Funding Cut for Four Sick Sex Experiments on Animals—One More to Go

Update: Sexually stimulating hamsters after cutting holes in their skulls, cutting the skin off live mice's penises and then injecting them with chemicals, burning the brains of female mice and then measuring how interested they were in sniffing the urine of males, and removing rats' ovaries before injecting the animals with antidepressants—PETA had called on the U.S. National Institutes of Health to stop funneling tens of millions of dollars into these stomach-churning experiments. And the agency listened! Four of the experimenters responsible for these sick studies are no longer receiving public grants. The fifth, Mount Sinai Hospital's Eric Nestler, who led the experiments conducted at the University of Michigan, continues to get taxpayer money to support his twisted work. Take action below:

When an agency like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) throws about $12 billion each year—nearly half its entire research budget—at thousands of experiments on animals, it's impossible for the public to keep track of all the cruel and useless projects for which its tax dollars are being squandered to cause animals pain and suffering. And even though public opposition to experiments on animals is greater than ever, there is apparently no project too trivial or too stupid for NIH to throw money at. Case in point: Right now, NIH is funding dozens of bizarre, stomach-churning sexual behavior studies in which animals have the sexual pleasure area of their brains damaged and their genitals mutilated. Animals are sexually stimulated by experimenters, observed having sex, and subjected to other twisted procedures. NIH has spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on these sex experiments, and these five are just some of the most upsetting projects currently receiving funding:  

Please help PETA end this obscene cruelty by asking NIH to cut taxpayer funding for sex experiments on animals.

1. Mice and rats electrically stimulated after penises mutilated and injected with chemicals
   Location: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
   Experiments: Experimenters cut all the skin off the penises of live mice and rats, electrically stimulated their penises with electrodes for up to five minutes, and injected their penises with various chemicals to see if they'd sustain an erection. The animals were then killed, and their penises were cut apart.
   Cost to taxpayers: $2,792,144
2. Mice's sex drive tested after brains burned
   Location: Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
   Experiments: Experimenters locked female mice into restraint devices, drilled holes into their skulls, and burned lesions into their brains. The females were then presented with urine samples from castrated and intact males, and the amount of time they spent sniffing each urine sample was recorded. In a subsequent experiment, the females were placed with males and the females' sexual receptivity as indicated by their back-arching behavior was observed and rated. All of the mice were killed and dissected.
   Cost to taxpayers: $1,505,173
3. Rats' sex drive tested following Prozac injections and removal of ovaries
   Location: Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas
   Experiments: Experimenters injected female rats with antidepressant drugs and placed them with male rats. The females' sexual receptivity, as indicated by the downward arching of their backs, was observed and measured. The experimenters then manipulated the female rats, surgically removing their ovaries and injecting sex hormones, and again observed the rats' sexual behavior.
   Cost to taxpayers: $2,024,949
4. Hamsters' sex drive tested following brain damage
   Location: University of California–Berkeley, Berkeley, California
   Experiments: Experimenters cut into the skulls of female hamsters and implanted tubes into their brains and pumps into their scalps. Saline or hormones related to sexual behavior were pumped into the females' brains, and the animals were videotaped as they were able to see, smell, and hear—but not touch—a male hamster. The sexual receptivity of the females to male hamsters was measured through their vaginal scent markings. Experimenters used brushes to stimulate the female hamsters, and the extent of sexual receptivity as indicated by their back-arching behavior was observed and rated. The animals were then killed, and their brains were dissected.
   Cost to taxpayers: $1,817,502
5. Rats' interest in drugs tested following brain damage and sex withdrawal
   Location: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
   Experiments: Experimenters measured the time taken for male rats to mount females, insert their penises, and ejaculate. The experimenters then restrained the rats, cut into their skulls, implanted tubes into their brains, and pumped in a chemical that would block the rats' ability to process sexual pleasure. The experimenters then watched the rats having sex, withheld sex from the rats for seven to 28 days, and noted the rats' increased interest in an amphetamine reward. All the animals were killed, and their brains were dissected.
   Cost to taxpayers: $4,547,605

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