PETA Sends Toilet Paper to Every Member of Congress

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is protesting the National Institute of Health (NIH)’s animal testing by senior investigator Elisabeth Murray. They are targeting a psychology experiment on rhesus monkeys to observe mental illness and reaction to fear in humans. It has been going on for 30 years, and PETA reports that this experiment has been given $16.4 million, including $36 million in taxpayer money, yet has developed no methods for human neuropsychologic disorders.

The Intramural Research Program declares that Dr. Elisabeth Murray is the Chief of the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory section and works in the lab of Neuropsychology at NIH. This experiment was conducted to study cognitive flexibility, or the ability of the brain to change preferences or thinking under different situations. Most believe that the orbitofrontal cortex is responsible for this, but Dr. Murray’s team suggests that “a fiber connecting the temporal lobe to the frontal lobe” (https://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v26i4/elisabeth-murray-phd) is responsible.

In order to prove this, rhesus monkeys with bilateral excitotoxic OFC lesions where put through two experiments. During the first one, titled as a the monkeys were allowed to view images of different values and select the ones they preferred. In the second stage, which PETA does not find so harmless, monkeys are exposed to real-looking snakes or spiders, which are among their greatest fears.

PETA has collected footage in recent years of the conditions in this experiment. Once the is done, the rhesus monkeys are put inside a small cage within a black box, and the door will open randomly to expose the rubber snakes or spiders. Once the experiments are over, the monkeys are either recycled or killed.

“You know, to be honest with you, we don’t usually take photos of that sort of thing because we are all afraid they’ll fall into the wrong hands,” Murray said in an interview. On April 23, 2020, PETA has sent personalized rolls of toilet paper to every member in Congress. “We’re sending a hot commodity to Congress to alert its members to bizarre and cruel experiments on monkeys. While Americans wait for cures for diseases, this country’s premier health agency is sucking out parts of monkeys’ brains and scaring them with rubber snakes and spiders,” said the Vice President of PETA, Dr. Alka Chandna.

Other ways they have protested have been stationing volunteers with masks of monkeys around Capitol Hill along with the stacks of toilet paper. PETA is well-known for dramatic demonstrations, some which have been destructive. However, though the intentions are good, PETA has certainly done its own share of damage as an animal-rights organization. They have publicly shown much hate and disregard to the well-being of humans, through racism, online shaming, and using experiences of oppressed peoples (sexual abuse victims, Native Americans, etc.) to make statements on animal cruelty. The most debate of their actions is their high rate of euthanize. Only a small percentage of animals at PETA’s shelters get adopted, and at one location 95% of the animals that have entered their shelter were euthanized. Their website states that they do this to lessen the suffering of abandoned domestic pets who cannot have their conditions improved, which is certainly necessary, but does not explain the mass number. Many think that PETA’s intention is to relieve pets of suffering from domestication, and while they believe domestication should be eradicated, they have never used that to explain their euthanizing.

Though some actions of this organization have been unexplainable, this should not undermine how animal testing and many other issues they protest must be stopped. PETA has an extensive history of winning court cases and prosecuting animal abusers, sometimes along the lines of Netflix’s Tiger King. Stop NIH’s needless experiments by signing the petition .

Featured Image- Personalized rolls of toilet paper from PETA to Congress Photo courtesy of PETA

by Sophia Shan