Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Dear Friends,
The Animal Protection League of NJ is pleased to announce the creation and kick-off of the ARISE campaign. The mission of ARISE (Animal Replacements Innovate Scientific Experimentation) is to educate the public regarding the unnecessary and often disastrous effects of relying on animals for drug testing, chemical toxicity and product testing and for dissection - and to promote ground breaking and powerful new tools and techniques that will create better science, are more effective and will saves lives, both human and animal alike.
Our message will be carried through our completely recreated and redesigned website, www.AskUsWhy.com, our accompanying literature and healthy/compassionate living guides, and our schedule of lectures and tabling events.
If you see an opportunity for ARISE to speak at an event, let us know. If you know a student who does not want to dissect animals, call us - we are here to offer our assistance. You can call us anytime at 732-561-4642 or email us: arise@askuswhy.com
ARISE has already taken the initiative; on March 31, we attended an Environmental Protection Agency hearing in Washington D.C. regarding an animal toxicity testing mandate. You can read our testimony in its entirety here: http://www.askuswhy.com/epa.html
You’ll also find on our new website the following sections and more:
Animal Replacements: With the acknowledgement that animals are poor substitutes for humans, and with national and international support and funding, pioneering animal replacements are being turned into reality.

We Give Them Names - They Give Them Numbers: A parallel view of the animals we love and the animals that scientists experiment upon.

Special Reports: ARISE investigative reports on animal experimentation issues.

SOS - Saving OurSelves: While promoting and utilizing human-centric scientific research is critical to finding cures, each of us can play a significant role in saving our own lives, through lifestyle change and healthy living.

Cruelty Free Living: One of the simplest and most direct ways that you can impact and reduce animal testing is to purchase products that are not tested on animals.

Elect Not to Dissect: NJ students have the right under law to choose not to dissect animals.

Rise to their Defense: Educate yourself and take action to help save lives and improve science for all of us.

“Consider just one stark statistic: Today, nine out of 10 compounds developed in the lab fail in human studies. They fail, in large part because they behave differently in people than they did in animal or laboratory tests.” Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Jan. 12, 2006
This is the question we will put to the public; do you trust something that has a 90% failure rate - or is there a better way?
ARISE is here to help create that better way.