The activists protest that the dogs,
which are healthy when the procedures
are initiated,

are used and then thrown into
dumpsters while they are still
alive.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/737607.html
Last update - 06:27 12/07/2006
Tens of thousands of animals killed in army medical tests
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent

Hundreds of thousands of animals are killed
or injured in defense-related experiments,
according to data the Defense Ministry has
given to the Israel Society for the Abolition
of Vivisection (ISAV).

Data on experiments described as
"classified" indicate that they used
tens of thousands of mice,
thousands of rodents,
dozens of monkeys
and hundreds of pigs.

The Defense Ministry said the
defense-related experiments using
animals will continue as long as
there are no alternatives.

The institutions leading in animal-testing
experiments on behalf of the defense establishment
are the Institute for Biological Research in Nes Tziona,
the Soreq Nuclear Research Center,

the Israel Navy's Marine Medical Center
and the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps.

"This list includes nearly all the
institutions carrying out such experiments,"

the Defense Minis try wrote
to attorney Sagy Agmon,
representing ISAV.

The correspondence between the
Defense Ministry and Agmon lasted
many months and in the end the
ministry's office on freedom of
information agreed to release
partial information,
most of which remains classified.

ISAV has fought against these experiments
for years on the basis of partial information
and estimates of their scope and nature.

In most cases its information came
from soldiers who took part in the
experiments and were shocked by them.

The activists,
who have struggled against
the phenomenon for years,
consider the trickle of
information that has been
released as a major inroads
into an area that had been kept
hermetically sealed by the
defense establishment.

Mice are the most commonly used
animal in IDF-related experiments,
nearly 14,500 in 2004.

Some were used by a public institution
related to the defense establishment
for the production of radioactive
material for various bodies.

According to the Defense Ministry,
the tests using the poisonous material
was authorized by a committee on animal
testing, headed by Dr. Daniel Elad.

The committee also includes attorney Benny Cohen;
a representative of the public,
David Segal;
and MK Aryeh Eldad, who is a physician.

From the Defense Ministry's data,
during 2004, 267 pigs were used in tests,
in some cases to test the effects of explosions.

For the activists these types of tests
are considered to be exceptionally cruel.

The pigs are placed in a pen and
then explosives are detonated.

The tests are meant to show how
best to develop protection against
bombs and missiles.

"Why is it not possible to use
sensors that will provide the
necessary indications,"

one of the members of the executive
committee of the association asks.

"Why do these tests have
to be carried out on pigs?"

Brigadier Hezi Levy,
head of the Medical Corps and
a surgeon by training offers the answer:

"Through these experiments we can
learn about internal injuries
caused by shock waves.

For six years we are confronted with
injuries caused by blast and shrapnel,
and problems with internal bleeding
that are difficult to stop.

Why pigs?

Because their weight,
size and abdominal structure
offer the closes resemblance
to a human being,"

he told Haaretz yesterday.

However, ISAV reject these assertions,
arguing that the physiology of animals
differs from that of humans.

For example,
they reject the need for medical cadets,
as part of their advanced training,
to experiment on dogs.

The activists protest that the dogs,
which are healthy when the procedures
are initiated,

are used and then thrown into
dumpsters while they are still
alive.

At the defense establishment there
is awareness of the public debate
over the issue but say that the
tests on dogs will continue
because there is no other choice.

"torresD" > wrote in message
ink.net...


snip...


> Tens of thousands of animals killed in army medical tests
> By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent


snip spew....


billions upon billions of animals die for power generation and
communication just so you can post your ignorant spew....


nice going, killer...