1. NYU Monkey Crack-Smoking Experiments Stopped
2. Crackmonkey.Org Denies IPO Rumors

1: NYU Monkey Crack-Smoking Experiments Stopped

by In Defense of Animals

From http://arrs.envirolink.org/news/crack_monkeys.html

"This is a vindication of what we have been saying all along, that forcing monkeys to smoke crack cocaine is scientifically worthless, unacceptably cruel, and wasteful of $500,000 in tax dollars annually," said Suzanne Roy, Program Director of IDA. "The fact that such ridiculous research continued for so long in the face of significant external and internal criticism raises serious questions about the integrity of legally-mandated oversight of federally-funded research at NYU."

IDA has called for a Congressional investigation of the more than $71 million in federal research grants the institution receives annually.

Long criticized by medical and drug treatment professionals, the monkey crack-smoking experiments were the focus of charges filed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) against NYU in April 1995 for 278 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. The charges could subject NYU Medical Center to nearly $1 million in fines. In addition, a National Institutes of Health investigation found multiple violations of federal animal care and use guidelines committed by Wood and his colleagues. The federal investigations were prompted by formal complaints against the research, filed by IDA in October 1993.

According to IDA, documentation from these investigations revealed not only that Wood was guilty of animal abuse and scientific misconduct, but also that NYU Medical Center engaged in a massive effort to cover up wrongdoing in its laboratories. IDA also charged that Medical Center officials retaliated against whistle blowers who objected to Wood's research, a federal offense for which the USDA is currently investigating the institution.

"While Wood appears to be gone, others responsible for flagrant wrongdoing remain in positions of authority at NYU Medical Center," said Roy. "The victims of this scandal are not only Wood's monkeys, but also individuals within the medical center who had the integrity to oppose Wood's animal abuse and research fraud and have suffered retaliation because of it."

According to IDA, one of the whistle blowers was Jan Moor-Jankowski, M.D., former NYU research professor and director of the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP). As a member of the NYU Medical Center research oversight committee, Moor-Jankowski, recently elected to the French Academy of Medicine as the only American representative, was an outspoken critic of Woods research. Moor-Jankowski provided information to the USDA which assisted that agency in filing charges against NYU. He was abruptly fired from NYU last month and physically barred from LEMSIP, the $4 million a year laboratory and World Health Organization Collaborating Center he founded and ran successfully for three decades. In addition, LEMSIP was given to a toxic chemical researcher who heads the New Mexico-based Coulston Foundation, placing the future of 225 chimpanzees in jeopardy. Like NYU Medical Center, the Coulston Foundation has also been charged by the USDA for numerous and repeated violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act.

IDA and the National Anti-Vivisection Society, joined by numerous scientists, animal protection advocates and concerned NYU alumni, are working to stop the transfer of the NYU chimps to the Coulston Foundation and hoping to send them to a sanctuary instead.

IDA is a national animal advocacy organization with 60,000 members based in Mill Valley, CA.

Contact:

Suzanne Roy, 415/388-9641 X26
Eric Kleiman, 717/939-3231

2: Crackmonkey.Org Denies IPO Rumors

Popular Linux-centric Online Community Reacts to Industry Buzz

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- December 21, 1999 -- Crackmonkey.org, the leading site for non-sequitur arguments and ad-hominem personal attacks, categorically denied recent rumors of an IPO sometime in the year 2000.

Rumors of a Crackmonkey.org IPO began circulating in early November, when the popular Crackmonkey Mailing List suddenly withdrew into what many analysts speculated was a "quiet period." The Crackmonkey Mailing List is a high-volume flame forum that formerly had several hundred subscribers and participants from "the Linux space."

Monkeymaster Nick Moffitt also denied that the site's recent "quiet period" was due to acquisition negotiations with either a major Linux e-community content broker or a global open source service delivery portal.

"GAR!" said Nick Moffitt, monkeymaster of Crackmonkey.org. "I can only attribute these rumors to a vast right-wing conspiracy by my competitors."

Moffitt vehemently denied that members of the Original Crackmonkey Mailing List had been invited to invest in shares as part of the purported "Fiends of Crackmonkey Program."

"There is no such thing as Preferential GAR," repeated Nick Moffitt. "And even if there were, I would not be at liberty to disclose that information. This alleged Fiends List is something dreamt up by opportunistic chin-waggers. There is no profit motive in Crackmonkey. GAR GAR GAR!"

The Crackmonkey Mailing List runs on the popular GNU Mailman mailing list management software.

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