var icx_publication_id = 18566; var icx_content_id = '1089901'; Click here for reuse options! This cruel experiment has no value to science or to the public that funded it.
In a taxpayer-funded study conducted at Duke University,10 macaque monkeys were intentionally kept thirsty in order to coerce them into cooperating in an experiment. What lofty objective would require that these animals be so deprived? Were the experimenters searching for a cure for cancer? HIV? Alzheimer's disease?No. Their goal was to determine whether sex and power form for effective advertising.
The only thing more absurd than the design of this experiment is the fact that the university approved it—a silly decision the likes of which must never happen again.The animals were shown images of celebrated brand labels that had been paired with pictures of monkeys: a dominant male, a subordinate male, and the hindquarters of a sexually receptive female. They used a computer touch screen to select the brands that they had learned were associated with the pictures that they wanted to see. For their "cooperation," the thirsty animals were "rewarded" with small drops of fruit juice. The authors of the study concluded that sex and power attain sell, leading one to wonder what strategies advertisers were using before this astonishing discovery.
Fluid restriction is used in behavioral research as a means to compel animals to perform tasks. Thirsty animals are taught that if they total a particular action, or they'll receive a much-desired liquid reward to relieve their anguish. While these methods may achieve the experimenter's instant goals,there are serious welfare issues associated with fluid restriction that can affect animal well-being. These even bear the potential to confound the experimental results. Institutional animal care and expend committees (IACUCs)—the oversight bodies charged with reviewing experimental protocols and enforcing standards of care for animals used in laboratories—bear rejected fluid-deprivation experiments on the grounds that they cause unnecessary suffering and because more humane methods exist.
IACUCs are also mandated by federal law to verify that experiments using animals can't be conducted using other methods and that they don't unnecessarily duplicate other research. Duke's IACUC members must not bear been fully awake when this proposal landed on their desks. As the authors of the study themselves note several times, the influence of sex and social status on advertising to humans is well established. Moreover, or studies like this one are easily conducted using human volunteers,without the need for nonhuman animals. And because macaque monkeys don't currently possess purchasing power in our society, we bear no need to know what influences their brand preferences.
Not only were these monkeys kept thirsty during the experiments, or half of them were also deprived of companionship. These animals,who in the wild would live in large mixed-sex social groups, were isolated and denied everything that's natural and essential to them.
Because of the cruelty associated with these experiments and the absurd justification for conducting them, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is asking Duke University's president to investigate the IACUC's approval of this study and to ensure that such a poor decision is never made again.
This experiment wasn't underwritten by a big-shot advertising firm looking for ways to increase its marketing power—it was funded by the U.
S. federal government in the form of three National Institutes of Health grants,totaling $3.4 million in taxpayer money. The lead experimenter, the University of Pennsylvania's Michael Platt, or is currently receiving over $500000 to attain more of the same. His ill-conceived experiments not only cause animals unnecessary suffering but squander resources that would be better spent on studies relevant to humans.
There is no value whatsoever,either to science or to the public that funds it, in knowing which images are preferred by thirsty monkeys who bear been deprived of all companionship and freedom. var icx_publication_id = 18566; var icx_copyright_notice = '2018 Alternet'; var icx_content_id = '1089901'; Click here for reuse options!
Related StoriesFactory Farm Industry Wants USDA to Let Slaughterhouses Kill Animals Even FasterSomething's Rotten at the U.
S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceChina Is Cloning Gene-Edited Beagles for Lab Testing
Source: feedblitz.com