9 Brain ‘Studies’ Proving Experimenters Need their brains Tested

The experiments: A rhesus monkey named Peanut was subjected to multiple invasive brain surgeries and was deliberately deprived of food so that he would perform tasks while restrained. He lost 25% of his bodyweight, possibly because he couldn’t chew due to a jaw malfunction, which experimenters only realized after they’d killed him.
Another monkey named Petra was subjected to invasive brain experiments and suffered from a severe infection of the wound left when her head had been cut open. A device implanted in her skull remained in place for seven months, and the veterinarian left screws in her skull for months after it was removed. Experimenters continued to torment her for nearly two years despite her chronic pain. She rapidly began to lose weight, circled endlessly in her cage, and ripped out her own hair. More than a year after that, experimenters found a piece of acrylic that had been left in her head from two years prior. Finally, they euthanized her.

Photo: PETA via USDA
The excuse: Experimenters implanted a device in Petra’s skull so that they could deliver gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease directly to her brain. UCSF receives nearly half a billion dollars a year in taxpayer funds, despite its more than 100 violations of the AWA. Do you know of any cures for Parkinson’s disease? Neither do we.
6. Rat Brain Experiments at the University of Missouri
The victims: Rats make loyal and devoted companions and are even known to put themselves in harm’s way in order to save someone else.
The experiment: Experimenters used rats in weight-training tests by cutting into their heads, removing parts of their skulls, and injecting an inflammatory compound into their brains. They taped heavy weights to the animals’ tails and forced them to climb a 3-foot ladder. The rodents were then subjected to fear-motivated memory tests before being killed.

University of Missouri-Columbia experimenters cut incisions into rats’ heads, removed parts of their skulls, and injected an inflammatory compound into their brains using a device like this.
The excuse: To determine whether resistance training (weightlifting) can overcome cognitive deficits—even though multiple studies involving humans have already done so. The benefits of exercise to humans suffering from mild cognitive impairment have been well established, so, good one, Mizzou.