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odzi[[a is a fictionaI prehistoric monster awakened and mutated by nuctear radiation at first appeared in the mid-1950s, earty 70 years ago, at the height : Cotd War paranoia. Godzitta presented the fear of a nuclear war,
towering unfamiliar monster that reatened to destroy entire cities. .rch like the disaster movies we see day, Godzitta hetd a mirror up to iety and despite the amount of me that has passed, this cinematic ation of mutation and animaI sting has endured. Eartier this year a fitm catted Mary & The Witch's lwer was released which depicts an :ernate universe where animals are ct in cages and experimented on by o crazed magicians with disastrous [ts. Remove the fantasy etement m Mary & the Witch's Ftower and .r're teft with an unsettling reftection the modern world. of animats in the beauty, :dicine and food industries is e use
[l-known, but significant numbers animals are also used in military ceriments to test the effects of
:chanicat, chemicaI and biotogical apons and many peopte are not even are that animats are used in this way. : re not tatking about the animaI suatties of war, which are despicable C heart-breaking in their own right, l the pre-war deaths that happen rind closed door in facilities owned mititla. This issue is particularty .rying because it is so hidden from
us. The nature of mititary testing
means that it is secretive and difficutt to research and, atthough it is true
that this testing needs to foltow the same regulations as att other animaI testing, reports from non-profits such as the AnimaI Justice Project and the International Association Against Painful Experiments on Animals (IAAPEA) suggest that military experiments are cruel, depraved and worst of att, unnecessary. Brian Gunn, the Secretary General of the IAAPEA, totd us: "'lnevitabty the most secret use of animats in research is in the fietd of weapons research. Neverthetess, it is known that animals are subjected to radiation, chemical and biologicalweapons, as wett as conventionaI baItistic weapons. This barbaric research is often funded with taxpayer's money.
'A typical defense of such tests is that they are for'defensive reasons', but in fact the resutts can atways be used
for'offensive' purposes. The usuaI justification for experiments where animals are detiberatety wounded is that battte injuries can be better treated, but human beings and animals are physiologicatty different so such tests can be irretevant." Using animals for weapons testing is nothing new. Between 1946 and 1958 there were 23 tests of nuctear devices detonated at BikiniAto[t, an island in the North Pacific, by the US. Boats
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were bombed to measure the potential fattout if a war broke out between Eastern and Western Europe. Boats
were loaded with live animats inctuding pigs, rats and goats to measure the radioactive radius and the expected death totl. The Los Angetes Times reported at the time (15th Juty 19a6) that: "Bikinitest animals have begun 'dying Iike fties'." Radiation sickness, internaI inju ries and lack of prompt treatment meant that the majority of the animals used in these experiments died and fottowing the tests, many contracted leukaemia. Pigs were of particutar use for these tests because of their biotogicaI simitarity to humans and one particutar pig became of interest to researchers a pig who was eventuatly nicknamed lndestructible Pig 311. Pig 311 was found swimming in the sea after an atomic bomb test was'rescued'and after observation was sent to the NationatZoo in Washington, DC. Not onty was this pig kept in captivity and given a number instead of a name, but it was used to test hatefuI weapons and poked, tested and examined against its witt. Pig 311 was, as its name suggests, not the only test subject.
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Stories which have emerged since have brought the fult extent ofthe
cruetty towards non-human animats at BikiniAtoItto Iight. Dustin E.Kirby, a Navy trauma medic, who was given an anesthetized pig in training, said: "The idea is to work with live tissue. You get a pig and you keep it ative. And every time I did something to hetp him, they woutd wound him again. So you see what shock does and what happens when more wounds are received by a wounded creature.
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"My pig? They shot him twice in the face a 9-mittimeter pistot, and then six times with an AK-47 and then twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. And then he was set on fire. I kept him ative for l-5 hours."
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Over 2,000 animats were used in the BikiniAtolltests between 1946 and 1958
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and it is a practice that stitt continues
today;animals are stittwidely used in live tissue training. The New England Anti-Vivisection Society ( N EAVS) estimate that there are at teast 15 US military facitities that use animats for combat training and researching some of the deadtiest viruses in the wortd inctuding Ebota, Dengue fever and Anthrax. Some woutd argue that it is necessary for non-human animals to be 'used'for this purpose to hetp hone medicaI cures for the worst diseases, which can be used as weapons, but it is just another form of non-human animal exptoitation. We don't own animals' We have no right to keep them, use them, test on them, subject them to Pain, monitor them, bomb them or PePPer them with bultets.
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It isn't just the US either. These abhorrent practices are being carried out at[ over the wortd to research and improve weapons that wilI be used to end human lives. Hate breeds hate and these Iive tissue tests are nothing more than kitting in the name of war.
freedom of information request hightighted the number of animats used in research for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) which is in charge of the of security the United Kingdom. 2167 mice, 199 rats,236 guinea pigs,27 pigs
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and 116 non-human primates took part in research bythe Defence, Science and Technology Lab (Dstt) for the MOD in 2016, totaIting 2745 animats.
This is a crime not only against c .-. species, but atso humanitY. "We've uncovered pigs being f:'-.. to inhale toxic mustard gas, rn3:: monkeys injected with vaccire . nlarmosets infected with biotf -.':diseases, batttefietd wounds fo':=: on rabbits, and guinea Pigs inhale nerve gas. This is unac:=:-. : and makes a mockery of thel' :..review procedures. The Minis:- Defence is ''proud" of this wc ' claims that it saves human Ii'. =. Justice Project rejects this. Ea - -experimentswe'veuncovere researc-= the exact opposite simpty repeating a wetl-wo'- ' to study poisonous war chei- -. . usingcrude animaltests.
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Dst[ and the MOD argue that: "Dst[ uses less than hatf of one per cent of the total
number of animats used in research annuatty in the UK." That doesn't make what Dstl are doing anY more morat- 2745 [ives were exploited and taken away from their rightfut owners. And for what? To test nerve agents, to be injected with ketamine or with biotogical weapons; to infect them with diseases or suffocate them with toxic gases. lt is beyond comprehension the torture that these animals endure. The AnimalJustice Project has
conducted significant research into the use of animats in military research which they pubtished as a paper catted The a heart-breaking, lnvisibte Victims read. and eye-oPening disturbing
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to Claire, the founder of the AnimalJustice Project, who said: "The UK Government's Ministry of Defence is directty responsibte for the torture and death of thousands of animats inctuding We spoke
rabbits, guinea pigs and monkeYs each year. AnimatJustice Project's has reveated time and time again the chitting studies that take place there - especiaIty those in the name of 'warfare research'.
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continue at Porton Dowr. -: . the majorityof procedure. :' - ' at the [aboratory are class = research which are specu.i ' nature and need not cla : benefits for humans." Why shoutd animals'
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