In Turin, macaques blinded by continuous brain operations
One Voice leads a nonviolent fight to defend animal rights and respect all life forms. The organization operates independently and is thus free to speak and act freely.
Our Italian partner, the LAV, has just denounced the abominable mutilations reserved for macaques in a research laboratory at the University of Turin, which is conducting a study entitled “LIGHTUP – Making the brain in the blind cortex regain sight”. We need all of you to ask the Minister of Health, Giulia Grillo, to immediately revoke the authorization of this research project and allow these macaques to be released into an appropriate rehabilitation facility.
The
Department of Psychology at the University of Turin has approved and
even financially supports a program called “Lightup – Turning the cortically blind brain to see“, carried out in collaboration
with the University of Parma where animals are locked up as well as
Oxford and Hartelust in the Netherlands where they were purchased.
After
long months, even years of terrible training, after cutting the skull
to expose the brain or inserting rods to block the head from moving
during the recording and stimulation sessions, the researchers will
tackle “real” research. This study will therefore consist
of subjecting macaques, initially in good physical shape, to numerous
excruciatingly painful surgical procedures, the removal of parts of
the brain in the area of the visual cortex, and even making
them blind.
One
Voice joins the call of LAV, its European partner, to ask the Italian
Minister of Health to immediately revoke the authorization of this
project, and allow the macaques to be placed in a rehabilitation
centre in the shortest time possible.
Like
its partners, One Voice calls for an end to animal testing. This
practice has shown again and again that its results are insufficient
to justify all the suffering it imposes on sentient beings, moreover
primates. The European Union has demanded a drop in the number of
animals tested, yet it is almost impossible in Italy or France to have access to reliable consolidated figures. This is unacceptable.
We
must all sign urgently a petition before it is too late for them (in
Italian) so that the mutilation of these macaques stops immediately.
Science, like all human activity, cannot absolve itself from all
things ethicall.
Photo : Essere Animali