Today seems to be devoted to our treatment of our fellow creatures, maybe on the basic principle that the way we treat animals is deeply connected with the way we treat each other. This story by Michael Collins highlights the way in which monkey are being used and abused by NASA.
“The future of manned space exploration was revealed Feb. 1 when President Obama unveiled his 2011 budget request for NASA. The president proposed ending the Constellation program, an initiative introduced by President Bush in 2004 to take Americans back to the moon by 2020 and to Mars beyond. Obama’s grounding of the manned space program has unleashed a torrent of criticism that could gut the move to prioritize robotic missions and technological advancements rather than planting flags on the moon. Nowhere will the impact of how the great space debate plays out be more pronounced than at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
But far from JPL, 18 sociable monkeys sit in cages at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory in Upton, NY, where they will be injected with gamma radiation by scientists who contend that the results can be correlated to humans facing long outer space flights through fields of intense cosmic radiation. The budget’s approval by Congress will determine the future of these squirrel monkeys in the $1.75 million experiment to see how much radiation the critters can take. Animal testing of this sort hasn’t been done in nearly three decades. While officials maintain they will follow all institutional, state and federal guidelines in caring for the monkeys, some animal rights groups are outraged.” (Click here for more.)
Click here for Pink Floyd
The secret word is Sorrow
Just like a little Han Solo, I salute you, rightfully fearful monkey.
ReplyDeleteWV = enensou
Was listening to Love In Space when I read this. Poor little sod isn't going to find much of that. So fuckin' depressing.
ReplyDeleteCheered by the Floyd. Innocent days. From row seats at Brighton Dome when they were on the tour that produced the UmmaGumma live set. Boy, the bands we saw there (and still had change for fish n chips and a bus ride home).
god,we`re awful.
ReplyDeleteStu, we're not so bad... we could be doing that to live human subjects against their will.
ReplyDeleteDoing anything to anything against its will is not only wrong, its the pebble that starts the avalanche.
ReplyDelete