Intel Corporation Brokers Landmark Policy That Will Globally Promote Humane Science
For Immediate Release:
May 9, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Pittsburgh -- After more than five years of discussions between PETA, the Intel Corporation, and the Society for Science & the Public (SSP) concerning cruel and deadly experiments on animals in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF)—the largest global pre-collegiate science fair—the SSP, which manages the science competition, has agreed to ban all experiments in which any vertebrate animals die or are killed intentionally. The new regulation—which follows the SSP's 2010 adoption at PETA's request of a formal statement in strong support of non-animal research methods—will be included in the Intel ISEF 2013 rules, which will debut at the Intel ISEF 2012, scheduled for May 13 to 18 in Pittsburgh.
To recognize Intel—which sponsors but does not oversee the fair—for its years of tireless work to get this lifesaving policy implemented, PETA is presenting the company with a Compassionate Action Award.
"By prohibiting these deadly experiments, the Intel ISEF has ensured that no more mice, rats, lizards, or other vertebrate animals will suffer and die for a student's project," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "PETA and Intel will continue to work with SSP to ensure that young scientists around the world are using the most modern and humane research methods available."
Intel ISEF rules must be followed by the more than 7 million high school students around the world who compete annually in affiliated regional science fairs with the hope of advancing to the Intel ISEF. Prior to this policy, the Intel ISEF permitted students to participate in experiments that killed as many as 30 percent of the vertebrate animals involved, likely resulting in the death of thousands of animals each year in the fairs leading up to the Intel ISEF finals. Recent Intel ISEF projects involved experimenting on rats made to suffer from a muscle-wasting disease, inducing melanoma tumors in mice, addicting rats to cocaine, inflicting brain injury in rats, injecting mice with toxic chemicals, and inducing strokes in mice and then cutting them open.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
