20 June 2002

Contact:

Anuradha Sawhney (0) 98201 22602

Mumbai — International cinema star Brigitte Bardot, on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India), has sent a letter to Dr C.P. Thakur, Union minister for health and family welfare, imploring him to support the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), which currently sets guidelines for the care of animals used in medical experiments and carries out inspections. Just last month, as a result of a CPCSEA inspection and investigation, 37 monkeys and two goats from the National Institute of Virology were seized by government authorities when they were discovered to be languishing in filth and searing heat and crippled by medical conditions—unrelated to research—that had gone untreated. Conditions for the more than 1000 other animals at the facility were equally atrocious.

Bardot, who is ranked among the British magazine Empire’s ‘Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time’, implores Thakur not to work to diminish CPCSEA’s scope, as he has publicly proposed. Besides the obvious suffering it causes, mistreatment of animals can taint studies and lead to erroneous data and conclusions. Regulatory committees are essential if research is to be regarded as valid and if animals are to be treated uniformly and decently. Bardot and PETA believe that Thakur’s full support for CPCSEA would ensure that the conditions for animals in India’s laboratories would be on a par with industry standards.  

‘If, indeed, as I understand you believe, most laboratories have nothing to hide and do a good job of caring for animals, can you explain exactly how the CPCSEA would be a threat?’ writes Bardot. ‘By giving the committee the authority it needs, you will help to ensure that India’s laboratories hold high standards and remain productive.’

For more information, please visit our Web site www.PETAIndia.com.