The 'Manchester by the Sea' actor and his mother, Chris Anne Boldt, are among the activists demanding University of Massachusetts-Amherst to shut down its laboratory.
- September 14, 2021
AceShowbiz - Oscar winner Casey Affleck and his mother joined a PETA demonstration demanding an end to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst's experiments on marmosets on Monday, September 13.
The longtime vegan and Chris Anne Boldt were among the activists calling on the school to shut down the laboratory.
"What we know is that the animals used in these absurd and cruel experiments, they suffer, and that should be our starting point," he said. "Do they suffer? Yes? Then we simply cannot do it."
"My family, including my mother Chris, who's here with me today, and I are from Massachusetts, and as you also likely know, we tend to take pride in things uniquely New England or Boston: our sports teams, our accents, our universities. But on that last point -not today. UMass can and should do better - end these hideous experiments on marmosets today. UMass, be the leader I know you to be."
According to PETA, UMass academics imprison dozens of tiny marmoset monkeys, who are susceptible to disease in laboratories, to study menopause - a condition the primates do not experience naturally.
"Marmosets aren't tiny humans, and cutting them up leads to nothing but misery and death," said PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. "UMass remains in the dark ages of science and needs to shut down this laboratory and modernize its research program immediately."
