Talk:Merck

December 29, 2008 3:56 PM MST

Parked the following sentence due to use of an acronym that is not spelled out:

"HLS is the 3rd largest CRO in the world and the largest animal testing facility in all of Europe."

Please spell out all acronyms at first use.

Thanks,

Anne Landman, TobaccoWiki editor

Update
I am attempting to make all these animal testing pages uniform in their information & format.

Lisa

Animal testing
Merck does animal testing.

Facility information, progress reports & USDA-APHIS reports
For links to copies of a facility's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Animal Plant Health Inspection (APHIS) reports, other information and links, see also Stop Animal Experimentation NOW!: Facility Reports and Information. This site contains listings for all 50 states, links to biomedical research facilities in that state and PDF copies of government documents where facilities must report their animal usage. (Search: Merck, Rahway, New Jersey; Schering Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, New Jersey; Schering-Plough Animal Health, Terre Haute, Indiana.)

This facility performed animal experiments involving pain or distress but no analgesics, anesthetics or pain relievers were administered. For copies of this facility's USDA-APHIS reports, other information and links, see also Facility Reports and Information: Schering-Plough Animal Health, Elkhorn, NE.

USDA AWA reports
As of May 26, 2009, the USDA began posting all inspection reports for animal breeders, dealers, exhibitors, handlers, research facilities and animal carriers by state. See also USDA Animal Welfare Inspection Reports.

Contract testing
Merck contract tests out to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). Huntingdon Life Sciences is the 3rd largest contract research organization (CRO) in the world and the largest animal testing facility in all of Europe. Firms hire CROs to conduct animal toxicity tests for agrochemicals, petrochemicals, household products, pharmaceutical drugs and toxins. HLS has a long history of gross animal welfare violations. See also Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Animal cruelty & welfare violations
Stop Animal Exploitation Now! (SAEN) is a national research watchdog organization. SAEN has included Merck among the worst violators of U.S. laws. According to Executive Director, Micheal Budkie:


 * "Drug and testing companies are violating federal law on a regular basis and endangering the health of the American People as a result. It should surprise no one that drugs like Vioxx came out of the Merck Corporation, where federal law is broken almost every month."

Merck amassed 8 violations in a 9 month monitoring period and an additional 10 Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) violations in 3 months following this period. One infraction involved an allegedly "illegal surgery", where holes were drilled into an animals skull and penetrated the brain. (Government reports and ranking statistics available upon request.)

Review

Americans for Medical Progress
Americans for Medical Progress's (AMP) board of directors consists of senior executives and other representatives employed by the pharmaceutical and vivisection industries. Board members represent multinational, billion dollar corporations as well as universities and institutions receiving government grants for vivisection. AMP runs media campaigns targeting animal rights, welfare and health advocacy groups. See also Americans for Medical Progress.