Alicia Silverstone gives lab workers a 'wake-up call' on proposed squirrel monkey experiments

Protest at Brookhaven (Photo - PETA)

Actress Alicia Silverstone sent a recorded phone message to more than 1,000 employees of Brookhaven National Laboratory Wednesday morning, urging them to reject working on a NASA-funded project that would administer potentially lethal doses of gamma radiation to up to 30 squirrel monkeys.

Calling on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Silverstone said, “I'm sure that you were as disturbed as I was to learn that Brookhaven is considering blasting monkeys with radiation in a really cruel project funded by NASA."

"These bright but scared to death animals will be locked up for life and may suffer from brain damage, cancer, and blindness before dying in their barren steel cages," said Silverstone, star of the film Clueless, the upcoming Vamps, and author of The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet.

The proposed $1.75 million study would expose the animals to a “large, harmful dose of radiation,” according to the PETA website, after which they would be “locked in steel cages without any companionship,” and “forced to endure years of behavioral tests to measure the inevitable devastation that the radiation causes to their brains and bodies.”

The effects “would likely include brain damage, skin inflammation, blindness, various types of cancer, including brain tumors, and premature death,” PETA argues, adding that “because of drastic biological differences between species, radiation experiments on monkeys won't tell scientists anything about how astronauts will react to deep space.”

Alternatives to primate research include in vitro and clinical methods currently employed by the European Space Agency, which recently condemned the use of monkeys for space experiments, PETA points out.

According to Brookhaven's website, its facility "is a multi-program national laboratory operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Six Nobel Prizes have been awarded for discoveries made at the Lab.”

The lab’s stated mission “is to produce excellent science and advanced technology with the cooperation, support, and appropriate involvement of our scientific and local communities.”

To voice your opinion on the proposed experiments:

secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy

In Defense of Animals (IDA) petition:

https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1371

Brookhaven National Lab
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
Tel. (631) 344-8000

Listen to Silverstone's phone message here.

Full transcript of Silverstone’s message:

“Hi, this is Alicia Silverstone. I'm sure that you were as disturbed as I was to learn that Brookhaven is considering blasting monkeys with radiation in a really cruel project funded by NASA. These bright but scared to death animals will be locked up for life and may suffer from brain damage, cancer, and blindness before dying in their barren steel cages.

“Brookhaven's reputation as a cutting-edge scientific organization is ruined if this cruel study happens. NASA's European counterpart—the European Space Agency—has publicly condemned such experiments on monkeys.

“So please, please join me. Urge Brookhaven to reject this inhumane and wasteful project.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Bye.”

INTERESTED IN MORE NEWS AND INFO ABOUT ANIMALS? Check out AnimalBeat.org.

Katerina Lorenzatos Makris (a.k.a. Kathryn Makris), author of 18 books for major publishers and hundreds of articles, holds a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and a lifelong interest in animal issues. She is a co-founder of AnimalBeat.org.

Among her books are Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know about Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press), coauthored with Shelley Frost, and The Eco-Kids, a series of novels for tweens (Avon Books).