More on the "Gay Sheep" Experiments August 28, 2006

Posted by Marta | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

Last week we told you about the ridiculous and cruel "gay sheep" experiments being conducted by Charles Roselli from Oregon Health and Frederick Stormshak from Science University (OHSU) and Oregon State University (OSU). In just six days, more than 9,000 animal rights and gay rights activists have sent messages to the presidents of each of these schools asking that they stop these experiments from cutting open and killing "male-oriented" sheep in order to find the hormone that they believe leads to homosexual tendencies so that they can alter it to make the sheep, as they put it, "female-oriented."

It seems that receiving 9,000 e-mails has put the schools into PR crisis mode, because they've begun sending out form letters to every single one of those people in an attempt to justify these experiments. In his response, OHSU Presiden-Elect Joseph Robertson, Jr. says

In fact, over the years, our researchers have been contacted by several gay and lesbian groups who appreciate our scientific results ...

As though that makes it OK ... this is equivocal to saying "Me, a racist? No way - I have friends that are black!" Just because they've gotten support from some gay and lesbian groups does not mean that it is alright for their experimenters to cut open sheep and tinker with their brain to try to make them straight. Joseph goes on to say

As for the animals in this study we care deeply about them and they are treated ethically. All our research is conducted under the strict rules of the Animal Welfare Act and National Institutes of Health guidelines. It was funded by the federal government only after being reviewed by and approved top scientists in the field. In addition, panels of experts at both universities, which include members of the public and trained veterinarians, approved the research before it was allowed to commence and OHSU animal care is overseen by the US Department of Agriculture and AAALAC.

Joseph tried to use big words and acronyms to make himself sound official, but let there be no mistake: There is no ethical way to cut open an unwilling animal's head to attempt to change his sexual orientation. And the Animal Welfare Act and NIH guidelines? Yeah, those are are pretty much meaningless. The Animal Welfare Act only covers the cage size animals are given - it does not limit what can be done to animals in experiments. The NIH is notorious for turning a blind eye to animal abuse in labs. And the fact that "top scientists in the field" (who knew there was a field for gay sheep experiments) reviewed the experiments again does not make it ok to cut open and kill homosexual animals.

We need to keep the pressure on OHSU and OSU! If you haven't already, click here to send a message to the schools' presidents to let them know what you think of these tests which are costing taxpayers millions of dollars. If you have already sent a message then you should e-mail Mr. Robertson, OHSU's President, at Robertjo@ohsu.edu and OSU President Ed Ray at pres.office@oregonstate.edu. Also, go here and use the form to forward the alert to your friends to ask them to send a message.

-Noah

PS - Is it me, or is this whole thing a little too similar to the plot of X-Men 3?

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