PETA Global 2020 Issue 1

New Film

How Three PETA Scientists Are Changing the Face of Scientific Research

A powerful new documentary by BAFTA-winning director Alex Lockwood exposes the insidious ways universities encourage smart young scientists to become

animal experimenters. It’s generating buzz and shaking up the scientific world, and it stars three PETA scientists: Drs. Frances Cheng, Emily Trunnell, and Amy Clippinger.

When she questioned the need for some 200 animals to be killed over the course of her neuroscience doctoral program, Dr. Trunnell faced similar dismissiveness – and reached a similarly unsettling conclusion: Her experiments weren’t for the greater good or to cure any diseases but merely to get her degree. “I should have known better,” she reflects. “Everybody in charge was doing all this, too.” Dr. Clippinger describes killing trusting, vulnerable rats, who had enjoyed nestling in the crook of her arm, in experiments as “a betrayal.” Equipped with first hand knowledge of the cruelty inherent in animal tests and the frequent inapplicability of those tests to finding cures for humans, she committed to practicing better science. They Got out of the Laboratory – Now They’re Getting Animals Out, Too All three of these clever, caring scientists have left animal experiments behind and now work for PETA. Using their expertise, they’re ending experiments on animals and promoting humane, human-relevant research that is truly lifesaving. Dr. Cheng has persuaded dozens of global food and beverage companies to ban tests on animals, including Barilla, Kikkoman, House Foods, the Kellogg Company, Pernod Ricard (the world’s second-largest wine and spirits company, which makes Absolut Vodka, Chivas Regal whisky, and Jameson IrishWhiskey), and Japanese alcohol giants Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory (maker of Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, and other spirits). Although she still struggles to forgive herself for her past involvement in animal experiments, she acknowledges

Lettering: © iStock.com/Lostanastacia • Blood spatter: © iStock.com/Barcin • Experimentation ad: © iStock.com/Olena Kurashova • Film strip: © iStock.com/Simon Herrmann • Blank billboard: © iStock.com/Nastco

All three embarked on their Ph.D. programs in the sciences determined to make a difference in the world by helping to find cures for diseases. But they soon found themselves facing a crisis of conscience: In earning their degrees, they would be taking lives, not saving them. Even though they believed that tests on animals were unnecessary, the compassionate scientists were part of a system that fosters and funds animal testing. This realization changed the direction of their lives and careers. All three decided independently to apply their expertise toward ending the harm inflicted on animals in laboratories. Now, they’re telling their stories. Schooled in Cruelty Once she realized that her experiments – which involved feeding rats diets high in saturated fat and inducing fatal heart attacks – did not apply to humans, Dr. Cheng became deeply disillusioned. Investigating further, she learned that 95% of drugs that test safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials. However, her advisers and senior scientists dismissed her concerns, saying that it wasn’t “her job” to worry about such things.

Dr. Cheng finds comfort in knowing that she has saved far more animals in her work at PETA than she was made to kill during her Ph.D. studies.

that the number of animals she’s saved through her work at PETA has surpassed the number she killed and will only keep growing. Dr. Trunnell has persuaded pharmaceutical behemoths AbbVie, DSM, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Sage Therapeutics to abandon the “forced swim test,” in which small animals are dosed with test substances, dropped into inescapable containers of water, and left to swim frantically. “I am going to be on the right side of history,” she says.

The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd., and their work is playing a key role in helping the EPA reach its goal of ending tests on mammals. Her team’s work with the agency led the EPA to draft a policy allowing companies to avoid a test that involved feeding birds pesticide-laced food and killing them, among many other victories for animals. The three are also changing the future of science, by helping Ph.D. students who face the same pressure they once did to experiment on animals. To inform students of their right to object to such experimentation, PETA is running ads at universities across the US, including Harvard and Tufts, offering guidance on refusing to

harm animals in the name of science.

PETA’s scientists set out to save lives and change the world – and that’s precisely what they’re doing. As Dr. Clippinger says, “This is exactly why I got into science. It’s a win-win situation, because I can save animals and do good work. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Take Action Now Visit PETA.org/TestSubjects to watch the film. Please share it with friends, family, and

anyone you know who is considering studying science, and encourage them to visit PETA.org to learn about humane research options. Global 11

Dr. Clippinger directs a team of scientists who advise

PETA’S 2020 VISION: ANIMALS ARE NOT OURS TO EXPERIMENT ON

10 DEGREES OF CRUELTY