CONTACT INFORMATION FOR SAMPLE LETTER #1
TO:
info@ProSieben.de, zuschauerservice@sat1.de, redaktion.extra@rtl.de, bhoehn@baerbel-hoehn.de, stadtverwaltung@stadt-muenster.de, tourismus@stadt-muenster.de, poststelle@munlv.nrw.de, poststelle@bezreg-muenster.nrw.de, wir@sueddeutsche.de, leserservice@focus-r.de, leserbriefe@spiegel.de
SEND COPIES TO:
European government agencies [FYI, names are listed at end of alert]. civis@europarl.eu.int, public.info@consilium.eu.int, webmaster@eu2004.ie, info@curia.eu.int, euraud@eca.eu.int, postmaster@eurofound.eu.int, euro-ombudsman@europarl.eu.int, info@ecb.int, info@eib.org, info@eif.org, info@esc.eu.int, info-info-opoce@cec.eu.int, Opoce-Info-Info@cec.eu.int, inforecrutement@ceceu.int, info@cedefop.eu.int, postmaster@eurofound.eu.int, eea@eea.eu.int, info@etf.eu.int, info@emcdda.eu.int, mail@emea.eu.int, information@oami.eu.int, information@osha.eu.int, cpvo@cpvo.eu.int, cdt@cdt.eu.int, office@eumc.eu.int, info@ear.eu.int, info@efsa.eu.int, institute@iss-eu.org, info@eusc.org, info@europol.eu.int, info@eurojust.eu.int
CC TO CONVANCE EMPLOYEES:
If you wish, you may also send copies to Covance employees, to let them know how people around the world feel. friedhelm.vogel@covance.com, rainhart.korte@covance.com, wolfgang.mueller@covance.com, eberhard.buse@covance.com, gerhard.weinbauer@covance.com, piotr.nowak@covance.com, joachim.kaspareit@covance.com, gunnar.habermann@covance.com, sven.korte@covance.com, birgit.niggemann@covance.com, ulrich.zuehlke@covance.com, ingrid.osterburg@covance.com, erinita.froehlke@covance.com, berthold.zabel@covance.com
Dear Sir/Madam: I support viable medical research. That is why I have taken the time to express my concern over the appalling misuse of time and money at Covance Laboratories in Münster, Germany. Covance annually destroys over 1,000 non-human primates, while 2,000 more await the merciless process of pharmaceutical toxicity testing. EU Directive 86/609 states:”[Lab staff should be] sympathetic, gentle and firm when associating with animals.” Yet investigative footage from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) depicts a world void of compassion. One Covance technician is seen with a monkey tossed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Another caged monkey teeters on a tiny wood ledge, her broken arm dangling by her side. Staff regularly antagonize the monkeys, forcing them to “dance” to blaring disco music while manipulating their limbs like ragdolls. BUAV cameras show workers brutally shaking their subjects during oral dosing and blood sampling, even dragging them on to the floor to subdue them. Staff reportedly hit uncooperative monkeys on the head, face and back. With laboratories in 18 countries and over 6,900 employees, Covance calls itself “the global leader in safety assessment testing.” It appears, however, to be a mismanaged operation fraught with negligence and sloppy “science.” Rhesus macaques, long-tailed macaques and common marmosets are restrained in “primate chairs,” forcibly tube fed, and carelessly jabbed with needles. They undergo infusion studies, spinal, sperm and maternal milk fluid samplings, internal exams and vaginal smears. Postoperatively, animals are left to heal with no veterinary care or post-anaesthetic monitoring. These cruel animal studies serve no higher purpose. In a survey of 500 doctors published in the European and British Medical Journal, 9 out of 10 admit that animal experiments are deceptive. There are too many physiological, cellular, genetic and psychological variations between species for reliable extrapolation to humans. In fact, cost-effective non-animal modalities are typically two to three times more accurate than non-predictive animal tests. Many research/development facilities now fulfill study criterion with non-animal tools, including in vitro analysis, cell imaging, epidemiology, computer simulators, videos and mathematical modeling, genetic and protein analysis, clinical research, human brain mapping technologies, autopsy/biopsy studies, and advanced MRI imaging. I oppose the inhumane use of animals to simulate human allergic response and injury. Please help initiate a thorough investigation of Covance Laboratories and see that they are held accountable for documented evidence of animal abuse. Thank you,
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR SAMPLE LETTER #2
To: the President of the Generalitat, Government of Catalonia Purpose: To defend the 298 macaques who are in Camarles waiting to be delivered to Covance Laboratories in Germany for vivisection.
SENDING OPTIONS:
1.) For ease in sending, you may sign and email a prewritten web letter at: http://www.altarriba.org/camarles/MailPrimatesi.htm [President of Catalonian Government, Pasqual Maragall, will receive this letter. Fill the form and your name will be undersigned. A copy of your mail will arrive to Fundación Altarriba.] 2.) Or, you may send a signed/personalized version of the Kinship Circle sample letter below to President Pasqual Maragall’s email address, president@gencat.net, found at the official website of the President of the Generalitat, Government of Catalonia: http://www.gencat.net/president/index_eng.htm Other email addresses found on the internet: http://www.maragall.org/ pasqual@maragall.org http://www10.gencat.net/president/AppJava/en/president/biografia.jsp Website of the Presidential Department Gabinet de la Presidència: gbpresident.presidencia@gencat.net Gabinet de Premsa del President: premsa_president.presidencia@gencat.net To ensure your comments reach the President, you may wish to use all of the above email addresses. Kinship Circle cannot guarantee which emails may be disabled or no longer accurate.
president@gencat.net, pasqual@maragall.org, gbpresident.presidencia@gencat.net, premsa_president.presidencia@gencat.net Dear President Pasqual Maragall: I write to ask for your support of Law 22/2003 of 4th July, on the Protection of Animals in Catalonia. Please enlist the relevant Ministries and Departments to stop the sale and delivery of 298 primates presently confined in facilities owned by Centre de Recherches Primatologiques Ltd., in Camarles (Tarragona). I respectfully ask you to prevent the retrieval of these primates from such facilities as well as ban their transport abroad for the purpose of laboratory experimentation. Please consider precedents established in other countries where authorities stepped in to seize, rescue and protect primates imported for the same motive of animal testing. Among non-human primates, macaques—like humans—crave strong social bonds within a community and mourn the loss of companionship. They have been the subject of primatologists worldwide, including the acclaimed Jane Goodall who describes their broad range of emotions. Research facilities reduce these sentient individuals to tagged specimens who endure extreme isolation, toxic dosing and mutilation for duplicative and immaterial studies. In the past, the Generalitat of Catalonia defended the rights of citizens opposed to construction of a primate breeding compound in Camarles. Authorities intervened on behalf of citizens who did not want a primate farm erected in their town. I hope officials will mediate once again, to protect these animals and work with an accredited animal protection organization for their eventual relocation to a primate sanctuary. I thank you in advance for all efforts to reinforce animal protection laws and serve as a humane model for the rest of Spain and Europe. Sincerely,
EUROPEAN GOV. AGENCIES LISTED IN EMAIL BLOCK:
Contact Guide by European Institution, agency and body - European Parliament: civis@europarl.eu.int - Council of the EU: public.info@consilium.eu.int - Presidency: webmaster@eu2004.ie European Commission mailboxes - Court of Justice: info@curia.eu.int - European Court of Auditors: euraud@eca.eu.int - European Ombudsman: euro-ombudsman@europarl.eu.int - European Data Protection Supervisor: edps@edps.eu.int - European Central Bank: info@ecb.int - European Investment Bank: info@eib.org - European Investment Fund: info@eif.org - European Economic and Social Committee: info@esc.eu.int Committee of the Regions Mailboxes - Office for Official Publications of the European Communities: Opoce-Info-Info@cec.eu.int, [info-info-opoce@cec.eu.int]? - European Communities Personnel Selection Office: inforecrutement@cec.eu.int Agencies of the European Community - European Network and Information Security Agency: http://www.enisa.eu.int/contact_enisa/index_en.htm - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training: info@cedefop.eu.int - European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions: postmaster@eurofound.eu.int - European Environment Agency: eea@eea.eu.int - European Training Foundation: info@etf.eu.int - European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction: info@emcdda.eu.int - European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products: mail@emea.eu.int - Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs): information@oami.eu.int - European Agency for Safety and Health at Work: information@osha.eu.int - Community Plant Variety Office: cpvo@cpvo.eu.int - Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union: cdt@cdt.eu.int - European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia: office@eumc.eu.int - European Agency for Reconstruction: info@ear.eu.int - European Food Safety Authority: info@efsa.eu.int - European Maritime Safety Agency: http://www.emsa.eu.int - European Aviation Safety Agency: http://www.easa.eu.int/contactus_en.html Common Foreign and Security Policy - European Institute for Security Studies: institute@iss-eu.org - European Union Satellite Centre: info@eusc.org Police and Judicial Co-operation in criminal matters - European Police Office: info@europol.eu.int - European body for the enhancement of judicial co-operation: info@eurojust.eu.int