‘Crying Mice’ to Protest NIMH Director at Research Conference

PETA Supporters Will Decry Joshua Gordon’s Support of Near-Drowning Tests on Mice

For Immediate Release:
October 29, 2019

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Wearing crying-mouse masks and armed with signs proclaiming, “Drowning Me Doesn’t Help Humans,” PETA supporters will descend on the International Summit on Suicide Research on Tuesday, when National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Joshua Gordon is slated to speak.

When:    Tuesday, October 29, 5:30 p.m.

Where:    1601 Collins Ave., Miami Beach

PETA is calling on NIMH to end its use of the widely discredited forced swim (or “despair”) test, in which mice and other small animals are placed in inescapable beakers filled with water and made to swim to keep from drowning; the tail suspension test, in which mice are hung upside down by their tails, which are taped to a bar; and the foot shock test, in which mice or rats are locked inside a chamber that has an electrified grid floor and are shocked. These experiments are often used in attempts to test the effectiveness of new medications for depression but are no more predictive of human responses to drugs than a coin toss.

“Nearly drowning mice, shocking them, and hanging them upside down teaches us nothing about human depression—and it wastes critical taxpayer dollars that could actually help suffering patients,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA is calling on NIMH to stop tormenting animals and start investing in superior, human-relevant research methods.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview that fosters violence toward other animals. For more information, please visit PETA.org.