PETA seeks political help in rescuing animals from AIIMS

Animal activists are now seeking political intervention in rescuing sick animals at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Animal activists are now seeking political intervention in rescuing sick animals at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chairman of Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA), seeking their intervention in rescuing and rehabilitating the sick and dying animals at the animal facility at AIIMS.

Earlier this week, a two-member team appointed by the Ministry of Forest and Environment visited AIIMS and voiced their opinions on the high standards maintained at the facility, even before visiting the actual state of affairs.

HT possesses copies of the letters PETA has written to the ministry where they are questioning the credibility of the CPCSEA appointed committee.

The letter says, “We are apalled the agency the parliament of India put into place to control and supervise experiments on animals and promote the use of non-animal test methods does not seem to be doing its job.”

“How can any member of inspection team ever issue any statement to the press in favour of any institute who has been accused of allegedly breaching the law before the facts have been ascertained?” the letter reads.

Meanwhile, the CPCSEA committee has drafted their report but are still to present it to the CPCSEA body. “We have done our job but cannot disclose its contents,” said Dr Harmeet Singh Rehan, head, department of pharmacology at Lady Hardinge Medical College.