Animal Research Gets a New Friend--the Incurably Ill

Two years ago, Arizona multiple sclerosis victim Rick Simpson’s life took a dramatic turn for the better when researchers at the University of Arizona made him part of an experimental drug therapy program.

After a week of taking cyclosporine, the immunosuppressant used in organ transplants, Simpson regained control of his bladder and bowels, and the ability to walk without difficulty.

The next week, Simpson watched television news coverage of animal rights groups picketing the university over the use of animals in research. Knowing that the cyclosporine, which had stopped the progress of his disease, had first been tested on animals, Simpson was incensed.

His response was to start a new organization, the Incurably Ill For Animal Research, whose leaders all suffer from diseases for which there is no known cure and who strongly support the use of animals in medical research.

First State Chapter

The group is scheduled to announce the formation of its first California chapter, which will be based in San Diego, at a press conference today. Leaders of the new chapter were to be selected at a meeting Wednesday night.

“It is our opinion that there should be cures found for us, as well as additional cures for animals,” the 49-year-old Simpson said in an interview Wednesday. “Those of us who have benefited believe strongly that animals should be used to save our lives, the lives of children and the lives of animals.”

The organization, dedicated to public education, will attempt to counter some of the arguments advanced by members of the animal protection movement, who oppose injuring or killing animals for research purposes and are trying to improve the conditions under which those animals are kept in laboratories.

San Diego is no stranger to the ongoing debate. In 1985, animal rights groups picketed at the San Diego Zoo to protest the sale or loan of surplus zoo animals to labs. The same year, UC San Diego Medical Center was picketed when it scheduled a seminar that included the use of 36 dogs for demonstrations of surgical techniques. The seminar was canceled when the surgeon, A. R. Moossa, received a death threat.

Members of Simpson’s group, which has nine chapters “in the formative stages” around the country, suffer from a range of illnesses, including cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis, diabetes and high blood pressure, he said. While anyone can be a chapter member, only people with incurable diseases can be officers, he said.

The disease gives its victim a special perspective on the animal rights issue, Simpson said.

“The animal rights people, unlike those of us who are incurably ill, philosophize and theorize about what they would do if they were incurably ill,” Simpson said. “But . . . we’re on the front lines. We know what it’s like to have friends and family members just die.”

Simpson said that all the major diseases cured by vaccinations have involved testing conducted on animals.

“Everything that has been successfully concluded as far as research is concerned has been concluded with necessary experimentation with animals,” he said.

Simpson, who said he is a dog owner and “dog-lover,” noted that most animals obtained from shelters for research probably would have been destroyed. Asked if he would volunteer his pet for biomedical research, he said that such a situation would not be plausible because of the large number of animals already in shelters.

Bradley Miller, president of San Francisco-based Buddhists Concerned for Animals, said that, while he believes there should not be any research conducted on animals, the immediate goal of the movement is to end needless use of animals in product research and teaching.

Miller said that dogs have been killed when exposed to toxic chemicals, and that rabbits have been blinded to test mascara and cosmetics. “If it means putting another mascara on the market or blinding 1,000 rabbits, I say we have enough mascara and let’s save the lives of those rabbits,” Miller said.

He also said that, instead of using one dog for every four medical students in a teaching situation, “how about one for every eight people? How about one for every 16? How about videotaping the entire procedure?”

Miller also said that action must be taken to improve the conditions that laboratory animals are kept in during research. Investigations by his group have shown animals in labs suffering from gangrene, animals cannibalizing each other because of overcrowding, and animals left to suffer without anesthesia after surgery. Miller also contended that it is wasteful for researchers at several universities to be killing animals while conducting the same research.

Javier Burgos, founder of the Pasadena-based Students United Protesting Research on Sentient Subjects, claimed that Simpson’s group is a front for biomedical researchers, an allegation that Simpson denied.