Almost 50 demonstrators, braving the wind and rain, last night began a 24-hour vigil at the Medical School to protest Harvard's use of animals in laboratory experiments.

The protestors marched and carried placards with slogans like "Animals Don't Volunteer" and "This is Immoral" at the rally, which began last night at 6 o'clock.

Mobilization for Animals--an organization dedicated to the complete cessation of the use of animals in scientific experiments--targeted Harvard as part of their "World Week for Laboratory Animals."

"We want Harvard to realize that we won't stand by while they abuse animals in the name of science [especially] when alternatives could be found," said Darcy B. Symes, the group's media coordinator.

Animal rights activists charged that the animals used by Harvard experimenters are capable of feeling, making animal research unethical.

But scientists stressed the necessity for animals in medical research. "Practically all fields" depend on animal research, said Thomas C. Jones, professor of comparative pathology emeritus.

He cited the recent liver transplant at Boston's Children's Hospital as being a direct result of experimentation with monkeys at Harvard labs.

Alternatives to Animals

If animal experimentation were banned, "we would be forced to try new surgical techniques on people," Jones said.

But Mobilization members said researchers should do more to identify alternate methods.

"If we can land a man on the moon, we should be able to find an alternative way to research diseases," said Dawn C. Thacker, adding that doctors should not rely on traditional methods.

Jones said he believes strongly that animals should be treated well and given a good environment and denied that researchers abuse animals.

Irrelevant

But Symes said that Harvard--which is affiliated with the New England Regional Primate Center (NERPC)--subjects animals to cruel and irrelevant tests.

For instance, "the NERPC teaches monkeys to inject cocaine into themselves so the doctors can examine the effects of addiction," said Symes.

But Jones stated that very few experiments are painful to the animals involved adding that a special board reviews techniques in the rare cases when anesthesia cannot be used.

The Harvard protest was only one of seven similar rallies at other private experimentation centers across the country. It comes on the heels of a protest last year in Boston's Park Plaza hotel which attracted 4500 supporters.