UPDATE, 6/11/07:

See also: Urge Congress to Combat Obesity and Support Nutrition Programs!, from Trust for America’s Health.

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———- Forwarded message ———-
From: PCRM Legislative Coordinator Kyle Ash – kash [at] pcrm.org
Date: Jun 4, 2007 10:30 AM
Subject: Ask Congress to Support Healthy Changes to the Farm Bill

Congress is revising the Farm Bill, which will directly affect the health of all Americans—and we need your help to implement federal policy changes that will support healthy foods.

The Farm Bill helps determine what foods are available in schools, nutrition programs, and the entire food economy. There is a direct link between America’s growing rates of chronic disease and our access to cheap and unhealthy food products that are high in fat and cholesterol. That’s why we must encourage Congress to support healthy foods and stop heavily subsidizing animal agriculture.

Here’s how you can help:

* Call your representative and senators today and ask them to reduce or eliminate subsidies for meat, dairy, and feed crops through the Farm Bill. Phone calls are an extremely effective way to communicate with Congress. After you’ve made your calls, send a follow-up e-mail.

* If you belong to an organization that works on health and nutrition issues or cutting health care costs, please let that organization know that you want agricultural policy to be high on its agenda.

* Consider e-mailing a special group of members of Congress who may be instrumental in supporting healthy changes to the Farm Bill. Learn more about this group and send them an e-mail.

(more…)

The May ‘07 issue of PCRM Online is now available online; you can view the entire newsletter online here.

Current action alerts include the following:

Duke University Ends Live Pig Lab in Medical School Curriculum

Last month, PCRM learned that Duke University School of Medicine has joined the nearly 90 percent of U.S. medical schools that have completely eliminated live animals from their undergraduate medical education curricula. The school’s live pig lab was replaced with modern non-animal teaching methods.

What you can do ->

PCRM Billboards Educate March of Dimes Walkers

Participants at March of Dimes WalkAmerica events have one goal in mind: raising money to help babies through effective medical research. PCRM’s goal in placing mobile billboards at many WalkAmerica events was to educate those participants that much of that money goes toward funding ineffective and cruel animal research.

What you can do ->

PCRM Seeks Nominees for the Golden Carrot Awards

While the healthfulness of school lunches is slowly improving, many children get by on a diet of chicken nuggets, French fries, and cheese pizza during the school day. However, some students are lucky enough to dine on fresh vegetables, hearty bean soups, veggie burgers and other low-fat vegetarian fare. To recognize food service professionals who go the extra mile to keep kids healthy, PCRM is seeking nominees for its fourth annual Golden Carrot Awards.

Read more ->

An archive of past alerts is available for browsing here.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts PCRM Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine animal testing animal research vivisection golden carrot awards contests march of dimes march of crimes duke university live pig labs pigs school lunches diet

Via the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Duke University Ends Live Animal Lab

We have wonderful news from North Carolina: I am happy to report that Duke University School of Medicine recently confirmed that it has stopped using live pigs in its third-year surgery course. This means that only 13 medical schools (of 125) continue to use live animals in medical student courses. PCRM physicians worked hard to explain the educational and ethical advantages of non-animal alternatives to the school, and Duke deserves praise for this wise and compassionate decision.

But we still need your help. Five medical schools continue to use live animals in surgery courses. Please send a polite e-mail to these schools and ask them to follow Duke’s lead and stop using live animals to teach surgery. You can send an e-mail or write to the five medical schools that use live animals for surgery courses at the addresses below:

(more…)

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: PCRM Legislative Coordinator Kyle Ash – kash [at] pcrm.org
Date: Mar 20, 2007 11:30 AM
Subject: Urgent: Call Congress Now About the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

Please call your representative and senators today and urge them to attend a briefing on the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). If you recall, this bill passed last November and was signed into law in December.

The briefing will discuss issues of free speech and how the AETA now sets the stage for the criminalization of peaceful forms of advocacy undertaken by citizens and organizations seeking change. The briefing is organized by the Equal Justice Alliance and the Office of Rep. Tom Lantos of California. Speaking will be Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild; Odette Wilkens, executive director of Equal Justice Alliance; Will Potter, freelance journalist; and possibly Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. The briefing will take place on Wednesday, March 21, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in room 2255 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

Please, call your representative and senators today. Then, send a follow-up e-mail.

Forward this e-mail to your family and friends. Thank you, again, for urging your representative and senators to attend this important meeting. Feel free to contact me at kash [at] pcrm.org if you have any questions

Best regards,

Kyle Ash
Legislative Coordinator
kash [at] pcrm.org

Click here to read the text of S. 3880

Subscribe to future PCRM e-mail communications

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Ste. 400
Washington, DC 20016 Phone: 202-686-2210
E-mail: info [at] pcrm.org

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare environment environmental environmentalism environmentalist action alerts PCRM Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine AETA Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act congress 110th congress free speech first amendment censorship terrorism animal rights terrorism eco-terrorism Will Potter EJA equal justice alliance activism freedom of speech Dennis Kucinich

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: PCRM President Dr. Neal Barnard – rmerkley [at] pcrm.org
Date: Mar 13, 2007 1:06 PM
Subject: Good News: American Medical Student Association Encourages Non-Animal Alternatives

I am thrilled to announce that the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) has taken a major step toward modernizing medical education by passing a resolution encouraging the replacement of live animal laboratories with non-animal alternatives in undergraduate medical education. Now we need your help to bring this resolution to the attention of the 14 remaining schools that still use live animals.

AMSA amended its official position regarding alternatives to animal laboratories from a statement that the organization “urges that alternative educational materials, such as films, videotapes and computer simulations be provided for students who do not choose to attend these classes and labs (1986),” to “AMSA strongly encourages the replacement of animal laboratories with non-animal alternatives in undergraduate medical education.”

The resolution also states that AMSA condemns the use of household pets from pounds, shelters, or Class B random source dealers. This replaces a position taken by AMSA in 1986, in which the group endorses pound seizure.

(more…)

Via the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Help Stop the March of Dimes’ Animal Cruelty

Each year between March and June, hundreds of WalkAmerica events take place across the country to raise money for the March of Dimes. Unfortunately, most walkers are not aware that their money helps fund gruesome and ineffective animal experiments, and PCRM needs your help to inform them.

The March of Dimes is the country’s largest charity devoted to the health of babies, but it continues to waste as much as $30 million a year on useless and cruel animal experiments that do not help mothers or babies. The March of Dimes has funded many controversial experiments, including freezing newborn ferrets, tethering pregnant monkeys to cages by cables running through the mothers’ uteruses and into their fetuses’ bodies, and sewing shut the eyelids of newborn kittens.

Experiments like these are not only cruel but they also have failed to lead to improvements in children’s health. The rate of premature births in the United States has increased 30 percent since 1983 to more than 500,000 per year, and 23 out of 26 birth defects monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over a two-decade period have increased or remained the same. While the United States has the second-highest infant mortality rate in the industrialized world (ahead of only Latvia), other nations—including some third-world countries—have improved the health of their mothers and babies by relying on proven measures such as preventive health services, social services, and maternal education. [...]

What You Can Do

* PCRM needs volunteers to attend WalkAmerica events and let March of Dimes supporters in on the truth about where their money goes. Order your leaflets today. Free lawn signs and posters are also available.

* Contact March of Dimes sponsors, both local and national, and tell them why you aren’t supporting the charity—and how they can help babies humanely. Order a sponsor pack.

Additional talking points, resources, and a guide to cruelty-free charities can be found at PETA’s marchofcrimes.org.

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Tagged: animals animal rights animal welfare action alerts PCRM Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine animal research vivisection March of Dimes March of Crimes fundraising WalkAmerica

UPDATE, 3/7/07, via PCRM:

Dear PCRM supporter,

I am sorry to announce that, despite everyone’s determined efforts, the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) went forward with its live dog lab on Feb. 26, 27, and 28. Sadly, about 60 dogs were killed—but these animals did not die in vain. With your help, we were able to raise public awareness about the dog lab and urge the school to implement humane alternatives. MCW has felt enormous pressure to change, and our efforts will continue.

On Jan. 25, more than 100 people peacefully demonstrated in front of MCW. I was gratified to see such a huge turnout. We asked MCW to cancel the lab, and we encouraged students not to participate. We held another demonstration on Feb. 26, the day the lab began, and more than 60 people joined me in front of the school. Two smaller demonstrations, both well attended, were held on Feb. 27 and 28. For every day the dog lab took place, we were present at MCW to encourage the school to end its use of live animals. And that’s just the beginning of the many successes we have had with this campaign so far:

(more…)

Via the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

PCRM, Humane Society Denounce Dog Labs at Medical College of Wisconsin

Four Wisconsin doctors and the Wisconsin Humane Society joined PCRM to hold a news conference November 13 in Milwaukee to denounce the use of live dogs as teaching tools at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). The school plans to use and kill approximately 60 dogs in a physiology course for first-year medical students. [...]

PCRM recently filed a complaint with the federal government asking for an investigation of the use of live dogs at MCW. An inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that alternatives to using animals for medical education exist and that a “written narrative must justify why the alternatives were not used.” PCRM contends that MCW has not and cannot provide meaningful justification for using dogs instead of one of the many educationally superior non-animal alternatives. [...]

Please write or call the president of the Medical College of Wisconsin and express your concerns about its inhumane and educationally inferior use of live animals in the first-year physiology course.

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts pcrm Physicians+Committee+for+Responsible+Medicine animal+research vivisection dogs canines dog+labs Medical+College+of+Wisconsin mcw

The November ‘06 issue of PCRM Online is now available online; click here to read the entire newsletter.

Current action alerts include the following:

Covance Eyes New Chandler Location for Animal-Testing Facility

Faced with immense citizen opposition, Covance Laboratories may be changing its strategy in building a new animal-testing facility in Chandler, Ariz., to avoid the possibility of a referendum and public vote. PCRM is urging Chandler residents to continue letting their mayor and City Council members know that they don’t want Covance in their town.

What you can do –>

University of Rochester Drops Live Animal Labs From Medical School Curriculum

Another medical school has embraced humane alternatives to live animal labs. A third-year surgery clerkship’s live pig lab was replaced with modern medical simulators and other non-animal teaching methods, and the school joined the vast majority of U.S. medical schools that have completely eliminated live animals from their undergraduate medical education curricula.

What you can do –>

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts pcrm Physicians+Committee+for+Responsible+Medicine animal+research vivisection covance university+of+rochester

Via the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Urge Your U.S. Representative to Oppose the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

Please contact your representative today and urge her or him to oppose H.R. 4239, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). This act would criminalize peaceful forms of advocacy undertaken by citizens and organizations seeking change. This type of legislation would be damaging to PCRM’s important advocacy work. Learn more about the AETA.

Here’s how you can help:

1) Call your representative today.

2) Send a follow-up e-mail.

3) Forward this e-mail to your family and friends.

The AETA has already passed in the Senate. Unless members of the House of Representatives hear from enough people, the AETA could fly through the House as an “uncontroversial bill” after Congress reconvenes on Nov. 13.

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Tagged: animals animal+rights action+alerts PCRM AETA Animal+Enterprise+Terrorism+Act terrorism activism censorship free+speech