Awarding ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ for Ushering In the Truth on Animal Testing
PETA’s “F*ck Around (With Animals) and Find Out” Award goes to … creator Mike Flanagan’s new Netflix show The Fall of the House of Usher for its strong message against animal testing in episode three. Titled “Murder in the Rue Morgue,” the episode highlights horrific mutilations and pointless procedures inflicted on animals used for experiments. PETA is celebrating how the creepy hit show is raising awareness of the tens of millions of living, feeling animals suffering in cruel, wasteful, speciesist tests today.
How the Third Fall of the House of Usher Episode Takes a Stance Against Animal Testing
In the PETA-awarded scene, Verna—an immortal entity played by Carla Gugino, who is mysteriously present at the deaths of each of the Usher heirs—confronts Usher daughter Camille in a laboratory with screaming, lifelike computer-generated chimpanzees who are being used in experiments by the family’s pharmaceutical company.
“Do you know how many animals are used for testing in a year? More than 100 million. … Ninety percent of drugs fail in human trials, even though they pass preclinical tests. So, sorry, animals. … I mean, you lot can’t make a lipstick or a dandruff shampoo without making some[one] suffer.”
—Verna, The Fall of the House of Usher
Verna’s monologue is rooted in fact: The National Institutes of Health spends more than $20 billion per year in taxpayer funding on animal testing, and studies have shown that 95% of all new drugs that test safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials.
The Fall of the House of Usher Shows Just Part of What Animals Endure in Labs
Although great apes like chimpanzees are no longer exploited, tormented, and killed for experiments in the U.S., tens of thousands of monkeys are suffering in laboratories, where they’re held in cramped cages, often alone, and mutilated, infected with diseases, purposely bred to suffer from debilitating conditions, forced to endure multiple painful procedures, locked into restraint devices, bombarded with stimuli for prolonged periods, and frequently denied adequate food, water, and pain relief.
What You Can Do
Always oppose experimenting on animals. Take action for primates and other victims who are being exploited and killed in labs today:
