Los Angeles activists gave Ringach the benefit of the doubt and wanted to believe he was being honest and truthful and stopped their campaign.

Two years later, a quick perusal of Ringach's website reveals a different story. Ringach has posted 11 articles that involve primate experimentation since sending the e-mail claiming he was quitting primate experimentation.

When inquiring into the matter, Ringach responded with the following e-mail on January 6, 2009
 
> In response to the message you recently posted about my research, I
> want to inform you that I did indeed stop doing animal research in
> August 2006 and have not resumed work with animals since then. Any
> recent publications you might have seen describe data collected prior
> to that date. My current research centers on eye movements in human
> subjects and theoretical work.
>
> Dario Ringach, PhD
>
> Professor of Neurobiology and Psychology
> Jules Stein Eye Institute
> David Geffen School of Medicine
> University of California, Los Angeles
>
> dario@ucla.edu | http://www.ringachlab.net

However, the articles submitted to the various medical journals by Ringach are dated 2007, 2008 and 2009. Primate Freedom Project has requested proof of this and we are now waiting on a response.

 

Ringach continues to receive federal grants with the same titles as his published articles. You can verify federal grants awarded at: http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/ and you can find the amount of each grant (awarded per year) at http://report.nih.gov/award/state/state.cfm

Below are Ringach's federal grants since his e-mail of 2006. His published articles clearly indicate primates are the test models and his NIH Abstracts indicate the same.

 

You decide if Ringach is telling the truth.

Grant number           Grant title                           Amt & Date received

 

5R01EY012816-08     Quantative Studies*             $368,635.00 (2007)
5R01EY012816-09     Quantative Studies*             $361,263.00 (2008)
5R01EY012816-10     Quantative Studies*             Not currently available
1R01EY018322-01     Theoretical studies**           $308,000.00 (2007)
5R01EY018322-02     Theoretical studies**           $301,840.00 (2008)

 

*Quantative Studis of Cortical Visual Processing

**Theoretical studies of visual cortex

 

 

Most states have an Open Records Act that citizens can use to ask their state government and state agencies (like UCLA) for police reports, documents and all types of information. This is similar to the federal law, FOIA, or Freedom of

Information Act for requests to federal agencies.

 

Each states' regulations are different and can be found online but most detail what type of information is available to the public, and most charge a nominal fee for copying and mailing directly to you. They also indicate a time limitation for the agency to fulfill your request. This is all done to keep you, the taxpayer, IN CONTROL of YOUR government. You can make (and expect to
receive) requests to states where you do not reside and receive the same information. That's the beauty of open government.

 

In 2002, Primate Freedom Project sent a letter to UCLA requesting a list of all primates ULCA was holding. We requested the primates' ID numbers, date of birth, species, and if available, their names. After a while, PFP received several pages with the information we requested. About 3 columns on each page - hundreds of primates were listed for UCLA -- on UCLA's letterhead and signed by an employee.

Soon afterward many of you who purchased Tags wrote to UCLA and requested daily care logs, and other information about the primate on your Tag. After forwarding this info to us, Primate Freedom Project gladly posted this information on www.PrimateFreedom.com so the entire world could see what's happening to the primates imprisoned at UCLA.

 

Los Angeles animal activists have had a very exciting campaign in progress for quite some time but as it intensified, PFP supporters began sending us letters they received in response to the requests from UCLA for information about the primate on their Tag. UCLA began telling (LYING) that 'no information was available', or that the 'primate had never existed' -- 'UCLA had never had the
primate at their facility' - and many other similar stories. Bottom line is, UCLA lied to the requester and they lied intentionally. PFP then provided a copy of UCLA's letter to Tag purchasers and the information was re-requested. Again, UCLA would claim no such primate existed-despite being presented with their own letter.

Two years ago, UCLA, in an effort to sidestep part of this problem, transferred many of their primates to the Veterans Hospital on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles(this info comes to us from the USDA). A Veterans Hospital official told PFP that when UCLA wanted to use a primate in an experiment, UCLA would pickup a monkey and take him/her back to UCLA and after the experiment would return the monkey to the VA hospital. Now, due to intense campaigning by Los Angeles animal activists, 450 primates assigned to primate torturer Lynn Fairbanks, have been transferred to Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

CONGRATULATIONS to Los Angeles activists for a job well done!

However, those 450 primates are still in a laboratory and will continue to suffer. So, now we must begin to focus on Wake Forest.

UCLA still has many, many primates and UCLA refuses to provide any information - despite the California Open Records Act..

 

Currently there are at least two lawsuits filed against UCLA for refusing to provide PUBLIC information to animal protection organizations. So how much is all this costing California taxpayers?

If you've ever been involved in a legal filing, you know those costs can be staggering....thousands and tens of thousands .. are just the beginning and in the case of UCLA, it's the taxpayers who are footing the bill. While UCLA administrators sit back and refuse to provide PUBLIC information in compliance with the California Open Records Act, taxpayers watch the amounts grow. For UCLA officials, the sky's the limit on legal fees! No amount is too much! All while we hear about California's financial crisis. Then there are the legal costs UCLA/Regents of California have incurred to unnecessarily harass the public protesters. Will these mounting costs ever end? All this is done to protect vivisectors and insure UCLA will continue receiving federal grants just like those listed for Dario Ringach above!

PFP would like to ask you to write a letter to California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and encourage him to

 

remove Gene Block as UCLA Chancellor

 

Block is keenly aware UCLA is INTENTIONALLY refusing to provide information and costing California taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary legal fees just in animal-related litigation alone. Block and UCLA are intentionally violating California's law. It's a critical time for California finances and this is an opportunity for all primate supporters to speak up and help in this effort. The time to write is NOW. A personal letter is best ---just a few short sentences will do.  http://gov.ca.gov/interact has an email form you can use to e-mail the governor too.

 

E-mailing the governor is a 2-step process so when you see:  Please choose your subject, select GOVERNOR.  If you're unsure as what to email, just cut and paste the message below:

 

I am concerned UCLA Chancellor Block is costing California taxpayers too much in unnecessary animal-related litigation and not providing public information upon request in violation of the CA. Open Records Act.  I urge you and the CA. Attorney General to investigate Block and remove him as Chancellor.  California cannot afford the excess spending by UCLA in these precarious financial times.  Thank you.

 

Please speak up for the primates and if we cannot get UCLA to respond then perhaps the Governor will help! Gov. Schwarzenegger is on the California Board of Regents and could also ask the CA Attorney General to investigate Block/UCLA for violating the Open Records Act. Write to the governor at:
 
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160 ( new number )

 

The primates in cages cannot do this themselves... they're counting on us.  Please help.