Coloring Book Draws Misleading Conclusions About Animal Experimentation

The Web site for the National Institutes of Health allows children to download a misleading coloring book about animal experimentation.

"The Lucky Puppy," provided by the North Carolina Association of Biomedical Research, tells children that the purpose of animal experimentation is to help sick animals.

On Page 4 a veterinarian tells two children, "Research is how a scientist looks for ways to make sick animals and sick people well." On the following page, children are told to circle which things need medicine when they are sick. The first picture is of a mouse. So children are going to think that because mice are animals, experimentation benefits them. Of course, the opposite is what actually occurs. Another frequent victim of animal research, a rabbit, is pictured, as well.

What many people don't know -- or don't want to think about -- is that dogs are also used in animal experimentation. A county in Michigan is in the midst of deciding whether it should renew its contract with a firm (a Class B dealer) that takes dogs from the county animal shelter and sells them to medical researchers.

The vet in the book goes on to describe animal experimentation.

"[A scientist] had mice in her lab. They lived in nice, clean cages. They were fed good food. But they were sick with the same disease Lucky had."

(Lucky is the dog the children brought to the vet.) Children who read this won't know that the mice were intentionally made sick.

Nor will they realize the irony of the scientist explaining how mice can be used to treat illness in people.

"The mice in the lab, puppies like Lucky and children like you are all animals. Our bodies might look different, but we really are very much alike under our skin!"

...

It was strange to think that mice, puppies and people all belonged in one big family called animals that even included elephants and tigers. But the more [the little girl] thought about it, the nicer it seemed.

If we're all the same, why is it ok to torture some species of animals?

In the end -- yes, I'm spoiling the story for you -- one of the children in the book declares, "I want to be a research scientist. Then I can help animals and people!"

Incidentally, the NIH site also has a coloring book advocating the benefits of drinking cows' milk.

"Milk Matters with Buddy Brush" encourages children to drink milk to have strong teeth and bones. A chart shows that a slice of cheese pizza has almost 2.5 times as much calcium as a cup of broccoli. Of course, children aren't going to pay attention to the serving size of only one slice. All they are going to think is that cheese pizza is healthier for them than broccoli. The high cholesterol and saturated-fat content of cheese pizza is nowhere to be found.

Nothing like the government lying and misleading its children.

(Image courtesy of the Animal Liberation Front.)