BERKELEY, Calif. - The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC) has accredited the University of California, Berkeley once again. AAALAC accreditation is considered the "gold standard" of propaganda for industry public relations departments.

In a three page press release issued today, April 13, 2001, the university stated, "AAALAC spent two days on campus last fall inspecting facilities, poring over records, and assessing the review and oversight process for all animal studies." The release pointedly fails to indicate whether the three AAALAC representatives, all industry insiders, observed even one procedure using an animal.

"I'm certain that the monkey strapped into the chair with the holes drilled through her skull would be pleased to know that Berkeley has achieved AAALAC accreditation," said Dr. Elliot Katz, president and founder of In Defense of Animals. "AAALAC is just another industry sponsored smoke screen designed to divert the public's attention away from the horrors of modern laboratory experimentation on alert live animals. The accreditation they speak of does absolutely nothing to relieve one momentís suffering."

AAALAC accreditation is commonly denied due to house keeping and other physical plant deficiencies. Accreditation is a clear indication that laboratory floors are mopped, hinges are oiled, and all the paperwork is in order. In the scratch-each-otherís-back world of animal laboratory research, employees of one facility travel to another facility and determine whether that facility is in good order. The inherent cruelty of experimenting on live animals is never addressed. The experiences of the animals themselves are not considered.

"It's like peeling an onion in reverse," said Katz. "If the labs can cover the truth in enough layers of deception, the work that they do, the work that any normally compassionate person would find morally appalling, they can continue to get away with daily atrocities. It is only because a few people have learned the truth and continue to speak out that anything is known about what really goes on inside. In spite of their claim that they have achieved the 'gold standard' of animal care, the waste and suffering continue unabated. I hope the public will not be hoodwinked by such transparent ballyhoo."