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Law Permitting Lethal Brain Tests Violates Clause of the Guardianship Bill, According to Lawsuit Filed on behalf of Owls by PETA, Evanna Lynch, Former Maryland Secretary of Health, JHU Student
For immediate release:
April 8, 2021
Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382
Washington – PETA today – as the “next friend” of 30 barn owls used in deadly brain experiments at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Wilsack and Animal Health Administrator Kevin Shea argues that taxpayer-funded tests conducted in a laboratory at JHU are unconstitutional and require protection of birds from harm under the Federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Joined PETA as the next friend of the barn owl, Evanna Lynch (an award-winning animal welfare activist and actor who starred in Harry Potter franchise), Dr. Martin Wasserman (former Maryland Secretary of Health) and Lana Weigenant (animal rights and climate justice activist and JHU senior staff member).
PETA’s lawsuit is aimed at the 2002 Helms Amendment to the AWA, which was drafted by notorious civil and animal rights opponent Senator Jesse Helms. It excludes the birds, rats and mice used in the experiments from the same minimum protections provided to other species under the AWA. Vilsack and Shi are named defendants because they are responsible for enforcing AWA compliance.
Since the barn owls used in JHU are eventually killed after their skulls are cut open, the Helms Amendment acts as their death sentence. As the PETA lawsuit points out, the US Constitution explicitly prohibits congressional death sentences under the Income Bill clause. That the aim of the Helms Amendment is to impose an unconstitutional death sentence was confirmed by Helms himself in a sarcastic speech in the hall, in which he urged his fellow senators to “give a well-deserved rebuke” to the “so-called animal rights crowd” and compared the animals that he singled out, with “food for reptiles”, that deserve “extermination.” PETA and plaintiffs are asking to repeal the Helms Amendment and require the federal government to strictly inspect and humanely treat owls in the JHU lab, as well as tens of millions of other birds, mice and other animals that have been unfairly exempted from control. in laboratories all over the country.
Because of the Helms Amendment, experimental students – whose trial and error practices during invasive procedures on owls are considered part of the “learning process” – will work with birds without respecting any of the safeguards guaranteed by the AWA. … The experimenters also insert electrodes into the birds’ heads and hold them so that they cannot move. The owls will then be bombarded with harsh sounds and images. When their brains are damaged to the point of impossibility, they will be killed.
“Owls are brutally imprisoned, tortured and killed in a laboratory at Johns Hopkins with no federal oversight or protection due to an unconstitutional loophole in federal animal welfare law,” says PETA litigation manager Asher Smith. “PETA’s lawsuit aims to ensure that these living, breathing people are denied the same basic rights as others, including even inanimate corporations.”
A coalition of the following friends – PETA, Lynch, Wasserman and Weidgenant – among them have championed the interests of these owls for years, using methods such as public demonstrations, regulatory complaints to state and federal agencies, publications, social media posts and lobbying. government officials, JHU management and the general public. The plaintiffs and closest friends are represented by Bernard Dimuro and Jonathan Mook of DiMuroGinsberg PC, as well as litigation hired by the PETA Foundation.
PETA, whose motto is in part that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes arrogance, a worldview focused on human excellence. For more information please visit PETA.org…
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