KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The group responsible for protesting the recent decision to thin a herd of deer at Shawnee Mission Park has a new target.
The KC Bite Club gathered outside of the University of Kansas Medical Center Saturday afternoon to protest the center’s practice of experimenting on monkeys for medical research.
“If they are so eager to make those determinations, then they need to find humans willing to undergo those experiments, rather than taking non-human animals against their will, without their consent and torturing them,” club member Jason Miller said.
Officials with KU Med have released a statement challenging the group’s claims, saying they contain “gross inaccuracies.”
“Recent public statements and e-mails make exaggerated claims about neurological research techniques used extensively at medical centers in the United States and around the world that benefit victims of stroke ad other neurological diseases,” Marcia Nielsen, vice chancellor for public policy and planning at KUMC, said in the release.
Nielsen said the research – geared toward developing cures and treatments for stroke victims – performed at KUMC adheres to “strict protocols,” and that primates involved in research “receive anesthesia during research procedures and are treated and monitored by qualified veterinarians to prevent injury or disease.”
