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National Antivisection Society

Dogs burned alive in Chinese labs

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Animal Defenders International (ADI) and our sister group The National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) are launching a campaign to shame the Chinese Government into halting cruel tests involving burning of dogs. The NAVS and ADI are calling on supporters to send a special postcard to the Chinese Embassy. Tim Phillips, Campaigns Director for ADI says: “These are perhaps the cruelest experiments we have ever uncovered, these dogs must have been in almost unimaginable agony. Worse still, these animals suffered and died in vain, there are ways of conducting this research without animals, and dogs are simply a bad research model for human beings."

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Summary:

The horrific series of experiments in which dogs are being burned alive took place at the Third Military Medical University at Chongqing, China. The experiments appeared in the Chinese scientific journal: ŒZhonghua Shao Shang Za Zhi. NAVS and ADI have uncovered three experiments published since 1999 and believe the programme of research continues. The 3 experiments involved:-


Experiment 1: Dogs burned with napalm

The backs of 37 mongrel dogs were burned for 30 seconds with napalm, it is not known if any anaesthetic was used during this process (none is mentioned) but the animals were left with third degree burns (7 other dogs were not burned but used as a control, and killed at the end of the experiment).

The pain of napalm is so excruciating that people have died from the pain alone. The pain felt by the dogs would have been unbearable. The dogs were then kept alive with their agonising burns for three days. 72 hours of hell.

Then all 44 dogs were killed so that their organs could be examined. The researchers claimed to be examining the effects of resuscitation fluid on internal organs. It is known that napalm victims suffer from secondary effects such as blood and internal organs being affected. The research therefore would be unlikely to be able to differentiate between the effects on tissue of infusion of resuscitation fluid and the napalm itself.

Experiment 2: Dogs burned whilst their brains swelled

In order to determine the value of scanning equipment in diagnosing brain swelling due to excess water (oedema) following burns, dogs were inflicted with third degree skin burns, over half of their bodies. The researchers described this as “50% TBSA of third degree skin burns” - TBSA means Total Body Surface Area.

The dogs, covered in burns, underwent brain scanning at various time-points for up to 24 hours ­ described coldly by the researchers as “PBHs - Post Burn Hours"

As an indicator of how severe these injuries were, 1 in 10 children suffering 50% TBSA burn with inhalational injury would die.

Yet, scanning techniques such as MRI cause little or no suffering to people so it is difficult to understand why the information could not have been derived from studies of burns patients.

Experiment 3: Dogs scalded

24 mongrel dogs were used in an experiment in which 40% of their total body surface area was deliberately scalded, giving them third degree burns, and they were left alive for up to two days. Some of the dogs died from shock within 36 hours.

THIRD DEGREE BURNS

Third degree burns are the most serious burn injuries because they destroy all the layers of the skin; they are so deep that only the edges will heal, the rest being covered with scars unless skin grafts are performed.

WHY THE CHINESE BURN HORROR IS BAD SCIENCE

Species differences - burns and wound healing

Animals are known to be poor models for humans in studies of burns and wound healing because of species differences. For example:

Dogs are not people

ANIMALS DO NOT NEED TO SUFFER ­ MODERN NON-ANIMAL METHODS ARE AVAILABLE

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