Cruelty Free Etsy

Did You Know That Your Tax Dollars Still Fund Nicotine Experiments On Animals?

You Can Help Stop It

Decades of clinical studies in humans have unequivocally documented the harmful effects of nicotine on adults and children. So much, in fact, is known about the ill effects of smoking from studying these human victims, that Big Tobacco's best attorneys couldn't talk their way out of the landmark $209 billion Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) of 1998 between 46 states and the U.S. tobacco industry.

Which leaves Americans wondering why the U.S. federal government, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), continues to grant millions of dollars each year to scientists to force animals to consume nicotine.

Animal experiments failed to demonstrate that exposure to cigarettes and tobacco smoke caused lung and other forms of cancer, which is now undisputed in humans.

Since 2002 alone, the NIH has spent at least $16.5 million to conduct nicotine experiments on pregnant and newborn animals. This appalling figure does not reflect the total cost of all nicotine research on animals, which numbers far higher, but only that which focuses on nicotine’s effect on fetal and newborn development.

You can help stop this extraordinary waste of taxpayer money!

At Oregon Health and Science University, Elliot Spindel conducts experiments on pregnant monkeys who have nicotine pumps surgically implanted in their bodies. Steady doses of nicotine are delivered to these mothers, and their babies are cut out of their wombs at various stages of development in order to dissect their lungs.

At the University of California, Davis, Kent Pinkerton subjects pregnant monkeys to cigarette smoke for six hours each day, five days a week. After birth, when the infants are ten weeks old, they are killed by lethal injection and their lungs are dissected for analysis.

Frances M. Leslie, at the University of California, Irvine, subjects pregnant rats to intravenous injections of nicotine equivalent to two cigarettes, every 14 minutes, 16 hours a day, amounting to 137 cigarettes a day. That’s more than 6 packs a day.

And at Yale University, researcher Marina Picciotto has given painful shocks to the feet of mice, which is followed by a nicotine injection in the abdomen. This is followed by more shocks, increasing in intensity, which only end when the mice run and cry out in pain.

Click here to send a letter to NIH to stop funding these experiments!



The American public is largely unaware of these experiments and the millions of taxpayer dollars poured into them. But they do know about the harmful effects of smoking, and that giving nicotine to animals will not help people quit smoking.

IDA is committed to bringing these experiments to light so that our legislators and policy makers can no longer avoid confronting this hideous waste of precious research dollars. Decades of nicotine research has tortured and killed countless animals, yielding little to nothing that is of benefit to humans. Meanwhile, public health tobacco prevention programs endure cut backs and go under funded.

Imagine how many more adults and children could be helped nationwide if the millions of dollars that go to fund cruel nicotine experiments on animals would instead be used to provide education and support for people who smoke. This is where the NIH needs to direct its resources; not into sustaining cruel and outdated experiments on animals.

What You Can Do:

Click here to send an e-mail to the decision-makers at NIH.

Contact IDA if you live near, or are an alumni of, any of the universities currently conducting nicotine research on animals, and would like to protest these experiments. Visit our website or contact Barbara Stagno (Barbara@idausa.org) if you need more information.

In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi and Cameroon, Africa.

In Defense of Animals is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible.

In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901
Tel. (415) 388-9641 Fax (415) 388-0388
idainfo@idausa.org

Dominon Art

Meet Dominion Art

What kind of items do you sell in your shop?
I sell one of a kind steampunk pendants, rings, and earrings... along with some not-so-one-of-a-kind button earrings that I
absolutely adore because they are so comfortable to wear.

How did you get started?
I bought a steampunk ring on etsy one day and started searching in local thrift shops and antique stores for broken pocket watches and vintage wristwatches I could steal the gears out of. Selling them was sort of an accident. Every time I wore my pieces out in public, people were asking me where I bought them (I wish I had business cards to hand out at that time).

Tell us why you choose to use cruelty free materials in your work?
Its just a natural choice. I have no need for items (or desire) that are created using the genome and hard work of another creature. I don't make human hair sweaters, why would I make animal hair sweaters?


Do you have any future plans for your shop?
To hopefully have an influx of sales so I can start crafting at a higher capacity. Right now the materials come out of my own pocket

What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have?
I love Farmers markets and antique shops. Most of my time is spent in relation to technology and computers, as I work in the Enterprise storage industry. I get paid to play with billion dollar computers.

What inspires you?
Nostalgia. I love anything thats old, especially older than myself.

Is there anything else you would like to add?Never turn down anything that is new to you! I've had so many people write to me and say, "your work is lovely but I don't know about steampunk." Why should that stop you?! No style is concrete, you don't have to follow its culture to enjoy its beauty!