Protesters march against animal testing in campus research labs

This post was updated on April 22 at 4:45 p.m.

Animal rights activists marched to Chancellor Gene Block’s office Friday with signs depicting bleeding monkeys and other animals to protest animal testing in campus research labs.

About 70 protesters from the Animal Justice Project held black and white signs with photos of animal cruelty, chanting “UCLA has blood on their hands” and “Hey Gene Block, how many animals died today?” among other messages.

Ellen Ericksen, one of the organizers of the protest, said group members gather annually on April 22 as part of World Week for Laboratory Animals to march through campus and represent their cause.

The Animal Justice Project, based in the United Kingdom, is an animal rights activist organization that advocates for the release of animals used in lab testing, according to the website.

Julia Orr, the organization’s United States organizer, said UCLA is one of the biggest offenders of using animal testing for recreational drug research. UCLA is awarded about $31 million in federal funds over the past 22 years to inject morphine into rats’ brains, according to an Animal Justice Project press release.

Orr said they will not stop protesting until Block opens up to a dialogue about animal testing on campus. She said the organization wants the university to move toward more technological advancements in research that can replace animal testing.

UCLA receives funding from health organizations for recreational drug research. Orr said she thinks UCLA will continue to test on animals, because the university allocates 90 percent to researchers and keeps the remaining 10 percent.

Ericksen said the principal complaint of the protest is that no cures result from animal testing.

“Animal testing is unethical, unnecessary and no humans benefit from it,” she said. “Only the researchers who make millions, and the pharmaceutical companies that make billions benefit.”

Ann Bradley, a member of Animal Justic Project who was at the protest, said she thinks animal testing is a financial abuse of power with little compensation.

“Animal testing is not leading toward human health, and is in fact delaying it,” she said.

She added she thinks many UCLA students and faculty members are still not aware that animal testing occurs on campus. Even Congressman Henry Waxman, who earned his law degree from UCLA School of Law, was taken aback that vivisection still occurred on campus, Bradley said.

Orr said the organization marched to Block’s office in 2006, but they were denied access. Since then, the organization bought a $210 permit and must follow the regulations UCLA imposed before it can protest on campus.

Administrative restrictions keep protesters from entering Murphy Hall and going beyond Dickson Court, Orr said.

Amanda Copeland, a protester, added activists were prohibited from using amplification systems like megaphones outside Block’s office. Several police officers supervised protesters gathered in a circle in the Sunken Gardens.

“Research involving laboratory animals at UCLA is heavily monitored and subject to multiple stringent university regulations and federal laws,” said UCLA spokeswoman Rebecca Kendall in a statement responding to the protest.

She added animal research at UCLA has allowed researchers worldwide to better understand numerous diseases and mental disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia.