For immediate release:
May 19, 2021
Contact:
Amanda Hayes 202-483-7382
Philadelphia – In the midst of a growing awareness of cultural bias, PETA is building a large exhibition titled “Without agreement“, Which explores the complex history of experimentation on discordant animals and challenges institutions including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh and Temple University to reimagine this exploitative, costly, cruel and archaic idea of science and replace it with modern research methodologies. The two 7-by-7-foot cubes contain brief descriptions and photographs of nearly 200 animal experiments conducted in US institutions from the 1920s to the present day. The exhibition will be on display at People’s Square in the National Historical Park of Independence for seven days, starting tomorrow at 12 noon. An interactive virtual version of the exhibition is also available here.
When: Thursday, 20 May, 12 noon
Where: Independence National Historical Park (on Market Street between S. Fifth and S. Sixth streets)
“Without Consent” uses a historical perspective to indicate that since the Middle Ages, experiments have been conducted on vulnerable people, including orphans with tuberculosis and psychological experiments, immigrant women in gynecological surgeries, soldiers in LSD and poison gas trials, and also on poor black men experimenting with syphilis. The exhibition demonstrates that just as society now realizes that it was wrong, we must allow this moral awakening to guide our behavior today and thus pay attention to other dissenting creatures who suffer and die in experiments, from testing floor cleaning products to mother and child. division of research.
“Without Consent” tells true stories of animals that were unnecessarily harmed and killed in painful experiments they would not allow and could not agree to, says PETA Senior Vice President Katy Guillermo. “Humans are just one of many animal species, and the ability to exploit others does not give us the right to do so.”
The installation will draw the attention of local residents to animal experiments that take place right under their noses: experimenters from the University of Pennsylvania infected monkeys with viruses by intravenous, sexual, rectal, vaginal and oral routes; subject them to blood sampling and injections; and ended up killing them. They also caused diabetes in pigs by injecting them with a toxin, forcing them to endure painful and debilitating symptoms for months before being killed.
A covert PETA investigation of the University of Pittsburgh laboratories documented suffering, neglect and incompetence, including problems with veterinary care, staff incompetence, inability to treat animals humanely, and inability to ensure the psychological well-being of primates.
At Temple University, experimenters have used dogs in invasive surgery, in which balloon-tipped catheters were inserted into the rectum to induce intra-abdominal pressure, and in experimental surgery in which heart failure was induced. Cats have been used in experiments on painful and invasive spinal cord injuries.