January 18, 2001 / 473 reads
Rikki continues his battle with Dr. Berens, who is conducting cancer research on Pregnant Beagle dogs and their puppies at Barrow Neurological Institute of St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
"There are dogs suffering in excruciating pain right now as you read this. Berens is a criminal who is funded to torture animals in the name of science. He must be stopped now!"
- Rikki Rockett
The following message was posted on Rikki's website:
The Issue...
I have been made aware of an issue that will take me to Phoenix, Arizona this Saturday that is of grave concern to everybody. There is an animal researcher by the name of Michael Berens. Berens is conducting cancer research on Pregnant Beagle dogs and their puppies at Barrow Neurological Institute of St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Center in Phoenix, Arizona, since 1997. Dr. Berens plans to use the puppies and dogs for toxicity testing in cancer treatments. He also plans to market the dogs and puppies for toxicity testing and to provide the dogs and puppies as canine glioma models to other laboratories wishing to use them in cancer research.
What's the problem?
Animal Research is flawed fundamentally in it's nature because animal results do not extrapolate to humans. Besides all that, in the Berens case, the failure rate of this project is 95% and perhaps, as high as 98%. The fetal puppies that receive cell transplants fair very poorly. At least 75% of the puppies are aborted or stillborn. The remaining puppies that survive frequently suffer from birth defects including hydrocephalus, missing limbs, and other congenital problems induced by the fetal surgery. Only 2% to 5% of the puppies, born alive, ever develop any tumor. Berens and his research is just one of many examples of futile attempts to justify animal research that does nothing more than financially line the pockets of researchers and their staff.
What can you do?
Please Join Me This Saturday (January 20th) at : The Arizona Biltmore Hotel at 6:00 p.m. for a candlelight Vigil. speakers will include: Chris DeRose from Last Chance For Animals, Rikki Rockett and a variety of spokespeople from In Defense Of Animals and Concerned Citizens everywhere.
Hope to see you there! If you can't make it, see the info below on how you can help in other ways.
Rikki!
