ACTIVISTS DENIED PUBLIC RECORDS - ASSISTANCE REQUIRED

Messages - ACTIVISTS DENIED PUBLIC RECORDS - ASSISTANCE REQUIRED

10 minutes of your time is required to shed some light on vivisection at the University of Florida.

A campaign has begun to expose the use of primates at this institution. It has been established that researchers at UF have received well over a million dollars of tax payer money to i) perform invasive lesion experiments on primates that irreversibly damage brain tissues and ii) infect them with retrovirus to investigate neurological wasting with no proposed link to curative applications. Other publications and grant applications exist outlining past use of primates at this university and calling for their future use. Rather than participating in an open dialogue with activists, the university has banned the activists from the property, attempted to falsely distance individuals from experiments they sanction, and refused to provide copies of veterinary records pertaining to specific animals used. These are public records that document tax payer funded experimentation. Camille Marino has requisitioned these documents, paid all fees associated with pulling them, and was ultimately denied access to the information after it was reported to be ready for pick up. The University of Florida has yet to offer any concrete rationale for withholding these records. I am asking that everyone call and write to Ms. Sikes of the University of Florida to ask her why records that were paid for and promised are now not forthcoming and why researchers who commission, seek funding, and take credit for experimentation are not considered participants in it. This woman has been the primary apologist for the specific researchers called into question and has played a central role in denying activists the records that the law entitles them too.

Janine Sikes
Director of Public Affairs University Relations
University of Florida
101 Tigert Hall
Office: 352-846-3903/06
Cell: 352-214-6807
email: jysikes@UFL.EDU

It will take just a few moments to place a call but will do much to put pressure on the university to explain why they believe are above the law. For all who abhor vivisection we must remember that we are involved in one struggle – success in stifling this machine at any university will have resounding effects on all others. Please support Florida activists in holding universities accountable for what happens behind their closed doors.

Please follow these links for recent postings by NIO Florida on this campaign:

http://negotiationisover.com/2011/01/uf-denies-access-to-public-records-2/

http://negotiationisover.com/2011/01/der-fuhrer-dr-mengele-live-on-in-spirit-at-the-university-of-florida/

Thank you in advance for your efforts,

Agatha Maksymiak