More Uncaged sites:

News Archive

Animal Tissue! Animal Tissue! We all fall DOWN!

Ring a ring a roses, A pocketful of posies, A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

The cows are in the meadow, Eating buttercups, A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all stand up!

Genetic engineer, Gives us reason to fear, A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

Caring people unite, For our health we must fight,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all stand up!

Pig organ with a virus, They would put inside us,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

Caring people unite, With courage and foresight,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all stand up!

Wild baboons enslaved, By scientists depraved,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

Caring people unite, To protect animals’ rights,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all stand up!

Imutran pose a threat, Playing Russian Roulette,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

Caring people unite, For our health we must fight,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all stand up!

There’s billions to be made, By risking another AIDS,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

Caring people unite, With courage and foresight,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all stand up!

New animal exploitation, Abuse & mutilation,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

Caring people unite, To protect animals’ rights,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all stand up!

Ring-a-ring-roses, A pocketful of posies,
A’tissue! A’tissue!, We all fall down!

by Dan Lyons

On Saturday 24th July, Uncaged Campaigns held a spectacular anti-xenotransplantation event.

The event took place on Jesus Green in Cambridge. The day began at 11am and ran through to 5:30pm, including speeches from 1:00pm and the Ring-a-roses at 2:00pm.

Sounds bizarre? But there was a method to our madness! Ring-a-roses is an old children's nursery rhyme and dance about the devastating impact of the plague -

"A'Tissue! A'Tissue! We all fall down!"

The event was a novel and media-friendly way of highlighting the potential for xenotransplantation to create a new plague.

Although we did not reach the world record, 400 people performing the dance in glorious sunshine made for a spectacular and impressive sight, and certainly got the message across to the attendant media and Imutran! And everyone seemed to enjoy what was certainly a very original way of demonstrating against the potentially disastrous consequences of xenotransplantation.

Speeches: 1pm - 2pm

Bernie Laprade - Bernie, who has just published his own book of animal rights poetry, read a poem that he had written for the event. This was very well received, and was a good way to kick-off the proceedings.

Donor Cards for Pigs!

This Xenotransplantation
Involves the theft of life
Removing vital organs
With a death inducing knife

The healthy will be killed
So that someone sick can live
But will pigs possess a donor card
That says they’d like to give?

There are dangers with the transfer
The species aren’t the same
Our science is too immature
They’re conning us again

We’ve got to stop them now
Before they kill more of our friends
For once a life is lost
There is no way to make amends

We need more change in lifestyle
More good science without death
We don’t want humans suffering
Nor pigs to hold their breath!

Let’s stand up to the powers
Who decide that it’s okay
And make them see that taking life
Is not ... the only way!

Information on the availability of Bernie's excellent book of poems '21st Century Toys' can be found at www.GreatGifts.freeserve.co.uk.

Norman Baker MP - Unfortunately, due to unforeseen constituency business, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on animal welfare and genetic engineering could not make it to Cambridge. However, Norman sent a statement that was read from the stage by Uncaged founder, Angela Roberts. The statement reaffirmed our belief that Norman is a rare commodity in the House Of Commons - an MP unafraid to speak his mind on matters of enormous ethical significance. Norman Baker's statement read as follows:

"Thank you for allowing me to make this statement to you...

I am appalled, as any reasonably-minded person would be, by the way in which we are messing around with animals so that we can use their body parts. The human race has learnt to manipulate nature, but has not developed the moral and ethical maturity to accompany this. Animals are not simply natural resources to be used without thought like a lump of coal. They are living creatures with feeling, creatures we ought to respect.

The prime motivation behind this development is, in my view, money. After all, perfectly acceptable human organs are thrown away all the time because consent for transplant cannot be found. As my Lib Dem colleague, Dr Evan Harris MP, has suggested, people should be assumed to consent unless they have specifically opted out. [And as the British Medical Association recently suggested - WebEd] This would allow people not to donate if they wished, but would stop the terrible waste of human organs that is going on every day. That small change would make a huge difference.

And, of course, from a human health point-of-view, such transplants would be much safer. the dangers for humans from xenotransplantation, let alone for animals, are huge. The risk of introducing new and possibly devastating viruses into the human body is the greatest of these."

Juliet Gellatley (VIVA!) - Juliet is one of the UK’s leading animal rights campaigners. She is founder of renowned campaigning charity Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (VIVA!) and author of The Silent Ark. Juliet has a particular knowledge of pigs - their deep intelligence, and their complex social, emotional and physical needs. Juliet made an intelligent and impassioned speech about the cruel treatment involved in the breeding, rearing and use of pigs for xenotransplantation research. She very effectively juxtapositioned this with a description of the the clean and sociable way in which wild porcines live. The massive difference between the two is reason enough to end xenotransplantation research now.

Dan Lyons (Uncaged Campaigns) - Dan is a researcher into the ethics of xenotransplantation, and has been studying the public health and animal rights implications of the technology for three years now. Dan expanded upon some of Juliet's points, and, drawing upon his almost unparalleled knowledge of this issue, went on to explain the inherent dangers of xenotransplantation to the human population, and the grotesque experiments which innocent animals are having to endure. A central theme of Dan's speech was:

"Organs should be donated by humans, not stolen from animals!"

Cruelty-free and Environmental Fair

There were over thirty different stalls from national and local campaigning groups. Plus cruelty-free merchandise and clothing, natural health information, and delicious vegan food from Yellow Brick Cafe and Veggies.

Exhibitors included: Uncaged Campaigns, Animal Aid, Planet V Ltd., Campaign to Abolish the Fur Trade, Countdown to Abolition (anti-vivisection), Hunt Saboteurs Association, Huntingdon Death Sciences Campaign, Respect for Animals, Justice and Freedom for Animals, VIVA!, National Anti-Hunt Campaign, FRESH (Fruitarian Network), Save the Hillgrove Cats, Campaign Against Leather and Fur, Cambridge Cavy Trust Guinea Pig Hospital, Farm Animal Rescue, Coalition to Abolish Angling, Save the Shamrock Monkeys, Cambridge Anti-Bloodsports, St Francis Foundation, Cetacea Defence, EPONA Homeopathics, Gina Shaw, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, National Anti-Vivisection Society, Genetic Engineering Network, Green Party.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the event, held stalls, volunteered their time to help, and who fell down and stood up so well!!

Max Newton, Uncaged Campaigns 24.07.99

Topˆ