Fw: They are making Beagles Sick!!!

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone

 

Probably of more interest to the folks in the US than other places... this just came in to me on another (non-vegan related) list!

 

BB

Peter

 

 

 

****Please Forward Widely****

 

Teach In about UT's beagle patent

WHEN: Wednesday, April 21st at 7pm

WHERE: Welch 2.256

Rally at the West Mall

Thursday, April 22nd from 11:30-1:30 pm

Come hear why the university is engaging in these practices of animal suffering and what you can do to combat it.

The American Anti-Vivisection Society "has formally filed a legal action requesting that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rescind patent no. 6,444,872 which covers live beagles and the several methods used to infect them with a fatal fungal infection in their lungs. The request for re-examination was submitted personally to the Patent office on February 25, 2004. The intent of this beagle patent to make dogs sick in order to generate a profit is clear and AAVS aims to end the notion that animals are ‘objects’ that can be patented."

The atrocities of vivisection are not unfamiliar to this campus and have, for years, been a source of tension between the UT labs and those students and faculty who are opposed to such injustice. Recently, however, this new development has been patented in order to suppress the immune systems of beagles to an unnatural and perpetual state of sickliness. Not only does the university engage in unfair animal treatment but it has, as of yet, taken a further step to patent some of these detestable methods.

Come to the Teach-In and then come the next day to the rally to learn more about the patented methods and join our efforts in a letter-writing campaign to show Faulkner that this will not be tolerated on our campus.

For more information visit:

<http://www.aavs.org/actionalerts01.html> or contact info info

Sponsored by: Students Against Cruelty to Animals and American Anti-Vivisection Society In Solidarity, SACA Students Against Cruelty to Animals

If you are not able to attend either of the aforementioned events, here is a letter we have drafted if you wish to express your disgust about the patent to President Faulkner:

Larry R. Faulkner, Ph.D., President University of Texas at Austin

Office of the President

Main Building, G3400

1 University Station

Austin, TX 78712

Dear President Faulkner, I am writing to express my concern and outrage that our University has patented beagles who were purposefully made sick and infected with a respiratory fungal infection so that they may be used in drug testing studies. In 2002, our Board of Regents was granted U.S. Patent #6,444,872 ("Large Animal Model of Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in an Immunocompromised Host") that specifically makes claims on sickened beagle dogs. I understand that our University has already licensed the patent rights to a private drug testing company.

I am ethically opposed to patenting animals, who are neither machines nor "compositions of matter," but rather individual sentient beings who suffer from such exploitation. According to a recent national poll, the majority of Americans share my opposition to animal patents.

Approximately 70 percent of those surveyed stated that they are ethically opposed to patenting animals as if they are human inventions.

I support the efforts of the American Anti-Vivisection Society and PatentWatch Project, which filed a legal challenge regarding the beagle patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to open this patent for reexamination.

I respectfully urge you and the Board of Regents to disclaim Patent #6,444,872. I look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,

(your name here)

 

......................................

Students Against Cruelty to Animals

SOC Box 146

100 C West Dean Keeton

Austin TX

78712

http://www.UTanimalrights.com

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