat it every day," said Han Fei, Peixian's biggest dog breeder andmost
likely China's, too. He describes himself as the "dragon head" of the
industry, raising 100,000 dogs a year, almost all for slaughter at aboutsix
months of age.

Eating dog just about died out during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76,
when Red Guards rampaged through the country killing dogs, even thoseraised
for food, because of their stigma as an extravagance of the bourgeoisie.The
slaughter in Peixian left "dead dogs everywhere," Mr. Han recalled, waving
flies away from his lunch, a plate of boiled dog sprinkled with peppercorns.

But dog meat is increasingly available now, and its popularity is growingas
people become wealthier and their diets diversify: dog meat is one ofthe
most expensive meats available in the country today.

To keep up with demand, dog farms have been springing up around the country
and dog breeders have been experimenting with crossing larger foreignbreeds
with the leaner Mongolian dogs long favored for their meat.

Nowhere in China is that more common than Peixian, a town where huge,
amateurish portraits of collies and shepherds, spaniels and hounds stareout
from walls everywhere.

Mr. Han, in a blue shirt, gray pants and open-toe sandals, raised hishand
at his Dawn Fine Bred Meat Dog Center to encourage a bony Newfoundlandto
stand on its hind legs behind the rusty iron bars of its small concretepen.

"Crossbreeds grow faster," the taciturn Mr. Han said above the woof ofSaint
Bernards, Great Danes and Dalmatians penned in a long, bleak row.

The use of these breeds, particularly Saint Bernards, has outraged dog
devotees in the West. One organization, called S O S Saint Bernard Dogs
International, presented a petition signed by 11,000 people to the Swiss
government in February, asking that the government intervene to stopChina's
use of "the most faithful friend of humans" for food.

The Swiss government expressed sympathy but said diplomatic interferencewas
not "appropriate" in what was essentially a cultural matter.

The Saint Bernard advocates have since taken their case to the International
Olympic Committee, asking its president, Juan Antonio Samaranch, to turn
down China's bid to be the host of the 2008 Olympiad because of the
country's culinary use of a breed that has saved so many human lives.

But the outcry abroad has not reached Peixian, where residents seemed
puzzled when told of the campaign. The foreign breeds come mostly from
Russia, Mr. Han said. And they are not eaten, in any case, because purebreds
are too valuable and all dogs taste pretty much the same.

A pedigreed Saint Bernard or Dalmatian, for example, costs more than$1,000,
he explained. Crossing one of those dogs with a local bitch producestwo
litters of 8 to 10 puppies a year. Each crossbred puppy grows to about100
pounds in six months, when it can fetch about 400 yuan, or about $50,half
of that profit.

"It's twice as profitable as raising pigs," he said, with dozens of week-old
puppies squealing in a fly-peppered concrete pen nearby.

That is not to say that there is not plenty for dog lovers to complainabout
in Peixian, where 300,000 dogs are butchered a year, half for local
consumption and half for export to other parts of China and both Koreas.

The killing of animals in any country is never pretty, and the slaughterof
Peixian's dogs is not something that someone of weak constitution should
see.

In a small village of brick-walled courtyards not far from Mr. Han'sfarm,
Wang Junhua showed a visitor where he slaughters and skins as many as20
dogs at a time: a series of bloody puddles beneath a crossbeam affixedto
a
line of weeping willow trees.

After it is slaughtered and skinned, the dog is quartered and soakedin
cold
water for about an hour before cooking. Mr. Wang stews his dog in a huge
galvanized caldron < head, paws, tails and all. The intestines are stuffed
into the stomachs and stewed too, looking something like balls of smoked
mozzarella.

As Mr. Wang fished in the cauldron for a dog's hindquarters, two largeblack
masses of herbs wrapped in cheesecloth rolled to the surface. He wouldnot
say what seasoning gave his dog meat its flavor.

"It's a family secret," he said, with a one-eyed squint and a lopsided
smile.

He sells the dog hides to factories that make dog-fur hats, fur-linedpants
and vests and even blankets favored by peasants during the frigid months.

He delivers the meat to restaurants and street vendors around town each
morning before the breakfast crowd. The vendors, fanning the inevitable
flies, set a meaty skull up on the edge of their baskets to beckon
passers-by.

Under the awnings, a woman holding her toddler stopped to buy two sandwiches
from a man who pulled the meat from a dog's rib cage, his fingers glistening
with grease. No one seemed upset by the spooked look of the live dogsbound
for slaughter, their ears flattened and heads lowered, with anxiety intheir
shiny black eyes.

When told of Westerners' squeamishness about eating dogs, Mr. Han raisedhis
eyebrows and asked, "But aren't you afraid to eat beef these days?"

For more information on Asian animal issues, please use the search featureon
the AAPN website: http://www.aapn.org/ or search the list archivesat:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aapn
Please feel free to send any relevant news or comments to the list ataapn@yahoogroups.com
or to the moderator at info@aapn.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
aapn-unsubscribe@egroups.com

___________________________________________________________________
To get your own FREE ZDNet Onebox - FREE voicemail, email, and fax,
all in one place - sign up today at http://www.zdnetonebox.com

(The NY Times promotes
the eating of cows
while disparaging the
eating of dogs..)