There is no doubt that science and medicine are making huge strides in helping people gain a better quality of life.

But the taking of one life for the sake of another life just doesn’t sit well with me. Nor should it.

The cruel, inhumane practices of testing on animals seem archaic and anachronistic, methods that should have been abandoned decades ago. For many of us, when we read about advances in science and medicine, we applaud the human race—but that’s because most of us aren’t aware that they were achieved at the expense of innocent lives. Animals—many of them babies—were taken from the wild, ripped away from their families, tortured physically, mentally and emotionally in the name of science and medicine.

We have to ask ourselves, is torturing and killing an innocent life to save another life fair? How can we consider something to be an advancement if it requires such ruthless, antiquated practices?

I encourage you to support the work of organizations like The American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) who tirelessly seek new and ethical ways of scientific testing that do not involve animals.

Thanks to donations from compassionate and caring people, the Alternatives Research & Development Foundation (ARDF)—an affiliate of AAVS—has helped fund the development of the “mini-brain”. This ethical alternative to lab animals is made of “human neurons and cells, which could radically change how drugs are tested, and replace animals for neurological scientific research.”

And since we’re on the topic of lab animals, please take a moment to sign and share the following petitions on Change.org:

University of Wisconsin: Cancel the Unethical Torture and Killing of Baby Monkeys

This petition by Dr. Ruth A. Decker, an alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine, was created after she learned that the school had plans to conduct controversial and cruel experiments on baby monkeys.

These experiments involve restraining and drugging mother macaque monkeys so that scientists can take their newborn babies. After enduring the trauma of being separated from their mothers and uprooted from the wild, the babies are put in solitary confinement where they are mercilessly terrorized with anxiety-inducing stressors like live snakes, skin biopsies, and brain scans. Once they’ve been used and abused, scientists kill them before the age of two.

This despicable scene seems like something out of a horror movie, but it’s all played out in real life … on innocent animals.

Please sign and share the petition here to stop the university’s ruthless plans for these sweet baby monkeys. 

Next,

Tell Congress to Stop Using Tax Dollars to Torture and Kill Monkeys for Science

Sign and share this new petition by Dr. Decker urging key federal lawmakers to stop using our tax dollars to finance studies that exploit, sicken and poison monkeys. There is momentum, as some lawmakers have challenged this funding knowing that it’s unjustifiably cruel and arguably ineffective.

Please sign and share this petition here

And finally,

Urge University of Texas at Austin to Relocate Their Monkeys to a Sanctuary Instead of Euthanizing Them

Macaque monkeys being tested for medical research face euthanasia after the university is done using and abusing them. Join Students Against Cruelty to Animals (SACA) in asking researchers to relocate these sweet, innocent monkeys to a sanctuary so that they can live out their remaining lives in peace and away from harm.

Sign and share the petition here