[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Dear [/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Jan[/FONT],
I have exciting news that's out of this world. Following more than a year of vigorous campaigning by PETA, NASA has quietly shelved plans for cruel radiation experiments on dozens of monkeys that would have cost $1.75 million, and we are over the moon!
In the proposed NASA-funded experiments that were to be conducted by an experimenter at Harvard's McLean Hospital, dozens of squirrel monkeys would have been exposed to a harmful dose of radiation and then isolated in cages and subjected to years of behavioral experiments in order to measure the damage caused by the radiation. Such damage likely would have included cancerous tumors, cataracts, brain damage, loss of motor control, and early death.
Thanks to tens of thousands of letters, phone calls, protests, and tweets by PETA supporters, this misguided plan has been grounded, and monkeys will be spared this cruelty.
In addition to PETA members, our campaign also received support from Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Barker, and Alicia Silverstone. Even former astronauts, NASA engineers, and the European Space Agency spoke out on our side and against NASA's ill-conceived plan to torment squirrel monkeys.
Please help us win even more groundbreaking victories for animals by making a special tax-deductible gift right now.
Thank you for everything that you have done—and will do in 2011—to help animals.
Sincerely,
Kathy Guillermo
Vice President
Laboratory Investigations Department

In the proposed NASA-funded experiments that were to be conducted by an experimenter at Harvard's McLean Hospital, dozens of squirrel monkeys would have been exposed to a harmful dose of radiation and then isolated in cages and subjected to years of behavioral experiments in order to measure the damage caused by the radiation. Such damage likely would have included cancerous tumors, cataracts, brain damage, loss of motor control, and early death.
Thanks to tens of thousands of letters, phone calls, protests, and tweets by PETA supporters, this misguided plan has been grounded, and monkeys will be spared this cruelty.
In addition to PETA members, our campaign also received support from Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Barker, and Alicia Silverstone. Even former astronauts, NASA engineers, and the European Space Agency spoke out on our side and against NASA's ill-conceived plan to torment squirrel monkeys.
Please help us win even more groundbreaking victories for animals by making a special tax-deductible gift right now.
Thank you for everything that you have done—and will do in 2011—to help animals.
Sincerely,

Kathy Guillermo
Vice President
Laboratory Investigations Department