Explosive New York Blood Center Protest (VIDEO)
The News
Angry about the weekly nighttime protests, neighbors of NY Blood Center board member Michael Hodin are lashing out at the activists who are using drums and whistles to demand that he reinstate funding for the chimpanzees he and his colleagues abandoned on islands in Liberia with no food or water.
While some neighbors are supportive of the activists, many argue that they should not be “held hostage” in this campaign or be forced to pay the price for the bad behavior of a man who happens to live on their street. The activists argue that many of these same neighbors ignored them for months when they protested during daylight hours and that Michael Hodin’s refusal to address the crisis has left them with no choice but to become more disruptive. For the past year, Michael Hodin has refused to answer the calls, letters and emails sent by advocates asking that he meet to address the crisis he created.
Michael Hodin and his colleagues cut all funding for the care of the chimpanzees during the Ebola in Liberia outbreak in March 2015 in spite of the fact that his organization, the NY Blood Center, experimented on them for 30 years; earned an estimated $500 million in royalties off of the research; and promised to provide the survivors with lifelong care.
Among the many institutions that have issued statements condemning the New York Blood Center and demanding that it resolve the crisis it created are The Jane Goodall Institute, MetLife and Citigroup. Prior to cutting their funding, the latter two corporations were among NYBC’s most high profile corporate sponsors.
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Join the Facebook page: New York Blood Center: Do the Right Thing to stay apprised of news and to participate in online actions to pressure the NY Blood Center to provide lifelong care to their former laboratory chimps.
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